The Arkansas banner., 1845-06-11
From the Constitution. TO THE PEOPLE OF THE LAKE COUNTRY, AND MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
NO. VI.

In every country, natural feature and geo. graphical position exercise an important bear ing, if they do not control the character of military preparations. No one would think of using cavalry in the mountains, infantry at sea, or ships upon dry land
 Bounded on the north by the Great Lakes, we are separated by them from the most powerful maritime nation in the world: now spreading out into inland seas of great im- portance, then contracting into narrow chan nels, they border upon six or eight States and Territories of the Union, and give to our chiefrival line ofinland navigation extending along the confines of these States for more than 20 degrees of longitude.
 The Lakes, in times past, have been made the theatre of important naval operations; the ! improvements and military preparations on the other side, which are going on now, and for years have been, give us to understand, plainly enough, that Great Britain, in case of another war, intends to lay out her strength upon the water there with strong arm. The heaviest blows that her sweden walls" can give, will be aimed at us across the Lakes.
 Y You are to be attacked there with ships, and
 with ships must you be defended. If not,
 the Lakes will become to you closed British seas.
 Where are the ships to come from? To
 talk of building them after the war commences, , and under the guns of such fleet as Englan could send through her canals from the sea, appears to me to be downright hardihood; and the more so, as there IS not building station belonging to the Government in the boT I o1- r. ic i1la tn thp St. Lawrence is narrow, our guns could shoot across 1t; and therefore as 1t is the dividing line for some distance between the two coun- } tries, we could command the passage of 1t. It Is idle, for there Is not single fort on the river from which this may be done. And if there were, it would make but little difle- renee; for Great Britain has taken the pre- caution to open another ship channel to the ; Lakes, wholly within her own provinces ; With what, then, shall we meet her? With ; ships, we say. But where are the ships to ; come from? You surely would net think of
 giving the Lakes up to her till you could build fleet to cope with hers? Mo- If she l have ship canals, you must have the same; ; and in the event of war, you, too, must get your ships from the sea, from the rivers. ) from the navy, from any quarter ill which ' you can find them already manned and equip r ped This brings me to consider the best r route for the proposed ship canal.
 For carrying on naval preparations, for } collecting together your forces, and making ; ready, you want some place that Is conven- r tent for supplies, and out of the enemy $ } reach; and yet near enough to overlook him. , Just such place is Lake Michigan. Look l at 1t on the map; there, pendant from the } great northern chain, this important and val
 uabe fresh water basin, like miser's bag, close-draWn at Mackinaw, hangs down into f your very midst. Twice the size of Erie and Ontario together, this beautiful sheet of !, water is perfectly mare clausum.
 The Straits of Mackinaw are narrow, and may be rendered mpregnable. Forlify them : they are your Gibraltar. Tap this Lake with ship canal-it is your Mediterranean : Erect your naval magazines at Chicago-this
 IS your Toulon. Do these, and Lake Michi- } gan becomes ':emphatically our own sea- } where no flag can enter except the s'Stars
 and Stripes" Here, then, is the key of the l Lakes, your pathway to the British provinces; the place at which, in war, our forces are to be collected, and from which our expeditions against Canada are to be fitted out and to sci
 sail.
 It is part of this system of defence that
 the snag boats on the Western rivers should
 hereafter be constructed, so that in war, they
 may be converted into armed cruisers Il
 has been proposed also, and hope the pro- position will be carried out, to have the mails
 carried in boats of like construction. The
 size of all of them should be regulated by the
 capacities of this ship canal. Having them
 and the canal thus. suppose there were al
 Chicago a naval depot properly supplied: ill two or three weeks after the commencement
 of hostilties, these vessels, together with as ) many light steamers as the navy affords
 amounting in all to a fleet of some twenty or
 thirty sail, could appear on Lake Michigan
 in complete order for action. Following
 these, would come, crowded with men and
 munitions of war. as many river boats as the
 wants of the nation could require. Entering
 this Mediterranean, they would then serve as
 transports, and might sail, immediately-il
 the rivers St. Clair and Detroit were impas-
 sa6te-as they are not-lor N Nottawasca Bay.
 and the invasion of Canada. Disembarking here, an American army of Western marks men, would be in the heart of the enemv's country, in the rear of his strongholds, and
 within one or two days march of Toronto.
 on Lake Ontario. Now threaten Montreal
 with Eastern militia, and amuse the enemy in
 tront-with his attention thus divided, Upper
 Canada must fall. The peninsula thus be-
 comes ours, and we have clear passage into Erie, If not into Ontario also To say the
 least, successful manGuvre of this kind
 would give us complete command of the Lakes and the entrances to them. With the ship canal, our resources would be such as
 to make success certain. With the Mssis-
 slpPi Valley to draw from, by reason of it's
 facilities for the transportation of military
 iorces-ts numerous rivers and their multi
 tudnous water-craft, such an expedition as the
 world never saw, might be assembled throuob
 this canal upon Lake Michigan. Cnsar,s
 peni, pidi, Vici, would scarce serve to de. scribe the despatch with which it would over- run province and return in triumph.
 Look at the map: the Eastern waters of Lake Huron reach within 20 or 30 miles of Lake Ontario. A straight line across here
 from one Lake to the other, is the natural
 boundary of the United States. It was never