Welsh Newspapers
Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles
9 articles on this Page
BLOOD POISONING AMONGST THOROUGH-…
BLOOD POISONING AMONGST THOROUGH- J BRED FOALS. From Newmarket, Doncaster, and amongst various Btuds of high class thoroughbreds, come tidings of serious illness and death of valuable foals. One noble- man has lost several youngsters, which next season might probably have realised a thousand guineas a piece. The Cobham Stud Company have had half a score of valuable foals attacked, and several of the cases have proved fatal. Neither at Newmarket nor elsewhere does the exact nature of the disease appear to be thoroughly understood no description of it is to be found even in modern text-books; stud-grooms, trainers, and even veterinarians generally regard it as a new visitation." The symptoms are tolerably uniform. The young animal—previously in perfect health growing and thriving rapidly-is observed to be dull, indisposed to ptirsue; his gambols, exhibiting little appetite, thirsty, his coat dry and staring. A day later the symptoms of dulness and listlesscess are more pronounced, the head is held low and the nose poked out; there is evident difficulty in swailowinir. By the third day fulness and tenderness are apparent around the throat, extending shortly both up to the ears and down the neck. This swelling, occurring internally as well as externally, interferes alike with swallowing and breathing. The animal, if attempted to be moved, goes stiffly and blows considerably petehial spots appear on the visible mucous membranes the heart beats are quick but feeble rapid prostration of strength ensues, and usually within four days after the first symptoms have been noticed death supervenes. The usual appearances after death are a darker colour and more notable fluidity of blood throughout the body the muscles are soft, and do not undergo full post- mortem rigidity. Dark-coloured soft clots of blood are found on the right side of the heart, indicating loss of contractile power. Within the hard diffused swellings in the region of the throat is found a good deal of degenerate lymph and pus, not confined as in cases of strangles to distinct abscesses, not involving chiefly the large glands, but diffused underneath the skin and amongst the areolar textures. Patches of congestion are scattered over the pharynx, and underneath the mucous membrane spots of serous exudate occur, blotches and petechial spots like those of scarlatina, are usually discovered in the nostrils. Similar pete- chial spots appear on the surface of the peritoneum and occasionally on the mucous membrane of the small intestines. These cases bear considerable resemblance to malig- nant scarlet fever there are the same febrile and throat symptoms, and the like prostration of strergth, but in the present malady amongst foals the character- istic scarlet patches are noticeable in the nostrils, nor is the skin blotched and scurfy, nor are the symptoms prolonged over a week or ten days. Some practitioners regard the malady to be analagous to black-leg or charbon in young cattle; and in support of this view point to the suddenness and fatality of the attacks, the subcutaneous swellings and crepitation occasionally observed, and the dark and fluid state of the blood. But although both diseases doubtless depend upon some form of blood-poisoning, they have many distinctive characters. Attacking, as it has generally done, the most forward and thriving of the foals, several observant stud- masters have come to the conclusion that the dis- ease results from that continued intense forcing which has become almost a necessity where yearlings are to be brought out in the fullest perfection of size and condition. Besides the legitmate oats, bears, and hay, with a few roots, these equine aristocrats have malt, linseed, sugar, eggs, and milk, and almost all im- aginable good things. This high pressure feeding is conducted with comparative impunity so long as the young creatures have abuadance of exercise, and whilst skin, bowels, and kidneys continue to remove waste and superfluous nutritive materials. When, however, bad weather occurs, as it has done recently, and the foals are confined pretty constantly to their boxes, the balance between supply and demand is apt to be destroyed—the animal has more rich food than his system can appropriate and if, concurrently with this unnatural rest, indigestion or cold intetferes with the functions of any of the excretory channels, dangerous fomentative materials accumulate in the body and give rise to various forms of disease. This is the explanation given of the occurence of one of the outbreaks of the disease described which has taken place within the last fortnight amongst the foals of one of the largest thoroughbred studs in the country. In all the important attacks of which we have yet heard, a careful examination has been made of the water supply, the food, drianage, and other surroundings without discovering any conditions injurious to health. We believe that hitherto the complaint has been confined to foals; it has not attacked yearlings, brood mares, or other horses on the same premises as the foals, and hence it may be concluded that it is not contagious. It has not been preceded by, or accom- panied by influenza, or other epizootic attacks. Although treatment hitherto has not been so success- ful as could be desired, the system to be adopted must evidently consist in hot fomentations to the irritable swollen throat potassium chlorate, and ammonium acetate solution in half ounce doses, twice daily, given to abate fever frequent small draughts of cold water, acidulated with hydrochloric acid administered to counteract congestion and arrest exudation on the mucous surfaces of the throat. To sustain the fast failing strength, eggs, milk, and frequent small doses of alcoholic stimulants should be used. In such cases, when other food is neglected, colts will sometime eat stale bread soaked in milk, sherry and water, or beer. In drenches, mashes, or other food, half-ounce doses of sodium-sulphite are usefully administered daily, as an anitseptic. In all such cases, a warm, but airy box greatly contributes to cure. The fellows of those affected should be placed on laxative diet, not too much forced, and enjoy at least an hour's exercise daily, no matter how wet or forbidding the weather may be. ERADICATING WILD OATS.—I should feel obliged if you would inform me what is the most effectual way of getting rid of a wild oat which seems to be indigenous to the soil in one or two of my parks. [The oat to which you refer is very difficult to get clear of. Drill sowing, Dutch, or hand-hoeing are the best means that we know to at least get partially clear of it]. STORING MANGOLD.—Would you please say in your first issue what is the best way to store mangold wurzel. Would frost do it any harm. provided it were kept from the action of the sun? [Frost would injure the man- gold. The best way that we know of is to pull the mangold and cover it-roots and tops with a little soil]. PARALYSIS OF A HORSE'S HRND- QUAP.TERS. -Might I ask through the medium of your widely-circulated paper, a cure for a horse whose hind-quarters have chronic paralysis ?