The President had said of her defeater, to some naval officers: "I think she will be the veritable sling with the stone to smite the Philistine _Merrimac_." * * * * * LINCOLN'S CHEESE-BOX ON A RAFT. There is a chapter yet to be published upon iron-clad war-ships, as introduced practically in the Civil War. To the Southerners is due the innovation on a fair scale, though the experiments were not at all profitably demonstrative. Upon rumors that the enemy were building the novelties of iron-cased vessels, the Federal government responded by voting money--and throwing it away upon a fiasco. Meanwhile, the others had razeed a frigate, the _Merrimac_, and upon an angular roof laid railroad-iron to make her shot-proof. Stories of her likelihood to be a terror, especially as she was stated by spies to be seaworthy, inspired the Americanized Swedish naval engineer, Ericsson, to build a turret-ship. The Naval Construction Board unanimously rebuffed the innovator. Luckily, President Lincoln became interested as a flat-boat builder, in his youth. He took up the inventor and the design. He scoffed at the idea that the man had not planned thoroughly, saying, as to the weight of the armor sinking the hull: "Out West, in boat-building, we figured out the carrying power to a nicety." His championship earned the _Monitor_ the name of Lincoln's "cheese-box on a raft." The assistant secretary of the navy, knowing all the facts, observes: "I withhold no credit from Captain John Ericsson, her inventor, but _I know_ the country is principally indebted to President Lincoln for the construction of this vessel, and for the success of the trial to Captain Worden."--(Captain Fox, Ericsson's adviser, confirms this credit.) * * * * * NO "DUTCH COURAGE." After the miraculous intervention of the Ericsson _Monitor_, the President took a party aboard to inspect the little champion which had saved the fleet and, perhaps, the capital, where the captain received them. He apologized for the limited accommodation, and for the lack of the traditional lemon and necessary attributes for a presidential visit. But the teetotaler chief merrily replied: "Some uncharitable persons say that old Bourbon valor inspires our generals in the field, but it is plain that _Dutch courage_ was not needed on board of the _Monitor!_" * * * * * "IF I HAD AS MUCH MONEY AND WAS AS BADLY SKEERED----" In March, 1862, after her terrifying exploits, the _Merrimac_ ram was reported to have escaped to sea and was seeking fresh prey to devour. The Eastern seaports were in a panic. A deputation of New York's merchant princes, bullion barons, and plutocrats generally, representing "a hundred millions," was the rumor heralding their "rush" visit to the capital, arrived at the White House.