The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—When the Uuief Constructor of the
Navy addresses a select assembly on the special
subjects of his profession it is certain that the inte-
rest taken in his communications will extend far
beyond his immediate audience. What the inhabi-
tants of Greenwich heard on Tuesday evening the
public at large will desire to know, and wo charge
ourselves accordingly with the exposition of Mr.
Reed's views on War Ships and Shipbuilding for

the benefit of the country: These views were ex-
pressed at the Greenwich Institution with much
perspicuity and very little reserve, so that the
reader may learn exactly what we arc doing in our
dockyards on authority which is not to be im-
peached. The successive " reconstructions" of our
Navy have been occasioned by successive discoveries
in the application of steam power, the science of
artillery, and the availability of iron armour for
the protection of floating vessels. Steam com-
pelled the change from sails to paddles, and from
paddles to screws. Just now the twin screw is
talked of as introducing us to another phase of the
invention, but Mr. Reed does not regard this device
as likely to have very extensive consequences. The
double screw will be useful, he says, in vessels of
light draught, but, where the draught of water is
sufficient, a single screw of a given diameter is
more effective as a propeller than two screws of
greater diameter together. A ship, for instance,
with a 85-feet screw would be faster than another
with two screws of ten feet each ; nor does our
Chief Constructor believe that even the turning
power of the double screw will be found to sur-
pass that obtainable from a single screw under
judicious development. Steam, therefore, even
if still " in its infancy," dues not threaten us
with any new revolution at present. On the
contrary, it is likely to be brought more conveni-
ently under control by an anticipated economy in the
use of fuel. Of guns Mr. Reed cannot be expected to
say much. This subject is only incidentally connected
with his department, and we shall have conveyed his
views on the matter when we state that he sees no
impediment to the employment of far heavier ord-
nance in a ship's battery than is used at present,
and that he believes these guns, however ponderous
they may be, can be carried in broadside ports with-
out recourse to the invention of turrets. When our
artillerists have produced the proper gun Mr. Reed
will be ready to mount and work it without any
innovation on the natural characteristics of good
sea-going vessels. Steam and ordnance being thus
disposed of, we now come to the great question of our
future Fleet; and we shall best introduce our ships in
prospect by a brief classification of our ships in pos-
session.. We have actually got the Warrior and Black
Prince of the first class, with the Achilles, the Agin-
court, the Miuotaur, and the Northumberland in
various stages of progress, We have then got the
Defence and the Resistance, shorter, smaller, and
slower vessels than those of the former class, and the
Hector and the Valiant, of a class intermediate.
These are all iron built ships. Then we have five
vessels converted from timber ships of the line into
ironclads by the addition of armour--the Royal Oak,
the Prince Consort, and the Caledonia afloat, and
the Ocean and the Prince Alfred to follow. We are
also constructing one ship and converting another
on the cupola or turret principle, and with these
specimens the catalogue is complete. We have now
to report the opinion of the Chief Constructor on
these various models, and to describe the improve-
ments which he represents as in contemplation.
Let us first mention that he confirms the suspicion
which we recently expressed, and announces dis-
tinctly that these two turret or cupola ships are re t
designed for sea service, but are now proceeded
with simply as coast-going vessels or floating bat-
teries, available only for the limited duties per-
formed' by the American Monitors. We add no
comment on this point at present, but confine
ourselves to the statement of the fact. As regards
the rest, Mr. Reed informs us that in all our first-
rate Ironclads we have committed a mistake. The
Warrior and her consorts are swift, strong, and
powerful vessels, formidable to an enemy, and cre-
ditable to ourselves as beginners; but they are ell
too long. The ordinary reader will hardly believe,
at first sight, in the importance of this fact, or be
prepared to recognise what Mr. Reed describes as a
great " discovery." Yet it does import a great deal.
The excessive length of these vessels makes them
difficult to steer and hard to manage ; while the
increased cost which it entails is really incredible.
