The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-16 00:00:00

DEFENCE OF LONDON.

At the United Service Institution yesterday Col.
Shafto Adair delivered a lecture on the means of
defending the metropolis against attack by an in-
vading army. The room was well attended—Sir J.
Burgoyne took the chair. Col. Adair stated that he
had taken up the subject of the defence of London,
because it had not been treated in the able report
of the National Defence Commission. He did not
deal with the question in the tone of an alarmist;
the general effect of his facts and arguments was
to inspire confidence in the result, even in the worst
case, provided we acted with foresight, calm
determination, applied the aptitude we ex-
hibit for dealing with emergencies, and made an
intelligent use of the advantages of the natural
position of London. These Col. Adair described
fully, with the assistance of maps and plans. He
believed the natural formation of the country
around the metropolis rendered it one of the
strongest capitals of Europe. With its natural
strength increased by forts at the proper points,
those forts connected by an easily-raised line of
fieldworks' and both defended by a disciplined
force, such as the country now possessed, he be-
lieved no attack could succeed. With those prepa-
, rations it was improbable it would be made. But
assuming a hostile army to be advancing,its.first
object would be to terrify and demoralise the inha-
bitants of the city by the terrible effects of a verti-
cal fire. driving in a panic-stricken crowd from the
suburbs upon the centre. But by keeping.._ the
enemy on the outward stopes of the_ hills round
London his power of mischief would be neu-
tralised.The forts should be so
placed
as to prevent an army penetrating through
these lines at the weaker points, and delaying it
till the regular forces could operate. For these
forts 870 guns in all would be sufficient ; by not
requiring them all to be of heavy calibre seven men

