The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-30 00:00:00

EARL TALBOT ON NATIONAL DEFENCES

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sus,—At any period of public alarm or excitemen
.t is the duty of every member of the community,
according to his several ability, to endeavour to dispel
unnecessary terror, or, if danger really exists, to in-
dicate the bestmeans of encountering it. At the present
moment there is a prevailing apprehension throughout
this country of a hostile descen tof the French upon our
shores, and multifarious have been the communica-
tions addressed to the public on the subject. Many
of them are manifestly the productions of experienced
men, who knew what they were writing upon,
while others are as manifestly the crude notions of
those who are scared by ghosts of their own creating.
I have been more than once, during the pre-
vailing panic, asked whether my confidence in the
Warner inventions which I formerly advocated so
strenuously in the House of Commons remains un-
abated, and, if so, why I remain silent at such a
moment as this ?
My unhesitating and unequivocal answer, which I
ask you to publish to the world is, that my belief in
11.1 r. Warner's powers is unaltered, except inasmuch
as my belief is strengthened by longer consideration,
and I publicly announce my conviction, that in them
the country might possess an effectual means of de-
fence, without incurring the expense of erecting one
additional fort or building another ship. Neither am
I singular in this estimate of the public importance of
the Warner inventions, for many distinguished
officers. of both services, as well the veterans of the
last war, who have recently gone from among us, as
those still surviving, are of the same opinion, though
many are deterred from giving free utterance to their
sentiments from an aversion to novelties, a reluctance
to offend prejudices, or perhaps afraid to create that
disturbance in existing institutions which they anti-
cipate from an adoption of the Warner weapons.
That a great change would be thereby entailed
well know, and I also know that such change is not
popular with the services, but I furthermore know
that such a change would operate to the saving of
many millions of national money, and therefore most
culpable should I consider myself to be were I silent
through fear of provoking derision or awakening
professional displeasure.
It was no part of my intention when I commenced
this letter to enter upon any speculations as to the
probability of a French invasion at all, and certainly
far from my wish to excite an alarm I do not feel.
Nevertheless, while the subject is uppermost in men's
minds, it may be worth while to make a few observa-
tions relative to the defence of England against Fps-
Bible invasion. To protect any land from aggression
there must be a continued line of fortifications, or
n
forts closely planted; but supposing such erectionso
_
feasible on our shores, how could we man them ? d
forts without occupants would only be so many
points
d'appui for invaders. Again, fortifications of stone,
or batteries on piles, are only effectual for the de
fence of their immediate locality. Powerful works
at Portsmouth are of no avail for the protection
of Plymouth or Pembroke : what England requires in
the absence of a continued line of fortifications, the ex-
pense of which John Bull would nots
theend burees,tiaspa.
defensive power which can quickly move around our
island as required, and move rapidly a
plication of steam can effect. Now this the Warner
inventions fully accomplish; and I firmly believe
that by means of these no invader could ever plant
his foot on our soil : his destruction Would be ine-
vitable.
I may las asked to explain how these mi
salts can be brought to passn.L gh ty re-
incredulous the English
at
everything
their eyes—which i
is
which is not subjected barely to
not handled and turned inside out. All my Parlia-
mentary efforts to gain attention to the Warner in-
ventions have been thwarted by this spirit of un-
belief. I have, on Captain Warner's behalf, offered
that his inventions should_ be submitted to the severest
tests ; and many they have triumphantly endured,
as several distinguished officers have repeatedly tes-
tified.
I assert, then, that by the Warner inventions the
largest
ships may be instantaneously, certainly, and
cheaply destroyed
aed;n
ctthat an enemy's fleet may be so
them inevitableo
beleagured
that movementdetruion;t that any en y would entailemy's port
might be efficiently blockaded, without necessitating
the constant and costly vigilance of a squadron, as in
the late war ; and that our own ports, roadsteads,
and coasts might be rendered invulnerable, and all
this at a small cost.
I could, restraining myself within the limits of
exact truth, proceed to declare the efforts which have
been made to prevent the introduction of the Warner
inventions into our service, but I forbear, and only
ask you to publish my solemn declaration as to my
belief in their vast importance, and my sense of the
folly and danger of rejecting them. If I have the
misfortune to be disregarded, I shall regret such
treatment—but at least I have done my duty, and
liberated my own conscience.
Your obedient servant,
Ingestre, Stafford, Jan. 28, 1852

TALBOT.