—[ There is little prospect of your horse recovering from chronic paralysis. Nerve tex- ture, long or seriously injured, as it is in such cases, does not readily undergo repair. In recent cases, resulting from horses being thrown down or severely strained, as happens from dragging heavy loads in frost ovsnow, benefit of ten results from placing a succession of freshly-flayed sheep-skins over the loins. Soap liniment, made more active by the addition of ammonia, is also a useful stimulant for such cases. A dose of physic often removes indigestion or gastric derangement which sometimes aggravates and even temporarily pro- duces paralysis. Nerve tonics, of which strychnine is the best, are used but strychnine being a very active poison, should only be prescribed under professional supervision.] IMPROVING PERMANENT PASTURE.—I should feel ob- liged by your kindly giving me your opinion as to the following :-A grass field (in permanent pasture) has become overrun with fog or moss, and, with the view to improve the pasture without breaking up the ground, would you approve of treating it thus-In early spring, say the beginning of March, to harrow and cross har- row it well, to loosen the fog, which would then be col- lected and carted off the land to lay on 3 or 4 tons of lime during favourable weather in April, along with 4 cwt. half-in. bones? Should the above not be suitable, please indicate what you would recommend. I may mention that the land is a good loam, with gravelly subsoil. Also say if nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia (4 cwt. per acre) would be exhausted by the corn crop to which applied. [If you could feed sheep with turnips on your foggy land during the autumn and winter, a good deal of the fog would likely dis- appear. The harrowing will do good and so will the liming, though many would prefer the application of 6 or 7 cwts. ot bone meal per acre without lime. We approve of lime, however, but we would rather apply to bone meal, say 4 cwts. per acre with perhaps about 1 cwt. of nitrate of soda, than give half-inch bones. The latter might lie on the surface and bleach long enough. The bone meal should be applied in March, and the lime some considerable time either before or after. We would not advise the application of as much as 4 cwts. per acre of nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia. In almost any case that would be too much of such forcing material for either the growing crop or the land. J How LONG DO CATTLE CARRY THE CONTAGION OF FOOT-AVD-MOUTH DISEASE ?-Can you inform me how soon it would be safe to remove cattle that have bad foot-and-mouth disease, and bring them among others that have never had it ?—[The amount of contagion given off from particular cases of catching disease varies considerably under different circumstances. The contagion is usually more abundant and virulent where the accompanying fever is of low type, and where the patient is in a weakly, reduced state. In crowded, dark, low-roofed premises, the special virus evidently is less likely to be diluted and robbed of its powers. Even before the significant symptoms of foot- and-mouth disease are noticeable before there is slavering from the mouth or tenderness of the feet- whilst an increase of temperature is probably the chief indication of any departure from health, infected cattle, we believe, often thus early give off the materies morbi. During the next week, in the majority of instances, particles of disease probably continue to be manufactured and disseminated. No patient can certainly be pronounced free from the complaint, and with safety allowed to mix with sound stock, until at least a week has elapsed from the healing and scalding over of the vesicles. Affected animals, with impunity to sound stock, may be moved in about a week after they are reported cured, especially if they are washed over with carbolic soap or other such disinfectant-a precaution rarely, however, taken with ordinary cattle. Approximately speaking, a week may be said to elapse between the reception of the poison and the distinct appearance of the familiar symptoms-even in favour- able cases a week's illness may be anticipated-and certainly for still another week the patient ought to be isolated so as to prevent its becoming a source of disease. Although many experienced inspectors regard the week of convalescence sufficient to clear away all risk of contagion, we would consider it safer to main- tain the patient in quarantine for a few days longer ].
THE OUTBREAK AT PERAK. I
THE OUTBREAK AT PERAK. PERAIC, via PENANG, Nov. 12. The Malays are stockaded within seven miles of the Residency. The gunboats are at Sabathang, ten miles lower down. The troops are entrenching the Residency, and await re- inforcements before attacking. We expect news of offensive operations seven days hence. CALCUTTA, Nov. 14, 10 32 a.m.—The 3rd Buffs, now quartered here, a Goorkha regiment, and a battery of Mountain Artillery, in the aggregate numbering 1,000 men, of whom about half are Europeans, have been directed to hold themselves ready to start for Perak. The British India Steam Company has been requested to have transports ready. If final orders are issued, the force will pro'.ably start by the middle of the week. There has been received from the Colonial Office, under date November 13, the following information relating to the outbreak: —The telegrams received at this office to-day throw some additional light upon the circumstances attending the murder of Mr Birch in Perak. It appears that a proclamation had been issued and had been posted throughout Perak on the 1st of November. Mr Birch on that day telegraphed to Sir W. Jervois that the proclamation had been well received, and that all was quiet in Perak. On the following day, however, a Malay tore down the proclamation posted at Passir Sala, where the Resident was, and, on being struck:by the Interpreter of the Residency, at once stabbed that officer. An affray followed, in which Mr Birch, who was in his bath, was murdered. The force sent to punish the perpetrators of this outrage consisted of Captain Innes, R.E Lieutenants Booth and Elliott, with sixty men of the 10th, Lieutenant Abbott, R.N., sixty Sikhs, and fifty police and Malays, with rockets. They arrived at the Residency on the 5th, and on the 6th marched through the jungle against the Maharajah Lela, in whose village the murder was committed, and who was found occupying a stockaded position. After an hour and a half's fighting the European troops charged the stockade. In this charge Captain Innes was killed, and Lieutenants Booth and Elliott were wounded, and it was considered necessary to order a retreat, which was effected in an orderly manner, and not before the enemy had abandoned the stockade. The Governor telegraphs that the principal chiefs of Perak remain unshaken in their loyalty, and that the Sultan has offered to assist with men and boats. He reports that the disturbances are still confined to a limited area, and that the Residency on the Perak river is securely held. He has at his disposal between 700 and 800 European troops, besides eighty artillery, and two men- of war are on the station: others are expected, and, in addition, General Colborne sailed with 300 men of the 80th Regiment on the 11th for Singapore.
