Captain Clover, Naval Attaché to the American Embassy in London,
has, if correctly interpreted by the Washington correspondent of the New York Sun, a high opinion of the efficiency of the British Navy. England, he is reported to have said, was stronger to-day than any two of the most powerful Continental Powers with another Power included. Though,' perhaps, weaker in her Naval Reserve than France, the real strength of her personnel lay in the trainea men afloat, who were being constantly increased. "The Channel Fleet was a magnificent aggregation of fighting force, ready for any assignment. The ships were always in excellent condition, and the reports as to elements of weakness and rottenness had not the slightest semblance of truth." In view of the friendly relations that have so long prevailed between the British and American Navies and the efficiency of the latter, Captain Clover's testimony is very gratifying. He, or more probably the Sun's reporter, is, however, far less convincing in ascribing the readiness of the British public to consent to a heavy naval expenditure to a Machiavellian conspiracy between the Admiralty, the Navy League, and the Press. We are not surprised to see that this ingenious theory has elicited a peremptory denial from the secretary of the Navy League.
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