The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-03
THE MONARCH AND THE MIANTO
NOMAH


NOMAH.
from the NJ Y. World.
The Monarch, model of British men-of
war-or, to use the words of one of our M )st
anti-Anglican contemporaries, "a marvel of
naval architecture at anchor in the har-
Dor of Portland and alongside of her, in hu-
initiating contrast, are two dilnpidated Ameri-
can monitors, which seem to have been sent
there to illustrate, at the expense of the ma
tional pride, the opinion of the Secretary of
the Navy that they are good for nothing
except for harbor defense and not especially
we'll adapted to that. They do not sail at ALL
They steer so badly that one of thom in a calm
sea, from nero awkwardness of movement,
the other day, on this very trip, crushed to
ruin the tug that was towing her. To use
Secretary Robson $ own words-"They can
not 90 to sea without several vessels to ac-
company them. Having no sailing power
they must be towed when their coal is ex-
hausted. They are dangerous to health in
tropical seas, and with broken and dis
ordered machinery they are helpless in
mid-ocean.' Two of the worst and most
clumsy vessels of this description are sent to
meet o craft which, says the correspondent
of the Tribune, in sea going qualities is un-
surpassed by anything aiioat, and whose won
derful steadiness in the heaviest seas gives
her immense advantage over any adversary"
grimly, no doubt of the Miantonomah-
''like yacht, and single man can manage
her helm with perfect ease. The features
| which most impress an unprofessional OBJ
| server are the elaborate provisions for the
| comfort of the officers and mon, the size of
the cabins, the large and well-aired forecastle,
| and the wonderful abundance of labor-saving
appliances, which would do credit to whole
| century of Yankee inventors. Steam cap
| ctao lrol- cfa
pumps for the hold steam pumps for wash
ing the decks, gas-works, water condensers-
these are among the improvements which
have been combined in this marvel of naval
| architecture"
The moral of this contrast (whether the
Navy Department intended it we do not pre-
tend now to conf jecture) is very grave one
1t is neither more nor less, reasoning from
particulars upwards, than this-that the
Monarch and the Miantonomah are types of
the naval service of Great Britain and the
United States as now organized, and Captain
Commercial and his officers when they go
home will have right to say SO, however
discreet and reticent their duty of obituary
courtesy compels them now to be. Nor let
any one attribute this confession of ours to a
feeling or impulse connected with wretched
party politics here at home. The navy has
always been an object of pride and sympathy
/
politics or degrees of latitude. From the
days when Machias was burned and
New London blockaded, and the little
Vixen escaped from Savannah, in 1913,
and the John Adams from the Chesapeake,
the navy has been an object of deep interest
in the whole length Of the land. The names
of Preble, from Maine, and Tatnall, from
Georgia, illustrate the outer limits of this
naval renown ana national sentiment; and
as Mr.. Webster once finely said, in a speech
Which his polite editor, Everett, omitted tc
republish, speaking of the military opera
tions of fifty years ago:-''All our party diff
ferencos cease ut the waters edge;" and we
as fervently deplore the decay of this branch
Of the public service as does the yeriest radi-
cal of the land. In fact good deal more So
for the last few days have disclosed or de-
veloped an animosity on the part of Western
radicals to the naval service which is truly
portentous We do not refer to the killing
of the League Island job, when 'loyal'
Philadelphia perished at the hands o.
her especial friends, and the shrieks o
ONeill and Myers and the stupendou
rhetoric of Kelley ayailed naught; but we Dc
J refer to the suggestions made, and apparentl,
favored, of abolishing and consolidating nav
! yards and building men-of-war by contract
: We shall not be surprised TO see Mr.. Jeffer
3 sons anti-navsl policy of Withdrawing from
the ocean, and contenting ourselves with gun
! boats or torpedoes at homo, crop out from tn
| soil of Mr. Farnsworth's hard economy. Blu
. there is another element Of weakness in on
l ! naval service to which Secretary Robson
: acting, as we believe he does, like his prede
0 cessor across the Delaware, under the inhu
r ence of cavilling, prejudiced adviser-doe
D not refer, and as to which we hesitate to speak
o But we may as we'll make clean breast of il
|, | The education and morale of the America
: navy are inferior, and this every one with OF
: portunities of observation will admit
: The day of adventurous seaman
ship is, under the processes of science, prett
. nearly over. There are no Hulls, or Decaturi
d or Bainbridges, or Biddles or Stewards, fo
n they are not needed. Admiral Farragut j
! almost the sole survivor. Let. any one rea
Q on the records OF ancient days the narratiy
e of Commodore Biddles escape in the Horne
# from British line-of-battle ship in tho EaS
a Indies or that of the Constitution off th
t coGst of New Jersey in 1913, and he will ur
J. deIstand what "seamanship' once was an