RACING NOTES. I
RACING NOTES. Great dissatisfaction was felt at the eleventh hour by the scratching of Fraulein for the Liverpool Cup in July, and not less ill-feeling has been created by the extraordinary proceedings in connection with Wizard for the race decided at Aintree last Thursday. This colt, whose only previous performances has been to run unplaced in a two-year-old race at Epsom, and again in the Metropolitan Stakes this spring, was heavily backed for the Liverpool Cup on the first appearance of the weights, but towards the last he encountered marked hostility in the betting, and his withdrawal was hourly expected. The day before the race it was said that he had been purchased for 2,000 guineas by a gentleman whose horses are trained by Dover, and he thereupon recoveted his position in the market. But the rumour proved to be untrue, and on the morning of the race he was driven to such long odds that his absence created less surprise than disgust. The withdrawal of Cardinal York from the Liverpool Cup a few years ago was very strongly condemned at the time, and, if the race is not to acquire a very bad name, Messrs Topbam mast induce the stewards to institute an inquiry into the circumstances of what appears on the face of a very unwarrantable act. If Wizard had run, there would have been the same number of competitors as last year, when twenty-one horses faced the starter; and among those which ran on Thursday Louise Victoria, Thunder, Pageant, Freeman, and Dukedom were in the field a twelvemonth ago. None of them took any prominent part in the race this time, although the three first- mentioned, who formed the first three last year, had all met with considerable support. Freeman and Dukedom wero scarcely quoted at last in the betting, which indicated that the chances of Thorn and Blantyre were also very forlorn. The running of Lord Gowran at Licoln made the adherents of Genuine more sanguine than ever, and as the time for the race drew near it was difficult to back him at any price. Princesss Theresa, badly as she ran of late, was second in demand, while The Grey Palmer and Harmondies were backed at rather longer odds than could have been obtained the week before. Activity, who has ran more than twenty times this season with varying success, and who was one of the first six for the Cambridgeshire, was supported in conjunction with her stable companion Munden, though the owner did not make a declaration to win in her favour. Dalham, the winner of the City and Suburban Handicap, who was sold just before the race, also found friends at the same odds accepted in favour of Peto, who beat Modena for the Brighton Handicap a fortnight ago. The race was a very simple affair for, when Genuine was beaten for want of stamina, Activity assumed the command and won in a canter by four lengths. Peto, who had held the lead alternately with Genuine, beat the favourite in the struggle for places, but Munden, the stable-companion of Activity, might have been second if his jockey, finding he could not defeat her, had not eased him in the last hundred yards. Activity is a half-bred mare, and her present owner, who claimed her out of a selling race at Goodwood, has already secured three or four prizes with her, a*ad is reported to have won Y,10,000 by the result of the Liverpool Cup, he cannot be said to have made a bad bar- gain. The truth of the running for the Liverpool Cup was conSrmed by the result of the Great Lancashire Handi- cap on the following day. Activity did not run, but seven of her opponents, Peto, Genuine, Dalham, Prin- cess Theresa, Harmonides, Thorn, and Blantyre were in the field, and Peto won very easily. He was an equally good favourite with Fontarabian, and in slightly better demand than Genuine, who, though it was thought that the shorter distance would be in his favour, did not run so well as in the Liverpool Cup. Dalham finished second to Peto, and Day Dream was third, just in front of Harmonides, who has not been a very lucky horse for Captain Machell. Woodman of Arden galloped into the canal during the race, but was got out uninjured, and later in the afternoon won the Bentinck Welter Handicap from a large field. Louise Victoria being withdrawn, Thunder took the Duchy Cup without op- position, and Lowlander added to his winning score by beating Pursuivant and a two-year-old for the Bicker- staffe Cup. Oxonian seems to have lost his speed, for he was beaten by Magnet in the Mersey "Trial Stakes, and was unable to beat his stable-companion, Mr Winkle, and Tilley in the Wavertree Handicap. There were large fields for most of the Nurseries decided at Liverpool, but the most remarkable fact in connection with them was that Captain Warburton finished second in three and third in another. Lord Wilton's Footstep beat his St Agnes for the Knowsley Nursery, and Sir George Chetwynd's Lizzie Distin defeated her for the Liverpool Nursery, while Agate, third to Reveillon and the Honeymoon colt in the Palatine Nursery, was again beaten by the latter in the Downe Nursery. After such a series of disappoint- ments, the owner may well resol ve to [send his horses to the hammer. The hurdle races were not very interest- ing, and, though Daybreak managed to secure both the Sefton and the Craven Steeplechases, upsetting a great favourite in Revenge for the former, he is not the sort of horse likely to distinguish himself at Aintree in the month of March. I
POLITICAL SPEECHES AT BRISTOL.I
POLITICAL SPEECHES AT BRISTOL. I The Colston anniversary at Bristol was celebrated on Saturday in the usual manner. At the dinner of the Anchor Society (Liberal) the principal speaker was Lord Hartington, who said that if the only hope of the Liberals was a speedy return to power the prospect would not be a very inspiring one. In the most pros- perous time of the Liberal party they would never have commanded a majority in the House of Commons without the assistance of the Scotch and Irish members, and they could not now expect to reckon upon any support from the great bulk of the Liberal members returned from Ireland. He could conceive the pos- sibility of the Irish members voting to keep the Conservative Government in office for the sake of denominational education, but he could scarcely con- ceive any present circumstances under which the Irish members could be induced to place a Liberal Govern- ment in power, or to vote to retain them in power. The highest wisdom of the Liberal party at this moment was to exercise patience and moderation nothing would be more impolitic than to try to force upon the country changes which the country had dis- tinctly told them it is not at present prepared for. But, his lordship added, he did not D" ean that, by pursuing a policy of patience and moderation, they were necessarily to pursue a policy of inaction. The present lull in political affairs would not be wasted if it was devoted by the Liberal party to a thorough and complete, and at the same to a careful and discriminating—he would almost say, a reverent- examination of all our political institutions, with a view to see wherein they may be strengthened and wherein they may be amended. Nor did he think the functions of the Liberal party in regard to the policy of the Government should be un- dervalued. Numerically weak in the House of Commons they undoubtedly were, but he did not think it could be said with truth that even last session they were without influence upon it. After referring to some of the principal events of last session, Lord Hartington spoke of the Fugitive Slave Circular, and said that the Government could not escape from the difficulty they had themselves raised by the mere with- drawal of the circular. Lord Derby's speech at Liver- pool, when he said the Government could riot admit the correctness of the popular view which had been taken of the intention of the circular, must be explained, and the Governtment must either retract the opinion of the highest legal authorities," or so alter the law that the opinion of the highest legal authorities" might not conflict with the unanimous convictions and sentiments of the people of this country. Lord Hartington next spoke of the Admiralty, and contended that neither the words nor actions of the present