may be in, after they arrive within the range of grape-shot they can, in a few minutes, be under the bow of the ship, where they will be safe from all fire except small arms; but to arrive under her bow, amounts to a moral certainty of effecting her destruction. Therefore, with the immense advantage which Torpedoes give to an attack with boats, it is of little consequence whether it be made in the night or day, in a calm or a breeze of from four to six knots. If the ships engage with the boats, their case will be desperate. In all my reflections on this kind of war, I see no chance for their escape other than by retreat; and the moment English ships of war retreat before Torpedo boats, that moment the power of the British marine is for ever lost, and with it the political influence of the nation. In this view of chances, I have calculated the number of men in the boats equal to the number in the ships, and estimated five thousand boats to be brought into action; but in all cases when there are sufficient Torpedo boats to drive in the boats of the ships, there will be sufficient to attack the fleet; the one hundred ships could not put six hundred good boats in motion, therefore, one thousand Torpedo boats would suffice for the attack; they could be formed into fifty divisions of twenty boats each; they would have every advantage, in a calm, of directing fifty or one hundred boats against one vessel, while the ships would not have the power to concentrate their fire on the boats; the ships could not be defended, unless there were transports or ordinance vessels expressly for carrying good row-boats, the number of which should be sufficient to repel the Torpedo boats; but if ships can only be protected by boats, it follows, that they will cease to be of use, and the contest for the command of the channel must be decided by boat fighting. In such case, the nation which could put in action the greatest number of boats, and was least dependent on commerce, would have a decided advantage. England is more dependent on commerce than France; her merchant vessels could be attacked, destroyed, and her trade ruined; yet the commerce of France could not be more, nor so much, injured as it is at present. In such an event, England, who has usurped the dominion of the ocean and laid all nations under contribution, would be the most humble supplicant for the liberty of the seas. And then the Emperor of France would have a noble opportunity to display a magnanimity of soul, a goodness of heart, which would add lustre to his great actions, and secure to him the admiration of the civilized world, by granting to so ingenious, industrious, enterprising, and estimable a people, a perfect liberty of commerce.[M]