The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-01-15

by the Roman conqusFors of their own
countrymen; 20 proclaim q mock freedom
10 the slaves, bat By military power TO
take possession of the freemon and work
them fer their own profit; 10 DO ell this,
and also to enslsVe the white msa by
trampling under foot the Constitution snd
laws of the United States and the State,
by the power of q subiidized army, and,
lest it should falter, by hundreds of
thousands of negro jsnizAries, organized
for that purpose by the Secretary Of War
and the Adjutant General.
Another clause declares that every one
must ally himself either with the de-
structiYss, or conservatives; that is,
with Wood, Valandigham, JEFF Davis.
and Co, orswith the true Union mer
with the soldiers and their friends.
The British Iron Clad Navy.
We hear great deal about the stupid
ity CT The American Secre tary of the
Navy; but whether true or false, it mat
ters not il this cOnnectiOn. Il is in Eu.
rope, that we must look for real folly
in the construction Of ships eff war. Il
was not enough that the old wooden
sailing ships of the line were failures
nor that steam frigstes are of little con-
sequence when beyond a medium size
the experiment upon monster iron cladi
must be tried The Warrior and all yes
sells Of that size, whether constructed in
England OF France, are failureS-are IN
seawOrtby; yet still larger one is pat
upon the Stocks. That iron clsds will
prove success, we have no doubt but
twenty guns at farlhsst, will cover their
capacity; and when an attempt Is made
to construct monsters, thsresult will be
failure. We have no doubt bat our or
binary sized iron clAds, Of ten guns,
would bs more than a match for the
Warrior or the Orient; aud larger ones
will be still more unwieldIy.
But with all the experience Of the
past, with all the failures of the last two
years berors their eyes, the English or
dered the construction Of a vessel to be
called the MinotAur, and which was
launched few weeks ago. tits mon
slor, beside which even the Warrior
skrinks into diminished proportions.
Her capacity is G.812 tons, which would
make her nearly three times as big as
the North Carolina, seventy-fOur gun
ship, which has 50 long lain at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard.
The Minotsur differs in some impor-
tant respects from the Warrior and other
British iron-clads. She is shealhed from
bow to stern with iron plates five and
one-half-inches in thickness, while the
Warrior is armOred only in the midship
section, and that VITA iron al inch thin
ner. The Minotsur is thirty feet longer
than the Warrior. Her armor will weigh
one thousand tons; her engines are to
work to thirteen hundred and fifty horse
power. Her srmor is fastened to nine
inches of tough Tennsserim teak. The
ship is four hundred feet long, sixty
wide, snd draws twenty-five and half
feet-a very mOdefato draft for so huge
q vessel
The Minotaur is 70 have two sisters,
now on the stocks, the Agincourt and
Northumberland. These vessels are ex-
pectsd to steam fourteen miles an hour,
in the fscs of. facts developed by recent
experience.
Our naval bureau is sensible In con-
fining its efforts to iron-clads Of from
two to twenty guns. A feet of sesworty
vessels Of this class, viii render us able
to cope with any aation in the world.
We want, however, several hundred of
these.