The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1876-06-11
BLsM1RCK'S CREAT70N OF Il NAEdL
POWER. STt


cations that new naval power has arisen
in Rarope. The outrage Rt Salonica, for In :
stance, was straightway followed oy the
oucentration of German war ships IN
Turkish waters. A little earlier we were
informed that a Prussian squadron would
cooperate with the English in sweeping pi-
racy from the Chinese seas. From time to
time we have had ocsasion to chronicle the
presence of cruisers under the same dag in
the South Atlantic, the Indian, and Pacific
oceans. This is an aspect OF blsmarck
achievements to which attention is seldom
directed; yet there is ground for believing
that within six years from the present date,
the Prussian navy will have little to appre-
bend from war with any maritime state eX :
cept Great Britain.
Since Blake, colonel of infantry found
means to cope with Van Tromp and DE
Ruyter in the narrow seas, the development
of naval cheney has been nowhere 30 ao-
rupt and noteworthy as in the empire
moulded by Prince Bismarck. Prussia,
fifteen years ago, had not a single fortified
port of large capacity, not one nrst rate
chip of war, not an inch of territory on the
German ocean. At present che possesses
two naval areenals, which may be fairly
impaired with ToulOn and Brest, coast
line of nearly eight hundred miles on the
Baltic and North seas, armored vessels OF
the greatest sze and effective strength
known to modern warfare, as we'll as the
material and organization essential to q
maritime power OF the fret rank. Much of
this is the work of less than decade, and
as yet the plans of the Chancellor have
only been executed in ontline.
During the Seswick- HOlstein war of 1854
the insignificant navy of Den mark had been
able to blockade the whole Prussian coast
and to paralyze German commerce. The
scheme of maritime defence, however,
prompted by the national humiliation, fail
ed to take any substantive shape until after
the battle of Sadowa. In 1867 the sum OF
thirty eight millions of dollars was appro :
prated to the fortification of harbors and
the construction of a fleet. At kiel on the
Baltic, one of the safest and most capacious
ports in Europe, and at Wilhelmsbafen, on
the German ocean, works of great magnl-
tude were Immediately begun ; and by
1870 these were 80 far advanced that the
French feet, as is we'll known, deemed It
inexpedient to attack them.
The naval force contemplated by the
same subsidy comprised ten armed frigatt 8
of the first class, ten turreted monitors,
and certain number of torpedo boats tor
coast protection, besides fourteen sloops-
of-war to serve as cruisers IN foreign
waters. Even before the funds were voted,
some of these vessels had been ordered
and launched in England, and the charac-
ter of their armament will indicate the
general efficiency of the new feet. Thus
the KONG Wilhelm, of 900 tons, is veri-
table HoatlbR IoFtlessS calEyiuS NWon'y
three pieces W hich launch balls of three hun
dred pounds weight. The Kron Prinz and
Friedrich Karl, of 500 and 1000 tons re-
spectiveiy, are equipped with rited can
non of Prnesian make, whose projectles
weigh two hundred pounds. These SO
called frigates are little inferior. to the
stropgests iron ships of the line in the
British navy, and in like manner the ar
mored corvettes rsloops- of war might t1tly
be compared with English frigates.
Three years ago, when the national re-
sources had been augmented by the Frenct
indemnity, the German navy received fur
ther expansion. At the suggestion of Bis
marck, the Reichstsg voted to increase thu
number of first class plated ships from ter
to fourteen, that of torpedo boats from sil
to twenty. eight, and that of sloops of-w
from fourteen to twenty. An additiona
grant of twenty ak m liions of dollars wa
accorded for the purpose, and it ls to b'
noted that these sums are exclusive OF tn
annual naval budget, amounting to tw'
and half millions and applied to thu
maintenance of ninety vessels OF low grade
mounting some fifteen hundred guns. 40
cording to the plans submitted by th
Chancellor, and now actively carried for
ward, the whole dAet above outline'
should be ready for service before the yea
1882.
With unstinted nnIlay the creation OF
navy may be only The question OF feV
years, but the organic alton of a competen
naval service is a slow and arduous under
taking.