The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-03

q HI lNoRVNt lO WICl sltC iieiQ NeSCNt tllt # war of 1872 with this country But ther d it had been on her side. was not $. aware that she ever plead for other na- t uons to do the same with her ships and f her flag. Indeed there has not ofter S been any particular wish of the Great r British empire to brook insults from n any one. That the act was in sharmo- , ny with her traditions, amounted to l nothing. The traditions had been With e her, not with others. Instantly the is- f land rocked with excitement. An ulti- Q matum was sent to this country I, through Lord Russell, the prime minis , ter, requiring immediate disavowal of f the act, the surrender of the four per- e sons to Lord Lyons, the minister to this l government, and suitable apology for , the insult. A private note to the minis , ter instructed him that i'll case no pro- per response was made in ten days time to leave for England with all that
 belonged to the embassy. This was a total dtgavowal of the position they had
 held to so long nnd so tenaciously for themselves. It was worth some trouble to have that Immediately prepara- tions for war were begun by them Ac-
 tivity prevailed in her shipyards and
 troops were ordered to Canada. The
 fact that disavoWal had been received
 from the astutc secretary of state, MT.
 Seward, wholly disavowing the act,
 was not made public. It looked like an
 affront to this people who were engeged
 in the most gigantic conflict of the cen
 turies for their life. It was felt to be
 unkind, ana of the nature of a desired
 Dr,, ,ArtJ1 it h rlI i,
 been so acted upon if this nation had
 not had its hands tied It has not been
 forgotten to this day, and has had much
 to do with the response of the people
 here to the people of Ireland who are
 trying in another way to get home gov-
 ernment If the Lord had not been on
 our side when the nations rose up
 against us, we should have been swal-
 lowed up quick. But wise counsels pre-
 vailed in the state department, and at
 the head over all was the good and
 great Lincoln. The commissioners were
 given up and the English government
 was if anything more friendly than be-
 fore The commissioners never
 amounted to anything. And when the French emperor afterward endeavored
 to induce England to recognize them as
 a ration he could not.
 The third affair of vital moment was
 the battle of the iron-clads. 1 At the commencement of the conflict
 great quantities of government proper
 ty was exposed to the attacks of state
 troops of the several seceding states.
 There were not enough United States
 troops to defend everything and much
 military property had to be given to the
 flames That was the case at Harper's i
 Ferry. Immediately upon the secession ! of the state of Virginia an attempt was
 made to get the property of the nation
 al government into their hands. A raid
 was organized to seize the arms and
 munitions Of war there stored The
 torch was applied just as the demand
 to surrender was sent in. Happily most
 of 1t was consumed. Yet the rebel state
 government secured q considerable
 quantity of small arms which were af- f terward used in shooting down the up-
 holders of the Union A much greater
 loss of property and of needful supplies
 were destroyed by the same method at
 Gosport navy+yard, a few miles below
 Norfolk. At the last moment 1t was
 discovered that the commander, whose loyalty had rot heen suspected was in- competent or false. The material cf war there was immense. There were twelve vessels some of them the largest and best of our navy. One of them was the four decker Pennsylvania one hundred and twenty guns, the largest man. ofwar afoat. Another was the Merrimac steam frigate cf forty guns, I and which in every part of the world had won the highest encomiums. They 2 were all lost but two. Then there were 2,500 eurs of heavy caliber, These were Y made to do service along the whole sea board of the Confederacy and in scores | of fortificati1ns. In nefghboring mag | azine there were three hundred thou sand pounds of powder. The quantities | of shot, sell and small arms were i'm t mense. The property was valued at | least at thirty-five million dollars. v Waht was not destroyed fell into the | hands of the rebels, constituting cap n Lure which in importance has not par Il ilel in history, and not a drop of blood t ihel in defense or in capture. No won- u Ter that q cry of grief and of wrath il vent up from the whole north. n
 During that simmer the Merrimac p NdS IdlSeu anu HllHu out dS an lTUI- lad Her upper deck was cut away, u .nd upon that was built an inclined N oof of pitch pine and oak two feet u nick. Over tEat was laid two cover b ngs of iron of two inches each. Her ff armament consisted of ten heavy guns. st Ter commander was Commodare Bu- T hanan, regarded as second to none in h. he south. On the 7th day of March, q S62, that powerful vessel appeared off ol Newport News. Such thing had nev- a r had place in naval warfare, There To we're two vessels partly iron-clad in the tl English navy, but they had not been di ested in battle and there was a suspi- to ion as to their worth. Among our of lips there were the several frigates, " mong them the Cumb berand and the tn cnsress Although the appearance of A ne monster was unexpected, these were al rGmpt in opening upon her with their M eavy guns. They were of as much ar alue as peas flung against a barrel. TT he shots bounded off from the mailed at des and without a reply the Merrimac wi ore down upon the Cumberland which en as at anchor. When very near 1t tle pened its fire with terrible effect and as lortly after struck her with her ram. Bt |. IL .. lf. 4