the offence, Canada should be made to pay the penalty.
In a very short time, one hundred thousand, two hundred
thousand, five hundred thousand men, if necessary,
could be made ready for the invasion of Canada. From
platform, pulpit, stump, and editorial office came the
cry: "On to Canada!"

At the seat of Government, however, the plan of the
war did not appear so obvious, so simple. Throwing a
great army into Canada was all well enough, and that
army would probably do well enough; but the question
which produced hard breathing in the executive branch
of the Government was the immediate protection of the
sea-coast, Atlantic, Gulf, and even Pacific.

In a storm of national indignation war had been
declared against a power which at this period of her
history had brought up her naval forces to a point
double in strength to that of any other country in the
world. And this war had been declared by a nation
which, comparatively speaking, possessed no naval
strength at all.

For some years the United States navy had been
steadily improving, but this improvement was not
sufficient to make it worthy of reliance at this
crisis. As has been said, there was money enough, and
every ship-yard in the country could be set to work to
build ironclad men-of-war: but it takes a long time to
build ships, and England's navy was afloat. It was the