There is something in the constitution of human
nature which abhors a complete uniformity. Some-
body must be picked out as a victim in every well
regulated society. Every club has its butt, and
every school selects some especial object for that
amount of tyranny and oppression which lies hid
under the smug exterior of boyhood. Why should
we grudge to great empires the resources which
are found so necessary to the smallest social commu-
nities ? The Empire of France is a great Empire.
Had it existed in the days of the Caesars them-
selves, it could not .have been more complete in all
the apparatus of a thoroughly despotic, imperial,
and military Government. Like Imperial Rome, it
has its innumerable legions, its well-fed and subser-
vient populace, its Senate not superfluously or up-
roariously independent; its obedient magistrates, its
absolute centralisation, its republican origin. Like
Imperial Rome, also, Imperial France has its pro-
scribed class, regarded with perpetual jealousy, and
visited with perpetual punishment and repression.
It required at least 150 years before the victories of
the first Caesar and the proscriptions of his successors
could eradicate from the midst of the Romans that
Republican party, which, after so many defeats
and so many massacres, still represented the dignity
of a people that had once been masters of the world,
and had then been content, with a tameness of
which history only offers too many parallels, to
degrade themselves to the level of those whom they
had conquered, and to place themselves at the feet
of a master imposed by them on the rest of the
world. Thrasea, Helvidius, and Ptetus had the
privilege of shedding their blood for a cause which
had once been the cause of the whole Roman nation
at a time when, under the fear of a despotic
Government and the distraction of barbarous shows
and frivolous entertainments, the Roman people
had learned to forget what they were and from
wliorn they sprang. A similar part seems reserved
for the " old parties" in France. 'When it is neces-
sary to accuse somebody, and the right person is
either unknown or is in a position in which it is not
convenient to accuse him, the blame is always
thrown on the " old parties." If the people of l' ranee
remember, not without some degree of bitterness,
that there was a time when they were permitted to
know what was actually passing in their own and
foreign countries without interference from their
Government—if they reflect that they were once
permitted to give a free opinion as to the conduct
of their affairs, such feelings have evidently been .
stirred up by the intervention of the "old parties."
If Spain, after having been urged by France into
a war in which she has received many hard
knocks and carried off in exchange only a mo- -
derate amount of glory and a heavy ransom,
finds that events have confirmed the advice of Eng-
land, whom she was taught to hate, and if her diffi-
dence in the counsels of France has received a
stimulus from the outbreak of a domestic rebellion
just at the moment when she was most absorbed in
an enterprise of foreign conquest—all this is evi-
dently the work of " old parties." If the minor
States of Germany believe that France is anxious
to sell them to Prussia in exchange for the frontier
of the Rhine—if Prussia believes that France is de-
termined upon. possessing herself of that geogra-
phical necessity—if Belgium thinks her frontiers
by no means too secure—all this is the result
of the machinations of " old parties." If there
be a Frenchman whose soul does not bound
within him at the annexation of Savoy and
Nice—if Portugal believes that she is destined
to be an indemnity for some concession to
France ors the Spanish frontier—if Italy itself
is by no means certain that Savona, Genoa,
and Sardinia are not destined to follow in the wake
of Nice and Savoy,—this can only be because their
minds are vitiated by the malevolent representa-
tions of " old parties." And, finally, if England,
forgetful of the Crimea, forgetful of China, and
listening only to the voice of fear and suspicion,
begins to think that the concessions she has made
as to commercial relations have not been met in a
generous spirit, and that the augmentations of the
French Navy are such as to give rise to well-
founded apprehension, and cause us to arm on our
side,—what has given occasion to all this, devoid as
it is of the slightest foundation, except the calumnies
and misrepresentations fostered by " old parties ?"
Such, at least, is the conclusion of the Constitu-
tionnel, a journal deriving its information too di-
rectly from the source of supreme power to allow us
to doubt for a moment the legitimacy of its inspira-
tion.
What, then, are these" old parties ?" What is the
influence that they possess, that they should be able
thus to set France against its own Government, and
all the rest of Europe against France? How comes
it that they have been able to establish themselves
as the only trusted expositors of the position and
prospects of Europe, and to bind in their spell so
many nations differing so widely from each other in
laws and politics, in government, and in political
relations ? What force have the " old parties" in
England, what in Italy, what in Germany, what
in Spain, so that they have been able to infuse
into nations so distant in place, so discordantin lan-
guage, so unlike in political constitution, this
universal principle of distrust of France We
cannot help feeling that M. Grandguillot mar-
vellously overestimates the resources and power
of the " old parties" of whom he seems so much
afraid, and compliments them on the possession of
power which they are very far indeed from really
haying. Whence should they derive it? It can-
not be from their organs of the press in France, for
they are shackled and manacled, and can do little
indeed, either to benefit themselves or to injure
those to whom they are opposed. Nor can it be
from their influence in foreign countries, where the
"old parties" are utterly unknown to the mass of
the people, and where the few intelligent men who
may take cognisance of their writings regard them
with pretty much the same interest as they would a
novel penned byamammoth or a tragedy fresh from
the pen of an ichthyosaurus. Would it not be better
to look a little nearer home ? Would it not be
wiser to give up these endless complaints,
which satisfy nobody and only place the Govern-
ment of France in an undignified and querulous
position ? If it be true, as asserted by the Consti-
tutionel—which ought to know, and whose veracity
we are in no degree concerned to deny—that there
is but one feeling throughout Europe with regard
to France, and that a feeling of distrust and appre-
hension, we entreat the Constatutionel to think bet-
ter of us than to suppose that we are mere passive
instruments, to be played on at the will of parties,
either old or new, or to be subjected to the gross
_
deceptions which have, as it thinks, been practised
upon us. We derive our information from no_ Such
sources, uc
sources, but from gentlemen independent of
" parties" either old or young..sn
learn that France is daily increasing From these weg
her Navy a a
mrl France
re-
quirements, entirely disproportioned toher
required.come r
quirements, and that her army n be filled up in
e
a few days to any amount
(l the advantages that
isg
cannot hope to enjoy at °
moderation tio
as
between
She chose
was
es o
of
thea
n
policy of aggression and of
to go .to war with
two nations there really no provocation what-
Austria,
ever.
She chose to annex Savoy and Nice when
there was not even a colourable pretence for such
a proceeding: She cannot do these things and
escape suspicion, If the " old parties" are silent
there will not be wanting tongues to denounce
her conduct. She can put an end to all discussion
upon it within her own territories, but there are
parts of Furope to which this oppressive influence
floes not reach, and from them she must be con-
tent, to hear whatever a free public opinion chooses
to .express with d regar to those transactions that
ha're destroyed the confidence in the future which
Fr txtee so urgently needs.—Times.

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THEATRE-LOYAL, HAYMARKET.
Lome, Mr. J. B. Buskstone.
THIS l'1711:NING the performances will commence with
THE OVERLAND ROUTE. Messrs. C. Mathews, Buck-
stone, Compton, Chippendale, Rogers, Mrs. C. Mathews, Miss
Weekes, and Mrs. Wilkins.
After which, the new comedietta, HIS EXCELLENCY,
in which Mr. and Mrs. C. Mathews will appear.
And THE BOARDING SCHOOL.
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