behind it, and that the South
never had. Our navy ought never again to be inferior in fighting
strength to that of England. In that way we shall always avoid war.

As to the plan of defending the Lakes at the mouth of the St. Lawrence,
we would ask this question: If the blockade of Wilmington was a task
beyond the power of our navy, how would it be able to blockade an
estuary from fifty to a hundred miles in width?

With these enlarged canals, by which gunboats and monitors could be
moved from the Atlantic and the Mississippi to the Lakes, and _vice
versa_, and by the system of shore defences recommended some years ago
by General Totten, namely, strong fortifications at Mackinaw, perfectly
commanding those straits, and serving as a refuge to war steamers, works
at the lower end of Lake Huron, at Detroit, and at the entrance of
Niagara River, these waters will be protected from all foreign enemies.
Lake Ontario will also need a system of works to protect our important
canals and railroads, which in many places approach so near the shore as
to be in danger from an enterprising enemy. It is recommended by the
Military Committee, that a naval depot should be established at Erie, as
the most safe and suitable harbor on the lake of that name.

If, as is probable, a naval station and depot should be thought
necessary on the Upper Lakes, the city of Milwaukee has strong claims to
be chosen for its site. There is the best and safest harbor on Lake
Michigan, so situated as to be easily defended, in the midst of a
heavily timbered country, accessible to the iron and copper of Lake
Superior and the coal of Illinois. Milwaukee enjoys one of the cheapest
markets for food, together with a very healthy climate. Finally, she is
connected by rail with the great Western centres of population, so that
all the necessary troops for her defence could be gathered about her at
twenty-four hours' notice.

It may be well here to remark, that as yet the Northwest has had little
assistance from the General Government. Large sums of money have
annually been laid out in the defences of the seaboard, both North and
South, while this immense Lake region has had the annual appropriation
of one eighteen pounder! Every small river and petty inlet on the
Southern coast, whence a bale of cotton or a barrel of turpentine could
be shipped, has had its fort; while the important post of Mackinaw, the
Gibraltar of the Lakes, is garrisoned by an invalid sergea