The New York herald., 1870-04-14

wnicn emahaseS Sno majority OF the 5nips Oi
the world the great. monetary centre, never
loses sight of her navy, and increases it in pro-
portion to the advance OF her mercantile
marine To England is the world indebted for
| all that is progressive in naval architecture !;
while with infinitely greater resources than
England ever had or ever will possess we lag
| far behind when we should have long since
taken the lead. Half the great tele-
graphic cables that now cross the ocea n
would never have been laid but for
that wonder of the age, the Great East
ern, which, although pronounced at one
| time commercial failure, has now become In
| dispensab,e when submarine cables are to be
laid. The English no sooner fail in one enter
prise with the Great Eastern than they adapt
her to another and when the business Of lay
ing cables is finished she remains the most
stupendOus ram for war purposes in exis-
tence, and could run down the largest ships
on the ocean without scratching her paint
work.
| Another stupeldous undertaking has just
been brought to successful termination in
Engand-viz., the sending Of a great iron
floating dock to the Bermuda Islands, those
barren rocks that stand as sentinels over our
sea coast, watching our every movement and
prepared at any moment to send forth from
their reef-protected harbors force of iron
ships to hurl destruction on our defenceless
sea coast towns. The arrival Of the dock at
Bermuda is very suggestive. England means
to be prepared for contingencies, and In
this successful movement has made the
Bermuda Islands the most important
naval station 81 ta6fe1 coast Of North
America Of course at that point all the
British war vessels sent to the North American
station will assemble, and in case Of war the
dock will insure repairs to vessels disabled in
acto2, or It might indeed, be t2wed into one
of the outlying harbors Of our coast, any one
Of which could be taken and held by foreign
foe of any naval pretensions
For fifteen years we have done nothing
towards increasing the number of our naval dry
docks, and our vessels-of-war in Boston and
New York have in many instances to depend
upon the docks belonging to private individuals.
If Congress should be asked to appropriate
million of dollars to build such an iron dock
as the Bermuda the applicants would probably
be denounced in committee as akin to mad.
Many Of the Congressman who would be ap
pealed to would not know the use of dock, and
would doubtless inquire, as an amiable old sea
dog of a Secretary of the Navy did some years
ago in reference to floating dock, ''How many
miles an hour can she make under steam, and
who commands herr"
This successful experiment Of sending out
the iron floating dry dock Bermuda is but the
beginning of the end. In short time floating
docks will be sent to all the British islands in
the West Indies, to Honduras, and wherever
else Great Britain may hold jurisdiction.
While we are letting slip an opportunity to
acquire on the most easy terms the finest har-
Dor in the West Indies, which would be an ad-
vanced protection to our coast and commerce.
and from which we could dominate over all
the British merchant vessels passing through
the Caribbean Sea, England will be surround
ing us with iron ships and iron floating docks
ad i.fnstum. It is a reflection upon the
intelligence of the nation that we cannot
foresee from the past what is to be the policy
of Great Britain in the future--viz., to
cripple our commerce and get it into her own
hands, as she has always done with those
nations that she could crush with her powerful
navy. The effect of one or two rebel cruisers
against our commerce has not been unobserved
by the British authorities, who see in the
doings Of those rovers lesson they can put
in practice when the great conflict takes
Ill. inknx totr
Great Britain and the United States.
We have claims against England that we
cannot give up unless we are content to stand
dishonored before all the nations of the earth.
We cannot commence hostilities with that in-
significant little State of Venezuela, as has been
proposed in Congress for some comparatively
tr6ng claims when we let England go scot
free for injuries that have almost destroyed us
as commercial nation. We have yet to
meet Great Britain on the ocean in hand-to-
hand fight that will decide whether or not we
are cit to hold the eminent position as a naval
Power that we claim for ourselves, and will
also decide whether or not we are at liberty to
extend our domain in this hemisphere. The
latter question has already arisen. Mr. Thoru-
ton has lately notified Mr.. Fish that according
to the Clayton-Bulwer treaty we have no right
to acquire territory outside Of our present
limits, ana that our treaty with Colombia in
regard to opening ship canal across the
sthmus, claiming exclusive rights for America,
is in contravention Of the former agreement.
Now it remains to be seen whether or not we
will succumb to Great Britain in these matters.
If we do not we must build up a navy. The
transportation Of that great iron dock to Ber-
muda is suggestive of the fact that Great
Britain intends to remain some time in the
Western hemisphere, and will lose no oppor-
tunity to strengthen her position here. We