The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-11 00:00:00

THE NAVIES OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

Within the last few months we have seen the
navies of France and England contrasted by various
writers, on various principles of computation, and
from various points of view ; but there is one re-'
markable fact of which, though it may possibly
prove important enough to govern the whole ques-
tion, little has yet been said. The Emperor Napo-

leon appears to have definitively accepted a new
theory of naval warfare. He has adopted an en-
tirely new system of constructing ships of war, and
is recognising an entirely new principle in the
formation of a fleet. Line-of-battle ships, accord-
ing to these views, will be utterly superseded, and
their places will be taken by heavy frigates so
protected by steel or iron armour as to be prac-
tically invulnerable. That, at least, is the theory
on which these vessels have been planned, and to

such good purpose has it been embraced that,
though France has at this moment but two ships
of the line on the stocks, she has no fewer than

eight of these steel-plated frigates in process of
construction, besides two actually afloat. As we
have no such vessel afloat, and only four on the

stocks, it follows that, if the French are right, we
may presently find our navy-in a position of inferio-
rity far more alarming than that which was disco-
vered two years ago.. On the other hand, if the
French are wrong, they will have squandered upon
a profitless experiment the means of creating a for-
midable fleet, and we, for once, shall be found the
best economists. We put the case in this way because
we do not wish to regard the question as absolutely
decided, though it cannot but be startling to ob-
serve the completeness of decision on the other
side of the Channel. The fact, too, is the more
impressive from being in direct contradiction to
the ordinary course of • things. Our Admiralty
has acquired a reputation for headlong resolutions
and reckless expenditure, while the French are
represented as profiting by our experiments to get
the greatest possible results at the least possible
cost. Here, however, the conditions are reversed.
We are still testing iron plates against rifled
cannon, and building line-of-battle ships more
zealously than ever, while the French are acting
confidently upon a new invention, and preparing
for a system of warfare which is to supplant
old fleets and old tactics altogether. Now, which
of these two courses is really the wiser one ? It is
inovacntous question, for, if we should really hap-
pen to be in the wrong, the consequences might be
disastrous to our maritime ascendancy.
In favour of the French theory, it may be ob-
served that their adoption of the new system has
not been precipitate, nor without a course of proba-
tion and experiment. It is some time since the
first attempt was made at sheathing a vessel in
armour, and the idea was more than once dropped
and taken up again as fresh improvements sug-
gested themselves. The floating batteries employed
in the Crimean War, though not severely tried,
were thought to do good service, and the French
better than the English. At length, after repeated
essays, the French professed themselves satisfied
that frigates could be constructed of such impreg-
nable strength and such tremendous power as to
be more than a match for any class of vessels
yet launched; and they plainly announced their
conclusion that before a dozen years were past line-
of-battle ships would be obsolete. The Emperor Na-
poleon, therefore, has been neither hasty nor incon-
siderate. He has acted on the very principle as-
cribed to him in the famous Leipsic article on the
French and English navies. He has first assured
himself of the utility of the invention, and has
then, after taking his resolution, carried it into
execution without stint or delay. This policy gave
him a sudden superiority iu screw line-of-battle
ships a year or two ago, and, if it should be equally
justified by the results on the present occasion, it
may givo him a still more decided superiority a year
or two hence.
On the other hand, we are bound to admit that,
except for the obligations imposed on us by a
French precedent, the question may still be re-
garded as too doubtful to warrant any precipitate
adoption of the new discovery. Everything turns
upon the armour of these vessels. Whatever may
be their qualifications in speed or armament, these
can easily be encountered ; but if a French ship
really invulnerable while an English ship is exposed
as of old to the storm of shot, it reeds no rea-
soning to arrive at the results. Is this invulnera-
bility a fact ? We can hardly believe it. Our
authorities have been trying the question inces-
santly for months past, and heavy guns have been
pitted against patent armour in our various sea-
ports with scarce a week's intermission of the ex-
periments. As far as the results have been pub-
lished, the tests have appeared to tell rather
against the armour, whether chain or plate, and it
would not be wise to lavish money on inventions
proved to be fallible. Moreover, we cannot but
remark that no Government but that of France
has yet adopted the theory, though it is pre-
cisely such as would command itself to mari-
time States desirmis of securing sudden offieieney
at a limited cost. Even America, alvsktys prone
to new inventions, has rejected the project,
though she gave it a deliberate trial. It was
not so with rifled cannon, which were ,adopted
promptly and universally as soon as ever their
superiority was discovered. We must not for-
get, either, that it is impossible to balance the
French experiments against our own, inasmuch as
we cannot be sure that the conditions were equal.
Granted that the French have succeeded in con-
structing ship armour impenetrable to any of their
guns, this may prove, not that the armour is
stronger than ours, but that the guns are weaker.
Would the Cloire or the Normandie prove invul-
nerable if battered by Armstrong or Whitworth
guns of heavy calibre, or by a broadside of such
pieces? The, French cannot pierce these breast-
plates with their own !cannon, but could it not be
done with ours ? It is a question of artillery as
well as armour, of attack as well as &fence. Pro•
bably the reason why the Americans discarded the
scheme of iron-casing a vessel was because they
measured the strength to be thus gained against
the power of their Dahlgren guns, and our own
artillery is now the most powerful in the world. If
British manufacturers cannot produce a plate of
iron which British guns cannot penetrate, we need
not be much afraid of finding such plates elsewhere.
Although, moreover, we acknowledge that the
importance of this question far transcends that of
mere pecuniary considerations, we may fairly pause
before we plunge into such an ocean of extrava-
gance as the adoption of new theories creates. The
question at issue is not only the reconstruction"
of the British Navy at so very short a date after
the last renewal, but its reconstruction upon prin-
ciples of still greater cost than before. Steam proved
half ruinous to us, but iron would be worse. The
expense of a man-of-war in Nelson's time was about
£l,OOO a gun ; it is now about £2,000, and at the
rate of outlay actually sanctioned on our four iron-
cased frigates it would be £4,000. We have but
just superseded our sailing navy; if we are now to
supersede our wooden navy, and at twice the re-
cent charge, what will be the aspect of our esti-
mates for some years to come ?
Of course, however, we do not for a moment deny
that if the necessity really exists it must be encoun-
tered, be the cost what it may ; and, indeed, if we
take timely precautions and act at once upon our
convictions, so as to escape arrears, the work may
prove fairly manageable. All we have to do is to
come to a decision, and, if that should be in favour
of iron-cased frigates, our dockyards, when relieved
from other work, can certainly turn out as many
of the new fighting-ships as those of any country
in the world. Our Admiralty authorities probably
remember that when they were drawn away from
line-of-battle ships some time ago to a new class of
vessels, the diversion cost them many a struggle
afterwards before their position could be regained.
This is true, and the recollection may well render
them cautious ; but caution has its limits, or it may
become just as dangerous as temerity. We do not
blame them for circumspection, so long as it is cir-
cumspection only. All we wish to understand is
that the consideration of the new system is not
damaged by official obstructiveness. By this time,
we should think, the relative powers of shot and
iron must have been pretty well ascertained; and,
though it would be absurd to afospttao tahnFoirnyvaednmtioitn-
ting of practical disproof, it would be disastrous as
well as puerile to shut oar e
which, if really effective, would carry with it the
sovereignty of the seas.— 'limes.

