Notwithstanding the late change in administration this seems to show that the policy of Admiral Aube, referred to in the introductory chapter, is still potent, and that the government believes the next war with England will be carried on by French cruisers attacking British commerce, and that sharp, destructive dashes will be made against the enemy’s coast by ships with great speed, and such sufficient power that “all of England’s littoral towns, fortified and unfortified, whether purely peace establishments or warlike,” will be burned or pitilessly ransomed. “In any future war,” continues this exponent of the new ideas, “France will come down from the heights of the cloudy sentimentality which has created that monstrous association of words, _rights_ of war, and her attack on every source of English riches will become not only legitimate but obligatory.” It is certain that French naval activity is now mainly directed to the construction of vessels just suited to these new theories. At the same time she has a formidable fleet of heavily armored vessels, a rough comparison with those of England being as follows, in the classes which have over fifteen inches of armor protection and carry guns above forty-three tons in weight: Ships. Armor. No. Guns. Weight. 3 21½ inches 6 breech-loading rifles 75 tons. 5 20 ” 8 ” ” 75 ” 6 18 ” 8 ” ” 50 ” 2 15 ” 24 ” ” 48 ” -- -- 16 46 England has three ships with armor from twenty-four inches to eighteen inches thick, and twelve ships with armor eighteen inches thick; three ships carry six 110-ton guns, six carry twenty-four 67-ton guns, five carry sixteen 43-ton guns, all breech-loading rifles, while one has four muzzle-loading 80-ton guns. The latest additions to the armored fleet of France are the _Hoche_, of the Marceau type of battle-ship, and the _Cocyte_ and _Mitraille_, coast-defence gun-boats. The _Marceau_, launched May 24, 1887, is built of steel with an under-water skin of iron; a double bottom extends below the engines, boilers, and magazines, and the hold is divided into thirty-one water-tight compartments by horizontal and longitudinal bulkheads. The armor-belt encircles the ship, dips forward to strengthen the ram, is carried twelve inches above the load water-line, and varies in thickness from 13.7 to 17.7 inches; the barbette towers are 15.7 inches thick, and the armored deck, above which there are many compartments, is 2.6 inches thick. The armament is made up of four 13-4/10-inch guns mounted in the towers, of one 5½-inch gun at the bow, and of sixteen 5½-inch pieces in broadside; the secondary battery includes twenty Hotchkiss guns and four above-water torpedo tubes.