The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-03 00:00:00

NATIONAL DEFENCES.

The interest attached to the fortifications as pro-
posed by the commissioners appointed to consider
the subject of national defences, induces us to give
the letter of Major-Gen. S. H. Williams to Mr.
Sidney Herbert, in which he declares himself op-
posed to carrying out the recommendations of the
commissioners. The veteran writer is in favour of
entrenched camps and a large augmentation of the
army. He decries fortifications, and, in support of
his views, he brings forward the authority of the
Duke of Wellington, whose words, he says, cannot
be too often repeated. "I quote them," he writes,
"as a proof that my argument is sound. ' There is
no made of resistance, much less of protection, from
this danger, except by an army in the field capable
of uniting and contending with its formidable
enemy." Major-General Williams is most unfair
in the version he has given of the gallant Duke's
words. The quotation is taken from the celebrated
letter to Sir John Burgoyne in 1847; and the pas-
sage here mutilated runs as follows in the original.
The distinguished writer is referring to the march
of a concentrated invading force on London :—" I
know no mode of resistance, much less of protection,
from this danger, excepting by an army in the field
capable of contending with its fortnidable enemy,
aided by all the means of fortification which expe-
rience in war can suggest." We do not attribute to
General Williams a deliberate intention to misrcpro
sent the greatest military authority of the age. But
it is at least extraordinary, if he quoted from memory,
how he could remember one part of the sentence
end forget its concluding and most essential por-
tion. What should we think of a lawyer, who,
pleading in a court of justice, adduces a dictum of
some great judge as favourable to his side of the
question, which, on examination, is found to bear
directly against him ? Such an attempt at decep-
tion would only be the means of turning the court
against him, and bringing about an adverse deci-
sion. Major-General Williams is pleading to a
court constituted of the nation at large. He has
quoted the Duke of Wellington as an advocate of
views the opposite of which the great captain clearly
expressed ; and, instead of furthering his end by
the misquotation, he has greatly damaged his argu-
ment. If we take the opinioii of Wellington's most
formidable antagonist, Napoleon, we find that they
e stated at
places,to
agree on the question of fortifications. in ty4A
Emperor-servant)
for
fortified
"''Conversations de It apoleon a Sainte lielf4,a ,174
ae
art of the engineer. Let us
have said There are some military men who
given by Montholon, tl:ueoiEx
ea
ns kt
roe fn
ewhheadt
euasme
pear, et
h(
ask them in turn how is it possible to manoeuvre
with inferior or even equal forces without the as-
sistance of positions -of fortifications, and of all the
supplementary means of art ?" approaching the
examination of this great national question, then,
the opinion of Major General Williams is directly
opposed to the recorded convictions of the two
greatest masters of military science the world has
known since Caesar and Charlemagne. The issue is
shall
lowwd
eehatvo the inquiry
e_fortsof
solidwha t sort
masonry e
General Williams is averse to per-
meaarnthenwtorfokrst.
forts on the scale proposed, and he contends
it would require an addition of forty thousand men
to the regular army, which, taking the cost of each
man at £6O annually, would amount to 21-- millions
per annum,
or the interest of 80 millions at 3 per
cent., tb which should be added another two mil,
lions for raising, training, and lodging without the
fortresses in time of peace a portion of that iu.
crease. General Williams, with the prejudice na-
tural to most military men, lays too little store by
the volunteers. They have shown their efficiency
in the most marked manner, and we are inclined to
believe that they may be relied upon on the occur-
rence of war, and that a much shorter period will
Suffice to render them fit to garrison the forts pro-
posed than would be required to make them com-
petent to meet the first shock of fully disciplined
.troops in Ihe field.— Western Daily Nereury, Ply-
mouth.

ROYAL SURREY GARDENS.—The Music-hall, •7111
connexion with the Gardens, has been engaged by Mr.
Balfe, the eminent composer, for the purpose of giving a
series of concerts, the first of which takes place on the 11th
inst. Mr. Sims Reeves, Miss Dolby, Miss Poole, Collins,
Santley, and a host of talent appear. The gardens are nosy
in admirable order. Mr. Green, the aeronaut, ascends next
Monday.