THE FRENCH NAVY.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9811, 21 August 1897, Page 8

THE FRENCH NAVY.

A CRUISER DISABLED. A MINISTER'S' RESIGNATION DEMANDED. Prwt Association-By Tefejjraph—Copyright. ." j Paris/August 20. The Ft jrfch armoured cruiser Briux, v". ;lst tdtmg as escort to President ; colleagues on their departure,, td vnac ivugßia, became disabled and had to returia to port, being replaced by the armoured cruiser Dupuy De Lome. The incident has given rise to a great outcry in the Press, which demands that M. Besnard, Minister of Marine, should resign when he returns from his visit to Russia.

[An anonymous, but evidently well qualified, writer lately addressed a series of letters to the Paris Temps, in which be criticised with great severity the naval policy of France. He declares, says a London contemporary, that far too many of the ships turned out in recent years in France havebeen found to present serious defects. "He cites the more than problematical stability of the Magenta, the radical alterations that have had to be made in the superstructure of the Brennuß, the case of the Carnot, that sinks down in the water to such an ox tent that its armour belt is below the water line; that of the D'Assas in the same plight; that of the cruiser Descartes, which, on the contrary, refuses to enter the water, and has to be heavily ballasted to the detriment of its speed; that of the Fleurus, which, after trials lasting three years, is still without efficient boiler tubes, and other examples galore. The absence of responsibility is, in las opinion, the chief cause of these sorry results. Were a vessel to turn bottom upwards immediately after it was launched, there would be no possibility of bringing to book the officials concerned in its construction. The reason is that the plana of a battleship pass through so many hands that it is out of the question to decide who is responsible for the shape they finally assume. A myriad functionaries have had a finger in the pie, and the outcome is the work of all of them and of none of them. To complicate the situation further, the innumerable persons who meddle with the designs of the ships have nothing to do with their building, which is the work of a distinct set of officials. The consequence is that when anything goes wrong each of the two classes of functionaries throws the blame on the other." Apparently both are now joining in making the absent Minister tor Marine the official scapegoat.