The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-26 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OW THE TIMES.

Sir,—lt is a curious coincidence in the history of one
life, that Sir John Burgoyne should, in the prime and
at the end of his military career, have commanded the
Engineers iii two great sieges, and twice have been foiled
from the very same circumstances.
In 1812, when the Duke of Wellington advanced
against Burgos, the town was unfortified, but an old
castle hal been modernised, and the French had thrown
up three lines of earthworks around the hill on which it
stood. These had been executed in haste and in de-
fiance of all rule, but against these we fired, sapped, and
iniped in vain ; 2,000 French soldiers held the place
against an English army commanded by a general unde-
feated up to that time, but who was then forced to re-
, treat, to abandon his siege train, and the campaign of
that year was a failure.
After 42 years Sir John again commands before
Sebastopol, and again the same thing occurs. A few
earthworks are thrown up in haste before our very
eyes, and the career of a ♦ictorious army is arrested.
And why is this ? Had Sir John been able to read the
signs of the times, the lesson so rudely taught him at
Burgos would not have been thrown away. Our engi-
neers would have known what earthworks were, and
been prepared will means to destroy them, if such be
possible ; or we should never have sat down before
them as we have done, to run the fearful risk of failure.
We are reduced to our present straits simply
and solely because Sir John, at the head of a large
pally of veterans, has, during the 40 years of peace,
resisted every improvement in military science as
a personal insult to their superior knowledge and expe-
rience, and they have, in consequence of their position,
been able to keep things pretty much as they were at
the end of the last war. _ .

Sir John Burgoyne is pre-etninently what in official
parlence is termed a " safe man ;" he never troubled
the Minister for money to make sientific experiments
or to improve the education of the Engineers or AAR-

lervmen.-
kor every inventor he had a bucket of cold water
administered in the blandest manner possible. He pos-
sessed, above all men, the art of keeping things smooth
and quiet in Pall-mall, and rose in favour and in fortune
accordingly.
He hoped, of course, that these things would last his
time, and so they would have done but for this ugly
Russian war, which has destroyed all these visions of
quiet; and we now find ourselves engaged in a struggle
with the most barbarous nation of Europe, whose sol•
diers are serfs, whose officers are half-educated, and
whose military system is corrupt to the core, yet in
every scientific point they have shown themselves as
superior to us in military as we are to them and the rest
of Europe in civil eyigineering. Their artillery silences
ours without difficuty Their shells are larger and
thrown with greater precision than ours, and their skill
in fortification amazes our officers, who can make no
head against it. Their science in short, has made up
for all their other deficiencies and neutralized all the
intelligeuce and bravery of our noble soldiers ; and for
all this we have to thank Sir John Burgoyne and his
band of cc-pbstructives, who have reduced the skill of the
most scientific and enterprising people of Europe below
the level of the most barbarous. Will even the pet)•
ple of England and Parliament, though generally so
ignorant and careless on such matters, submit to this
much longer ? It has required a war as dreadful as
this one is to open our eyes to the absurdities of our
military system ; but if it does so effectually, those who
Nell() have fallen because of the errors of their superiors
will nut all, at least, have fallea in vain.

OmicaoN.

STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH THE UNITED
STATES AND EUROPE, VIA. PANAMA.

Informatioi has just been received that the splendid
American steamer Golden Age accomplished the voyage
from this port to Tahiti in thirteen days six hours. On
examining the map, our readers will find that Tahiti is
as nearly as possible half the distance between Melo
bourne and Panama, and as the railway across the Isth•
mus, according to the last accounts, was to be completed
in September, we may take it for granted that the jour-
ney across it can be performed in a few hours. Now,
as it is ascertained that the voyage from Chagres or As-
pinwall, on the eastern coast, is made regularly by the
American Steamers to New York in eight days, and di-
root to Southampton, by the West India line, in sixteen
days, we have data for calculating the exact length of
the passage to England. The steaming time by the two
routes will be as follows :

From Melbourne to Panama, via Tahiti, 26 days 12
hours ; from Panama to Aspinwall, say 5 hours ; from
Aspinwall to New York, 8 days ; from New York to
Southampton, 10 days ; coal ng and detention, say 6
days 7 hours ; total, 50 days.
We are informed that by employing large paddle•
steamers the ♦oyage across the Pacific may be mad!,
without calling to coal at Tahiti ; and if the voyage is
mado direct from Aspinwall to Southampton, two days
voyage will be saved. Supposing that two days' voyage
and three days' detention are] saved, the distance be-
tween Melbourne and Britain can thus easily be accom-
plished, via Panama, in forty-five days ; but most people
will gladly sacrifice two days in order to [have a peep at
New York. This is a delightful prospect to the unhappy
Australians, who have hitherto been made so bitterly to
feel their separation from the civilised world. Should
the mails by time Galen Age reach England within
sixty days, and the enterprising company with which
she is connected feel disposed to prosecute their design
of establishing a regular line, we can guarantee with
great safety that the.te will be no want of cordial sup-
port by the Australian colonists.—Melbourne Argus of
Sept. 7.

WILD FOWL SHOOTING AT WRIT-
STABLE.

tioTnhae fowlers
nlo among
gth here have
ewildfoaclo;mm d h
sportsmen encete
awroorkvoerfydensutrinuee-
.
ra•onuese,
oafn
timed being
dpervi
on
tcei ptaol y
theoyps
ut errs
udirteodfg dredgers,
rh agvaemaels, uanndd-
among them are some of the best marksmen in the
county. The mode of shooting is peculiar to this place,
and some notice of it may be interesting to many readers.
A large and heavy gun is placed in a singularly constructed
boat called a "pautooney," about 12 ft. long and 13 inches
deep, flat•bottinned, stern and stern alike, the gun being
laid flush fore and aft ; the gunner observes a kneeling
position, and propels his vessel with great rapidity by
means of a doulile-bladed paddle, the u,e of which re-
quires great dexteri-y. On nearing the bird he places him-
self at the bottom of the boat, which is only a few
inches above the surface of the water, and is not to
be seen until within range of his object. In this
position he forces himself along by means of two smaller
paddles, and upon the birds rising he discharges the gun,
by which as many as 60 birds have been known to have
had their flight arrested. After picking up the
dead, he proceeds in pursuit of the wounded, which,
being excellent swimmers and divers, call into requi-
sition the use of a small gun. Great skill 13 required
al
in the conduct of the sport, otherwise considerable
_so
danger is incurred. Another class of fowlers have
.at
a peculiar method which is frequently. suecessf I
e
hi'
ataoi hcnp
ebbt e commencement
e ttide,
s u
ffi sufficiently
tthely sleaarsgoent
to hide
tub is
Pthe purposerm
who '-hero watches with great wildpatieneeltosahlselfwauoessranrPtyksootoslnfteassdwtmfi
fowl,the
g:euartl. curlews,
gunnerand
disdainsaw birdsthe
fire..at lhamec
etaint
oyr
the surrounding country visit this p
of shooting wild fowl, but are almost
single bird.—Kentish
—in fact they seldom obtain a
pointed, from not using one or other of these methods
Gazette.

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