DIARY OF THE DREAMER Of Gloucester POSSIBILITIES. BEYOND VISION.-III. BY EDWARD P. ROWsell OUR APARTMENTS NEAR A CHURCH. BY EDWARD P. ROWSELL HALF AN HOUR WITH AN OLD PHYSICIAN THE NAVIES OF GREAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE. THE British navy has hitherto been the pride and glory of the land. History and tradition have combined in prose and song, as well as in the oral legends of remote firesides, to uphold a credit won by hard toil, peril, and suffering, in storm, in ice, in combat, and in all those arduous positions that are inseparable from a seafaring life. It is a disagreeable thing to have to break the complacent illusion that the British navy enjoys an unchallenged superiority over that of all other nations. It is like an outrageous sacrilege upon that one of our household gods which is the most exalted, and which has been so long deemed beyond the reach of the insult of comparison. If, then, we, with others, devote a page or two in dispelling an illusion, let not our object be misunderstood;, it is that we should continue to preserve our olden superiority, not by relying on the past, or even upon the existing state of things, solely, but that our means should be adapted to compete with the new circumstances that have arisen, more especially since the introduction of steam. Great Britain still possesses a certain superiority, and she possesses, above all, the elements necessary to ensure pre-eminence. She has the skilled mechanics and trained seamen, she has the rough material, the science to mould, and the means to apply it, all that she wants is the impetus. She cannot be brought to believe in an altered state of things, she lies like a lion in her strength, to be entangled in a mouse's net; she hears over and over again of preparations abroad, she heeds them not; her apathy and indifference are as wondrous as they are unnatural. Who will have to bear the brunt of her anger when she finds how she has allowed herself to be duped and deceived, her island home ravaged, her cubs torn from her, mangled or dead, herself an humbled, spoliated, nameless thing! Let us take one example of the extraordinary and incomprehensible apathy under which the country at present slumbers. The fortifications and dockyard of Cherbourg, although conspicuous among the undertakings prosecuted by the present ruler of France with such unceasing vigour, for the development of the naval power of that country, are not the only works of the kind upon which anxious care and lavish expenditure have been of late bestowed. Cherbourg, Brest, Lorient, Rochefort, Havre, in our vicinity, as well as Toulon, and other minor ports in the Mediterranean, have all lately been much strengthened and enlarged, especially, as it would seem, with regard to the first-mentioned ports, nd indeed, to a certain extent, with all, with reference to their serving starting-points for combined aggressive operations on a gigantic Sept.-VOL. CXVII. NO. CCCCLXV. B scale: 150,000,000 fr. have been allocated for improvements in the port of Havre; 17,000,000 fr. for the port of Dunkirk; 7,000,000 fr. for Dieppe; and 1,800,000 fr. for Fécamp. Similar preparations are being made at St. Malo, Carentan, Isigny, Caen, Calais, and Boulogne. Ä port of refuge is also being constructed between Brest and Cherbourg, while Brest itself is to be defended by an entirely new system of fortifications. Now, what is this country doing in the face of such manifestly hostile preparations, and that at a time when Sir John Burgoyne, General Shaw Kennedy, and other experienced, far-seeing officers, are calling out for defences for our arsenals, forts, and fortresses, with rifled guns for our ports, and fortifications for the metropolis? Why, voting a ridiculously small and inadequate sum for new fortifications, and enlargement of old fortifications and buildings at Davenport, Alderney, Portsmouth, Portland, and Milford Haven. This is all of the estimates for 1859-60! The press of every country has been teeming lately with detailed accounts of these formidable works, and with speculations as to their meaning, yet has the solution arrived at by all continental observers been least of all attended to by those most concerned. The dawning regeneration of French and Russian naval power, and the relative subsidence of that of England, has been long spoken of as an assumed thing on the Continent as one of the results of the introduction of