The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-13 00:00:00

SAVE ME FROM MY FRIENDS!

( Front the Boston Daily Times.)
Mr: Bright, the English " peace-at-any-price "
man, recently made a very long speech before an
English mechanics' institute, in which he spoke
very highly of the United States, though we think
Americans would le none the less pleased if he had
not spoken so depreciatingly of his own country.
It seems as if his object had been not so much to
praise us, as to make England appear little in the
comparison. He talks as if he thought we were the
most peaceably-disposed people on earth, whereas
there is as strong a fighting element among us as
ever there was in France. Ho alludes to our navy,
and says that we have but two or three frigates.
From this it should seem that ho never had heard
that the last Congress voted several millions of dol-
lars to build six of the most powerful steam-frigates
in the world, which are now on the eve of comple-
tion. It is proposed that the present Congress
shall add as many more steam-ships to the navy,
and make other additions to it. Mr. Bright may
rest assured that few Americans look upon the com-
parative smallness of their .country's navy as some-
thing to be proud of and to rejoice over. It is seen
with regret, and Government can do no snore po-
pular act than to add to the navy's strength and
efficiency. Not a few of our countrymen are a
opinion that the navy ought to be so constituted as
to be able to command all the American seas, and
their is reason in their view of what should be our
policy. Grant that we should be able to defeat
any army that might be landed here, would it not
be a wiser thing to prevent as army from lauding ?
This could best be done by our being so strong at sea
as to make it a matter of very grave doubt whether
any force could assail us with success. The best ne-
gotiators, after all, are heavy fleets, for a maritime
nation. The very fact that you are powerful on
the ocean may he the reason why the extent of
your power shall never be tested. Mr. Bright's ideas
on naval matters would meet with no response in
this country out of the class of the Burrittites, or
some other equally harmless class of madmen.
The Government here has never kept pace with
public opinion oil the subject of the navy. Had it
done five times as much for it, the demands of
that opinion would hardly have been complied
with—certainly not exceeded. Mr. Briglat alludes
to our small army, and does sb in terms compli-
mentary to us. It is true our army is small, but
then our population iamarlike in its character, and
four-tiftlis of the men of military age are more or
less familiar with the use of arms. In some of the
States thousands of young men have a very re-
spectable knowledge of the details of military life.
From these men would the better portion of our
armies, in the event of war be recruited. They
would afford splendid material fir soldiers. Yet
even those who think highest of the Talour and
military spirit of the mass of the people are of
opinion that the smallness of our army is a grave
evil, and that we could not do a better or a cheaper
thin, than to treble its numbers. Had we 5,000
or 6,000 additional regular troops in 1846 the
Mexican war would have been brought to a close
that year, or have been far advanced. All the
valour in the world can't make young and inexpe-
rienced treops as effective as old ones. They suffer
so much in health that that alone is a serious im-
pediment to military operations. The Indian
wars in which we have been engaged have been
promoted by the smallness of our regular force.
I'Ve have never been able to keep the aborigines
down, or to fight them from the first with effect
when once they have risen. Our trained forces
have been frittered away in the early part of such
contests, and then have come militia, who have
done half the work at twice the cost of regular sol-
diers. The millions upon millions that were sunk
in the Florida war would mostly have been saved,
and the war itself have been ended in half as
many months as it lasted years, if we had had
experienced troops in numbers sufficient to have
crushed the Indians when they first showed
symptoms of a determination to rise. The Indian
wars that we are now carrying on, and in
which
we are losing not a few men, would never have
occurred, or would have been quickly concluded
if our standing army bore any proportion either to
our means, to the work required of it, or to the
position of
the nation. The victories won
in the
he
is t
.Mexican war were, in several instances, di
excellence of our artillery, and that an arm of the
service that is not to be improvised. It can be
brought to the point of great warlike
Buena
arlike efficiency
only .by long and diligent training.
Vista
would have been a lost day, and Taylor never
svouldlaee been President but for the admirable
practice of the American artillery.
darinc, then and
It is all well
and
; but they alone
exe7o,gdh
f,stpoiat.yale!dobfythtehevavlooluurn
would have done nothing. The greatly superior
numbers of the Mexicans could have settled the
matter with them if there had been no regular
artillery in the field. Such an arm ought to be
increased and strengthened, yet Government bas
done nothing of the kind since the conclusion of
the war—nothing, we mean, worth speaking of.
This may win for it the praise of men like Mr.
Bright, but it will not win the approval of the
4 American people,