or to go on with half measures because it will be expensive? Let her beware of such kind of parsimony. It is a question not to be trifled with. Time flies fast, and England may find herself suddenly obliged to supply the deficiency hastily, which she might do now deliberately and judiciously. Her South and Eastern coasts should no longer remain in their present condition, for either of them are in a state of exposure to powerful neighbours, who in an unlooked for moment may become our foes.

We will now proceed with our illustration, and assume that an engagement has taken place between the hostile squadrons in midchannel, say South of the Isle of Wight-perhaps the most likely place where it may occur, and it is found necessary with the utmost possible despatch to repair the damage received by three or four of our large iron ships :-Where shall they be sent to in order to get them out to sea again in the least possible space of time? We have to look about for docks that will hold a ship 400 feet long. It must bé evident that in such a case the ships should be able to go straightway into their docks, be repaired, and taken out again at once, so that the time employed in landing armaments and stores will be saved as much as possible.

We naturally turn first to Portsmouth, as the nearest port at hand, or we might hesitate between it and Devonport, which has greater resources at Keyham. But, although Keyham may be more modern and commodious than Portsmouth, we may spare ourselves the run of 100 miles there, for Keyham cannot receive either the Warrior or Black Prince. Portsmouth again, although only fortyfive miles from our scene of action, is out of the question, for there is an ugly bar to cross there, for which our disabled ships must wait tide; but why should they do that, for there are no docks fit for our pur pose there. The convenient proximity of Portsmouth is therefore

lost for us.

Much has been said lately about Chatham. But here again we shall look in vain for a prompt and certain remedy; for without hesitation we affirm that, apart from its out of the way position, owing to a complication of adverse circumstances, it would be next to impossible to render Chatham a fitting place for a dock establishment for our iron ships.

It would certainly be marvellous if England, whose first and greatest pride has always been the dominion of the sea,-whose very existence as a nation consists in the command which her navy has of her coasts, should remain with the whole breadth of her land unprovided with so indispensable an establishment as proper docks and basins for her iron ships. And this too in the face of an active and vigilant neighbour. It would be marvellous, we repeat, that such should be the case without expensive and doubtful alterations in our present arsenals and at out of the way places, where already we have not more than sufficient accommodation for the other portion of our fleet.

This is not so in France. Our neighbours, to obtain one at Cherbourg, have taken from the heart of the rock that which nature de

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nied. Let not this example be lost on maritime England, who must not be content to slight such matters, by attempting to do at the wrong place what she will not do at the right one Lets her also beware of postponing these matters until it be too late to prevent a blow, which, though it may not be fatal to her as a nation, will, (if it does come, assuredly bring with it disgrace, as well as disasters w But to return to the consideration of Chatham. After a run of 170 miles, through the Strait of Dover, we arrive at the entrance of the Princes Channel, where we must anchor, the voyage so far having cost us a day We must now tide it and only run in daylight, for we are in close pilot water, and must wait a whole etide to cross into the Swin, our proper channel for the Nore. Two days are gone and we are no further than Sheerness. Here, again, to add to our troubles, we must land guns, stores, &c., to lighten the ship, as we have to pass over thirteen feet at low water in three or four places to get up to Chatham, involving the loss of days, the number of which who can venture to say this, too, with a ship or ships perhaps obliged to bestowed throughout the whole voyage, probably in a half sinking state, unequal to withstand the effects of any bad weather, and, after all, on reaching our destination we find only one dock capable of re ceiving our ships, over the sill of which there is no more than twentythree feet at high-water spring tides.co de paw To Ju979 9.1: nl

With such difficulties as these to overcome, when may weɛex? pect that our disabled ships shall be repaired, re-embark the guns and stores they were obliged to land, and again appear on their stations, in a state fit for sea, off the enemy's port 2 While in the mean time that enemy may be following up a successful encounter with a re-organized squadron of ships of war, from having her resources so much nearer at handa at 37 * 1.9.6. Ai -x6op head to brslabsor ›il: amici

We have begun ind earnest with iron ships, and they are costly enough, but that is only half the business. The other half consists in finding receptacles for them, where they can be treated as our lineof-battle ships were of the old school; and, however costly this may be, we must not shrink from undertaking it if England intends to maintain her former supremacy at sea, under the new order of things.

