Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-04-09
DEFECTS IN THE NAVAL REVIEW.
# Held in May Ii Would Have Been
Ruch Bigger.

huch biESeIs
There is n d;scordant note sounding IN
der all She iubIlatiOn over the prospective
Great naval review IN New York on the
9th instant. IL Is "a note Of dlsappOlnt-
ment. and is sounded by those wide.awake
naval men who know the difference be-
tween what the review u going TO be and
what it could have been. The diiior-
ence Gndeed, the whole subject.
saws n special TO the New York SIM
from Fort Monroe, Is intensely interest
mg. Had the review been held a month
later it would have been ten creven nun
drrd times grander than 1t Is going TO oe.
In that event Russia. the most friendly 70
u IF the great powers OF EprOpe, Wolllu
nave been deiiClted IN sending us hor
most gigantic and powerful battle-smps-
her laundering lovlathians that rlde the
water like great mountains OF steel aiioat.
She cannot do this now because Of the ice
in the Baltic that locks them IN.
TuUNpEBISG LEyIATHAHs.
A month later In the year they would
have been freed and they would have
altered the whole character of our great
COlum blau water pageant. England would
then have felt obliged 10 send her Dread
uaughts aud Thunderers of the highest
and grandest type, and all the other coun-
,rles would have been obliged 10 follow
sult. for no great power would have for an
instant contemplated the idea OF allowing
any OF its nelghbOrs to impress the Amer
lean people as better OF than itself.
Instead Of great mosquito fleet OF COM
merce dcs.rOyers and swapping greyhOuud5
of the sea We should have seen gathered at
Hampton Roads and again at New York
thc urile and heft of the most powerful
navies of the world-a procession of miles
of great movable fortresses of steel, mon
sters toOthed with the biggest guns that
naval Genius has been able 90 tiOat and 10
manipulate. We should then have had q
naval spectacle unequalled IN the worlds
history and one winch would have attract
cd the eNperts and the critics and the plea
sure-lOyers of the world to our shores to
witness IT,.
MODERN CRUISERS.
But IL u as Well 10 make the most and
best OF what we are TO have. And what
we are C. have is certainly a remarkable
aud uncommon. if not unique, occasion.
!: will be q great fleet of the most modern
cruisers. protected and unprotected, and,
a, the naval men agree, II VIII fool our
own ue1Dle II 10 does not fool any
one else. Better vet, II Will be ap-
parent 10 Us Americans that IN the
display as II is we VIII show TO bet
ter advantage than the great powers that
have been spending billions OF money
upon naval progress during all the time
since our Monitor days while we have
been asleep. But for the new ship the
New York the British might appear TO ex-
eel us with Their protected cruiser the
Blake, when Is able tOfight and throw $50
pound prolcctiles as well as 20 chase
and to run. II is true that the
New York. with which we will match
the the Blake. will not be finished,
will not be Government property, and
will not be managed 10y naval officers Il
IS also true that she will not be equipped
with real guns, and that painted wood to
look like steel NAV form part Of her eXte-
rior. but the great mass of people will not
know or appreciate this. They Will not
care whether she Is the property of her
builders and not yet accepted by the gov
crnmeut as long as she makes good Snow
Oh he water.
No country taking a place in the water
parade Will make such q showing OF jim de
s,e.e cruisers as ours. for no country has
such battalion OF what may be called the
cavalry OF the deep. We will show all but
three of our new vessels. In the ranks viii
be the New ork, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Chicago. Charleston, san Francisco, York
town, Concord. NesuviuS, Atlanta, Cush-
lug. Newark. Bennington, Bancroft. Man
touomoh. and Dolphin. Weheye eighteen
in all but the Monterey, with her poor
boilers, aud the Boston, now at Honolulu,
will not bc in the display.