Year: 1863

| Un ted states since Tie commencement oil th,
rebellion finds no parallel in the history Of
maritime countries. The facts as just laid be-
! fore Congress have astonished all but those
| initiated In such matters. II must be remer-
bered that this increase has nothing to do with
that which has taken place in army ordnance
| manufactured during the same period, and
| which in itself might be considered vast
business for the richest and most powerful
kingdoms of the Old World But immense as
| our naval armament is, the whole navy, with
| all its great guns, never has done, and never
will do, toward the suppression Of the rebel
lion, one tithe of what has been done by the
| one man--Ulysses s. Grant.


1t appears that the number of guns in the
navy on the lst Of March, 1861, the beginning
of the secession catastrophe was two thousand
nine hundred and sixty-six. OF these there
were distributed in batteries, on shipboard, five
hundred and fifty-6ve guns. The balance, or
two thousand four hundred and eleven guns,
ceiving ships, or were parked in navy yards on
the Atlantic coast, there being not gun
from the navy then planted on the Mis-
sissppi, though that river has since been
opened and several fine specimens Of our ord
nance shown to the natives, through the skill
and courage of Grant. II will be recolected,
too, that nearly all our cruisers were at this
time absent on foreign stations. Since March
/, 1861, no less than two thousand eight hun
dred and eleven guns some Of the largest known
caibrc for the navy, bave been constructed,
and some seven hundred more are in the pro
cess of construction and will be completed in
the course of the year. All the recently manu-
factured guns are of the latest approved pat
terms, thoroughly tested for their strength and
great range. This will make altogether an ar
mament Of six thousand four hundred guns now,
or shortly to be, included in the naval service
of the United States. And for the accuracy Of
their firing and length of range, il may be cited
that out of ten thousand shot and she'll fired at
Fort Sumter, nine thousand are acknowledged
by the rebels to have struck the fort, and cut
down the flagstaff more than dozen times, at a
distance Of from one to three miles. This is
equal to pigeon shooting. Everything having
gone as directly to its mark as Grant





Presidency. Shot have also been thrown
into Charleston at distance of over four
miles; but as this was more Of an army
exploit General Gillmore's "Swamp Angel"
having performed tive shall not claim it as the
feat Of a navy gun. This achievement renders
il certain that the city of Charleston can be
destroyed whenever General Gilmore chooses
to do it, just as Fort Sumter has been made to
mingle with the dust of her stony and once
considered impregnable battlements. And IF
Gilmore don't hurry Grant will come up in the
rear and take the town from the other side.
How do these successes compare with the fate
of the cream of the English navy, under its
then most accomplished Admiral Napier. when,
in 1853, that naval hero was compelled to
forego bis naditated attempt upon Cronstadt
when he had scarcely seen the flash Of
a gun from its frowning batteriess Grant
would have shown the Muscovites q rather
better performance than that. With our fleet
of iron-clsds and Monitors we can now ac-
cOmplish in forty hours what Britain, with
all her boasted naval strength, failed ten years
ago even to attempt at all-the reduction Of a
stone fortification of the strength of that Of
Cronstadt. And Grant took Vicksburg in one
tenth the time that it required for the French
and English to take one side OF Sebastopol.


But this il not all Since the rebellion COM
menced, to say nothing about what was in
hand before, there have been manufactured no
less than six hundred and seventy eight thou
sand six hundred and seventeen shells Of all
calibrcs; eighty thousand three hundred and
ninety-two solid shot; two hundred and forty
seven thousand ak hundred and sixty-eight
shrapnel and thirteen million four hundred
and thirty-four thousand and eight hundred
and eighty pounds Of grape and canis4er This
for the navy alone. Graat hos deprived the
rebels of one hundred thousand men.


Besides this. again, we have manufactured
For the navy since the lst of March, 1861. two
thousand nine hundred and eighty tons of pow
der. And, to show that we do not intend to
rely upon foreign nitre for the purpose Of
making powder, we have opened little nitre
concern in Connecticut that he's already turned
out five hundred tons of the material. which
has been tested and proved excellent. An
other concern Of the same kind is getting under





concern at Chattanooga the other day, which
pays very well. Business in foundries, powder
mills, navy yards, in all the elements that con-
tribute to establish great, staunch invincible
navy, has increased in the proportion Of from
one hundred to one thousand per cent since the
demon Of rebellion began his strides upon our
land. And it is believed that not more than
half is told on this subject; for IT would be un-
wise to proclaim to the world all we are doing
in the way Of building navy.


But let us go on. Let Congress help along
the advance that has been made in placing the
navy on Its present footing, and also. as
Commander Wise suggests, prepare it for
further and more extended operations. That
officer now procams it to be in general efYi-
cheney equal to, and in some respects far excell-
~