We have to announce to-day the death of a highly-
respectable and popular ividual, and who, if not born with
a silver spoon exactly in his month, has been awarded dozens
of that article In maturer age. We allude to his Highness
the Duke of Devonshire—not the illustrious nobleman, but
the prize bull lately belonging to Mr. Thomas Miller, of this
town. This fine animal,
after sweeping away every piece of
plate in this neighbourhood for years, quietly-surrendered
himself last week to the hands of the butcher, and, if we
mistake not, a part of his chine will to-day smoke on the
table of his breeder.-8/icrborne Journal.

Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston have arrived
at their mansion in Carlton Gardens, from Broadlando, for
the NANA.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
Orders have been received at the several outporh 3
:to render the guard-ships fit for active sea service-
The dockyards are to get the sea-stores for each'
ship made complete and kept separate from other
) stores, that they may be ready at the shortest notice
The Ganges, 84, Captain Smith, C. 8., has been
paid off at Sheerness, in the most creditable style
The stores of the ship were returned with as little
deterioration as could possibly be expected, although
they were delivered in a very short time after arrival
from a foreign station. And as to the men, their
conduct was most examplary as they attended the
pay-table and afterwards quitted the ship. They
were quiet, orderly, and respectful, and out of a
ship's company of 750 officers, seamen, marines, and
boy e, there was not a single one of them drunk The
imam cr in which the Ganges has been paid off affords
another proof nt the improved habi:s of cur men•of-
wal'a meta I also reflects the highest credit on
Captain Saith and his staff; for if they had not been
good and correct officers, we are quite sure so grati-
fying a report of the conduct of the men could not
be given.
Cal"in "Patrick Bahlie Hamilton (1847) has
been appointcd to study steam at the factory,
Wool wich.
Surgeen—John. M.Whinnie (1847), late of the
Frolic, 16, to the Vesuvius, steam-sloop, Devonport
Chief liugineer—Beajarnin Hoar, to the Vesuvius.
Assistant Surgeons—Edward W. Pritchard, to the
Vesvaius ; Daniel a:auralers, acting, to the Victory,
fiag•ship at Portsmouth:
Gunner—Charles liicis, to the Horatio screw
guard-ship, Shetarness..
Boatswain—John Donohough, to the Horatio.
Carpenter—Richard Cleverly, to the Horatio.
PORTSMOUTH, J. 29.—The Gorgon steam-sloop,
Commander Paynter, came alongside the jetty to-day
to dismantle, prior to being paid off. The small
freight she brought (8,000 dolls.) will be conveyed to
the Bank of England by Messrs. Casher, freight
agents and wine merchants, of this port, to-morrow
Mr. H. S. Gibson, paymaster and purser of the Driver
steam-sloop in the Pacific, came home in the Gorgon
on Admiralty leave, and Mr. Whitten, clerk of the
flag-ship Portland, has been made acting paymaster
and purser of the Driver, vice Gibson.
The Lightning Admiralty steam-yacht, Master
Commander Allen, came into harbour this morning
from the Channel Islands with the Committee of Ob-
servation and Survey, whom she conveyed thither on
Sunday.
The Adder steam-vessel returned to Sheerness last
night.
The Rodney, 92, Captain C. Graham, C. 8., has
been taken over to her former moorings off Gosport.
The Arrow ketch is being broken up in No. 6 dock-
PORTSMOUTH GARRISON.
We are informed the 7th, 48th, and 95th Regi•
ments, quartered in this garrison, have received orders
to send out additional recruiting parties to augment
their strength twelve men per company, or 120 men
each regiment.
The depots of the 42d, 36th, 67th, and 69th Re-
giments, recently formed into four companies' depots
from their late reserve battalions, are ordered to allow
tbeir supernumeraries to volunteer into other regi-
ments.

