A great fuss is being made without much excuse as
to the possession by the Navy Department in the United States of the designs of our various. ships-of-war. Of course, if these have been obtained by the treachery of Admiralty subordinates or British officers, it is a great scandal. But if not,—and we quite believe that they have been obtained from private shipbuilders, who had acquired the knowledge without any act of treachery, —we do not see that it matters. It is not the knowledge of our naval designs, but the power of defeating us, which is really of consequence; and we do not believe that the United States' officers will find it much easier to sink ships whose designs they know; than they will find it to sink ships whose designs they do not know. After all, it is skill and courage that will prevail, and skill and courage can go to work almost as effectually against a well-informed enemy as against an ill- informed.
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