The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1878-02-23 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

TORPEDO WARFARE.  Admiral the Right Eon. Lord Dunsany has recently read a paper at the Royal United Service Institution, London, on the modes of warfare as regards fire-ships, explosive vessels, torpedoes, and explosive mines. The chair was occupied by Admiral Sir F. H. Nicolson, Bart., C. 8., and amongst the audience were many members of both branches of the service.  In his introductory remarks, the noble and gallant lecturer observed that his idea, in making out his paper, was not to set himself as an authority, or to express his own opinions with the. view. of their acceptation, but rather to incite a discussion on the various points on which he intended to dwell in the course of his address. Lord Dunsany remarked that torpedoes were considered at the present time by the civilised nations as weapons of warfare as legal as any other in existence. There were those, too, he said, who considered that, on humanitarian grounds, the torpedo ought to be retained, inasmuch as through its instrumentality human sufferings were shortened, if not alleviated. The lecturer, adverting to the FrancoPrussian war, observed that a nice and knotty question arose daring that war consequent on the capture of some balloons and their occupants by the Germans. While the French held that these latter should be placed under a certain head, the Germans considered they should be put in the category of spies, and in any case they were sent before a court-martial. Alluding to fire-ships, Lord Dunsany said the crews of such craft were never granted any quarter such as is extended to belligerents. He characterised this mode of warfare as a savage one, and in support of his views quoted Lord Dandonald, a Scotch nobleman, who in his official correspondence showed that h uar, tter a crewsed that of t amodees s e el s f dwi da r fnaorte ei t ex iefc tw asa n ya horrible one. Thenoble lecturer, referring to the progress made in artillery, expressed his opinion that the limit had not yet been reached, although Italy has in her possession a gun that can throw a ton weight a distance of nine miles. On the question of torpedoes he supposed that if this country were at war with France no one would then deny the right of France to torpedo off the coast of Cherbourg, or assert that by so doing she was exceeding the bounds of legitimate warfare. The crews of torpedo boats, he contended encountered very little danger from the guns of large vessels, for the chance of hitting them was infinitesimal. These torpedo boats were constructed to run even as fdst as 25 or 27 knots an hour. Suppose a rate of three miles more were attained, that would be a mile every two minutes. A vessel going at such a speed would be difficult to hit, and the smoke of a gun discharged at her would be scarcely cleared away when she would be within torpedo range of her enemy. In conclusion, Lord Dunsany put it to his hearers to judge whether, after sending to the bottom of the sea a fine ironclad, and its 600 brave fellows, a tiny torpedo boat with its crew, deserved not some treatment besides that awarded by the rules of open, manly, and straightforward fighting. A discussion, opened by Major Caineron, who expressed himself in favour of the present system, followed the reading of the paper, and at the close, the lecturer was awarded a cordial vote of thanks,  John McCrae, son of Donald McCrae, Shielbridge, Glenshiel, has been tilled by falling from the top of a high mountain in the parish of Glenshiel. In company with another lad he had proceeded to the grave of a merchant who was murdered on the mountain many years ago. On their homeward journey McCrae slipped oh a glacier and rolled down the mountain side, his head coming in violent contact with a sharp stone, which shattered his head to pieces, fully sixty yards below where he slipped.