Let us now review the facts before us. We have Plymouth about one hundred miles from us, but with nothing that would meet our wants even at Keyham. We have Portsmouth about forty-five miles distant, but equally incapable of receiving our crippled Warrior; and we find ourselves obliged therefore to make the best of our way over 170 miles of sea, then to tide it over twenty-five more to Sheerness; there to lighten our ship to take her up the Medway ten miles more to Chatham, into one dock only at present, but where certainly more than one might be prepared.1' iw noore vinoloq ai ane silh Our opposite neighbours have spoken out on these subjects. They look at matters in the proper light, and do not haggle about expense when their existence as a nation is at stake. True, they feel the effects of this transitition in the enlarged class of ships of |way; and, although they are really something better off in point of dock room

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than we are, they see at once the necessity of providing for this altered state of things, and have found a place on their northern coast, near the entrance of the Channel, that it has been proposed should at once be appropriated to the purpose of a steam naval arsenal, for which they consider it so well adapted. In former pages of this work, which appeared last month, we meet with the following remarkable passage. It is one that cannot receive too much attention, and for this reason we reproduce it now. In alluding to the deficiency of harbours on the North coast of France, M. la Tour, the author of the paper which we quote, and who is a Member of the Legislative Council, says:

"

Again, between Cherbourg and Brest there is not a single retreat for our navy or commercial shipping. There is, however, at a point precisely half way between these two distant ports an admirable position for watching the Channel, a shelter formed entirely by nature for the rendezvous of our fleets, namely at Port Lezardrieux. Vauban was the first to point to its advantages. This place was in competition with La Hogue and Cherbourg for the establishment of an arsenal in the Channel; but its long narrow entrance, so ill adapted for sailing ships, was the cause of its being abandoned.

"In the event of war, that part of the Channel that lies between Brest and Cherbourg would necessarily be the theatre of frequent collisions. It is commanded by Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney. To avoid danger and to seize the favourable moment for attack it is necessary that our ships should be always able to find security easy of access and egress in a position as far North as possible. The only place which unites these conditions is the mouth of the Trieux, which forms the roadstead of Lezardrieux. The Brest Railway is not more than a few kilometres from it, and to make a branch line to it would not be difficult; by Napoleonville it could be connected with L'Orient. "All the conditions desirable for a port of refuge would be found in that arm of the sea at Lezardrieux. The approach is easy, and the light of the Heaux, the northernmost point of Brittany, indicates its entrance, which may be effected at any hour of the day or night. The principal channel is straight, clear of dangers, and has deep water. The second channel is equally deep, and opens more to the North than the former; with the assistance of experienced pilots, other channels are available for small vessels. The length and contracted breadth of the first channel, formerly grave obstacles, in these days become rather important advantages, for they render it easy of defence. Steam will enable our ships readily to navigate this defile, and a few fixed and moveable defences would render it impregnable. "The sea is perfectly smooth within it—a wave there is never seen. Another great advantage which it has is that throughout the two channels and at the anchorage of Isle au Bois, in the Trieux, for three miles, the depth at low water of equinoctial springs is more than is necessary for the largest ships. With the assistance of a dam and

NO. 7.-VOL. XXX.

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sluice, the same depth may be obtained for a length of seven miles in the upper part of the Trieux; and this work would much diminish the rapid current which rather interferes with the entrance channel. The expence would not exceed 6,000,000 francs (£240,000)."

After alluding to all these excellent qualities in favour of a new naval establishment at Lezardrieux, for steam purposes especially, M. la Tour concludes them with this pithy remark as to OUR views on such matters:

"If England possessed this admirable harbour it would soon be covered with forts, magazines, and store-houses. But we, on the contrary, have neglected it, so that nothing ever has been done for it beyond a recent preliminary project."

