Cleveland tri-weekly leader. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1854-1885, 1863-11-17
No sisgs Of oharlsltoa.

" The sisss Of ohnrlsstoa.
We copy the following very interesting
md complimentary criticism Of the seige
II Charleston, from the Toronto Globe;
UThs seige Of Charleston has, though
victory yet refuses TO declare herself for
either combatant, already taken its place
among the most celebrated the world has
ever seen. It is not in the interests at '
stake that the reason for this is TO be found,
for we have had seiges upon which the =
whole issue of a great war has depended.
The success of the one party might en-
sure the subjugaiion Of an entire king ngdom;
the success of the other q national eX-
istance. THIS is not the case in the pres
emit instance. II Charleston fall the civil
wal will not thereby be ended; If the serge
be raised, the indePenenee OF the Soutn
will not thereby be assured. Neither IS
the reason TO be found in the number OF
men engaged in the combat; greater
armies have many time confronted each
other and even now stand ready Tor mu-
tual slaughterin in at least two places with /
in the boundaries Of the Republic. But It
is in the enormous size Of the instruments |
of war used that the seige Of Charleston |
finds its celebrity. Never before has their
like been seeu. Tle most ponderous
weapons Of classic history sink into Oinsig-
ni6csuce before them Modern battles have
have been fought with mere toys when
compared with them. In the misty dreams
of the poet alone had their ezistsnee been
| conceived. until that which appeared i'm
possible has, by practical men, led on oy
| successive discoveries, actually been at
| tanned. Cannon so enormous that Milton
could conceive them as being alone used
by supernatural beings, deep throated en-
gines,
-"Whose roar
| U Embowelld with outrageous noise the alrS
| 9. And all her entrails tore disgroging from
| Their devilish glut, chained thundercolls
And hail ef form Of globes
have been pressed into the service OF the
morale of his present year eighteen hun
dred and sixty-thTee.
1.-THE heaviest Of tie siege guns with
) which Wellington battered down the walls
) ofBsdalez were eighteen-pounders. Mel
= sen, at Trafalgar, had few which threw
shot 81 pounds in weight. At Sabastopoh
100 pounds was only once or twice reach
ed-32s, dos, and 68s were the fs7OurItes
In the British navy at the present moment
9 we doubt if there is any vessels Carrying
t larger than hundred FOUNDER. Certain
, | itis that the recent reports sscribe to th'
6Ss the greatest number Of good qualities
especially that Of hitting hardest st elos'
4 quarters. Yet, at Charleston cannon
4 throwing two hundred and three hundred
, pound shot ara in constant use, and other
to throw five hundred pounds are beini
made
The Globe fails to state that the mOnit
ors at Charleston are armed wits 10 inc
guns, carrying round balls weighing 45
j pounds, also that a gun is being cast E
70 Pittsburgh Of 20 inch bore, weighing 100,
:, 900 pounds or 60 tuns, "A feet long an
is 81 feet thickness Of breech, and designed
lie carry a round ball of l, 100 pounds weigh
L -EDITOz LEADER.
Bat if the size Of the cannon employe
a- for the destruction Of the "eradle Of Il
e. rebellion" appears enormous, the power
II of resistance displayed are equally extr'
ordinary. The sight of few two hui
~ dred Founders twenty years ago wOu
have compelled fortified city to surreI
n der in despair Of successful resistanc
bo Now they appear to do as little, or eve
less harm than was done before with Il
u eighteen and twenty-fours. The secret
en- syccessful resistance upon land has be-
", discovered in the use OF earlhworks. II
=. youthful English officers who defended
iistria from the Russisns; the Russian e
gineer who defended Sebastcpol again
Of the allies, little thought, we may imsgin
- of the extent to which the system they j
auourated could be carried. But with
a. the last few months we have seen q ne
in shameless mound of earth, Fort Wagnt
IN. resisting all the efforts Of the Federal ;
=. euns to batter It down, and yielding on
~ to the old process of sspping and mimi
lts In vain we're the huge globes and Oblol
n bolts hurled against it; but they bIri
at themselves in the sandy banks and harm
:, Int yery few behind Fort Sumter, bul
=. sitter the old plan, was, with compsrati
ID ease reduced. From a distsnse Of thr
". miles it was battered to pieces, its gu
..b oyerthrown, aud its offensive powers
= stroyed in few days. lie position, col
manded as it IS By many batteries viii
INT surround the bay, would render 1t usei'
ab- to the assailauts as it now is to its defer
nd ers but the efforts to utterly destroy
= have, go far, failed. The heap Of pound
VI debris to which il is now reduced, apes
TO havs far greater powers OF resistar
than its walls while intact On one d,
of we are told. four hundred and forty-thl
=, rifIed shots were fred Rt it from the Ia
batteries. Of which sixty-one only mIsse
hln oil az uvhi
u.s. struck; and three hundred Gud sevent
? a three from the moTtars Of which one hl
dred and twenty missed. Four mlssl
Aer per minute we're hurled at it the livelc
Dn- dey, and yet it holds ont. Of the TWEEN
Use i've men who composed its garrison,
-, one was hurt. Had it been en earthwo
INC the probability is thatit would still be
ion pable Of something more than mere pass
lily resistance.
md So far as operations upon land are c.
ift- cerned, it would appear that science
= produced a power Of increased resistal
Wv, greater in proportion than the inerea
OF power of attack. If the cannon are la
lint the earthWorks must be thick. There m
40 be a limit to the size guns can be ma
and that limit must bs reached before
extreme thickness to which earthwo
can be constructed has been attained.
very much concerning ships and Ii
e to batteries remains to be decided. ,-! oai
of vessel oa built caPao.s ~ az Sos.AtiI I'm
Fort i,tia ugIa Inortia1sts detriment to its of
nth sive powers when the monitors v
hat sent into Charleston harbor they did
1sss siderable damage, aud we're injured IN
-. turn; but yet, according to the report
lose the engineer Of the Navy. they were
hite ready for service few hours after the
tack. Recently, they have many ii
l.