Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-06-24

S7O,OOO,OO0 Thrown Away.
Prom the Sew York Times Lincoln organ) June 10
Tie Evening Post reads % a lecture for hav-
ing presumed To call official attention to the de
fects Of our new navy. and intimates that Ameri-
can citizens ought to keep quiet on this subject.
leaving il 90 foreigners to find out the faults. il
they exist We do not expect 10 argue the Post
into a concurrence with an opinion concerning
our new navy; but DO not intend to allow
il 10 misrepresent our position, and we are able
to state facts which ought to be sufficient TO
satisfy any person not connected with the NAVY
Department that We are right in our view The
Post thus states our position
In the first place. We have ships enough and
men enough ahoat to guard the coast. This Is
not doubted The blame, il the blockade IS
imperfectly or neglgenty maintained anywhere,
would rest. therefore, primarily, upon the officers
of the navy intrusted with the execution OF this
onerous duty"
In what school is such logic as this taughtI
Our naval force consists of two parts-ships and
men Both or either may good or bad But,
saws the Post, we have plenty of both ships and
men, and therefore if the blockade is defective,
il must be the fault of the men, Pray, why not
the fault Of the ships? We certainly never said
or suggested that the fault lies with the men.
but, on the contrary, we're very specific IN our
accusation against the ships.
We believe that the personnel of our navy Is
superior to any in the world and when we see
such gallant fellows as Captain Roe, OF the Sas-
saucus running his vesseLright upon arebel ram,
with the perfect certainty that his boilers would
be exploded by the first shot that struck them. II
is difficult To say whether admiration Tor the gal
lantry of the men. or indignation at the mlsman-
agement which would subject them to such fate
al tf..pa al tod m the mind
Times cannot be driven by bad logic into any
such position as the Post would assign TO US 1t
is our opinion that we have the most competent
and bravest set of officers and men who ever trod
the decks of a feet, and the worst ships IN the
world for their use. So much for our position
But the Post says that our blockade Is effective,
and is acknowledged by the powers of Europe 10
be go. IL is effective enough TO comply with the
law of nations. That is, We have fleet OIL each
blockaded harbor, which no honest trader can
pass without due notice OF the presence OF block
aiding force; and this deet is commanded ana
manned by sailors who will stay at sea, even in
such things as the double-enders are. But it is
a very different question whether the blockade is
effective enough to comply with the law. or
whether it is in fact effective; and on this ques
ton we differ with the Post, and these our
reasons The rebel cotton loan in London Is
selling at about fifty which is all that ours is
worth there A part of it has been paid off in
cotton, and the quantities OF cotton which reach
England enable the rebels TO pay their interest in
gold, and to keep up their credit equal to ours.
and even higher; while at home their money is
| not worth five cents on the dollar. If it were
not for their cotton, they could not pay dollar
abroad: and it the blockade were perfect, no cot
ton could go to England.
Then the State of North Carolina has paid off
N lol, Ii -f,., &C. Of ~ Io
running out OF Washington alone which must
have resulted from an enormous business in that
way And SO easy is it to run the blockade, that
the vessels in the trade sail regularly from Mas
sau, and some of them have gone thirty times
without capture. But the Post says that we have
| caught more than two hundred and forty steam
ers That is true, but it does not answer our ar
| guments or our facts. If the Post had told the
| whole truth il would have added ''of which not
more than fifteen were caught by our entire new
navy. the balance having been captured by mer-
chant vessels temporarily used as men-ot-war
and a few by the old navy, and in order to make
certain this statement, the Post should have re-
| ferred its readers to the report of Secretary
| Welles to the present Congress, (page 562 APP
pendix in which he states officially that up &c
| Oct 81, 1868, one hundred and seventy steam
| ers had been captured and of them only sever
| were caught bv the new navy at sea, and three
more in bays: leaving one hundred and fifty
| caught by INTERCHANGEABLE ships and ten by the
| old naval vessels The fact is that our new ma
w has no speed. The Lackawana, one of thu
/ best ships now on blockade off Mobile, hel
log, published recently in the Times, shows, goe'
| less than eight knots an hour The Ossipee, an
| other of the same class, was overtaken ano
passed BY the De Soto a merchant built ship
which started FIVE hours later. and captured The
1 IL. of rnF
hours, going further in that time than the Oss
pee had gone in twelve hours.
And 20 of all the rest; until now our officers il
new navy ships don't try to chase blockade
| runner if she once passes outside of the range o
| their guns: because the further they chase th'
| further off is the prize.
| The blockade is generally run at night
| our ships had speed of ten knots even, the'
would catch more of the runners; but eight knot
| are not enough The runners come out IN TIT
| dark and are not seen till they are close aboard
Our ships then fire at them. but seldom hit,
| course and as soon as the runners pass the lint
| of fire they are safe. This is the operation L
which our brave men are subjected; and 1t IS no
difficult to imagine the aegravation they mus
feel. and the amount of salt water language the,
must use. when compelled to see these rich for
eign ships pass them, like hare, while, tortos
like they can but crawl alter.
| ftbere is anv doubt about these statements o
speed perhaps the Post viii join US in soliciting
the Secretary to order one of these new sloops
| gunboats To be run on measured distance-sa.
from New York to Cape Henry and back-an'
thus to test their speed What does the Pos
think of that proposition? Would it not be bet
ter TO find it out now, if it is as we saw, than t
wait till some maritime power goes to war Wit
US. and drives Us off the ocean? To day tn
kno Wedge might be used to reform; then
would be too late.