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unwilling to risk the "dangers of the seas," would cheerfully serve in a flotilla of this kind. It would be in perfect accordance with their previous habits; and their hardihood, intelligence, and local knowledge, peculiarly qualify them for the duties of steamers. Thus, at the commencement of a war, we should have on the spot most requiring immediate defence, a numerous class of persons, the best qualified for the purpose. In case of sudden invasion, the whole population of the coast, may be considered competent to its defence, in either land or steam service; whereas the duties of seamen, as distinguished from the other classes of men who fill up the ranks of the navy, are various and complicated, and though not difficult of attainment, yet require some years of labour and practice, ere a man can dub himself “sailor.” -The tactics of steam boats, though requiring both skill and practice, will be infinitely less difficult and complicated than the system of tactics for fleets, which depend for the success of their movements, on an element proverbial for instability; while the steam tactician has only to conceive his plan, and he is certain of its execution; he has only to determine on his mode of operation, and he is sure of effecting it: to the steam navigator no point of the compass is interdicted; he has neither head winds nor calms-instead of being at the mercy of the motive power, he wields it at will.

The details of the new vessels are interesting. Various modes of equipping and securing them are suggested, particularly as it relates to the steam vessels, the principal difficulties of which will be, in securing the machinery and paddles from the effects of shot.-The latter we should consider as claiming the greater degree of attention; and those who may feel disposed to give attention to these matters, as forming part of their future duties, (for such they will become,) will have full scope for ingenuity and invention. The machinery, apart from the paddles, we imagine, can be very readily secured: the sides of the vessels themselves may be so constructed as to protect it from assault in that direction, and the battery of a steamer being at each end of the vessel, and the power of locomotion in either direction equally easy and rapid, will, of course, render it entirely unnecessary to present any other part to the enemy; and the idea of traverses, as suggested by Mr. Paixhans, appears to us, to be exceedingly well calculated to secure this quarter, the only one which we conceive liable to direct and serious assaults. There are many modes of securing the different parts of the vessels from shot, suggested by our author, as by traverses, composed of wood, or wood and iron combined, &c. Much of this is intended merely as furnishing hints, on which to ground the basis of future experiments; but the immediate determination of them is not at all essential to the adoption of his system, either partially in the old vessels, or entirely in the new ones.

What we have said, however, must be considered as applying only to steamers, intended for harbour or coast defence. The knowledge requisite for the construction and equipment of a steam fleet, which shall be adapted to all purposes of navigation and war, on the ocean, whether acting by themselves, or in conjunction with sailing vessels, must be acquired by future research and experiments, of which the small steamers will necessarily be the starting point. With regard to the comparative expense of the two classes of vessels, the difference is such as to form in itself a sufficient motive for an examination of its expediency and practicability. Reasoning analogieally, we may form some estimate of the cost of our own establishment, from what Mr. P. says of the French navy :—

"In 1819, the minister declared, and subsequently repeated his declaration, that if the annual expense of the French marine was limited to forty five millions, (nine millions of dollars,) it would have ceased to exist in 1830; and that even with an expenditure of sixty five millions per annum; that is, seven hundred and fifteen millions, (one hundred and forty-three millions of dollars,) to 1830, it will at that epoch be reduced to thirty-eight sail of the line, and fifty frigates."

