The Express.
London, England, 1859-03-12 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 12 /859.

acknowledgment of communication after 00111119J1;:. '
01160111, so well known to all those who have to dew
" benne with public officio The tot sivility
that studiously evades a direct reply ; the appa-
rently wilful misunderstanding of a previous
inquiry ; the employment of phraseology that, under
the veil of • very flimsy politeness, suggests the ex-
pediency
of a cessation of the applicant's impor-
tunity—all this is to be seen by those who like to
take the trouble of wading through thews epistles,
and see how these things are managed. Months,
years, rolled away ; human life by wholesale,
and gold by millions, was meanwhile being
squandered on that miserable peninsula in the
&mine ; still no disposition was manifested by those
in power to try to arrest the waste of either blood or
treasure by a trial of Mr. MACIPITOBIif II schemes.
As some curiosity may have been aroused upon
the subject, we propose very briefly to describe in
what they consisted. Be it known, then, that those
who intend to attack a sea fort or battery upon the
patent principle have only to provide themselves
with • suitable coil of hose, a force-pump, a
stock of coal naphtha, and a ball of potassium. Taking
eara to keep well to windward of the point
to be assailed, the attacking party allow the
tube to drift towards it by means of a boat
or other buoyant object; they then discharge
through the tubing a supply of the naphtha,
which cannot mix with the water, and may
now easily be inflamed, as it floats upon the surface,
by means of • pellet of potassium. Immediately there
arises from the blazing naphtha a dense suffocating
vapour, almost as intolerable as a London fog. In
this horrible atmosphere the unfortunate enemy be-
coming enveloped, has no possible alternative but
either to fly or to remain and be asphyxiated. In any
ease resistance is useless; the assailants cannot be
descried through the impenetrable carbonic curtain ;
there is no need of any expenditure of ammunition,
and the day is noiselessly won.
The idea, it must be admitted, is ingenious, though
perhaps not absolutely original. In the insect
world the bombardier beetle, when pursued by a
hungry adversary, discharges, with a bright flesh
and a sharp explosion, from a minute " stern-chaser,"
a volume of acrid smoke, effectually preventing
further pursuit. The cattle-fish, again, having
vainly tried other modes of escape, suddenly has
missness, like certain officials, to a discharge
et Ink, and so bales all further thread-
gods& The American skunk is provided for pur-
pose( self-defence with the means of generating at I
will an atmosphere nearly as pestilential as that of
one of our own law courts, or of • crowded omnibus.
We have it upon the best authority that Juno, when
placed in an awkward predicament by the impor-
tunities of Izio,was relieved from her embarrassment
by a ready and judicious application of smoke.
JEaeas, too, as we all know, was saved from an un-
timely fate by similar means. Few people will fail
to recall, as belonging to this " class of cases," that
memorable duel, so well described by Manaver, in
which the midshipman, after a rapid discharge of
several ship's pistols, with which he had been
liberally supplied by his second, the gunner, had a
cutlass put into his hand by the same functionary,
with an emphatic injunction to " board the enemy in
" the smoke" before he recovered front his con-
fusion !

We have not the slightest wish, however, to
detract from the great merit of Mr. MACINTOSH'S
invention, by hinting at any lack of originality,
nor even to throw the least doubt upon its practi-
cability. There are 'miens other modes of applying
this bottled smoke, according to the peculiar exigen-
cies of different cases. Experiments on a large scale
at Portsmouth have proved that the execution of the
various plans is simple, certain, and comparatively
inexpensive.
At his own cost, Mr. MACINTOSH freighted a
vessel and proceeded to the Crimea while the
memor►ble siege was yet proceeding, and he then
and there offered to our admirals a ready means of
closing a tedious and costly war, and of saving, to
we his own words, " eighty millions sterling, and
" 40,000 to 60,000 valuable lives."
Bat, from some cause or other, the authorities gave
him no encouragement, and beyond the payment of
1,0001. towards reimbursing his expenses, he has re-
ceived no remuneration for all his labours in the
service of his country. It may probably be surmised
that motives of humanity prevented the adoption of
the MACINTOSH system of warfare— that no
compunction was felt at the employment of
any of the recognised modes of destruc-
ticm—at caresge however great, provided only
it were brought about in a legitimate way ;
but Lord PANHTHE and the Lords of the Admiralty
seem to have recoiled alike from the responsibility
of reproducing in the bright climate of the
south our own hyperborean fog. The press of Con-
tinental Europe might have rung with one wild
howl at the flagrant atrocity of the act. "It is all
" very well," they would doubtless have exclaimed,
" for these islanders, cram sob am esti, bred in fog,
" breathing fogs habitually, and addicted to smoke,
" to indulge in their favourite luxury on their own
" shores ; but surely war has horrors eneugh of its
" own, without such additional, such unwarrantable
" inflictions as this," fix. Be this, however, u it
may, we do not propose at present to discuss that
view of the subject. What has been already stated,
will suffice to show that this invention is a very im-
portant one, perhaps far more so than may be at first
sight apparent. If we do not adopt it, other nations
will unquestionably do so—how then, it may be
asked, are future wars to be conducted? Will fair
fighting be practicable either by sea or land if this
exaggerated " smoke nuisance" cannot in any way
be abetted P

Shall we have a convention of civilised nations,
for the purpose of coming to an agreement that com-
manders shall abandon all notion of suffocating each
other, should they unhappily have to meet in hostile
array? Will it not be neoessary to announce, in
lup lithos, ea the outside of Cronstadt and Cher-
bourg—" No Smoking Allowed"? We say nothing
of Gibraltar or Malts, bemuse, of cause, the inven-
tion could have no injurious effect upon English
troops ; but as regards other and unseasoned garri-
sons, ow really does not see how, under such exter-
nal preen, they can avoid following the example
of the " Coons," who, when aimed at by that unerring
Kentucky marksman, C.aptaia SCOTT, are said
invariably to have cried out, "Don't Are, captain—
" we give in—we're coming down!"

The Press of to-day earnestly advisee Mr. Dia-
NA to *cabdriver the Reform Bill. Free whet we bear,"
rye sew satesporery, "of no views of the beet Ina ea bell
aides dohs beam, we are oavtaced that it is the °etymons
by ankh the goveraosat caa pat themeilvea right with the
&saw parliament, sad we are raid. d that Nader pmist
cireemeteacee t►ey hove monies to gale by an appeal to the
aoseiry."

ABOLITION OF THE TOLL ON RICHMOND-BRIDGE.
—Now that the gorilla!' of the abolltioa of metropeillum
tolls la ander etmaideration by a royal oomialealom, It ettE
lateremina to the public ti know that at a seetiog of tat
listnaind-bridge nasaieskows beat on the lab Wise,
M. Pinnate. amine= at tiw Mama maighlawfas, pas-
=it was dialed that in ess 76th instast the tall»her
Is taisevad sad Ws bit* disard ass to the plaids.
CITIRAL PALA= i ISNILLJNO DAT.

Fal;;;:iilscitii;:law:ii; ea— zureisi, 102; by
isms IMO; 411 ; WM WWI; 4131.