the Emperor of France to extend the application of iron plates to one of his large frigates-La Gloire-which was completed three years ago, and was the first regular ironclad war ship ever built. Since then several have been constructed for the French and English navies-the American invention having thus been first carried into practical use in Europe."

In order to mark the progress of the art of mailing vessels, from the first rude application of the American idea by Louis Napoleon to his gun-boats, at Kinburn, to its present condition, and to exhibit the marked peculiarities of the American iron-clads, it will be instructive to trace the different steps. Passing by the small gun-boats which fought at Kinburn, the first important trial of the iron mail was by the French Emperor on the frigate La Gloire, the construction of which was ordered in 1858. She is simply a frigate of the common model, cased with iron plates about four inches thick. The plates are said to be three and a half inches thick at the stern and bow, and four and a half inches in the center, covering the ship's battery.

She is described from French authorities as about 257 feet long, carrying thirty-six 50-pounders on a single protected deck. Her engine is of 900-horse power, and her crew consists of 500 men. Her ports are only six feet above the water. Her width is fifty-six feet, and her speed thirteen and a quarter knots per hour. The French Emperor is constructing ten more iron-cased frigates of this class. Besides these, France has now at sea the Normandie, the Invincible, the Couronne, and two larger ironclad rams, the Solferino and the Magenta.

These last carry each fifty-two guns, and have a speed of thirteen and a half knots per hour. The lower ports of these are eight feet above the water. It is also stated by the NORTH BRITISH REVIEW (August, 1863), that these largest French frigates are plated in the center with iron six inches thick. It may be stated, then, with sufficient

accuracy, that Louis Napoleon has at present a fleet of sixteen iron-clad frigates, carrying, each, from thirty-six to fifty-two rifled 50-pounders; that their armor-plates are some four and a half and some six inches thick, and that they have a speed equal to our fastest war ships, with the exception of some of our small and latest built ships, such as the Eutaw and the Sassacus, being much swifter than any of our own iron-clads.

The Normandie has crossed the Atlantic, but no very favorable account has yet been given of the sea-going qualities of any of these French ships. They are said to roll very heavily, and that their batteries can not be used in a heavy sea, because the ports roll under. They are also said to be very unhealthy. These are very likely to be objections to all iron-clads, because, when in action, few of them can be properly ventilated, and the same must be true of them in heavy weather. So far as is known, all the broadside iron-plated ships roll heavily in a rough sea, and the remedy for this does not, as yet, appear.

An inspection of the table already copied from the NORTH BRITISH will show that English mailed vessels are, many of them, of much greater size and power than any yet constructed by the French. Nearly all of them are larger than the American Ironsides or Roanoke, and several of them are longer and of greater tunnage than the Dunderberg, our largest iron-clad. A brief description of three of these vessels will enable the reader to compare them with our own iron-plated fleet, and to judge whether we have reason for apprehension should we be compelled to meet them.

The Warrior and the Black Prince are regarded as the model ships of the iron navy of England, and they may be considered as embodying the utmost skill and science of Great Britain at the present time. These ships are 380 feet long; their tunnage is 6,000 tuns; their draught is, of the one, 22 feet 9 inches, and of the Black Prince, 26 feet 3 inches. They each carry forty guns: twenty-eight 68pounder, and twelve 100-pounder Armstrong guns. Their

crew is 704 men. Their armor-plates are four and a half inches thick, and the Warrior, on her trial trip, had a speed of fourteen knots, and the Black Prince ran from twelve to thirteen knots per hour. Their engines are of 1,250-horse power.

These ships are only plated with iron for two-thirds of their length, the bow and stern being, as English writers affirm, more vulnerable than a common wooden ship. The battery only is protected by the iron mail, while about sixty feet of the stern and bow are like a common vessel. The Minotaur is 400 feet long; her tunnage is 6,621 tuns; her engines are of 1,350-horse power; her draught is 25 feet 8 inches, and she is to carry thirty-seven guns. Her speed has not been ascertained. Portions of the armor of this ship are said to be six inches thick. The Bellerophon is a newly-devised iron-clad, now being built, whose coming is thus heralded by the London TIMES: She will be "as terrible an assailant to iron-clads as an iron-clad would be to wooden ships. The object with which this vessel is designed is, in case of another great war, to avoid repetition of the long, dreary process of blockading an enemy's fleet, by wearisome and dangerous cruising off the mouth of harbors. The Bellerophon is, in short, to a fleet of iron-clads what a fox-terrier is to a pack of hounds. In case of an enemy's iron fleet running into port, she can follow them with impunity."

But in the description which the TIMES gives of what it calls "this monster," one fails to discover the immense superiority which is claimed.

She is 300 feet long, 56 feet beam, has a draught of 25 feet, and her tunnage is 4.246 tuns. "It is hoped," if certain improvements work well, that she will make fif teen knots per hour; but she is on the stocks as yet, and her speed is yet to be determined. Her armor-plates are six inches thick, but they reach to the upper deck for only ninety feet of the ship's length; for the remaining distance of two hundred and ten feet, the plating reaches only six feet above the water, and all above this line and both

ends of the vessel are unprotected. She is to be armed with ten broadside guns, of what size we are not informed, and probably that is not yet determined. Of iron-mailed vessels, of the general character described-most of them, however, somewhat smaller-England has between twenty and thirty built, or in process of construction. Like those of France, they are all broadside ships, and, of course, expose an immense surface to an enemy's fire. The importance of this will appear, when they are compared with the American Monitor form of war ship.

The objections made to the French ships are, that they can not use their batteries except when the sea is smooth, and that, in rough weather, they roll so as to render them not only uncomfortable, but dangerous. The English ships require from 25 to 26 feet of water, and are, therefore, unable to enter our principal harbors. From their great size, they are unwieldy; the joints of their armorplates work in a sea, and leak; they do not steer safely; and, from the general tone of English criticisms, one is led to infer that they are by no means satisfied with the performance of the iron fleet. But, as neither the French nor English ships have been, as yet, tested in battle, no very definite opinion of their qualities can be formed.

We know, however, exactly the effect which certain kinds of artillery will produce upon iron plates, such as those which form their armor; and as the American ships have been exposed, at short range, to the heaviest cannon and the most destructive shot which England could furnish to the rebels, while at the same time our guns have been tried upon armor-plates in action, we have the means of forming a very accurate opinion of our power for attack or defense, as compared with other nations.

The condition and character of the American navy demands a separate chapter, and this will involve, also, a description of our artillery, and then all will be able to make the proper comparison between our navy and those of Europe.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

THE AMERICAN NAVY.

Ar the commencement of Mr. Lincoln's administration our navy consisted of only forty-six vessels. In December, 1863, it numbered 588 vessels, mounted with 4,443 guns. The aggregate tunnage of these ships was about 468,000

tuns.

The creation of such a navy in so short a time, considering the number and character of the vessels, is without a parallel in the history of war. It is at once a most cheering proof of the vast resources of our country, and of the wisdom and energy with which our Navy Department has been conducted. In the brief space between the breaking out of the war and December, 1863, the country has been elevated into a first-class naval power; and, probably, those who have been disposed to criticise the operations of the Secretary would find it very difficult to point out a course by which the safety and honor of the country would have been more securely guarded.

It is no small proof of ability in the management of the navy, that there was skill enough to provide, and independence enough to use, a form of war ship and a kind of cannon before untried, but which time and experience have shown were alone, of all ships and weapons then known, capable of meeting the emergency.

Had there been a frigate built like the Warrior in Hampton Roads at the time of the appearance of the