Board were such as to inspire or merit the confidence of the country. He then referred to the education ques- tion and the question of local self-government and local taxation, and, with respect to the former, said he should not be surprised if the honour of establishing a universal and sound system of education were reserved for the Liberal party. With respect to foreign affairs, Lord Hartington said he believed it was generally acknowledged that Mr Disraeli's speech at the Guild- hall last week adequately expressed the general feeling of Englishmen, and the position which England ought to take upon the Eastern question, and he trusted the present Opposition would be able at least to emulate the conduct of the late Opposition, and would not give any factious or party opposition upon foreign affairs. No one (his lordship said) knows better than does Mr Disraeli, in spite of some foolish speeches which may have been made by some of his supporters, that the foreign policy which this country wants is-as Mr Bright has recently expressed it—' not a spirited foreign policy, but a just foreign policy.' So long as the Minister of England firmly and steadily pursues that policy, although he may not be backed up by the military power which the Ministers of other nations may be able to command, he will know, and Europe will know also, that when he speaks he speaks the un- divided voice of a loyal and powerful and a patriotic people." Among the other speakers were Colonel Hayter, M.P., Mr Waddy, M.P., Mr Samuel Morley, M.P., and Mr Kirkman Hodgson, M.P. At the dinner of the Conservative Society (theDolphin Mr Stephen Cave, M.P., the Duke of Beaufort, and Mr W. H. Smith, M.P., were the principal speakers. Mr Cave said that the Slave Circular was an unquestion- able blunder, but it was a blunder so palpable that no one could imagine it was anything but a blunder-one of those things which sometimes occur during the absence of responsible chiefs of departments during the recess, to be rectified as soon as discovered. With regard to the charge of excessive fondness for permissive legislation which had been brought against the Ministry, Mr Cave said that they thought it right and proper and safe to give to a free and enlightened people power, and to trust them to use it in a way which their local know- ledge would enable them to do better than the Centrdl Government could. If Government did everything the result might be more rapid, but they then worked against the people instead of with them.—The Duke of Beaufort expressed his bitter regret that Mr Disraeli was not in office when the insidious offer was made to the late Government to abrogate the Treaty of Paris of 1856. Mr Gladstone took the treaty and tore it asunder in a manner for which he ought to have bean impeached. Secrets in the Cabinet were not known, but it was generally surmised and believed that the majority in Mr Gladstone's own Cabinet were strongly against it, but with the overbearing manner he assumed he put them aside and insisted on having his own way."—Mr W. H. Smith said it was in social legislation that the Government laid their claim chiefly to the esteem and confidence of the country. He had been referred to by some of the speakers who had preceded him as one who was in the secrets of the Government, but although he could tell them no Cabinet secrets, he might mention one interesting fact in connection with the revenue. The Chancellor of the Exchequer estimated that the revenue for 1875-76 would exceed that of the previous year by £ 7u0,000, aud the Chancellor had already received in seven months a sum greatly excaeding £ 700,000. They must not, however, expect that the surplus would be a large one. There was a great deal of commercial depression in Germany, Austria, Russia, and the United States and Canada but in spite of this, this country has been able to maintain its prosperity.
LORD HARTINGTON ON THE LIBERAL…
LORD HARTINGTON ON THE LIBERAL PARTY. The Times says Lord Hartington's appearance at the Anchor banquet at Bristol, on Saturday, will be ac- cepted as a satisfactory proof that he recognizes fully all the responsibilities of party leadership, and that he is careful. to miss no opportunity of influencing public opinion. This is the more creditable because it is apparent that Lord Hartington is not inflated with any extravagant hopes of immediate victories for the party he leads. He told the Liberals of Bristol very plainly on Saturday that to cherish such hopes at present was absurd and illusory. There are signs no doubt that the fit of weariness in the country to which he alluded is almost over. There are signs also that confidence in the administrative excellence of the Government has been shaken. But there are no signs as yet of any movement of popular dissatisfaction likely to surge forward in the direction of large legislative changes. This is the most sanguine view that a Liberal politician who does not deliberately close his eyes to facts can persuade himself to accept. No partial successes, therefore, at by-elections, even on a more considerable scale than we have any reason at present to expect, ought to delude the Opposition with the hope of a speedy return to power; while, bearing in mind the conditions of the strife, as Lord Hartington has clearly defined them, the most eager Liberal must acknowledge that patience and moderation are at present the watch- words of safety. The Daily News remarks that Lord Hartington defined very fairly on the whole the duty of the Liberal party at present. There:can be no doubt that many on both sides have got into the way of thinking that a Liberal Government exists only for the purpose of making great organic changes in the political system of the country. This, however, is a very mistaken view of the business of Liberal leaders or of Liberal Governments. It is a view which seems to leave out of account altogether any notion that the principles of Liberalism can show themselves in the ordinary administration of the country. The business of a Liberal Government is with the routine work of every day and we may be sure the longer Liberalism is out of office in this country the heavier will be the task of readjustment awaiting it on its return to power. Nothing could be a more fatal mistake for any considerable section of the Liberal party to fall into than the idea that. a Liberal Govern- ment exists only to effect organic reformations, and that the duty of Liberal leaders in opposition is always to be forecasting such enterprises and sounding shrill trumpet-calls to prepare the country for them. The Daily Telegraph holds that few will dissent from Lord Hartington's remarks on the position and duty of the Liberals. Although they are not united on any common ground calculated to serve as a basis whence they might legitmately make a move towards the recovery of power, yet their function as an Opposition is in no degree shorn of its proper attributes, and they are bound not only to watch closely the conduct of Ministers, but employ the abilities they undeniably possess in enlightening the public, exposing mistakes, and dealing fairly with conspicious maladministration. During the two sessions which have passed since the Conseavatives were astonished to find themselves in office, the Liberals have fulfilled those duties with striking effect, and have at the same time exercised a signal influence in shaping the laws which supply peren- nial topics of congratulation at Ministerial festivities. The Post observes that nothing could be in better taste or marked by sounder judgment than Lord Hartington's speech. He is perhaps the only con- spicious member of the late Government who has had the candour to declare that for the measures advocated by many of his late colleagues and by their Radical supporters there is no present prospect of success. Indeed, as yet there are no signs that the tide of the Liberal fortunes, which was left at so low an ebb by the general election, has began to turn. The Liberal party has more leeway to make up than is generally considered. Even if it could regain the English seats which it has lost, it would have to make additional conquests before it could again aspire to sway the destinies of the Empire.
