The New York herald., 1870-05-10
what is Nation withoa. Navys

'rVH iuolViuuais, VINO, no matter now comiorE
able and happy they may be on comparatively
small means, are never satisfied until they are
on an equality If not ahead of the society
around them. When q nation has made itself
great In commerce, In railroads, in public
buildings, In literature, and in the arts, 1t has
the elements Of strength but il 1t has no mill
tary or naval power, it cannot be respected
like other nations of equal pretensions. Its
citizens having amassed wealth flock to for
eign parts, as ours do now to the continent OF
Europe, to spend among strangers portion OF
the money they have accumulated. Although
they may be treated with courtesy, on account
of their wealth, they find that there is GER
tain kind of Difference they do not receive
viz, that accorded to representatives Of a ma
tion not powerful only on account Of the ele-
ments above mentioned, but on account of its
fighting or aggressive power, which will always
command respect in all parts of the world
Whatever may be our military power-and
we have had proof of its greatness-it does not
extend beyond our own shores. 1t is manifest
that our power is more than ample to protect
us from invasion, and we know that any foes
would but leave their bones to bleach upon our
shores. This fact is not, however, felt beyond
the limits of our own country. Foreigness
abroad see nothing that indicates the actual
power Of the United States. They get sight of
our national vessels SO seldom that they ma
turally infer that we are no naval Power at all,
and judge that, no matter how large
an army we can raise, it would be
Of little utility against any other country
without navy to cover and protect it.
Mexico can raise large armies, yet what
nation respects or fears her, for she has no
navy9 What would the army of England be
without her navy? No one would fear it.
What hordes of soldiers the Chinese and
Japanese can raise, yet who fears them ? And
how easily a few heavy ships of the European
Powers keep the naturally lawless authorities
of those nations in subsection. While the flag
of England or Of France Is in sight on those
Asiatic coasts there is no fear of an outrage
being committed on the subjects of either
Power, while the prestige of their armies car
ries no weight whatever, because 1t is known
that they cannot reach those shores without
great trouble and vast expense, and would
then be opposed by immensely superior num-
bers.
1t is, then, after all, navy that indicates
the power of nation abroad No nation can
be great that is not powerful in commerce,
agriculture, railroads, literature and the arts,
for in all these lie the resources from which
large navy springs. We have all these
resources, but yet we are not powerful
nation in the actual meaning of the term for
we have not the quality of self-protection.
We cannot at moments notice redress an
injury or demand reparation for an injustice to
our citizens who may be oppressed abroad. We
have resources which in time would enable us
to take measures to redeem our honor, but it
would require SO long to do it that the merit
would all be lost In the meantime we should
suffer in the estimation of the world as man
would in the estimation of society who spends
year practising with pistol before chal-
lenging person for palpable insult.
When British subjects were imprisoned and
ill-treated in Abyssinia Great Britain never
stopped to count the cost. She had the power
already at command, and 1t cost her but little
more to put it in motion than to keep it lying
idle, and she at once proceeded to relieve her
subjects, who but for this timely aid would
have fallen victims to the brutality of a savage
ruler. What would the United States have
done under similar circumstances We should
have talked bombshells and grapeshot, and
after getting few canal boats ready and spend
ing year in preparation we should have set
tied down to the conviction that we should
not make demand that we were not capable
Of enforcing. We are pretty much in that
condition now. Was there ever nation that
had greater grounds Of complaint against an
other than we have against England? She
inflicted on us the greatest injury she possibly
could. She destroyed our commerce and de-
prived us of one Of the great sources Of ma
tional wealth. She sent her fleets upon our
coast during the rebellion to protect her sub
jects and to see that we complied strictly with
all the laws of blockade, and that it was not
like many Of her own blockades, ''paper'
affair. 1t was humiating to us to see the
heavy ships of our ancient enemy sailing in
among our extemporized men-of-war, instruct
ing us in our duties and cautioning us how
we invaded any of the rights of the British
lion. Here was England looking after hel
commerce-her great source of power. Law
less as the business was in which her CONNER
cial vessels were engaged, England was true
to her traditional policy of protecting them al
all hazards. They were only permitted to b.
molested in cases where their violation of al
law was SO palpable that England
herself, from whom the laws emanated
could not interfere without drawing down upor
herself the reproaches Of all mankind. She
did, however, protect and encourage he
commerce in its efforts to help the rebellion
II. r., ~ :,