steam. Steam is said to have rendered superiority in seamanship of comparatively little importance in the execution of naval evolutions. It is supposed that it will enable the indifferent seamen of France and the soldier-sailors of Russia to compete with the hardy tars of Britain, and it is argued that if, under the altered circumstances, we shall be met on more equal terms in any future war, so, if we do not preserve an absolute numerical superiority in ships and men, we must be content to forego our title to supremacy, and even run the risk of being exposed to invasion by a well-concerted surprise. The commercial world and the general public have been much pleased of late by a proposed general disarmament, and, as a first step, it is said that the ships of the division Fourrichon, the armament of which has just been completed at Brest, are to be placed in port commission; the same order extending to four frigates and to the vessels of the squadron commanded by Admiral Bouet-Villaumez, It is to be observed that in France there are three conditions in which the vessels of the navy are maintained they are either commissioned, that is, fully manned and provided, not only with the materials of war, but also with all the necessary provisions for the crews; or they are placed in port commission, that is, supplied with the former but not the latter requisites, while the hands are permitted to go about their business, but may, like soldiers, be recalled at any short notice; or lastly, the vessels are denuded of everything and laid up in ordinary. Now, it is almost unnecessary to say that the expense of stripping a ship-not only of provisions, but also of ammunition-and of supplying her with these when required, is so great, and is an affair requiring so much time, that it may be safely inferred that, if the French government should lay up many ships in ordinary, it will be a clear and undoubted proof that the hope of peace and the wish to maintain it are strong and secure. If, on the contrary, we find that the ships not on actual service are merely put in port commission, the inference will be that the government wishes to make an appearance of a desire for peace, but is either not sincere, or has no confidence in its maintenance. It is to our own individual activity, zeal, and perseverance that we are indebted for most of the advantages we enjoy in this country; and if we wish to know "how we are governed," or how we are protected, we must needs acquire the knowledge ourselves. The debt that the country owes, for example, to the public press, for its indefatigable efforts to obtain information, is vast. It outstrips the government in the appreciation of most matters of national importance, as much as our great companies and mercantile and industrial firms do the working of the naval, military, and transport services; and at critical periods it has signally taken the lead in prompt and well-planned action, when the authorities have broken down. But the press cannot build and arm ships and forts-it can only challenge the advisability or proclaim the necessity for such, and happy it is when it makes its voice heard over and above the habits of miserly economy, which are one of the greatest drawbacks to the British character, and the listlessness and timidity that is consequent upon such with the ruling powers. There are other things which the press cannot always achieve, and one of these is the detailed and accurate information as to the precise state of the navies of foreign countries, as well as of the French ports and arsenals in particular, access to these not being very readily procurable by foreigners. We feel, then, under great obligations to Mr. Hans Busk, who was induced, in the earnest desire to obtain authentic intelligence, and to fully ascertain the real capabilities and present condition of the navy and arsenals of France, to visit these during the latter part of last year, and to inspect personally the works in progress at each. The results at which he arrived, not without encountering a variety of obstacles, are consigned in his work entitled "The Navies of the World; their Present State and Future Capabilities." And it from this genappears tleman's statements that the French have now 9 fast screw-ships of the line, of which one, La Bretagne, carries 130 guns; the others, L'Algésiras, L'Arcole, L'Eylau, L'Impérial, L'Alexandre, Le Napoléon, Le Redoutable, and La Ville de Nantes, 