until some vigorous efforts are made in this direction the Navy of England cannot be considered as complete. In the event of a naval war, it is seriously to be apprehended that we shall discover, after spending millions in the construction of the Navy, that the country has not, after all, got the right class of vessels. The vessels which are requisite for the defence of the kingdom as well as to carry on offensive operations against the enemy abroad, are, it is submitted :— First.-For Channel service and protection of the home ports, as well as for the Mediterranean, a fleet of vessels, constructed on the cupola system of Captain Coles, which, for actual fighting purposes, if not for long sea voyages, are unsurpassed. Many of the soundest of our screw two-deckers (of which there are no fewer than 59), such as the "Orion," "Hannibal," "Algiers," "Cæsar," &c., would make efficient vessels of this kind, if "razeed" in the same way as the "Royal Sovereign," and, with comparatively little expense a squadron of this class would, it is suggested, be most valuable in the event of a naval engagement, unencumbered as they would be with the heavy masts, spars and rigging, which are indispensable to the fully-equipped sea-going iron-clad, and which, by being shot away, and thereby fouling the screw, may at any moment disable her during the rest of the action. Another advantage, also, is the greater handiness and quickness of turning, which would be possessed by these converted cupola ships, as compared with their longer competitors. There is, undoubtedly, one drawback with regard to the plan of thus converting our wooden two-deckers for coast service, namely, their considerable draught of water; but this would not materially interfere with their general usefulness. Secondly. A fleet of sea-going iron-clads, varying from the "Warrior" or "Minotaur" type to the "Defence" or "Hector," capable of being sent to any part of the world, and fitted with spars sufficient to allow them to make long voyages under sail, is, for a power like Great Britain, indispensable to enable her to maintain her maritime superiority. Thirdly. A squadron of small iron-clads, of between 1,000 and 2,000 tons, of great speed, and carrying a small number of heavy guns, protected from shot as far as possible. As already remarked, it has, since the introduction of steam power, always been our misfortune to possess among our small cruisers the slowest vessels in the Navy. It has been very generally considered by naval architects, that with the screw-propeller great immersion is absolutely necessary to secure a high rate of speed; and as such ships necessarily have only a light draught of water, they have hitherto been more remarkable for their slowness than for any other quality. The true solution of the difficulty seems, however, to be, in adopting the twin screw-propeller, as exemplified in the Confederate "Tallahassie," of less than 1,000 tons, which steams 14 knots; and it is not easy to see why an invention which has proved so successful in the above vessel should not be equally applicable to the light cruisers of our own Navy. With reference to our wooden Navy, the late operations in America, both in the attack on Mobile and the bombardment of Wilmington, have gone far towards proving that wooden ships of war are yet capable of doing good service, and, under certain circumstances, would still be found most useful. For ordinary cruising purposes, blockading, and service on distant stations, it is evident that the best of our modern screw-frigates, 43 of which figure on the Navy List, (if not our two-deckers), and corvettes, which, on account of their great speed and armament, letting alone their superior sailing and sea-going qualities, would undoubtedly be valuable auxiliaries to what may, with propriety, be denominated-more especially our fighting ships-viz., "plated vessels ;" and in many contingencies such as bad weather, &c., they would often be able to keep the sea long after the iron-clads had been compelled to put into port for shelter. The numerous slow vessels of our wooden Navy, among which it is mortifying to have to include not a few of our costly screw twodeckers and frigates, should be at once disposed of; and the time is come when no vessels that are really inefficient ought to be retained in the service, entailing, as they do, even when unemployed, a heavy annual expenditure, which is attended with no corresponding benefit. Before concluding, it may be permitted to observe, that the question of building armour-plated vessels has not been rendered less complicated by the alleged discovery of a material more suitable for their protection even than iron, which has up to the present time stood unrivalled for this purpose. Experiments with compressed paper fibre have established conclusively the fact, that greater resistance was obtained from a thickness of one inch of this substance than from two inches of solid oak, when fired at with a rifle bullet. Whether further experiments will show a like surprising result remains to be seen; but what the country has a right to expect, whether our ships be made of iron, wood, or paper, or no matter how many more reconstructions our Navy has yet to undergo, is, that the Admiralty will endeavour to keep up with the times, and see that our seamen are only placed on board ships which, both in their construction and armament, are in every way worthy of them; and, in the event of a war, we can rest assured that the honour of the country will be in safe keeping. C. R. A SERIES OF LETTERS UPON THE ORGANIZATION OF CAVALRY. FROM COLONEL PILGRIM TO HIS SON PAul. LETTER I. The Interior Economy of a Troop. Banjowangy Bungalow, near Malvern, Gloucestershire, MY DEAR PAUL.-You will doubtless have discovered by this time, that the learning required for you to pass your examination, as to fitness for a commission in the cavalry, has as yet been of little service to you that a knowledge of ancient and modern warfare does not perfect you in the intricacies of the goose-step-that mathematics and geography are of but little service when you are on a rough horse in the riding school without stirrups, and that a perfect acquaintance with the binomial theorem and the differential culculus, prove of no assistance when you are practising the march of files and the formation of fours. Like many greater and more able men, you, with all your knowledge, now find yourself in many respects quite ignorant, discovering that what you had imagined to be of the greatest importance has become of the least, and might lead you almost to wish that you had made posturing your chief study, and thrown Latin and Greek to the dogs. At any rate 1 found it so when I joined the service, being neither able to perceive nor to understand the use of what was drilled into me, and all this created in me a disgust as regards drill, &c., that I did not recover from for years. During that period, I never took any pains to learn more than the mere words of command necessary to inspect a troop, contenting myself with the thought that any further knowledge was quite unnecessary, and only fit for a troop-sergeantmajor or drill-sergeant to study or acquire. Nor