Long before Captain Mahan began to teach, or to write those admirable works which came as a revelation to the English and the European public, he had opened the pages of the 'Edinburgh Review' to writers who, in different ways and in different degrees, were inculcating the same doctrine, which during the long peace, and by reason of the overwhelming superiority of the allies in the Russian war, had been almost forgotten, even by professional men. It would not be difficult to show how, during the thirty years which preceded the publication of Captain Mahan's 'Influence of Sea-Power,' its most important theories were illustrated and discussed in the pages of the 'Review.' The following, by one of the most accomplished officers in our navy, refers to such an article in the January number:-- _From Captain Bridge, R.N._ _January 19th_.--As an Englishman and a sailor, I feel it to be a duty again to congratulate you on the article 'Naval Supremacy,' &c., in the new number of the 'Edinburgh Review.' That article and the one concerning which I previously addressed you can hardly fail to do good. The Maurician school and its 'two Army-corps and a cavalry division,' which were to be launched at the Caucasus, must have received a severe check from the earlier article. The disaster-breeding facts of the fort-builders can hardly survive many more such assaults as that so sharply driven home in 'Naval Supremacy.' The opinions of the writer of the latter, I venture to think, foreshadow those of the Navy on the subject of huge ships and huge guns. I hold it to be highly beneficial to the country that the editor of the 'Edinburgh Review' should have so keen an appreciation and, for a civilian, so rare a knowledge of naval affairs. _From Lord Derby_ _April 3rd_--What a new Europe is beginning! Bismarck dismissed; Emperors holding Socialist conferences; more attempts to murder the Tsar; strikes all over the world; Germans going to Prussianise Central Africa! No want of novelty in our time and amusing enough, if one is far enough off. _From the Duc d'Aumale_ _Chantilly_, 14 _juin_.--Ou diable avais-je la tete, mon cher ami? (ne montrez pas ce preambule a nos amis puritains.) Je croyais bien vous avoir ecrit que je comptais passer la mer vers le 22, diner avec le Club le 24, embrasser mes neveux et nieces de toutes generations, voir quelques amis, et rentrer ici vers la fin de la semaine. Je persiste dans ce projet, _weather permitting_; c'est-a-dire sauf le cas de tempete que l'on est bien force de prevoir avec une pareille saison. A bientot donc, s'il plait a Dieu. Je finis mieux que je ne commence, et je vous serre la main. H. D'O. _From the Duc d'Aumale_