"The interruptions of the currents of traffic by the occupation of one of our principal seaports by a foreign enemy, or the destruction of them by bombardment, or by the holding over them the menace of destruction for the purpose of exacting contribution or ransom, would inflict upon the property and business of the country an injury which can neither be foreseen nor measured. "The elaborate and costly fortifications, which were constructed with the greatest engineering skill, are now practically useless. They are not capable of resisting the attacks of modern artillery. "A still greater defect exists in our coast defences. The range of the best modern artillery has become so extended that our present fortifications, designed to protect the harbor of New York, where two-thirds of the import trade and more than one-half of the export trade of the whole United States is carried on, are too near to the great populations of New York city, Jersey City, and Brooklyn to be of any value as a protection. "To provide effectual defences would be the work of years. It would take much time to construct permanent fortifications. A small provision of the best modern guns would take several years. Neither of these works can be extemporized in presence of emergent danger. A million of soldiers with the best equipments on the heights surrounding the harbor of New York, in our present state of preparation, or, rather, in our total want of preparation, would be powerless to resist a small squadron of war-steamers. "This state of things is discreditable to our foresight and to our prudence. "The best guarantee against aggression--the best assurance that our diplomacy will be successful and pacific, and that our rights and honor will be respected by other nations, is in their knowledge that we are in a situation to vindicate our reputation and interests. While we may afford to be deficient in the means of defence, we cannot afford to be defenceless. The notoriety of the fact that we have neglected the ordinary precautions of defence invites want of consideration in our diplomacy, injustice, arrogance, and insult at the hands of foreign nations. "It is now more than sixty years since we announced to the world that we should resist any attempts, from whatever quarter they might come, to make any new colonizations on any part of the American continent--that while we should respect the _status quo_, we should protect the people of the different nations inhabiting this continent from every attempt to subject them to the dominion of any European power, or to interfere with their undisturbed exercise of the rights of self-government. "This announcement was formally made by President Monroe, after consultation with Mr. Madison and Mr. Jefferson. It was formulated by John Quincy Adams. Our government has firmly adhered to the Monroe Doctrine, and even so late as 1865 it warned Napoleon III. out of Mexico.