The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-27 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—You have lately published so many anonymous
letters on the deftneeless state of Great Britain, that I
hope you will not deny me, who have not been insensi-
ble of our danger, the privilege of submitting to the con-
sideration of y our readers a few facts, the object of which
is to prevent the calamity of war, for which the country
is, all of a sudden, so loudly prescribing.
1. Only two months ago there existed between the
French and British people the most friendly relations.
2. Since the 2d of December the English press has
done all in its power to insult and exasperate the French
nation. For instance, in the leading article of the Times
of yesterday it is stated—
" France has crouched before Napoleon the Second
without one of the excuses which palliated her submis-
sion to Napolean the First.. The tyranny is not only far
greater, but its agents are incomparably meaner. The
Church has degraded itself by an alliance with those who
wield the powers of this ignoble tyranny. The army,
instead of the saviour, has become the executioner
of France. The middle classes are terrified, the lower
orders careless and acquiescent.",
8. Now, although in my Faggot I stated, " I am
firmly of opinion that, under a mild exterior, with
gentle manners and a benevolent heart, Louis Napoleon
is an honest, bold, highminded statesman, whose object
is to maintain the peace of Earope and the real glory
and honour of France," I most readily admit that ever
since the 2d of December he has been acting the part of
a despot; but I do not condemn him on that account,
because, from calm and attentive observation, and from
repeated conversations with people of the middle and
lowest classes in Paris, I confidently believe fhat it is the
desire of the French army, and of the French people, to
establish a strong despotic government as the only
means to free themselves from the miserable results of
that self-government which, since 1848, has been afflict-
ing and desolating all classes of the community. I be.
here that if self-government were established in Eng-
land, long before three years' trial of it our men of pro-
perty, our middle classes, and, above all, our labouring
classes, would unanimously prescribe the same remedy;
indeed, in the history of mankind, it is recorded that it
is in the nature of a people to fly from the evils of anar-
chy to despotism.
4. Now, instead of insulting and exasperating the
French Church, the French army and the French peo-
them as a gang of slaves, '° crouch-
pie, by repeseuting
ing" under the tyranny of one who, by a strange con-
tradiction of words, is sarcastically termed " Napoleon
the Little," surely the dignified course for the British
people to pursue is calmly and incffensively to watch the
working of a system that must very quickly speak for
itself. If the French people approve of the sayings and
doings of the ruler whom by an overwhelming majority
they have, under u nivcsal suffrage and by vote by ballot,
just elected, he will remain in the Palace of the Tuile-
ries. If they disapprove of the Constitution he is cook-
ing for them, they will trot him in a police fourgon
to Hain. _ .

5. But I submit that the insults which the English
Pres.; are daily offering to the French Church, army, and
people, aro not only unnecessary, and, considering our
utterly defenceless condition, highly impolitic, but incon-
sistent with the course they but lately pursued.
In 1848, when the French people, all of a sudden,
determined to exchange their Monarchy for a Republic,
the English press very properly, and very powerfully,
preached non-interference with the concerns of our
neighbours, and accordingly the French nation, without
the smallest insult, was lett to flourish or decay under
the Government of its choice. As soon, however, as the
all of a sudden, to abandon a
French people resolved,
republican form of Government—in short, to fly from
anarchy to despotism, the English press has done, and
is doing, all in its power to provoke the President, the
i.rmy, and the people of France to war with Great
Britainl
. . _ .

It is with regret that I intrude upon your readers the
above facts and observations, but as I have just received
from Paris a letter from a stranger, who informs me he
has lived there some 18 or 20 years with his family, and
who states " The Eoglish press is awakening real hatred
among the Parisians," I feel confident that, as it is
easier to prevent war than to end it, you will, with the
mpartial justice which distinguishes your journal, give
,nsertion to this homely warning,—
" Those who in quarrels interpoFe
"Will often wipe a bloody nose."
I am, &ir, your constant reader,
And obedient servant,
F. B. HEAD.

Oxendon, Jan. 24.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—ln the Times of the 19th you give a list of our
reserved steamers. It looks very well on paper, hut
how, sir, are we to man them? We are now in the 37th
year of peace, and although our nursery for seamen has
been diminishing in the same proportion steamers have
been increasing, nu Minister appears to have turned his
attention to manning the navy in the event of war.
We have spent millions of money in building ships to
rot, but not a farthing in providing a systematic plan
for manniug the fleet we have built. Ships, sir, without
men are only empty floating barracks.
We have lately organized dockward battalions to assist
in defending the country on shore; but, sir, should we
be attacked, wentight to meet the enemy on the water.
I theretore beg to suggest, through the medium of
your powerful paper, that the whole of our dockyard
people should be told off to man the reserve steamers,
and practised in it. Engineers and stokers should be
furnished from the factory and the emiths'shops. The ar-
tificere, riggers, and labourers should know the steamers
they belong to; and had all our labourers been seafaring
men, they would have made a respectable and disciplined
body; said bad the Admiralty order that was issued
several years ago been attended te, many of our artifi-
cers would have been men-of-warsmen and acquainted
with their duties.

The Excellent men should all be posted to different
stearrwrs, and so ought the marines, so that there would
be no confabion in the hour of need. In addition to
-this, the coastguard, with their officers, s,hould know
what vessels they Lelong to, and be ready to join by rail
at a moment's warning. All the watermen and fisher-
men should be encouraged to give in their names; and,
last not least, volunteers should be called upon from the
seaports to complete their crews. The gentlemen of
Portsmouth,. I will answer for it, would not be the last at
their guns, and no doubt the same enthusiasm and zeal
would be shown at the other ports.
If more officers were required, they should be taken
from the half-pay list, and at once appointed to their
ships.
Ido not propose this as our best .means of
nsdefence,
WI. I propose it as an auxiliary ion d
s, one that could
be had at a moment's warning, and on whose patriotism
and courage the country could rely.
I remain your obedient
CARLES NAPIER.
Merchistoma, Jan. 24.
H serva,nt,

" A CHANGE CAMS O'ER TSB SPIRIT OF BIS
DanAm."—Nothing was so much dreaded in our schoolboy
days as to be punished by sitting between two girls. Ah
the force of education. In after-years we learned to sub-
mit to sucJ things without shedding a tear.--Leicester
Mercury.