the war, must be written now, or at least the materials for its record must be gathered now. We are far enough removed from that tragic episode to be able to divest ourselves of the passions and misconceptions of the time, and near enough to it to gather at first hand, from original sources, and especially from the testimony of living men, the details of the period, its dramatic, picturesque, and vital aspects, its intimate relation with the problems, racial, educational, and economic, with which the South of to-day has to deal. Nothing can more certainly hasten and more entirely secure the fruits of that new unity which is making the United States of to-day a far nobler. Nation and a far greater power than ever before in the history of the world, than a thorough, adequate, and dispassionate account of the great Civil War, its causes, its incidents, and its sequel. When that story is fully told and the account is finally made up, there will be so much to credit and so much to debit both sides that there will be no longer any ground for undue exaltation, for unjust condemnation, or for important misconception. Nothing clears away prejudices, clarifies opinion, and opens the minds of men like the truth. The story of the reconstruction period cannot be told exclusively by men of Southern birth, but they are the real custodians of the greater part of the material. They have the opportunity of securing, digesting, arranging, and interpreting it in a thoroughly scientific spirit; the opportunity, in other words, not only of making a very important contribution to the history of the country, but a lasting contribution. to that much more valuable literature of interpretation and reconciliation which will explain the country to itself and knit still more firmly the bonds which bind all sections in one great community.

Mr. Thomas gives an interesting account of the activity of State and local historical societies throughout the South, from which it appears that Maryland has been receiving $4,000 in biennial appropriations for the publication of her Colonial and Revolutionary Archives, which now fill nineteen volumes. During the last six years Virginia has been preparing a roster of her volunteers in the Civil War, has published a calendar of her state papers, and has

been securing copies of the records of some of her earlier and more important counties. North Carolina has issued seventeen volumes of colonial records; South Carolina has secured thirty-two folio volumes of copies of her Colonial Records in England; her military history has been brought down to the Mexican War, and a roster of her Confederate soldiers is being prepared. A "Roster and Itinerary" of her soldiers in the SpanishAmerican War has also appeared; and a historical commission is at work collecting historical material from all sources. Eleven years ago Alabama created a Department of Archives and History. Mississippi has made an appropriation for publications under the direction of the Historical Commission. Texas has sent a commission to the City of Mexico to examine important documents there.

Among Southern historical societies. that of Virginia is showing great activity. For the last eight years it has published the "Virginia Magazine of History and Biography "-a quarterly of considerable importance. This is supplemented by the "William and Mary Quarterly," edited by President Tyler, and by the historical publications of the Randolph-Macon College. The Historical Societies of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, and Kentucky are gathering material and putting it into shape with varying degrees of energy. The Mississippi Society has a large and enthusiastic membership, and proposes to issue annual publications. It is engaged in a thorough search for and examination of manuscripts, papers, and documents relating to the history of the State, wherever found. It is also studying prehistoric works, Indian remains, and places of historic interest. The Southern Historical Society, with headquarters at Richmond, has issued twenty-eight volumes which deal with the Civil War; and the Southern Historical Association, organized in Washington six years ago, publishes bi-monthly. This work is being reinforced by largely increased facilities for historical study and greatly increased interest in it in Southern colleges and universities. In this important field of research the South is doing work of increasing importance and significance.

T

HE Forty-seventh Congress, during its sessions of 1881-82 and 1882-83, authorized the construction of three steel cruisers and one steel despatch-boat. These ships were the nucleus of the new American navy, the development of which in peace has potently aided the upbuilding of numerous industries of the Nation, and the achievements of which in war rival in glory and results those for which the old navy is justly famous.

Spain suffered crushing defeat in 1898 because she was not ready and because the United States-comparatively only was ready for the combat. Before the shock of conflict, the former's fleets appeared formidable in comparison with our own. The battles of Manila and Santiago, and the futile efforts of Spain to form a squadron strong enough to effect the relief of her ultramarine dependencies, showed that her sea force was practically in a state of weakness and inefficiency. Fortunately for us, the pitiable decrepitude of the naval arm of our Government sixteen years before the struggle had aroused the country, and regeneration had followed the awakening. Victory over the foe of 1898 must be attributed, therefore, in some measure to the patriots who foresaw their country's need and with characteristic energy and push took measures which enabled her to meet it.

