, 1866-09-04

tak6H tnctH III any Otuct ScHec I3 WHcH
they were invented, the Emperor Napo-
leon had been our enemy and not our
ally? We have to consider that the days
are gone when our sailors were enabled,
simply by superior physical strength and
daring, to board and capture q vessel Of
better scientific construction than their
own, and when the personal prowess OF
our soldiers won battles which the IN
skilfulness of their generals would else
have lost. We shall no more see British
troops "blasting their way with gunpow-
der'' in the face of a foe furnished with
arms of precision five times more etici-
ent than their own. The exploits Of the
s'saucy Arethusa' will never be repeated.
Never again will five hundred Frenchmen
be seen dancing on the deck of a man-of-
war whilst an English frigate advances
against her with two-tenths of that num-
Der. The deck will expose no crew of
dancers to the derision of Jack Tar and
to the stroke of his cutlass-so that, hav-
ing first cut them down with that weapon,
he may then cut them out in the ''Sall-
or's Hornplpe." The question will main
~ lie between metal and metal, force Of
impact with frequency of fire and power
of resistance. If we are in future 10 hold
our W by land or sea, we must reverse
the relative position now existing between
ourselves and our possible enemies with
respect to arms. We must, so far from
creeping behind them, be on more than a
par with them. We must keep in add
vance of them, for they are many, and
We are few, and it is we that ought to be
able TO confront them with guns that
would make up for our numerical dispari-
ty by cxcelling theirs in the ratio of five
to one.
But the shameful fact is that, instead
of being "ready," we are "unready, aye,
unready for the field" John Bull might,
with a little variation, apply to the
Boards that preside over his military and
naval affairs the words addressed by
Prince John to Falstaff:-
''These tardy tricks of yours will, on my life,
One time or other break some galows' back"
The "tardy tricks" by which the arma-
ments of England are ever kept behind
those against which they are provided,
cannot, indeed, be expected ever to bring
any Of those responsible for them TO be
hanged-Mo gallows' hack is likely to be
broken by the tricks of those administra-
tive Falstafs but there is too much fear
that there will some day come a calami-
tous break down of England's greatness.
We experienced a forewarning of such a
catastrophe in the Crimea. 1t is now
proved to demonstration that the disas-
trous rout of the Austrians Was in no
small degree owing to the five times BET
ter rife in the hands of antagonists in
other respects perhaps inferior 10 them
selves. Bismark is said TO have braved
all the odds against him confding in the
murderous efficiency of the Prussian nee
dle-gun- Its success has shown that Bis
mark calculation is inversely equal 10
his morality. That is proving much for
his calculation. What a blessing to Eng
land would be a Bismark with a con-
science at the head of martial affairs!
We are assured by various authorities
that there are breech-loading rifles that
even excel the needle-gun. If there are
any, we may be sure that Bismark will in
stantly have the needle-gun exchanged
for them. simultaneously, perhaps, our
army wills at length be provided with
] peedle-guns. Such, at least, will be the
eases if we go4on as WesalWays have gone