Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1845-03-31
DEFENCE OF THE LAKES.

Lieut.. Maury has published an able ar
tlcle on the subject. of Lake Defence, in
which he shows what Great Britain has
been doing for the las, ten or fifteen years
in that quarter. Under pretence Of car
rying out system Of internal improve
menis merely for the accommodation of
Canadian commerce, she set about connect
ing the lakes with the ocean by means of
large ship canals the largest on the CONT.
nent. Through these canals she can now,
liz case Of war. cover The lakes with all the
light forces Of the British navy. The
writer then proceeds to consider the ques-
ton OF the best channel bv which we can
send a naval force from the sea 10 the
lakes. He proposes the purchase Of the
Illinois canal, now for sale. He saws:
"When completed on the scale Of the
Welland and Ridcau canals. it would give
us the same supremacy and advantage on
the Western ,akes tina, Great Britain now
has in the Eastern. She can approach
them from the sea, and we cannot; with
the Illinois canal equal to hers, we could
approach the western lakes from the seu.
and she cannot. We could therefore meet
her at lens, halfway, and dispute lake as
cendancy with her, and have many natural
advantages in our favor. The latitude Of
the Rideau Canal is 45to; The extreme
northern point of the Illinois is about 42o
more than 200 miles difference of latitude
in our favor We could, therefore. in case
OF war, commence the assemblage OF Il feet
on the lakes at least month az six weeks
earlier in the spring or later IN The fall
than she could. which natural advantage
would be sufficient Of itself to turn the scale
in our favor.
1.-The completion of the work upon
scale commensurate with the objects in
view, the connecting the Gul: and The
lakes 10y steamboat navigai on. is an i'm
portant link in the system Of general de-
fence. II is grea. national work upon
which, in war. the integrity Of our soil in
seven States entirely depends, and one
upon which the great western valley itself
must mainly rely for safety and defence
therefore run up The large flag, md 60
for terrifying them with 'moats and ditch
es,' instead Of parapet and WALL
The great Interests which arc 10 be pro-
teciel are shown briefly in the following
paragraph
'OLr lake commerce already equals, and,
in year or two more, is likely TO exceed
in value TIE whole foreign commerce Of all
the ST les put together. For the safety,
security and defence of the latter, millions
upon millions have already been expended.
For the former, not as much, all told, since
the war, as is annually voted for The seahoafd,
under the head Of army and navy bills. -
There is the difference, too, between the
lakes and foreign commerce. Most Of the
latter is on foreign account, and much of it
is carried on in foreign bottoms. All ofthc
former is on our own account, carried on in
American bottoms by and among American
citizens, and between the States of the Un-
ion. If, therefore, we should be prepared
to defend and protect either in time Of war,
surely the claims of this, for defence, arc
stronger and more eloquent than argument
can make them. IF we can give fen or
twelve Millions every year On account of
coast defences and the protection of our for
eign commerce, surely one moieiy of tbs
sum might once in thirty years, be allowed
the West for its dcfences."