The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-26 00:00:00

TH6 LAUNCH OF H.M.S. MONARCH.

The new ironclad turrA ship Monarch was un-
docked yesterday at Chatham Dockyard. The day forte.
nately proved fine, and there was a large body of we-
tams to witness the launch. At 21 minutes to 2, the
Admiralty, represented by Lord Henry Lennox, the Secre-
tary, Captain W. EL Stewart, C.B„ and a large party of
visitors, having assembled, the signal was given that the
ship could be set free. Lady Cecilia Bingham, sister to
Lord Lennox, was entrusted with the important cere-
monies of breaking the bottle and severing the
cord which attached the vessel to the dock ; these
were duly performed, and were attended with the usually
fortunate result, for five minutes afterwards, the Monarch
I having been esco:ted from her dock took her position
alongside the dockyard, and was safely moored in the
Medway.
There was nothing peculiar about the appearance of the
Monarch when viewed externally as she lay in her dock.
She might have been a broadside vessel, so far as her cow-
partitively lofty sides could enable one to judge. But upon
entering her one was struck at once with her very novel
character. Her upper deck was almost flush, except for
the two turrets. These were placed as near the centre of
the vessel as possible, and looked like two stunted and
swollen funnels appearing above the deck. Below there
was not much to see, except the platform upon which these
turrets rested and revolved. Each turret is enclosed in an
iron-cased room with solid iron doors, shutting off com-
munication with the other parts of the ship. The mass
of iron which .the Monarch will c trey is isovething enor-
mon.. Her armour plating is 7, and some parts 8 inches
thick on the outside alone, without reckoning her internal
iron coating and the plating on the turrets. She will now
be fitted for sea as rapidly as possible, and will possibly
proceed to Portsmouth for that purpose.
The Monarch is the fifth iron clad turret ship in the
Royal Navy. When she was laid down in February, 1966,
at Chatham, there were already four in existence. The
Royal Sovereign had been converted into a turret ship,
under the superintendence of Captain Cowper Coles, from
an old wooden man of war ; the Wivern and Scorpion were
the famous rams which hat been purchased frem Messrs.
Ltinl during the American war, and were turret ships ;
and lastly, the Prince Albert, a turret ship, was launched
early in 1866. But these were all more or less incom-
plete. Tee Royal Sovereign was an experiment,
intended to test the value of the cupola system ;
the Wivern and Scorpion were built in a hurry during the I
American war, and havo not proved themselves upon trial
to be either very powerful or very steady. The Prince
Albert is a small vessel, which was designed in the early
history of turret ship., and has nothing striking in her.
The Monarch was designed when these four vessels had
been built, and ought therefore to be an improvement
upon them. She was designed after considerable discus-
sion and after mature deliberation. In the first place she
is a stronger type of ship altogether than her predecessors.
Instead of bearing only four or five inches of armour
plating, her sides are coated with iron seven inches thick ;
and instead of being a small vessel she has a tonnage of
5,000 tons Instead, too, of carrying the small armament
which was used two or three years ago, she will carry guns
which have never yet been used on board a man
of war. No ship is yet armed with a 600-pounder.
The Hercules, which was launched in the spring,
will carry eight IS-ton, or 400-pounder guns; but the
Monarch will carry in her two turrets four 22-ton, or
tiVO-pounder guns. So far, then, as regards her armament I
I and her armour-plating, the Monarch is by far the most I
powerful vessel which has yet been built for the Royal
Navy ; and so far as is known it would be difficult to name
a-mother vessel in the world to match her in these two
points. But she differs materially from the beat speci-
mens of turret ships which exist, and, as we have already
said, these differences are apparently very detrimental to
her use as a turret ship. We have spoken strongly of
I these defects, because they do not correct any known'
error; and, so far as experience goes, appear to be defects
rather than improvement.. One important difference
there is between the Monarch and other turret ships which
is anything rather than a defect. This is that she is to
carry two turrets. Now, up to the time when the Monarch
was commenced, all monitors only carried one turret.
Indeed it was originally proposed to build the Monarch
with only one turret, but the committee, over which Fice-
Admiral the Earl of Ltuderdale, 1C.C.11., presided, strongly
objected to a single turret ; the Admiralty, therefore, de-
cided to give the Monarch two turrets,
We have dwelt somewhat at length upon the advantages'
which the Monarch possesses in comparison with other turret
shipe, because we have previously drawn attention only to
her diudvantages ; but, after all, do the advantages out-
weigh, or even balance the disadvantages! It is true
the Monarch is heavier plated than vessels were when she
was designed, hut in the last two years heavy armour has
been used universally in Alia for coast defence, if
not for those which are sea-going. It is true that the
Monarch is an improvement upon the old monitors
in carrying two turrets instead of one ; but this advantage
has been also adopted universally both in large and small
turret ships. It is true that the Monarch carries hea-
vier ordnance than has yet been used, end here we come to
her peculiar defect. Although her ordnance is so power-
ful, she cannot make the beat we of it. She carries excep-
tionally heavy guns, but can only use them in a cramped
instead of a free manner. The groat objection to the
broadside principle wee that it would not permit of guns
being trained in any direction; the great advantage of
the turret principle was that though it only admitted the
use of a small number of guns, it could allow them to be
used in any direction. This fundamental and distinctive
advantage has been alrindoned in the construction of the
Monarch, and until experiment proves otherwise, it is
impossible to pronounce it otherwise than as an imperfect
specimen of the turret principle.

POLITICAL ECOYO]tV FOR WORK IRO -MEN. —Last
evening a lecture was delivered at the South London
Working-men's College, Collingwood-street, Blaekfriars-
road, by Mr. John Plummer, on " Political Economy as a
Popular Branch of Study." In the Oa-mace of Mr. John S.
Mill, M.P., who was detained by parliamentary business,
the chair was taken by Mr. Frederick Hill, of the
Post-offiee, who, in a few prefatory words, introduced
the lecturer to the meeting, which was well attended,
the lecture ball being crowded. Mr. Plummer after
alluding to the general unpopularity of political
economy among the labouring classes as a branch
of study. asserted that the great error of meet
working men consisted in their continuing to ignore
the claims of the science and its teachings. Quoting several
adverse opinions uttered by working-class leaders, he said
such utterances displayed a lamentable degree of ignor-
ance respecting the doctrines denounced by them. If
any class were likely to gain by a more general recogni-
tion of the principles of political economy, it was
the wage-receiving class. L nquestionably the time
had arrived when the study of political economy
could no longer be disregarded by working men, tf
they cared auything about utilising the advantages now
possessed by them. Economists maintained that if
the working-class representatives desired to effec-
tually advance the interests of their order, to acquire a
vantage ground from which they could net be easily dig-
lodged,they must be something more than mere platform
orators, and be able to do more than declaim loudly
against the evils which oppressed them ; in short, whatever
else they lacked, they must have some knowledge of
the principles of political economy. Were the pro-
per relations of labour, capital, and land better un-
derstood, strikes and lock-outs would become lees
frequent. Every step made by the working
claw in an onward direction but increased the need for
the diffusion of a knowledge of economical principles
among the muses, a conviction expressed by Mr. Mill and
all who had studied the question, and it rested with the
working classes themselves to declare whether they would
be content to lag behind our universities and middle-class
schools in the recognition of political economy as a popular
branch of study. Mr. F. Hill then briefly addressed the
meeting, and gave some account of the free trade struggle
in this country. —how much of evil was predicted would
arise from it. and how instead so much good had actually
resulted. He also spoke of the value of education to the
labourer, and the necessity for mutual forbearance on the
part of labour and capital. The meeting separated after
the customary vote of thanks.

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