Mr. Laird has produced the correspondence on which he founds
his statement, so explicitly contradicted by Mr. Gideon Welles, the Secretary to the American Navy, that the Federal Government had applied to him, before the Confederates did so, to build them iron-plated ships. The correspondence pro- duced unfortunately omits the name of the agent, which is the only point of importance. It certainly does not show that the Federal Government had commissioned the gentleman in question to make the offer, as the particulars of the tender expected from Mr. Laird, and forwarded to him, as this anonymous gentleman alleges, at the express wish of the American Government, are of a perfectly vague kind, such as must have been circulated in Washington in hundreds at that period, and with nothing about them to show that they u-ere meant for Mr. Laird. We have no reason to prefer Mr. Gideon Welles's word to the word of Mr.Laird's correspondent, except that the former gives his name, while the latter has not yet authorized Mr. Laird to publish it.
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