The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-04 00:00:00

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TO CoRRESPONDECTS.
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DRlltr LANE.

Tnte Esitantn, A DAY AFTER THE WEDDING.—And
NI MEER NIP. Mesdames L Thompson, Hudspeth, Meymour,
eard,,nul. A Vandenholf ]Pews. T. Matthews, Clifton, Master
Itueelle,Roleno, Lauf, Contact, dn.; Mallet Helene and Marten.

yA2r).l. mat

Tnt,l A MERE 71111;17 Messrs. Howe, Gordon,
dc.: Mesdames Chippendale. I. itzwilliarn. Laws, Powell, de —A
LEMON VOR LI PK. Menem &Ahern, Rogers, Clark. -JlO4 NY
LIND AT LAST. Alas Burka—And the BALLKT. Melle. Sophia

lILINCEWS.

!TIMM, BAItgABYIIOD6L Mom 8. Calhaem,
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son and Katherine Rodgers, Um H. Vhdng, sod Mn. C. Hon-
amut—Atel THE IN VISIBLE PELNCIL

LI CIVIL

THIS Evziento, THE TWO Tar& Mr. WtddJoonib.—And
ROril EEr it Messrs. reamer, Misery, Cowper, Moreland,
Fitrpstrok. D Reynolds, Lonnie, Andrews, Anderson. fn. ;
Mrs. L. Hurray, and !Uwe Elenrade, Oratten, and C. L.:clang.

Title Vriurnie, NEIGHBOURS.—After which will be produced
• Gr•nd Burlesque, 131,1" YAWKY3.—•ad SOOTS AT THY
SWAN.

HOLBORN.

TIIN swam. MY TURN IFIECT. Mr. Behoove : Mimes
Foote and Iseueoz.—And FLYING SCUD. Mews Neville, Bel-
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Bask Foote, Fiddes, Lease; Baymend, &c.

BRITANNIA.

Tins gramma, THE PITENTISiTi. THE PEARL ISLAND:
OR, THE THREE KINGDOMS OF PEARL, GOLD, AND
SILVER. lira Lane and Miss Jacebs.—Yirsarate Pantomimist&
—And TRY IiaRLEDJ:i CREW.'

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
TEL! DAY —Morning, In. Ink Afternoon, In. 22m.
To MO/ROW—Morning, 111. 44m..--Aniersook

LONDON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 4.

Waits some attention has been bestowed on
the Military Report of Mr. Secretary STANTON,
and more on the Financial Report of Mr.
M'Cr ttocit, the scarcely less remarkable story
which Mr. WELLES had to tell about the
Navy of the United States has been nearly
overlooked. This is the more striking be-
cause it is as a Naval Power that the American
nation will, in the future as in the past, exercise
so serious an influence, not only on Europe, but
the world at large. Although they have given
proofs of their ability to raise, discipline,
and fight large land forces, yet, like the
country from which they sprang, the United States
regard the ocean as their element. But when a
large commercial marine and an efficient fighting
Navy are declared by Mr. WELLES to be,
in our age, the surest and cheapest de-
fence of a great nation, he, of course,
is only thinking of great nations which,
like his and ours, are inaccessible, or nearly
so, except by an uncertain pathway over salt
water. "Any future wars in which we may
"be involved," said Mr. WELLES a year ago,
" must be of a maritime character ;" and twelve
months' experience has only tended to confirm him
in that sound opinion. Consequently, while
making no extravagant demands, he is the advo-
cate of a thoroughly effective Navy, supported by
adequate establishments, in order that his country
may be able to play a great part, and may not be
taken unprepared.

But those who would alarm us on the sub-
ject of the American Navy should read this
Report, and get rid of their fears, at least
for the present. We do not refer to the
fact that the Navy has been reduced since 1865
from upwards of 682 to 278 ships of all sorts, nor
that the available number of guns, instead of
being 4,369, is now only 2,351 ; while of the,
latter, those borne by the 115 ships now in com-
mission are but 1,029. It is not because the
actual force on active service and the reserve in
ordinary, many of which are useless for warlike
purposes, are small, that we consider the present
state of the United Bates Navy as one that does
not justify any alarm ; because, of course, there
might be in that country a latent ability to aug-
ment the Navy rapidly, as there is here. But it
is because there do not at present, according to Mr.
WELLES, exist the means of rapidly placing the
United Statue in a condition to carry on
a great naval war. Look at the establishments.
There are so few ship-houses in the Government
yards that out of fourteen ships in course of con-
struction, only nine are protected from weather.
The stocks of timber were and are so low that
many of the ships built during the war, and some
now building, are constructed of unseasoned tim-
ber. That is of no moment, the reader may say,
because the future navies must be of iron. But,
says Mr. Wauss, "in the construction of ships
" of war iron may ultimately, to a great extent,
" supersede wood ; but such are the resources of
" timber in this country, that wooden vessels will
" for some time to come constitute a large por-
" tion of our Navy."

It is quite true that he proceeds to insist that
future contests for supremacy on the ocean will
be determined by iron-clad or armoured ships, and
that such ships must be of large size, and able to
use sails ; but ho also admits that " for the con-
" struction of iron and armoured ships, although
" our country has the material in great abundance,
"and possesses many advantages in that regard,
"we are almost wholly unprepared." He wants
building shops, ship-houses, dry docks—there are
only three of these last in the Government yards
—and ample establishments, in short, wherein
the Government itself can construct and repair
its own iron and armoured ships. The war
has really made the United States, what
close observers always knew would come
of it, a great naval power ; and that the
Government, having felt the inconvenience of re-
lying upon makeshifts for a navy, naturally de-
sires to have permanent establishments under its
control. Should Congress grant the prayer of
Mr. Wars►s, it will take many years to place the
yards of the United States on a footing of efficiency
in any way comparable with our own ; and at
this moment they are, in any extensive sense,
unprepared for a great naval war. Mr. WiLLZB
is a very eager champion of his Monitors, but he
seems really of opinion that they are only good
for coast and harbour defence, and that, as we
have already remarked, armoured ships for ocean
cruising must be of large size and able to use
their sails as well as their steam engines.
One cannot but admire the rapidity with which,
while the fleet was reduced, adequate squadrons,