Morning journal and courier., 1881-06-22
Wednesday Morning. June g. 1881.
OUR DEFENCELEss CONDITION.


 Owing to the comparatively isolated situa- ton of this happy country it is not exposed to such danger from foreign aggression as some countries are. But the world is not yet unwarlike enough to make it certain that we shall continue to be left in peace A quarrel between this country and some other powerful one might easily arise. If it did arise and should become serious, we should. in the present condition of our armament, be compelled to undergo humiliation of the national pride or enter into contest at great disadvantage. We could not well de- fend our shores or make any attack. An enemy could anchor one or two of the great war vessels now in use by other nations a few miles from any of our great cities on the seacoast and knock it to pieces without let or hindrance. We have no forts provided with effective artillery and no war vessels which can compare with those owned by various European nations. We have, it is true, some torpedoes, but they would not be effective against war ships with cannon throwing i'm mense masses of iron from safe distance of six or eight miles.
 A glance at our inferiority in the matter of war ships is instructive and not reassuring. Since the war we have constructed only thlr. teen new ships, and have for the most part been content to expensively patch up the old ones. The result of this policy is that out of ninety-five ships of which our navy, exclu- sive of sailing ships, is now made up there is not one which. in the opinion of competent seanlen, is really fit to cross the Atlantic. Only four of these vessels-the Trenton, Els sex, Vandaha and Adams-are equal to the task of making twelve knots an hour without slowing up to rest. The average speed of our iron-clads is eight knots an hour. The all-round speed of the British navy is thirteen knots an hour and unceasing efforts are be ing made to raise the standard. England for fourteen years has been building war ships at the rate of twenty thousand tons a year, and all the other great European na- tions have been following her example as nearly as their means have allowed. We for the same period have constructed less than two thousand tons yearly and all unarmored. Including sailing vessels, we have in all but 142 ships, and 48 of these cannot fire gun. A year ago Great Britain had 531, France 226, Russia 223, and Turkey ITO. Great Britain had S1 ,447 men doing naval duty, France 5O.517, Russia 3O, O39, Turkey 5000 and the United States s. 6S4. In addition it may be stated that we have less than 25O guns in our entire navy, and of these less than 40 are rifed,e the rest being antiquated smooth bores.
 It will be seen from the above that we could not ''sweep the sea- to any great sx- tent if occasion for it should arise. And we | are quite as badly off, if not worse, in the l matter of land armament. It does not seem l wise to allow this state of things to continue l The government can now easily get money | enough to remedy it. We should at least | have some effective war vessels. Our present | defenceless condition does not add to our l importance or safety in world which has | not yet stopped fighting, and is not likely to | soon.