The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-05-23
Among the Graves Of the Dead Third
Rates.

| years old A century OF experience wraps
our Navy Department like the bark OF q
hickory tree. This experience Is case
that keeps out knowledge and keeps in ig-
norance. Shipbuilding Is an art which
grows on the Clyde and at Birkcn-
head. In the United States navy yards
shipbuilding Is an entailcd estate OF Of
fetal Ignorance and pgheadcdncss. A ma
val officer in the Washington yard. walking
past the receiving ship Relief, said of her
that she was built Mt timo when vessels
were built rs we make rope and cut Off In
lengths to suit the purchaser" Her form
justified the irony, but what shall be said
Of the department of which she is q stand
ard and inevitable product?
Last week we walked sadly through the
graveyard OF the United States navy.
whore lie buried the frst-ratc and second
ratio steam men-of-war OF tho swindcd and
bcfoocd republic. To-day we stand among
the dead third-rates, and the spectacle Is
sufficient to force out Of all honest men the
stern cry of the old French revolutionary
Justice, ITO the guillotine" Tho House
Committee on Naval Affairs Is with IFS In
this graveyard contemplating n cluster of
fourteen vessels that are classcd as in con-
dtion for service at sea, and requiring only
ordinary repairs" The committee examine
the vandalia 1850 tons), the Ossipec, Swa-
tara rebuilt in 1879, tho Marion. Wy
oming, Monocacy, Tuscarora rebuilt
in 1871. Adams, Alliance, Essex,
Enterprise, Ashuclot. Alert, and Ranger
Two only Of these ships were built as far
back as 1861. and they have since been re-
built Eight of them were built as recently
ms 1874. New ships, therefore. are they all.
and should embody the accumulated ex-
perionce and wisdom of the worlds naval
architecture. But the Naval Committee
thus frankly describes these war steamers
to Congress-
I'm peace they are valuable useful and perhap. eco
nomical, but In they could neither night run
away Their principal duty would be keep away from
the enemy II possible and 1t unfortunate a. to fall IN
with him. their only other duty would he surrender
once AMI save the lives Of Officers and men"
Is 1t not crime approaching to treason,
for successive Congresses to waste the
peoples money on such mechanical toys as
these fourteen men-of-wary Will constt-
uencies never break Representatives for
voting naval appropriations in blind ig-
norance, or in binder obedience to the Navy
Department?
There are thirty third-rate steam mcn-of-
war In our navy-names not ships. Their
size is from 300 to 1850 tons displacement
The House Naval Committee classiiies them
as, first, "the worthless and only fit TO be
broken up or sold" Down this grave are
tumbled the Narragansett, Kansas, Saco.
Nyack, Shawmut, Yantic, Michigan. The
second burial hole for these steam men-of-
war Of the third rate is inscribed, Requir-
ing extensive repairs to machinery and
hull" In this pit rot the Juniata, Iroquois,
Wachusett. and Kearsarge. The third pit
is inscribed, Rebuilding and unfinished"
In this the Quinnebaug. Galena, Mo-
hican, and Nipsic pour CHASTITY irony on
our incapacity for executive admins
tration. II Congress knows and Congress
does know that these ships can neither
| fight nor run away-that their principal
duty in war would be to keep away from the
enemy; and IL they unluckily fell in with
him. their only other duty would be to sur
render at once, and save the lives OF their
officers and men-why. in the name Of all
things not stupid or rascally, should these
vessels be finished or rebuilt The fourth
grave OF these third-ratcs is inscribed.
Lost at sea, November, ls17.' The Huron
the best vessel of her class, fills this grave.
Her commander, Il graduate Of the Ma
val Academy. but not n sailor. headed
her diagonally to tho North Caro-
lima coast one bright, breezy night,
went to bed, and woke up with his
ship pounding TO pieces on the shore. The
fifth inscription, " In condition for service at
sea- and requiring only ordinary repairs, y
! includes the fourteen first above named and
characterized by the Naval Committee as
men-of-war that can neither fight nor run
away But in describing them the commit
tee cautiously abstain from vouching for
these disgraceful products of the Navy De-
partmcnt, even to the extent Of their being
seaworthy. They say, They are believed
to be in good condition" Belief and knowl-
edge are different things.
Men of the Forty-iifth Congress, your pro-
decessors in office are principally RESPONSE
BILE for the disgrace that s305,000.000 have
been wasted on the navy since the civil war,
and the country has no navy to show for the
money. They voted the naval appropriations
year after year. as the Congressional thing
for members 10 do. They had vague idea
that by so doing they We're upholding the
flag Of the brave and protecting the home OF
the free; likewise protecting the commerce
Of the free and the brave. 1t made no differ
encc that the free and the brave had utterly
lost their commerce. Your predecessors
seem never to have suspected that their APP
preparations were solely for the mainte-
nance Of a favored order OF society in
splendid yachting around the globe, during
the pleasant months Of the year, and the
placing Of these national yachtsmen in
a rich retired list, in the prime of their lives
and the first blush OF their WEAKNESS OF
doing nothing and being elegantly support
ed by Government all the time they were
doing it. But you, Representatives of the
Forty-hfth Congress, know better than youl
predecessors. And the people expect you
to ut up TO your knowledge, They look to
you to do away with this humbug of navy
They are sick and tired Of n navy which, as
your Committee on Naval Affairs SAYS, can
neither fight nor run away"
The Inconvenience of Duelling.