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

TO THE EDITOR OF 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 in 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 hail been modernised, and the French had thrown
up three lines of earthworks around the bill on which it
stood. These had been executed in haste and in de-
fiance of all rule, but against these we fired, sapped, and
mined 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 throtvn up in haste before our very
eyes, and the career of a victorious 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 with means to destroy them, if such be
possible.; or we should never have sat do'.tn before
them as we have done, to run the fearful. risk .of failure.

We are reduoed to our present straits simply
and solely because Sir John, at the head of a large
party 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-eminently what in official
parlenco 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 Artil-
lerymen. . _ _

For every inventor be 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 hor)ed, 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 notion of Europe, whose sol—
diers are serfs, whose officers are half-educated, and
whose military system is corrupt to the core, yet is
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 engineering. Their artillery silences
ours without difficulty. Their shells are larger and
thrown with greater precision than ours, and their skill
in fortification amazes our officers, who can make lie
head against it. Their science in short, has made up
for all their other deficiencies and neutralized all the
intelligence and bravery of our noble soldiers ; and for
all this we have to thank Sir John Burgoyne and his
band of co-abstructives, who have reduced the skill of the
most scientific and enterprising people of Europe below
the level of the most barbarous. Will even the peo-
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 se
this one is to open our eyes to the absurdities of our
military system ; but if it does se effectually, those who
who have fallen beCause of the errors of their superiors
will not all, at least, have fallen in vain.

OMICRON.

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

Information has just been received that the splendid
American steamer Golden Age accomplished the voyage
from this port to Tahiti in thirteen days six hours. Oa
examining the map, our readers will find that Tahiti is
as nearly as possible half the distance between Mel-
bourne and Panama, and as the railway across the Isth-
mus, according to the last accounts, was to be completed
in September, we Dirty 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, cn the eastern coast, is made regularly by the
American steamers to New York in eight days, and di.
met to Southampton, by the West India Uhl, in sixteeia
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, ♦ia 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 ; coaling and detention, say 5
days 7 hours ; total, 50 days.
We are informed that by employing large paddle..
steamers the voyage across the Pacific may be made'
without calling to Coal at Tahiti ; and if the voyage
made direct from Aspinwall to Southampton, two days
voyage will be saved. Supposing that two days' voyage
and threo 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 the Golden 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 there will be no want of cordial sup-
port by the Australian colonists.—Melbourne Argus of
Sept. 7.

WILD FOWL SHOOTIIfg AT WfIIT-
STABLE.

The fowlers here bave commenced the work of destruc•
tion among the wild fowl ; sportsmen are very nume- •
roes, and being principally oyster dredgers, have abund-
ance of time t 5 devote to the pursuit of their game, and
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 "pantooney, ' about 12 ft. long and 13 inches
deep, flat-bottomed, stem and stern alike, the gun being
laid flush fore anctaft ; the gunner observes a kneeling
position, and propels his vessel with great rapidity by
means of a double-bladed paddle, the use of which re- .•
quires great dexterity. 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 is required
in the conduct of the sport, otherwise considerable
danger is incurred. Another class of fowlers have also
a peculiar method which is frequently successful ; at
the commencement of the season a tub is sunk, at the
ebb of the tide, sufficiently large to hide the sportsman,
who there watches with great patience for the wild
fowl, curlews, and hawk birds ; at the two last of which
the great gunner disdains the fire. , Many persons from
rybvtiistit 2
aisp almostlace foarlwtallyespudripsaopse.
the surrout.ding count
from not using one or other of these methods
pofoisnltieodu,ting wild fowl,
—in fact they seldom obtain a single bird.—Kentide
Ocootte.