Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1862-1865, 1863-03-26
BOat-Bursters VS.. Boat-Savers.

b0at-BurSters vs. boat-SaVers.
Il to be regretted that our indefatgabe publishers
have given us so many military and not naval book
With West and Johnstons and Randoph's publications
before him, man can now read the account Of battle
ana tell with accuracy whether it fought scen
tifc principles or not. But when naval engagements
occur we are all Ii the dark. Having light but the
farthing candle Of common sense-a luminary never
mentioned in Mr. Malory's advertisements for sealed
proposals for naval stores-we compelled to accept
the issue Of the conflict whether successful or other
wise as right and proper according to naval logic. Al
all events we know that the objections, objurgatons
and excavations of the hnenghtened public avail moth,
ing 1t occurred to the dull and foolish ntelects of the
people that something must have gone wrong when the
Merrimac the Louisiana and the Arkansas were blown
up 1t was piece Of senseless impertinence on the
part of the populaee to form any opinion whatever,
much less to express it but they raised such clamor
that the Secretary Of the Navy smiling at their folly
consented at length convene sundry Courts of To-
uuiry composed Of the finest naval minds in the service
and all these courts decided without dissenting voice.
that nothing whatever had gone wrong but, the con-
trary, everything had gone exactly right.
Since the publication of these decisions, the popuace
have felt very sheepish and concluded wisely to hold
their peace But the blowing up Of the splendid
prize the udianola has unsealed the lips Of an impu
dent writer who corresponds with the Knoxville Regis
ter, under the signature OF IS l." and chooses to look
at things with his eyes, and is not meay mOuthed
about expressing his opinions He says:
There no necessity for the existence Of the danger
to which the South is subjected in the swamps Of
the YazOo On the llth of November last saw let
ter written to the Confederate authorities at Richmond
stating that the leYee would be cut when the Mssisspp
ABOVE its banks, that Yankee gunboas would pene
tGSte the YazOo, destroy entire commercial marine
aud with it the real and prospective gunboats Why
not the machinery of the gunboat Tennessee re-
moved to Selma! Why await palpabe danger until
it il inevitable, and then depOre its preseuceg
Rumor, which employs more than its thousand
tongues Sunday, tells that Mallory will resign in
the Navy Department and Perkins, Of Louisiana, be-
come his successor 1t is 10 be hoped that the Govern
ment will learn wisdom from past blunders, and never
entrust the command Of vessels on the Mississippi TO
fancy naval school men. They may comprehend every.
thing affecting ocean navigation both with sails and
steam, but no one who has not studied and naugated
the Mississippi for years can command a vessel its
waters have seen accomplished seamen wholly una
ble while in the pilothouse of steamer, to get her
awaE from the shOre-a feat that a river man would
have effected ON the instant
A Mississippi steamboat man is hardly human be-
ing Hecerainy is not of this world. His "home is on
whirpOols till il makes ones head swim to hear him talk
They can tell from the surface OF the boiling water
whether it is "shoa deep" In their ceaseless races
they have learned how TO derive every conceivable ad
vantage from the whether ascending or de-
scendug the river. To uninitiaed traveller there is
tedious monOOny in the scenery along the Mississippi
but to the captain of river craft every "tovs.head"
has its name aud distinctive features When he looks
out from his Texas at midnight he recognizes the
naarel heada5 and determines the distance made and
the speed Of h boat tie can tell you on the instant
the nuuber Of pounds of under the pressure of
which he has been rnuing. II quarrel has occurred
between himself and rival he knows how ~ cross the
ver calculate the effect Of the on the course
of hi- boat and run his bow into the wheelhouse of
ts competitor. Put seaman the Mississippi in
command Of gUOb ats and shall have them
ashore and burned as was the Arkansas
Il we're as well TO make StoneEall Jackson Comno.
dOre and give him the place of Semmes send an An
nopolis mii,hipman to command gunbOats on the Mi.
siSsppi An Old river csptan would never have lost
the Arkansas To buru his boat would never occur to
him. 10 his boat has been the great lesson of bis
LIE. If the Arkansas could have been ashore and
burned above Baton Rouge she could have driven her
way through tat feet Of gunbOats which did such fear
fl work among he troops of Clark and Breckenridge
Her iron beak weighed 10000 pounds and yet the "sea
men, knew not hsw TO use IT, river captain would
have neglected bis guns but with his knowledge of the
current he would have sunk every vessel that Obsruced
his course Shrly should have commanded the boat he
built the best ever constructed s. l..