The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-10-11
OUR COAST DEFENSES.
Brigadier General Breckinridge's
Report to Secretary Lamont.
"DIsGRAOEFULH AFFAIRS EXIST.

1t IL Shown That Almost the Entire
Southern Coast on the Atlantic Sea-
board Is Unprotected and Mt the Mercy
of a Foreign Foe.
WASHINGTON. Oct. 1l.-Brigadier Gen
eral Joseph G.. Brechinridge, inspector
general of the United States army. has
made report to the secretary of war in
dicating condition of affairs prevailing
in regard to ogr coast defenses which is
officially characterized as "disgraceful."
1t is shown that almost the entire southern
coast on the Atlantic seaboard is abso-
lutely unprotected and at the mercy of a
foreign foe Forts have been allowed to
crumble away, cannon have rusted and
cannon carriages rotted. To quote In
spector General Breckenridge in his state
ment OF the matter to Secretary Lamont
these forts and their armaments "now
serve the single purpose apparently of re-
minding us of the high estate from which
we have fallen, and that we are not we'll
prepared for resistance against any bold
and aggressive government.
In advanced sheets furnished by the sec
retary of war of that part of his annual
report relating to ungarrisoned fortifica-
tions, General Breckenridge says
9Th very careful inspection of ungar-
riso ned posts between Bafatoria Bay, La.
and the Delaware rive ; made under your
supervision, has brought very plainly to
view th3 defenseless condition of our
southern coast, and the great importance
OF immediate action IL these Notifications
are to be relied on to repeal attack. No in
telligent and experienced officer can look
on our southern defense without feeling
the deepest solicitude for the safety Of our
entire coast line. That there is no i'm
mediate probability of foreign war will
be granted, but it must be admitted that
such a contingency is not impossible and
that should 1t happen within the next ten
years we must rely in the main for the
protection OF our harbors on the forts and
guns we now have no matter how inferior
they may be as compared with more recent
inventions.
For various reasons the garrison of
twenty-seven Of these forts have been
withdrawn until there is not now, nor has
there been in most cases for more than
twenty years, a single soldier to care for
them, ordnance sargeants sometimes su-
perannuated and decrepit alone excepted
AS result of this long abandonment and
the changes which have meantime af-
fected methods of attack and defense, tho
forts and their arinaments have come TO
be regarded as obsolete. deserving and re-
ceiving but little attention, until they now
serve the single purpose apparently of re.
minding us of the high estate from which
we have fallen, and that we are now we'll
prepared for resistance against any bold
and aggressive government.
General Breckinridge will suggest to
Secretary Lamont the adoption of certain
measures toward correcting the abuses
and neglect that have placed the southern
coast SO absolutely at the mercy Of &n en-
emy. He desires that an estimate be made
for cleaning and clearing up the forts and
such repairs as will prevent further dete-
rioration. He will also suggest that suf-
hcient expenditure be authorized to put
all guns and carriages that can be relied
on in connection with the operation of
torpedo lines in u seryiceable condition.
Younger and more active men, he con-
tends, should replace the particular ord
nance sergeants on duty at the forts in
spected, and he asks that this be done as
soon us practicable.
Furthermore, he will suggest "that an
effort he made, where it can be done prop
erly, to counteract the impression which
prevails, even in the army, that these forts
are junk shops and their armament and
stores obsolete, and that instructions be
Issued which will enable or compel, all
ordnance sergeants, when once the arma-
ments are put in order, to keep them So"