New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-11-06
FLEETS or THE CHINESE C0ISE

ILEEIN w mr. NIINi-NI| 'N-I'f'
The war now imminent between France and
China will not be confined to military opera
tions on land. General BOuct's force, when re-
Inducements arrive, will not exceed ten thou
sand men, and his chance of success in bc~icglnG
BAG Mini, Song Tai and other citadcls Will de
pend largely upon the efficiency of the fleet. As
the high-watcr season has not yet passed, the
roncads can operate in the main channels OF
the delta, and the smaller vessels can penetrate
10 the upper courses OF the Red River The
fleet now available for active service in rOnqUin
comprises three ironclads, two cruisers, five
gmbOats, four sloOps, six dspatch-boat5 and
two tOrpcdo-bOatS. Supported 10y so strong a
naval division, the French commander ought
not to have much difficulty in capturing every
fortified post on the Red River delta, and in cs-
tablishing galriSOnS as far inland rs Hong oa
The advance of the French troops may be fol-
lowed by an Immediate declaration of war from
Pckin. The Black Flags will then be reinforced
by a body of Chinese auxiliarics and the diff
cultics of conquest and occupation will BE-
largely increased. The French commander in
that event will naturally send his irOnclads and
cruisers to reinforce the naval division now in
Chinese waters, which includes the iiOnclad
VictOricuse, four cruisers, one gunboat and two
dispatch boats The irOnclads available foI
service in the harhor of Canton or at any other
point or the scaboard that may be selected as
the scene of a naval demonstration, are Ibrmid-
able vessels, carrying 7-tOn and 12-ton guns.
The Chinese have no Notifications which can
resist the sustained fire Of such feet. They
have, however, a navy which in llcctncss if not
in fighting power, is not to be dcspiscd. They
have not a single irOncad that can cope with
such aTmOrcd antagonists as the NiCtOrjcuSc or
the Bayard but they have in their fleet Of forty
three gun vessels a few powerful gUuboatS
carrying heavy artillery. These gunboats arc
described by Sir William Armstrong as making
sixteen knots an hour as carrying coal for
stcaming 1000 miles, and as armed with guns
capable of piercing eighteen inches of iron
arnior. These vessels are small, but they carry
heavy guns and are very fast.
The fighting qualities of these Grcek-lctter
gunboats, as they are called in England, have
never been practically tested in a naval engage
mcnt, but they are rated very high by good
iudges like Sir Thomas BraSscy. If they are
manned by wcll-diSciplined crews recruited
from the fishermen and junkmcn of the sea-
board and are reasonably well handled, they
may give so good an account of themselves in
actual operations with the French fleet as to
effect change in the naval architecture of the
day. The land engagements in such a war will
not be interesting inasmuch as the Chinese are
not good soldiers without foreign leadership,
and the superiority of European discipline and
resources must prevail. On the sea the Chinese
will use English guns of superior weight and
range mounted Oh most ingenious floating
carriage. The use made of these diminutive
vessels, which are at once so strong, so feet aud