Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1863-07-23
OUR WESTERN NAVY.

United States on the waters Of the Mississippi,
had been promoted to the rank of Rear-Admi-
raj, in recognition Of his valuable and efficient
services in conducting naval operations in that
part of the country.
1t has been generally remarked that, in the
recent speeches delivered by our civil and mill
tary authorities in Washington, in reply to the
congratulatory visit paid to them by portion
of the people of this city, no reference was made
by any speaker, in the fluctuations expressed
on the fall of Vicksburg, to the part which the
navy had taken in bringing about this great mill
tary and political event. The omission was cv-
IDENTIFY accidental, but it has the less served,
by its sinsularity, to create general remark, and
thus to demonstrate, in the most striking way the
popular sense of the obligations believed to be due
to this favoritc arm Of the public service, in view
of the multiform and successful operations which
it has prosecuted in the present war; sometimes on
an independent footing, and sometimes in coDjunc
ton with the army which, on so many signal oc-
casions, it has saved from impending disaster, if
not destruction. What the navy has done by its
unaded efforts may be read to advantage in the
concert with the army may be seen in such events
as the timely interposition of the gunboats to shell
ter the defeated forces Of Gen Grant at the close
Of the first day of the battle of Shiloh, in the
succor and protection afforded to the army of Gen.
Mcclellan after its repu'se from before Richmond
to the banks of the James The communications
of all our forces operating the Mississippi, or
on other lines Of advance, owe their security, we
need not say, to the efficiency of the navy, with
out whose aid it would have been greatly more
difficult, if not wholly impracticable, to penetrate
country so extensive and so difficult of travel by
large armies on overland routes.
The proportions already assumed by our Navy
in the West, and which are destined to remain un-
impaired as long as it shall be necessary to guard
and control the Mississippi river, deserve to be
considered in other than their military aspects
The part already performed by the navy in open
ing this great inland sea" and the part it must
perform in keeping it unobstructed, may be said
to insure for this branch of the national defence
the sympathy and support of q population who
have heretofore felt that the navy created and
sustained for the protection of the mercantile and
commercial classes mainly resident in the seabord
States, rather than Of the agricultural community
inhabiting the Mississippi valley. This feeling
can no longer have any place under the existing
relations Of the country. The considerations
Of political economy which must give impor-
tance to the operations Of fleets on the Mssis-
sippi river so long as this war endures, will appear
from the following statements made by Attorney
General BATES, in public address delivered in
Missouri on the Fourth of July, on the occasion of
the launching of the gunboat Winnebago from the
Iron Works Of Mr. J B. Esds at Carondelct Mr..
BATES said
II have conversed not only with statesmen but with
some of the abest and best of naval commanders with
reference to the building aud fitting of gunboats for the
Mississippi river The idea of gunboat the waters
the Mississippi novelty some rdiculed it but
few of the naval officers sincerely believed in the pOssi-
bty of the thing and in it, clearly sunlight
could have revealed the fact all powerful aconquer-
ing instrument for crushing the rebellion and for the sup
port of the institutions Of our fOreathers
This yard established for building gunboats, an
experiment hazardous alike to the treasury of the nation
and to the reputation for skill and knowledge OF the excel
lent and able man involved in it, taken hrst OF all by
my friend James b. Eads under contract with Govern
ment build steamers aud under the command Of
that noble and glorious man. whom might wen DC proud
TO call my friend but who has left us, aud is gone to re-
ceve the rich reward that awaited hlnwho has entered
into blessed communion with the spirits of the just made
perfect Admiral Foote is Dead but ho still lives IN the
hearts Of his couutrymen. lie who possessed in his own
person Of the exceences of human nature than
member to have in any one beloved by all
his subodnates, from the first officer down to the lowest
sailor beloved and mourned by all outsiders aud feared
only by the enemies Of his country Under his command
it that the efficacy and power Of these instruments
war turned out from this yard and from others
turned the tide Of battle in this whole war.
What would have been your condition upon the Ohio
but for the gunboats Of the Mississippi What would
have taken Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Columbus
Without them armies would have been inefficient and
the enemy this day would have domneered the whole
course of the Mississippi from the Ohio to the Gulf But
for the eunboat should have had hard struggle
ing perhaps for years. before could have gained the
ground we occupy in that direction because the lower
Mississippi is but the channel towards which the water
above the dividing line Of the Ohio will force their way
ocean as freely as the muddy waters Of the Mssisspp
force their way into the Gulf Observe few facts
nected with it, Ii you draw line east and west through
the mouth OF the Ohio river there are nine millions
free white people who drink the waters above that line
below that line, the valley Of the Mississippi proper
there is not million Of free white people make Al
assertion which shall not stop to prove now but the pub
shed statistics Of Cincinnati will prove it, that any dal
of the year there three times much OF American
property ahoat upon the Mississippi upon the whole
Atlantic mention this to show you, the workme
this yard especially, how goriousy, how admirably,
efficiently your abors rebound TO the restoration and pre-
servation law aud order your country"