A steamer, with bomb cannon, must take infinitely less to construct, and maintain, than a sloop, with a crew of one hundred and sixty men; yet we imagine there can be no comparison in point of efficacy. What chance would one of the largest sloops of war stand with an opponent of this description? Of the probable influence of such a system, if but partially successful, there can be but one opinion. The attack and defence of coasts, will be an entirely different matter to what it has hitherto been; blockades will be extremely difficult, if not impossible; and so peculiarly is this mode of defence adapted to the United States, that an energetic and judicious management of it, will, if we do not entirely mistake results, completely insure the integrity of our soil. We may venture to assert, that no ship of the present armament, would risk being caught in our water, by a steam-boat a la Paixhans; nor would a single ship of the line be able to blockade the Delaware, and lay a town under contribution. What would be the fate of blockading squadrons similar to those which lay undisturbed in the Chesapeake, the Delaware, the Sound, and other places, during the last war, if they should be attacked by a steam flotilla, even of the ordinary kind? They could not maintain their positions for a single hour. Should the enemy bring a similar force, this would be a still stronger reason for its adoption on our part; and the advantages we should possess over any nation crossing the ocean for the purpose of attack, are too obvious to need exemplification. The great amount of personal force which has formed the principal advantage of the British navy, will be in a measure rendered useless, as far as regards their skill and experience as seamen; and the 145,000

men with which the fleets of England were manned, will, in a warfare of this kind, be little better than 145,000 men of any other description.

"We may then hope, that a few thousand men, bred and nursed on the ocean, will not, in consequence of their skill, be able to dictate laws to the world; and that the iniquity of universal dominion, will henceforth be as difficult at sea, as on land." p. 348.

While writing these remarks, we have received Captain Ross's work on steam defence. Some parts of the introduction, (the only portion of the work we have yet read,) are so highly corroborative of the opinions and views we have expressed, and so plainly exhibit, at the same time, the degree of importance attached to this subject by the English, that we cannot refrain quoting a few passages. In speaking of steam, as still more applicable to war, than to commercial and mercantile purposes, he says:

"There is abundant reason to believe, that it is fully felt, not only by the government itself, but by every naval officer who has bestowed the slightest attention on the subject; while, if it be true, as is generally understood, that our rivals and enemies are turning their attention very particularly to this object, it is the more imcumbent on us, to see that no time is lost by ourselves, in taking such steps as may insure us that continued superiority at sea, on which our very existence depends.”—Introduction, p. x., &c. ̧

Further on:

"In fact, it is notorious, that both the French and Americans, have been for some time training their officers, in this new art of steam navigation: while the former abound, not only in steam engines of our manufacture, but even in English workmen and engineers; a sufficient proof of their intentions on the subject, and of the importance which they now attach to it. If we do not absolutely know, that any other naval power has turned its attention to the subject, this, at least, is probable, or we may safely infer, that, conscious from experience of their inferiority as to warfare on the same old system, and hopeless of attaining, in an equal degree, the management of large vessels and fleets, they will gladly resort to a system far more practicable and economical; and one, which, from its requiring far less of what is called nautical knowledge, will bring their means to that equality, which may render their future enmity at sea most hazardous to our superiority, if not to our existence."

"This is a serious, but a true view of the subject; and without wishing to excite unnecessary alarm, not being an alarmist in disposition; it is difficult to reflect steadily on the question, without some feeling of doubt, whether the destiny of Great Britain, may not at length be involved in this very invention, whether its fate will not even be sealed, as soon as steam vessels shall supersede the present ones, among the nations of Europe, and become, what the latter scarcely ever can, the general naval warfare of the world." p. xiv. xv. &c.

Again, in p. 17 of Introduction, he says:

"The system, in fact, will become a species of military, instead of a naval one; and they who should have been sailors, will be maritime soldiers, not seamen; and then will our superiority, as far as depends on seamanship, disappear; or we also shall become what they will be, and must learn to meet them on our own channel, and on our own shores, as we met them at Vittoria and Waterloo." We have made these few extracts, in order, as we have said, to show the degree of importance which is attached to this subject

* A mistake, we regret to say.

in England, and by English naval officers. A glance at the contents and the plates, convinces us, that Captain Ross has devoted much time and attention to the details, as well as the ensemble, of a system, to which he very justly attributes the most important consequences.

The dedication of his work, as well as its being "patronised by His Royal Highness, the Lord High Admiral," gives it a semi-official character, and shows that the strong language used by Captain Ross, is sanctioned by the acquiescence of his govern

ment.

