New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-28

can dor This is an exceedingly strohs
statement, and it seems possibly little exag-
gerated. We have ships which. if not strong
in defence against the powerful guns now car
ried by vessels of other nations, might prove
able to cripple or destroy with the ram or with
torpedoes, if not by well directed shot. Stll IL
is substantially true that any of our seaDoard
cities could be destroyed by foreign heet WIN
little risk.
General Franklin discusses the reasons tor
public indifference to this state OF things, but
does not clearly set forth the one which Is per-
haps the strongest. The country is not as olS-
tant from possibly hostile nations as 1t was be-
fore the general use of steam at sea; 1t Is not
protected, as it once was, by the mutual jealousy
of European Powers; and the controversies
with Spain in 1878 and with Chill in 1881 have
shown that war might come upon us without
much time for preparation. Years are required,
as General Franklin says, to build ships and
forts and modern guns. Nor could we hope TO
use effectively the latest and most powerful
devices of warfare, if we had in the country
neither officers nor men trained in their use.
Our great sense of safety has one substantial
foundation, however No foreign nation will
90 to war with the United States without con-
sidering that, sooner or later, this nation can
put forth tremendous power. AT the outset
we should be almost helpless on the seaboard,
it is true. But our fast armed vessels would
soon destroy the commerce of any hostile
nation. Then swift ships armed with the
torpedo would soon be prepared to assall and
destroy even the most powerful iron cads.
Before long we should be in position to assail
in its colonies or dependencies nearly every
other foreign Power, and finally to send large
armies to distant points. In the end, any ma
ton at war with the United States would have
to measure strength with fifty millions of people
peculiarly gifted In invention, skilled in the
arts, able to command vast wealth, and united
by patriotic feeling In such struggle there
is no other nation that could expect to escape
terrible losses in the end, even though it might
inhct losses also. Then the lesson of the civil
war has shown the persistency and endurance
of the people. Once begun, war would be
likely to last until the hostile power had been
exhausted for no other nation would attempt
to invade and conquer the United States.
foreign Power will not lightly begin struggle
that can hardly be expected to end in any sub
stantial advantage to that Power.
There Is one other source of security which
cannot well be estimated. The governments
of most other nations are exposed to revolu-
tionary outbreaks, which a conflict with the
United States might hasten or render more
dangerous. Refugees from every land are
here, embittered against their former rulers,
and qualified by speech and knowledge for con-
spiracics on foreign soil 1t would not be easy
for n hostile government to guard itself against
these secret pl0ttcrs If this nation were at
war with France, Germany, Spain or Russia, 1t
would not be many days before RcvOutioniStS
Socialists or Nihiliss would seize their Oppor-
tmity. Without encouragement from our
Government, or its cogn7ancc, they could still
do mischief. Before foreign Power engages
in war with the United States, it will consider
these things. Remembering that the struggle
must be long, costly and burdensOmc, particu-
larly to a nation largely dependent, rs we are
not, upon foreign commerce, that the people
wonld naturally be rendered more restless by
heavy burdens, and that no care or cunning
could wholly prevent American emissaries from
sowing seeds of revolution, any foreign nation,
however powerful, will hesitate to make war
without strong reason. The burning of few
seaports would do no good to any hostile
Power nor would it in any degree affect the
final result of the struggle. But it would only
make the people of this country more deter
mined and persistent. Our safety lies in the
fact that no foreign nation can hope to gain
ANYTHING by war with the United States, but
even the strongest must count upon serious
sacrifices and risks.