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Appendix No. 9. short title, "State Papers." They are written with great breadth and conciseness, and are still con-
stantly referred to in the Engineer Reports.
UNITED STATES.
The Engineer Reports for many years have lately been indexed in "Analytical and Topical Index of the Reports of the Chief of the Engineers," Intelligence Branch Library.
The works themselves, and even the index, which gives short summaries, form a perfect mine of information on the communications, commerce, and harbour improvements of all the coast towns. Short title, "Index."
The "Naval and Military Encyclopaedias of the United States" in the Admiralty Library, con- tain much useful information.
The "Reports of Military Affairs of the United States," Colonel Gallwey, R.E., and Captain Alderson, R.A., 1864 (“Gallwey and Anderson ") and the Report of Captain Washington, R.N., 1862 ("Washington "), are still valuable.
Reports of Captain William Arthur, R.N., C.B., 1881 and 1882 (“ Arthur "), and Captain W. Gore Jones, R.N., 1873-75 ("Jones"), will be referred to.
The files of the "American Army and Navy Journal" and "United Service Review" will be referred to as Service Journal" and "Service Review."
Reference may be made to some other authorities, but not so frequently as to require to give them a short title.
The Limits of the Subject.
In dealing with a territory of the wide extent of the United States, it is necessary, if the paper is to be of any reasonable length, strictly to limit its subject and scope. Although the whole available resources of a country constitute the reservoir from which its military and naval strength is derived, it is our intention to omit almost entirely any mention of the vast interior of the States, and for the following reason :-
We believe that it may be accepted as an axiom that no European Power, and scarcely a combi- nation of all European Powers, could or would now attempt the conquest of the main soil of America; we go even further, and say that the advance into the interior of any such expedition as could be shipped to America must be exceedingly limited; its numbers could never be such as to justify long lines of communication with the sea, in any valuable, and therefore thickly populated, region of the United States; it is therefore with the mere rind of this immense area and its water boundary, including a few of its estuaries and rivers, that we have to deal.
The present paper is still further limited by the intention to deal only with the States' maritime boundary. The consideration of the Canadian and lake boundary forms an important branch of the whole question, but will not be treated here, the naval and Imperial question being our division of the subject; but we may remark en passant that the position of Canada is somewhat different from that of a European assailant; although the disparity of numbers and resources makes the conquest of the United States by her neighbour very improbable, it is possible that Canada, by a superior naval organization on the lakes, and by the employment of a more rapidly mobilized, more homogeneous, and efficient army, might neutralize superior numbers, capture Chicago, Buffalo, and other important lake and frontier cities, cut off the Peninsula of Michigan, detach the State of Maine, and even advance by Lake Champlain upon the New England States; such a diversion is supposed to exist even when not directly referred to.
It is not our intention to discuss in detail political questions in their connection with strategical, but it is evident that if the attack of English forces can be made to chime in as to time and place with the outbreak or revival of the differences which can never entirely cease to divide the manu- facturing from the Prairie States, and the North from the South, the chances of success would be greatly increased.
Dismissing, therefore, these extraneous aids, we come to the part which the naval and military forces of England would be required to play. This may be stated broadly to consist of maintaining an exceedingly strict blockade, so as to create the greatest possible discomfort throughout the whole country, and the attack on, and levying contributions from, the whole coast, and as far inland as small, well-equipped expeditions, acting with rapidity, might venture.
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It is the boast of American writers that they have not, like European nations, a political capital and a vital heart at which a deadly and final blow can be struck; that the conquest of one State does not bring with it the submission of others; but those who remember the panic which followed Bull's Run and the appearance of the "Merrimac "there seemed no available human help," writes an American of the night before the appearance of the "Monitor" may be permitted to believe that a sharp Canadian success, combined with the vigorous attack of a great naval Power like England, although only felt in a portion of the country, would bring the remainder to terms. The United States must have wonderful nerve if they would not sacrifice a good deal to save New York and other great coast cities, which their own writers confess are at present far from impregnable. We have lately seen a naval Power, Chile, utterly crush two antagonists with a far larger territory and population, and, although there is no comparison between Peru and Bolivia and the United States, neither is there between the power of Chile and England.
Resources of the United States.
To enter at any length upon this subject would entail a departure from the limits which we have ourselves laid down, a few words only are necessary to give an idea of the formidable character of the adversary we are about to discuss.
The United States are calculated to have produced in 1880 half as much coal as England, having also half as many miners; one-fourth of the iron, one-fifth of the steel, one-fourth of the wheat, one- sixth of the textile fabrics of the whole globe. Its debt was only half that of England, while its
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