The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, M'AT 12 1855

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Compam

C IOSIIIP i' nee'
yesterday.

Bun ess
this day.

(From the Times of this cloy.)

The one great object on which this nation, with all its Rner-
gies, is now beat is undonbtedly the vigo:oas prosecution of
the war—a phrase which might be stereotyped to express the
purpose uppermost and dominant iu every man's mind. By
the vigorous prosecution of the war is meant the execution of
such operations as will bring the enemy to reason, and these
operations may again be more specifically described as the cap.
ture of
_Sebastopol , or the destruction of the fortifications of
Cronstadt. To accomplish these objects we are despatching fleet
'After fleet and battalion after battalion at such a cost in the
aggregate as almost to double the ordinary expenditure of the,
State. Two or three years ago the national expend tare was
under 50 millions; it is this year estimated at 86 millions,
and'the reckoning is not likely to be far above the mark.
Such being the state of things, it certainly seems worth con-
sideration that a certain person has offered to do all we want
at a comparatively insignificant expense--to take or destroy
.out of hand"Sebastopol, Cronstadt, and Helsingfors, and thus
at once accomplish those feats of arms which are alone ex-
pected to open the road to victory and peace.
Well, the qrestions arising out of such a preposition are
natural and obvious enough. Who is the man that makes
the offer'? How does he mean to go to work, and how much
money does he require for his preparations ? Is there any
chance that he can do what he says ? Is his offer worth lis-
tening to, or should we be only spending so much more and
getting no good after all ? On some of these points it is clear
that nothing short of the experiment itself could furnish a'
conclusive answer; on others there is room for a little argu-
ment. The person making the affer is none other than Lord
Dundonald ; he has submitted his projects to the authorities,
and they are " under consideration." Perhaps this may seem
about as much as could well be done, but a good deal depends
upon the kind of "consideration" which such a proposal re-
ceives, and we can fancy such a case, even if substantial in
itself, might be rather hard to demonstrate otherwise than by
actual trial. The word " practicability" admits of great lati-
tude of interpretation, and what is impracticable in one man's
eyes may be proved perfectly practicable in the hands of an-
other. If Lord Dundonald is calculating on any particular
agencies to accomplish things beyond the known powers of
such agencies there would be an end of the matter ; but, sup-
posing the case to be otherwise, it certainly appears to us a
question how far the reputation of the projector, taken in
connexion with the circumstances of the conjuncture, might
justify the acceptance of the risk by way of venture.
No doubt; the proposal smacks of quackery, but the rules
of •science are manifestly at fault, and it is just here that
something beyond comes in. We have not succeeded in
taking either Sebastopol or Cronstadt semindum artem, and
there is room therefore for a little irregular practice. Neither
can we deny that the nature of the project is somewhat un

SUN OFFICE, Six o'clock.

luckily characterised. The command of destructive agencies
beyond ordinary strength, or of such powers as will suffice in
some way to demolish the most impregnable-looking fortifi-
cations, is precisely the secret to which projectors most com-
monly lay claim, and the very suggestion of "long ranges"
and so forth is enough to excite incredulity. But the de-
struction of fortifications happens to be the particular object
we have in view, and consequently proposals to serve us must
needs take this turn. Moreover, although scientific men
may be naturally suspicious of extra-scientific discoveries,
they must at least admit this,—that there is ample room for
them, and that nothing is less finite than the domain of their
own science.

On the other hand, if thevo is a man in the whole world
who ought to be listened to with more attention than another
when ho promises extraordinary things, it is certaiul Lord
Dundonald, for his whole life exhibits a series of achievements
coming under this very category. If his present plans are
pronounced " impracticable " he can very truly say that half
the things he has done would have been regarded in a similar
light, but that he did them nevertheless. Suppose, for in-
stance, he had offered with a single ship or two, and those
scarcely seaworthy, to sweep the whole Spanish navy from
the American waters, or to set up republics and empires as
easily as we set up factories or graving-docks, would those
plans have been considered " practicable ?" Lord Dun-

donald's reputaiton has been earned, not merel;l7)y—l-
lantry and fearlessness, not merely by professional skill
and ability, but by the performance of things nearly resem-
bling impossibilities—i. e., by success in exploits like that
which he offers to take in hand now.

