The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-18
COURIER AUGUST 1896

a javelln to be a military necessity, and yet hanging fire from year to year--the best thing we can do ds to initiate the man who called upon one of our Presi- dents to obtain a foreign mission. The President informed him that they were all disposed of, He intimated that he would not scorn consulship, and, when that was politely refused, tried to compromise on clerkship. Finding nothing in sight, this philosopher, as he was leaving. said: MT. President, haven't you got an old pair of brooches you could give me?"
 If we cannot have a college for our own, there is nothing but the wis iner tiae to prevent our availing ourselves of this admirable institution, whose merits we know better than most men. I say we, with big W, as artillery of- ficers. For, while no officer could fail to learn there much that would benefit him, it seems to me that we are recre- ant to our corps if we do not claim the privilege of participating in the great work of coast defense. We have been forced by circumstances, through per haps no fault of our own, into posi- tion where the engineers build our forts and the ordnance officers make our guns, and we who man the one and work the other have literally nothing to say about either It is probably un- profitable to try to gain what our branch enjoys in other services from these powerful organizations, so strongly intrenched in Washington, and which have every motive of interest to keep us where we are; but 1t will be simply fatuous if we, with our eyes open to what the navy is doing and with full consciousness of what we ought to be doing, allow ourselves to drift into the same position as to coast defense. Its importance cannot be over-rated. It is the pressing, crying need of our republic to-day. No navy could do the work alone, not even the navy of England, and all we can hope | for for some years to come will be a navy strong enough to protect our in- | terests abroad.
 l Coast defense can make our impor- tant harbors, whose capture would en- | tail ruinous losses and indelible dis grace safe. All discussion as to how this defense should be supplemented | what part floating batteries, mines and Instructions should play, is mere detail. So is the question how mucl shall we control and how much tho navy; who shall be in chief command etc. The two important facts are tha some norm of coast defense is the only attainable and practical means of ma tional strength and safety, and that tht artillery will be charged with, and b, held responsible for, that portion of tn, defense which is upon the land nh, artillery should lose.no time in availlnf I itself of the chance now offered to worl with the navy and formulate thor ough and comprehensive scheme fo such protection as would leave tn navy free to act in it's proper capacity and would give it strategic bases fo large operations.
 The Naval college has shown mos catholic spirit toward the army and to ward foreign naval officers, and I an confident that the proposition to detai artillery officers to attend their cours will meet their warmest approval. Il fact, they could scarcely oppose 1t wit any show of reason. The enemy whor our defences will be called upon to mee will be necessarily a foreign enemy and the first assistant will be a fleet Artillery officers, who will natural conduct the land defense, should kno, the probable strength of the fleet. th draught of it's vessels, their arfne, armament, speed, etc, and the Nava college is the place to get this informa tion. The benefit will be to some ex tent reciprocal As the mixture of age kand ranks has heightened the interes and broadened the Work hitherto tn introduction of this element shoul
 give additional impetus. Every ten dency is to draw the two services to gether The modern battleship closer to the galleys of Venice and Ge noa than to the safety fabrics of Cap St. Vincent and Trafalgar, and, al though In the modern practice of spec ializing all knowledge we will not g back to the Admiral General of tn fourteenth century, yet with vessels ca pablo of being directed at will upon an
 point, all the peculiarly nautical man oeuvres for the weather guage, whic sometimes decided the issue of a battl, will haze disappeared, and the tactic
 Continued on Eighth Page,)