of England and France, when attempting a landing in
Holland, were foiled by the difficulties of the coast as much as by
the valor of the Dutch fleet. In 1778 the harbor of New York, and with
it undisputed control of the Hudson River, would have been lost to the
English, who were caught at disadvantage, but for the hesitancy of the
French admiral. With that control, New England would have been
restored to close and safe communication with New York, New Jersey,
and Pennsylvania; and this blow, following so closely on Burgoyne's
disaster of the year before, would probably have led the English to
make an earlier peace. The Mississippi is a mighty source of wealth
and strength to the United States; but the feeble defences of its
mouth and the number of its subsidiary streams penetrating the country
made it a weakness and source of disaster to the Southern Confederacy.
And lastly, in 1814, the occupation of the Chesapeake and the
destruction of Washington gave a sharp lesson of the dangers incurred
through the noblest water-ways, if their approaches be undefended; a
lesson recent enough to be easily recalled, but which, from the
present appearance of the coast defences, seems to be yet more easily
forgotten. Nor should it be thought that conditions have changed;
circumstances and details of offence and defence have been modified,
in these days as before, but the great conditions remain the same.

Before and during the great Napoleonic wars, France had no port for
ships-of-the-line east of Brest. How great the advantage to England,
which in the same stretch has two great arsenals, at Plymouth and at
Portsmouth, besides other harbors of refuge and supply. This defect of
conformation has since been remedied by the works at Cherbourg.

Besides the contour of the coast, involving easy access to the sea,
there are other physical conditions which lead people to the sea or
turn them from it. Although France was deficient in military ports on
the Channel, she had both there and on the ocean, as well as in the
Mediterranean, excellent harbors, favorably situated for trade abroad,
and at the outlet of large rivers, which would foster internal
traffic. But when Richelieu had put an end to civil war, Frenchmen did
not take to the sea with the eagerness and success of the English and
Dutch. A principal reason for this has been plausibly found in the
physical conditions which have made France a pleasant land, with a
delightful climate, pro