The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1896-01-09
SHE DOESN'T WANT WAR
A Few of the Reasons Why England
Cannot Afford It.
MORE TO LOSE THAN TO GAIN
But Small Part of Her Extensive
Navy Could Be Called Into Play in
Fighting the United States

1t is not likely that any considerable
number of Canadians would relish the
prospect of war with the United
States; but since the subject has been
mentioned there is something fine and
even touching in the spirit Of loyalty
to the mother country which is dis
played by your born Britisher
across the line. This is prettily illus
trated in communication from q
Winnipeger- probably a born Cana
dian, who wishes to impress us with
the tremendous military power Of Eng
land, and how in her hour of trial she
could depend upon large reinforcepents
of her standing army from the vOlun-
teer contributions of Canada, and her
colonies OH the other side of the world.
He lmagines we are resting under
the delusion that the Canadians are
pining for annexation, and assumes
that this notion is common among
Americans, says the Pioneer Press. 1t
is, On the contrary, common Cana
dian delusion that there is prevailing
desire among Americans for the annex
alton of Canada. No such sentiment
exists on this side of the line, or it is
confined to very few individuals
whose personal interests would be pro-
NOTED by annexation.
Americans generally understand very
well that in the event of ii war between
Great Britain and the United States
the former could count Oh the loyal
support OF the Canadian people, and of
those of all her colonies. But when
such support us they could give was
added to the vast armament OF the en-
pire what would it avail in a war with
the United States? Great Britain has
d powerful army, to be sure, and the
most powerful navy in the world,
while the United States has no navy to
speak Of, and an army of very small
proportions. But it would be well, be
fore counting too confidently on these
paper measurements, to remember that
nearly the entire military and naval
forces Of Great Britain are needed to
guard it's possessions which stretch
throughout every quarter Of the globe
in nearly all the parallels of latitude,
and in nearly every quarter OF the
globe they have enough work to do to
maintain the integrity Of her con
quests or the ascendancy of her policy
(bfSG1uSU VIC luISQtCu1AS
of rival powers which are watching
their opportunity. The fleets she
could spare from this guard mount
around the world for an attack upon
American seaports would be but q frac-
iton of her great navy, and while she
might infiict great damage upon some
Of our coast cities, she would wish she
hadn't done it. For the first shot fired
into an American city for the mere
purpose Of wanton destruction would
call half a million Or, if necessary,
a million men to arms to avenge the
blow, including enough of the survi-
wing veterans of the civil war to make
an army by themselves. They would
promptly turn their attention to Can
ada, seize on the Welland canal and
the Canadian Pacific and cut off all
communication between the Eastern
and Western provinces. Before this
resistless march Of our legions all the
forces that England and Canada could
put into the field, bravely and Loyalty
as they might fight for the mother
country, would be crushed by the
weight of the superior numbers Of a
people equally brave and equally loyal
to their flag. Nearly all the navy she
could spare from the water frontiers of
her great colonial empire in the East
ern world would be kept busy defend
ing her harbOrs in the maritime prov
inces Of the Dominion and her posses
slOns in the Baahma islands and in the
Caribbean sea.
So that it would not be quite the
one-sided affair some Of our British
friends seem to think before they have
thought much about it. Nor could
England get any help in such con-
test. For mighty as she is in her ma
val arm, she is well nigh friendless
among the nations Of the earth. There
is something almost pathetic in the
solitary grandeur of her isolation
among the great powers. The English
journals have been forced to sorrow
fully confess that nowhere in the world
could she look hopefully for allies in
contest with the United States. Not
any Of the European powers has any
interests which would be involved in
the Monroe doctrine, except France in
a small degree and Spain in an indirect
way. But she can expect no effective
help from them. For France has
boundary disputes of her own with
Breat Britain in Cochin China, and
Russia is watching her opportunity to
push the boundaries Of her Asiatic pos
sessions southwark SO as to take in the
fine, always open, harbors Of Manchu.
ria and Corea through Afghanistan to
the gates Of British India, and through
Turkey to Constantinople. A war with
the United States would probably
mean the dismemberment Of the Brit
ish colonial empire, and certainly the
loss of her prestige and power in the
Oriental countries and seas.
1t is quite certain, therefore, that
England wants no war with the United
States. It is equally certain that the
United States wants no war with Great
Britain. 1t would sweep the commerce
of both from the seas. 1t would inflict
immeasurable loss and disaster upon
both without any compensatory advan-
tages to the one party whose ultimate
triumph would be certain, because her
phys ical position is impregnable to for
eign attack. For America has nothing
to gain by triumph Of armies over