The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-06 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

THIS DAY.—Morning, Bh. 29m.—Afternoon, 9h. 15m.
To-Moßnow-Morning, 10h. lm.—Afternoon, 10h. 45m.

For some time back the country has been all on
the alert to be prepared for invasion. This has been
occasioned by the supposed conduct of one of our
faiends over the way. It is now assumed that there
was no sufficient reason for such alarm. However
that may be, the people all over the United King-
dom have taken up the idea, and acted on the princi-
ple, that where danger was apprehended although
it did not appear, still it might come, and so they
resolved to be prepared against the cry of wolf
come when it might. This is consonant with pru-
dence and will one day find its due reward.

We may have nothing to fear in probability—but
as the possible might take us unawares it is well to
guard against all dangers. Acting on this princi-
ple we hear of nothing but the formation of Rifle or
Volunteer Clubs. " Riflemen, form !" seems to be
the order of the day, and a manly amusement, if not
one of duty, it is universally acknowledged to be.
In July last a public meeting of Scottish Volun-
teer Rifles took place at the Freemasons' Tavern,
under the able presidency of Lord ELCHo, who
made a very stirring speech on the occasion. That
speech had been so well thought of that the meet-
ing requested his lordship to be allowed to publish
a corrected report of it. His lordship readily con-
sented, and now we have a copy published by
RIDGWAY, and the SMITHS, of the Strand, lying
before us.

Lord ELCHO is not only a bold Scot, but
an accomplished sportsman. The rifle is to him
" familiar as a fan" in fairy hands, and right
well does he expound its use. After enlarging on
the desirability of the formation of volunteer
rifle clubs, he points out the best manner
to ensure their accomplishment. In 1804, when
we were threatened with invasion by the genius of
NAPOLEON ,from the Heights of Boulogne, Mr.
PITT called .out the Volunteers, and he considered
them as a body forming a solid system of national
defence. Lord ELCHO now enforces that principle
by showing that our independence should not rest
on the friendship or forbearance of any foreign
potentate ; and his lordship is quite right. The
wonderful efficiency to which a body of men might
be brought in the event of invasion is exemplified
by the example of GARIBALDI, who, with but a
handful of voluntoers, hung on the right wing and
flank of the Austrian army in the late war.

His Lordship then speaks of the probable number
of volunteers that might be raised :

" What number of volunteers we may expect to get I
cannot pretend to say, but I have full confidence in the
spirit and patriotism of our people ; and we have lately
seen what may be done in an emergency, when in such a
town as Brescia, 3,000 out of a population of 40,000 volun-
teered for Garibaldi's corps. London alone, therefore, if

ever called upon to make similar exertions, might, accord-
ipg to the same relative proportion, furnish more than
200,000 men. We may, therefore, I think, reasonably
look to the establishment of numerous volunteer corps ;
and we may confidently trust to their zeal and patriotism,
as well as to a spirit of rivalry and competition, for
their rkill as marksmen, and for their efficiency as sol-