And are we really so ready to cover a proposed place for steam purposes with "magazines and storehouses"? We confess that our discoveries have not yet enabled us to confirm this opinion of M. de la Tour. And yet if, like him, we look about for a place to supply the importaut deficiency we have been pointing out, there is a place superior to Portsmouth itself,-o —one at which there is no want of deep water for iron ships, one that can be entered readily at all times of tide,-one affording abundant space for the magazines and storehouses alluded to by M. de la Tour,-one that is in immediate proximity to Portsmouth, while it is more difficult for an enemy to assail, from being less accessible to hostile ships, and one that is even nearer than any other to our scene of action, and therefore, with all these qualities, pre-eminently adapted as the place for the steam naval ar senal of maritime England on her southern coasts. Shall we see this place realizing M. de la Tour's opinion of us? Shall we see it shortly covered with magazines and storehouses? We trust thatwe shall do so, and that some plan for such an establishment in Southampton Water will soon be taken up in the spirit which it well deserves. Should it receive that attention to which all these qualifications well entitle it, and to which there is no other that has the shadow of a pretension-not excepting even Portsmouth itself,-our Warriors and Black Princes and their giant companions in course of construction, instead of going more than two hundred miles to the distant and difficult arsenal of Chatham, for which they would have to unload, and lose precious time, would, after an easy run of five hours, find themselves in a secure basin, whence they would move at once into their docks with everything standing, as they should do, and be again at their stations off the enemy's port before they could even have got ready for their dock at Chatham.

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JAPAN, THE AMOOR AND THE PACIFIC.*

Look at the fact which way we will, there is a spirit of candour if not of liberality on the part of the Russian authorities, to embark an English gentleman in a little squadron of circumnavigation, apparently for the mere purpose of writing a narrative of the voyage, and that, too, which should include those important distant parts in which they are adding to their already extended territories, exciting jealousies of all kinds. Whatever motive there may be in the measure, interested or disinterested, we shall not stop to inquire, as it is said we should "never look at the teeth of a gift horse," and we are therefore content to receive this gentleman's account of the Rynda's voyage with her companions; who, on being applied to, as he tells us, volunteered one day, and was off nearly on the next, to accompany an expedition round the world, and to whatever place that might be visited on the voyage.

Accordingly, we find the author of the little volume before us speedily installed among his new companions, the Russian officers of the Rynda, and making their acquaintance while the ships were making their way to Tenerife, looking in at Rio, refitting at Simons Bay, peeping into Anjer, Batavia, Singapore, Manila, and Shanghai, and eventually dismantling, for a thorough refit, at the interesting harbour of Nangasaki, in Japan. Here our author is comparatively speaking on new ground,-the heat and filth of Batavia, the mercantile dealings of Singapore, the disgusting cockfighting of Manila, are old ofttold tales from the days of Cook to those of the Rynda's visit; and although of late we have had some pretty stories about the Japanese and their odd ways, we may accompany Mr. Tilley on shore, and have a look at a part of the world that will be new to English eyes and ears for some years to come. Meanwhile, the Rynda is refitting; and we shall find here and there something worth noting, as to how the Russian people contrive to win the good wishes of the people they visit, and the strong contrast afforded by their mode of proceeding and our own towards foreigners; and why we do not make the same progress as they do in the good graces of people that inhabit distant lands, who have prejudices and habits as strong and deep rooted as our own.

The Russian frigate Ascolde was lying under repair in a cove opposite our anchorage, where she had been already eight months, having been almost lost in a typhoon in September, 1858, when returning from Japan. This occurred between Van Diemen Straits and Shanghai; a fact to be noticed, as it is stated that such storms are seldom or never met with so far North as the latter place. She lost fore and main top masts besides being so strained that every knee in the ship had to be replaced. As soon as the weather moderated she rigged

* JAPAN, THE AMOOR, AND THE PACIFIC: with Notices of other Places comprised in a Voyage of Circumnavigation in the Imperial Russian Corvette, Rynda," in 1858-60. By Henry Arthur Tilley. Smith and

Elder.

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