The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-02-13

i
'Hon. j. w. GRIMES, Memer Senate Naval
Committee, Washington, District of CO.
lumbia.'
This, Mr.. President, is only one of u num-
Der of letters of 4 similar import that have
received from eminent shipbuilders and
men Of practical knowledge in naval mat
tors upon this subject.
Mr.. President, If it were not for occupy
ing the attention Of the Senate too long, [
could not only demonstrate by authentic
statements which have lying before me
on my desk, the truth of the statement
made by Mr.. Mckay as to the comparative
speed OF our vessels and the fastest vessels
in the British service as enumerated by
him, but could 60 on and show that other
vessels beside those enumerated by him
have made even greater speed than those
mentioned in his letter. 1t has been charg-
ed, Mr.. President, over and over again that
it is the policy of the Navy Department to
confine engineering and the methods OF
constructing engines to the plans Of Mr..
| sherwood. As the Senate is already in
| formed bv the letter Of Mr.. Mckay, while
the Nypsic, which made on her trial trip
upwards of eleven knots, and understand
has since made over thirteen, was built un
der the direction of the Navy Department,
and with the sherwood machinery, the
Pequot that has just returned from her trial
trip was built outside of the Navy Depart
/
good speed as the Nypsic, which was built
by the Department proper, instead of being
built by contractor. But it is not true
that the Department has confined itself to
the plans of Mr.. IsherwoOd. l could emu
merate severa! vessels that are now in pro-
cess of construction, and one of them in the
city of New York, q magnificent vessel, the
plan of the engines of which is being pre-
pared by the very Mr.. Dickinson who is so
profuse in his attacks on the Navy Depart
nent and all of its friends. As to the char
acter of naval engines am not qualified to
speak. only look at the results attained.
Those results are to my mind entirely sat
isfactory. So far as I know, or can under
stand, they receive condemnation only
from those who are interested in some pat
ent, some untried project, some undevel-
oped idea, some crazy conception, and from
the friends of those persons.
But, Mr.. President, it is asked why we
do not catch the Alabama if our vessels
are so fast. might ask why do you not
catch Moseby? Moseby for eighteen
months, or nearly that time, has. been liv-
ing within the lines of the American Army,
and has destroyed three times as much
property as the Alabama has. Do you
condemn the Army or the War Depart
ment because he is not caught? Why do
you notscatch Forrest? 1t was with good
deal of difficulty that you were even able
to catch Morgan in Ohio. Morgan travers-
ed the States of Indiana and Ohio, and
would have got away scot-free at last had
it not been for the much abused Navy. The
trouble is not that our vessels have not
speed enough to catch the Alabama, for the
Alabama, according to the best informa-
ton that can get, is not nearly so fast a
vessel as she is represented TO be. Captain
Baldwin, who has Just returned on the Van
derbilt, having been in pursuit of her about
a year, and who has been in divers ports
where she had been, who has seen men
that had been attached to her and knew
thoroughly what her capacity was, told me
in an interview / had with him a few days
ago that she could not exceed eleven knots
an hour. We have plenty of vessels that
will exceed that by two knots AN hour
The difficulty is in finding where she is
The Florida was going into port when
one of our vessels was coming out of it,
The officers on the Florida said that they
could just distinguish the smoke Of a stea-
mer as they were bearing off to the right,
and our vessel was going in at the left. The
next time those two vessels were heard
from they We're seventeen thousand miles
apart. One was in pursuit Ofthe other, but
our officers supp0sing that the Florida had
gone in one direction went off in that di-
rection. while the Florida instead Of going
in the direction supposed went in an exact.
~ contrary direction. The intelligence
came to us only two or three days ago thai
J the Wyoming and the Alabama were with
: in short time, when last heard from
within twenty-five miles OF each other
People do not reflect upon the difficulty O
Lfnding these corsairs. When found they
: will be easily caught, unless in the vicinity
: of prOtessedly neutral port into which
: they can dodge. 1t is the action Of profes.
sedly neutral Powers that prevents theil
! capture.
J it was with great difficulty that the Brit
"a sh r.
capture our sailing men-of-war and priva
. teers in the war of 1872. Do you remem
Der what q chase they had for that gallan
old Commodore Porter, and that finally
they had to run him into the harbor of Val
! paraiso, a neutral port, and there capture
, his vessel? If Senators will take the
J trouble to read Cooper's Naval History they
will discover that there were precisely thu
same clamors raised by the British people
only more bitter and denunciatory, in re-
} gard to the capture of our sailing vessels il
the war of 1872 that some gentlemen now
attempt to raise against the Navy Depart
ment because they do not succeed in cap
turing the Alabama and her sister pirates
J Sir, the real difficulty we have to encoun
! ter in the capture of the Alabama, is the
! position assumed by foreign Powers, thai
} allows her, the moment that one of OGl
} vessels gets near her, to slip into a neutral
! port, and we are not permitted to follow hel
l y
| the port until she comes out and il we de
: follow her in, our vessels are compelled &c
remain there twenty-four hours after she
} escapes, and during those twenty foul
hours she will have had such a start of ou1
vessels that it will have become almost i'm
! possible to capture her. The Secretary o
} the Navy, in his very able report to boil
Houses OF Congress at the commencement
Of this session, has stated the obstacles K
, be encountered in this regard better than
: can. In that report he says:
J the recognition of the rebels as belli
gerents by the principal maritime Power.
, at the commencement OF hoslilities, gave
, strength and character to the insurrectior
which it could never have had but for tina
, recognition. A declaration of neutrality
J between the beuigerents, went abroad fron
\ Governments with which we were in ami
; lty, carrying with it the semblance of fair
ness, but which in it's operation il most un
> Just toward this Government and country
The United States had an extensive com
, nerce which penetrated every sea, Will,
the rebels were without commerce or ships
3 The United States had u Navy, and squad
rons on almost every ocean; the re bells hat