The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-07 00:00:00

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PRICE 4D.. STAMPED, SD,

LiNSPAPE-Kr---.)
41:n7'
The
-
The opening of the n y
the Emperor of the _
of the English to "come 4 fl 7 n
117-
_A#l,ll- ed
our members of Parliament `ll,.ertsiTC-coun-
trymen with an opportunity , lvti" tlieniselv(
of their opinions relative to the progressive naval
and military works going at Cherbourg for the last
hundred years. We have according,•lybeen favoured
with statements made at public meetings by gen-
tlemen who have seldom much to say in their places,
but who have come out rather strongly on their
return from Cherbourg. and blown the war trumpet
in rather an alarming manner, telling their gaping
audiences that the French could send down and. _
ship off 100,000 men " at a moment's notice, as it
were." These alarmists wish us to believe that
these Cherbourg works are a menace to England.
No such thing ! These works are constructed en-
tirely for defence of the public esiablislunents,
which have been in progress for the last 80 years,
and in order to prevent for the future a recurrence •
of what happened in 1758. The French have not
a single natural and safe ,place of anchorage and
shelter for either merchant ships or, men-of-war
along their north coast from Ushant to Calais ; and
it was necessary that the very indifferent bay of
Cherbourg should be sheltered by a breakwater.
The little streams that fall into the bay are barely
sufficient to supply the place with fresh water ;
there arc no sheltered inlets whatever in the bay ;
the commercial and military basins had to be dug
out of the solid earth, and when once dug out they
required defensive works, without any reference
whatever to aggressive war with England. If
aggressive works are sought for, they may be found
on the rocky and insignificant island of Alderney,
where an expensive breakwater is in progress, to
form a little half-sheltered rocky bay on the north-
east side of the island, where a few small war
steamers might find very equivocal shelter from the
sea and protection from forts recently built. These
works we regard as very questionable ; they were
not intended to protect file interests or trade of the
1,200 poor islanders, but to prepare a place from
which might issue a war steamer to pounce upon
the small coasters creeping along the French coast
between Alderney and Cape de la Hogue. Cher-
bourg is the only naval station on the north
coast of France, and is, after all that has been
said, inferior to either Portsmouth or Ply-
mouth. At Cherbourg the imperial establish-
ments are all in close proximity, and within the
same lines—namely, the dockyard, steam factories:,
victualling and ordnance departments, medical hos-
pitals, barracks, ropery, &c., and they have, as has
been correctly reported, three floating docks, with an
area of 52 acres English ; but they have no river, no
creeks, no place whatever where ships might be laid
up in ordinary, and swing round, exposing their
sides to sun and air. When Mr. Lindsay told his
collier friends how large the Cherbourg docks were
he might, as an Englishman, and a merchant too,
have added that the imperial docks at Cherbourg
were only equal to one-eighth the dock accommoda-
tion at Liverpool, prepared by private companies.
If, unfortunately, we should have a war with France,
we need not fear anything from Cherbourg, if we
keep up our wooden walls and employ the resources
we possess. Plymouth or Portsmouth have each far
greater facilities for aggressive war than Cherbourg,
and our establishments here are more efficient and
extensive, but separate and under different superin-
tendence. We have, in separate, localities, the dock-
yard, steam-yard, victualling-yard, gun-wharf or
yard, powder-mills and magazines at Bull Point,
and the naval and military in Stonehouse-oreek.
Again, we have barracks in Devonport, Plymouth,
and Stonchouse ; a citadel and forts, &c. ; we have,
too, a breakwater and reservoirs of fresh water, and
we have unrivalled inner, deep, and shelteredwater
for our ships. The sea-frontage walls of Devonport
dockyard and victualling-yards extend into the
Hamoaze, and receive ships alongside at low water
of spring tides ; and for an extent of 1,500 feet from
Froward Point to North Corner, ships of the line lie
alongside the yard afloat at low water. Now,
although the ships at Cherbourg, when in basin, lie
afloat at low water, they cannot go in or out at all
times of the tide, simply for this reason—that the
water in the bay is 12 or 15 feet more shallow
than the water in , the artificial basins. The
bay is sandy and bottom, rocky ; therefore can-
not be dug out and kept permanently deep.
The jetty, running out from the town and com-
mercial docks, is about 1,800 feet long, but the
outer end on which the lighthouse is built dries
at low water of spring tides. Mr. Lindsay and
ether members of the ‘‘lfouse" would have done
well to consider the physicareondition of Cherbourg
before they attempted to !Tighten us " out of our
propriety.' The English do not require such exten-
sive basins at their dockyards, because their dock-
yards are on the shores' ofcleep and sheltered inner
waters. liamoaze is our great natural basin of
some 650 acres of deep water—deever even than
Plymouth Sound. Portsmouth has similar but not
equal- advantages; so has Sheerness, Chatham,
Woolwich, Deptford, Pembroke, Cork. Malta, &e.
The French naval ports in the Bay of Biscay—viz.,
Brest, L'Orient, and Rochefort, have very fair
water accommodation, and arc less liable to attack
than Cherbourg would be, if less strongly fortified.
We, in England, naturally take to the water ;
everybody gets afloat in some way or other, for
pleasure, profit, or necessity. The French prelim
the land. Here we have pleasure boats of every
shape, size, and form ; but in France few delight
in boating. No French pleasure boats of any kind
were seen at Cherbouro.'', and the reason probably
was, that if a shoemaker, grocer, or tradesman of
any kind were to amuse himself in boating, yacht-
ing, or fishing, some busy official might get him
enrolled for 'the Imperial naval conscription, and
thus place before his mind's eye the dangers at sea
and the risks of a foreign prison. The French
people know very well tlult it is best
renwin t..t peace. and foAer friendly

