The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-06-23

The gunboats of those days, while they depend
ed upon the principle laid down by Jeffersonf for
their utility as a harbor and coast defence, were
moved by sails Steam has added vastly to their
capacity and utility to maneuvre. They can
place themselves in any position, and carry shot
between four and five miles At that distance
from large vessel they present. target OF
about twenty two feet by eight, and will be hard
to hit. 1t will be like bringing bird down on
the wing, to do it. In case OF war we can
build five hundred in four months time, and at
any distance from the seAboard we think proper.
We therefore need not fear these English musqui-
toes when our gallinippers get ready. We have
outstripped the world in the construction Of ships
and firearms. Perhaps we can do it again.
The foundations I'm France-Ameracan Aid
for the Sufferers.
The late fearful visitation which has carried
devastation and ruin into the most fertile dis
tricts and richest manufacturing towns OF France,
has naturally excited the attention and sympathy
of the civilized world In an age in which art
is made to control, successfully, most OF the ire
gular operations of nature, men naturally ask
themselves if nothing can be done to avert alto
gether these catastrophes. 1t will be seen from
what we are about to state, that although barriers
may be opposed to these periodical overfowings
of the great rivers Of the earth, the force OF a
power greater than that of man will occasionally
overbear these artificial obstacles, and cause only
greater destruction from the feeble resistance OPP
posed to them.
r %bo oh; Of Of 60 q
our readers are aware, situated at the confluence
of the Rhone and the Saone. The appearance of
the city, as the traveller approaches it, is the
most picturesque that can be imagined. Seated
on the right bank of the Rhone and on the two
banks of the Saone, it ascends the tanks OF the
heights of Saint just Fourvieres and Ia Croix
Rouse, covers their plateaux, and then descends
again into the plain through which the Rhone
winds. Previous to the year l776 the Rhone and
the Saone effected their junction at the
vast esplanade called the Cours du Midi.
A little further on existed an island called the
lie Moquiat. Being commissioned to reclaim
from the two rivers that battle Lyons the space
which now forms the beautiful esplanade above
named, the architect Perrache, by long en-
ried back the confluence Of the river about IF
teen hundred yards to the south, and thus
reunited the lie Moquiat to the main land. We
mention these facts to give our readers correct
idea of the situation Of Lyons, and of the pecu-
larities of position which render it liable to the
visitations under which it is now suffering.
With the causes Of inundation in general our
readers are as familiar as ourselves. They are
occasioned, we need not tell them, by heavy and
continuous rains, and by the melting of the
snow on the tops Of the mountains by sudden
and violent changes Of temperature. When the
temperature continues moderate the snow dis
solves gradually, and the waters slowly find
their level. The immense quantity of rain
which fell in France during the last few months,
not only preciptated the usual slow operations
OF nature in this respect, but added immensely to
the volume Of the river by direct contributions
The rivers Of France which are most subject to
these dcbordtmens are those which take their rise
in the spurs of the Alpine and Pyrennean ranges
such as the Rhone, the Garonne, the ,Adour, the
Rhine and their principal affiuents. The Seine,
which has its source in the plateau Of Langres,
and the Loire, which takes its rise in the granite
TANKS Of the Cevennes, are also subject to these
periodical Inconvenience.
From time to time the foundations arising from
the above described causes have been attended
witt vast destruction of property, though hap
PLY, owing to the judcious and energetic precsu-
tons adopted by the French authorities, with
comparatively small loss of life. The most ex-
tensive disaster of this kind which has occurred
in France, was that which took place i'm the year
1910. The Saone poured an accumulated mass.
Of waters into the Rhone which burst ito banks
and covered sixty thousand acres of the land. I
All the lower parts of Lyons were submerged; in
AvigEon upwards of one hundred houses were
swept away, two hundred and eighteen houses
we're carried away in La Guillotiere, and upwards
OF three hundred at Vaise, Marseilles and Nismss
The Saone had not attained such a height for a
period of txo HUNDRED and tkirty-eighi years. anH !
the loss occadoned by it was estimated at little
short OF sixteen millions of fraAcs
Ii will be asked how Il is that he well known
skih of the French engineers has not made some
effective provision against the recurrence Of such
calamities. The answer is that from the earliest
ages efforts have been made to arrest them, and as
yet science has been unable to derive any ef
fective barrier against tAsir overwhelming force
In France they have always formed subject of
the most anxious consideration and attention on
the part of government and vast sums have from
time to time been voted for the construction of
works to hem in the rebellious waters. In their
solidity, however, the population of the districts
thus visited do not place much faith The re-
turn Of spring is always with the Lyonnese q
period of the greatest anxiety and watchfulness,
and visiter at such times can say to them in |
he words Of Dryden =
Your cares about your banks infer fear
Of threatening floods and foundations near
AlthouEh the precise amount of damage done |