was I a solitary example in this respect, for all appeared to follow the same course. In this manner I rubbed along for years, knowing little, and caring less, about the duties of my profession, and was quite content when I knew how to open the ranks and make out an orderly officer's report. As regards courts-martial I held very loose ideas, having a kind of indefinite notion that these tribunals could sentence a prisoner to be shot or transported for any crime that he might commit, and although I had been a member of several courtsmartial, I am confident that had I been called upon, at the closing of the proceedings, to state for what crime the prisoner had been tried, and to give a short recapitulation of the evidence, I could not have done it. With respect to my duties as a troop-leader, I left all that to my covering-sergeant, or some old soldier who was behind me; and by their promptings I usually contrived to rub through, and while I just managed all this, I fancied that I knew everything that was necessary for me to know about my profession. This was about all that the best of us understood in the days of my cornetcy, and from what I have heard lately, although we live in times of competitive examinations, the service has not so much improved as one would imagine. I was no worse than the others of my day, and I expect that you will be no better than your fellows of the present, if you continue to jog along in the old beaten track. So I have determined to write you a letter occasionally upon military matters, which I hope will sometimes smooth the path. I am perfectly aware, my dear Paul, that the books you are expected to study are about as interesting, to a young mind, as a book of village sermons or an old gazetteer would be; and therefore it is not, or should not, be a matter of much surprise that you should dislike them and read them as little as possible. I speak of the cavalry drill books, some of the driest and most unreadable productions that ever the brains of unfortunate cornets were troubled with. As you have now joined about two months, and you, by this time, have got over the roughest part of your apprenticeship, and have at the same time got acquainted with your brother officers-a fine, gentlemanly lot of fellows-have been kicked for, and stood your footing in the troop; have had to stand treat to the rough-riders, who, in return, have doubtless done the utmost either to get you thrown, or make your cap fall off-for each and all you would have of course to give extra douceurs! In a few weeks' time you will likewise be available to be placed on the roster for court-martial duty. In the meanwhile I will first direct your attention to the interior economy of a troop; and that being a fraction of the regiment, when you thoroughly understand the one you will find but little difficulty in understanding the management of the whole. While I explain the subject to you in theory, you can daily develop it in practice, with the troop to which you are attached. As a subaltern you will have charge of a squad, when you must bear in mind that you are answerable to the captain for the cleanliness of the horses and saddlery in it. Your duty will be then, at every mid-day stablehour, first, to examine the forage and see that it is good; next, to inspect the horses which have been shod within the last twenty-four hours, and then to look round your squad, noting in your memory anything that appears slovenly. Ascertain then, from the noncommissioned officer in charge of the squad, how it ought to be done; cause him to go in with you and alter it, which will give you an idea of the manner in which it ought to appear when properly fixed. But beware of becoming a fault-finder; for should you get that habit, a spirit of discontent will spring up in your squad which you will find very difficult ever to eradicate. Be also slow to punish, but if you have occasion to admonish a man, do so in a quiet, gentlemanly manner-no blustering or bullying; and on no account ever allow any non-commissioned officer under you to do so either. Should a man commit himself again in a day or two after you have admonished him, explain that, very much against your inclination, you will be obliged to award him confinement to quarters for when remonstrance fails, other means must be employed. In this manner, the men seeing that you are neither hasty nor capricious, but on the contrary, just and honourable, will be attentive and endeavour to please you, and you will find that the good, bad, and indifferent characters, will alike improve. Every officer should identify himself with the troop to which he belongs; as a sailor loves his ship, so must a soldier regard his troop and regiment. Although there may be smarter and better conducted corps, he must not admit that to be the fact. The officer's next duty is really to get his troop or squad to a state of perfection, which, by the way, is not so very difficult, my dear Paul, if you adopt the right means to attain that end. When I joined the service I had the good fortune, or luck, as the other officers termed it, to be attached to the best troop in the regiment, which I found afterwards to really be the case. Not only had X troop the cleanest saddlery, but the horses were in better condition than those in any other troop in the regiment. But this was not all; X troop had more men in the receipt of good conduct pay than the remaining troops all put together. Rare, indeed, was it to find a man in the guard-room of this troop, not that crime was at all screened, but that the men did not, or would not, get into trouble. I have known two months to pass over and not a man during that period confined, and when a man at last was put in the guard-room, every one took it to heart, as if a disgrace had fallen upon all. At that time, my dear Paul, I was quite satisfied that such was the case; it never struck me that I ought to try to discover the causes which led to such results as X troop being not only a better behaved, but a better lot of soldiers, than the men of other troops. But since that time, when being transferred from one troop to another, I was brought personally in contact with these other men, and saw the wide difference in their habits and behaviour and those of my old troop, I commenced to think what could be the predisposing cause of all. Little by little I remembered Captain Watkins method of dealing with his men, and as these remembrances were recalled, so did also the broad facts which sprung from them break upon my mind. In the first place, Captain W. made every man in his troop feel that while he was very strict, he was also most impartial; he would listen to a private soldier quite as attentively as he would to a non-commissioned officer; a sergeant dare no more do an unjust action towards a man under him than he durst knock down the colonel. This gave the men every confidence in their officer. Again, Captain W. would never allow any other officer to punish one of his troop-his system being that should any one misconduct himself at field or on parade, the matter was to be reported to him, and should the man be in the wrong, he himself would punish him. Next, Captain W. somehow |