The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-20 00:00:00

7HE ARMY.

In addition to the land defences now being erected
on the Kent and Essex coasts at Shornmeade, Coal-
house Point, the Isle of Grain, Garrison Point, Folly
Print, Darnetness, and Bishop's Marsh, for the pro-
lection of the entrances to the rivers Thames and
Medway, the Government has also decided on the
erection of a large battery on the projecting point
of land at Allhallows, on the southern bank of the
Thames, about mid-distance between the forts
in course of construction at Shornmeade and Garri-
son Point, cn the Kentish coast. The side for the
proposed fort has been taken possession of by the
Government, and the erection of the battery and
other works will be at once commenced. In the
meantime, every effort is being used by the several
Goxernment contractors to complete the various
-works now in progress, more especially those which
command the main channel entrance to the Thames
and also the river Medway, Among the most pro-
minent of the works now on hand, and to which the
principal efforts of the Government appear to be
directed, are those connected 'with the erection of
the large batteries on the shore and spit of Grain,
on the north-west side of the channel approach to
Chatham harbour and arsenal, every exertion being
used to have the formidable forts and batteries on
the Isle of Grain, as well as those in progress at
Ga.rrison Point, on the opposite side of the estuary
of the Medway, completed before next summer, by
-which time the works connected with the formation
off.the new docks and basins at Chatham will be
rly in hand, Several hundred hands have been
-tif "le". on the Grain works during the past
s
Luter and up to the present period and consider li
-
'able prog
ress has beenmade in raising the super-
structure of the forts,
eeryaing as
position of the rapidlylsle of G
as circumstances will admit. 'the
Grain battery has been ad-
mirably chosen, the a
gunrstzmnt of the fort, in con-
junction with the
Garrison Point, renderinounted on the defences at
tog tforce
river impassable to
any vessel attempting
a. hostile passage.
The forts on the Isle of Giraiene
accommodating several hundredl‘ntiriboeobinpes capable of
7 the store-
rooms, magazines, and barracks
hostile
all bomb-
proof, and capable of resisting the
of an
attacking force. rho fort to be erecteedfisriaatt All-
hallows, Cliffe, will be very large, its
guns will assisiltar
being admirably chosen, as its
vertical fire the battery at Coalhouse Point, on thea
opposite side of the river, and render secure Lower
Hope Reach and the
The
other parts of the Thames
below Gravesend. battery at Coalhouse
Point, on the Essex side of the river, will be
armed with the most formidable of the Armstrong
and other guns, and, as the position of this fort has
been well selected, the concentrated fire of its guns
will effectually bar the passage of that part of the
'river. The foundations of the forts
Folly Point and Bishop's Marsh to be erected at
, below Chatham
Dockyard, are still incomplete, obstacles of a more
than usually formidable character having been ex-
perienced during the progress of the works, render-
ing the undertaking one of extreme difficulty. The
qbjections raised to the sites for the batteries, which
were pointed out in the columns of The Sun at the