OUR RESIDENTS AMONG THE MALAYS.…
OUR RESIDENTS AMONG THE MALAYS. I The significance of the disturbances in Perak can hardly be appreciated without a comprehensive know- ledge of the relations which have subsided for some years past between the Straits Government and the States of the Malay Peninsula. Correspondence be- tween the Colonial Office and the Straits Government on this subject, extending from the summer of 1872 to the spring of the present year, has lately been pub- lished, and contains, though in a somewhat confused form, all the information which is needed but it is un- necessary to say that, until the news of Mr Birch's murder arrived, this correspondence found no readers. Nevertheless, the story it tells is, even in itself, curious and interesting. On the 27th of July, 1872, the traders of our province of Malacca who were concerned in the trade with the neighbouring native State of Salangore drew up a petition, the prayer of which was suppotted by the Singapore Chamber of Commerce, calling on the Straits Government to protect trading interests against the piracy and other evil consequences of the dis- turbed State of Salangore. Sir Harry Ord, then Governor of the Straits Settlements, promptly re- plied that it was the policy of her Majesty's Govern- ment not to interfere in the affairs of these (native) countries, unless where it becomes necessary for sup- pression of piracy or the punishment of aggression on our people and territories;" and that if traders, prompted by the prospect of large gains, choose to run the risk of placing their persons and property in the jeopardy which they are aware attends thorn in these countries under present circumstances, it is impossible for Government to be answerable for their protection or that of their property." This decision gave much offence to the Singapore Chamber of Commerce, who protested that if such a policy were adopted, all con- fidence in British protection would be lost, a serious check would be given to mercantile enterprise, and the influence of the British Government, which should be peramount in the Malayan Peninsula, materially im- paired" Nevertheless, the policy coacisely defined by Sir H. Ord was approved by Lord Kimberley (December 28, 1872). It was, in fact, the policy which had become traditional as long as the Straits Settlements remained attached to the Indian Government, and had been maintained unchanged by the Colonial Office. The mercantile community, however, repudiated this policy with energy, and to their influence we may attribute the novel attitude in which we find ourselves at present placed towards Perak and the adjacent territories. Taking this conflict of opinion between the Govern- ment and the Singapore merchants as a convenient starting-point, we are able to trace the gradual progress of a new policy down to the murder of Mr Birch. In October, 1872, Mr Campbell, Acting Lieutenant- Governor of Penang, sent a remarkable despatch to Sir H. Ord. He gave some particulars of the disturbance in Perak, where the succession to the supreme power was disputed, and in Laroot, the northern and sub- stantially independent portion of Perak, where the Chinese who work the tin-mines had taken sides for and against the native chief. Mr Campbell argued that unless this state of things were brought to an end the Chinese troubles might spread disastrously to Penang and he concluded that a Resident or political officer," ought to be appointed. The policy, he admitted, of the Colonial Office was averse to the acquisition of new territory," but he believed that an exception might be made in the Malay States. Our merchants and our people generally would rejoice to see Perak under our Government and a "representative Chinaman" had said to Mr Campbell, when the British flag is seen over Perak or Laroot, every China- man will go down on his knees and bless God." For the time, however, these suggestions received no atten- tion. Sir H. Ord was fully occupied in suppressing, with the aid of the naval squadron, the piratical proceedings which had disturbed the coast since the succession dispute in Perak and the quarrel of the Laroot chief with the Chinese miners. The feeling in the Settlements in favour of a change of policy grew more urgent, and in July, 1873, Sir H. Ord transmitted to Lord Kimberley another petition signed by 248 Chinese merchants and traders, British subjects and inhabitants of Singapore, Penang, and Malacca," demanding "a moral intervention" and a determined attitude" towards the native States. This petition Sir H. Ord, on the eve of his retirement, declared to be deserving of every consideration." In September, 1873, we find Lord Kimberley writing to the newly appointed Governor of the Straits Settle- ment, Sir Andrew Clarke, to call attention to the anarchy which prevails and appears to be increasing in parts of the Peninsula, and the consequent injury to trade and British interests generally." Of course, Lord Kimberley intimated, the Home Government had no desire to interfere in the internal affairs of the Malay States but yet Sir A. Clarke was especially requested to consider whether it would be advisable to appoint a British officer to reside in any of he States" —at the cost, as was explicitly mentioned, of the Straits Govern- ment. Such was the position of the Colonial Office when Sir A. Clarke went out to Singapore. In January, 1874, the new Governor wrote that "the country had relapsed into even worse than its former state of anarchy and confusion." The conflict of the Chinese factions in Laroot continued, both parties receiving reinforcements of junks and men from China. The Malay rulers of Perak were powerless, the war of succession still divid- ing the population. It was even rumoured that the Laroot factions contemplated memorializing the Chinese Government to interfere by sending them Mandrains and a force to occupy Perak." Negotiations, however, opened informally by Sir A. Clark, resulted in the submission of the Chinese disputes to his arbitration. But the Governor came to the conclusion that no satis- factory settlement could be reached except by closing a quarrel about the Perak succession. Accordingly, on the 14th of January, 1874, he summoned all the chiefs both Malays and Chinese, to meet him at the Dindings. With remarkable rapidity, the Governor leaped to a conclusion conflicting in some respects with those formed by his predecessor as the claims and capacities of the competitors for the Perak sultanship and the Laroot chiefship, and as quickly he proceeded to carry hie views into effect. On January 20th a treaty was signed by eight of the principal chiefs and State officers of Perak, including both the claimants of the sovereign ty-Abd ullah, .who was recognized as rightful ruler by Sir A. Clarke, and Ismail, the acting Sultan, who was allowed to retain a certain honorary independence and dignity. On the same day an agree- ment with the head men of the Chinese factions at Laroot was concluded. The Treaty of Pulo Pangkor carried out the project for which the merchants had long been contending the Sultan of Perak agreed to receive a British Resident, accredited to his Court, whose advice must be asked and acted upon in all questions other than those touching Malay religion and custom the Mantri," who had been recognized as Governor of Laroot, was to accept similar guidance from an assistant resident and the cost of both estab- lishments was to be a first charge upon the revenues of Perak." In concluding thus, Sir A. Clark, as he admitted, went beyond his delegated powers his action, however, was at once approved by the Singapore Chamber of Commerce, who warmly applauded the Governor's declaration that the time had arrived when as a nation we shall be neglecting a great and paramount duty if we any longer delay that interven- tion which the cause of civilization and good order now so loudly demand." In September, 1874, Lord Carnarvon wrote generally approving" of the stipulations entered into with the Perak chiefs, and asking the names of the officers whom Sir A. Clarke intended to nominate to the Residencies. The Secretary of State added that the Government would look for the exact fulfilment" by the chiefs of the pledges now voluntarily given." In November the Governor forwarded a shorthand re- port of the proceedings in the Executive Council at Singapore, which unanimously endorsed his policy. In December he informed the Colonial Office that he had nominated Mr Birch, the Colonial Secretary, to the Perak Residency Captain Speedy as assistant Resident at Laroot, -'and Mr Davidson as Resident at the Court of Salangore, where, howovar, Mr Swettenham, whose name has appeared in the recent intelligence from Perak, continued for some months longer to act as As- sistant Resident. A report of a very cheerful character from Mi Swettenham was forwarded to the Colonial Office by the Governor on the 23rd of March last. The working of these arrangements cannot be re- garded as satisfactory. A few weeks ago the present Governor, Sir William Jervois, addressing the Executive Council at Singapore, described the existing situation in despondent language. 11 While her Majesty's Govern- ment," her said, "hold the chiefs responsible for keep- ing the engagements entered into by them with the British Government, there is scarcely any one of those engagements referred to which has not been violated by them. The Resident's advice is disregarded, and he must either passively look on while acts are committed which he disapproves but cannot control, or he must assume to himself a power which is inconsistent with his position as adviser, thus practically taking upon himself the government of the State so far as the opposition of rajans and chiefs will permit him to do so." The murder of Mr Birch forms a deplorable sequel to this tale of disappointment.
