Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-04-12
Our Navy.

Our Navy.
We have before us the Navy Register of
the United States for the year 1855. At the
time the Register was prepared we had ten
ships of the line, with eight hundred and
seventy-two guns. These ships are all at
home in the different ports. We had thir-
teen frigates with six hundred and fifty-six
guns; twenty sloops of war with four hun
dred guns, four brigs with twenty guns, seven
first class screw steamers, all on the stocks,
each with fifty-one guns. Besides these, we
have some twenty-five or thrsosmali vessels
Of various sorts p-----.---~u
We are great believers in an economical
administration of government; that is to say,
that government funds should be so employ
ed that the nation, and notspeculators, should
get the greatest good out of them.
But we are no advocates of niggardly ex-
penditure on matters of vital concern, like the
navy.
The Navy Register makes rather beggar-
ly show, when we consider that We are
The greatest nation
In all creation"
We have one naval school, when we ought
to have at least six.
The Atlantic coast of the United States is
nineteen hundred miles in length, without in
Guiding the extensive seaboard of the Gulf
of Mexico, and the shores of our great lakes.
The Pacific coast is sixteen hundred and twen-
ty. Such is the immense expanse of our
country exposed to hostile aggression.
In proportion to our commercial marine the
navy of the United States is the smallest in
the world. 1t is said that we have something
less than one gun for every thousand tons OF
commercial shipping; while Great Britain
has six. But the commerce Of Britain is no
larger than our own. She could, therefore,
protect her commerce, as we'll as we could
ours, and have FIVE guns for every thousand
tons of her shipping, to turn against us. II
we employed our navy for the defence of oul
coast our commerce must perish if for the
protection of our commerce, our coast must
suffer.
The Journal Of Commerce of April Sd, gives
the following lamentable statement Of the
present condition of our ships
The Navy is. by the way, in an i'll condi-
ton for war, or even for peace service
There are now eight or ten old line-of- battle
ships which are useless, in their present con.
dition, but which might be raced, remodeled
and made serviceable. Our steam ships OF
war are, for the most part, Inefficient, and
even untrlstworthy for long passage, or fer
heavy gale of wind, with coal aboard. There
are no despatch ships in the service. 1t i
unfortunate that Congress neglected to adopt
the recommendation of the Navy Department
for the construction of more steamships Of
war;"
Statesman Of all parties have agreed, with
singular unanimity, on the propriety of fos-
tering the navy. Among the numerous tes-
monies we select that of General Jackson
in his Farewell Address, because the great
majority of his countrymen have long ago de-
cided that he was man too wise to be wrong;
too good to deceive:
"Our local situation, our long line Of sea.
coast, Unidentified by numerous bays, with
deep rivers opening into the interior as vel
as our own extended and still increasing com.
merce, point to the navy as our natural means
of defence. 1t will in the end be found tc
be the cheapest and most effectual, and now
is the time in a season of peace, and with an
Overlooking revenue, that we can, year after
year, add to its strength without increasing
the burdens of the people. 1t is your true
policy, For your navy, will not only protect
your rich and hourishing commerce in distant
seas, but enable you to reach and annoy the
enemy, and will give to defence its greatest
efficiency by meeting danger at a distance
from home"
Mr.. CALHOUN, who suggested the use OF
steam frigates in 1916, gives the following
testimony to the importance of the navy:
The Navy is the most safe, most effectual
and cheapest mode of. defense. Our navy
costs less per man, including all the amount
of expenditures on the lakes, than eur army.
We have heard much of the danger of stand
ing armies to our liberties but in what in
stance has an admiral usurped the liberties OF
his country A naval force attacks that coun-
try from whose hostilities alone we have anv
thing to dread, where she is most assailable, and
defends its own where it is weakest. Where is
Great Britain most vulnerable ? In her COM
merce, her navigation. Here she is not only
exposed, but the blow is fatal. Where are we
most exposed On the Atlantic line-which
can be defended by navy alone"