206 CRUISE OF THE FRENCH IRON-CLAD satJADRON. 



official investigations and reports, and what do we find there? We find that Sir 

 W. Armstrong himself never claimed to oEfer to the governnaent anything more than 

 a large rifled light piece (grosse carabine j-ayee), loading at the breech, and dischar- 

 ging a 12-pound ball, which corresponds to our calibre 4 ; but when, after the suc- 

 -cess of this piece had been established to the satisfaction of the government, he was 

 pressed to make a gun of 32, he replied that he was not prepared, and requested 

 '!J or 10 years to study the question. If he has meanwhile attempted still greater 

 (Calibres, it has been under the pressure of government, and not with his own good 

 will, except that he did not wish it to be said he had declined a service which 

 (Others believed themselves able to render. His language on all these points is 

 sas modest as it "is sensible. Let us pay respect to his patriotism, but let us not 

 launch headlong on the course the English government has so rashly pursued. If 

 ihis course was the correct one, the Turks, with their big guns of the castle of 

 the Dardanelles, ought to be considered the first gun-makers in the world. To 

 recur at the present day to their traditions seems to me as little reasonable, as if 

 we were to let ourselves be influenced by what the Americans relate of their 

 iron-clads, and were to abandon the magnificent ships which have given us such 

 unexpected results in order to copy the Monitors, which cannot keep the sea, or 

 the WeeJtawkens, which founder in the smooth waters of a roadway, or the Keo- 

 huJcs which are sunk at '750 yards distance by the round balls of General Beau- 

 regard, who refused the guns said to be SOOponnders which they wanted to send 

 him from Richmond. 



In order to complete our task, it would have been necessary to compare the results 

 obtained by our ironclads with those obtained by the English ; but the means of this 

 compari=on are wanting. The English government has not, to our knowledge, 

 published any report of the two cruises that the Warrior and her mates made in the 

 same seas as our own. Whenever the government has been questioned on the 

 matter, it has replied that the reports were very satisfactory, but beyond this, 

 its reserve has been almost complete. We cannot then institute this comparison, 

 but, after what has been said, we think ourselves authorised in asserting that our 

 navy need not fear any comparison; that its progress has been continuously in ad- 

 vance, and that its works, while being developed as they have been, from the 

 Gloire and Solferino, and incessantly enriched by the adoption of every valuable 

 invention, preserve a harmony and unity which are also very precious qualities. 

 Certainly we have not reached perfection, but it seems to me that it is not pre- 

 sumption to believe, that if we had our choice from the navies of the whole world 

 of the best they can offer, we should not find five ironclads which could do ali 

 that the five ships we have been speaking of have done, and especially with the 

 same uniformity. It is only just to add that a great part of this success has been 

 due to Admiral Penaud and the officers under his command. The activity, taleut, 

 and good- will which have been displayed are worthy of all praise, and we are 

 happy in the acquisition of such men to teach us all that the works of our naval 

 architects are worth, 



J. B. C. 



