The moment this System or any other reduces the British marine to Boat fighting, the revered Sovereignty of the Seas will be forever lost; Colonies must be Abandoned and the whole influence which England holds in the scale of nations will Vanish. This is the natural and obvious consequence of this system when reduced to practice and prosicuted by a powerful nation with energy and Spirit. The Wealth of England and the existence of her fleets depend on her immense and uninterrupted commerce, But should France ever possess a means to cut off or interrupt such trade, England would be obliged to submit to any terms which Bonapart might think proper to dictate.
Substituting Germany for France and Hohenzollern for Bonaparte, we have precisely the very situation that existed in 1915, when the naval authorities of Germany expected to break the power of Great Britain, and in which attempt they came so perilously near success.
The Commission charged by the Directory to examine the plan of the Nautilus gave credit in its report on September 5th, 1798, to Fulton for having invented a terrible means of destruction since it acts in silence. That description was merited, but it remained no more than an expression of private opinion. It failed to secure for Fulton the public support to which his device entitled him. The world, perhaps fortunately, had to wait a century for the production of this engine of destruction. In the light of experience an examination of Fulton’s improved plan as contained in his “Drawings and Descriptions,” fully confirms the decision of the French Commission in that:
“LE BATEAU SOUS-MARIN IMAGINÉ PAR LE CITOYEN FULTON EST UN MOYEN DE DESTRUCTION TERRIBLE, PARCE QU’IL AGIT DANS LE SILENCE ET D’UNE MANIÈRE PRESQUE INEVITABLE.”
[1].
Au Général Bounaparte,
Citoyen General
Le Cn Perier m’ayant appris que vous desiriez connaître mon Travail sur le Systême des Petits Canaux, je prends la liberté de vous présenter une copie de cet ouvrage, trop heureux si vous y trouvez quelques Moyens d’ameliorer l’industrie de la République Française