The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-01 00:00:00

.'.of all, th. Ana mrql.D •
The nation .has. a right, o apppa *-ti4.141,F.
El)ortidS;::,itcl;tlierrfmeTttll the l• - 71:4
alLorw„gp,oproittilaitY 'tta el4hai •; .14,7
Vent in4efttlf(±o.ndertnilibinWlet6'
0 •
• Finally.
'utinuSt ftkftien happiel4
wars and strong political vuotior,l9..osaii.lrs more r
less seriously conipuoitilacl.:;zl.l36lll2.l,)e-itiveirslutyl:T
there 'ore, with the ai(l of•thai
ncl of the NationallUiidiq,'-'4:Aith:•;4i;loli4)4•,tivilx4;: A
organised. in every cortilitli,./,'•-)tioi .1444W10r ti e
oor4plete security, under tt/ittaptiblie' g-narclianshi
of .4

-!'13!-Trons t)d Tr'Weatcif 1::1;411-11:06-er,tizeir eon-
dition and. 'flaini7e;" bt:artng; ire Flind that if is
essentially by this,eTiteriopi,gild Ni it h repsop,.that.
nations ineasure anti recognise the good criterion,
and • v.-it h re4fg.l7,,hatnatkons inef!sure and.--recoß-
nisk- the “oodnzios .and strength of Governments. .
" In these terms tlio undersigned ng:.. in reckons
on all the' vAO, as well in the old as izethe -
new prOvirides, tOong to Lis d.::nurttent, for the
diiigence and .co-opera.tiou essential to the fulfil-—I
meat of the task as4i,gned to him.
" Turin, July 2.5. " 1)4-4

OUR. N.,1
.D.E.FENCZa

(E•mi e.77;22M4...-)'

