Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-10
NO FEAR OF MEXICO.
Gems. SchOfield and Chandler Bold
What sheridan Thought.
From tAs Neao York Star.

]
reutly reported to be an authority upon
naval affairs, held an animated conVersa-
ton with veteran of al in Broadway
restaurant. "Why, slr," he exclaimed,
1--WE should think twice before we Crap
pie with those greasers. What prepara-
ton have we? Look at our coast deienses
or rather, don't look at them, for they
are not there to look at. LOOK at our
navy-whats left of It'll Not a single
! ironclad of the frst-class among the
! whole Of them! Why, there is nothing 10
/ prevent the Mexican navy steaming into
| New York harbur tomorrow and blowing
The island OF Manhattan into the heart OF
! Wsstchester countyW
The veteran suggested torpedoes, but
| the maritime man laughed. "TorpedoesI
| Fiddlesticks! All the Mexicans would
have TO do would be to send number OF
! dummy ships across our torpedo line.
These would be blown up, and then the
harb0r would be free for the men-of-war
! to enter"
Commodore Chandler was tanning him
! self with n prodieiOus palm leaf in bis
headquarters at the Navy Yard, Brooklyn,
when the foregoing conversation was re-
| peated to him.
son, myp' and the Commodore smiled.
! do you know anything about the MeXi-
can navy which the Maritime Exchange
man talks so glibly about? This book
contains all the navies Of the world worth
speaking about, aud Mexico is not among
them. Still, they nave some cruisers
either three or four, | have forgotten
which. They are small affairs, but each
of them is armed with three modern
breeoh-loading steel rifles | met two OF
them off the Pacific coast last year. If
| there were more of them they might be
worth discussing, but as it is they amount
! to nothing"
"But have we any vessels Of the first
rate at all, CommOdOTe-not scOws, but
| men-ot-warY'
"Hump!' said tue Commodore. "There's
the Chicago, now building at Chester;
fourteen guns, 1900 tons displacement.
She could be got ready in very short
time. Then there's the Atlanta, viii Oh
went on her trial trip to-day. She is OF
the second rate, but she has eight guns
and many modern improvements"
"What other vessels are there which
could be Immediately put in active SER
Weep
The Commodore took up naval guide
ana ran over its pages, ticking off the
serVicesble boats with blue pencil and
keeping up a running Dire OF comments all
the while.
1.-The Boston. eight guns, 5000 tons dis
| Placement; she Is now at Chester, almost
completed The Trenton, ten guns, 5000
tons; on her way home from the Asiatic
station. The Lancaster, also ten guns,
1920 tons; now cruising in the South
Atlantic. The Brooklyn, fourteen guns,
1900 tons; on her way out to China. The
Pensacola, sixteen guns; now the flag
ship of the European station. The Rich
mond, fourteen guns; she is here at
Brooklyn. The Hartford, fourteen guns;
cruising in the Pacific. The Omaha
twelve guns; Asiattc waters. The Van
dalia, eight guns, here, and the Shen-
andoah, nine guns, in the Pacific. Then
! there are the following third-rate cruisers
which are ready;
"Juuiata, OssIpee. Quinnebaug, Swatara,
Galens, Marion and Mohican. All of
these are eight gun cruisers, 300 tons dis
placement. The lrOquois and the
kearsarge are also ready; they have seven
guns each, Then there are the Adams,
Alliance, Essex, Enterprise and Nipsic
with six guns each, and the Ranger and
Yantic with four guns. In addition to these
the following sixteen irOnclads could be
got ready in three weeks. Some Of them
are ready now:
"A jaX. Canonicus, Comanoha, Oatskill,
Jason, Lehigh, Mahopac, Manhattan,
! MOntauk, Nahout, Nantucket, Passaic,
Saugus and Wyandotte. Each OF them
| has two guns, and they are all laid up for
repairs. either here or at League Island,
City Point, or some OF the other
navy yards. Five four-gun, double-tur-
rected monitors are now being built, and
II war were declared they could be ready
in no time. rhey are the Amphitrite,
MonanOck, Miantomoh, Puritan aud
! Terror"
"Do you expect declaration OF war
! from either power!'
"Candidly, don't. got all stirred up
a moment ago and felt that it had really
begun; but now looking IL over ia sober
earnest am forced to admit that there Is
just about as much chance of Mexico
lighting us as there is Of Newell, flying
out OF the Window And the Commodore
gAzed across the level sward to the spot
where some young ladies were playing
tennis, screened from prying eyes by a
solid wall of cannon balls.
Gen. Schoneld, who tlls Hancock's old
place as Commander at Governors island
and Chief of the Army OF the Atlantic.
smiled approximately when asked about
the chances OF the MeXicans wiping out
the country.
Rubbish !" he calculated. sour stand
ing army is limited by the Constitution to
5000, but to-day we have $4,000 soldiers
within twentv-fOur hours travel of the
! Mexican frontier. The Mexican troops
are undisciplIned, and their numerical
strength is insignificant"
show are they arRedW
"lndnerently well. Possibly those
near the border may have repeating
! rifles"
Would that give them an advantage
! over our menP'
81 think not. We made a fair trial OF
| magazine gune when | was In command
at Chicago. My experience ard Observa-
| I on teaches me that tor raw, poorly dis
| clplIned troops they are positive detri-
! ment; for well disciplined superior
troops only a small advantages but for
steady, good, ordinary soldiers decided
advantage. Now. ! doubt If the Mexlcans
come within this latter category. The
reason for this seeming anomaly Is plain
| 10 every military man. A sharpshooter
can handle cartridges nearly as quickly
as magazine gun can push them into
| place; while raw man would make u
| greater mess ola magazine gun than he
would OF loading n sing le-shot breech-
! loader"
"What do you believe would he the re-
suit ofwar between the nationsp
Let them tackle US and lind out, - re-
piled the General, grimly.
When Gen. Grant made his tour Of
Mexico five years ago, no was accom-
panied by Gen. Sheridan. In converse
ton with army officers aud otner gentle
men, after their return, both Generals ex-
pressed surprise at the efficiency of the