diers.
"I have already touched upon the chief objection to
them, namely, that they would be inefficient for pur-
poses of defence ; but there are other objections urged
against theta. It is said that you cannot have these rifle
corps in any number, from the difficulty of getting range,
and the danjer of shooting in all directions ; that there
is risk in thus arming the people and establishing a no-
tional guard , finally, that it will interfere with yeo-
manry corps. '
"Now, gentlemen, as a practical rifleman, accustomed
to the use of the rifle from my childhood, I say, without
fear of contradiction, there is no greater delusion than to
suppose that it is necessary to have a long range to learn to
shoot. These modern: rifles, with the conical expanding
ball, will unquestionably shoot accuracy at extreme ranges
at 1,000 or 1,500 yards--but, in order to learn to shoot at
that distance, there is no occasion to practise at a long
range. The art of rifle-shooting may be divided into two
parts—shooting, and judging distance.
" Shooting consist —Firstly, in knowing in what position
to hold the body when taking aim ; secondly, in knowing
how to take the sights, and aim at the object you wish to
hit ; and thirdly, in knowing how to pull the trigger by a
steady pressure, without a jerk.
"Now these things can be acquired without even powder
andball--simplysnapping off caps at a lighted candle. To
teach men to shoot at a mark with ball, a range of one or
two hundred yards is all that is required. Beyond this, it
is a mere question of the sighting of your rifle; and the
man who. can hit a bull's-eye at 100 yards will be able to
shoot no Tess well at 1,000 if his rifle is properly sighted, and
he know the distance. In point of fact, as far as this
matter of range goes, there is no more difficulty now in
establishing rifle corps than there was in the practice o
the bow is s the good old days of merry England, when,
by an act of Henry VIII., butts were ordered to be set
up in every* parish, so that the youth might be instructed
in the use ce the bow. All that would now be required
would bk tine erection of walls or mounds at the back
of the targets 1, where there was not some hill-side against
which to pr actise, and if additional precautions are
thought to be desirable, a screen with an opening thr,ugh
which ,iothiri 2,- but the ball and target can be seen
should be. erectod at the other end of the range. Through
it the rift Oman would fire, and any chance shot which
did not go through this opening would be stopped by the
screen.
" The of her part .of rifle-shooting, namely, judging dis-
tance, is pc whops the chief difficulty to be overcome. It
is more fr. nu want of the power of judging distance
than from airy inaccu.ntey of aim—as many who hear
me well Imo w—that /Jeer so often escape unscathed
by the sports man's bullet. Now, judging distance is
taught by sta timing men at certain measured inter-
vals,. say ever: y 100 yards along any clear open space ;
a straight roakhl would do. At Hythe it is done along
the beach; irl L ondon the Guards are taught to judge die-
lance irr 11.‘ide P. ark. The men under instruction are singly
grade to, guess tl le distances at which the different points
are plat at and .be answers are taken down in writing; by

this means they learn the degrees of distinctness with which
the details of a man's features and form can be distinguished
at different distances. Judging distance, therefore, does not
require the use of a rifle, for it is not necessary t.. knock
over a man with a ball to show that you know the distance
he is off. There are, moreover, many instruments gradu-
ated to the average height of a man which are used for the
purpose, and which in actual warfare the captain and
officers of a company would do well to carry.
Nothing could be clearer or better defined than
this. Then as to the dress—that of the Knicker-
bocker is preferred as possessing all the advantages
of•the kilt as regards freedom of limb, without any
of its disadvantages. " Moreover," he says, "the
Knickerbocker legging and laced ankle-boot have
this additional recommendation, that they re-
semble in a great measure the dress of our own
peasantry. They might, indeed, be almost said to
constitute an existing national costume—for the
English peasantry generally wear breeches, leg-
gings, and laced ankle-boots ; and the Irish peasantry
wear breeches. The main difference between the two
is this : the Englishman buttons his breeches and the
Irishman habitually wears them unbuttoned."
Then, as to the colour of the dress, it should be
grey, light or Austrian grey, the material Tweed.
The worst colour for riflemen is the invisible green,
which actually appears: perfectly black. He says
that red is the most fatal colour, while the least
fatal is Austrian grey. The proportions are—red,
12 ; rifle green, 7 ; brown, 6 ; Austrian bluish grey,
5. This is curious and instructive, if true. Now
we suppose it must be true, for the Austrians are
on the point of changing their military uniform of
white to grey ! There is a capital woodcut of a
rifleman prefixed to this speech, which looks all
that a practical soldier at ease should be.

Major-General HAY has endorsed Lord ELCHO'S
proposals in the appendix to this speech, and is
well worthy of perusal.

Matter-of-fact and prosaic to the last degree
;hough the Right Hon. JAMES WILSON undoubt-

