The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-13 00:00:00

THE DANGER OF INVASION.

TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE TINES.
Sir,—A letter of mine which you lately did me
the favour to insert in your columns has received a
share of public notice which it could have obtained
by no other form of publication, but which I am well
aware has been given to the subject and not to the
writer. In thus addressing you, I have been led into
some errors of execution which a more expanded
form of publication* might have enabled me to avoid,
and I throw myself on your indulgence for permis- '
mon not to retract, but to explain and develope one
passage at least which deserves censure, because it is
liable to misconception. Private and public corre-
spondents have been startled and offended by the
possibility which I. assumed of the retreat of the
Guards from London. It is not sufficient for the
vindication of such a supposition to call public atten-
tion to the historical fact, that such a transaction
has actually occurred, within our own memory, in
the instances of the three great military Powers of
Europe—Austria, Russia, and France. lam willing
to discard these instances, and a host of minor
analogous cases, and to admit that England, invaded,
will be capable of sacrifices and exertions for which
history will afford neither precedent nor parallel. It
sve.s, however, my object to convey the belief; which
retain, that if London is to be defended under cir-
cumstances which I have contemplated as possible, it
must be defended in the field :end not in Regent-street
or Ludgate-hill. In specifying the Guards, I speci-
fied
in London,
only as the natural, at present the only
garrison London, but as affording me, by their
present high condition and the traditional lustre of
their achievements, the strongest illustration my
imagination could suggest of the inefficacy of merit
against a certain disparity of numbers. Suppose them
overmatched in the field—as on their own soil, or I be-
lieve on any other, they only could be overmatched—in
virtue of such a disparity, and I believe they would be
of little use within the city on which they had been forced
to retire. My reason is, that a French force is not
likely to be commanded by a man senseless enough
to advance headlong into a large city, or engage him-
self in a street fight, while a prospect existed of in-
ducing it to capitulate by a bombardment. The
latter was the course pursued by Napoleon in the
plenitude of numbers and power at Vienna ; the
former by Whitelock at Buenos Ayres, from inca-
pacity ; by the Dutch, in 1830; from a desire to
spare Brussels. The Archduke Charles, in 1809,
wisely considered that he could turn the garrison of
Vienna to better account in the Marchfeldt than in
the streets of Vienna, and the Austrian capital was
in French possession when he fought the battles of
Aspern and Wagram. It involves at least no reflec-
tion on the military qualities of the household troops
to suppose it possible that a persevering neglect of the
Duke of Wellington's warnings might compel him to
issue to them such orders as the Archduke Charles
issued to the men of Essling and Wagram.
One word on the subject of the national feeling
in France towards this country. I do not feel that
in stating a fact which I deplore, I have done so in
a spirit which could tend to aggravate its intensity.
It is indeed a fact, which in my view of it deserves
our attention and demands our vigilance, but which
ought not to receive bitter animadversion nor to excite
corresponding feelings of animosity. In endeavour-
ing to judge of the feelings or conduct of others, it is
prudent, as it is just, to imagine ourselves under the
influence of analogous circumstances. I believe this
country could have borne a serious military discomfi-
ture without conceiving any permanent or intense de-
sire for vengeance or reprisal. It is fairer, however,
to picture to ourselves a naval catastrophe, produced,
if you will, by a successful combination between
France and other maritime Powers. What would
then be the feeling of this country, supposing her
fleets re-organized and her arsenals replenished ? It
would be a feeling which statesmen might control
and Christianity condemn, but which, should the op-
portunity occur for an encounter with France single-
handed, would be something very like
Irae leonum
Frcena recusantum.
It seems to me that the less reason we have to he
astonished or offended at the existence of feelings
which we have no cause ourselves to entertain, the
greater is the necessity to provide against their natural
consequences.
I remain, Sir, your very obedient servant,
Jan. 11. EGERTON ELLESMERE.

