The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-12 00:00:00

Commence at 7.1

THEATRE-ROYAL LYCEUM.
Sole Lessee and Directress, Madame CELESTE.
THIS EVENING, MAGIC TOYS : Valentine, Miss Lydia
it'bompson.

After which, a comedy by Dion Bonrcicalt, Esq., entitled
THE IRISH HEIRESS. Messrs. Georpoe Vining H. Neville
(his sth appearance in London), John Rouse, Villiers, T.
Lyon. H. Butler, Miss Kate Saville, Miss M. Hatton, and
Miss Goughenheim, the talented Comedienne, of the princi-
pal Theatres in America (her sth appearance in England).
To conclude with the romantic drama of THE AKRE
VA UD ItEUIL, in which the celebrated Dancers, the Misses
Collinson, will make the r 3d appearance in London. The
Abbe Vaudreuil, Madame Celeste.

ADELPHI, NEW THEATRE-ROYAL.
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. Benj. Webster.
Great Success of the new Drama, by Dion Bourcicault, Esq.,
"The Colleen Bawn."—Miss Agnes Robertson every even-
ing.
THIS EVENING, THE RIFLE CORPS. Messrs. W.
Smith, D. Fisher, C. Selby, Miss oolgar, Miss Kate Kelly,
and Ars. Billington
After which, THE COLLEEN DAWN. D. Bourcicault, D.
Fisher, Billing:ton, Falconer, Stephenson, C. J. Smith, Romer.
Miss Agnes Robertson, Miss Woolgar, Mrs. Billing-ton, and

Cliatterlcy. *
To conclude with MUSIC ITATII CHARMS. Mr. David
Fisher.
Doors open at half-past 6—Commence at 7.
Box-office open from 10 till 5.
No charge for booking.
Private boxes, .£2 28. ; Family Boxes, .£l.
Orchestra stalls, 55. ; Balcony, 48. ; Front Circle Stalls, Is. ;
Pit Stalls, 25.; Pit, ls. 6d. ; Amphitheatre, is ; Gallery, 6d.
Acting Manager—Mr. Wm. Smith.

A STLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.-
Proprietor and Manager, Mr. Wm. BATTY.
This Evening (first time) a new Spectacle, entitled ROBIN
HOOD ; or. the Merry Outlaws of Sherwood ;Allan-a-Dale,
Miss Rebecca Isaacs; Robin Hood, Mr. John Pritchard.

To be followed by Scenes in the Arena by the Star Riders
of the day, including Mdlle. de Berg and Mr. James Cooke.
Doors open at half-past 6, performance commence at 7.
Box-office open daily trom 11 till 4.
Stage Manager—Mr. W. WEST.
Director of the Arena—Mr. Pearson.

CANTERBURY HALL CONCERTS.-
EVERY EVENING,
A. Grand Selection from the opera of
NORMA.

Norma ... ... Miss RUSSELL.
Adalabia .......... ...... Madame MARIA,
(Her first appearance in this country.)
After which the ETHIOPIANS, consisting of Seventeen Per-
formers• organised expressly for this establishment, for the
Performance of Vocal and Instrumental Music, Comic and
Sentimental, with Negro Delineations, Anecdotes, &c. Prin-
cipal Negro Artistes, Messrs. Joe Brown, G. W. Pell, IL
Drummond, and Charley Fox.
Musical Director, Mr. F. JONGHMANS.

Balcony, le , Hall. 6d.

THE WEATHER.—Sux OFFICE, Oar. 12, 1860.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.

56—this day at noon.
32—lowest this morning and during the night; freezing.
43—highest since noon yesterday.
BAROMETER-29.94 ; rising rapidly.

WlND—North .Westerly; rather fresh, with fine frosty
weather and clear sky. It froze sharply last night, and
promises to go on. •

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DA.Y.—Morning, h. m.—Afternoon, 12h. Om.
To-moßitow.-Morning, 12h. 16m.—Afternoon, 12h. 38m.

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THE SUN.

LONDON, FRIDAY, OCT. 12, 1860.

