In his speech supporting the navy estimates, M. Lockroy, the French minister of marine, among many other things said:— “We now possess a remarkable engine of war in the form of a submarine boat that is capable of real service. The experiments with the Gustave Zede have been conclusive. She not only succeeded in torpedoing an ironclad at a distance of 400 meters, but displayed good sea-going qualities. She made the trip from Toulon to Marseilles in very rough weather. “The vessel had only one great fault, she was blind and unmanageable at a certain distance below the surface, but this had been remedied. The boat had been fitted with a conning apparatus, which allowed her to be steered without coming to the surface, and enabled her to perceive enemies and strike them with accurate aim. France thus has in her hands a new and destructive weapon of terrible power.” It has been rumored for some time that the French were making some very successful experiments in submarine boat building. And this official announcement through her minister of marine changes the rumor into a settled fact. But if France has really succeeded in constructing a “destructive weapon of terrible power,” she will not long stand alone in her superiority that the new submarine torpedo-boat gives her. The other nations will feel obliged to follow suit, and that means still more energy and more millions wasted in producing still greater facilities for the wholesale slaughter of mankind. This is not an age of peace, but, on the other hand, it is the time foreseen by the prophet and described in the following graphic language:— “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. . . . Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:9-14.