edly is, he nevertheless afforded, upon the first of
this present month of September, the liveliest illus-
tration of one of the most amusing among the
earlier sketches of Mr. THACKERAY. This was upon
the occasion of The Cutlers' Feast down at Sheffield,
a full report of the elocutionary proceedings at the
close of which banquet appeared in our impression
of Saturday evening. It will probably have been
remarked by many of our readers how, in the exor-
dium of the otherwise singularly rational and argu-
mentative oration delivered upon that festive night
by the right hon. gentleman, lately M.P. for Devon-
port, previously M.P. for Westbury, and now, as
we may style him pretty correctly, her Britannic
MAJESTY'S Indian Chancellor of the Exchequer,
indulged himself and his hearers, in a piquant
manner, with a variation of the customary after-
dinner hyperbole. If that was not precisely the
happiest evening of Mr. WILSON'S life—it was all
but that acme of human felicity. Observe the very
opening words of the harangue—when the right.
hon. gentleman rose in the midst of "loud cheering"
to articulate his grateful acknowledgments. " I
am sure," quoth he, " every gentleman will well
understand what must be my feelings, almost a
stranger in your town, after you have received me
in so kind and indulgent a manner, to have to ac-
knowledge it." A little incoherent, by the way,
but no matter—the right hem. gentleman thus con-
nues to articulate his thanks in emotional lan-
" I rise," he says, " as well as 1 am able"

guage.

—giving one a lively notion, in that one brief sen-
tence, of the relief and refreshment it would pro-
bably have been to his delicate and agitated nervous
system to have taken at that moment a timely swiff
at a bottle of salts, or a vinaigrette. However, in the
absence of any such opportune reviver, Mr. WIL-
SON has to gird up his loins and brace himself to
the encounter of the rhetorical difficulty as best he
might under the circumstances. And it is in these
words he continues—and it is here that we find the
apt and vivid illustration (already alluded to) of
that humorous sketch from the pen of Mr.
THACKERAY :—" I assure you," he says impres-
sively, " I assure you the observations of the gen-
tleman who proposed it (viz., his health), and the
manner in which you have received it e., the
toast), have made on me the deepest impression, I
say without exaggeration, THAT I EVER EXPE-
RIENCED IN MY LlFE—(loud cheers—and no
wonder)—the deepest impression not only from the
kindness of your reception, et cetera, et cetera, et
cetera." Pretty tall talking, that ! or, as the
Yankees would otherwise express it—Piling it up
rather mountainously ! Blatherum-skate ! accord-
ing to some Irishmen—or precisely what that
facetious Patlander startled Mr. Secretary PEEL
with at the Lord-Lieutenant's table, when de-
scribing the rhetorical arts of the oiliest of Advo-
cates—" First of all he butthers them up, and then
he slithers them down!" To indicate the same

thing more epigramatically—what the French call
"blague !" and we, in our more homely vernacular,

" bosh!" But the Sheffield people liked it.
The Master Cutler sat in the chair—and

the cutlers generally, or the pick of them,
sat round their own hospitable board, after the best
possible use of all cutlery in the shape of knives
and forks, drinking in the seductive flatteries of
their honoured guest, and—" listening delighted."
It was only a sa-nple of human nature—and
" Natur'," as we all know, is " a rum un'," accord-
ing to the celebrated Mr. SQUEERS, the Yorkshire
schoolmaster.

So true is it to human nature, indeed, that we
have read the whole thing,years ago, or, at any
rate, have enjoyed the opportunity of so doing, if
we cared for it, almost word for word in SPEC'S
report of " A Dinner in the City "—to be found iu

Vol. 11. of Mr. THACKERAY'S republished " Mis•
cellanies." There we read. at page 334, as follows
—in the course of the after dinner speechification :
—" Then the Secretary of the Tape and Sealing-
wax Office [Mr. WILSON to a T] rose to return
thanks for the blessings which we begged upon
the Ministry [read for " Ministry" " Himself," and
the cases are precisely analogous]. He was," he
said, " a humble—the humblest member of that
body. The suffrages which that body had received
from the nation were gratifying; but the most
gratifying testimonial of all was the approval
of the Bellows Menders' Company. (Immense
applause.) Yes, among the most enlightened
of the mighty corporations of the City, the most
enlightened was the Benows-Menders. Yes ;he
might say, in consonance with their motto, and in
defiance of illiberality, Affiavet veritas et dissipati
swat. (Enormous applause.) Yes, the thanks and
pride that were boiling with emotion in his bosom,
trembled to find utterance at his lip. Yes, the
proudest moment of his life, the crown of his am-
bition, the need of his early hopes, and struggles,
and aspirations, was at that moment won in the
approbation of the Bellows-Menders. Yes, his
children should know that he too had attended at
those great, those noble, those joyous, those ancient
festivals, and that he too, the humble individual
who, from his heart, pledged the assembled com-
pany in a bumper—that he too was a Bellows-
Mender." That—perhaps with a little more florid
eloquence—is really and truly the English of it all,
the right-down, plain English of all the hyperboli-
cal flummery addressed to the Cutlers of Sheffield
by Mr. JAMES WILSON upon the first of September.
It is Mr. THACKERAY'S anticipative ironical com-

