The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-09-11
ooE ARMY. rAsr AND FUTURE.


safe to say that the only surviving general
officers Of the Union army. who cOaid be
counted upon Tor excellent Geld work.
would be Gems. Niles, Ruger and Merritt
OF the rank aud file Of the Union army ali
are 50 years Of age, and the great majority
are at least IS. The same Is true Of the
Confederate army. 50 that Of the 2, SO. 90
soldiers who learned the trade Of war in
issi-s5 there are very few left that could
be Of any practical warlike service in the
field should war break cut tomorrow. If
NE faced war tomorrow we should face
entirely new conditions of warfare: new
arms; new tactics, aud We should be
obliged 10 rely upon the able graduates Of
West PoIat Of the last ten years for the
trained energy and scientific knowledge
that would be necessary to set up our corn
stalk volunteers into soldiers and make
them steady troops In the hour of battle.
Ii is bat Just to say that If we were con-
frontsd with q great ar tomorrow shat war
would End ns the most defsnssless nation
on the giobe in proportion to our great
length of sea coast 20 be defended and the
vast inland wealth that lies behind it Our
regular army Is about IS. 900 strong; our
total enrolled militia is but 112,0Oo men.
At the last session Of congress Mr.. Meyer.
Of Indiana, chairman Of the committee on
militia. spoke the exact truth when he
said:
There Is no example on earth of SO
small q regular army for country so vast
as our own and having SO vast popuia.
ton and wealth. 20 be defended with such
an enormous frontier line aud sea coast
and so many points of attack by foreign
foes. There 10 to be defended the long sea
coast OF the Atlantic and Pacific oceans,
our many Notifications. arsenals, our
minis and repositories of treasure in the
great cities. our public records and the de-
partments at the national capital, and
last, but not least. our long line OF No rth-
ern frontier"
While war with England Is highly i'm
probable, nevertheless IL cannot be said to
be impossible. II ever that war shall come
England has feet ten times as big
as our own; and she could hurl 81, 600
trained soldiers upon any portion of our
coast within two weeks after war broke
out; she could send her light draught gun
boats. armed with heavy guns, through
the lakes and levy contributions on every
city of our northern frontier from 0gdens-
burg TO Chicago. Chicago could not be
defended by land batteries If hostile
feet once got into Lake Michigan; the
ground about Chicago is incapable of de-
fence against q heavy armed feet 1t is
not pleasant admission TO make, but
nevertheless IL Is true that IL We had Just
cause Of quarrel with Great Britain tomor-
row We would have to submit to an unjust
and humiliating settlement, because We
are utterly unprepared TO fight with a
great naval and military power like Great
Britain. Germany or France.
We need a powerful navy: we need q
complete system OF sea coast defenses, and
any great pirate power of Europe that
feels safe TO send strong feet against our
coasts. We are without q trained army,
and we could not create such an army as
would be necessary for defense rapidly,
as we did In 1861, because with the changes
In arms and tactics since 1861, time, in
siruetion and service is needed 20 make
troops that could meet the trained SOL
dlery OF Europe. II war should break out
tomorrow with one OF the great powers of
Europe IL would take six months before
we could put our coast in condition Of
decent defense; IL would take at least four
months TO set mp our raw recruits INTO
tolerable soldiers. Ii is all very well to
talk about 1861, bat that was a battle be-
tween armies of undisciplined yalor on
both sides for the first eighteen months of
actual fighting. Modern wars are short
and sharp. The war between Prussia aud
Austria ended in three weeks; the fate of
the war between Germany and France
was decided in seven weeks. After Sedan
France fought gallansly against hope for
the sake Of honor.
The real security against great foreign
war We have today does not lie In our
wealth. our population. or our national
patriotic spirit, for what is wealth. popu-
iasion. patriotic spirit 10 q nation that
stands with great sea coast nude OF forth
fieatlons; with chain OF rich cities and
harbors. and no deet to repaise a hostile
navys What is great country without a
great army trained 30 the methods of
modern warfaref No; our defense against
foreign war lies something In the fact that
the Atlantic rolls between us and any
formidable Zoe. but chseily in the fact that
none Of the great powers OF Europe can
afford to attack Us. since IL would
be certain 20 be a. once attacked.
Russia hates England and Germany, and
so does France. The hostility between
these nations Is not sufficient to force a
var. bat once let one of them get involved
in . costly war With America and IL
would not be sixty days bcfore some other
power would leap upon her back and reach
for her throat With the teeth and claws Of
9 estamounE- None OF the great powers
Of Europe dare stir; none Of them dare
attack America less they Invite attack
from home enemy. But suppose this
situation should change: suppo Sc Ene-
land aud Germany and Austria and Italy
should agree 20 sanabag America and go
through It's pockets NE would be utterly
powsEless for offepse or defense. Our o=ly
nope would lie that Russia and Francs
would come 20 our support
The condition Of eur army is so inferior
as 10 make il imperativsiy necessary that
eur sea eosst should be at once strongly
fortified and our navy made equal 10 any
armared aees that any probable or possible
enemy can bring against rs Only BY
promptly terrifying cur sea coast and our
frontier living on the s. Lawrence ana