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 class, we at one time built so rapidly, and which made no addition to the fighting strength of the Navy. Properly fitted for the use of the submarine torpedo, which can now be fired from the broadside with such fatal precision, with a speed of not less than 15 knots, and with such powers of turning as it is impossible to give to larger ships, who that reads the signs of the times, with the most modest gifts of judgment and forethought, can doubt that a squadron of ten torpedo steamers would be a more important addition to the navy than a colossal 'Inflexible,' which a single shot from any one of the proposed torpedo vessels would destroy in an instant?

I need not further press the argument against excessive expenditure on individual ships. I would only refer in conclusion to the report of the Committee on Designs and to their emphatic declaration that 'In every description of unarmoured ships, the smallest dimensions, consistent with the attainment of the requisite speed, should be adopted.'

Hitherto the protection of commerce has been treated as if we were entirely dependent on ships built expressly for war. But the maritime resources of this country are not confined to the Royal Navy. Splendid and powerful as our ships may be, we must inevitably, in time of peace, be deficient in point of numbers. For the tremendous exigencies of war, the fleet might be supplemented and expanded, so as to acquire undisputed ascendency, by equipping and arming our ocean mail steamers.