The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1874-06-04
The Navies Of the LeadIng Powers.

IN Ine house OF commons, England, on
the thirtleth of April last, Mr.. Childers, in
course of debate, repliedtoa speech of Mr..
Ward Hunt, by a long and elaborate de-
Tense of the naval administration of the late
government, (se says Reynolds Newspaper,
published in London +, ~.,s.f.-,.-r
Appealing to the committee for indul-
gence on the ground that, though many
attacks had been made on HIM out )f the
House, and in his absence, he had never
before had an opportunity of replying in
the. face of parliament, he. denied en-
phatically that his navy estimates had been.
affected by political iderations, and laid
before subcommittee a mass of official sta
tistics relating to the naval expenditure of
the last seven years, which, he maintained,
established saving of nine millions by the
late government. Next he related the
achievements of the board of which he
was the ahead-the consolidation of
the admiralty departments, the reorganiza-
ton Of the dockyards, the Encouragement
of the foreign squadrons, of the coastyard,
and of the retired list-and vindicated his
ship building programme, especially the
laying down of the Devastation and her con-
sorts. Passing to an examination of Mr..
Hunts representation of the condition of
the navy, he maintained that there was no
foundation for the alarm which he had ex-
pressed, and that at the utmost we were a
couple of ships or so in arrear., he said
that the whole question as to the state of
our fleet was a relative question. Hear,
hear. It was impossible to lay down any
narrow Jaw for the fleet of this country,
armed or unarmed; but they must look from
time to time to the force which was kept by
other nations. Hear According to the
I iJtss1se.i slIU cos5ll r1CndaIl-5i 'tiFe
navy of that country wasrof ironclads,
broadside and special twenty besides
nine broadsides and four not broadsIdes in
course of building. There were only eight
French ships, however, built and building,
which could compare with what we call our
! first-class ships, of which we had eleven
built and four building. Hear. There
fore our strength in frst-class ships
was nearly dopPle that of France. An
except q nine of Thea French = ships
weFe.s woodelsarmOnedf vessels. The
French estimate for this year was little
over five millions sterling, while our esti-
mate was $e1O, 100000, or just double that
/ of the French. Turning next to the &C
counts of the United States, he found from
the report of the Secretary of the Navy in
4 1873, that the navy was then deemed to be
in a most unsatisfactory condition! This
report contained enclosures from distin-
guished naval officers, and of these latter
Admiral Parker complained OF the slow rate
of the American ships, which wasoniy foul
knots, against fourteen and fifteen knots
made by the British The feet Of GFeAi
Britain, this writer says, was the most form
idable IN the world and never was betteI
prepared for active service than at present
/ Il was, in fact, capable of resisting the
Fcombined navies of Europe Even the
Turks and Persians were better OF thar
America, which had not single ship build,
I ing. Commodore Rogers stated that the
fpubllc doclcyards Of the United States were
inferior to- those of Mr.. Laird, at Birl1en,
/ head j Inlthe As4nydnd Ndcg Journal of New
York similar statement was published bJ
4 Commodore Parker. The Russian navy Al
/ present contained two sea-going ships, tive
of inferior designg and two small ships. Ii
addition to this they had six second-elasG
broadside ships and were building two OF
three, including the Peter the Great, which
would be on the scale Of the Devastation
The German fleet consisted of one ifrst-clasi
seaagoing ship, two second-class, and q. few
turret and other ships building, making
nine altogether. Austria had ten ironclads,
cased with very thin iron, and Italy tire,
ironclads, three building; and . few morI
which she was very anxious to dispose Of
If we7were 50 strong in comparison witt
4 foreign naTies in 1870, ia what condition
1 were we1nowl 81 Hear, hear. he should
4 with all modesty, state proposition
knowing that itfWould beeriticised By thosl
towhom criticism was not disagr able--anC
It was: That 81 within twenty hours
we should become entangled IL . war with
the three principle maritime powers, even i
I they had allies aAd We went towar withou
( allies, we should be able to hold our own Il
fthe Channel, nthe Mediterranean, in th,
Chinese and colonial waters2 Hear, hear
In six months We should have cleared thl
ocean Of our enemies' commerce, and Il
twelve OF fifteen months no hostile ship o
war couldsput to sea without the ceftaint,
Of being Encountered bya. vessel Of superio
force. 9cs - r ~