Broad

.-s tree t
GEMSTONE'S EYE SNUFF. .
Chy name i
Charing-cross.
Sir,—
Perceiving Bloomsbury.--Ophthalmic lac Ifycnirosptitiallis,
my
in union with that of my late patient, Mr. Lachfleld, I be r
leave to confirm his testimony, and state the great benefit
derived by the use of your excellent herbaceous Eye Snuff
in his care, which was one of obstinate cit:onic ophthalmia
accompanied by opacity of the cornea, and a va&ose state of
the conjunctional vessels. His case was the first urnl,er my
notice in which the preparation was used; but being strucZ
by the advantageous results, I resolved to lay aside preju-
dice, and advise its use in some cases in my practice at this
Jlosrital. The benefit was great, and has led me still fur-
ther to recommend it.—l am your obedient servant, J. a
GETEIRIE.

[ADvERTISEMENr.] Pills and medicine invariably ag-
gravate and perpetuate diseases; their annoyance, dis-
appointment, and expense may be avoided by persons
in indifferent health sending only their address to R.
S. Barry, aEsq., 77, Regent-street, W., London, and they
will receive gratis and free by post the "INVALIDS' OWN
GUIDE," or Natural Restorer, without medicine or ex-
pense, of perfect digestion, strong nerves. sound lungs' and,
refreshing sleep, to the most enfeebled, insuring the
of indigestion (dyspepsia), constipation, liver complaints,
nau'ea, epilepsy, paralysis, debility, nervousness, Pa1.,,Pta,...:
removal
cough, asthma, emsutaption, dropsy, flatulency, diarrhoea,
dysentery, biliousness, fevers, sore throats, catarrhs, ..olds
noises in the ears, rheumatism, lout,
as acidity, palps,
hysteria, neuralgia, irritability, s eeplessne ,
tation,
heartburn,headache,despondency, cramps, spasmi-
e safest Guide,
sinking, fits. ronohitie.--,, Unquestionably tit
impurities, eruptions,
to health,'.

