, 1876-09-02

They represent, says the Edinburgh Re-
viewer, an effective feet more than equlva-
lent to an equal number Of vessels IN the
service OF any other Power, because they
have been built with all tho recent I'M
proyements, instead of being, as so many
English and French ships are, mere com
promises between one type Of vessel and
another. The Kaiser an the 'Deutsch-
laDl,' which have been bui t in England
from the designs of Mr.. Reed, are equal
to any ships ia the British Navy lndeed,
we have only three ships, the Sultan
the Hercules and the Monarch,' that can
rival them. They are all armed Win steel
breechloadjng rIled cannon. OF the two
naval stations belonging to Germany, hleI
is the KEY of the Baltic, while upon the
new arsenal Of WiIhe'mshaven, which
gives he Empire a pc outside the Baltic
Whjcl IS open all thu year, eight millions
Sterling have been spent within the last
few years. The weakest point IN the
German Navy is the system OF recruiting,
The Seewehr is comp)sel mainly OF con-
scripts from the seafariug population, who
are exempt from service in the Army, but
as no mau is taken as a sailor unless he
has been at sen for a year, az the lahabi-
tants Of the coast districts show a marked
aud increasing dislike Of the Merchant
Service, and as many OF those who are
liable to i5in the Fleet take service on
board foreign merchantmen, great dit6-
culties are experienced in providing the
necessary recruits. TIE officers are care
fully trained and highly paid.
How, it may De asked, does all this
concern us? Among other things, it may
console us for the enormous increase whjch
our own Naval Estimates have showl dur
inc the period in which the German Fleet
has been growing up. BY a convenient
coincidence, this article in the Eiln6wrgh
ReyieU appears at the same moment as
an article in the Quarteriy RsoicU upon
the cost Of the English Navy This latter
y contains a well-arrAnged summary
Of the heads uuder which this increase is
distributed, 50 that the reader ca see pre-
clseIy what it is that The country gets IN
return for the money that IL SO freely
sDauds. Eno koyicw er takes the ESti-
mates OF 1885, and compares them IN de-
tail with The Estimates Of 1876. In the
former wear they amounted to about two
and a half millions, in the present year
thew amount to about nine aud a half
millions. The difference between the
votes for wages and food in the two select
cd years nearly equals the total cost Of
the Navy in 1885, aud the increase in the
vote for ship.buiIding is not very much
less. Yet it is not too much to say that
this vast increase Of expenditure would
have been equally necessary had there been
no German Fleet in existence. Other
Powers have been adding ship to ship as
well as we, and without including the new
Power with which we may one day have
to reckon, there has been abundant need
for the development that the English Fleet
has undergone. 1t is something, however,
to know that the appearance Of a new ele-
ment in the Naval combination of Europe
finds us with little needing to be done,
except to prepare for the further outlay
that such a phenomenon imposes upon US.
1t would be the merest folly to argue as
though the growth of a German Fleet
could be anything else than a subject Of
serious reflection to every Englishman. A
great Power like Germany does not like
to be the inferior of any one in matters in
which it has once busted itself. There
was a time when Prussia could talk, and
in all probability, talk honestly, of aiming