The Defence of England is now the most serious
subject of every one's thoughts on public mat-
ters. That we must, at all costs, be safe, is both
the instinct, and the deliberate judgment, of all
men. True, there are some who imagine that we
are in no danger of hostile attack—the gentle-
men, chiefly, of the school who have been most
active in originating, and completing, the French
treaty. We doubt not the sincerity of their
professed opinions. Intent only on commerce,
they measure all probabilities by the wishes of
commercial men, and they find that class nearly
as hostile to war as the same class in England.
They judge of both countries by the sentiments
of the trading parts of the two communities ;
but we must think they overlook the classes who
placed the Emperor of the FRENCH on his throne,
while he showed of how little importance he
thought the goodwill of the bourgeoisie, by point-
ing his cannon at their shops, and shooting them
without mercy.
The truth is, that at any moment in which it
might suit the EMPEROR, no subject would be
more popular in France than a summary humilia-
tion to be inflicted on England. Pretexts would
never be wanting; and we must do the EMPEROR
the justice to say that they would be more wel-
come to his subjects than to himself. Invasion
of England would be, assuredly, his very last
card ; but, so far as the past has taught us any-
thing, it is, that LOUIS NAPOLEON needs short
and brilliant campaigns to divert the minds of
his subjects from s political serfdom which
will not enslave the reflection of an in-
telligent and civilised people ; and 14 that
he therefore refuses to reduce his naval and mili-
tary armaments to simply defensive proportions.
The worst additional fact is—that his word, and
his promises, his assertions and denials, with. !his
warnings to prove himself sincere, are all worse
than useless. Europe can believe the unequivocal
assertions of even a ROMANOFF, a HOHENZOLLERN,
or a RAPSBURG ;—it cannot give the slightest credit
to
a .(311APAItTE ! We write not thus in vitupera-
tion. Is it not the simple fact, that ever since by
perjury and friendly profession he deceived to their
ruin the representatives of France, all foreigners
who have trusted his professions have also found
themselves deceived. It " 'runs in the blood ;" the
first NAPOLEON hardly knew what moral principles
meant. It seems to be the same with the third.
BONAPARTES regard them as a kind of superstition
or weakness, with which minds
of their superior
order may play just as will suit them.

It is these too obvious facts which give such an
interest to all really able and competent discussions
of the subject of the " L'efence of England."
And,
we hardly need say, few more competent persons
have given us their thoughts upon it than General
Sir HOWARD DOUGLAS ; whose pamphlet of nearly
100 pages, published by MURRAY, well deserves the
attention of all intelligent men. We may remark,
that though a few of the details, and only a few,
may be best appreciated by professional men, the
reasonings of his pamphlet are made not only in-
telligible, but lucid, to the comprehension of every
educated and sensible man ; and we gladly invite
general attention to them. He investigates the
whole subject of the "naval, littoral, and internal
defence" of the country, and his suggestions on
each and on their combination demand public
attention.

1 In the first pc;ges of his pamphlet
adverts to the real, the honest reason for all our
solicitude he naturally
on the subject ; and it comes, of course,
to the hostile attilude assumed by France. With-
out an irritatin g word, almost indeed seeming to
own that France) has a right to put England to her
present heavy e: tpense, he shows that the facts may
be summed up as—preparation by France of An

extent and a kind which is a real menace to England.
During the last ten years, and basing her action
on the recommendations propounded in the " En-
quete Parlementatre" (1849), Franca has been
directing her efforts to the attainment of the naval
rank she formerly held among the powers of
Europe. As a professional man, Sir HOWARD
DOUGLAS seems rather to sympathise than not•with
this costly ambition of France; and only to blame
our Government because, he having laid the facts
from the French official documents before it in 1853,
it did not quietly take measures to keep alongside
oar ambitious rival. His own remarks, however,
convict France of unfriendly intentions towards us.
Having acknowledged-her claim, as a continental
power, to maintain a large army as a condition of
safety, he adds—" Preponderating naval power
not being essential to the security of France, the
effort to acquire it can only be considered as a hos-
tile measure towards Great Britain—to which
naval supremacy is indispensable, and must be
maintained at any cost." He proposes entire freedom
from any unfriendly feeling towards France, but
he uses the facts and circumstances enumerated in
the French official document before referred to, to
prove that England must have dominant power in
the waters which surround the British Isles, and at
the same time be able to protect her numerous
colonies; for both which objects her present navy
is wholly inadequate.
The document referred to not only lays down the
plans to be adopted, and the expense to be incurred
in making France, to say the least, co-mistress of
the seas with us—it specially points to us as the
object of supposed attack; details the naval means
requisite to disembarking an army on our shores,
and speaks of us—at least Admiral DUPETIT-
THOUARS, in his evidence, does—as a nation which
had never resisted an invasion—as not having the
military spirit—as being without organization, and
that in case of war with us they had but one thing
to do—to effect a landing ! This was said nearly
10 years ago. What would he now say to the Volun-
teers, who are quite ready to answer this gasconade,
and to show him both organization. and military
spirit ? The crowing of the Gallic bantams has
hardly, indeed, been audible since the Reviews at
Hyde-park, Edinburgh, and Knowsley. But the
spirit of this report is, unhappily, the spirit of
almost all Frenchmen ; and their aggressive navy
has been created by it. And, with regard to the
present, most justly does Sir H. DOUGLAS observe
—" If, when the Alliance between England and
France was formed, the Emperor of the FRENCH had
disclaimed the policy, disavowed the intentions,
and refused to give effect to, the recommendations
for a gradual increase in the navy of France for the
next ten years," the author would not advert again
to his old warnings to our Government. " But was
there then (1852), is there now, any keeping
between professions of a pacific policy on the part
of the French Government and the vast augmen-
tations of a naval force recommended by L'En-
quete Parliamentaire' in a season of profound
peace ?"

