The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-08-09
WHEN CARS
FLEET CAME
Historical Facts We're
Brought to
Light.

Light.
| trying to convf7ce the Americans that
during the time If our civil war Russia
was our FRIEND, and that she proved
| her friendship by sending to our shores
an armed fleet of warships and treas
ures of gold, and that the commander
of that fleet had sealed orders that
were to be broken only in contingency
| that had not yet occurred which con-
tingency, we are given to understand,
was the probability of an intervention
| by France and England in our civil
war, and which had for its purpose the
disruption of the federal union,' said
prominent diplomat to Star report
er today.
Influential and widely read journals
of Russia like the Nova Vremya of st.
Petersburg and the Viedomosti of Mos
cow denounce in acrimonious and UNI.
! just editorials what they term the in
gratitude of the Americans because in
the present war between Japan and
Russia the latter has not the sympathy
of the American people.
Before admitting any of these claims
of Russia upon our gratitude, or plead
| ing guilty to the charge made, it will
be proper to go back to the period in
which these events took place and give
due weight to the condition of affairs
| in Europe, and not lose sight of some
accomplished facts on this side of the
Atlantic ocean.
THE RUSSIAN FLEETS.
.It is a matter of history that there
was in the summer of 1868 Russian
| feet in the harbors of New York and
San Francisco. Tt is also a fact that
| the vessels composing that fleet were
all of wood construction. and represent
ed type of sea fighters that We're very
| inferior when looked at in the light
of the destructive effects of ironclad
vessels as demonstrated by the confed-
/
Hampton Roads in 1S62 IN a few hours
| completely destroyed a fleet of war ves-
sells that in every particular were SUI
perior to the Russian fleet that in 1868
| appeared in our water. The effect OF
| that battle, quickly followed by the
conflict between the Monitor and Mer-
rimac, caused Congress to authorize the
| immediate construction of feet of
| ironclads, many OF which were of the
Monitor type. The governments of
France and England were not slow to
take advantage of this lesson, and en-
tered upon a like policy of naval con-
struction, realizing that a new era in
naval warfare had dawned and the use
lessness of wooden war vessels had
been shown.
Russia did not take any steps of
this kind, for at this time she apparent
~ did not realize that naval warfare
was no longer to be decided by con-
f1ict of wooden vessels, and besides this
her internal condition occupied her at
tention and consumed her resources.
The development in methods and ma
terials used in making war vessels at
this period was of such character that
1t Is llO CAdSS0TdllOIl 10 say IIdI, SX-
cepting for the purpose of chasing,
capturing or destroying merchantmen,
the Russian fleet was worthless.
USELESS WOODEN VESSELS.
Assuming that had France and Eng
land sent a hostile fleet of ironclads to
our shores, for at that time they had so
far reconstructed their navies as to
have few such vessels af1oat and
ready for use, the battle, if any, would
have been with a part or all of the
Union ironclads then ready, nine or
more of which We're in commission.
After the exhibit in Hampton Roads,
some eighteen months previously, the
interesting question arises, of what use
would this Russian fleet have been a.
gainst arnored vessels? Would not the
battle have been between the Union
fleet on one hand and the allied French
and English fleet on the other, with this
Russian fleet of obsolete wooden YES
sells negligible quantity in the calcula-
tions of the fleet commanders?
THE improbability of the interview
ton of those two powers at this time
and the necessity for accounting for
the presence of the Russian fleet has
to be looked for in other directions than
in the unsupported statement that it
was solely due to the great friendship
Of that empire for the United States.
It is to be remembered that the battle
Of Gettysburg, which marked the begin
ming of the end of the southern con-
federacy, had been fought some time
before the arrival of this fleet in our
ports and that the results of this de-
cisive victory over the army of the
southern confederacy was known and
appreciated at its full value by the
governments of France and England
some time before the arrival of this
fleet, so that any hostile purpose that
these governments meditated against
US was quickly dispelled by the con-