b 17;.,Y M' lON NE.I.R. tos

FOUR KILLED AND SEVEN INJURED.
(From the Manchester Guardian.)
On Saturday morning, about a quarter after six,
o'clock, a frightful explosion occurred at the mill
of Mr. Samuel Almond, woollen manufacturer, in
the village of Gilderstone, near Leeds. The ex-
plosion scattered destruction around in every direc-
tion to life and property. As soon as the confusion
had subsided, and the sufferers were collected and
examined, it was found that four persons had been
killed on the spot, and seven others very seriously
injured. The following are their names :
Dead.—John -Bradley, aged 18, the fireman,
whose act was the immediate cause of the explo-
sion. George Woffingtdn, a boy of 14 years. Sarah
Halliday, aged 22,. Alice Wright, aged 21.
Injured.—The following persons were most of
them severely injured :—James Almond. Martha
Robshaw : this unfortunate woman was far ad-
vanced in pregnancy, and there is but very little
hope of her recovery. John Gregson. Caroline
Gregson, who is stated to be in 4 dangerous con-
dition. Mary Ann Thompson. Jane Halliday, a
fracture of the leg and other injuries ; she is the
sister of Sarah Halliday, who was killed. Jane
Collinson.

The body of John Bradley, the engine-man or
fireman, was found in a horrible condition in a field,
150 yards from the mill. In its flight, it had come
in contact with a stone wall, at a distance of 140
yards from the mill, with such force that a portion
of the wall was thrown down. Parts of the skull,
the brains, &c., were found scattered about in the
field, and the body in its flight had been denuded
of clothing.
Amongst other effects of the explosion, a room
in which several young women were working was
thrown down, causing two of the deaths recorded.
Considerable portions of the mill and of the adja-
cent pottery of Mr. E. Ackroyd were also blown
down. Portions of the boiler, with bricks, stones,
flags, timber, iron, &c., were found in all directions
and at distances of 200 to 30OYards from the boiler-

seat.
Three men were loading a cart in the yard at the
time of the explosion. The cart was smashed and.
the horse killed, as well as a pig that was near ;
but all the men escaped without severe injury.
As to the cause of this catastrophe, we fear it is
but too obvious. It seems that during the night
the steam was got up, or kept up, and that the
boiler was for several hours left in the charge of a
mere lad, to fire up, &c. Bradley, the regular en-
gineer, a young man of 18, who appears to have
been very ignorant and unfit for such duties, came
about six o'clock in the morning, and sent the lad
home. Bradley, upon looking at the boiler, was
amazed to find that some of the plates were red hot.
Knowing no better, and desiring to cool them with-
out delay, he at once turned on a quantity of cold
water. Of course, the explosion followed instan-
taneously, and the wretched youth fell amongst
the victims of his gross ignorance. ,
On Saturday evening a coroner's jury was im-
pannelled, and, after the bodies had been identified,
so as to enable the coroner to issue his warrant for
their interment, the inquiry was adjourned to
Friday next.

Some excitement was occasioned in the literary
world by the sudden subpension from the Messenger of Paul
d'lvoi, the charming and witty chronicler of that paper.
The offence for which he thus incurred punishment was
merely that of declaring that the enthusiasm created by the
Emperors appearance in Brittany was exclusively expe-
rienced oy the journalists. The meanness of the order which
was immediately issued to all the papers to refuse employ-
ment to the indiscreet chronicler has been loudly reprobated
by all parties, and to such extent that the interdiction bas
been defied, and Paul d'lvoi is himself again.—Court
Journal.