Mr. Reed assures us that the curtailment of 100 feet
from the Warrior's lengthwould have saved £lOO,OOO
in the expense of the ship, besides relieving us from
the heavy incidental charges which the enlargement
of our docks must occasion. He assures us also that
this great length was not required, and that it was
accepted solely under the mistaken impression that
the desired speed could not be obtained without it,
whereas the truth is that a shorter vessel could be
propelled just as rapidly. The new policy, there-
fore, of the Admiralty will consist iu making our
first-rate ironclads shorter, handier, and cheaper,
and this is Mr. Reed's first disclosure. He next
gives us a very distinct opinion on the con-
iroversy between wood and iron, and, without
pretending to absolute dogmatism, evidently places
wood on a lever with iron for the framework of a
ship of war. He considers, and indeed asserts, that
the Royal Oak is as good a vessel as the Warrior,
and thus ranks our five converted ships with our
original ironclads. At this point of his discourse
he could not, of course, omit a reference to the dis-
tress of the Prince Consort in the late storm, and he
tells us, on the best authority, that she not only
never leaked or strained at all, but that she rode
out the gale with less damage to her structure than
would have been suffered by any old fashioned tim-
ber vessel. It happened that her bow port was
stove in, and that in her heavy rolling she shipped
a good deal of sea over all. The water thus ad-
mitted to her decks found its way to the hold, and
caused her distress, but there was no straining of
the fabric whatever. Mr. Reed proceeds even to
ask why there should have been, and informs us
that the centre of gravity is actually lower in an
iron-eased frigate than in an old two-decker with
all her guns and top hamper. So he roundly main-
tains that there is no argument against the employ-
ment of wooden frames which should exclude them
from use. There may, he admits, be a greater struc-
tural serength obtainable from iron, but not neces-
sarily a greater durability. Iron rivets, as we have
lately seen, are as apt to be corroded as wood is to
decay, besides which wooden bottoms are so plainly
superior to iron bottoms in one important respect
that the latter can only be effectually sheathed by
the interposition of a wooden skin. Then comes
the programme of novelties, and here the Chief Con-
structor has agreeable news to announce. The two
vessels built after his own designs, the Enterprise
and the Research, will, he tells us, be ready in a
few weeks, and that they were not ready earlier
has been the fault, he says, not of any dockyard
authorities, but of private contractors, who failed in
the supply of the requisite materials at the proper
time These ships, it will be remembered are in-
tended to prove that armour-plating can be effec-
tually applied to the smaller classes of sea-going
vessels, so thet heavy guns may be carried to
any part of the world by iron-cased cruisers. But
Mr. Reed adds something more. Adverting to
the speech of Mr. Laird at Birkenhead, he says, " I
state with the most absolute fearlessness and confi-
dence that the Admiralty are now building a cor-
vette from which neither the Alabama nor the
Florida could hope to escape, and with which the
two together could not hope to contend fora single
hour." Thus, our private shipbuilders are at last
boldly challenged by our dockyard authorities, and
the trial cani;et be far distant. In condensing what
was a long as se ell as an eleborate address for the
use of the public, we have left ourselves but little
room for comment. We will only add, therefore,
that we seemed to have been pursued by our usual
fortune in discovering that the 'Warrior ought to
have been 100. feet shorter and £lOO,OOO cheaper
only when we have built two more ships like her,
and contracted for three others rather longer and
dearer still ; that it will be some compensation for
us if our converted ironclads are really as good as
our originals ; and that we look with some impa-
tience, and the utmost interest, for that floating
phenomenon which is to whitewash the Admiralty
and carry off the championship from Birkenhead.
DAILY NEWS.—The little further intelligence
received from Japan by the last mail only tends to
show that the position of matters there hiltless b
bauletysh
not
aithvoia
°tractive
materially improved by the terribly
wale, as well
operations at Kagosima. Prince
as Admiral Kuper, claims to haveS:
tory, and, in a certain sense, pogo ...barbarian may
some reason. This deluded that naval
operations,ha ve fallen
wheninto deerrrtoark.:ifi
BbBuTePni:"l°osinuegof the first
d of
manouss amnoounn-ctomoi
nations of the world," arem eindtefonrdeeeds,toradtehsetrrotyhafnorttie-
fications and disperse sr
batants.thenouors
inflict deatbhooaknidogmisaetry
theon
naturally have con.