mentary upon such assurances addressed to a Com-
pany of Cutlers by a right hon. gentleman, as—" I
assure you that-so-and-so, and so-and-so, your com-
pliments, your approval, your approbation have
made on me the deepest impression, I say, without
exaggeration, THAT I EVER EXPERIENCED IN ➢IY
LIFE !" and so forth. There is but one lexicographer
who can afford authority for any such language,
and (we need scarcely add) he is obviously—
WALKER.

Most of our readers will have read with surprise
and regret the new style of public amusement that
has been introduced in America. We allude to the
extraordinary and foolhardy achievement of cross-
ing Niagara upon a cord. Not content with this
daring feat M. BLONDIN, the adventurer in question
thought proper to risk another life as well as his
own, and on the 17th of August he crossed the falls
on a tight rope, carrying his agent, Mr. CONCORD,
a man weighing 136 lbs. on his back! The excite-
ment created by the announcement of this perform-
ance is described as something surprising. Ex-
cursion trains were run upon all the roads leading
to the falls and every train was crowded. Two
steamers each took down about twelve hundred
persons, and a very large number went down in
their own carriages, making in all, we are told,
" probably the largest crowd ever assembled at
Niagara Falls." The ordinary feats of M. BLONDIN
are, one would think, sufficiently perilous without
his undertaking to carry a man over. Here is the
description of his crossing alone :—" After proceeding
about 100 feet he stopped, swung one foot and then the
other,and then,walking along 15 or 20 feet, stopped
and stood upon his head, resting on the balancing
pole which lay across the rope, the ends supported
upon the guy rope. He then ran along the rope,
stood upon his head, sat down, turned somersaults
backwards and forwards, and proceeded to the
middle of the river where there are no guys. He
here lay down on the rope on his back at full
length, stood on his head, laid his balancing pole
across the rope and stood upon it with one foot, and
balanced it with the other foot, his hands lying by
his side. He then passed along the rope to where
the guys on the Canada side were fastened, and
laid down his balancing pole. He now returned
with his body suspended beneath the rope, running
along with his hands and feet, as an ape, to the
middle of the rope, between the guys. He here
went through all the feats attempted by tight-rope
performers, such as hanging by one foot, then the
other, by one hand, then dropping his body down
full length below the rope and whirling round,
resting his breast upon the rope, and with arms
and legs extended, as if in the act of swimming.
He hung by both arms, and then passed his body
between his arms and the rope, and in fact per-
formed all the feats ever accomplished by the most
agile tight-rope performers. He then returned to
where his balancing-pole was, took it up, and
crossed to the Canada bank, stopping several times
to turn somersaults, stand upon his head, upon
one foot, and to lie down upon the rope."
M. Blondin occupied something over half an
hour in crossing, most of the time being spent
in his performance on the rope." As might be
expected, the excitement occasioned by this feat
induced another adventurer, whose heels are more
gifted than his head, to make a similar attempt.
The Rochester Union tells us that a man named
Delave crossed the Genesee river and falls upon a
rope with safety and success, all the more marvel-
lous that the rope was wet and not properly
tightened. On this occasion, too, the crowd was
immense, being " the largest array of spectators
ever seen congregated for a single object in this
city." It is with great regret that we witness the
encouragement and continuance of such foolhardi-
ness. Our transatlantic cousins are thought
to be somewhat too careless of human
life as it is, and such exhibitions as
these are certainly not calculated to increase
their respect for it. Were there any possible
object to be attained by the display, were there
any public good, or even scientific advantage, to
be derived from it, recklessness would rise into
heroism, and we should regard with admiration
as a noble courage what we can now only look
upon as a contemptuous disregard of the respon-
sibilities of a human being. These American ad-
venturers should be warned by the fate of the
poor acrobat at Waterloo-bridge, who lost his life
under such melancholy circumstances. Human
life is surely something more than a mere
toy, that the fact of a man running
an imminent risk is to be considered as a
fitting public exhibition. We believe such
aimless achievements have gone out of fashion
on this side of the Atlantic, and we trust to the
good sense and humanity of our people to discou-
sage their revival. Our " go-a-head" cousins do
not display their civilisation to advantage in en-
couraging these reckless proceedings, stimulating
the acrobats to continue their foolhardy exploits,
and tempting excitement on the verge of eternity.

