...the transition state of men's minds at the time. The Crimean War followed, and in 1854 the wooden steamships-of-the-line of the allies, vessels identical in fighting characteristics with those of Trafalgar , attempted to silence masonry works at Sebastopol. Though the disaster was not so great, the lesson of Sinope was reaffirmed. Louis Napoleon, a thoughtful man though scarcely a man of action, had...