NAVAL
Bombay Presidency, 211d May 1860, Sin—A disposition to look to our land force as a chief element a national defence, may have sprung from the public interest excited, in the different fields of active service in which the army has been employed since 186*-
the e strength of England must still lie, as of old, in being invincible on
tige seas ; and though colonies may demand an increase to the army, it is FIF the navy we must intrust the protection of our shores, as well as the in- - 4terests of our commerce with the world. Steam-fleets increasing daily, bring with them the necessity of cresting some permanent naval reserve, from which in any emergency they might be rapidly manned ; and since.the seamen employed in the merchant-service, earning good wages, woulne unwilling to become enrolled in any numbers in such a force, however fair the conditions attached, the object might be gained by the organization of a naval militia, as has been already proposed. Such counties to be relieved from other service ; and should any difficulty in recruiting be felt, consti- tutional recourse could then be had to the ballot.
The country must see that an advantage would rest with any power pos- sessing an ample naval reserve, capable of rapid concentration by railways, -and its equipment completed for sea in forty-eight hours. For this trial,
Previous page
