Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1865-01-27

official but it was impossible not to pcrA
cieve, from the more detailed statements
given in some of his previous reports,
that the service and the Treasury were
really suffering together from the system
which has been recommended for our own
adoption.
The instruction which we might other.
wise derive from the experience of the
Americans in marine armor and projecti.
les is materilly diminished by the circum.
stances under which the chief reports
have been made. The great trial Of the
Federal iron-c ads took place in the at.
tack upon Charleston. and the failure Of
that attack was attended with SO much
quarreing and recrimination among the
officers concerned as almost to invalidsts
the accounts received Of the engagement.
The Admiral ip command reported dis
paragirgly Of the monitors and their
performances other officers differed en-.
tircly from him in their estimates of
facts, and the Federal Government was
disposed to reject rel orts tending to de-
preciate the new navy Of the nation, and
to give corresponding encouragement to
the con!ederates. These contests led all
parties to speak with so much personal
feeling Oh the subject that it is natural to
suspect their statements OF bias, and We
feel unable to say whether the model on
which the Federas have constructed an
iron fleet is or is not successful. We do,
however, know that the monitors are, at
any rate, unG. for sea service, and that
Admiral Farragut has persisted, hitherto
with impunity, in hosting his flag ON
board wooden frigate.
1t should not be forgotten in looking at
the expenditure Of the Americans upon
their navy that they have hitherto been
exempted from the charge for the non.
effective service by which our own esti-
mates are necessarily swellcd. Our
effective navy costs US at present only
GS,700,0O0, to which e1,400,000 must
be added for half pay and pensions
But it is obvious that no navy can be
actively employed without creating
claimants entitled to this consideration,
and Mr. Welles is already obliged to in-
troduce the item into his accounts. The
'penson roll,'' he tells US, comprised at
the date Of his report 769 invalids, and
$40 widows and orphans. Whether these
are provided for in the "miscellaneous"
vote, or whether the "pension fund" sufi.
ee3 10 dc.ray the charge, we do not know,
but The fund in question seems to be rapid
" increasing. 1t is constituted from q
moicty CT all the prize property forth
coming from the war, an amount render.
cd very considerable by the incidents Of
the blockade. No fewer than 324 vessels
were captured during the past year, and
the whole number OF prizes since the be.
ginnins Of the war amounts to 1879.
Half Of the proceeds go to the captors,
half to the pension fund so that if the
fund is judiciously preserved, the Ameri-
can estimates will be Ii shtened Of some Of
their burden.
Tie extreme acrimony displayed by
Mr.. Gideon Weles in his remarks UPON
the confederate cruisers is doubtless due
in some measure to the susceptibilities of
his Depart nent; ; but it may be usefully
contrasted with the moderation and can.
dor observable in the language Of Prcsi.
dent Lincoln himself. Mr.. Weles must
know full well that our Government
:. could not have done more than it did, to
prevent the sailing Of these vessels. Tho
question Of right itself was legally de.
bataolc, and, even if it had not been, the
means Of evasion we're so numerous that
the efforts Of any authorities might have
been defeated
The real source of the mischief was
the ine!Iicfency, Or rather the pre-occupa-
tion, Of that navy over which Mr.. Nelles
prosi!es. For some time the Fcderals
had more than enough to do in giving
character Of efficiency to the prodigious
blockade which they had undertaken, and
in the interval a couple Of Southern
cruisers ranged the seas uncontrolled.-
The event mieht have been unavoidable,
bnt its consequences should not be laid
thus unyustly at cur door.