M. Pelletan, the French Minister of Marine, has made a
bold, perhaps even an unwarrantable, experiment. He has been dissatisfied with the usual tests for ironclads, and ordered the Suffren,' a fully armed man-of-war, to be attacked as she would be in battle. Her crew were on board, as were also M. Pelletan himself and some of his staff, but " live " shells were fired at the Suffren.' The first split the armour- plate applied to the turret, but the second was shattered as it forced its way into the fissure made by the first. This result is considered highly satisfactory, more especially as the turret after the shots remained easily movable, and some sheep placed in it to test the effect of the impact turned quietly to grazing. The crew were all below, no one was hurt, and M. Pelletan is delighted with the strength of his armour- plates ; but one cannot help wondering what his staff thought, and what would have happened if anybody had been killed. In France it would perhaps have been said that the slain man had gloriously demonstrated the patriotism which inspires all Frenchmen ; but in England a Coroner's jury would probably have returned a somewhat unpleasant verdict. What did the trial prove that a similar trial on a model without sailors in it would not have proved P
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