MILITARY POSITION OF TEE SING

OF HAPLES.

(From Le Nord of Brussels.)
The news of the departure of the King of Naples
for Capua and Gaeta is now certain. This news
had been expected for some dais. It still pro-
duces, nevertheless, a considerable effect, for it had.
been imagined that the King would make, under
the walls of his capital, with the troops that have
remained faithfnl to him, a last attempt at resist-
ance. It is at Gaeta, that is, in the strongest posi-
tion there is in the kingdom, regarded in a mili-
tary point of view, that he will await a return of
good fortune, or endeavour to provoke it. He with-
draws with a contingent of troops still respectable
enough, being 30,000 strong it is said, and which,
considering the excellence of the position, must be
taken into account.

In fact, if in a political point of view the aban-
donment of Naples is quite a revolution of itself, in
a military point of view it is an act of dexterity, or
at least of prudence. Naples is open, or rather it
opens itself spontaneously. Before even the King
left it, Francis had, we may say, ceased to reign
there. The movement of men's minds there, the

itapulse that carries away the population and drives
it to throw itself into the arms of Garibaldi, might
cause a complete dissolution of the last nucleus of
strength at the young king's disposal. The city,
it is true, is entirely commanded by Fort St. Elmo,
a stronghold not easily to be taken, cut out of the •
rock, and at some places standing on an elevation
of 80 feet. But to remain master of that point
would be to put himself under the necessity of a
painful and probably a fruitless operation, that of
bombarding the capital of the continental kingdom,
impolitic. The young king,
as he had the Sicilian capital—an inhuman proceed-
ing, and, therefore, most
yielding to the advice of his most prudent friends,
has preferred retiring to Gaeta, where he will add
to the advantage of a royal residence, and of a still
stronger military position, that of remaining master
of a part of his states and approaching nearer to
the only ally he has preserved—the Pope—whose
government has at its disposal 25,000 men, pretty
well organised, it is said, by General Lamoriciere.
Gaeta, a fortified town of 14,000 inhabitants, in-
cluding its three suburbs, is situated in the Terra di
Lavoro, of which the administrative capital is Ca-
serta, between Capua and Naples. It consists of
irregular works, rising in terraces one above the
other, on a rocky headland of the Mediterranean
coast. On the land side the narrow approach is
closed by strong batteries ; a fort commands the
harbour, and at the extremity of this point there is
the old tower called Rolando's. Gaeta was besieged
in 1800 by the French, and in 1815 by the Aus-
trians. Very strong by nature, this position is ren-
dered yet stronger by the configuration of the sur-
rounding locality. For any one master of Gaeta, and
having a sufficient number of troops at his disposal, it
is easy to defend San Germano on the north-east
and Capua on the south-east, and these three points
form a triangular district, in which the last efforts
of the Bourbon monarchy will probably be concen-
trated.
San Germano and Capua are both situated about
ten leagues from Gaeta; San Germano, on the
Fiume-Rapido, is at the foot of Mount Cassino, the
summit of which is crowned by the ancient and
vast abbey of the same name. This position may'
be used as a military retreat, and can be easily de-
fended. Capua, on the Volturno, possesses an
arsenal, a military hospital, and 8,000 inhabitants.
The Volturno is crossed there by means of a stone
bridge, and on the right bank of the river there is
a strong tete-de-pont. A strong casemate has been
constructed to the east of the town.
Capua lies, as is well known, half way between
Naples and Gaeta. It is from that point that the
King will reach his last asylum. Doubtless he
would leave behind him, at this intermediate
station, a sufficient number of troops to defend it,
if the war now being waged by him were a regular
war, but he is rather a spectator than an actor in
the scene. The situation is controlled by unex-
pected events, and if he merely intends waiting for
events he will perhaps do nothing more than con-
centrate his forces on Gaeta. This we shall soon
learn by news from the Two Sicilies.
is

COUNTRY MARKETS.

COLCHESTI -SEPT. 8.

The past week has been fine harvest weather, but to-vial
the barometer is sinking, and there is some appearance of
a change. A moderate supply of new wheat, quality and
condition mostly very bad, prices from 44s to 60s. A fesc
samples of new barley were shown, but none for sale. IS
other grain little passing.
Wheat, white sos to 64s ' Beans, Mazagan..4os to 420
red 44s to 458 Middle & small 44s to 481
Barley 2Bs to 32s White peas 38s to 404
I Oats 26s to 28s Grey.. 40a to 446