found in the fact that an eight-inch smooth-bore in the old days threw a cast-iron projectile, weighing sixty-eight pounds, with a velocity of 1,579 feet per second at the muzzle of the gun. The energy of the projectile was estimated at 452 foot-tons. The modern eight-inch rifle throws a steel bolt weighing 250 pounds, at a muzzle velocity of 2,500 feet per second, with a striking power of 10,830 foot-tons. The old eight-inch iron shot could not penetrate four inches of iron plates, while the modern steel bolt penetrates twenty-six inches of wrought iron. The best thirteen-inch modern rifles have a striking power of about 35,000 foot-tons and penetrate thirty-four inches of wrought iron. After an apprenticeship of ten years, the gunmakers and shipbuilders of the United States have done well enough to entirely satisfy the people whom they have served. And yet the American navy, in the matter of ships and guns, is at best the fifth in the world. It is not considered necessary to the interest of this history to enter into any argument to show that the American navy should have a higher standing in point of numbers. But, if the story of the American navy has been written here as the writer understood it, then it is apparent that the American’s hope of peace has always rested on the efficiency of a modest number of ships. We have had peace with the aggressive nations of the earth while we have had an efficient force afloat, and we have suffered humiliation when we have neglected our navy. To make the appeal that is likely to be effective, history shows that it does not pay to try to get on without a navy. It need not be either the first or even the third in point of numbers, but it must be first in point of efficiency. To keep our hands in practice and our tools from rusting and our inventors from stagnation, we must lay down at least one new ship of the first class every year. We must not forget that Europe has steadily built new ships to improve on those with which we have led the way. While building ships that in general construction were like those of Europe, the United States has followed its ancient policy of encouraging inventors by trying what the conservatives call “newfangled notions.” The success that followed the adoption of “newfangled notions” like steam power, the screw propeller, and the Ericsson _Monitor_, has been fully appreciated by the world at large. The “newfangled Yankee notions,” in fact, kept up the quality of the old American navy. Since the navy began its rejuvenating career, ten years ago, three “newfangled” ideas have been tried. One was a steam ram, pure and simple. It was a ship designed to steam at seventeen knots per hour, with a ram for its sole weapon of offence, and it was built solely for harbor defence. Because, in its way, it is a revival of the porcupine policy, nothing more need be said about it. [Illustration: The _Vesuvius_. _From a photograph by Rau._]