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

CHERBOUPG AND P Sztr
C4..,1N-44.1
,br 41
Ile opening of the new basinifTti tAg4,
the Emperor of the French, kiingr_`,-WAirtittvA/4„V
of the English to " come and seek viis.'/9
our members of Parliament and otfiersief,co
trymen with an opportunity to delive henisblv(
of their opinions relative to the progressive naval -
and military works going at Cherbourg for the last '
hundred years. We have accordingly been 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 arc constructed en-
tirely for defence of the public esiablishments,
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 slips or men-of-war
along their north coast from Ushant To Calais ; and
it was necessary that the very indifferent ba v 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 are no sheltered inlets whatever in the bay ;
the commercial and military basins had to be dug
out of the solid earth, and when once duo. 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 the 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>minance departments, medical hos-
pitalsi-barracks, iopery,•&e:, 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-creek.
Again, we have barracks in Devonport, Plymouth,
and Stonehouse ; a citadel and forts, &c. ; we have,
too, a breakwater and reservoirs of fresh water, and
we have tmrivalled inner, deep, and sheltered water
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
other members of the " House" would have done
well to consider the physical:condition of Cherbourg
before they attempted to frighten 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 of deep and sheltered inner
waters. Hamoaze is our great natural basin of
some 650 acres of deep water—deeper even than
Plymouth Sound. Portsmouth has similar but not
equal advantages ; so has Sheerness, Chatham,
Woolwich, Deptford, Pembroke, Cork, Malta, &c.
The French naval ports in the Bay of Biscay—viz„
Brest, L'Orien't, and Rochefort, have very fair
water accommodation, and are 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 prefer
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 Cherbourg, 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 Ft 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 that it is best we should
remain at peace, and foster friendly relations.