New-York tribune., 1884-12-21
THE pRirlsu NAVY
Estp seARa=FHn fAuTit=ANb WHAT LORD
N"r ekoRFNhRook IA come 10 Do

80 about the Navy was atsrtsa, y had It's
ss.,n n TAs Fall Mall Gaseite, . paper wh,Vh was
xa.s ina most serious and has now become the ino's
s.nsa,ionsl Of English journals. MI uiads'ohe nso
EhIs in Scotland thrown 30 much cold wafer o,' '"o
N.me this paper set itself to kndle against """s0
- orls that some new attempt to attract a'.eh''"
~ VI % he made. The Navy is always a good topic
nsu " .ro fev things tho English people care more
.hout There are few subjects more complex OF Oh
cs,oh ono expert will more confidently contradict
,hcr few therefore better adapted for cry, or
.,,,crv All sober men agree, and even Mr. COD
d;d not wholly deny, that the safety OF the BTU
..h rmpire depends on the efficiency OF her Navy.
nha Irish dynamiters thought so when they hopeu
.s,.ats manic by threats of blowing up ships Of
-or IT, therefore, anybody outside OF luhatic
..yIum tells the British public that their Navy Is
,ng 10 the dogs he will be listened TO- Ii he gets
~ his case elaborataly with sufficient display OF
technical knowledge and abundance OF details nm
;,,ooihle 10 the lay mind, calls 1t The Truth
Ahout the Navy. spreads 1t all over newspaper
and continues for weeks to write hysterica leaders
hout it, he will be pretty to create panic of
respectable dimensions.
This IS what The Pail Mall has done, but IL is not
10 be inferred that the panic is due to this only
Other papers took up the cry. Every Tory who
,hought he could discredit Liberal Government by
.hontnc ont that it had neglected the Navy joinei
In Every Naval officer who wants a command ana
cannot get one has an interest i'll increasing the
number of ships Every shipbuilder who wants a
lob every naval contractor, every ironmaster every
biscuit-maker. knows that more ships means more
business for him. Everybody who lives in naval
ocrt is an advocate of expansion. When all these
and many other voices are raised at the same mo-
nent. they make very respectable imitation Oh
pubhc opinion. They have been reinforced oy spfhe
high authorities, and they have to certain extent
induencel the Government l shall not soon forget
the tone of emphatic contempt in which one leading
Minister described the first PdH hdU article as ruo-
bish And vet Lord NorthbrOok. the Minister re-
sponsble 10 Parliament for the Navy had to get up
last night and make a long statement, and end by
proposing TO spend the sum of f5,525,OOO en- the
Navy over and above what two months ago he
meant to spend This sum, il Is trne, is to be dis
tributcd over five years. Sir Thomas Brassey Sec
reary to the Admiralty, and its mouthpiece IN the
llousc of Commons, made similar statement. And
In both Houses critics rose, as soon as these naval
Ministers had sat down, to complain that they were
not going to do enough and not going to do 1t
quickly enough.
Perhaps it will not be very rash to assume that
the real Truth as distinguished from The Pal Nal
Truth about the Navy, may be collected from the
discussions IN Parliament, helped ont as they arc by
very elaborate technical discussions in the United
Service Institution aud in The Times to both of
which Sir +. J. Reed has contributed largely. This
is however. one of those cases which afford
brilliant illustration of the adage that figures may
be made to prove anything The panic-mongers
have made the increase of the French Navy the
basis vt their appeals. and In order to show that the
English Navy was decreasing relatively TO the
French, they invented an arbitrary classification of
shirs ntn nrst, second aud thir and they insisted
That the French had of late years been building so
much fastrr than ,he English "a tu threaten rapid
s>tnc,,nn of the superiority of the latter lcrd
Nn,thhlenks answer tn all this sceins 60 ne sehsihle
aud snlhcent II ia jt0e, he sNs tnat Some ten
,e,fs asa tho French heaan building new afmofed
.hlps more rapidly than had heen their habit Hut
why lieeanse down to that date and long aite, |
thc English had abandoned the type, tho French |
hal gone on constructing ships of wood plated with |
iron; now admitted u be wrong system When |
they discovered theiv mStake, they had 10 begin
over again. There is no evidence that the French |
then dreamed OF entering upon serious contest |
with England for naval supremacy or that they
now dream of It,
Then ~ to classes of ships. and comparisons he
tween tho English and French Nayies. Lord North |
brook SAYS what everybody who has paid the least
attention to this subject must have seen for HIMSELF
that no two classications or comparisons agrco.
The expert of to-day contradcts the expert of yes
tcrday. Ships are shuilled about from one class TO
the entire satisfaction of those who conduct them
and to the pretty complete mystifcaton of the |
patrlotc Briton, who hardly knows whether the |
French fleet is not already anchored OF the Tower |
OF London. After looking through these various
lists am disposed to think Lord Northbrook's |
statement a reasonable one. He. or rather his naval
colleagues take the sh ps in both .navies for next
year, and without attempting to arrange them i'll
classes, set ship against shp.-matching each ship
~ CHI fo hari in
strength in the French fleet. and distinguishing be-
tween modern ships and obsolete ships; between,
that Is those which ARE efficient and those which
are not OF these modern ships fit for present fight
Ing there are 30 English of 21O,4 ,430 tons, and 10
French of 127. .s2S tons; balance of / ships in
favor Of the English OF the obsolete types, ships
not fit to fight against the new ones. but which
might be paired of against Others of their own
strength there 16 English of .520 tons. and
II French of 53.O66 tons; a balance Of only four
ships in favor of the English. but with an English
tonnage more than double the French This" says
Lord Northbrook with emphasis. and it seems to me
with justice, is the most authentic and best COM
parison in regard to the state of the two naves that
can offer your ordships not my authority, as
sad before but on the authority of the Board OF
Admiralty"
SO much for the actual state of the two navies |
English and' French. But the French are building
much faster than the English cry the alarmsts, and
will soon be ahead. No. answers Lord Northbrook
that is not So During the last four years land it
takes five years to build An ironcad, tue Admiralty
have begun two armored vessels for every which
the French have begun. 1t is not true that of late
years there has becn or that there now Is, any
traordnary activity in construction in the French
Navy Yards But it is true that the English have
been spending more money and building more ships
since this Liberal Government camt into power than
before Ii follows that If things go on as they are