The Express.
London, England, 1852-01-19 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, JANUARY 19.

Ir is now understood that the government are
going to ask parliament to authorise an increase
of our military forte. 'this intention was first dis-
coverable in the tone assumed by the Time., and after-
wards followed up by the ministerial Wu&'. We aro to
be frightened well tine, and are then to be asked to
put Our hands into our pockets to pay fur more soldiers.
We can only rep at what we said in reply to the first
article of Ames on the same subject, which
is—that the people of England are entitled
to ask for the inviter expenditure of the money
already voted before they an: required to submit to
the sum total being iacreased. We want Army Reform
before we are asked to pay for Army Extension. To
fortify London, us Loots-Prins eve fortified Paris,
would be a monstrous absurdity; and yet we
already have government organs preaching about
the Ik-fenceless condition of the usetrepilis, and
hinting that armed posts should be established
between it and the must. Our real defences are
beyond the must. They are ships in the channel.
Our present regular military and naval force is
ample. if properly- disposed and thoroughly reformed.
And if this he done, enough will have been *mom.
plished. Unless, indeed, any real danger should
arise, and then Englishmen will be ready enough
again -as they ever have been ready—to risk wealth
and life in the righteous cause of national defence.
If uur ships, especially steam ships, of war were
brought from foreign stations—such as the Tagus,
Where they are waelors,—and were kept in ports along
the coast, or cruising in the channel, we should have
little need for more foree for our protection than the
urgency of any impending danger would instantly
secure. England must be made safe from invasion,
but, do not let designing and interested man, under
a false plea, make our military system simply more
cumbrous and more costly. when they pretend only
to be making it more efficient.
The exaggerated fears of invasion, and the still
more exaggerated ideas of the precautions neces-
sary for meeting these anticipated invasions, have
ever hitherto ended be turning the whole question
into ridicule. One Aim of alarmists have talked
of enormous armies, with whole parks of artillery,
making a descent at some comfortable water-
ing place, and after a pleasant march through Kent,
taking up their summer quarters in London. These
ideas and fears have arisen doubtless from the fact
that this :mow has been more than once canvassed
by our neighbours on the other side of the channel,
and though i: might be thought that NAPOLEON'S
failure would have taught theta a Iceman not hastily
to be forgotten. yet BNAPARTE. and Boulogne. are
overlooked. It is but the other day that a
pamphlet on the subject was published by a
Captain DL SELLON, of the Engineers, in which he
quttely invades England with some hundred thou-
sand men and tire hundred guns, and of course
drives the unfortunate natives into the Irish Chan-
nel. But though such works are very well as
military studies, eet to reduce their contents to prac-
tice is quite another affair. The expense of suck an
expedition would be enormous, and the chances
enormously against it; iu fact, such an operation is
more full of peril to those on the offensive than to
those on the defensive. _ _

It is not a great invasion of England that the
timid may fear. The only point of doubt is whether
this country is assailable. That it may be vulnerable
since the invention of steam seems probable, but
only to such attacks as our existing forces, if
properly handled. arc amply sufficient to meet.
The Duke of %VI:LIAM:TON endeavoured to int-

press on the government his opinion. "We ,
are in fact assailable," he writes, " and at least ,
liable to insult, and to have contributions levied upon
us, on all ports of oar meets, that is, the coasts of these ,
islands, including the Channel isles, which till this ,
time, from the period of the Norman conquest, have
lever betu euccessfuily invaded." It is difficult to
believe that this statement could grow into the
awful disclosures contained in Sir Fut:vets /IV '2l
work, and that the need for arming a few coast bat- ,
belies could be straightway turned into a necessity
fur fortirving a city like London—as if our citizens
bad nothing to du but play at soldiers, like national
pareLi
The
question to be decided—if additional defence
should ever be required to meet additional dangers—
is
how these defences should be secured with the
greatest advantage, without their becoming a burden
to the nation. VI hen, in 17914, Mr. Secretary I.)eseisis
moved fur leave to bring forward the goveniment
bill on the national defences, he quaintly stated,
amongst other matters, that it had become necessary
in particular districts to erect covers fur batteries,
and to raise works in critical situations, but where
these positions were- he found it impossible to point
out. Happily, we are very differently situated.
There is nut a point e.n our coasts the exact de-
fensive qualities of which are not perfectly
laid down in the Ordnance survey. The go-
vernment is aware of every locality which requires
strengthening, and our present engineer officers arc
Dot surpassed fur professional knowledge by any
corps in the world. We were told the other day that
the dockyards of Portsmouth and l'lymouth were to
be put in a proper state of defence. Why were they
not always in a proper state of defence?—because the
money which is annually voted for ordnance works
and which the public believe to be thus spent
is squandered in foolish " brick and mortar
jobs." Real defences are not expensive mat-
ters, so far as masonry is concerned; for the use-
lessness of long lines of walls and ditches round the
seaports was discovered many years back. Sieges
have become too expensive, and all that is required
are good strong batteries, placed at the assail-
able points of importance—open batteries, whence
the gunners can take a steady aim at advancing
steamers, not expensive casemates where they get
blinded and sutfucated with smoke. For in future
wars, ships will not amuse themselves in exchang-
ing lung-range shots with the land batteries, but
bearing straight down on them will come to close
quarters and endeavour to overpower them with the
weight of their broadsides. Of this the Americans
are fully aware, for many of their coast batteries are
in double and triple tiers like a line-of-battle ship.
The defences of Great Britain must be restricted to
the fortifications in our dockyards, the entrances of the
riven leading to large commercial seaports, and to
having our large force afloat properly disposed. Wo
must insist upon 'having some of our ships home.
England, now again, as ever before, must rely for her
chief safety on the courage and dexterity of her sea-
me t Cc.i the reseenee of her Wooden Walls.
Since the atteuti•ei • 7 the ministry is being givew
to this subject, we worn them to use well what they
have, before asking fur more—to offer the country
army and navy reform, before they ask for army or
navy oxteinion.

Tim intention of the framer of the French con-
stitution of 1799 was to pat together something in
the form and semblance of representative govern-
ment, but without the reality. 'file object WIN by no
means to attain, what afterwards proved to be the
result, a despotism in the hands of an able military
and political chief. On the contrary, the aim was to
secure, circumscribe, and continue power in the hands
of the political generation of the day, of the notables
who had drown up since the revolution, had survived its
honours and profited by its lemons. To set aside the
Jacobins and keep out the royalists, was the desire of
both SIEVE 4 and flosaraan:, the man of theory and
the man of action, the constitutionmonger and C,Hip
de,tai maker of the day. iThat they intended the
people to be, who were neither to he republi-
cans nor royalists, nor yet constitutionalists, for
they were not to have the free play of
a representative system, we know not. Fur the
difficulty was solved by BONAPAKTE seising supreme
power, and winning a title to it by such repeated
and glorious victories as the previous annals of
Europe could not show.
It was, however, the fixed idea of both SIEVES and
BONAPARTE to provide a place of profit, eminence,
and utility for every man who could pretend to it.