the squadron signal three times; they failed, because the Porter was shrouded in the New York's smoke, and the quality of the signallamps was poor. It was the moment of greatest peril that came to any of our ships in the whole war. The men who guarded the mouth of Santiago harbor, and, under the strain, came to see torpedo-boat ghosts -the men who fired at a hole in the rocks, and at a trade - wind swell, and at a railroad-train ashore, each time thinking they saw a torpedo-boat-these men speak of the night "demons of the sea" with respect. We are to have a flotilla, modest in numbers, but of the best quality. The destroyers are to displace about 325 tons and show a speed of thirty knots, while the others are smaller in design and are rated at twenty-six knots, quite ample for the purpose. There is one thing we might do for the improvement at once of the navy and the whole nation-we might make the Naval Academy free to all American boys who could pass the examination, and would serve in the navy before the mast, as need required, a reasonable number of years. We might fill every petty office and post on board ship-man every machine, as well as every gun with graduates of our Naval Academy. If we retained the present course of instruction rather if we improved on it stead The New Maine, First-class Battle-ship. Approximate dimensions, 376 x 72; draft, not to exceed 27; displacement, 12,700 to 13,000. Speed, at ily-we should then have crews of a grade of intelligence and self-respect hitherto undreamed of. In leaving the service, as the graduates who failed to get commissions might do, they would carry with them a training that would make them superior citizens, and we should soon have in them a naval reserve worthy of the name. We should remove absolutely the un-American barrier that now rises between the forecastle and the cabin. When we think of it we know that a chief function of Government is the education of the young. A time ought to come, and so it will come, when every man who wears the naval uniform shall be known as an educated gentleman. But this is only to mention what is yet a long way ahead. It would cost much money to enlarge and maintain such a naval academy as would be required then, and we shall not use our national revenues for any such chimerical purposes as educating sailor-men until after we have finished improving the mouths of the Cattaraugus and the Cheesequakes Creeks. To sum it all up, looking ahead as well as backward, we can see that we are not to have the largest navy in the world-we shall never need that-but we are to rank well in numbers and with the best in quality; never again shall our navy be quoted as the standard of inefficiency. It was shameful that at the end of the nineteenth century of the era of Christianity, two nations were obliged to resort to a butchery of men before order could be restored where anarchy reigned, but let us face the truth. There was no other way. And if we will consider ourselves as well as the people whom we liber ated, we shall find that the war, as waged, was well-nigh an unmixed blessing. It is better to cultivate manhood under the blazing muzzle of a modern rifle, than to yield to the degrading influence of sordid pursuits. We had set up as our hero the man who "had made his pile" by legalized theft; we had used our flag and our most beautiful natural scenery for hideous advertisements. And then came war, and for |