The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-24 00:00:00

PRICE 4D, STAMPED, 5D

MR. LINDSAY ON CHERBOURG.

Mr. Lindsay, M.P., has addressed the following letter to
ibe editor of the Times :

"Sir,—lwould not have troubled you, but as the French
papers continue day after day to comment on the few re-
marks offered by one at Shields, and as many of the writers
entirely misinterpret what I said, I trust you will grant me
an opportunity of contradicting some of their severe ani-
madversions. Of these I would have taken no notice on my
own account, fur a public man must expect to be roughly
handled at times, often more so when he speaks the truth.
My speech, if worthy of that name, was delivered with-
out preparation at a friendly meeting; but as I am not in
the habit of speaking at random, or upon subjects which I
do not understand, I have referred to see if it contains any
remarks which could by possibility offend any reasonable
Frenchman. Ido not find any. The phraseology, it is
true, might have been greatly improved, and if I had had
the most remote idea that the words which fell from my
lips were to be circulated and canvassed to the extent they
have been, I would have entered more into detail, and given
reasons for the opinions I ventured to offer.
" I see nc reason, because I was a guest,' to humble
myself before the people of France, or fawn, as many
upon their Emperor. I am, however, most anxious to aid
those friendly relations which now happily exist between
the Emperor of France and the great bulk of the people of
this country; and, therefore,,l trust youvill allow me to
say that I did not utter one word of malevolence' or `envy'
towards our neighbours, and so far from offering, or at-
tempting to offer, an 'insult to the Emperor and France,'
I spoke, and have always spoken, of him (as Emperor) with
great respect, and of his subjects with a conviction that they
were a refined, courteous, great, and generous people. For
their own sakes, I wish they were as enlightened and free
as they are courteous and generous, but with their laws and
their institution's I have nothing 'whatever to do, and I did
not, and never will, interfere. As all .England, however
—all Europe, I may say, was invited to take part or to
witness their great naval review, the subject was one for
public comment, for in it we were all interested. Even
Frande did not mean the fete to be a dumb-show, and I dare-
say the Emperor himself would have been aggrieved had the
press of England and the people of this country been silent
spectators. It was a public display of his power, and of the
naval resources of his empire—a display from which all Eu-
rope was either to draw a moral or adorn a tale.' I at-
tempted to draw my moral, by asking what it all meant—if
there was any reality, so far as the French people were con-
cerned, in those embraces with which their Emperor met my
Queen ? If it had been the opening of a great mercantile
dock to facilitate the exchange of commoditiestetween'Eng-
land and France, the object of the invitation would have been
more' apparent, and that embrace more of a reality, and
likely to be far more lasting. I believe the Emperor sincerely
desires to maintain peace with England. Wby be does so,
it is not necessary for me to inquire; but naval dockyards,
gigantic fortifications, and terrible instruments of destruc-
tion are opposed to progress, civilisation, and peace. Such
things as these are created for use, not ornament, and France
with her present navy is fit to cope with any other Power,
except England. Seeing, therefore, a dock opened of vast
dimensions, and with all the appliances for a navy twice
as large as that which she now possesses, I arrived at
the conclusion that France would not have built so large
a dock, unless she intended some time or other to fill it
with ships of war. In spite, therefore, of all the profes-
sions of friendship which I heard, there was such a mystery
about all these great arsenals, and building-slips, and
dry docks, and railways in connexion with them, without
any trade, that I was forced to think how we in England
would stand if all that vast machine was brought into
operation, and I naturally gave my constituents the
benefit of my thoughts. Having done so, I may now ven-
ture neon an inquiry which may prove alike useful to many
politicians both in France and in England. Suppose the po-
liticians of France attempt to fill those great docks which
they have just opened with vessels of war. We can build
ships quite as fast, perhaps faster, for we are a far wealthier
people, and the burden would be felt much less by us than
it would be by them. The rivalry of shipbuilding and
creating instruments of demoralisation and death would
then be in full play between the two countries. The people
of both countries would be heavily taxed to protect them-
selves against each other, for there is no other maritime
Power that either country need have the slightest reason to
fear. But such a policy as this would surely be suicidal in the
extreme, and would on the part of the Executive of both
countries be an act of the greatest injustice towards the
people, if there is any honesty in those professions of friend-
ship and peace about which we have heard so much. Until,
therefore, both countries cease building those gigantic
ships of war, and come to some understanding of a more
binding nature than mere professions, I can have no faith in
a permanent peace between France and England.
" But suppose France does waste her money in creating
a fleet as large as that of England, what will it all amount
to? She is great as a military nation, but she has not
within her the ingredients of a great maritime Power. For
every yacht she owns we have 100—perhaps 200. Our mer-
chant shipping far exceeds that of France. Her over-sea
commerce can bear no comparison with ours. Our
children take to the boats and the sea with even
more relish than the children of France take to the fife and
the drum. Her population is almost stationary—we are
rapidly on the increase ; and, however much some of the
French writers may have sneered at our sailors amusing
themselves on the masthead trucks as proving anything iu
their favour, it proves the habits of our people, and forms
one of the ingredients which constitute a Navy' in the
true sense of the word. A nation cannot be great in every-
thing, and I speak the words of truth and mature thougl.t
when I say that it would be as great folly in England to
attempt to rival France in her vast standing armies as it will
be on the part of France to attempt to rival England as a
maritime Power."