UNITED SERVICE MAGAZINE AND NAVAL AND MILITARY JOURNAL. No. DCXXXIX.-FEBRUARY, 1882. CONTENTS. OUR NATIONAL DEFENCES. By Sir W. G. Armstrong, C.B., LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S. 125 By the Author of " A Modern Greek 154 163 172 CAPTAIN KINKS. Chap. XX. RECOLLECTIONS OF AN ARMY SURGEON MEMOIR OF MAJOR-GENERAL SIR FREDERICK SLEIGH ROBERTS, BART., NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF HER MAJESTY'S ELEVENTH (NORTH-DEVON) DUELLING DAYS IN THE ARMY EDITORIAL NOTES: Sharp Practice-Lieutenant-General the Honourable A. E. Hardinge, C.B.-The Quartermaster-Generalship-The Musketry Committee-Colonel Drury Richard Barnes-The Pay Department-Lieutenant Colonel W. North-Indian Postal Arrangements-Staff Officers of Pensioners-The War DepartmentG. G. Ayr, 31st December 1881-The Home Service ClubThe Royal Navy-Egypt and Euphrates-English and French Navies CRITICAL NOTICES OBITUARY 191 . 223 . 243 . 248 TO CORRESPONDENTS. The EDITOR requests that the following rules may be attended to. 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ARMSTRONG, C.B., LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S. It has been the practice of my predecessors in the chair I have now the honour to occupy, to select topics for their address that have reference to branches of engineering which operate to increase the productiveness of human industry, and there are many who will contend that all engineering efforts ought to centre upon that object. It may be fully admitted that the general amelioration of the material condition of the world is the noblest object of our science; and if men and nations ceased to be bellicose and rapacious, such would naturally be the direction which all engineering practice would take; but we live in a world of contention, where no individual state can insure its independence, and carry on its industrial occupations in safety, without protecting itself against the possible aggression of its neighbours. Thus it is that the science of the engineer is invoked for the purposes of war as well as for those of peace; and it is probable that the engineering element will in future enter more and more largely into the operations of war, until the issue will be chiefly dependent upon the superiority of mechanical An Address delivered by Sir W. Armstrong, on his taking the chair as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, on January 10th, 1882. U. S. MAG. NO. 639. L resource displayed by one or other of the contending parties. SO There is no country in the world less disposed to be aggressive than our own, but there is none so likely to incite the greed of an assailant, or vulnerable in relation to its commerce. War indemnities have degenerated into mere exactions proportioned to the wealth of the vanquised; and England, being the richest of nations, offers the highest premium for successful attack. As to commerce, we have more than half the ocean carrying trade of the whole world in our hands, and our ships, swarming over every sea and conveying merchandise of enormous value, would, in the event of war, invite the depredations of hostile cruisers. We have seen in recent years what ravages a single armed ship can inflict upon a mercantile navy incomparably smaller than our own, and in our case it is not only property, but indispensable food that is at stake. The everincreasing population of Great Britain has already far outgrown its internal means of support, while the increasing cheapness of imported food so discourages native agriculture, that we may expect our future dependence upon foreign supply to increase even more rapidly than our population. This is not the occasion to discuss either moral questions affecting war, or political questions concerning free trade. We have the stern fact before us that national defence is in our case peculiarly a necessity, and the question how it can best be effected, from an engineer's point of view, is a legitimate subject for this address. England must always be chiefly dependent for security upon her naval power, but we cannot hope that she will ever again be so dominant at sea as before the introduction of steam navigation. So long as naval superiority depended upon seamanship and an unlimited supply of sailors, no nation or combination of nations could compete with us; but as soon as it become established that fighting-ships could be manoeuvred with more certainty and precision by the power of steam than by the power of wind, a revolution began which has gradually made naval warfare a matter of engineering rather than of seamanship. The introduction of rifled ordnance and percussion shells was the second step in this revolution, and had the effect of condemning as useless the whole fleet of wooden ships with which all our victories had been won, and which were the pride of the nation. Then commenced that contest between guns and armour which has gone on to this day, and bas not yet been decided. Nor will it in all probability ever be decided, seeing what an ignis fatuus finality is. The most recent stage of this revolution is that marked by the introduction of torpedoes, against which our ponderous ironclads are no more secure than ships of thinnest iron. These constantlychanging phases of attack and defence have placed our naval authorities under extreme difficulty in deciding upon questions of ships and armament. To stand still was impossible, while to act upon uncertain data was sure to lead to mistake. The necessary consequence has been that types and patterns of ships have been continually changing, and vessels, costing vast sums of money, have become nearly obsolete almost as soon as made. We cannot wonder that so long as invulnerability was conceived to be attainable, great sacrifice should be made for its accomplishment; but with our present knowledge, which it would be unfair to apply to a criticism of the past, we may feel assured that invulnerability is a chimera. Not only do we see that armour is unavailing against torpedo attack and ramming, but we are justified in concluding that every attempt to increase resistance to projectiles will be quickly followed by a corresponding increase in the power of artillery. Our early ironclads like the Warrior' were plated all over with armour of 44 inches thick-a thickness which could now be pierced with field-pieces. To resist the most powerful guns now afloat, armour of at least 2ft. in thickness is required; and in order to |