The New York herald., 1864-08-18

| W tnc puDllc nealIn, ana we trust tnlS appear
to vigorous action will not be allowed to pass
unheeded by the officials concerned.
Tho Operations or the Taliahas hassee-Tho
Navy Department..
About the lst OF August an English steamer
with crew OF one hundred men, and an arma-
ment SO far as appears, Of three guns, ran out
OF Wilmington-a port "blockaded' by an
atlantic squadron" under Admiral Lee. She
made her appearance at the entrance of New
York harbor on the 1lth instant-seven days
ago. We have partial accounts of her opera
tions to the night Of the 10th. In those six
days she is known to have destroyed ffty-four
vessels. How many more she may have de-
stroyed it would be disagreeable to conjecture.
Within twenty-four successive hours she de-
stroyed thirty sail. All this is done by one
ship. with one hundred men and three guns
right in the line of trade between two of the
principal ports Of one Of the "great naval
Powers" In an age of steam great naval
Power is defied, almost in its metropolitan
port, by three guns. Isit not time that we had
done with such farce as this? Is it not time
for us to acknowledge that we are not O naval
Power at all? Did China, under any one Of its
absurd governments, ever exhibit more la
mentable picture Of national decrepitude and
helplessness than this? Though our ships are
very good and our guns very large; though
our sailors are hardy and brave, and our OFF,
GERS as skilful and gallant fellows as ever
looked at the sun, yet such is the administration
Of our Navy Department that our true naval
level is that Of the Chinese empire. We stand
on the same level with the pig-tailed Celestials,
fo- the same reason-because our Navy Depart
ment is managed, as all the Chinese depart
ments are, with the utmost absrrdity, igno-
rance, corruption and self-sutficent pretence
Gideon Weles has been Secretary of the
United States Navy for three years. Il is to be
assumed that under our system all men are
ignorant Of the duties of Office when they enter
it. But three years is a sufficient period for
man Of ordinary capacity to acquire respecta-
bic amount OF knowledge on any subject. Yet at
this day. after bis three years of Office, Secretary
Welles has not so clear an idea Of the duties OF
his position as Chinese mandarin would have
gotten in six months. He is the most helpless
and useless functionary that ever bad the i'm
puutUCc 10 uIuW pay. ne ItliblultneS Tic
business OF bis department TO his factotum
Fox-a choice worthy Of Welles' intellect; and
our navy is thus kept at its dsgracetul Chinese
level by Q man whom no decent merchant
would have in his establishment. Will there
ever be any end to this horrible condition Of
our government We were told that when the
nirates drove our commerce from foreign seas
but few ships could be sent in pursuit; for all
were necessary for the blockade. Tut how is
it now Blockade runners no longer attempt
any other port than Wilmington. We have alb
solutely but one por. to blockade. We do not
blockade that; and yet, with our whole navy,
rebel steamer can cruise and destroy for eight
days between New York and Boston How
much longer will the President insult the coun-
try with the pretcnce that Welles is the best
man in il for Secretary Of the Navy
1t might almost be demonstrated that under
an efficient head the navy alone coald have
ended this war over year ago. Had the vast
sums that Welles and Fox have absurdly squan-
dered been spent as even common sense would
dictate that they should be, our armies might
have held defensive attitude on the Potomac
| and the Ohio and the rebellion been put down
with half the expense it has already been to as.
With the money that has been uselessly spent
| Farragut or Dupont would have given US, In
less than three years. navy so great and
| effective that rebels cruiser could never
have gotten ten miles from British port.
| They would have made the blockade air tight.
l They would have taken Charleston and Will
I mington in the FIRST year Of the war, and the
] rebels could never have equipped any but
their first army. But the sonfederacy has
grown up through the incompetency OF Wslles.
Our opportunities have been 30 lost that we are
yet at the mercy Of single cruiser, and only
the gallantry Of few such heroic men as Far
ragut has saved us from the last depth Of dis
grace. When will IL end2