Supposing his offer accepted, let us consider the results
which may occur. It is undoubtedly possible—perhaps we
had better say probable- that he would find he bad miscalcu-
lated his means, and would fail. In this case we should have
lost a certain sum of money, and perhaps got laughed at ; but
there is the worst of the matter. As to the ridicule, we were
charged in the last war with breaking windows with guineas,
but failure in one way is much the same as failure in another,
or perhaps the less the risk the smaller the disappointment.
The money, therefore, would be the main consideration, for,
if we recollect rightly, it is one of the conditions of the scheme
that human life is not to enter into the venture. Now, the
prosecution of the war, or, in other words, the expeditions
for the capture or destruction of the Baltic and Black Sea
strongholds, are now costing us something like 30 millions
a-year—not to mention the more fearful venture of human
life ; is it worth while to make this sum 31 millions for one
twelvemonth, upon the speculation of stopping the drain alto-
gether? That seems to be about the question, unless, in-
deed, the project is so plainly impracticable as to put the pro-
jector out of court.
,Of course, it is the duty of Government
to look carefully after the public money and the public credit,
nor would it yield a very agreeable prospect for taxpayers if
every confident inventor was to have the run of the public
purse for his experiments ; but, in the consideration of what
is or is not " practicable," some regard, we think, might be

fairly paid to the peculiar character of Lord Dundonald's re-

putation, and to the difficulty of measuring extraordinary

projects by ordinary rules,

Ti;-.) mighty nations are now en-

gaged in undertakings which one man offers to accomplish by
himself, at an infinite saving of cost. His offer may certainly
be worthless, but, if ever so valuable, it is not likely to bo

much in accordance with preconceptions, precedents, or rules.

STATE OF TRADE.

(From the Manchester Guardian of this day.)

MANCHESTER, May 11. —The telegraphic report from
Liverpool, this afternoon, gives us a large amount of
business in cotton, say 105,900 bales since this day
week, of which, however, not less than 53,570 are on
speculation and 5,280 for exportation, leaving 47,000 as
taken by spinners. Fair Americans are quoted id.higher
in the week, so that there has been no advance
since Tuesday. It is more evident now, than it was at the
time of our last report, that this upward movement in
cotton has produced scarcely any other effect in the Man-
chester market than to strengthen the caution of buyers,
and induce them to defer any butrnecessary operations.
The producers of yarns and goods have fairly tried to
get an additional id or id. per lb. for their commodities;
attempthutitdhveanceof ld. pe
maybr b. haselpronou been obtained pronounced failtuaed forrine.Par mtisaollye,
an
kinds of yarns ; and 40-inch shirtings, weighing 81b. and
upwards, being in pretty, good request for China, are
inclining upwards. Speaking generally, however,
all that can be said for our market is that, at the rates
asked by spinners and manufacturers last week, it would
now be easy to sell, and as it was then very difficult, the
change amounts practically though not quotably to !(I.
per lb. in favour of sellers. Goods may be stated, as for
the most part, quite firm at Lost week's prices, though
there are articles as to which this can hardly be said.
BRADFORD, May 10.—The demand for bright-haired
wool continues steady, and the supply equal to the de-
mand. Noils and brokes, especially those from fine
English and Botany wools, are ready sale at good
prices. Yarns—The difficulties of the spinners are
increased by the continued high price of wool,
yarnsotfmNeer
OeadigTtoareeGi
sHoauAnttNOTTINGHAM,
demandiain
the the advance on yarns, for which there is a
good demand for spools, is absorbed. For reeled
i thes
a priruinousces
one. Pieces—The business, though better than some
gi.inprovement in busi-
ness spoken of in our late reports continues both in the
hosiery and lace trade.
LEICESTER, May 10.—We cannot hear of any im-
provement in the warehouse this week. There is no al-
teration either in the yarn or wool markets.
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