Lord Clarence replied on Thursday, but to little effect. He
questioned the fact as to the Agincourt's being at her full speed when the accident happened ; asserted that the cause of the Lord Clyde's misfortune was that her fires were banked up to save coal ; and said as to his own stringent proposal of 1865, that it was made at a time when the service had comparatively few iron- clads, and it was " hoped" that those few might turn out good sailers ;—but as Lord Clarence only hoped this, why did he give orders which he now says seriously endangered them, if it should have turned out otherwise? As to the fewness of the ironclads. of 1865, Lord Clarence is quite inaccurate if the Times is right in asserting that 30 out of 58 were launched in or before 1865. On the whole, Lord Clarence's letter appears to have been written perhaps under a " grave," but certainly an insufficient sense, of responsibility.
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