The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-24 00:00:00

EAST YORK.

The 3d company of the East York Volunteer Ar-
tillery is in course of formation at Filey. It already
numbers 30 effective members, and is expected to
reach above 50, and to be enrolled next week. Mr.
W. S. Cortis has been recommended by the corps
to the Lord-Lieutenant as commanding officer.

ME FORTIFICATION OF WOOLWICH.

Some strange statements occasionally make their
appearance in " newspapers ;" in fact, the greater
the canard the greater the probability that it will
find a place in the columns of the " Morning Twad-
dler," whose editor, whatever his genius and how-
ever übiquitous he may be, cannot tell what is pass-
ing in every part of the kingdom at a given hour of
the day.. Some ingenious penny-a-liner has recently
bgen turning an honest penny, by manufacturing
startling paragraphs about the abandonment of
Woolwich Arsenal and its transferrence to some
other site, till the good people of Woolwich give a
kind of half-credence to the rumour, and already,
in fancy, see the grass growing over the ruins of the
Armstrong factory. The complete powerlessness
of Woolwich in the event of any invasion has also
been set forth in language too dogmatic to allow of
its diftum being disputed. Unfortunately for the
truth of these canards, the Goiernment is tied fast
to Woolwich by a mortgage bond of more than
fifteen millions of money, that being the value,
on the lowest estimate, of the property which
the Government has erected, in its naval and
military departments, at that place; and as
the War Department, instead of seeking to lessen
this mortgage bond, is at this moment adding con-
siderably to it—first, by erecting new foundries for
casting the Armstrong gun—secondly, by erecting
an additional wing to the Royal Military Academy
—thirdly, by building a magnificent hospital for
marines and seamen—fourthly, by designing a new
hospital for the Royal Artillery—and finally, by a
variety of schemes which will in all probability in-
crease the bond to upwards of twenty millions of
money—there is no prospect, immediate or remote,
of Woolwich being ever abandoned as a naval and
military station.
The groundwork of this enlarged rumour, which
has grown like the story of the "three black
crows," appears to lie simply in the fact that there
is a probability of removal of the Store Depart-
ment to Weedon, from the greater contiguity of
that town to the manufacturing districts, and from
the_necessity which exists for securing the whole
area of Woolwich Arsenal for the manufacture of
the munitions of war. The stores, which are im-
mediately in the custody of the Store Department,
are chiefly the personnel of the army, and hare no
relation whatever to instruments of offence and
defence the manufacture of which belongs exclu-
sively to Woolwich Arsenal. It is possible, also,
that a second but subordinate laboratory may be
formed at some other town, the difficulty of procur-
ing "child labour" in Woolwich having already led
to the employment of a number of boys at Devon-
port in the manufacture of cartridges, &c. If the
Government had any serious intention of abandon-
ing Woolwich, it would be inexcusable to go on, as
at the present moment, making expensive additions
to buildings and machinery, and we are therefore
justified in asserting authoritatively that Woolwich
will remain, as it has ever done, the great manu-
factory of ordnance and of warlike stores.
The argument assigned for this absurd story is,
that Woolwich has been pronounced by competent
military-authorities to be incapable of efficient de-
fence. The assertion is simply ridiculousf and were
it not that Woolwich is at the present moment with-
out anyrdefences whatever, and that it has become
a question of interest to ascertain the points at
which its defences can be best constructed, we should
at once dismiss the assertion as unworthy of further
contradiction; as, however, the question of efficiently
defending the greatest arsenal of the world must
force itself soon upon the consideration of the War
Department, we shall proceed to consider this im-
portant question.
Unless we regard Woolwich as an outwork of
the metropolis, it would hardly be worth while to
devote a moment's consideration to the defences of
the river Thames. The advance of an enemy's fleet
up the stream might be effectually retarded by a
few booms, or by sinking a couple of ships of the
line across the main channel. Neither the batteries
in Sea Reach nor those at Tilbury Fo: t would op-
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effectually blocked up in a few hours, as the
cmouth
of Sebastopol harbour was by Menschtio k°
annoy
noy
or the
Peiho by the Chinese, whilst it would be equally
easy to run up earthworks at Purfleet the
enemy, if he should attempt to destroy the barriers.
Admitting,rudent t
Admitting, however, that it might
erect batteries to cover the approach by pthe rivero
,
the hills. at Purfleet and Erith are wonderfully
adapted by nature for the purposes of defence.
Both dominate the river at a very short dis-
tance from its shores—both command the land ap-
proachcs .on either side—and could, therefore, be