The lesson of the need of prepared

ness is taught by our whole naval history. No war has found the American navy fully prepared to undergo its test; but that with Spain clearly demonstrated that never before in our history was the service on the whole in as efficient a condition. The Declaration of Independence brought troops and men-of-war into being, but when the object of the Revolution had been achieved they disappeared and a peace-loving people resumed the ways of peace. Depredations committed by Algerian corsairs and burdens imposed upon American commerce and other disputes which imperiled our relations with Great Britain and France in the closing years of the eighteenth century forced the creation of a navy. The Constitution— dear Old Ironsides-the Constellation, the Essex, the Enterprise, and other frigates and sloops of war, which were the first imposing naval guardians of American honor, taught wholesome respect for the flag in the West Indies and the piratical Mediterranean; and the second war with Great Britain, due among other causes to British impressment of American seamen, they saved the Nation by victories afloat which offset defeats ashore. Both in the War of the Revolution and of 1812, however, our privateers, the scourge of British commerce, were not the least factors in our success. The War with Mexico, caused by lust of territory, and yet, as so often happens, resulting in the development of beneficent territorial enlargement, involved no struggle for sea supremacy; but had the United States become simul

ization and Education of the New Navy, The tration of the Navy, The Preparation for the War with Spain, The Battle of Manila Bay, The Blockade of Cuba, Bottling up Cervera's Fleet. The Battle of Santiago, Valiant Deeds in the War with Spain; Samoa, the Philippines, and China; Recent Naval Lessons.

Great Britain or France, as was apprehended, the navy would have experienced grave difficulty in protecting the Atlantic

and Gulf coasts and lending assistance to the army operating in Mexico. Later the rumblings of the Civil War preceded the lightning-flashes of that titanic struggle, and though Mr. Toucey, Secretary of the Navy in Buchanan's administration, urgently advised the addition of improved ships, Congress failed to act. Had the Federal Government been possessed of a fleet equipped with the latest appliances even in that day available for service, the firing on the flag at Sumter would have been the signal for the institution of an effective patrol of the coasts of the seceding States; shipments of cotton abroad and the importation in return of munitions of war would have been minimized, and the Rebellion would have been suppressed in a shorter time than the unprepared condition of the North necessitated. Maintenance of the Union and prevention of foreign complications required the construction of a navy capable of blockading the numerous ports of the Confederacy. War-ships were improvised, but at a terrible cost to the merchant marine. Prior to the Civil War, two-thirds of the foreign trade of the United States was carried in ships flying the Stars and Stripes. Our shipping represented 5,350,000 tons, which was valued at $275,000,000. The extraordinary character of the emergency demanded that much of this tonnage should be impressed into the naval and military services. One million eight hundred thousand tons were taken, and one hundred million dollars withdrawn from the capital embarked in the shipping industry. The Alabama, the Confederate tiger of the sea, destroyed one hundred thousand tons of shipping and caused the owners of vessels to seek foreign registries or tie their craft to their docks rather than send them unprotected on voyages which were likely to end in the prize court or destruction by fire at sea. Foreign ships and foreign capital eagerly entered the industry which the United States was compelled to abandon. From the damage inflicted upon our merchant marine during the Civil War there has been, as yet, no full recovery; and the stupendous increase in our foreign trade is the more remarkable in view of the fact that it has been effected in spite of the disadvantage of its conveyance in ships flying the flags of other nations than our own.

In the light of the teachings of almost a hundred years it seems strange that the country should not have realized, when the Rebellion ended, the necessity of a permanent navy of sufficient strength adequately to protect American interests. American men-of-war had aided in the impetus to the European movements for more liberal government. They had served as the agent of civilization in aiding in the suppression of piracy and the slave trade. They had protected commerce by the display of the flag in distant lands. The institution of hydrographic research and the surveys of the highways of the oceans and the coasts of their own and friendly countries had facilitated trade expansion. The inadequacy of their number at the outbreak of the Rebellion was responsible for the practical annihilation of the merchant marine; but when a large fleet was gathered they nobly did their share of the exhausting work which the preservation of the Union imposed.

