Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1884-09-27
Give Us u Navy.
Washington Hatchet.
Sing hol the merry Merry that / am.

The U. S. S. Tallapoosa was sunk the
other night and the fault appears to lie
with her commander of the jovial cogno-
men. A cou1t-martial will be held,
however, to fix the blame Of the loss.
After all, it wasn't much of q loss.
Only an old tub which had an exaspera-
ting way of slash;ng about recklessly and
running in to things. generally. A freight
vessel originally, she was useless for war
and of little account as dispatch-ship.
She did well enough, perhaps, to carry
load-lubberly secretaries of the navy on
their junketing expeditions.
She is gone, not up, but down; yet she
rests not in downy couch, but is in the
bosom of the deep ocean buried.
Yet, will she not have sunk in vain if
her fate serves to impress upon the Am
erican people their entire and utter lack
of a navy? Here we are, Nation with
four-line plea cap ny o. .i.ty-five mill
ion souls, pluming ourselves with the
confident belief that we can whip all
creation and the rest of mankind, and
yet with our sea-coast cities at the mercy
of any little 7x9 power owing an iron
clad!
We have no navy, we have no sea-
coast defenses.
From Castine, Maine, to Brownsville,
Texas, on the east, and from Seattle,
Washington Territory, to San Diego,
California, on the west, our maratime
cities lay open to destruction by the fleets
of the most insignificant nations of the
earth.
Much stress is laid in certain quarters
upon the torpedoes as defenses for our
ports and harbors. Torpedoes are not
defenses. They are simply obstructions.
They can only serve to delay an enemy.
They cannot repel him.
The safety of our sea-coast cities can
only be secured navy aided by powerful
by proper defenses. We have neither.
We haven't fort but would be knocked
into pieces about our ears in an hours
attack of powerful iron-clad. Damage
enough could be wrought on New York
City alone in half day to more than
pay for a navy which could hold the
fleets of the world at bay.
And yet we have men who think
themselves statesmen, and who are con-
gressmen, who decline to vote the nee
essary arms to secure the safety of our
coasts.
Some of them say that when war is
imminent, they will vote the required
funds to build navy, construct defenses
and provide ornaments for them. In
these latter days war does not long re.
main imminent. While our struggling
statesmen would be paltering with the
question, the enemy would first strike a
heavy blow and then make a declara-
ton.
When the fathers were gathered in the
convention which framed the constitu-
ton of the United States, q member SOL
emnly proposed to limit the army of the
new government to ten thousand men.
This so aroused George Washington. the
president of the convention, that he de-
scended from the chair and proposed the
following as amendment:
Provided. that no enemy is ever per-
mitted to invade the United States with
more than five thousand men.
THIS satire had the effect intended by
the father. of his country.
1t applies to the present situation.
Any power intending to attack us
should notify us for year or two that
war is imminent so we may have time
20 build navy aud otherwise prepare
for war.