ART. X.-St. Petersburgh. A Journal of Travels to and from that Capital; through Flanders, the Rhenish Provinces, Prussia, Russia, Poland, Silesia, Saxony, the Federated States of Germany and France. By A. B. GRANVILLE, M. D. F. R. S. F. L. S. M. R. A. F. S. S. & M. R. A. S. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 1324. London: 1828.

We have copied only a small part of the list of Dr. Granville's titles, which fill twelve lines more, in very small type. His chief professional pursuit seems to be that of a "Physician accoucheur;" and we learn from his book, that he had been for twenty years surgeon in the British navy. The United States possess a famous savant, who has been celebrated as a "fellow of fortynine societies;" but this London accoucheur may be denominated centifolious; he is the flower of his tribe, with a hundred rustling leaves. Without furnishing a regular auto-biography, he makes himself known to his reader in every way:-we are brought acquainted with what he was; the writings that he has published; the offices which he enjoys; the great estimation in which he deems himself to be held by others, and the prodigious degree of his self-esteem and consequence. His volumes are dedicated, by permission, to his Most Gracious Majesty King George IV.; and if we confine ourselves to the external beauty of the page, and the admirable wood-cuts with which they are adorned, they may be pronounced worthy of the royal patronage,-"a dainty dish to set before a king." Here are two superlatively elegant, and very thick octavos, the fruits of an excursion of seventeen weeks' duration altogether, over more than four thousand miles. The quantity of matter, light or heavy, which they contain, is truly wonderful, when we consider the space which was achieved in so short a period, and the quality of the traveller at home-"a medical man, fully engaged in prac

tice in such a metropolis as London ;" to say nothing of his avocations as a correspondent of half the republic of letters. It is some time since we have seen a more remarkable specimen of the art of book-making; a specimen, indeed, to which nothing equal will be produced in our own country, until equal aid can be obtained from booksellers, printers, and engravers.

In the middle of July, 1827, Dr. Granville hied for St. Petersburgh, as the medical attendant, the safe companion, and the easy friend, of the Russian Count Michel Woronzow and his fair countess, exalted and accomplished nobles, whose auspices ensured to him a favourable reception in the best circles, wherever they appeared together, independently of his being a clever man, with a full share of the savoir vivre, or savoir faire. Their route was that which is indicated above; he reaches St. Petersburg at the four hundred and seventeenth page of his first volume, in thirty-five days after his departure from London-days spent in journeying seventeen hundred and sixty-five miles. Not enjoying a proportional latitude of space or remark, we cannot accompany him from city to city, or kingdom to kingdom; but must be content with using a part of his evidence concerning Russia, which we shall offer as food for a general curiosity, that recent occurrences in Europe have freshened and animated. Our inquisitive and locomotive doctor, found or made opportunities of collecting information, ample or meagre, on nearly all ordinary topics :-it is an account of the Russian capital that he specially offers to the world; but he communicates whatever he could extract or infer relative to the peculiar institutions and various resources of the empire at large. He is the latest witness among the British writers;-which forms our chief motive for introducing to our readers, one who is more fluent than profound, and withal a true courtier, constantly intent on preserving the good graces of the foreign personages who honoured him with their courtesies. In this point of politic gratitude, he differs widely from his carping predecessors, Drs. Clarke and Lyall, who saw and painted every thing en noir-for whom, in Russia, every member of the government was a tyrant or profligate, every patrician a debauchee and oppressor, every merchant or dealer a rogue, every peasant a brutish slave, every priest a sot or hypocrite, every woman dissolute, every public functionary corrupt, every domestic a spy or pilferer, every national dish a poisonous mixture, every fair semblance a mere gloss or treacherous disguise.

We were at first tempted to place also at the head of this article, the title of another recent and popular work, in two sizeable volumes, in which more of Russia is described, from personal observation, by a British officer, who traversed the empire, and sojourned in St. Petersburgh and Moscow, in the year 1822-3:

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