National Republican., 1883-11-21


mixed up in commercial enterprises, but
should such calamity occur, most OF
the fast steamships of Great Britain would
bo withdrawn from commerce and armed with
heavy batteries. In such n case, how
long would it take for steamship like the
Oregon or the Alaska to overhaul and cap
ture small Commerce destroyers ~
In adopting policy for building up navy
in the future great care should be taken that
we do not fall back upon the construction of
a small class Of vessels, as seems to have boen
the policy since 1865. There is no use of
building vessels like the Kearsarge, either to
defend the coast or as cruisers, for they can
not accomplish any weighty result. As it is
universally admitted, and the action of the
inspection board proves this, that We have no
navy either for oifenso or defense, don't SEQ
why congress should not appropriate literally
for an immediate increase Of the navy, as it
did in the time of the late civil war.
We are'now, in fact, in rs bad condition
as we were at the breaking out of that con-
fict though then we could conform to the
laws of nations, by buying up every old ferry
boat and rattle trap that could mount gun,
and using them to blockade the southern
ports.
If Spain, the least formidable of maritime
nations, went to war with us tomorrow she
would sweep our gradually increasg com
merce from the ocean, by setting a6oat the
large swift steamers she could buy in
EurOpe, anu VIC COuIu uOb pTeNenb III. OuT
vaunted home squadron" and tho six tugs
which one of our statesmen declared n great
auxiliary to our naval force, would retire
under Sandy Hook or the friendly guns of
Fortress Monroe, and be obliged TO look
quietly on while we were being despoi led,
unless they chose to add to the laurels of the
| despoiler by offering themselves up as a sac
ritlce to satisfy public sentiment.
This is not an overdrawn picture, it is
| simply O statement of what is liable TO
| happen. In the end we would no doubt got
the better of our antagonist, but would that
| satisfy the country for a commerce destroyed
or repay our people for ravaged coasts and
burned cities, for, with all the new appliances
for destroying human life and property, tho
horrors of war are likely to be greater than
| anything we have ever imagined. With the
| private workshops we have in this country
we could build twenty large ships in two
| years. How much better would it be for US
to go to work and build set of vessels for
the immediate wants of the navy. The argu-
ment that we can go on improving by build
| ing few vessels at time is a poor one.
At all events, let us have vessels with speed
and guns enough to enable us to hold our own
against any power in the world. Don't let us
stand in the eyes of the world as nation of
shopkeepers without sufficient patriotism to
be willing to spend q fair portion of our
enormous revenue to protect our vast domain,
which has resources superior to any other
| country.
What pitable exhibit for country like
this is the report of the chief of engineers of
the army, who states that there is not one of
our ports that has any defense against even an
enemy of very inferior character. l know
| this to be The case from my own observation,
| for there is not harbor in the country where
an ordinary ironclad cannot pass the batteries,
choosing their own time for so doing. So it
appears that our army defenses are in the
| Icat natn nf 10
therefore, indispensable that both should
forthwith take new departure to insure that
effectual protection to our countrymen which
they have right to demand.
The personnel of the navy should be fixed
on permanent basis, and not changed SIM
ply because few officers are left unemployed
through no fault of their own. 1t takes
year or two to build ship of war, but it
takes q number of years to make first rate
officer, who has to study continually to keep
up with his profession and undergo eight
| examinations before reaching the grade of
! rear admiral.
The system of condemning such vessels of
war MS required an outlay of 20 per cent. for
repairs is wasteful one, and ought to be
abandoned. Forty per cent. would, in my
Judgment, be more reasonable limit, and by
adopting it many vessels might be saved to
the service until we are able to build q real
navy.
No navy can be maintained economically
when ships are condemned because the re-
| quired repairs amount to 90 per cent. of Their
cost. Under this rule in few years all the
ships in tho navy would disappear, and be
purchased by some of the small republic OF
| South America, where painted and pate he'd
up. they would run for years.
/ recommend that no ship be repaired until
she has been carefully examined by the board
of inspection and survey now established by
law, the amount of repairs to be limited to
the amount recommended by the board.
The Alarm has been the subject of much
criticism and Misrepresentation and as she is
an experiment to try the different types of
propellers and steering machines her charac-
ter has been misunderstood, but she is to-day
for her size, the staunchest, fastest, and
heaviest armed vessel yet constructed any
| where
do not hesitate to assert that had we kept
up our navy to the standard of our once
rapidly increasing mercantile marine we
would have to-day nearly rs many merchant
vessels upon the ocean as Great Britain.
When l speak of our unprotected coast ]
refer to our lake coast as well. In case of wal
between Great Britain and the United States
it would be comparatively easy for the former
to get possession of all the lakes, and, with
her powerful navy, lay our cities under con-
tribution or destroy them.
For this reason we should pay proper atten.
tion to our deienses on the shores of the
great lakes, The dangers threatened here
appeal directly to our representatives from
the west. There is no reason why we should
not commence to build on the lake shore one
or two of tho heaviest ironclads with pow.
erful guns) Of good speed and impervious to
the heaviest shot There is every facility for
constructing such vessels on Lake Erie, and
one such ship stationed near Buffalo, could, in
case of threatened hostilities, drop down tc
the mouth of the Welland canal, and with
shot and shell demolish the entrance
docks, &C., rendering the work useless fol
naval or military purposes. Even should a
vessel succeed in passing the canal she would
be Immediately destroyed. i would recom-
mend that one of the proposed ironclads be
built on Lake Ontario, and kept in the stocks
ready for launching in case Of necessity.
Admiral Porter says that while we are
mapping out system for our navy we should
commence at once to build q class of torpedo
boats 100 feet in length that could not only
protect our harbors, but also operate off our
coasts in moderate weather. Fifteen of these
boats should be built at once. Their cost
would be moderate. With tho Herrechoff col
and engine, a boat of this class would make
twenty knots an hour, and be impervious tC
the Hotchkiss shell and mitrailleuse.
The admiral also says ho has long looked
forward to the time whom congress would
take some steps toward rosuscitating ouI
merchant marine, which has long boen Ian
gushing for the want of government action
in its behalf. large number of merchant
stpa nnsbi ma wnuld In tima Of w hn nm i'm.