though not
theoretical, is still hardly practical, for as a matter of fact high
explosives cannot be said to have yet been regularly used in warfare,
and I hope you will pardon me if in consequence my statements appear
in some respects unsatisfactory and my theories unsound. My subject,
however, is no more obscure than future naval warfare generally. All
civilized nations are spending millions of money for fighting purposes
directly in opposition to the higher feelings of the better class of
their inhabitants. The political atmosphere of Europe is the cause of
this, but its consequence is the development of theoretical plans of
ships which are no sooner commenced than the rapid march of
mechanical, chemical, and electrical science shows them to be faulty
in some particular feature, and others are laid down only to be
superseded in their turn.

None of these crafts are obsolete (to use the popular expression of
the day). All are theoretically better than any which have stood the
test of battle; but each excels its predecessor in some particular
feature. The use of high explosives is the direct cause of the very
latest transformations in marine architecture, and is destined to work
still greater changes; but it will require a war between the most
civilized nations of the world, and a long war, to either confirm or
condemn the many theoretical machines and methods of destruction that
modern science has produced. I say a war between the most civilized
nations, since it is only they that can supply the educated intellect
that is necessary to both attack and defense. Under other
circumstances false conclusions as to weapons and results are certain
to be drawn.

At the bombardment of Alexandria, the English armorclads, with their
rifled guns, were not nearly as efficient against the feeble chalk
fortifications as our wooden ships would have been with smooth bore
guns. On the other hand I saw on shore after the bombardment hundreds
of torpedoes and miles of cable that the Egyptians did not understand
how to use. The French war with China was equally unsatisfactory from
a military point of view. The Chinese at Foochow were annihilated
because the French opened fire first, and the only shell that
penetrated a French ironclad was filled with lamp black instead of
powder. The national riots that we are accustomed to hear of in South
America are likewise of little instructive value; they buy their
weapons of more civilized people