Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-05-02

under heavy burden of debt 10 d..
the war charges and for years and cp
must swallow its chagrin Will. i 'eaSs
up it. debss and recuperates lbs ensr' ~
suppose the war cloud to dart IN i, 10
part Of our horizon. What c9uld v-
70 hold our own and avert calamity ,.3
loss la answer ! viii repeat an on;, ao1
once expressed concerning the 49,.
e. San Francisco 1t will apply IN NJ
/ York or to any other large city On eitI'.
coast.
Considering the Importance Of orr ,,.l
navy in performing its true and an,,.5 ~
pirate work. no one will beprpd,e n
money expended in the constr,ctio, -5
naval vessels and ornaments. anJ y
course it is wise to have them eou4l ".
superior to anything they NAV IN.
counter
1t is, however, well 20 plan gbatay..
practicable, for substantially three i'm,
OF defense--an outer one Of war Sims
second Of torpedo boats. and a third for,;'
ticati1n, including, when necessary. aosl.
ing batteries.
70 resist an enemy approaching m.
Golden Gate. for instance, or its yicinags
from the sea. it would afford great ,afis.
faction to the defender. and prohabIv
more to the defended, to have as we d5
III our great battle a good observing force
and abundant reserves Yet with orr
present naval strength, San Frapci,1o
should not depend on the outward linz
but rather upon the proposed torpalo
boats, well equipped and manned, the e..
sential floating batteries and most of an
upon the several prominent Notifications
20 be well located and well CONSTRUCTED
and kept in good working order. Trpon
these San Francisco may rely, as she does
upon her good police her superb fire de-
partnent, and upon her arrangement for
water sewerage and light.
Our navy PAS been much destroyed and
much improved since the above statement
was made Torpedo boats and the whole
torpedo system has been slowly and surely
developing The experimental motay fr.
ing DO as to land shells within forts or
upon the decks of approaching vessels
has been constantly advancing and
many good guns Of long range are in ax.
istence Our outer forts can be put in
Orde- upon both approaches to New York
harbor, so that do not believe Italy, with
her best iron 'clads, could get past our
navy squadron, our torpedo arrangements
and our show of batteries, into any Utlag
that would enable her to practice upon tao
Brooklyn bridge or the post office build
utg.
The account of the recent conflict in the
war now progressing in Chill, Is apropos
ana indeed. demonstration of the present
value Of defensive works--works properly
located and manned The iron-clad Blanco
belonging to the insurgents, in an attempt
to blow up the armed government tug
Florence, encountered hot FIRE of shot and
shell from the forts under whose guns tho
Florence was moored. The Blanco could
not Withstand this fire. and was forced to
leave the harbor The same night a tor
pedo and the Florence steamed out Of the
harbor to attack the Blanco. The iron.
clad in company with the sloop Of war
O Higgins. DESTROYED the attacking force,
and then engaged the TITS with disastrous
results to the ships A she'll from the
forts struck the o higgins and went clear
through her Another shell caNsed a gun
on her quarter deck to explode, with the
result that the deck was fairly torn out Of
vessel and nine men ont of the gun crew
were blown to. atoms The sloop was
driven out of tine range Of the guns in the
fort.
Thus the forts drove an ironcad ont Of
the harbDr Again the next day one yes
sci was disabled and the other badly dam-
aged and driven beyond range by defend.
il & forts. Here We're used the three lines 81
defense We must employ against the Tor
eIgn enemy, viz: |. Men-of var 2. The
torpedo boats and floating batteries; 3
Permanent works properly located and well
1t rejoices my military heart that one
regiment of New York artillary Is forming
as part of her l.ational gard The more
skilled artiIerymen we have in America
the better,
may end my letter by saying that
Grant aud Sherman's method of defense
is the best II was to take the offensive
as often as possible. Our navy is not set
large We cannot divide itup too much
Ii can, however, take the offensive very
readily, even remembering that the M0nl-
tor slew the giant MerImac. The pluck
of our naval men is equal to any emer-
gency that may come on the open sea.
This is rot Boosting, it is part Of my
faith. If we are attacked, the cause will
not be- that we mean to cover up crime, but
TO defend our republican way Of righting
wrongs Nav God defend the right and
SO lead us to keep from all war But II
war cores we must be ready.
0. Q. Howard,
Major ljeuerai U 5. Army