The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1882-03-10

distinguished naval officers and the
house committee, it was argued thai
"our escape from war with England
during our late war, was due to prepar'
atoms promptly set on foot for sending
out swift cruisers to sweep British
commerce from the ocean," and thai
now 1.-The construction of swift, power
full cruisers is warmly advocated as a
most effective measure, for preserving
peace between this country and Great
Britain, and, at the same time, the
construction of torpedo boats and the
most powerful iron clads for the pro-
lection of harborS." This reads like
the talk of some juvenile debating
club, or game of make-believe
among less grown children; yet such is
craftsmanship in our congress. That
conservative England would have
liked to join the south against the
north at the crisis of our late war, and
help break up the American union,
there can be no doubt. 1t was natural
and reasonable that it should. But
there are no south and north now, and
that she was deferred from attempting
it then "by preparations promptly set
on foot for sending out swift cruisers. "
is singular reason for requiring the
government at this time to build and
permanently maintain a fleet of "pow-
erful cruisers to preserve The peace be-
tween this country and Great Britain. +"
Armaments are not necessary to pre-
serve the peace between this country
and Great Britain. Tafy will do it
better if it should fail to preserve it.
self. But there is just as much danger
of any disturbance of the peace be-
tween this country and Great Britain
as there is of disruption in the bowels
of the earth, and no more. So, too,
the idea ofrequiring powerful iron-clads
for the protection of our harbors is
merely the unreason OF the statesman
ship of our time. The moral force
which is exerted by our people, is pro-
lection enough among enlightened ma
tons, and, among others, the knowl-
edge of our ability to use physical
force will be as salutary.
Whenever this government proposes
to adopt a policy SO aggressive asto be
likely to unite against it all, or the
most formidable of the European pow
ers it will be wise, as a precautionary
measure, to build a great navy, and
prepare generally for great war. In
the meantime there is no other reason
apparent for swarming the sea with
swift cruisers and torpedo boats, and
steel -clads, than a mere sense of
grandeur, or doing as other nations are
obliged to do for self-preservation.
No single nation, nor any inconsider-
able number of nations, is going to
make war upon this. If such COM
bination were possible, or adequate
cause for it could arise, the elements of
which they are composed contain too
much of the leaven of ours to be avail
able for that use. We want in reality
only navy enough to prevent small
transgressors from tresspassing upon
our rights, for only such will venture
to do it.
But there is, underlying the prin-
ciple that seems to be most assiduous-
ly working and gaining strength in the
republic, a reason perhaps for not
building a great navy. This principle
which, by the natural operations of a
law of mind, is daily merging the rights
and privileges of the people and
their confcderated states in the