I PROFESSOR TYNDALL'S "MATERIALISM."_
PROFESSOR TYNDALL'S "MATERIALISM." Mr F. Seebohm, writing to the Spectator, says: Will you excuse me if I say that your article on the Materialism" of Professor Tyndall seems to me to have somewhat exaggerated the vagueness and confusion of his words. I understand Professor Tyndall to say two things which seem me me not necessarily inconsistent, viz. 1. That, notwithstanding the seeming gaps in con- tinuity, over which no stepping stones are or may ever be visible to science, yet the theory of evolution of human as well as animal and vegetable life from inorganic matter is the theory to which science points as most likely to be true. 2. That he sees no solution of the mystery of this evolution in material atheism, but regards it as the manifestation of a power which he cannot define or comprehend, because it baffles intel- lectual scrutiny. I need not quote passages in support of the first point. I will only say that Professor Tyndall's con- fession of faith in evolution has again and again been coupled with the admission of the unabridged gaps in the evidence. But upon the second point the following chain of passages may perhaps be instructiveIn fact, the whole process of evolution is the manifestation of a Power absolutely inscrutable to the intellect of man. As little in our day as in the days of Job can man by searching find this Power out. the Power whose garment is seen in the visible universe," &c.-( Address at Belfast,). In connection with the charge of Atheism, I would make one remark. Christian men are proved by their writings to have their hours of weakness and of doubt, as well as their hours of strength and of conviction, and men like myself share, in their own way, these variations of mood and .tense. Were the religious views of many of my assailants the only alternative ones, I do not know how strong the claims of the doctrine of" Material Atheism" might be. Probably they would be very strong. But as it is, I have noticed during years of self-observation that it is not in hours of clearness and vigour that this doctrine commends itself to my mind; that in the presence of stronger and healthier thought it ever dissolves and disappears, solution of the mystery in which we dwell and of which we form a part.-Preface to the Address at Belfast, Sep- tember 15, 1874.) I have sometimes—not sometimes, but often-in the spring-time watched the advance of the sprouting leaves, and of the grass, and of the flowers, and observed the general joy of opening life in nature, and I have asked myself this question, Can it be that there is no being or thing in nature that knows more about these things than I do ? Do I, in my ig- norance, represent the highest knowledgs of these things existing in this universe ?' Ladies and gentle- men, the man who puts that question fairly to himself, if he be not a shallow man, if he be a man capable of being penetrated by profound thought, will never an- swer the question by professing that creed of Atheism I which has been so lightly attributed to me.-(Lecttere at Manchester; Daily News, October, 29, 1874). When I attempt to give the Power which I see manifested in the universe an objective form, personal or otherwise, it slips away from me, declining all intellectual mani- pulation. I dare not, save poetically, use the pronoun He' regarding it I dare not call it a Mind I refuse to call it even a < Cause." Its mystery over- shadows me, but it remains a mystery, while the ob- jective frames, which my neighbours try to make it fit simply distort and desecrate it.(Fo)-t)tightly Review, November, 1875.)" I will only add that, recollecting that these expres- sions proceed from one who professedly sits at the feet of physical science, and who possesses," as you say, the ear of nature, and catches much more than most of us of her bidden secrets," I confess I am thankful for the response, oracular though it be. I think I see in it another indication that an Atheistic Material- ism" is not likely to be the future religion even of the Priests of Science and I ask myself, not without hope, What wiJI be the response when the tacts of men's inner religious life and the development through the ages of man's moral nature have been examined, with the same pains and care and truly scientific methods and child-like seeking after truth, which have in our time been expended upon those other facts which lie in the domain of matter and its laws ?"
PROPOSALS.
PROPOSALS. An Irish girl who was very anxious that her scatter- brained brother should not be refused by the demure young Englishwoman with whom he had fallen desper- ately in love implored him to try to propose with the seriousness becoming the occasion. He vowed solemnly that he would behave as if he were acting as chief mourner at his father's funeral. The demure young lady, in imitation of many of her countrywomen, graciously accepted her wild Irish lover. She, however confided in her bosom friend that Edmund had proposed in rather an odd way. He had taken her after church to see the family vault, and had there, in a sepulchral voice, asked her if she would like to lay her bones beside" his bones. This he evidently thought was a proper way to fulfil the promise made to his sister of treating the matter with becoming seriousness. It was happily his first and last effort in that direction. There must be many hundred thousand proposals made annually in the United Kingdom, but as the verb "to love" seems to admit of endless conjugations, perhaps we shall have ceased proposing, except by filling up a printed form, before all its variations are exhausted. At the com- mencement of each year the Registrar-General can fore- tell with tolerable accuracy how many of Her Majesty's subjects will enter into the bonds of holy matrimony before its conclusion. A more than usually abundant harvest might increase the number beyond his calcula- tions, or a war might depress them but his average would not be very far astary. But what Registrar- General can tell us the average number of proposals which are made each year, or how many rejections go to make one marriage ? Indeed, it is by no means easy to define exactly what is, and what is not, to be called a proposal. When a man says to a girl with whom he has waltzed several times that, if ever he becomes a Benedict, he hopes his wife will exactly resemble her and dretis precisely as she does, if the girl answers You must ask papa," there may reasonably be a differ- ence of opinion as to whether the pretty speech can be twisted into a proposal or not. When, however, a shy man, having got his mother to plead his cause, says to the beloved one, with a tremulous gasp, Won't you do the thing my mother asked you?" there is no doubt that to all intents and purposes he has asked her to be his wife. Proposals do not necessarily precede mar- riage, any more than does marriage necessarily succeed a proposal, aad many a servant-maid becomes a wife without the young man with whom she has been keeping company for so many alternate Sundays ever asking her in plain words. Much of the romance of love- making has, in fact, disappeared since the number of marrying men has become so small in comparison with the number of women who wish to become wives. A disagreeable fellow with twenty thousand a year may not be able to win the particular duke's daughter on whom he has set his heart, but he will not be con- demned to a bachelor existence because he cannot find plenty of pretty young ladies ready to accept his name, and help him to spend his fortune. It is not uncommon to hear a mother detail to her friends how Mr Longacres would have proposed to her dear May, but that really, owing to the most extraord- inary complication or circumstances, he never got an opportunity; and that now he is married to a design- ing little fortune-hunter, and is