The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-04-14
EVANSVILLE, IND.
European Navies.

France and England are making rapid
aud large additions to their navies, and both
appear to be preparing for contest for the
supremacy of the ocean. For several years
past there has been great activity IN tne
French Navy yards, and an extraordinary
interest has been manifested by Napoleon IN
the improvements in marine artillery. HI
fed cannon of five and six miles range and
great weight of metal, have been adopted.
The rapid increase in the French navy has
awakened the fears OF jealousy of England.
The First Lord of the Admiralty, in re-
cent debate in Parliament, announced that,
if England gauges herself with France in
naval power, she must at once increase her
naval force to protect the interests OF peace"
Tor the British Admiralty Lord declares that
abe is convinced that England, to be peace
full, must be powerful" In his opinion,
England could increase her feet in year to
equal, if not exceed that of France. The
French Emperor has been silently but per-
severingly adding to his naval armament
till he has got ahead of the English, and
seems to be resolved, after getting the ad-
vantage, to keep it. Both parties fully con-
ceive that their weight in the political affairs
of the world depends upon their power on
the Ocean.
The naval power of France is an unnatu-
raj creation of her government, and must
be sustained by artificial and extraordinary
means; that of England is the natural
growth of the pursuits and industry of her
people; her navy is the offspring and ap-
pendage of her private mercantile marine,
and the attempt of France to supplant her
upon the ocean will be as futile as the
French efforts have ever been to maintain
colonies and create a large foreign COM
merce. It is not in the genius of her peo-
pie.
Louis Napoleon is building iron and steel
clad ships made impenetrable to modern
improved artillery; and England, as soor
as she learnt this new mode of construction,
ordered experiments upon its powers of en-
durance, and Immediately began to build her
ships with their sides covered with iron and
steel plates four and half inches in thick
ness
Both parties appear to regard with su.
preme indifference or contempt the small
number of frigates that compose our naval
force. But they may learn that the real
power to rule the ocean resides not in the
ships and guns afoat, but in the resources
and skill to create them on demand, and in
the body of seamen that can be called to man
them upon an emergency. As we'll might
they judge of the military power of the
country by our mere skeleton of a standing
army, as to estimate our naval power by the
few ships in our navy. In an emergency
that should arouse the energies of the ma
ton, the United States could create and man
feet in a twelve month that would annihi-
late any navy that France could force by
her unnatural efforts for hall century, in
to being, from the ocean, as completely as
the artificial naval creations of the First
Napoleon were swept from the ocean,
Between England and this country, the pre-
ponderance of naval power-which is here
after to be the supreme power among the
nations of the world-is to be determined
by the relative growth of the commercial
navies of the countries. 1t is a victory to
be achieved by peace; and calculating the
future by the past achievements of our citi-
zens, we can patiently and calmly bide our
time.
When the English statesman, Mr.. Golden,
after his first visit to this country, wrote his
remarkable pamphlet upon the destiny of
America, in which he predicted that in
thirty years from 1929 American tonnage
would nearly rival that of Great Britain,
the prophesy was received as an extrava-
CANT dream. But time fulfilled it. In
thirty or fifty years hence, American COM
mercial marine will as far exceed that of
England, as the latter did ours in 1929.