Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1854-10-03
MISCELLANEOUS
klRTIEICATIONS.

The Government has not, of late years, pursued its
system Of terrifying our senbOard cities to protect
them against foreign attack, aud if the account given
in the London Times of the fut;lity of granite walls,
and iron and earth roofs, TO Withstand the batteries Of
great guns, now in use, be trne, the System has been
wisely abandoned. The success with which such
walls a. those of Fortress Calhoun, at the Rip-liaps,
and Fortress Monroe, on the opposite shore, would
encounter such an enemy rs assailed BoInarsund,
NAV be easily estimated by any who will compare
the walls and roofs which crumblcd under the late
cannonadc in the Baltic, with those meant as detences
of the Chesapeake. Many millions have been sunk
in that hopeless job ut the Rip-Raps, which, if II had
risen 10 n structure by the expenditure of as many
more, would have disappeared under the waves on Il
days fire, such as that which demolished Bomnrsund.
THE destruction Of Bomarsund.' writes the French
General 10 the Minister of War, will be Il consider
able loss for Russia, both in Il material and moral
point Of view. We have in one week destroyed the
prestige attached to these ramparts Of granite, which,
il has been said, were invulnerable against cannon.
he knotr nor that there as nothing az these fne and
threatening tort,hcat'ons To secure them from thcsJect
Of q rsH-dirscted fire." A correspondent from the
spot supplies a graphic verification OF this conclusions:
"None but those who have seen, as | now have, the
capabilities of the allied Powers, can form any idea
Of their means. The wallsot this place are nine fee.
thick, solid granite; the roof is iron, and under the
iron is sand, six feet thick. Yet there It's. Well
have the French and English guns done their work;
the place Is Il ruin, the root torn OIL, the solid granite
blown {" fragments, the ground ploughed up with
shot and shell around il; and the ships that did this
Ut Nfic " uouSuD ' hui U3N '''
and, a. far as | eau hear, not one ship sustained the
least injury" Such are the prospects presented TO
the allies. What the Russians think of the result,
happens to be sigually evident. They have them
selves anticipated the next stroke by blowing up the
iortifcations of Hango with their own hands.
Nothing could possibly be more instructive than an
act like this, which evinccs the trepidation and dis
trust of the Russian Government III signs more i'm
pressive than words. BY the fall OF BonarSund they
have lcarut that their whole chain oI tortrcss,s along
the shores of the Gulf of Finland may be ct the mercy
"t the allied squadrons, for they have nothing to OPP
pose to our guns but granite and iron. whereas 1t Is
now clear that neither iron nor granite can withstand
the floating batteries ut our disposal. Cronstadt IL
self is but a magniticd Bomarsund, with somewhat
more granite, more iron, and more cnnnon, but differ
ing only in dimensions, and not i'll character. In the
Notifications which defend the mouth OF the Neva,
and the approaches to ST. PctersburgI, there il moth
ing al al superior to those rampar:s which crnmbled
10 pieces under the shot and shells OF our shipping
nor 10 there any reason whatever why an experiment,
so successfully conducted should not be followed on,
To- its results.
The true defence Of our country against all enemies
is, 10 be ready to meet them by land or sea, and man
for man. The best defence is, to DO strong enough
aud prompt to act on the offensive. Nations, like i'll
dividuale, Grs ever prone 10 encounter others VIII"
are able and willing to fight; and those who put their
trust in walls 10 protect them are never either able or
willing to fight Washington Globe.