The New York herald., 1871-12-18

tnat the worst is yet TO come. very e0o0.
The stocks Of coal In and ready for the market
will in any event secure US against another
coal famine The supplies on hand, for once,
ara too large for q corner in COAL
Standing Armies aud Nav,es Are We
Prepared for Wars
The prospective reign of universal peace
has long been cherished theory of philan-
thropists. With the advance Of Christian
civilization it has been anticipated that the
augmenting armament of nations, the in
creased facilities which science provides for
human slaughter, have been viewed as indica-
tions and adduced as arguments to datter the
hope that the instinct Of human strife, awed
by these accumulatlng terrors, might finally be
content to remain qulescent because no longer
daring to act. Years ago statesman Of
Europe said that ''this appalling increase Of
armament among the Powers is one Of the
surest guarantees Of peace" The military
history of the last decade forms curious
commentary upon the correctness of this
operation which, according to our Utopists,
were to hasten the advent of universal peace,
the earth was shaking beneath the tread of
contending hosts, and the annals of humanity
were redder with the record of carnage than
they have been since the commencement of the
century. Satisfied by this unsatisfactory ex-
perience, we may as we'll accept the conclu-
sion that human nature is human nature that
mankind will fight, and that Improvement In
the art of war merely enables US to decide
quarrels more promptly than with the clumsy
contrivances of antiquity.
Assuming, then, that Christianity and
civilization have as yet wrought no material
change in the disposition of the human animal,
who seems just as ready to use his claws as Of
old, 1t may be questioned whether nation
or its government is justified in ignoring this,
or in the omission of precautions essential to
protection of national existence. and which
mitigate, even though they may not avert, the
dread contingencies of war; For this is there
aught adequate except military and naval pre-
paration2, And is not this q national duty
Does not the government owe to its citizens
protection2 And is such protection anything
more or less than physical interpostion Of
strength armed with such weapons as render
it effective? Ifin 1861 our governm ent had
possessed military and naval strength appro-
pirate to- the magnitude and adequate to the
security of the nation, the rebellion might not
have occurred, or, If unavoidable, would cer-
tainly have been more speedily suppressed.
A war which lasted four years might have
ended in two, not half the number of men
would have been sacrificed, and our national
debt would have been limited to perhaps less
than oue-third Of its present huge proportions.
Preparation for war, then, is simply humane
precaution for preservation of life and mitiga-
ton of suffering national investment for in
creased assurance Of economy in expenditure
Of the nations blood and time and treasure.
The nation was not adequately prepared for
war in 1861, and wa p1id for the error most
dearly. Yet, untaught by or regardless Of
that terr ibae lesson, we deliberately duplicate
the blunders Of the past, and seem voluntarily
disposed to condition of national impotence
even moro miserable than that Of ten years
ago. With extended territory. increasing
population and enlarged commercial interests,
demanding greater capacity for exercise of
that power Of protection and restraint implied
in the very name of government, it is never
theless the apparent aim of legislation to di-
minish, as far as possible, this capacity, and,
in rendering the government practically help
less, suffer our nation to degenerate into
mere mob, incapable Of self protection and in
competent to self-control.
Afflicted with the traditional hostility to a
standing army" we endeavor to emasculate
that and, more than ever imbued with ignor-
ance of the use and purpose of navy, our
legislators appear content to permit its gradual
diminution to what will be soon equivalent to
about utter extirpation. Under mistaken
idea of economy we stint expenditure In our
navy yards, until much of the national prop
erty therein is damaged from neglect, and
thus, while blindly striving to save a few
thousands, risk in reality the loss Of millions.
Fine ships, after largo amounts have been
spent upon them, are left uncompleted to rot
upon the stocks, and, under the disastrous
policy Of building cheap vessels, government
work is farmed out to private contract with
the result Of producing too often, abortions of
naval architecture utterly worthless, or only
adapted to puzzle the seamanship and peril
the safety of those so unfortunate as to man
them. To protect our commerce and repre-
| sent the nation abroad our sfieets"
and ''squadrons,' as we term them,
are of such insufficient and pitiful
proportions that they are merely appropriate
travelling advertisements of our weakness,
rendering us contemplate In the eyes of foreign
Powers and causing our sailors to blush for