TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 237 



vessels wliicli I have been describing, because nothing has yet been finally decided 

 respecting them. Nor would it be wise to decide this matter in the present state 

 of our artillery, until to do so becomes absolutely necessary. We are, it is said, 

 producing 100-pounder, and even larger, Armstrong guns with great success now, 

 and may therefore hope for supplies of ordnance of at least that class for these 

 vessels ; but the modifications and improvements which even Sir William Arm- 

 strong himself has introduced, since he became our engineer-in-chief for rifled 

 ordnance, have been so great that we have lost all confidence in the continuance of 

 existing systems, and hold ourselves prepared daily for fm-ther changes. Before 

 these new ships are fit to receive their armaments, or even before they have so far 

 progressed as to make it necessary to fix the positions and dimensions of their 

 ports, we may be put in possession of a far more eft'ective naval gun than we can 

 yet manufacture ; and the best gun, wherever it may come from, must unquestion- 

 ably be adopted for them. Whoever may produce it, we shall have, let us hope, 

 the great benefit of Sir William Armstrong's splendid mechanical genius, and large 

 experience, in manufactm-ing it in quantity at Woolwich. This is an advantage 

 which should not be thought lightly of; for, whatever other views some may en- 

 tertain, either through jealousy, or rivalry, or conscientious conviction, we must 

 all agree in believing it a gTeat piece of good fortune to have one of our very ablest 

 mechanicians placed at the head of this great mechanical department. 



I am able, however, to afford some information respecting the number of guns 

 which the various classes of our new ships wall be able to cany, and probably will 

 cany. Of the'Defence,"Resistance,"Hector,'and'Valiant'Isha]isaynothing, because 

 they cannot be considered fit for the line-of-battle, or suitable for any other service 

 than coast-defence. Nor need I say more of the 'Achilles ' than that she will in all 

 probability be armed with such ordnance as mav be found to answer best in the 

 'Warrior' and 'Black Prince.' W^e come, then, to the plated timber ships ; and these 

 I may usefully compare -with the model French vessel. We know that 'La 

 Gloire,' which is 252 feet 6 inches long, has an armament of 34 gims upon her main 

 deck, and two heavy shell-guns besides— 36 guns in all. Now our ships are to be 

 more than 20 feet longer than her, and will therefore talce two additional gvms on 

 either side ; so that they will cany not less than 40 gims, if the ports are placed as 

 close together as in 'La Gloire.' "l need claim no gi-eater advantage for them in 

 respect of their armaments ; but they are manifestly entitled to this. As a matter 

 of fact, however, they will probably have a much more powerful armament. It is 

 proposed, I believe, to ami them with about as many guns as 'La Gloire' on the 

 main deck, all 100-pounder Amistrongs, and 16 or 18 other guns, principally 

 Armstrongs, on the upper deck, making about 50 guns in all. If this intention be 

 carried out, thev will manifestly be much more powerful vessels than the original 

 French ship. The newest and largest vessels, those of 400 feet in length, wiU 

 each cany at least 40 Armsti-ong lOO-pounders on the main deck, which will be 

 cased with annoiir, as I before stated, from end to end. In addition to these they 

 will doubtless have powerful ordnance on their upper decks, for use under favour- 

 able circumstances. But all these arrangements are, I repeat, liable to change*. 



Unfortunately, I am unable to compare the power of these vessels with that of 

 the largest of the French iron-cased ships, owing to the absence of all detailed in- 

 formation concerning them. I trust, however, that the Admiralty are in possession 

 of the necessary particulars, so that the delay which has taken place may be turned 

 to the best possible account by securing superiority for oiu' fleet. If this be so, 

 then we shall, after all, profit by the apparent sluggishness of our naval authorities. 

 In fact, if England had France only to consider, and if the Government of England 

 were embodied in a single sagacious ruler as absolutely as is that of France, so that we 

 could ensure prompt action in an emergency, the very best course for us to pursue 

 in this great naval competition would be "to leave the lead in the hands of the 

 French Emperor, taking care to add a ship to our Navy for every one added to his, 

 and to make ours much more powerful than his. In the event of a war, our manu- 

 facturing resources would be abundantly sufiicient to secure for us a further and 

 almost instant preponderance. The game which we should thus play would be 



* Since this paper was read, the issue of 100-pounder Armstrongs has been suspended. 

 — E. J. K. 



