New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-04-04

FORTS SUPERIOR TO IRoNCLADs-THE NAVY
SHOULD TAKE THE oFFEYsIvE-IN-
vENTIoN AND ENERGY.
General o. O. Howard, commanding the Division
of the Atlantic is more worried over the collection
OF $4,000 for his Elizabeth-st. mission than
| over the prospect Of war with Italy. Still, the
one-armed old warrior is just willing 20 fight
as he was when he chased Bragg from Chatta-
nooga to Knoxville. A Tribune reporter found
him at his f1ome on Governors Islandsyesterday.
as genial and knd-tempered only veteran
| soldier can be.
General" he asked, I" IL 1t comes to war what
are You going to dop How long Will it require
to mobilize the regulars and the militia, and how
will you go about itpn
"A general of the Army IN my position was
the reply, "cannot talk freely that subject
when there is any real likelihood Of a conflict
that is of the amount of force in hand the troops
that could be raised, how long it would take
to mobilize them, and what would be the nature
of the conflict
"You do not mind expressing an opinion as to
what sort Of warfare would be Involved in case
Italy should attack us?"
"While practically armies and army corps could
he left out of consideration, the struggle would
be mainly for the navies and the best procurabe
defence Of our seaboard towns and cities, and
everything that would involve protection to our
commerce For. many years the thinking men
of our Army and Navy have been studying the
subject of possible attack from foreign enemy.
We have thought of England, Spain, Chilli and
China, as at one time or another each of those
nations has had with lis controversy involving
international law, with international rights and
obligations"
"You have not considered 1talyP'
Tell, hoe hoo
ment hae been very fully ascertained, and her sea-
Going vessels and men-of-war have been set down
in the books She has a fine navy, but we think
her largest ironclads rather unwiedy, and we are
not so sure that the cannon OF largest size and
most enormous weight on shipboard are by any
means the best for naval warfare. Could vessel
be undisturbed In an ofiing six or seven miles
from large city, she could do great damage
but such condition of things we do not mean
shall exist Our navy is growing in sze with
modern appointments and effective guns. These,
taken In connection with the uncon-
ouerable spirit of our people. would
make fight against any naval squadron
which we are likely TO meet. Probably there
would be great danger TO us if our Navy stood
simply OF the defensive, bat this would certainly
not be the case in the event of WAL The home
defence would necessarily be left substantially to
batteries of the finest construction, and perma-
nent works"
What could be done to make our permanent
works on the seacoast defensble against modern
armorp"
IL know it is believed by many that our
permanent works all along extensive coast are
unavailable against modern projectiles. But this
is not strictly true, for in a short space OF time
entertainments could be extended so as to protect
the majority of our Notifications against proJec-
tiles from the sea- The recent naval conflict i'll
Chilli showed the seacoast batteries far superior
to their best ironclads BY the fire of the former
the ironclads were speedily disabled and driven
beyond range. One thing is perfectly evident
1t is this II iron and steel can be used TO cover
o ship SO that the largest projectiles from the
most powerful guns cannot penetrate and fstroy
it. the forts can be clad with iron and steel with
more ease and more thoroughness because the
weight of metal is not involved. OF course it
would have been better for New-YOrS to have
kept herself always prepared against foreign at
tack, as she has magnifcently done against fire
from within, but there plenty Of expedients
in the hands of our superb Navy and our little
Army which would be promptly used in case OF
need. If any people on the Garth should wish
to conquer the United States it would be we'll
for it to wait till this generation Of inventive
power and tremendous energy shall have died
out The people as whole believe in justice
and mean to give it and exact it, but any preteNt
intended simply to bolster up the old monarchical
notion will find little sympathy here. he sure
that il we follow the examples Of our hero lead
ers who have gone from us, ever taking prompt
offensive against an intruder, the enemy, be he
great or small, after reasonable time, will have
little TO boast OF"
you speak of the energy Of our people"
"Yes Judged by results IL is evident that
we have q people superior in what the French,
during the Revolution called energy. to any other
people During the war the concentrated energy
of the North, or rather Of the Government, was
against the concentrated energy Of the South.
Now these two forces have come together and the
resultant is not easily estimated. When Robert
Lee had our victorious troops in his 'front.' at
Wiiamsport his engineers built bridge Of boats
from planks and boards in day, a bridge that
carried over the main portion of his army and
landed il in safety on the other shore. In our
march TO Knoxville Sherman and his lieutenants
bridged rivers in a night, by using portion Of
their command. so that there was no considerable
halt in the movement. Railroads which had been
thoroughly destroyed, culverts burned and irons
twisted were so quickly replaced that the trains
hardly stopped running for a single day.
Apparently we have little artillery, but we
have the men with the ability the brains and the