The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1854-10-10
Qualifications.

TIE Government has not of late years, pur.'
sued it's system%of fortifying our seaboard cl.
ties to protect them against foreign attack, and
if the account given in the London Times OF
the futility of granite walls, and iron and earth
roofs, to withstand the batteries of great guns,
now in use, Ie true, the system has been wise
ly abandoned The success with which such
walls as those of Fortress Calhoun, at the Rip
Raps,;and Fortress Monroe, on the opposite
shore, would encounter such an enemy as as.
sailed Bomarsund may be easily estimated by
any who viii compare the walls and roofs
which crumbied undeEsthe late cannonade in
the Baltic, with thosemeant as defeuces of the
Chesapeake Many millions have been sunk
in that hopeless job at the Rip. Raps, which, if
it had risen tea structure by the expenditure
of as many pore would have disappeared un,
der the.waves on days fire, sLch as that which
demolished Bomarsund.
%gsPhe destruction of Bomarsund," writes
the French General to the Minister OF War,
"wll be a considerable loss for Russia, both
in lnuterisland moral point Of view. We
4,aye in one week destroyed the prestige attach
edsto these ranparts of granite, which, it has
sbeenssaid, ,.Were invunerable against cannon,
I'VE k,.ow aiow that there is nothing inskiese
fine and threatening tortifcations to sscare
them from, aoeR directed fire." A correspon-
dent from the spot supplies graphic verIfica'
ton of this conclusion None but those who
have seen, as I now have, the capabilities OF
the Allied Powers, can form any idea OF their
smeans. The walls Of this place are nine: feet
thick, solid granite; the roof is iron, and under
the iron is sand, sixfeet thick. Yet there it is.
Well have the French and English guns done
their work. the place is a ruin, ,sthe roof torn
off, the solid granite blown to fragments, the
ground ploughed up with shot and shell around
it; and the ships that did this work were two
thousand seven hundred yards off, and, as far
Sas can hear. not que ship sustained the least
injury" Such are the prospects presented TO
the allies. What the Russians think of the
result happens to be signalIy evident They
have themselves anticipated the next stroke
by blowing up the Notifications Of Hango with
their own hands. @
Nothing could possibly be more instructive
than an act like this; which evinces the Stfepis
dation and distrust of the Russian Government
in signs more impressive than words. Blythe
tall of Bomarsund they have learnt tina: their
whole chain Of. fortrcsses along the shores of
the Gulf of Finland may be at the mercy OF
the allied >squadrons, for they have nothing TO
opposscur guns but granite and ron,, whereas
it is now'clear that neither granite nor ironcati
withstand the floating batteries at our disposal.
Cronstadt itself is but magnificent Bomar.
snnd, with somewhat more granite, more iron,
and more cannon, but differing only n&dihien.
sions, and not in character In the forti6ca
tions which defend the mouth of the Neva
and the approaches to St. Petersburg, there is
nothing at alfsuperior to those ramparfs which
crumbled to pieces under the shats and shell.
of shipping; nor is there any reason what
ever why an experim mt so successfully con
Quoted should notbe followed out to its results
The true defe:.se of our country against al
enemies is to be gady to meet them by lane
or sea, and man f3rinan. The best defence il
to besstrong enonshsand prompt to act on tn,
offensive. Nations HE individuals, are neye
prone tosencoants srsot6srs who are able ant
willing to fght;sandSthose who put their trus
in walls to protecs them are never either ably
Eer willing to fight Washington Glo5ss g