The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-08-15

po teheFod from tle pressure OF taxes Dy even the
temporary suspension Of the dividends upon her
debt because the debt being domestic the dividends
are the chief support OF million, and the sole sup
port OF not less perhaps, than two hundred thou
sand OF her own subjects, who have no alternative
between those dividends and famine
And now, sir, mark the preearous condition Of
her colonies, independently OF all danger from the
ambition of her rivals. Those dependencies are in
number, Il speak upon British Official authority, }
beside the United Kingdoms, no less than seventy
an aggregate population Of one hundred
and thirty millions Of souls, Of whom bui ficO mil
lions aad fraction belong TO the white European
race, and all the mighty balance Of whom, having
been subdued by her arms, and exasperated by OPP
preston, stand ready 10 revolt upon the first pros
poet Of success. OF these two millions and half
OF European whites, all, sir huadIsd thousand
only, are TO be found in her North American pos
sessions, leaving but The latter number scattered
through, and TO keep In subeetion, the whole resi-
dive OF an hundred and osnis eight millions of human
beings, whom she has reduced 10 her sway through
out her other colonial dependencies. What a specs
tacle is here One-eghth part of the whole race Of
man held in subsection by the presence Of less than
million Of strangers, and by the terror Of distant
government, itself menaced with destruction, both
by civil discord and ambitious neighbors. Can such
a stale Of things long exiS1 Impossible. Nature
admits not Of such disproportions. ...
On the other hand, what colonies have we TO de-
fsndi Not one. Her empire, composed Of frag-
ments separated afar from each other, and all from
the parent isle, "environed with wilderness OF
seas, and beset with every variety Of danger pre-
senis nothing but one vast image Of distended inn
beeility. Our republic, on the contrary, great in
extent, yet compact by the contguity Of its parts
freed from the presence Of dangerous neighbors
and covered by a contented people, exhibits on
this side Of the north pole, what Russia does
on the othsr-a power, by its magnitude, for
nhdabe TO all, YET from position, sssaiable by
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navy greater relatively to the necessity for its USE
than hers; because, whilst hers must be scattered
wherever she has colony exposed, ours has but
one shore to guard, and thai shore lined by million
OF armed men, who, in defending it, defend their
own homes, families, and laws.
So true, SIR, Is this my conclusion, that when, by
her refusal to evacuate Malta she had violated the
treaty Of Amiens and provoked renewal Of the
war with France-when, in consequence, her soil,
yes, her very being, was threatened with invasion,
and when, in this extremity, she was compelled to
cry aloud for all her to defend her-yet even
then she was unable TO collect into her own channel
naval armament equal To that which her great enc
my had found means 10 create and TO bring into that
channel within the three years after the destruction
Of the French navy at the battle Of the Nile. il
was then, and for that reason, England called back
to her aid her minister, Mr.. Pitt IL was for
that reason that he, Immediately upon his second
accession TO power, demanded Of Parliament and re-
C6lNcQ, OF Twelve OF QOltarS,
service fund, with which he subsidized the half
Of Europe into coalition against France, and thus,
drawing off Napoleon from the channel TO the field
Of Austerlitz compelled him there to battle instead
Of upon her own soil, for the empire of the world
Nor would this have saved her from after INVASION
but for the fortune of her heroic Nelson at Trafal
gar, where he destroyed the new navy of her enc
my.
But, sir, il is said by everybody, and believed by
the houghtless, that steam navigation has increased
the relative naval power Of England This deny,
and affirm, on the contrary, that 1t has diminished
that power, first, by dispensing with one-half the
seamen hitherto required for the direction of the
same amount of maritime Forces and secondly, by
rendering England herself more assailabe from the
continent than she ever was before.
Sir, the naval power of nation depends upon the
number of its seameD, and that upon its commercial
navigation. Conscriptions, in France, enlist.
ments, as in England, volunteer enroments as with
us, may promptly bring armed men into the field,
whom single campaign will perfect in all the dis
ciplinc of veteran soldiers To do this nothing but
money, and the authority OF regular government,
are required. Not with seamen. They are to
be created before collected together. No money,
no public authority, can man fleet upon the sud-
den outbreak of war, If navigation has not provided
seamen before. The half of lifetime spent in the
experience of the winds and The waves is essential
to the production of these. IT. therefore, the be-
ginning of war, nation has but limited COM
merce, the number Of its seamen must be limited,
and limited also must be its means of manning a
navy. Under the old system, therefore, the great
Of England over others in commerce and
gave her corresponding superiority in
that description of force which nothing but COM
merce and navigation could produce. If, for in
stance, we suppose, what was really the fact that
at the commencement of the war which followed the
peace Of Amens, England had foreign commerce
four times greater than that of France, she was for
that reason able to man a navy four times as large
as her enemy. Nor was it in the power Of France,
had she possessed four times the revenues Of Eng
land, to have that disparity Of naval power
because money alone could create no seamen; and
because, in all the world beside, there then not
enough, had she enlisted them all, to give her
naval equality with England. But under the new sys-
tenn, this state of things no longer exists By the aid
of steam in navigation, one-haf the seamen hitherto
required to direct given amount of floating force is
now a-suficent for the same object. And now, there
fore, nation, having of her own but limited COM
merce and number of seameD, may supply the de-
fciency from the navigation of other countries.
This she can do, because, whilst the aggregate Of
the worlds commerce and seamen has been greatly
the aggregate demand of war, for that
description Of men, has been diminished at least
one-half leaving surplus, above the acquisitions Of
war, still TO the peaceful pursuits of commercial
fact which must greatly lessen the
former Interruptions occasioned by to the COM
mercial intercourse of all nations. Ii follows there
FORE that England has lost half of that relative
at sea which she before enjoyed over 9TH
er nations by her superiority in that description
of force with which the money of others could not
then, but now can fully supply them.
But again: have said that steam navigation had
diminished the relative naval power Of England,
also, in this that it had rendered her more assail-
able at home. This, too, is equally applicable to
the whole of her colonies. For it, as have shown
her relative power at sea has been so diminished,
TO that extent are diminished her means of selfde
fence as it is upon that description Of force alone
that she must rely against the dangers Of invasion
Yet this is not all; for, aided by steam, her enemy
on the continental side Of the channel may now Sc
lect his own hour of the night for the passage
may make it quick and in silence, regardless of
those winds and tides which formerly rendered
such passage impossible for large armament,
without daylight publicity, and infinite peril
These were the circumstances which compel
led Napoleon, even after all things were ready,
to hesitate and postpone his attempt, up to the
when the advancing armies Of Austria
and Russia drew him off to the continent
And sir, it was an incident nowise unworthy
Of remark, that an ilustrious counuyman of our
own, Mr. Fulton, about that very time, suggested
to Napoleon the idea Of steam navigation, an idea
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