much rather find occupation in the civil avocations of Old England."
On his return to London, Maury opened a school of instruction in electric torpedoes, and Swedish, Dutch, and other officers went through his courses between June and August, 1866. For this work he was adequately remunerated by the different Governments whose officers received instruction.
The following letter on the subject was addressed to the Consul-General for Wurtemberg, on the 30th of June, 1866:—
| Sir, | 30, Harley St., June 30th, 1866. |
In reference to our conversation this morning, concerning the electric torpedo as a means of defence in war, I beg leave to state that I introduced it, on the side of the South, in the late war in America, and that the Federal Secretary of the Navy in his last Report (Dec. 4th, 1865) states that in that war their navy lost more vessels by torpedoes than from all other causes whatever; that in 1862, I mined the James River with them; that they destroyed every Federal vessel that attempted to pass them, and kept that powerful fleet at bay during the siege of Richmond by General Grant; that since that time I have made the study of them a speciality, and by a course of investigation and experiment have made such improvements in their use and application, both by land and water, as to take away the superiority over the defence which rifled guns, hollow shot, and ironclads appear to have given to the attack. Confining my remarks to the land, it is in the power of the military engineer to mine the way before an invading army, and to spring volcanoes under its feet at will.
With small cost, and at short notice, the mountain-passes and strongholds of Wurtemberg may be so effectually defended from invasion and attack as to drive an enemy back, or keep him at bay. The operator need not be stationed near the scene; he may be at the distance of several miles when he discharges the exploding spark. He can explode by