AEROSTATION AND WARFARE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SI:N.
Sia,—As the public has been supplied within the
last few days with the highest military authority that
our coasts are in a comparatively defenceless condi-
tion, and as a rnmour prevails that our neighbours,
the French, evince a spirit inclined to take advantage
of our unprotected state, I deem this a fitting time
to endeavour, through your powerful aid, to provoke
attention with respect to the modern science of
aerostation, the utility of which, I seriously believe,
will ultimately be developed to an important and
immense extent in direct association with warfare.
That the exordium of this communication gives
expression to chimerical sentiments of a totally im-
practicable 4.:haraeter many persons will no doubt
aver, but'if it can be shown that aerostatic machines
have already proved available as a means of obtaining
valuable information for an army, aod if also we can
briefly and perspicuously demonstrate that balloons
may in future be employed in services of the most
momentous and useful kind, then do we meet and
silence the objections of the unthinking, and at the
same time give energy to the efforts of ingenuity
which in many places and by many persons have been
made for the turtberance of the noble science of bal-
looning, and which,iby a concentration of talent, may
do much for the good of mankind.
Firstly—l contend that although the infantile stage
of aerostation has been principally characterised by
exploits of a public and amusing description, yet
there is no weighty reason why balloons may not be
employed for military, philosophical, and useful pur-
poses besides, and although, in a scientific point of
view, the reputation of this art is not so great as it
might have been, and as it may be, still, as human
skill is for the most part wisely permitted gradually
to surmount difficulties and turn the inventions of
men to a good account, so are there as reasonable
hopes to be entertained of balloons as our forefathers
might have felt with respect to ships, locomotives, &c.,
before time and united exertions crowned the labours
of the wise, and the struggles of the determined class
of mankind, with complete success. Nor is it a posi-
tive or presumptive evidence of labour in vain, be-
cause at present we cannot precisely contrive or
define the peculiar kind of machinery requisite for
guiding a balloon ; that is an end that may never be
attained, or if at all, only probably in succession to
subordinate contrivances and the mastery of superable
difficulties. If then, at this juncture, one single ad-
vantage can be suggested, and that with reference to
a subject of vital importance to the nation, I main-
tain that it is worthy the attention of the well-wishers
of our country and the promoters of her good.
Secondly—l will extract a paragraph from my
magazine (Aerostatic) in order to show that balloons
have already proved useful in warfare :
" In the battle of Liege, at the beginning of the
French Revolution, the success of the French was in
a great measure owing to the discovery of the position
and movements of the Austrians made by expert en-
gineers whom they sent up in a balloon. From this
machine these 'engineers perceived whatever was
transacted in the Austrian camp, and gave continual
notice of it by notes thrown down among their own
troops. By these means the number of troops in the
Austrian camp, the quantity of their artillery, and
their motions, were instantly made known to the
French, who directed their attack; accordingly against
the weakest point, and with great confidence, from
their knowledge of the chance of success which this
gave them.
" It was not on this occasion alone that the French
made use of balloons : they resorted to their aid at
the battle of Fleurus, during the siege of Mentz, and
afterwards at that of Ehenbrietzen. In all these cases
the balloon was found to be of utility, but particularly
in the last, where the great height of the fortress
made it impossible, by any other means, to reconnoitre
the internal parts.
"When Robespierre filled France with widows and
orphans, the Revolutionary Committee deputed Gar-
nerin, he aeronaut to the army of the north, then
commanded by General Runsonnet. He appeared
there in the capacity of Commissioner."
Thirdly—l will briefly hint the way in which bal-
loons may be used as serviceable auxiliaries for our
national defences, reserving, as expedient, the modus
operandi for a tribunal before whom a full disclosure
Would he compatible and prudent. Balloons, then, in
warfare may I believe be used in a twofold form—
for ehservation and for destruction. The above ex-
tracts show that success has more than once attended
the experiment as regards observation.
I propose
tterefore, that in the event of an invasion,
or rather in'
event of there being a well- grounded
apprehension of
coast shalll eh a visitation, that our south-
easternbe
provided with several aerial
observatories, so that a shart,
look out may be kept on
the movements of Johnny
Crap_a ud both up and down
and on the other side of the Channel. The
, without the humanaidofa
eye, from a sufficient altitude
telescope, would command a vast circumference, but
of course, with the assistance of glasses, every opera-
tion desirable to be known could easily detected.
Any practical aeronaut will confirm the statement
that it is possible to obtain a good view of the.
French coast with a balloon from any at the
Cinque ports. Sometimes of a clear day I have seen
Sheerness, and the shipping in the Medway, 'Bonn
after ascending from London; so I write from experi-
ence, having added twenty aerial voyages during the
past year to my former balloon trips.' As the electric
telegraph
pr th 4
is net yet extended, across the Straits, I
opose
an aerial telegraph shall supersede, or
rather forestall •
tt. It is impossible to determine, in

the event of an invasion, the amount of service that
might be rendered in this way, and when we venture
to estimate that for three or four thousand pounds,
that part of our coast which has the greatest proxi-
mity, and which offers the most assailable front to
France, that for this sum, I say, England might fly
her aerial representatives, I see no cause, or physical
impediment, why the hint should not at least be
worth the offering. lam of opinion, also, that bal-
loons would have proved invaluable during the late
war in India, and so must they ever be, affording, as
they do, an opportunity to reconnoitre, which cannot
be secured by other means.
Lastly—For purposes of destruction, I have no
hesitation in declaring that by the instrumentality of
balloons the most powerful engine for wholesale
annihilation may be used against an enemy. I
will not affect to connect with this assertion
any very wonderful invention, much less
would I have it supposed that my views
bear any analogy to the long range evolution.
My plan is simple, effective, terrific and certain, re-
quiring merely the judgment of a skilful aeronaut
and the application of an explosive compound that
cannot well be projected from anything besides a
balloon, but, so discharged from a moderate altitude,
would inevitably annoy, destroy, and scatter an
enemy, or, if required, demolish a citadel. The mis-
siles which 1 could propose for use would not require
that precision as to aim with which it is necessary
to regulate the discharge of a cannon or a musket.
whilst the effects would be such as to require no very
lengthy prolongation of an engagement. Perhaps to
say more on this head at present would be injudi-
cious ; therefore I shall conclude by advising that all
persons who are interested in aeronautic science do
exercise their spare time by devising schemes to carry
out the plans proposed. And then, if our Gallic
neighbours take French leave to visit our shores, they
will find that aerostation, which owes its origin to
French ingenuity, will become the instrument (like
the gallows made by the carpenter, on which he was
executed) of dealing out punishment with their own
weapons.
HENRY COX WELL.
10, Noel-street, Islington.