Guns of a larger calibre than the present (32-
pounders) are about to be mounted at Fort Moncton,
on the Gosport and Anglesey shore.
The 7th and 9th Regiments have been practising
the great gun exercise at the Platform Battery every
day during the present week, under the tuition of the
Royal Artillery. They appear to make great pro-
gress in the drill.

PLYMOUTH, THURSDAY.—Her Majesty's steam-
sloop Hecate, 6, Commander Hand, having had defects
made good, and taken in 100 tons of coal, is now in
Barnpool, waiting orders.
The Vesuvius steam-vessel is ordered to be com-
missioned forthwith by Commander P. L. Barnard.
The steam•sloop Magicienne, Captain Ramsay, is
ordered to be docked.

The transport Diligence is ordered to take in stores
and provisions for Lisbon and Gibraltar.
The ketch Sparrow, 2, was paid off on Saturday.
The Lords of the Admiralty have ordered the fri-
gates Bacchus and Lavinia to be moored in the Sound
and Barnpool, as coal depots. This arrangement will
expedite the supply of fuel to steamers and diminish
the cost of pilotage.
WooLwicli, JAN. 29.—Mr. Dinnen, Assistant In-
spector of Machinery at Somerset-house, visited the
Horatio yesterday, at Sheerness, to inspect her ma-
chinery, and found the whole in good order and ready
for sea service.. With the exception of some work
to be done to the rigging, which Captain the Hon. S.
F. Carnegie is having executed, this fine ship, fitted
with a screw propeller and engines of 250-horse
power, is in a very efficient state: her guns and car-
riages being on hoard, and the former ready for
mounting, which can be accomplished in a few hours
The Amazon stevm-fzigrve was also inspected by
Mr. Dinnen, and her machinery found in excellent
seagoing order.

The Polyphemus steam-sloop, now ready at Wool-
wich, is ordered to he taken to Shec rntsg, where she
will be stationed a 3 an advanced war steamer, and all
the vessels ready for service at the various ports are
to be fitted with their guns on board, and to be kept
in such a state of efficiency as to be fit for service, if
manned or commissioned, on the shortest notice.

"DEATH IN THE POT:"
A GRAVE QUESTION IN WHICH :DOCTORS DIFFER.
There is one question relative to ttft, substitution of
soft water for bard as well as pure for impure, which
ought not to be allowed to remain longer in its present
unsettled, contradictory, and dangerous position—namely,
the question relative to the poisonous influence of
leaden pipes and cisterns on water, soft or hard, pure or
impure, or on botb. Until lately, it has been an axiom
with our sten:lard chemical writers on toxicology end
medical police and jurisprudence, that the softer end
hitherto
purer the water, the more likely is it to act on lev, and
to be thereby poisonously impregnated; and that the
harder the watir, the more likely is it to remain pare
perfectly pure soft water, per se, will not act
accrediteda nd urimPr
authorscg nate
dh
able admittedthe lead.
or Tdreucel'a declared, on the one
have explained the apparent inconsistency
hand, that
that,ontheon lead, and, on the other band, that hard water will.
oßfu:uthen a they
hand,gas,
laration with their own
important axiom, by alleging Prudential and most
lead with pure soft water is liable to be so influenced by
the air, and by carbonic acid dissolved
as to become corrodtd, anu then
poison the water continuallyv;sp
~,atly water,ad
while, on the other hand,
Co usual in Lard water,
with neutral sul-
lead with herd water, and t .
is so
acted on by the salts contained phates, such as that of lime,
become incrusted with its mod in hard water, as to
tected either from forth, own corrosion, and thus pro-
tributing any er waste in itself, or from continuedcon-
poisonous . water. Sincc: tho impregnations to the
questicn, however agitationend
of the metropolitan supply
desire to sub,t,' , a the prevalence of a very general
flute pure soft water for the hard and
otherwhe shoekinzi, •
evidence has been - ' impure supply at present in use,
pressly to contradictn adduccA which, ex facie, appears ex-4
F'o feel
ittherefore absolutely- necessary to insist that
fully e . o most important subject shall be forthwith
examined, discussed, and settled. B ld at CT.
T

