New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-11-02
BRITISH AND FRENCH NAVTES.

1.-THE fleet of England IS her all In all
Naturally. therefore, all British eyes are turned
TO 1t the moment not only that military menace
IS offered in any quarter, but that the ways
and means Of diplomacy become even the least
bit strenuous. There Is probably no danger Of
war between Great Britain and France at tile
present time or In the near future. Yet there
Is unqucstlonably in British dockyards n gem
eral clearing mp Of loose ends and certain
preparing for anything that might happen, and
there Is all over the United Kingdom marked
desire that the fleet shall be In the most per
feet trim for action. and thus furnish the
strongest guarantee of peace. No doubt the
nation will be treasured of the entire compr-
tence of the fleet TO deal with any emergency
that may come TO hand, and we are inclined to
think It almost equally without doubt that a
careful review OF the condition Of that feet
and n comparison Of It with the fleet of France
would persuade the world that there will be no
war.
Let lie make n brief comparison, detail by
detail Let us first cOnCcde that in quality Of
types and ships and guns and men the two
navies are equal. That certainly is not I'M
just to France. How then, do they compare
I'm quantity or numbers? In the fundamental
item Of battle ships the disprOportOn Is star
Ting. Great Britain has - and Franco only
-. Nor would analysis amend the matter, for
II we divide them into classes we find that
Great Britain has 30 of the first class and
France only Is. In the heavy fighting line
then, France is ovcrmatchcd nearly two TO
one In armorcd cruisers the British preponder-
ancc is Is to O. or just two to one. In pro-
tectcd cruisers II IS - to 30. or more than
three TO one n fact that has impressive sig
niGcance as to the protection of British COM
merce in tine of war. In unprotected cruisers
an unimpOrant class. the fleets are equal. each
having IL; but in case OF war the British CON
tingcnt would instantly he doubled by the adj
dtion Of the great Cunard White Star PENN
sular and Oriental and Empress ocean liners OF
the auxiliary service. OF coast defence yes
sells Great Britain has II and France ii. and
OF special" vessels 3 ana respectively. In
torpedo boats alone France has numerical SUI
perority. having 211 TO Great Brtains 9S
But then Great Britain has 30 torpedo gun
boats to Frances 13. and 30 OF the formidable
torpedo boat destroyers 10 Frances none. SO
even in torpedo craft Of all classes Frances
numerical superiority is only 22i to 1873. while
the prepOnderance of actual effectiveness may
well he on the British side.
If these figures do not point to improhabillty
OF war wa do not know how 10 interpret them
Certainly the best French authorities regard
them as indicating the hopeless lnferiOrlty Of
the French feet VI. LOckroy. the Minister Of
Marine. regards them and says so. SO does
Admiral Dupont. The latter says frankly: "Our
''nferiorty IL notorious. II Is useless to con-
"ceal this fact" Another high French author
ity declares that n war with Great Britain
would lead TO a naval Sedan" II Is not 10 be
believed that France will deliberately blind
herself to these facts and seek such unequal