The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1891-03-13
our Navy.
A Caustic Letter From the Pen Of Ex-Sen.
ator Inga1ls-Alarmists Ridiculed and the

ator rIngaIIs-Alarmists Fidiculed and the
1 Navy Criticised. - ~ ee. e-s
New York, March 7.-Ex-Senator
Ingalls, has been stirring up an Immense
amount Of talk here by one of the most
bitter and emitting attacks that he has
yet made on the navy. The article ap-
pears in this weeks Truth. All the
news stands were sold out before 5
| o'clock. A second edition of the paper
1 is in press The article in substance is
| as follows: f4t&
| Tho annual shriek about oHr defense1ess
| coasts and the bonbardment OF New York,
| Philadelphia and Boston has been emitted.
The yearly pamphlet describing the blood
curdling incidents and the appalling conse-
| quences of the war with Chill and Spain in
| 1903 has been sent to each senator and repre-
sentative in congress. The editorial esti-
| mates In the metropolitan press of the
amount of property within reach of an Ital-
ian ironclad In the lower bay and of the ram
som thatgcould be- extorted from the mer-
chants and bankers have all been submitted
and are fled away for use again in 1892
Their purpose is to reconcile the people to
the passage of the naval appropriation bill
and to the enormous and prof1igate expend-
itures in time of peace for ships, fortiflca-
tions and munitions of war.
The capacity of the United States to ere
ate navy in emergency was demon
strated in the rebellion. The duel between
the Monitor and the Merrimac in Hampton
roads revolutionized naval warfare and the
problem has since been to construct armor
that no projectile could penetrate and then
invent projectiIes that no armor could resist
European nations have been conducting
these expensive experiments hitherto and
the ships of 1880 are already obsolete and
antiquated for attack or defense. Dynamite
and other explosives complicate the sitVa-
tion and the navy that we are now build
ing at a cost of $50,0OOt 0) viii be as worth
less in 1890 as Roman galleys England,
France and Italy would gladly sell us their
fleets at SO per cent. of their cost If we are
to depend upon a navy for protection we
must have ships enough to assemble at
every vulnerable point a force as large as
could be dispatched against it. The mi lions
that we are sQuandering on vessels that
sent on idle errands in tsquadrons of eYOlu-
tion,' painted pageants of the Deep had
better be spent for earthworks and power
full guns to command every roadstead, chan
mel and harbor from which a hostile fleet
could threat or assaiL
Is there any necessity for spending mill
lions every year for naval defense, or any
justification for the hysterical appeals to
popular apprehension and alarm? Our policy
is pacific We have no colonies nor depen-
denotes nor entangling alliances. Wars
break out unexpectedly, it is true, some
times, but from what quarter can danger be
France are those of traditional amity; with
Germany, of kinship and consanguinity;
with Russia, of fraternity. The rest are
trivial. Our only enemy is England and she
is under bond to keep the peace. No other
nation is so vulnerable and none SO detested.
She has incurred the resentment of the
human race by centuries of injustice.
Colonel Mcclure. a noted Mississippi duel
ist, had occasion to kick an unresisting gem
tleman at hotel in Natchez. Being not
long after in Memphis, the colonel saw his
victim subjeeting another to the same treat
ment Being somewhat curious and uncer-
tain as to the identity of the person, he said:
1tAre you not the fellow kicked down stairs
in Natchez?" "Yes," replied he, "but, col
oneI you and know who to kick" England
kicked us when we were helpless and feeble
She sacked and burned defenseless cap
ita She has kicked Ireland, she has kicked
Egypt, she has kicked the Hndoos, the
Zulus, the Beers, the Chinese, but she is not
in the habit of kicking her equals. Her
courage is prudent and calculating. She was
careful not to kick Napoleon until the rest
of Europe joined her, and she endured Rus
sian aggression until she had persuaded
France to- bear the brunt of the Crimean
campaign. In our civil war she did all sho
couldy short of open hostility, to destroy the
union and then apologized and paid dam
ages.
Lately we have had another contention
about seal poaching and the Behring sea.
Oceans of ink have beenshed in diplomatic
correspondence between Lord Salisbury and
Secretary Blaine. Great Britain fort titled
Vancouver and sent ships of war into the
disputed waters, walking around, metaphor
ically speaking, begging to knock the
chip from her shoulder, or to tread upon the
tails of her coat. Legally, she had an open
case at least, in some respects the best ofthe
argument A casus belli could easily have
been found, if wanted, and we were assured
that the danger was imminent. Tho
boldest held his breath for awhile.
Immense appropriations were prompt
ly voted for fortiflcations and the navy and
then, while the national hair was standing
on end, England suddenly came into our su-
preme court suitor and submitted the
whole controversy to the decision of that
great tribunal The newspapers that de-
scribed the dramatic utterances of senators
about the dangers of war with Great Britain
in another column of the same |
issue an account of the proceedings in the |
old senate chamber, in which Lord Salisbury |
submitted the claims of England to adjudica- |
ton as question of International law. 1t |
was reassuring, but it was laughable, never |
theless. JOHN j. INGALLS,.