HE FOOT GuAnns.—The following are the
changes of the stations of her Majesty's regiments of Foot
Guards, ordered to take place in the first week in the month
of Blarch neat:—The Ist battalion of Grenadier Guards
will move from Wellington Barracks to St. John's-wood
Barracks; the 2d battalion from Windsor to the Tower of
London ; and the 3d battalion from St. John's-wood Bar-
racks, to St. George's Barracks, Trafalgar-square. The Ist
battalion Coldstream Guards will move from Chichester to
Wellington Barracks, and the 2d battalion from Portman-
street Barracks to Windsor. The Ist battalion Scott's Fusi-
lier Guards will move from the Tower of London to Chiches-
ter, and the 2d battalion from St. George's Barracks to Port-
man-street Barracks.

EXTRAORDINARY OccintRENCE.--Yesterciay ITIOrn•
ing, at an early hour, great excitement prevailed among the
inmates of the workhouse, High-street, St. John's, Wapping
in consequence of a female, named Sarah Torson, aged 69
years, being discovered in a copper of boiling water by one
of the washerwomen employed in the establishment, under
circumstances of an extraordinary character. The deceased
had been in the workhouse several years, and was always
considered of sound intellect. About seven o'clock yester-
day morning one of the girls proceeded into the washing-
room to light the copper fire, after which several of the other
females began to prepare for the usual day's work, and - whenthey considered the water was sufficiently heated, one of
them went to put some clothes into the boiling E
liquid, when
and shoulder
s
projecting screamed at the sight of a woman's head .
projecting from the copper. An instant alarm was raised,
r
when several men came to the spot, who found the deceased
in a sitting position, and completely
sent for, he
boiled,
flesh fo r
peeledwhen sha
was dragged out of the copper, the skin and off.
Mr. Nash, the surgeon, of I;igh-street, being
‘sis,ance of a
to foot. It was after-
on his arrival pronounced life to be quite extinct, as the de-
' ceased was fearfully scalded from bead
wards ascertained that the deceased nau.st
thaveelLgo.t,on to the
top of the copper by climbing LIP, v'7'l4 _h _
then waited until it boiled.
the liquid
stool which had been placed by the sidecc,ppoefr
wthheilceopper. The
deceased had evidently got into
quietly .
night as a gentle-
mal,vp teas
etherd he
beforeu ror Ny,
ei
rn
was cold, unobserved, and
along Castle-
street, he `eater
RonylLarealedict_o bTerhsehooutlhdeerrs.
n, an ac 1 man in the garb of au a •
street, he met a tall man agricultural la-
bourer, carrying e cke:x pickaxe
eau-nrcds 1' i
the gentleman.
Scarcely had the two passed
ci h t h".
quaintan
becoming mils- also. ,!,,
eother had turned suddenly
bmaself turned .
h.lh country mr,n stepped fer-
round,
ickly, and grasping un by the shoulder,looked
ward quickly,
ear-
nestlyf ce fora hew s• • •
in his a. second; without speaking,. Sur-
dat this strange behaviour, and so '-
prise tnewLaat apprehensive,
h t'l .ritent* •
indeed, of os ie . ions—for it was dark, and the street
comparatively deserted—our friend drew back and asked the
man what he wanted? Mester," e reply, in a deep
hoarse tone, "my name's George Wright. I'm from Staf-
fordshire; and I'm clemming, by G ~ fliers was no
mistaking the haggard coantenance, the woful stare of the
eye: the indices of starvation were complete. "If you've a
wife and little children at home (the starving man conti-
nued); but no, I see its time enough for that yet; however,
give me a ha'penny to get bread with, and I'll bless you."
Our friend put money into his band, which, though trifling
in amount, seemed a fortune to the poor fellow, and received
in return a benediction rude, but evidently from the depths
of the heart.—Lererpcol Times.

_ .....
The late adjudication of the Lyons and Alignon
Railway has caused great activity in the iron foundries in the
department of the Loire. Furnaces which have been disused
fin aoule rears pat are sow re-lighted.