, 1862-02-03

EXPOSURE Of the Lakes III the EFe0s
Of t5AT.
Tie Icnls.u Timex Of the it!s thinks that in
casc Of !. war with tic United States, Canada
wou::i lie attacked By sea instead u land, and
1n:;n,ains that the policy OF England would
be to carry on q naval warfare on tl1s great
lakes, dcyastatiD. tic towns on their shores
Ti:trr cult be no doubt "lat the duly Of Con-
gress il 1T this matter, even with the prrsent
improved aspect Of adsirs- Our luics should
lc 1T u:arc put in Situation Of strong defense
rs a prcparl;t,n Of What nay come i'll the
cy4n nts IF tie future:
In tlc eeent Of :, rerewa! Of such hostJi7ties
US we're terminated By tic treaty Of Client,
there wou1d be renewal, Of course of 0peEt-
tons on these inland seas, for tho command Of
the water xhiei. separates Upper Canada from
lig Federal territories woEld b. equivalent to
: command Of the field It bccomcs, there
fUrc, i question Of great interest to ascertain
how this superiority is likely to be deter1nln-
cd, anh we publish this morning detailed
stattment Of tie various conditions by which
the result viii be governed. It Will be seen
that the matter divides itself into two periods,
for ENGLAND. Up to the month Of April next
the lakes may be regarded as inaccessible froDa
tic sea, and, therefore, whatever force is crc-
atcd there must be created on the spot The.
Americans could build and LAUNCH their gun
boats and their rzlfts, aud SO conld we.
Not much could be done. probably, on
either side, as all the vessels must be extern
poriZed from materials actually at hand. On
both shores there are railways leading up to
the waters edge, but tile Americans hare the
the critical points, and Saekctt's Harbor,
their arsenal on Lake Ontario, is an estah-
lishment for Which we have DO match. Still,
timber Is plentiful; guns, munitions anu
steam machinery could he transported By rail-
way; and SO widely has the country been civ
ilizcd since the lust war that some Of the most
important towns Of the Federal States, such
as 1iilguukee and Chicago, A9es rixen on The
SA0Tes Of these remote tca{e7s and are c0Izxc
qnently exposed to The attacks Of ou; sgua9sons-
The risks therefore, arc divided. and the oI'-
portunities Of 1n1ietiug mischief are divided
also. It may, perhaps, be admitted that Tor
the next three months the Americans, being
more numerous and powerful than the Cana
dians, might succeed in placing On these in-
land seas a larger notilla than could be
launched i'll the same time By the colonists,
but it must be remembered that this tiot1Ia
must in any case be rudely extemporizcd and
that eartlworks, Judiciously constructed and
well armed, would suffice for the cfTectna1
protection Of thc menacea points against snch
feeble assaiants.
'tAs soon, however, as the St Lawrence is
opened asain there will be IN end Of our diff
! Guilty we can then pour into the lakes such
| 4 Aect Of gunboats and other craft as will give
| US the complete and immediate command Of
I these waters. Directly the navigation is clear,
| we can send up vessel after vessel without anI-
restrictions, except such Us are imposed By
the size Of the canals. The Americans would
| have no sueh resource. They would have no
access TO the lakes from the sea, and it is i'm
| possible that they could construct vessels Of
any considerable power in the interval that
| would elapse before the ice broke up. With
the opening Of spring the lakes would be ours,
and il the mastery Of these waters Is indeed
the mastery Of al, we may expect the result
| with perfect satisfaction. On the whole,
therefore, tue conclusion seems clear that
| three months hence the tiell will bc ill our
owD, and that in tie meantime the Americans,
| if judiciously encountered, would not be able
| to do US much harm''