A reduction of the naval force when the Rebellion terminated was then inevitable, for an unmilitary people like the United States was conscious of no desire or need for immense fleets. To cope with the tremendous task which the Rebellion set the North, Secretary of the Navy Welles constructed or began the construction of 208 war vessels and purchased 418 ships of the merchant marine. An inventory of the navy when hostilities ceased showed that most of these ships were unfit for war purposes, either because of the use of unseasoned timber, of structural defects, or of hasty construction, and they were sold. Some of the best ships were, however, wisely retained. But the Nation was eager to lay aside its arms and turn to the solution of the problem of reconstruction and the development of its internal resources. It was enough that when ships were needed they had been acquired. Appropriations were voted to some extent for maintenance, but not for increase. Nor, at a time when a navy could be rendered obsolete by the invention of an improvement in an instrument of war, was the policy without some justification from an economical point of view, though involving a good deal of risk to a country the foreign trade of which had begun to recover from the

injuries war had dealt it and the contact of which with foreign nations furnished many points of friction. The Alabama claims were a fruitful source of contention with Great Britain. The Virginius affair almost precipitated war with Spain and caused the mobilization in southern waters of a fleet which consisted in great part of antiquated and rotting ships and gave no promise of the splendid possibilities of the magnificent squadron assembled at Key West a quarter of a century later for its now historic dash on Cuba. The revolution in Cuba known as the Ten Years' War caused great injury to American life, American property, and American trade, and there prevailed in this country, to Spain's intense indignation, that keen sympathy for the rebels which our people are always inclined to extend to a people striving to be free. The lack of an efficient navy also caused some embarrassment in dealing with French pretensions in connection with the Panama Canal.

Geographical situation has been and is a strategic advantage of the greatest importance to the United States. Our compact coast line and absence of interest in foreign waters caused the early naval builders of our country to decide not to imitate Great Britain and France in the construction of large and costly fleets, but to assemble a force which should comprise ships of the very best types in their respective classes. This policy proThis policy produced results dear to every patriotic heart. By their victories, American frigates proved their superiority in sailing qualities and armament. To the United States belongs the credit of first recognizing the value of steam for war purposes, and, in spite of strenuous opposition, war-ships propelled by this new motive power were added to the navy.

A voluntary exile from his native country and finding England inhospitable to his inventions, Ericsson came to the United States and produced the first effective screw-propeller man-of-war-the Princeton. With her machinery below the water-line and consequently safe from an enemy's fire, the Princeton marked a long step in advance in naval construction. The nations of Europe, as they had done before, followed America's lead. Great Britain discarded her wooden

sailing ships and constructed a fleet of wooden steamers. The heat of the boilers and engines caused dry rot, and many of the ships were worn out after three years' service. The "wooden walls of England" were tottering. Then came the iron ship, with its power of resistance to the gun in use, and Great Britain hastened to provide herself with this latest type of naval development. But the machinery required for the propulsion of these awkward craft occupied so much space that the amount of coal which their bunkers accommodated was sufficient for only six days' steaming. The restless spirit of invention produced the compound engine, which was compact, consumed comparatively little coal, and was capable of driving a ship at the same speed with greater economy. The armored ship, a slightly earlier advance in naval construction, was a device of the American genius of war, but the French were the first to show its practical value. The need of this type of craft was demonstrated by the Ericsson wrought-iron gun and by the battle of Sinope, in which Russian ships, using explosive shell, set on fire and destroyed a Turkish squadron which fired only solid shot. In the Crimean War France sent floating batteries, pro tected by four and one-half inches of iron, against the Russian forts at Kinburn. Though hulled repeatedly, the vessels sustained no damage except slight dents in their stout metal plates. Having developed armor which could resist the gun, attention was in turn given to the construction of a gun which could perforate the armor. The thickness of the plates was increased. The caliber of the gun kept pace with it. Soon the weight

of the armor was so great that the ships became unwieldy. The gun was transformed from a smooth-bore into a rifled weapon, by this means giving higher velocity, a flatter trajectory, and greater accuracy to the heavier projectile―essential requisites of penetration. Rapidity of fire was obtained by the introduction of the breech-loading system. The gun retained the advantage, but its superiority only emphasized the necessity of protection.

The gun was still in the muzzle-loading stage in the United States navy when the first battle of iron ship against iron ship occurred. The Merrimac and the