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 as the 'Magicienne' class, the 'Thusnelda,' of 1,846 tons and 800 horse-power. The smaller vessels are armed with five 200-ponnder guns. Their armament therefore is relatively powerful; but they are too few in number to engage in aggressive warfare with a first-rate maritime power.

Our strength in unarmoured cruisers is still in excess of that of any other naval power. For every 1,000 tons of merchant shipping our fleet of cruisers contains 32 tons, while the proportion which the tonnage of the armoured cruisers bears to every 1,000 tons of merchant shipping is in the French Navy 14 tons, and in the German Navy 4 tons.

According to the Marine Verordnungs-Blatt, the German Navy does not aspire to be the rival of the French, or to give absolute protection to German commerce in time of war. Little has been done, in point of fact, to protect German commerce. The old frigates, such as the 'Hertha' and 'Medusa,' are useless for such a purpose. No originality has yet been exhibited in naval architecture for the German navy. It has been thought sufficient to repeat the types which we have tried and found successful, and to be guided by the counsel of that able naval architect, Mr. Reed, whose resignation of his office at the Admiralty was a public misfortune.

While the naval powers of central Europe have shown no inclination to enter into competition with England in the construction of more powerful cruisers than our own, the United States have made constant