The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-18
LANDING AN ARMY IN ENGLAND
That Undertaking and Similar Ones in
Our Civil War.
Nom The Nety York Sun,


WASHINGTON, June 15-The discussion
in the British parliament this week upon
the possibility of taking an army of 100000
men across the channel from France, and
landing it in effective condition, has ex-
cited some interest among army and navy
officers here. 1t is, in fact, to our civil
war that we must 90 back for the latest
examples of the transportation of armies
by water on a large scale. The most promi-
nent instances of such transportation are
those of the expeditions to the Carolinas
and to New Orleans, and, above all, the
transfer of McClellan's army to the PENN
sula i'll the spring of 1852
This last was really the only enterprise at
all comparable with the one under hypothe-
sis in the invasion of England. 1t under
took to transfer l2l 900 men by water from
Washington and Alexandria to Fort Mon
roe, beside 1860 animals 260 cannon, and
a vast quantity of wagons, pontoons, and
quartermasters' and commissary stores
For this purpose 400 vessels, including
steamers aud sailing ships, were gathered
in a few weeks upon the Potomac
from all parts of the coast where they
could be procured The actual movement
of the forces was one of the most brilliant
effected in the history of the war depart
ment during the entire four years. 1t was
asserted at the time, and the claim re-
illflluCi bLtlb AOt hDDttl duNl
safety it had no recorded parallel and in
face of this enormous mass of trausporta-
ton the only losses reported were those of
nine barges, whose contents were saved,
and few mules. A foreign writer at the
time declared the movement to be 1.-THE
stride of giant"
This, then, is the one example in the his
tory Of the last thirty years which can be
compared with the hypothetical movement
fha oba,Yal If-p1tecaI IN To- ant
this week. 1t effectually shows that an
army greater than the one there supposed
has been actually transported over an
equivalent distance. Yet the moment the
experience Of McClellau's movement is ex-
amined it is seen to confirm emphatically
the elements of difficulty stated-and not
overStated-by Lord George Hamilton in
the house of commons. A part of the trans
ports had previously been collected at An
napolis for the Urbana movement, and
hence could be the moro rapidly accumu-
lated at Alexandria; and yet, with all tho
extraordinary energy of the war de-
partment exercised for four weeks,
there were not enough of them to
Z Ike $4,000 men with their military belong
ings, at a single time. The superstition in
an invasion of Great Britain is that at least
1000 men must be carried and landed to-
gether IN order to hold their own. Hent-
zelman's corps began the movement. en-
barking March II, 1862; Porter's followed
on March -; by April ?, there had arrived
on the Peninsula $1,000 men of all three
arms and 100 guns The remainder of the
army followed by divisions, in various in
sediments, as fast as transports could be
procured. This result, the admiration
of military and naval critics ever
since, is QUITE different affair from taking
more than 100, 600 men .across the channel
from Brest d Hastings, leaving there one
day and landing the next, as described in
one of the numerous campaigns for the in
vasion Of Eng and invented by ingenious
writer's Of tliege days.