The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-09-24 00:00:00

Sept. 24, 15-44•

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of strength to an arm of the service on which may devolve
the duty of supporting the honour of the English marl
in any future war. And although we are far from desi-
ring that any opportunity for such a display should soon
occur, yet when we look to the present aspect of the poli-
tical horizon, and read the deliberate opinions and pre-
vailing sentiments of those by whose opinions and senti-
ments the probabilities of a continental war may be en'
hanced, and its terrors multiplied—when we see theme
coolly calculating on the possibility of subverting our
power by the multiplied resources of steam navigation,
and determining the issue of a campaign by some dexter-
ous stroke of piratical tactics,—it certainly does grata
us to find that the present government has not been
wholly indifferent to the efficiency of that peculiar force
to which the avowed policy of our prospedtive invader!
has already attributed the faculty of deciding internationsl
controversies in the shortest and most summary War'
We trust, indeed, that their warnings may prove as
necessary as their predictions false; and that the pip
of Europe is in no danger of being violated by theblitn't"
ders of wrongheaded subordinates, by the zeal of b°
headed propagandists; or by the truculent ambition of !
reckless faction. But we know that there is no method
at once so effective and pacific of demonstrating the fad"
lity of their predictions, and the emptiness of their gas"
conades, as the possession of such an armament as tbdl
themselves affirm is adequate to cope with all the neeeli
shies and fulfil all the functions of a great and power'

navy.
While, however, we cannot help applauding this
in-
crease in the numbers and efficiency of its war steamed'
we would at the same time once more impress upna.w,
country and the minis ry the conviction that no Unir
should be lost in placing the other departments oi 0°
marine establishment on a footing of corresponding maci
nitude. We may rest assured, that should it be our
fate—and we may say the ill fate of Europe—to be 111•
volved in a continental war, the great conflict which Eng.
land will have to wage must be determined on the sea.;
and that the question of maritime predominance or mail'
time subjection—the question which England would then_
be forced to decide—in a word, the question whether sb
should abdicate her dominion of the seas or not--01
under no circumstances be decided by any number 0
steamers, however skilfully constructed, however WWI
built, however cleverly managed, or completely rnanneul;
No ; the masterdom of the ocean must depend—a";
hitherto has depended—upon the bulk and body of bet
sailing ships—their breadth of beam, their solidity of COn;
struction—and, more than all, on the native courage 0'
those who man them. As heretofore, the fate of a great
naval battle will depend on the combined science, gal-
lantry, and coolness of the officers and men—upon
the
tact with which the line is broken, or the dash with which
the enemy is boarded. No new invented mode of inva-
sion will prove a successful substitute for these old and
approved resources.