On the contrary, year after year, the French
Government has gone on adding to its naval force,
till now, in 1860, their steam navy amounts to 264
ships afloat and 61 building. And these are thus
classed :-37 line-of-battle ships, 47 frigates, 19 cor-
vettes, 68 gunboats, 9 floating batteries, 89 avisos,
5 iron-cased ships, and 31 transports. And this
immense navy has been constructed by a country
which has not a colony worth naming, except one
at its own doors, and that colony one which the
most belligerent neighbour would assuredly never
covet—one to which needy Frenchmen themselves
can hardly be induced to emigrate. Everyone is
also aware that these ships can be manned at any
time, and by trained gunners, almost at a day's
notice; while the enormous standing army can be
as rapidly increased by conscription, or by recalling
soldiers whose term of service has not expired. Sir
11. DOUGLAS gives in this connexion an authentic
account of the French artillery. The totals are-
-212 batteries, 1,272 guns, 1,794 officers, 55,974 non-
commissioned officers and privates, and 40,924
horses—all ready for service I Our own totals are
but 80 batteries and troops, and 480 guns, with pro-
portionate equipments. But we must leave our
readers for the present to ponder on these facts,
purposing soon to advert again to this important
pamphlet.

'At last we have the frightful authenticated re-
cord of our coast casualties in 1859—that year of
storms and shipwreck. It is an annual banquet of
horrors, with the ordinary character of which most
of us are long since only too familiar. The latest
served up to us, however, is very far indeed be-
yond the average in abundance. Elsewhere in our
impression of this evening we give the usual epi-
tome of those statistics, from which it will be un-
derstood readily enough how fearful are the records
of death and disaster chronicled by the Board of
Trade, and carefully tabulated for subsequent pre-
sentation to the Imperial Parliament.
Often as we have spread the annual Wreck
Chart before us, and examined it by the aid of
the Wreck Register, we have seldom, if, indeed,
we have ever done so with more profound
emotions of commiseration. Nor can the dismay
inspired by these latest official reminders of
the perils of the deep to those who, in scriptural
phrase, "go down to the sea in ships," be
any matter of surprise when it is remembered that
the twelve months of 1859 saw wrecked upon the
shores of these islands as many as 1,416 vessels,
calamities fearfully endangering the lives of 3,977
individuals, 1,645 of whom, indeed, actually
perished, together with property to the estimated
value in the aggregate of £1,500,000 sterling!
Along the eastern coast alone, out of those 1,416
wrecks, as many as 621 occurred. Yet appalling
though the numbers here specified are unquestion-
ably when examined by themselves, it has been
judiciously remarked that they absolutely appear
to dwindle into comparative insignificance when
contrasted with the total number of the vessels
known to have been entered inwaids and
cleared outwards at our ports during that
single year of our LORD 1859—that aggregate
number being literally no less than 300,580 vessels
(manned by considerably more than 1,000,000 per-
sons) representing a tonnage of fully 31,712,500 !
Beyond which, says the epitome of the official re-
cord published elsewhere—" It is not an unfre-
quent occurrence to see 400 or 500 vessels at one
time coming down the East Coast"—that fatal
coast line along which (as we have before noted)
in 1859, 621 ships were lamentably wrecked !

Remembering, therefore, that these islands of
ours constitute the very central core or focus of
the mercantile enterprise of the whole world—
that here, around the entire sweep of our shores,
roll those seas where—
" Commerce plies her ever-busy sail I"
Remembering that here, within each successive
twelvemonth, are perpetually passing to and fro
upwards of 300,000 vessels, manned by more than
1,000,000 people, and representing a tonnage of
over 30,000,000—it cannot (frightful though these
annual disasters may be in themselves) it cannot
be deemed so wholly incomprehensible that more
than 1,500 of these unfortunate seaman and traders
perish within a single year, that nearly 4,000 of

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