Their Serene Highnesses the Prince and Princess
Leiningen have left Howchin's Hotel on a tour through
Switzerland.

His Excellency Baron Bentinck has left town on
a tour of visits in Yorkshire.

Viscount and Viscount Palmerston left town yes-
terday for Broadlands, Hants.
Sir G. C. Lewis left town yesterday for Harpton
Court, Kington, Herefordshire.
DEATH OF THE RIGHT REV. BISHOP CARE.—
The Right Rev. Bishop Carr, rector of Bath, and formerly
Bishop of Bombay, died yesterday morning at a quarter to
eight o'clock at his residence in Lansdowne-crescent, Bath.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mathews are about to re-
turn to the United States, intending, it is said, a theatrical
tour there. They will go by the Great Eastern.
OPENING OF THE ODD FELLOWS CEMETERY IN
THE WOKING NEcnoroLls.—Yesterday forenoon a large
number of members of the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, Manchester Unity, left London by the South Western
Railway, for the purpose of being present at the inaugura-
tion
of the Odd Fellows' Cemetery, a portion of the Ncro-
polis at Woking. The members walked in procession from
the station to the ground, and assembled in the chapel,
where the chaplain, the Rev. R. Le Make, made a dis-
course, founding his remarks on the 133 d Psalm. They
then went to the ground, whore an address was delivered
by Dr. Pettigfew, who stated that there were in Middlesex
no less than 54,710 members of the society, and in Surrey
nearly 2,000.
_ _

PARIS, Sept. 4.—The Emperor does not relax in
his warlike preparations. A foundry for cannon is about
to be established at Bourg-es, and the town is to be strongly
fortified. The number of iron-bound ships of the line
which are ordered to be laid down is raised from 10 to 20 ;
and since the Admiralty workshops do not suffice for the
completion of the engines, &c., the Creusot Company has
received orders to keep their forges at the disposdl of the
-Government. This order has been given in consequence of
the successful issue of the experiments which you were re-
cently informed were-about to be made at the Hyeres isles,
on some iron-sheathed gunb.ats.

IMMIGRATION.—The number of emigrants who
returned to the United Kingdom in 1858 was 23,704, of
whom there came from America 18,841, and from Australia
and New Zealand, 4,863. The return of emigrants from
America is attributable to the commercial distress which
during last year prevailed.in the United States and British
North America, and paralysed the usual means of employ-
ment. The smaller number who returne 1 from Austratia
consists, probably of persons who, having acquired pro-
perty, have come back to enjoy it in the mother country.
M‘MATION AT MAGENTA.--The Nation, which we
suppose is an authority upon everything relating to Mar-
shal M'Mahon, says that the following passage is extracted
from a letter sent by the marshal to Gen. Changarnier, and
concludes that it proves the movement by which the fortune
of the day was retrieved by the French army to have been
undertaken by the successful general on his own responsi.
bility, and contrary to the orders he had received :—" I
had orders to operate in a given sense. But having heard
the sound of cannon, and learned the danger which threa-
tened the army, I tore up my orders, and did the reverse
of what I was commanded. I succeeded, inasmuch as I
have been made a duke and marshal of France. But is it
your orinion that I failed in my duty as a soldier and in
discipline ? I feel the necessity of having the decision of
such a man as you."
The bar silver by the Mexican steamer has been
disposed of at dltd., it being a decline of id. from the price
realised by the preceding packet. The dollars are still
unsold, .

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THE SUN.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1859.