miserable. She tells how one day he got so far as to propound a riddle to May, which, if she had only been able to guess it, would have certainly led the way to a declaration of his affection. Indeed it really did amount to a proposal, for what could be more plain than saying, My first is myself, my second is a plaything, my whole you are." Of course if a woman is a man's idol he wants to marry her. But poor May became so agitated by the way in which Mr Longacres looked at her that, although she had heard the riddle before, and recollected its answer the moment he was gone, the opportunity was gone also. Then the mother goes on to say that she is quite sure one of Violet's lovers intended to come to the point in returning from the Derby, but he lost so many dozen pair of gloves from having backed the favourite that he also lost his temper. He scarcely spoke to any one the whole way home, although she had taken care to give him an excellent luncheon and the driest of cham- pagne. The next week he was ordered abroad, so of course had only time to say a hurried good-by. Generally speaking, this idea of men not being able to find opportunities to tell their love is arrant nonsense. A man may sometimes not propose where he fears to be refused, but when he wishes for a Yes, and is pretty certain when he will get it, the question does not remain unasked, no matter what the difficulties which have to be overcome. There is no place where the ardent lover, if such a being still exists, cannot tell his tale. There are no circumstances, serious or gay, which cannot be turned to good account by a skilful wooer. True, many men are neither ardent nor skilful, and contrive almost to insult a woman while paying her the highest compliment in their power. But others know exactly when and where to press their suit with success. A young parson travelling in Palestine, and asked to join a pleasant party, amongst whose numbers he found a notable heiress of passionate piety, did well to restrain the expression of the ardour of his affection until he found himself lying at her feet on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, looking towards Jerusalem. Scarcely any girl with a spark of religion or poetry in her composition could have said No to a white tie and a pair of handsome brown eyes under such well-chosen circumstances. The officer whose leave had nearly ex- pired without his having been able to bring a pretty little coquette to the point of acknowledging that she cared for him even a little we bit, was not unwise to take her os- tensibly for the purpose of sketching, to the top of the church tower, to lock the staircase door, put the key in his pocket, and vow that if she did not promise solemnly to marry him within a month be would throw himself off the parapet before her eyes, key and all. Of course he gained his point, for he frightened her into tears, and then had things all his own way. More than one proposal has been made by underscoring the lines in the marriage service. Wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband," and passing the book and a pencil during the sermon to the adored one. It some- times comes back with a faint but still visible stroke under the I will." It is curious how at least the semblance of religious feeling is apt to get mixed up with love-making not of course to the absurd point of asking a blessing before each kiss, and returning thanks afterwards, but a case of breach ot promise scarcely ever comes to be tried that, when the letters of the defen- dant are read, they are not found crammed with prayers and texts. The piety was probably as real as the love, and both were genuine for the time being, and took wing together. A sort of revivalist religion seems somehow mysteriously allied to the tender passion, al- though truth-telling, which is supposed to be a Christian virtue, is a rare accompaniment. A great many re- cording angels could be kept fully employed in booking fabrications, conscious or unconscious, with which a large proportion of proposals are embellished. But we will not try to bring a blush to the cheeks of those who remember their misdeeds in this direction. It is often well even to act a little romance, if it gives pleasure and can be kept up. Although circumstances will not prevent a man who is in earnest, and who has every reason to expect a favourable reply, from trying his luck, still circum- stances are the cause of many a proposal. Upon some trivial event, scarcely noticed at the time, has often turned the happiness or misery of many more people than the pair immediately concerned. An elderly man who is ridiculously fond of children has for some reason been prevented from marrying. He travels by chance with a charming little boy and girl, and thinks what he would not give to be able to carry them home with him. He looks at the mother of the children, whom he has scarcely before noticed she has a mysterious little white cap inside her bonnet, which proclaims that she is a widow, but not a very recent one. He brightens up; it is like a fairy tale; they find they have mutual friends" he proposes a§ soon as he decently can, but is wise enough to say nothing about the children, except that he hopes to make a good parent. He vows, like every one else, that this is the first time he was ever really in love, and that he fell a victim the moment he looked at her. A gentleman once confided to an old friend who asked him to tell 11 all about his marriage," that the wife of his bosom had attained that enviable position simply by choosing at a supper-table blanc-mange instead of whipped cream. He had paid the girl such marked attention on several occasions that he felt she was warranted in expecting him to ask her to marry him. He had no desire to have her for a wife, but he resolved, while danciag with her at a ball, that she should become unconscious arbiter of her own fate- in fact, that he would toss with her in dishes instead of half-crowns. If she had said whipped-cream, be would have withdrawn from her acquaintance with a peaceful conscience, and never have thought of her again, except to congratulate himself on his escape. If an old bachelor has been staying at a country house where there is a very pretty governess to whom he has been courteous and kind-if, having said good-by to her in her lonely schoolroom, he should discover when he got downstairs that he had left his gloves on her table, and hurrying back for them find her in a confused mass amongst the sofa-cushions, sobbing convulsively-he must in common decency ask her what is the matter, even insist on knowing. If she replies that her tears flow because she has no home, what alternative has he but to try to comfort her, lose his train, and ask her to share his home even if that be only lodgings P Every one knows numberless instances where a broken bone or even a sick headache has led to a proposal, and ship- wrecks and railway accidents are sometimes excellent matchmakers. It is said that during the London season this year there were singularly few proposals. Perhaps it was the prevalence of east wind. Perhaps it was that the gentleman were so hurried about from pigeon matches to Lord's and from Prince's to Richmond, that they had no time to think of such things. However, the average seems to have been made up according to natural laws afterwards, if one may judge by the number of fashionable marriagss which have taken place during the autumn, and there are several still to come off. A newpaper with exceeding bad taste takes upon itself to assert what number of proyosals one of these brides elect has received. We need not ask if the old etiquette that a lady does not publish her rejections has, with other good things, gone out of fashion; for out of course it was only the penny-a- liner's inventive im perti ne n ce. -Saturday Review.
,NAVAL ADMINISTRATION.
NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. The feeling which prevails in the country at the present moment with reference to the Admiralty was happily expressed at the Guildhall dinner by Mr Ward Hunt, when he stated the charge to be, that the ad- ministration of the Navy is in a state of paralysis, and that it manifests the existence of great incompetence and weakness." We had never seen it put so plainly, for a certain forbearance restrains the utterances of public criticism. But, when it is placed before us in this light, and illustrated in the very act of exposition, we cannot but recognize in the First Lord one of the qualities of a statesman-the faculty of appreciating the sentiments of his time. There really does appear to be "great imcompetence and weakness" in dealing with the diiffculties of Naval administration. It would hardly be polite to attribute the anxiety entertained on this head to a distrust of the principal members of the Board, or to an idea that the permanent organization of the Department is, in some important quarters, nn- sound or personally defective. Still, within the limits of propriety, we may express a doubt if the Admiralty, such as we find it, is strong enough for its place. In the matter of shipbuilding, they are altogether without any clearness of programme or comprehensiveness of plan. In the matter of men, we are told that there were last year only two entries into the Navy, except from the class of boys whom we train to the service, and we read of wholesale desertion from the Pacific Squadron-enough to impair its efficiency. Even the excellence of our Naval stores becomes the subject of misgiving when we find the safety of the Serapis," on her present exceptional voyage, imperilled by the failure of two chain cables at a critical moment in a foreign port. We published last week a letter from Mr Brassey on the subject of Naval shipbuilding, which closed with an important suggestion. In the early part of this year he issued a pamphlet, in which he combated the policy of building very large ships, whether armoured, like the Inflexible," or un-armoured, like the Raleigh" or the Shah." He represented that 12 knots an hour is an unusual speed at sea, such as few cruisers or merchant ships of foreign nations are able long to maintain. If a war should break out between us and a maritime power, our commerce would be exposed to the depredations of privateers, which would shortly swarm over the seas, and we should require every vessel we could buy or build to meet them. All we need aim at is that our cruisers should be a trifle faster than the cruisers or privateers of the enemy, and if thirteen knots an hour would suffice for this, it is a waste of power to strive for 17 knots. The smaller speed, Mr Brassey contends, can be secured from ships of 1,000 tons, like the "Active," while the Shah," to attain the higher speed, has to be con- structed of 5,400 tons. The price of unarmoured ships being about £ 50 for every ton of displacement, it fol- lows that for the cost of one Shah" we may build three of the Magicienne" or five of the Active" class with a speed of 13 knots, or six of the Daring," or nine of the Arab," or thirteen of the Coquette" class with a speed of 91 I to 10 knots. Mr Brassey argues that the torpedo is a great leveller, before whose stealthy ad- vance alike the huge armoured monster and the un- armoured vessel, whether large or small, must equally fall victims. What folly, then, he contends, for such creatures of a day or an hour to aspire to gigantic size! We should aim at dispersion rather than concen- tration. A contest between five of the smaller and one of the larger dimensions would be sure to end in victory for the greater number, when one well-planted blow from gun, torpedo, or ram is likely to be attended with fatal consequences to all combatants alike. Meet the improvements in naval projectiles with tactics similar to those of the land forces when opposed to guns of precision. Advance in skirmishing order; put fewer men in each unit of floating power provide torpedo boats, sea-going topedo vessels, and rams, none of them exceeding 1,000 tons, and many of them much smaller and then, says Mr Brassey, we shall be far better pre- pared for the attack than if with two or three Inflex- ibles we wandered about seeking for a foeman to meet us in line of battle. There is," he tells us, perhaps only one essential point on which unanimity prevails. By universal consent an advantage in point of numbers is more important now than at any former epoch in naval history." Mr Brassey's view is in many respects corroborated by the arguments of a "Naval Officer," whose letter we also published in the same impression. He criti- cizes the account by Mr Reed of the circular ironclads of Russia, and would be prepared to encounter in her own waters the completely armoured Novgorod" with six small unarmoured gunboats of even less dimensions than any of which Mr Brassey has written. He starts with the assumption that the "Novgorod" is only armoured with 9-inch armour, though we understood Mr Reed to say that she carried armour of twice that thickness, or its equivalent. He then assumes that the armoured battery of the Novgorod" will present to the gunboats a target 30 feet in breadth and 7 feet in height, which they will be able to hit, while they, presenting to her a smaller target, totally unprotected will be in little danger of being hit by her fire. We quite believe that the chances of missing an object at 1,600 yards from a floating battery at sea are considerable, and that in the encounter supposed both Monitor" and gunboats would often fire without a hit. Gunnery," as has lately been said, is not an exact science in a seaway." But then it must be remembered that an ironclad will deflect many a shot which would destroy an unarmoured vessel, and that it is bad reasoning to presume every chance in favour of the fragile gunboat and against the strongly built ironclad. We should like very much to see the combat imagined by a "Naval Officer," and are ready to allow that, with skill and courage, favoured by a good fortune it might end in the manner he supposes. But there would be many chances, too, in favour of Goliath, and if the Novgorod" has no stronger battery than a "N aval Officer," alleges, she has, at least, a stronger battery than any of our own 42 broadside ironclads, while the Admiral Popoff," of larger tonnage, has a battery, we presume, which is stronger still. If a Naval Officer" is sound in his reasoning it has been from the first a mistake to build ironclads at all, for no one doubts that ironclads are costly, and that if strength lies in numbers, the expenditure on ironclads of the last twenty years would have given us now at least six hundred instead of sixty ships of war. The current number of Frazer's Magazine con- tains a paper on the Navy, by an old Sailor," which is worth referring to, and which concurs with both our correspondents in the value attributed to swift un- armoured cruisers. The author differs from Mr Brassey is not being content to take the speed of our ships from their performances on the measured mile, and asserts that our fastest vessel3 are inferior in speed and steadiness to the steamships of several commercial lines across the Atlantic. He declares that when the "Captain" foundered, the "Inconstant," the fastest of our men-of-war, with a strong south-west wind to favour her and orders to use the utmost despatch, did not exceed thirteen knots an hour in her voyage home with the news-a speed which the steamships of several Atlantic lines average throughout the year. If this be the case with one of our eeventeen-knot frigates, what speed can we rely on from the Active," of 1,000 tons ? Amid these perplexities and dis- couragements as to the performances and capabilities of our ships of war, we think there is sound sense in Mr Brassey's proposal that, instead of giving to the Con- structive Department of the Admiralty a monopoly in the designs of our Navy, we should invite a competition between the private ship-builders to produce for us, within limits of size and cost, designs for various types of vessel which the country requires. Hitherto the Constructive has been the Consultative Department as well as the Executive Committe of the Admiralty, and on the only occasion when private enterprise competed for the honour of designing ships for the Navy the head of the Constructive Department was made referee and gave a preference over all the competing designs to the Vanguard" class of ship, which the Department had themselves devised. If the Navy was all that we could wish it, there might be no need to look outside Whitehall. But the country has an abun- dance of skilful shipbuilders, and it seems a proper time to turn to them and see what assistance they can give.-Tiines.