90. They have 24 ships of the line (making a total of 33) with auxiliary screws, of which 5, viz. Le Friedland, Le Louis XIV., Le Montebello, Le Souverain, and La Ville de Paris, carry armaments of 114 guns; 8, viz. L'Austerlitz, Le Duguay-Trouin, Le Fleurus, Le Navarin, Le Prince Jérôme, Le Tage, L'Ulm, and Le Wagram, carry 90; and 11, viz. Le Bayard, Le Breslau, Le Fontenoy, Le Charlemagne, Le Donawerth, Le Duguesclin, Le Duquesne, Le Jean Bart, Le Saint Louis, Le Tilsitt, and Le Tourville, 80 guns. To these must be added 14 line-of-battle ships-sailing vessels of which one, Le Valmy, carries 114 guns; 3, L'Hercule, Le Jemmappes, and Le Turenne, 90 guns; 3, L'Iéna, L'Inflexible, and Le Suffren, 82; 2, Le Jupiter and Le Neptune, 80; and 5, viz. L'Alger, Le Duperré, Le Marengo, Le Trident, and La Ville de Marseilles, 70 guns. There were also on the stocks and in a high state of forwardness 4 fast screw line-of-battle ships, Le Castiglione, L'Intrépide, Le Masséna, La Ville de Bordeaux, all of 90 guns. Le Suffren, it is to be ob served, carried 6 rifled guns even at the time of Mr. Busk's explorations. Three of the line-of-battle sailing ships were also in progress of conversion. This makes a grand total of 51 ships of the line. ; Now we have opposed to this, 36 screw-ships of the line, of which 6, the Duke of Wellington, Royal Sovereign, Marlborough, Royal Albert, Windsor Castle, and Royal George, are three-deckers, with from 131 to 102 guns; and 30, viz. Conqueror, Donegal, St. Jean d'Acre, Orion, Princess Royal, Edgar, Renown, Hero, Algiers, Agamemnon, Exmouth, Victor Emmanuel, Hannibal, James Watt, Nile, Aboukir, Cæsar, Neptune, St. George, Trafalgar, Queen, Majestic, Mars, Meanee, Centurion, Brunswick, Goliath, Cressy, Colossus, and Sanspareil, are two-deckers the 3 first-named carrying 101 guns, the 11 following, as also the St. George and Trafalgar, 91, the 4 following, James Watt, 90, the Queen, 86, the 8 following, 80, and the Sanspareil (we suppose for small armament), 70 guns. The ships of the line that are sailing vessels number 43, but of these 3 are receiving ships and 1 is a coal depôt. Again, 4 of these are entered as 120-gun ships, whereas 1, the Portsmouth, has now only 46; 5 are reckoned as carrying 104 guns, whereas 1, the Devonport, has only 78; another, the Malta, 12; the St. Vincent, 46; and the Victory, 22. These ships, as also the Wellesley of 72, but with 36 guns, will probably never be used again. There are 4 of 90; 11, of 84; 4, of 80; 4, of 78; 7, of 72; and 2, of 70. Four of these ships, viz. the Royal William, Waterloo, Nelson, and Rodney, are ordered to be fitted with screws. In a country with such means and mechanical appliances as ours, there ought not to be a line-of-battle ship without an auxiliary screw. We have 9 screw coast-guard and block ships, all of 60 guns, of which one, the Blenheim, is stationed at the Portland Roads; another, the Edinburgh, at Leith; a third, the Russell, at Falmouth; a fourth, the Ajax, at Kingstown; a fifth, the Cornwallis, at the Humber; a sixth, the Hogue, at Greenock; a seventh, the Hastings, at Liverpool; an eighth, the Hawke, on the coast of Ireland; and a ninth, the Pembroke, at Harwich. We have 12 ships of the line on the stocks, of which 6-the Prince of Wales, the Victoria, the Howe, the Duncan, the Revenge, and the Hood-are in an advanced state, and two more of 91 guns have been ordered. This would make a grand total of 102, of which one-half may be supposed to be really available. The result, then, is, that in as far as regards line-of-battle ships, Great Britain, which, with its colonies and dependencies, should always have half as many again as France and Russia put together, has not more available ships than France alone, and certainly not as many as France and Russia united. The numerical preponderance of guns is in favour of our screw-ships of the line, and we have, as compared with France, 36 screws to 33, and in numbers 43 sailing ships to 14, but probably really about the same effective force. We have 12 on the stocks to 4 French, besides 2 ordered, and 9 block-ships. But of these 12 on the stocks, when Mr. Hans Busk wrote, we find, by a return issued to the House of Commons of the ships and vessels added to the navy between the 31st of March, 1858, and the 1st of June, 1859, that the Revenge and Hood, both screw-ships of the line, of 91 guns, have since passed into the effective force of the empire. |