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305
T HE COUNTRYMAN.
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"•O
boro’, on the Neuse Rivet ; two on
Hie Tar River, at a point where the.
■ latter crosses the Wilmington &
Weldon Railroad ; and certainly two
(or three, if the last one, recently
building, is completed) at Halifax, on
the Roanoke River. These seven
iron-clad gunboats in North Carolina
are certainly intended, at loast for the
present, for the defence of that impor
tant railroad from Wilmington to
Richmond, and in order to prevent
.Union troops or vessels from advanc
ing on that road fropi Newborn, or
from Albemailo or Pamlico Sound.
But there is nothing in their construc
tion which would prevent them from
navigating those rivers to their mouths
and sailing along the coast; for this
experience of their trial trips has
proved them to be sea worthy, in every
respect. They are mounted with
guns of English manufacture.
The five iron-clad vessels at Mobile,
the five at Charleston, and the one in
the Savannah Ri^or, were all so ac
curately described in the ‘ World,’ a
short time ago, that I need only refer
to them. 'Iheie are besides, at
Charleston, two powerful iron clad
, steam rams, one of whieh is command
ed by Captain Ingraham.
At Richmond, and between that
city and Fort Darling, there are ten
iron-clad vessels, most of them moun
ted with rifled guns. Of these the
Merriuiac No. 2 is the largest and most
formidable. Her armament consists of
six guns, namely two heavy eolum-
biads on each side, and anolhei astern.
These guns all carry fd^e steel pointed
projectiles which crashed through and
through the sides of our own iron
clad Galena as if it had been made
of pine poards. These ten iiori clad
vessels will pl$y an important part in
the defense of Richmond, if that city
should be attacked by way of James
river or from the South. Built Begins
most probable uow that we Will first
bear of them at the mouth of James
Rrvei, in Hampton Roads, or perhaps
even sailing up the Potomac.
In regard to the iron-clad vessels
that have been built for Confederates
in. the poits of Great Britain and
Francc,d uring the last eighteen months,
my informant is positive that they will
find their way across the Atlantic be
fore the end ot June, Arrangements
have been made for the transfer of
those vessels that were built for ‘the
Emperor of China’ to parties who can
not be iudentified with the South ;
and after the transfer Las been made,
the governments of France and Eng
land can no longer interfere with them.
J he pajtjps alluded to will then take
them to a seaport in some other coun
try, where, by a process well known
in maritime practice, the vessels will
ultimately come into the possession of
agents of the Confederacy.
The vessels^ of which there are a-
bout twenty in all, are built expressly
for ocean navigation, and Gome of them
are of the same class as the Warrior
and LaGloire. They aro alt construc
ted iu the very best manner, by the
most experienced European shipbuil
ders, plated with malleable iron to a
thickness that defies penetration, and
mounted with armaments far superior
to anything now afloat on American wa
ters. When these vessels reach our
shores they will not be used for de
fence. To break the blockade of Char
leston, Wilmington and Savannah,
will bo their first attempt; and after
that, it is expected that they will at
tack some of the seaports in the Nor
thern Statos.
The Confederates are also making
active preparations for breaking the
blockade of Charleston, independent
of the arrival of the Trans-Atlantic
fleet.
They are preparing, by means of
torpedoes and other methods of sub
marine explosions, to attack our fleet
of uou-elads in the part where they,
like Achilles, are alone vulnerable to
6uch assaults, namely, in the heel; in
other words, they 6eek to direct the
missiles of the submarine warfare a-
gainst our iron-clad vessel to the part
not protected by the armor—the wood
en hull, some distance-below the wa
ter line. The explosion iu the James
river was only an experiment. It will
soon be followed by attempts against
the blockading fleet at Charleston—
attempts which they believe, and
which there is reason to fear, will bo
more successful than that against the
Minnesota.-^a^fOTore Correspondence
N. Y. World.
Gissie from Lee’s Arrive—“Her
mes, of the Mercury, in letters dated
l&lli and 20th May, says :
We have good news this morning.
General Lee told Dr. Wilmcr, who
came yesterday from the army, that
he was satisfied that Grant’s army was
reduced to the size of his own army.
Dr. W. 6aw the enemy’s attack on our
right day before yesterda}, and says
it is very evideut that the yankees
arc under hack. A surgeon on our
left heard the yankee officers alter-
ately cursing and imploring their men-
to come to the scratch. When at last
they did so, the first volley of our
skirmishers drove them back They
know they are whipped-
In a private letter to his family, Gen
eral Lee expresses himself well satis
fied with the result so far. From another
quarter, 1 learn that his estimate of
Grant’s Josses in Thursday’s great
battle agrees with what wo have beard
on all sides, viz: that it was at least
twenty thousand. Giant’s nitfiy can
not now be much larger than Lee’s ;
but everybody here believes that ho
Is receiving reinforcements, probably
from Georgia. Will Johnston spare
us any men 1—provided we need them,
which we do not yet.”
The Virginia Campaign.—^With
in two weeks, more blood has been
shed in Virginia than was spilt in the
whole Confederacy during tho first
year of the war. Prpbablv 100,000
men have been place hors de conphat,
and of these, 75 or 80,000 must be
charged to the account of the ene
my.
What, asks tho Richmond Whig.
has been gained by this enormous sae-
lifice of life ? '
♦. Butler’s forces are precisely where
they landed when the campaign be
gan, and Grant’s army holds a position
near Fredericksburg which might have
been obtained with tho loss of a hand
ful ot men . One wing is just where
it started ; the other has oome a few
miles South at the cost of 50 or 60,000
troops. The enemy ought to be able
to show something for this enoimous
expenditure ; and so he can, for he is
contented with small profits. But
looking to the strategic points, it may
be doubted whether anything what-,
ever has been gained.
The Richmond Sentinel says that
Grant has accomplished less for the
lives he has expended, and made less
impression on our strength, than any
general the Anny of the Potomac has
ever had. There is no doubt of it.
Lee has killed more of his men than
he has of any other army, and this the
yankees will find out soon, and then
comes a mighty fall for their Magnus
AppoUo, No. 7.”
The Press in France.—“The at
tempt *to procure the liberty of the
press in France, though stiongly urged
iu the legislative body, has proved a
failure. The Emperor’s determination
was made known at the end of a recent
debate, through the President of the
Couucifof State, iu these words : ‘We
do not believe, at this hour, and in the
presence of the great duties imposed
04 the Emperor’s government, we cau
consent to any modification whatever,
in the existing regions of the press.’ ”