Year: 1862

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ENQUIRER.


The article under the caption Promotion the Navy ~
which has recently appeared in your columns is so un
mstakably the production OF individual recipient Of
the avors flowing from the late enactment Of Congress.
allowing limited number OF naval officers 10 be pro-
NOTED for gallant mertorious services" that in this
reply shall be constrained to keep prominently in view
this fact or assumption that may the better illustrate
the evils flow ing from the execution OF the law s
rather than for any purpose OF attacking the law ITSELF


The intent and purposes o. the article question a.
large and the Congress OF the proprety Of the law pro-
noting for gallant or mertcrous services, but 1t aims
at inducing the Congress- at least to conclude that the
law itself being good one evil consequences need be
apprehended from firm adherence it. This beng
prominent intent Of the wrer-wel knowing he Does
the universal dissatisfaction occasioned among
by the recent promotions under the aw- shall proceed
70 refute his arguments by simple narration Of facts
leaving the instructive moral to be deduccd therefrom


But frst let me deny the writer's assertion that naval
officers generally object to the principle Of promotion by
suited the writer's case to leave out the latter clause
having, believe sssudied live long aud comfort
ably ! achieving only the mart Of having achieved his
professional ability by studousiy remaining In Richmond
during the and thus giving practical evidence Of his
of the navies Of the Old World is to promote for gal
liant and meritorious scrvices-the conjunction aud not
the proposition "or been used framing our law
being deemed the essential concomitant TO entle
the honors under the law This perfectly plain;
but however it may be, believe it to have been the
NOTED the efficiency Of the laval service thereby am
unable TO say positively that the rame Of the law had
only N view the promotion Of favore, who "aspired
=. d.-nnia. in pahs allied to the service" The sphere
Of naval action is legitimatey upon the waters the re-
wards should be rgdly confined to performances within
that sphere except for very cases, where mere
merit nncoupled with galantry. may be conspcuoue
as to have eliced the attention Of the nation at large


No one viii deny that Commander Mathew +. Maury is


nieforious officer but his merit is intrinsic rather
than manifested by special actions and 30 he could not
hope TO be promoted tta aab


But TO facts Those who are not conversant with naval
affairs will be surprised to learn that out Of the ave COM
manders made under the law, but one-certainly not
more than two Of the numberhaye been under the fire
OF the enemy during the war The purpose Of the law
was to promote for gallant and eritorious services
very few, FIVE being the highest number eligible In any
grade. X


Those who are no. conyersan with naval affairs will be
surprised to learn further that the conspcuously gallant
and meritorous officers lin the world renowned action Of
Catesby Jones-a with separate COMMUNICATIVE not
only not been promoted, but they have ered the
tcaton OF having had their juniors placed over their
heads by the snap Judgment under which the existing
law is left to be executed.


The command Of Farrand, at Drurys Bluff, saved the
city OF Richmond from certain capture. His reward
displacement after having made the fght and re-
Gently his junior has been passed his head And SO
has been with Cook whose gaantry Roanoke Island
in the defence Of his vessel most metorous There
are other but the most grievous be
recitcd. l aude the appointment of Bullock to the
grade cf commanders from civil lifc The heads all
the eutenants of the navy proper seventy odd in
number, including several who have since been promoted
for gallant and meritorous services" and quite
Der who have not been promoted for gallant and
rious services such as Fairfax Maf.tt and others



placed record his protest against being made to use
his own language frebrand In the navy, by being
placed over the heads Of men who had always ranked
him. saying to the Navy Department that all that he
asked could ask without doing gross injustice such
was, that he might be placed upon the naval register In
the relative position he would have occupied had he
resigned.


There much inagr snir1ily his course yet had his
wishes merely complied with there would still have
remained some forty eutcnapts who would have felt
decpy all have been made feel the implied stigma
u,on their professional capabilities ia having an outsider
hia dnnaa af tirNav
the most part, these very officers serving they
only could with the army, there being naval duties


Whist pretends that the country has not the
unquestoned right to place OF her In positions
success in this great struggle for freedom all feel the
slghtnay, gross wrong-done them by the act OF the
which VII thus plainly publishes their unnsss
without pretended exigency, an individual from civil
life


II more commanders were needed why not the
selections made from the naval euenants for the pur.
pose II cannot be pretended that such unavailable
neither that the requisite qualifications lacking
within the range OF their In proof Of which
position il is ouly necessary to point to the subsequent
promotions from the list of Cook, North Pegram and,
probably the author of the very article in question him
self And, jus, here, must draw the contrast Of the
manly, chivalrous conduct OF Pegram lin protesting
against the injury to the service by his being placed
The heads Of his brother of'icers-"men who had been
tried aud never found wanting and the individual who


fancy 10 be the author of the article signed "Navy"-
himself promoted-who, whether he be the person
not has nevertheless an entity. Nonentity he might
have been for but his attack upon the navy
his late transparent effort 10 defend his unassaled
position.


lcgram says, g protest that have done nothing TO
eu,ite me TO promotion over the heads OF my brother
officers who have for thirty years stood above memen
who have never been found wanting" &c. The other
party says " The more he considers the subject the more
surprising II is that any be found SO oblvous to
his merits as TO object to his promotion" Modest worth,
unse!fh patriotism that manfully defends the law
the abuse of which alone makes him meritorious.


1t s then, most apparent from this brief history OF
the promotions under the law that the aim and lcg-
mate ends Of tho law be perverted and the esprit de
corps Of tue service thereby injured. BY a simple
amendment directing a naval board of oficers-some
nine twelve nunber-chosen FOR the most part from
the above the individual nominee pass upon the
merits Of each cent up for promotion The opinions
OF this advisory board will be worth in arriving at
the relative merits Of naval men than possibly be the
.u1gmeai Of single Individual who IL, under our sys
TEN necessarily ignorant Of both naval men and matter


QUASI NAVY.


New Rebel Seal Defeated.


The rebel Congress could not settle upon seal for the
bogus concderacy and adjourned without adopting one