When' an :independent 'member of •Parliameii( rt
conies forward and presseruppn the Governnient
that they shouici. LL is& a large by loan, And
apply it, to the amount of many millions, to build-
ing fortifications all over thci past, it is ,v,cry difficult
to believe • that. the MiniSterial resistance-. is made
in good, faith,alatlifit therci is no eollu;s" ion between
the importunate, suppliant end the self-denying
recusant. Evi‘n as Cll-?sar, while he lye:from him
the crown that Anthony e&r4 d, almost seemed to
clutch the bauble as he refused it, no wP may fancy
with what reeret any Vrinie MiniSter must feel
himself compelled to reject a proposition such as :-
that offered on Fiiday- night by ;Sir. -llorsman to
Lord Palmerston: The 'eelat'of being the first seri-
ously_ to:attempt to put the country in an efficient
state of defence, the strength which the e'x'pendi-
ture of -thoney'inust
eon kt.ratior,-,_ the POrlitimentere.
influence it would secure, the local interests it woua
conciliate, the vast amount of patronage it would
create, must ail have passed in tempting review
before the mind of our Premier. Like Merlin ;at
the hollOw oak, lie resisted for the first time the
voice .of the charmer; butwe trust the experiment
will not be too often repeated,--lest-" what should. ,
not be should be.", ln. the first place, before Re
burden posterity with a debt of. some five, or six
millions for the purpese of fortifYing our doCkyards,
let us consider the agency we are to emPloy: When
we have voted our five or six millions, to whom am •
they to be handed over for expenditure ?I .Clearly,
in a great measure to the authorities of ftio. HorSe
Guards, still blushing with the glories of the.
Crimea, and to our engineers. We have some ex-
perience of what these departments can do in _the'
way of management. We know how they besiege,
and we may- easily guess how they. defeud.-
The idea of fortifying our dockyards is no new
one. Large sums vhave been voted •and expended
upon it beforg now, with. a result ...as is, we
believe generally'. admitted; that nbilling really
effective has been done, tiled that-they remain now,
as they were hefoi-e, at 'time niekev of an invading
arnsy. This is not -encouraging,
:unless we could
have some assurance that we should, contrary to all
expectation, find-our-money more economically eX-
pended When raised in large. masses than it was
when doled out in driblets, and that our autherities
would shoW theniselves equal- to the conception' and
execution of a number oflarge works simultaneously
undertaken, while. they have shown themselves S.)
entirely unable to deal with smaller operations car-
i•ied on °neat a time. The whole force of 'public
opinion in this country hashitherto proved unequal
to the reforni ()four. military system. .We regret
that we cannot amend, but we can, at any rate,
steer clear of the absurdity of trusting to machinery
the inefficiency Of which we have proved, and
assuming that because it has been faithless over a
few things it will therefore be faithfur over many
things. We sincerely believe that it would be
quite poSsible to expend five millions of the public
money through the agency of our present military
departments, without deriving for the public any
tangible advantage, and for this reason, if for no
other, we object most earnestly o running such
,a
risk. Other reasons are, however, by.no means
wanting. Fortifications are thing's permanent and
enduring, stiff, inflexible,. and. Unalterable, •while
the art of war is changing day by day with chame-
leon-like celerity, and has gone through more
changes in the last five years than in the five cen-
turies that elapsed between Cressy and Waterloo.
On what principle are we to fortify? Are we to
assume that the destructive ingenuity of .mankind
is exhausted, anti that, having suddenly leaped to
the diseakey of donical bullets and ritleckevaon,it
will rest there and go no further; If ..this to be
the basis on which we are to build, there is little
danger in predicting that before the last shillinr,
shall have filtered through the reluctant fingers of
our schemers seine new invention will rendr the
work useless, and oblige us once more to recom-
mence it, once more to be disappointed. All ex-
perience shows us that they who invest their money
on the faith that science has reached its limits -in-
vest in a dangerous security, and commit them-
selves to the support of a falling cause
We have much confidence in whatmav be done
by improving our defences by ,sea, and some in
efforts that may be made under the , pressure of
immediate emergency and danger, but none in the
preparations of Government instituted. a long while
beforehand,and much more likely to .result msome
colossal job than in any real plan of defence. 'lt
was not the fortifications of Sebostpol, nor the vast
sums which the Imperial Government believed to
have been expended in making it impregnable, re-
sisted for 11 months th' combined' armies and
navies of France. and England. Sebastopol built
her own defences while our engineers were making
their approaches, and had made herself almost im-
pregnable just about the time that we were ready
to begin to besiege her. Take as 'a specimen' of
what is proposed the
.project for fortifying Wool-
wich. It is much as if a man should leave his
plate-chest wide open and lock up his crockery in
an iron safe. The best protection to Woolwich will
be its proximity to London- In the metropolis
there will literally be metal more attractive so long
as mankind shall continue to prefer gold and silver
to brass and iron. Should the Zouaves end Turcos
ever come, they are likely to fall into ue such error,
as it does not seem probable that the
forces
nation will abandon London in order to fallofintchke
upon Woolwich, which is, after all,
only one of its
at
suburbs. If our stores are considered indanger
Woolwich, let u.s by all means remove them to
some inland depot, such as Weedon, for instance ;
but do not let us countenance the riciicul_ous
abandon
the metropolis to the fury and rapacity of an _
im-
placable invader, content that,ser hde acftywtch
is alcingdom in itself is lost, svcan, at any rate,h
lir coasts and
prepseerri‘i-aeptshetsitlreseinleaslt artillery.ofdoeufernce 0
our arsenals will be found in the increase o
our flotilla of gunboats. These. vessels, :unma-
nageable and almost useless in the midst of
a stormy sea, may be of the most essential
service by taking up positions in shallows, where
great ships cannot go, and in landlocked situations
where the smoothness of the water allows their aim
to be steady and effective. We agree with Mr.
Cobden that it is quite absurd to exclude gunboats
and corvettes from the estimate of our naval force.
We believe that for purely defensive purposes they
will be found far more useful and efficient than the
mighty leviathans of the deep. We must have
both, but, while the larger vessels must be looked.
to for securing our command of the sea, it Will be
upon our smaller craft that we must principally
rely for impeding or preventing an invasion. After
all, however, the time has come when we should
drop these eternal discussions. We have voted the
money necessary for our immediate exigencies. Let
us hear what a commission will report, and then
act with all possible promptitude. Despotisms have
this advantage over constitutional countries—that
their actions generally precede the discussion or
them. Let it not be said with truth that, while.
France acts without discussion, England is content,
to discuss without action.

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