The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-03-22
obtain tho information tha. the forts at Colum.

DuS
"Were SO located and constructed as to b
almost impregnablc to an assault by storm. Tn
capture Of one by no means involved the cap
ture of the balance. A fresh assault must b,
made in each instance. At the main fort, ant
many of the earthworks, stockades crossed th,
trenches, exposing the assaulting party to
storm OF bullets from ri1emen firing throngl
loopholes. Every ravine and ditch was thor
oughly protected, and the various approaches O
the river commanded for long distance il
every direction. 1t is sufficient to say, that-sr
unusually strong natural position was seized
upon, and SO improved by rare engineering skill
that the equal Of the Columbus Notifications, In
extent and perfection OF detail combined, car
hardly be found in the United States"
Another correspondent, describing the fortif
cations after the evacuation, says
The Notifications were strong-perhap.
stronger than any other in the Sonth--but they
were injudiciously constructed, and could not
have rtood an hours bomoardment by the gun
boats and mortar feet. The water battery stood
out in such relief from the bluff that a well
directed mortar shell would have buried it un
der hundred tons Of earth from above. There
were no casemates to protect the artillery from
the Calling fire Of seven gunboats i; and how
long could men, unsheltered, have stood con.
tinuous hail from twenty -one guns, throwing
eightinch shells'
it is we'll understood that Commodore Foote
was opposed to giving the rebels an opportuni.
ty to leave Columbus. He felt sure OF his abili
ty, with his gun and mortar boats, to shell them
into speedy surrender, but was compelled to
give way to counses of military commanders
When we couple the strategic position &C
quiled by our occupation of the Tennessee and
Cumberland rivers with the completion of the
mortar boats and the absolute command of the
river given us by the armored gunboats, there
remains no mystery about the evacuation of Co
lumbCs. The two arms of the public service
are equally entitled to the credit of frightening
the rebels from their strongest position on the
Mississippi river, if not the strongest in their
whole military Jurisdiction.
Yesterday the intelligence reached US that the
western fotilla, composed Of ten gunboats and
ten mortar boats had started for new scenes oi
conflict and to achieve, doubt not, new and
greater triumphs. The country is assared that
whatever can be accomplished by galiantry and
nautical experience will be performed by Com.
modore Foote and the brave officers and men
under his command We await the announce.
ment OF new victories.
have thought 1t proper, Mr.. President, as a
western Senator, in some degree charged with
the examination Of naval affairs by this body, to
bear this testimony to the worth OF that branch
OF the public service in the western campaign,
and to the noble deeds Of the Gag officer in that
command. No one can over-estimate their SER
vices to the country, and to the Northwest il,
particular and in the name of that great sec.
ton and OF the whole country l thank them,
one and all, officers and men.
But would avail myself Of this occasion to
accomplish another purpose. / am anxious that
the people of this entire country may feel tina;
the exploits of the Navy wherever performed
are their exploits, that its glory Is their glory,
and that while they are taxing themselves to
support it, they are supporting the right arm OF
the national defense. l desire the citizen of the
most remote frontier to feel that he is equally
protected ana equally honored by the brave
deeds OF our naval officers with the citizen OF
the Atlantic coast. I wish the men of Iowa and
Minnesota to know that they are as effectually
defended in their liberties at home and in their
honor abroad, by the achievements of Du Pont
and Goldsborough and Stringham and Foote on
the water, as they can be by any victories won
by our armies on the land.
Mr.. President, ours must be great maritime
nation. Heaven has ordained that it should be
such, and we could not make it otherwise If we
wouli. We have coast both on the Atlanti c
and Pacific oceans, which, with its numerous in.
dentations, is many thousand miles in extent oc.
crpied by hardy, nautical population, and
fanked on either side by soils and climates that
furnish the most valuable productions of the
globe, and which must be supplied to other ma.
tlons. On the north we have succession OF
great lakes already bearing upon their bosoms a
registered commercial tonnage of nearly half a
million, and navigated by race Of daring, in.
dustrious, northern seamen. Unlike any other
maritlna natinp 10 frav brp IL
rivers, thousands of miles in length, floating an
inland commerce unequalled by that of any 9th.
er country in the world, except, possibly, that
of China, and capable of navigation tby arm
ed vessels of great capacity. With country
OF such extent, u soil and climate furnishing
such productions, and population along our
ocean, guilt, bay, lake, and river coasts, accus
toned to navigation, who does not see that ours
must, from the very necessities of our geograph
ical position, and the conformation of our con
tinent, become great comm reial people? Oui
products must be borne TO remote nations in ouI
own ships, navigated by our own seamen, ant
protected wherever they may 60 by our vessel.
of war.
know not with whom originated the phrase
that the 'Navy is the right arm of the public
deiense;" but know that truer sentiment was
never uttered. In my conviction it will always
be in this country the most efficient and far the
least dangerous arm of the public service by
which to maintain the national integrity and to
defend the national honor. History teaches u:
that every nation that has depended upon ma
Wy for protection has been comparatively free
by the side of those which placed their reliance
upon armies. ! need not go back to antiquity
to prove this. point to Holland and England
in modern times. The former, while she contn
QH tn ha ha taof
the freest Government on earth, and only begar
to be shorn of her liberties and OF her terrific
ry when she neglected to maintain her fleets
England, the most liberal of all Governments
save our own, is in no small degree indebted 70,
her present position to the fact that she main
tains only small military force in the British
lslands, and relies upon her wooden walls as
means of attack and defense. She puts no faitt
in large standing armies, and will not until hei
people shall be prepared to surrender their free
dom. With her garrisoned possessions encir
cling the globe, her entire military establishment
does not exceed one hundred and twenty thous
and men. France, Austria, Russia, Prussis
maintain large standing armies on their soil; ant
in those countries the liberties of the people i:
measured by the will of the sovereign. The free
dom they enjoy is the gratuity of empsrcrs ant
kings; the servitude they endure is enforced b,
the presence of standing armies. The people o
this country can never accept the rights which
they enjoy ss the gift Of any being inferior Il
their Creator.
do not believe that anybody but the publ,
enemy has had anything to fear from the nu
merous and well appointed armies we hav
raised, yet no one of US Is prepared to say tha
with an army much longer isolated from hom
scenes and home ideas, concentrated in larg
bodies, and taught the duty Of. most implici
obedience, danger to our free institutions ma
not arise. No such danger can arise from tn
existence Of navy, however large, or howeye
commanded. Seamen are cosmopolitans. Al
ways employed and generally af1oat, they neve
become, as armies sometimes do, as dangerou
to friends in time OF peace as to enemies in tim
Of war.
might 60 on and show that, situated as a
of our large cities are upon arms of the sea O
upon navigable rivers. the Navy might be mad
more efficient in suppressing domestic Insured
tions, as well as in repelling a foreign invasion
than the Army. / might show, too, that, moi
withstanding what is said by professed statist
clans, the support of navy is less expensive, i
comparison with the service It renders to
maritime nation, than that of an army; but
shall not detain the Senate by attempting to ca
ter upon such an exposition at this time.