The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1847-07-26
The Progress OF stesm-I"oresse or the
English steam Navy.


contributor to Biacksoood's Edinburgh Ma
gasins, in writing on the subject of ocean steam
navigation, says that the use of steam is yet so
palpaby in its infancy yet that infancy is so gil
gsntic that it is equally difficult to say what it
may yet become, and to limit its progress. 1t
will have the one obvious advantage to mankind
in general, of making the question Of war turn
more than ever on the financial and mechanical
resources of people, and thus increasing the
necessity for commercial opulence and intelec-
tual exertion. And again he says England is
at this moment building two hundred steamships,
with guns Of calibre to which all the past were
trifling, with room for reg iment of land troops
besides their crews, and with the known power
Of defying wind and wave, and throwing an
army, in full equipment Tor the heid' "i'hih
few days ON any coast Of Europe.
These were the sentiments OF an able Eng
lish writer Just two years alter 1t was conciu-
siyelv proved that the ocean could be safely ma
yicated by steam vessels-conclusively, we say,
because several voyages between Great Britain
and America had been made successfully, and
the problem solved beyond contingency. And
vet. within that short time, we learn that the
English government, so eager to possess them
selves to the fullest extent of this tremendous
discovery, was building two hundred steam
ships, "with guns of calibre to which
all the rest were triling, with room for a
regiment of land troops, besides their crews,
&c, &C., and with the known power, &C., &c,
Of throwing fully equipped army on any coast
in Europe, within few days" Such was the
pronlptitude with which the British government
undertook to avail itself Of this great discovery
in modern warfare.
The English welLknow that their strength lies
in their navy, and that without that, which they
term " their wooden wallis" they would be COM
paratively defenceless. 1t behooves them, there
fore, to be alive to the propriety, nay, absolute
necessity, if they desire to preserve their
power, Of turning to advantage within the
shortest time possible, every discovery which
the advancing progress of science may make
in every thing appertaining to naval war
fare. While in the height Of her power she was
the enemy of every nation, and as a consequence
The hand of every alton is raised against her,
and it needs but an opportunity, or a coalition
TO be formed am one the nations whom she has
wronged, to crush her. This she knows full
well, and knowlne 1t she is augmenting daily
the means of defence in which she has always
relied, and with which, let the truth be told,
she has been SO wonderfully successful. That
she is aware of the necessity of augmenting this
means of defence, and that she is doing it,
we have already shown. The last news
we received from thence informed us that
the keels of several additional vessels of
immense tonnage had been laid, and
that preparations were being made to add still
more steam-vessels to the navy. We cannot but
admire the foresightedness of the English cabi-
net, and the perfect propriety of their determine
ton to not only maintain their naval strength,
but to augment it in every way practicable.
But let us enquire what the United States OF
America have done in this respect. Let us en-
quire what we, who are destined ere long TO
rule the MAN, have done towards en-
creasing our naval strength to such point
as would enable us even to keep dominion in
our own seas. Nothing, orr next to nothing.
To be sure, Congress at it's last session.,
voted appropriations for building twelve steam
ships capable at any moment of being converted
into formidable vessels of war, and the govern
ment previously built half dozen, more or less.
But allowing all this, what have We done to I'M
prove the advantages which steam ocean naviga-
ton opened to US, and which have been so stri-
kingly used by Great Britain At the very time
when our politicians were clustering in the halls
of Congress on the Oregon question, and absurd
ly speaking Of our invincibility, our ports would
all in the space of three months have been
blockaded by force against which we coult
not have commended without steamships
What would have been the consequence if wal
had occurred on the Oregon question Why
In proportion to the extent and magnitude Of the
English navy, and our own, we would have been
worse off even than we were in the war of 1872
And what would be our condition now, if wal
broke out between us and Great Britain on the
Mexican business I! At peace with the rest OF
the world, she could send to our shores fleet OF
steamships that would be irresistible. We are
obliged to say irresistible, no matter how humli-
ating 1t may be to our national pride. 1t may be
said, and to certain extent truly, that our mer-
chant marine could be armed and made service
able in an emergency; but of what service would
1t be if our ports were blockaded by the enemy Z
As the truth must be told, we have not availed
ourselves of the advantages that have been placed
within our grasp by the success of ocean steam
navigation. We have looked listlessly on while
our old and powerful enemy has been augment
ing the only she possesses Of injuring, US in
case Of war between the two countries-a con.
tingenoy which is likely to happen at any mo-
ment. She processes great friendship towards
us while we are supplying her revolution
airy weavers with cotton, or feeding hel
starving millions with CORP; and were i
net for the blight in her harvest las
year, we are not sure but that for the sake, a.
she pharasaically says of preserving the peac,
of the world, she would not have entered into
an armed intervention between us and Mexico
Her friendship is not to be trusted. Sooner o.
later, a war-a war of principle, to be maintain
ed by physical force, and one which will turn on
"the financial and mechanical resources OF a
people"-will be waged between us and England;
and while she is always ready to strike a blow
at the moment when it is necessary, it becomes