injury inflicted uponhis subjects and upon
their property, he may
eluded that there was some proportionably great
design to damage his defences and his troops; so
when he saw vac British squadron sheering off
with shattered sides and tattered rigging, "to
repair at Yokohama," while his batteries were little
injured, he presumed that he had been successful
in foiling a formidable attack. The Japanese mind
has not risen to the height of the great argument
propounded by Admiral Kuper's defenders in Lon-
don, that an assailing force is in no way responsible
for the devastation which may be caused. Looking
roughly at the matter, it concludes that the bom-
bardment of Kagosima was a very serious attempt
to suppress Satsuma, and that it was one which
failed. Such, at least, appears to be the view en-
- tertained by the Daimio who holds the entrance of

the Inland Sea, and who had recently engagements
with French and Dutch men-of-war. That Prince
is now in possession of both sides of the strait at
Simonosaki, and threatens to hold the passage
against all foreign vessels, though it has been open
for several years. This is the view likely to be en-
tertained by other Daimios who are not conversant
with naval logic. We have indeed terribly avenged
the murder of Mr. Richardson ; and it is to be hoped
the Daimios will never again allow their retainers
to commit such an atrocious act ; but the monetary
indemnity exacted from the Government of the
Taicoon is a much better security against the repe-
tition of such offences than the destruction of
Japanese city can well be. When Prince Satsuma
thinks quietly over the affair, he can scarcely fail to
see that he and his people have been the chief losers.
He may still hug the conviction that he has repulsed:
a British fleet, but this idea will probably do good
in allaying the feelings of anger which must have
been roused in his bosom. So far as we are concerned
there must surely now be an end to the Richardson.
case, and it is devoutly to be hoped that the J apanese
are prepared to allow matters to rest as they are..
Even the Emperor of the French j udges that" a policy
of forbearance" is necessary in Japan, and the affair
at Kagosima has rather frightened the parties who
have been crying out loudest for "decided" mea-
sures in that country. The very fist step taken
in that direction has been calculated to provoke,
rather than to control, the Japanese, and. at the
same time, to revolt the moral sense of Europe.
Two or three more victories such as that of Kago-
sima would be indeed disastrous—ruinous to our
good name, and ruinous to our prospects of further
intercourse with Japan. It cannot be too strongly
impressed upon our countrymen in that port of th©
world that the development of relationships must
be left to the natural working of those in terests
which elsewhere are allowed to regulate the inter-
course between people of different nations. Until
Englishmen pay some respect to the feelings, and
even to the prejudices. of the Japanese it is hop.—
lees to look for anything like a good understanding,
This last mail, in a case which was tried before
Consul Winchester at Yokohama, affords a good
illustration of the manner in which difficulties arise.
Morotamon, a Japanese official, brought a complaint
against three British subjects, one of whom, it was
not denied, had fired at him, and had shot him
through the arm. The Englishmen were on horse-
back at the time of the encounter, armed with re-
volvers, and had used abusive language towards
Morotamon, when he was only fulfilling his duty.
Now, it seems that the Japanese law of honour does
not allow a military officer to receive an insult
without demanding redress; and as the three bold
Britons were on horseback and armed, Morotamon
drew his sword in advancing towards them to de-
mand their names. On this they fired, probably
remembering the use to which Japanese swords had
been put in former instances, and it was only by
accident that he escaped with his life. Cases of this
kind are not easily prevented where there is much.
mutual and suspicion; but the Japanese,
may well doubt whether they are likely to receive
justice at our hands. If this official had been killed,
Mr. Consul Winchester would have been equally
bound as now to refuse redress, on the ground
which he alleged, that the danger to which tho
foreigners were exposed was " of such a character
as to excite those reasonable apprehensions of
injury which justify the use of means of self-de-
fence." The Japanese, with such cases before Lbont
naturally argue thus :—" We are no longer in de-
pendent in our own land. Here is a foreigner kil led
in a dispute with one of our princes, and his con n-
try men immediately claim the exclusive right Of
passing judgment—they levy upon our Government
an enormous sum of money, burn our steamers, and
destroy one of our most populous towns. Here is
one of our officials insulted and killed by several
armed foreigners; and these same overbearing
people, still claiming an exclusive right of judg-
ment, pronounce the act proper, and refuse redress.
If these things are to be tolerated then our honour
is lost, and we are only slaves in the land of our
fathers. The Japanese cannot help considering
that if these things are done in the green tree
Ifthere
is no saying what may be done in the dry. two
or three hundred foreigners, located on isolated
points on the coast, thus pass judgment '4°l
and punish the most powerful of the Japanese
Daimios, what may not happen when these tw or
three hundred have grown into two or three thou'
sand, or two or three hundred thousand ? The pros'
pact thus opened is calculated to excite resistance
even in despair. Our position in Japan, as Tariousili
illustrated by the case of Satsuma and by that of
Morotamon, is one which must be in tolerable to apt
independent, high-minded people ; and the kessD
thing her Majesty can do in re Japan is to appoio
a competent representative to confer with represerl;
tatives both of the Mikado and of the Ta.;cooo
to its being placed on some better footing.