The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 24, MO.

great an absurdity to propose a higher or lower
discharge of sewers into the Thames or into the sea
as it would be to propose throwing into the water
the cargoes of corn brought into port by our ships.
All these cumulative evidences of the value of
our sewage could not have arisen at a better time
for as. One great sewer is now approaching com-
pletion, and the others will follow in, we may hope,
reasonable time. But the question how they are to
terminate ought to be at once taken up. The idea
suggested by what the Mayor of Birmingham has
done should be at once adopted in London. It
seems every way probable that the money obtained
for a right to use the sewage of London would
amount to a very handsome sum ; would be a sen-
sible relief to the metropolitan rates, and leave a
handsome profit still to both the company which
constructed the works and the agriculturist also.
We hope, therefore, soon to hear of a similar
meeting in London.

M. ESQUIROS is doing good service to the cause
of Peace in Europe—M. Esumos being (of all

Europeans !) a Frenchman, and (of all Frenchmen !)
a Journalist ! As a contributor to that French
Times, and Bkv.ikivood, and Edinburgh, all rolled

into one, the Revue des deux Mondes—M, ALPHONSE
EsQUIRoS has recently commenced in that eminent

periodical a series of papers upon our British War
Establishments—a series of papers which says to
all France, which says for that matter to the whole
of Europe—Beware! Pause! Hesitate! Think
Twice ! before you dream of assailing, much more

before you dream of actually invading England.
For a wonder, be it said, although a Frenchman—
for a still greater wonder, although a French man-
of-letters, M. EsQUIROS really does appear to know
something about England and about Englishmen.
What he knows about us, he has evidently learnt
from personal observation. He has manifestly not

His Excellency the Marquis d'Azeglio has lef
town for Broadlands Park, on a visit to Viscount and Vis
countess Palmerston. _ _

begun, according to the old approved fashion, by
collecting his facts at second-hand. He has come
amongst us with his eyes open—and has examined
everything, so to speak, with his eyes, NOT through
coloured glasses. At the same time, while thus
himself perfectly dispassionate, he is obviously quite
conscious of the prevailing tendency elsewhere to
exaggeration. " When I read the French news-
papers," he says, " I think—to use an expression
common on the other side of the straits—that the
Thames is on fire ;" adding, " When I read the
English newspapers I think it is the Seine." Never-
theless, while deriding thus frankly the general
disposition upon both sides to misrepresent the
actual state of things by extravagantly magnifying
upon either hand the confronting armaments, M.
ESQUIROS insists upon it that the military reforms
and increasing armaments of the United Kingdom
have at length acquired far themselves a character
of importance sufficient to justify a serious
amount of reflection among the surrounding nations
of the European continent. "Every nation of the
continent, " he writes, no matter which [imperial
France, of course, can take this to herself !] every
nation of the continent that should feel disposed to
come into collision with Great Britain ought to
think twice about it. First and foremost she would
find before her the wooden walls of Old Eng-
land, hitherto an impenetrable bulwark to her
shores ; behind the ships are soldiers, who are daily
increasing in numbers and improving in organiza-
tion ; behind those soldiers stands the armed na-
tion" —meaning by this last our supplementary
army of 150,000 Rifle Volunteers.
Altogether apart from the recent movement made
by Englishmen with a view to the better organiza-
tion of their national defences, altogether apart
from this recent movement, M. ESQUIROS has the
high moral courage to put the following pertinent
and searching queries in our regard directly before
his own fellow-countrymen--" Have not the Eng-
lish soldiers," he asks, " although never numerous,
sufficed for all the great eventualities of history ?
Has not the weight of their arms been felt for cen-
turies pest in the balance in which are weighed the
destinies of the Continent ? Each time that it was
necessary to conquer, have they not conquered ?"
Nay, he has even the courage to observe yet fur-
ther, yet more pointedly, " I will not awaken irri-
tating recollections, I will not write the name of a
great battle so painful to our national self-love ; it
suffices to recall the fact that lately England, with
a handful of men, reconquered India. Instead of deny-
ing history, it were better to seek by what ties the
British character is linked to the group of martial na-
tions." Whereupon he thus judiciously represents
our military character: "The Englishman," he ob-
serves, "is not warlike from taste ; he does not love
war for war's sake, or maintain an army for the
ruinous pleasure of seeing bayonets glitter and ban-
ners flaunt. He has an army to defend his territory,
his commerce, the immense network of his external
relations and affairs. Experience has more than
once shown him the necessity of putting the pride
of riches under the protection of courage. The
English soldier has less enthusiasm than coolness.
On a battlefield he dies as he lives, with resolution
and from a sentiment of duty. Immovable in his
ranks, he feels that the responsibility of the labour
which has made England an opulent nation rests
upon his arms." So much for the " regular army"
—outside which, girdling our very coasts with the
outermost barrier of defence are England's Old
Weolen Walls—within which, bristling in serried
ranks, corps upon corps are the bands of the armed
nation itself, the armed people themselves, the
National Guard of the British Rifle Volunteers.
France, Russia, any nation in Europe "will think
twice about it," as M. ESQUIROS frankly puts the
matter before his fellow Frenchmen, before his
brother Europeans—" will think twice about it" be-
fore coming into collision with Great Britain under
existing circumstances.

The Duke and Duchess of Hamilton and family
have . left Hamilton Palace, Lanarkshire, for Brodick
Castle, Arran, where the noble duke and duchess will
shortly receive a distinguished circle of friends.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury, who
left town a few days back for Bedgebury Park, Kent, on a
visit to Mr.A. B. Beresford-Hope and Lady Mildred Hope,
will join the circle visiting the Earl and Countess Delawarr
at Buckhurst Park, Sussex, to-day.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Clanricarde
arrived in town on Saturday, from Paris, in which capital
they made a short stay on their way home from Homburg.
The Earl and Countess of Derby's party at
KftowsleyPark, Lancashire, will assemble on Monday next,
and will include a large family circle and immediate per-
sonal friends, invited for the nuptials of the Lady Emma
Stanley and Colonel the Hon. W. P. M. C. Talbot, ap-
pointed to take place on Thursday, the 4th proximo.
The Earl and Countess of Seafield arrived in the
early part of last week at their seat in Inverness-shire, from
a tour of vists in Ireland.
The Earl of Lonsdale arrived at his residence on
Carlton House-terrace, on Saturday, from Lowther Castle,
Westmoreland.
The marriage of Lady Arabella Diana S. West,
youngest daughter of the Earl and Countess Delawarr, with
Sir Alexander Bannerman, Bart., is to be solemnised to-
morrow at Buckhurst Park, Sussex.
Lieutenant General Sir Harry Smith continuer,
we are sorry to learn, in much the same condition, no appa-
rent improvement having manifested itself. ller Majesty,
before her departure for Germany on Saturday, sent an
equerry to inquire after the health of 'the gallant general.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge and a great
many military friends of Sir Harry called personally dur-
ing tb t afternoon.
A letter from Lyons informs us that the waters
of the Rhone and Saone have risen to the level of the lower
bridges.