On this subject, he argued, first, that the time is
opportune for such a measure, because there is certainly a gradual return of prosperity,—an increase in railway traffic, in imports, in exports, and an opening-up of new markets without the loss of any older markets. Yet the increase of our trade has in- creased greatly our need for a strong Navy to defend our com- merce, while that Navy has certainly not increased to anything like the extent of the increase of our perils in case of a naval war. With twenty-eight millions of men enrolled in Continental armies, the danger of war must be great, and the need of an increased insurance for all our rapidly extending obligations to protect our Colonial possessions and our Colonial and foreign commerce, must be equally great. Some land defences for our great commercial ports would be needed, and protection for our commerce at sea would be still more needed. Sir Michael Beach evidently contemplates that this revision of our Navy will be the next great effort of the present Government.
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