We  have  heard  much  in  various  quarters  about  the  invention  of  iron-cased  ships,
the  credit  of  which  is  usually  accorded  to  his  Imperial  Majesty  Napoleon  lu.,
although  there  are  scores  of  persons,  both  here  and  in  Amenca,  who  claim  it  for
themselves.  But  the  truth  is,  very  little  invention  has  been  displayed  in  the  French
iron-cased  ships.  Their  designers  have  almost  ezclusivelv  confined  themselves  to
the  very  simple  process  of  reducing  a  wooden  line-of-battle  ship  to  the  height  of  a
frigate,  and  replacing  the  weight  &us  removed  by  an  iron  casmg  4i  inches  thick
placed  upon  the  dwarfed  vessel.  It  was  not  possible  to  produce  a  very  efficient
ship  by  these  means ;  so  they  have  contented  themselves,  in  most  cases,  with
vessels  like  'LaGloire,'  which  carry  their  ports  very  near  to  the  water  when
fully  equipped  for  sea,  and  are  characterized  by  other  imperfections  that  it  would
be  easy  to  point  out  The  reports  of  her  efficiency  whicn  have  appeared  in  the
fVencn  newspapers  prove  nothing  in  opposition  to  what  I  here  state.  The  writers
in  those  papers  have  systematically  exaggerated  the  qualities  of  the  French  ships
for  years  past,  representing  that  they  coiud  steam  at  impossible  speeds,  and  cany
as  much  ftiel  as  an  v  two  of  our  ships.  But  these  are  statements  which  can  be  dis-
posed of  bv  sdentinc  calculations  of  the  most  elementary  kind ;  and  the  untruth  of
the  Frencli  accounts  has  been  so  denumstnted  over  and  over  again.    With  the


S34  RBPOBT — 1861.
