MR. REED ON THE CONDITION OF THE BRITISH NAVY. (From the Mall Budget.)

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 122, 15 February 1873, Page 3

MR. REED ON THE CONDITION OF THE BRITISH NAVY. (From the Mall Budget.)

It must be admitted that even in these halcyon day* her navy is of considerable importance to England, if indeed it bo not of more importance thin any other single thing that can be named. It is agreed that we ought to have some means of protection fiom attack, over and above the mtluencc of our political vntiies. Also it is agreed that in these days of enormous armaments the country cuinot furnish an army numerous enough to suffice for protection — while it is even doubtful whether we are blessed with as nuch skill and fo.esight in militai y matters as would make a small army useful with the range of its capabilities. , Nevertheless, the public mind has remained tolerably easy inuler these circumstances because of a belief that Great Bntain has a foi midable navy, numerous enough and strong enough to forbid the idea of invasion at any rate. But according to Mr Reed— whose letteis to the Times have been the "sensation" of the week— there is a far less justification for tlm belief than is commonly supposed, w Jnlo every day our superiority at sea is diminishing, th tough the exertions of foreign Powers. Of the value of Mi Hood's testimony theie can be no question. He probably knows more of his subject than any Englishman extant ; his intelligence is active far beyond the range of the workbhop ; and he is too vain of his reputation to jeopardise it by doubtful statements. To these, then, we feel bound to give all the circulation at our command. He affirms that while our admit alty oiloials are fallen once more into the supine condition which seems to be their natural source of existence, abroad a degree of activity and enterprise pi e\ ails which, if continued much longer, will place our fleets m danger. For two years, he tells us, the energies of the Admiralty, the labour of the dockyards, and the monies voted by Parliament have been entirely consumed in finishing the ships which others began, in altering many of them, "and in building small vessels which, however valuable as adjuncts to a powerful navy, are lidieulous when made to take the place of such a navy." Tins is out " naval policy," while Prussia has been transformed into a vast em;>ire, with an extended Baltic seaboard, ami w ith a vnit naval nrsenal rising in the North Sea close to our own shores ; while Russinn commerce has vastly expanded, " stimulated by railways reaching to the shores of the Engine, nnd there terminat n;m a vigorous ocean steam trade, all betokening that the Russian ' star of Empire ' is taking its way southward ; " while England remains practically isolated from all alliances, " which, if it has the advantage (as may be questioned) of reducing the occasions of war, has also the disadvantage ofexposin^hcrto the chances of very formidable adverse combinations." It is at this time and under such circumstance*, siys Mr Reed, that powerful iron-dad navies are rising up around us, " far surpassing botli in number and po.ver am thing that we heretofore had to compete with. Not only the lend in the race, but the praelir.ibdtty of competing in the race, i- pacing aw:n from us " The verj period during which we have been so sluggnh is that in -which \ve ought to have been more active, more far-seeing nnd more determined, and more progressive than ever For while in settled times, when no greit changes aic madi! in ships, superiority lies mainly in number*, in these times of rapid change superiority lies mainly in the growing power of individual ships, and while even a single Power may easily surpass you, the simultaneous construction of iery powerful ships in several navies may rapidly jeopardise jour position" In North Germany, we are assured, the recent policy of budding up a powerful navy of ironclads is pursued more vigorously than ever. In Russia they have already surpassed us both m the strength of actual ships and in the use of new methods of construction. " The Peter the Great, a ship perfectly capable of steaming into English ports, is a more powerful ship than any we possess ; " and her possessors are acquiring enormous offensive and defonsive naval strength by carrying out the principle of shortening and broadening their ships so as to carry heavier guns and hea\ier armour, while we are making no pro\ ision for this change of construction, but "arc industriously budding docks at Chatham and Portsmouth winch will have to be pulled to pieces almost as soon as built, if the change comes ab :>ut." '• If Ru^ia pursues her present naval policy rigorously, and we pursue our*, (such as it now is), wo shall never dare again to send hostile ships into her waters, nor will any neighboring Power succeed bv means of her ships in keeping Russia out." And what is being done in Russia is going on elsewhere. While we arc standing comparatively still, "half-a-dozen other Powers are making rapid and surprising advances, and, for the first time since the introduction of armour, are surrounding us with ships more powerful, botli cruising and non -cruising, than oven the most powerful of our own." Such is the story of a man whose knowledge and whose judgment in the matter of which he treats ennnot bo questioned, and whose good faith i» nol to be doubted because he preferred an independent sphere of action and a large income to the iijnominii us wirries of Admiralty life and a smaller one How are his representations to be received? The official way we know. The plan is, whenever any man of consequence, ventures to attack official mismanagement, to turn it as speeddv as possible into a personal Hquabble " And pray what did you do when >ou wore in office 9 " is the an yrx a once resorted to. '" How do you account f>r jour silence, in 18 — 9 " and so forth, and af er the controversy has been carried on in this wav for a fe«v days, Mr A 13 said to hnve got the better of Mr B , or Mr B of Mr A , — as if the dispute were one of tho«e which are raised to te-t the argumentative powcr-s of young men in debating club* ; while as for the facts, though they concern the fortunes of a kingdom, they remain just what they were before the quarrel commenced. Already the common process has begun in this case The Government journalists treat Mr Reed's letter as an " attack on Goschen" rather than an exposition of tho condition and prospects of the British Navy, nnd declare that it is solely inspired bv " vindictive personal feeling."