Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-03-23
SENATOR PROCTOR ON COAST "A
DEFENSES. 20 70

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! SENATOR PROCTOR ON COAST, j
DEFENSES - -
Senator Proctor of Vermont made a
speech on the above subject in the
Senate on Feb. 26, which on account
Of the Importance of the subject and
the character of the speech itself has
attracted a great deal of attention.
The senator, whose mind grasps any
subject which has to do with practical
things with great strength, seems to
have informed himself most thor
oughly in the matter, and his deduc-
tons and reasonings are we'll worthy
the attention of the whole country.
After giving many facts relative to
the navies of the world, and their
strength as compared with the insig-
nificant naval force Of the country, he
shows what forts and land fortifica
tions are able to do and to withstand,
as against naval attacks. He makes
an estimate, based on the estimate of
a committee selected a few years
since to examine into the matter, and
concludes that a hundred million dol
lars will put the coast defenses in
such shape that it will be practically
impossible for the navies of the world
to capture'any important town or city
on our coasts. Some of his closing
remarks are here quoted:
Sc
tain to come time when the people
will refuse to vote money for new
constructions and will content them
selves with maintaining what they al
ready have y T. sE-sts .-tF e..
When that time comes, with land
defenses we have something to show
for our money, and if these defenses
are complete all appropriations may
cease for many years except a trifing
amount for care and preservation.
1t would be much better to provide
the land Notifications at cost so
many times less than the expense of
making our Navy anything like equal
to that of Great Britain, inasmuch as
it is universally admitted that the
land Notifications will render our
coasts impregnable. 1t is also mat
ter of at least cong1atulation that
whatever money may be spent to
build and maintain coast Notifications
will be spent in the United States,
while much of the money that may be
appropriated for the support of the
navy will find it's way into foreign
Golfers.
In considering our military re-
sources both on land and sea we nat
urally contrast them with those of
Great Britain. She is our traditional
enemy, the only foreign power having
any possessions on our continent, and
the one power with which our chief
conflicts of the past have taken place
and with which the most irritating
questions are liable to arise in the flu
ture.
| have endeavored to show how
vastly superior her navy is to ours
and that she is prepared to keep it SO.
This is the settled policy of Great
Britain and has been so for many
years and for obvious reasons. The
possessions of Great Britain lie in the
four quarters of the world, and "a
navy is necessary for colonies and
colonies are necessary for a navy"
The only successful way for Great
Britain to defend such possessions is as
the present Secretary of Navy in his
last annual report expresses it, "by
placing her first line of defense at the
enemy's coast" On the other hand.
the United States are concentrated in
one great tract of territory and are
able to re-enforce adequate coast de-
lenses from the resources of great
nation without encountering the vi
cissitudes of protracted sea VOYAGES
and of foreign climates. A navv is
essentially offensive, and the logical
order in which to develop the military
resources of a nation is first to pro-
vide for the protection of what that
nation already possesses and then. if
ever,to prepare for aggressive opera
tons.
England herself recognizes the inn