The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-18
AMERICAN INTERESTS AND THE EURO
PEAN WAR.

which has yet been given of the incapacity
and lack of forecast of the American Govern
ment in its present hands was furnished
by the disregarded message of Presi-
dent Grant on the war which has so suddenly
broken out in Europe. General Grant is quite
right in supposing that we are in no state of
preparation for the great emergency which
has arisen in the affairs of nations. It is to
be regretted that in conjuncture so momen-
tous we have a President who does not COM
mand the respect of his own party In Con-
gress. The sighting estimate in which all
General Grants opinions and recommends
tions on public affairs are held is a fatal i'm
pedimekt to his usefulness, aud to the weight
of the Government in its international in
tercourse. His views are so habitually con-
temned and repudiated, that if a crisis should
arise requiring prompt executive action,
either in the assertion of our rights or the
protection of our interests, the uncertainty
of foreign powers whether the executive
would be supported by the people would cast
on air of infirrsity over our Government at
time when it ought to maintain an attitude Of
imposing. strength.
Congress was not perhaps very far wrong
in the contemptuous treatment 1T bestowed
on General Grants message. 1t was doubt
less absurd to expect Congress to mend the
errors and omissions of whole session, and
of long series of years, by hasty improm omptu
legislation at this late day. If Congress had
complied with the Presidents wish and pro-
longed its session, it would have got into an
inevitable wrange, and adjourned few days
or weeks later without reaching any conclu-
sion. 1t is impossible to extemporize a
commercial marine and an adequate navy.
The decay of our shipping and the useless
ness of our public vessels is the consequence
of years of neglect and mismanagement;
and years will be necessary for regaining our
lost strength and prestige on the ocean.
These subjects have engaged much attention
during the session, but the discussions have
served no other purpose than to disclose the
incompetency of Congress to devise any
remedy. 1t would be idle TO take them up
again and make new display of the same
hopelessly dissentient ignorance If
this Congress acted on them under the stress
of sudden emergency, its action would be
hasty, rash, and crude, and be likely to cause
more mischief than it would prevent
Nothing is therefore lost by the contemptuous
disregard which Congress has shown for the
Presidents wishes.
But General Grant is clearly correct in
his feeling that the country is in no state of
| preparation for the exigencies incident to
great European war. We, of course, do not
expect to be drawn into the struggle. Our
policy is strict, impartial neutrality; and in
| this view the crazy inefhciency of our navy
| is of little immediate consequence. But we
are in no condition to reap the advantages
of neutrality. If we held the same maritime
rank which we did in 1860, the abundance of
our shipping would render European war
between two maritime nations great harvest
for American commerce. The merchant ves-
sells of France and Prussia are exposed to
capture and confiscation by the ships f-war
of their enemy. The war, by crippling their
commerce and raising rates of insurance,
will throw great amount of business into
the hands of such neutral nations as possess
| the means of transportation. In former wars,
we have enjoyed the full advantages of our neu-
trail position, and have been among the chief
carriers of the commerce of the world. In the
great Napoleonic wars in the early part of
this century, we laid the foundations of
our subsequent maritime greatness by the
profitable employment given to American
merchant vessels by the interruption of Eu-
ropean commerce. In the present war,
Great Britain will monopolize the ad-
vantages which we should share with
her if our Government had not blindly
ruined our shipping and reduced us to abject
dependence on foreign vessels even for our
own trade. Without ships for the transpor-
tation of our own merchandise, we are of
course in no condition to profit by our neu-
trality, and grow rich as enterprising car
riers fors. other nations. While we have been
occupied in expressing and humilating the
South and keeping alive the exasperating
controversies which ought to have closed with
the civil war, our maritime Importance has
dwindled under the blighting effects of bad
legislation, until our improvident Government
is suddenly awakened to a sense of national
loss and insignifcance by the shock of a
great European war.
Our navy is in a state of dilapidation al
most as humiliating as the destruction of our
mercantile marine. 1t has recently been con-
fessed in Congress, by committees who have
Investigated the subject that the money
lavished on our navy for the last seven or
eight years has been misapplied and wasted
and that we have very few ships of war fit for
ocean service. When other nations are at
war, we cannot afford to be weak Our
security against trespasses and insults de-
pends upon our ability to infiict prompt
chastisement. The proper attitude of our
Government is one of vigilance and conscious
strength. Instead of this, we are in a posi-
tion of conscious and (since the Presidents
message) proclaimed weakness.
The interruption of industry on the Cont
nent, the waste of war, and the bad harvests
which have happened to fall this year, will
create a demand for our productions; and we
have strong interest in keeping open the
channels of commerce and preventing any
infringement of the rights of neutrals. We
cannot afford to hold these rights at the mere
mercy of other powers; but our naval weak
ness in this conjuncture subjects us to that
notifying necessity.
These are among the heavy penalties we
pay for intrusting our Government to dema-
gogues and fanatics instead of statesmen
capable of appreciating the exigencies of ma
tional life, and possessing the foresight and
wisdom to provide for them.