Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1863-05-09
The Failure at Charleston in its Behring's
Abroad.

Abroad.
From the New YoEz Ti1nssl
The unsuccessful attack upon Charleston IN
doubtsdly viii be hailed with great satisfaction
BIZ the ruling classes of England as Serious
damage to the national cause. This will be 2
mistake. Il is no damage 10 positive sense,
for little or no actual loss has been sustained.
We have only failed to gain, aud are simply as
wa were before, just as was the case with Eng
land in her Russian war, after the unsuccessful
demonstration upon Sweab0rg by Admiral Ma
pier.
But this failure has practical bearing upon
which the Eoglish Government viii have no
reason to congratulate ITSELF We mean the viz
tual demonstration Of the fset that any Amsri
can hslbOr may be putin such sts5s of defense
ls to absolutely defy tie combined fleets of Ell
rope. It has been q problem whether iron
mailed vessels csn Outnatch forts. We consider
it 10 be now proved that they cannot, if tia
forts have proper sUbsGueoua -ontworks fer the
purpose of o5strucrioa aad destruction. The
monitors ere the most Fl 'etive iron-1nailcd yes
ssls that have bsen built, aad what they failed
to do, 1t IS very certain that Gny European YES
sells would fail to do What has been done in
! Charleston may, on occasion, be done in any
other American harbor; and in fact. more easily
than there, for the principal forts Of almost
| every other harbor are newer aod stronger.
Therefore, it is practically demonslrste that in
case of foreign war, We can make cities on The
seaboar1 perfectly secure from damage.
This is g fact Of the highest moment. Were
we to have war with England, it would ba a.
most entirely defensive, save in two particulars
we should invade Canada, and should launch
hundreds Of privateerS scainst British c0m-
me1ee on the high seas. Oar 9efsHsiUs inviuci-
bility on the sesbosTd established, a. it now Is
By the developments ct Charleston, there is left
no room or doubt bat that England would pet
the worst of it in the struggle
As for CGnsda, Il is admitted thst it cannot
protect itself The population of al the British
provinces is but about thrsa millions, extending
over breadth of more thsu 3 thousand miles.
They are unsecustomad to the use Of arms, aud
have little or no miitaryspirit, as the ridiculous
failure of the volunteer movement, in every
province, abundantly shows. A dsteehnent Of
seventy thousand of our vptersns might march
through the whole hesrt Of the country without
serious impediment The mother country would
be powerless to preven. il. Lord Palmerston,
in his speech on the defense of Canada, At the
time of the Trent difficulty, avowed plainly
that the twelve thousand sent to that colony
were the most that could possibly be spared !
The British army is one Of the snsllest Of En- [
rope and what there is of it is mainly enprossad
in the protection Of possessions on tho other side
Of the globe. Whatever the pressure, It cannot /
be materially enlarged. The difficulty which /
England bad in supplying her rank and flo in 4
the Crimeas and which prompted her 70 try for /
eign snlistmsnts at the risk even of a war with I
the United States, is now fresh in the memory
of all. From all time sha has felt that
difficulty. She hired Hssaians TO fight Us in
the Revolution, and her wars with B0uaparts
were carried ca mainly through the soldiers Of
subsidized alias. she has not the resources the
continental nations have in their systems Of
which enable them 90 increase
their standing armies, on short notice, 10 any
required figures. Sha ceaDot enlist troops in
other lands, as.e7ery European nation now has
its laws against foreign enlistmsnts. The re-
suit Of all this is that there is no power On
earth, Of any pretension, that is weaker, in a
military sense, than England and that it would
be utterly impossible for hfr to hold Gambia
against an invasion from our Northern States
England could no better protect her com
msrce- There is probably fall SIX hund ed mill
ions worth of British merchandise now aAOat
We have the swiftast clipper ships ever knO Wn,
and s multitude Of them, all Of which would
require but triiing operation 20 be converted
into the most effective pTivEteeFs the world ever
saw. The rebel urivatsers Alsbama and Flor
ida, furnished By England, have in their brief
career despoiled American commerce to the ex-
tent of ct least one hundred millions. This fur
nishes excellent dsta for reckoning the length
Of time which British commerce could hold out
against 8 hundred equally effstivs vessels Il
can be safely put down that within six months
Of the commencement Of war with England, /
every commercial keel OF that nation woald be
swept from the.two oceans.
Therefore, if we should bs forced into was
with England, which we do not anticipate
for she well understands her interest-ar the
prime elements would be in our favor. Whsts
shs needs 70 prOtect-nanlaly, her colonies and
her commsree-she could not protect. What
we need to Professionally, cur sesboard
cisies-wo now know that we can protect As
to outlying provinces. we have mono. As to cur
commerce, that is already suffering about as
much Is It can suffer, because of the Anglo
rebel .privsteers, sll of which injury works cor
benefit to EDgIish eornmarcs. In1
the present condition Of things, England must
lose Immensely by war; We comparatively
nothing.
England could give no material cid 10 the
rebels She is net now giving. She could not
send troops to the Confederaey, for shs neither
has them, ner can get them. She could not