The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-07-11
The Alabaaa aud the Kearsare.

MON MY MORNING.. .......JULf IL isoa
The Alabama aud the Kearsage.
That has happened which we were conf
dent would happen, as soon as we learned
that the Alabama had gone out to meet the
sesrsage. She has been sunk, after q
desperate resistancs--sunk, % the Yam
KEGS, in the true spirit of gascoraie,
announce, Tin $50 fashoms Of water,"-
as ir 4 made any differences whether she
were suuk In one hundred fathoms or one
hundred thousand. AZ soon as we saw thae
the weight Of metal on board the kearsage
was 60 much greater than the weight Oh
metal on board the Alabama, we could lore
see no other result, unless Captain Semme'
could succeed In boarding. This he womb
no doubt have Effected had he not been
crinp,ed by the passage OF q shot through
the boiler OF the Alabama, carly In the &C
ton, thus rendering the proper working OF
the ship impossible. Foiled in this effort,
he had no resource ut to fight his ship I'M
der al disadvantages, as long as she could
fl,at. This he did. He struck her colors
only when she was sinking, and even then
with the sole object of saving the lives OF
his brave and devoted crew. With bar
barism perfectly characteristic, the Yankees
continued to fire on the Alabama after she
had etruek, and while che was rapidly sink
ing, the object evidently being to destroy as
many lives as possible. She sunk at last,
before Yankee hand had been laid
upon her. 'Shrined in her own grand
element" after . career such as no
ship of modern days has run, she sleeps
the sleep of glory. to be forgotten when
wars are dream OF the past, and the
record Of battles no l,ager excites the Gu
riosity or stimulates the ardor of mankind,
but not till then. The Injury she has done
The enemy during her long and glorious
career is without example in the history of
q siLgle ship. Drake, Hawkins, Damp ierre,
uson, and Porter, oil put together, never
took so many prizes or destroyed so much
property. When before did two ships ever
render 1t SO utterly unsafe for the nation
having the largest commercial navy in the
world to navigate the oc san, IS to make 1t
abs olutely necessary to discontinue sea voy-
ages, and transfer all commodities of mer
chandizs to neutral bottoms This the
Alabama and the Florida have done. They
have driven Yankee commerce from the
ocean, and Yankee merchants can only en-
sure safety to their ventures by covering
Them with the British flag.
The high spirit of Captain Semmes would
not allow him to decline challenge, and
we are hardly sorry, notwithstanding the
issue of the contest, that he did not
Yet he might have felt assured that no Yam
kee would send him challenge unless he
were and knew himself to be greatly his
superior in every possible respect. The
Kearsage is built for war ship. She has
bulwarks of enormous strength, capable of
resisting the heaviest shot, and was, be-
sides, protected by chain plate of formi-
dable resisting capacity. On the con-
trary, the Alabama was built entirely for
speed, and was intended merely to pursue
and destroy the Yankee commerce, not to
tight their ships of war. The Kearsage had
picked crew-a crew picked out of 10000
sailors-the best crew, beyond o doubt, that
could have been selected from the. whole
Yankee navy. But, above all, the metal
of the Kearsage was immensely hea-
vier than the metal Of the Alabama,
and no superiority of courage or sea-
manship can overcome great inferiority in
that respect. That was the reason why, in
the war of 1872. the Constitution took the
Guerrier in twenty-nine minutes The
Constitution carried 32's and GAS; the Guer.
rier 24's and ISIS. The weight OF broadside
of the former was 7aS, of the latter 504. The
Difference carried the day. 1t was grown
man beating child. The Guerrier became
dnmanageable at the first broadside, and
her gigantic adversary lay to and struck her
where she wished, cutting her up SO entirely
in thirty minutes that she was obliged to be
burned. So 1t was with the United States and
Macedonian, and with the Constitution and
Java. These boosted victories were all ow-
ing to the superior metal of the American
ships, and to no superior valor or seaman,
ship OF either officers or crew. And SO it
has proved now. Capt. Semmes's only chance
was to board. That falling, he had none
left but to let his ship 60 down, as it did,
in $50 fathoms of water" 1t is some con.
ISOLATION that the Yankees did not lay their
Infamous hands upon her.
But for the yell of exu,tation which the
Yankees will raise over this success, we
should scarcely be sorry for the event
Never since the commencement Of this war
has Confederate valor been more gloriouely
illustrated. Inferior as she was in weight of
metal, with hole through her boiler, ex-
posed In condition comparatively defence
less to an enemy greatly her superior in
weight of metal, and fitted ont especially to
capture her, she fought as long as shc
could float To have prolonged contest
SO unequal Tor an hour and three
quarters would have been sufficient to have
immortalized any sea captain that ever
lived. Neither Nelson nor Decatur ever did
more. Besides, We have the Captain and
. large part Of his crew still, and we can
manage to get another ship for them. But
the exultation Of the cowardly, sneaking
Yankees, their loud boosting, their spread
eagle, fourth-of-July newspaper rant, are
what ID likely to prove most annoying to US.