The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-26

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accordingly provided largo atsam force She
adopted the plan Of oonhiaing naval with =
mail steam marine, and under this policy she al
ready has some eighty ocean stsaiaera aaost.-
TO these she pays annually four millions Of dol
lsrs for mail service aud for the right Of con-
verting them, when wanted, to war purposes.
And this sum il refunded to her by the hostages
they yield. Hence, she obtains for q nominal
sum naval force, in the contingency Of war,
capable Of inaicting more injury on an ensmy's
commerce, than all the vessels that won the ma
val victories of her last great European war
when, ii she were 10 support such force AZ a
mere public naval establishment il would cost
hundred millions Of dollars year. In addi-
ton TO the naval mail steamers, she has, how
ever, for naval purposes exclusively, some thirty
steamers.
But France saw the importance of steamships
as well a. England, and started even with her
in their construction. But a. France was pos
sessed of but few foreign colonies or commerce,
she has been compelled to forego the policy of
combining mail with naval service. But she has,
nevertheless, built some sixty steamers for war
alone--a force which, considering the inferior
limits Of her territory, and its compactness,
land for ocean war, than she has been for the
last hundred years. France, then, is now, with a
standing army of over four hundred thousand
men, and with disciplined population Of three
millions Of soldiers besides, within two hours
of the coast of England--by steam England
more money and merchandise
are accumulated, than ever a poor and warlike
milton marched TO plumber.
Among the other elements of dangerto Eng
land, is enumerated the dependence of seven
millions Of people for bread on foreign countries,
which results from the preponderanco Of her
commercial and manufacturing population over
the agricultural-a preponderance said to have
been, and to be still more, augmented by the re-
peal of her corn laws. To this must be added
the dependence of SO many millions of her peo-
pie on foreign countries, and principally our own,
for cotton--with which to supply her factories,
clothe her people, and sustain her commerce.
It must beconsidered no viewer, that if she there
by becomes dependent on them, they do to a
great extent on her. And she has in this mu-
tual dependence and mutual benefit Of trade, a
strong guarantee Of peace, at least with them.
So it is, these and other considerations have
of late awakened the attention Of many Of her
most distinguished public men to her danger
The Duke of Wellington has insisted on the
augmentation of her army Notifications and
navy. And we observe that when Lord STANLEY
proposed as one of the conditions of taking the
ministry, that Parliament should be dissolved and
a new election proclaimed, the Queen refused
on the ground that the excitement of general
election would be dangerous, whilst so many
people would be congregated at the Worlds
Fair in London--and among them SO many So
cialists and revolutonists from the continent
These considerations are enough, certainly,
to excite serious and anxious reflections, not
only in England, but abroad. We are too for
getful that while political and geographical dis
tinctions remain between nations, modern CON-
merce has attained such magnitude and extent
that for many of the most important relations Of
society, the civilized nations of the world are
one-and England is the centre.
For ourselves, also, We confess that with all
her faults, yet kindred as she is to us in blood
in language, and in Institutions and united as we
are more than any other two nations, by COM
merce, we should prefer the continuance of her
political ascendancy in Europe, to the accession
of any other nation. She derives a large por.
ton of her food from the West and of the raw
material for clothing the world, from the South
and her fall, while it would bring ruin on the
whole fabric of modern civilization, would cause
revolution in this country only less momen-
tous than in her own.