The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-07-16

nice little sums TOR the defence of the princi pal
ports:
Portsmouth, Plymouth 4 Isle of Wisht 81 60: GoO
Iembtose -.-.'.... '---.''.--. ''''''''' ~ ,.n,
Cha, ham OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 800 " y
Nooi~Ioh .......'.....-. .'...'''-'' w.
bower Observation-Disclosures. Se'loo
Medxa, and sheerness. ..-........,..... - o.,
rre sums, according to our .hg"'ns w.
mnuut TO 1856, Oe0 pounds sterihG o.. a. a.
cordtug to English papers the ahioun :, -
fnanded will be II S5O.UOO. EitbeT "ayt ~
large sum n.,rI, So $4,000. And what TOT
To iorufy Great Britain ana ifeiaHu, n"o
vet this Is scarcely the beginning OF 'nis h'I
oaiean task. The Brush lsles "a IA 80 sor,if,
coaSt.Iiue aud many seaports, anu 10 iot my
them all Will costmany penny. thuI la'e
w. the English never thought that maVeis
caoa come 10 such an Issue. They supposed
that highlands wooden walls would save
her from all ATTACKS from abroad. AT the close
of me great war with Napoleon l.. I'm ISL. or
Jsi5, 10 speak more exactiy,) England had
one thousand snips-of-war, all told. Even
now she can soon muster seven hundred,
without counting the gun beats. And she has
Sedmen enough, in the event OF war WIN
France or any other great maritime Power
that conld cut mp her commerce, to man tnem
ali, aud many more
Not only, however, has the English Govern
ment resolved 10 prosecute an extensive plan
of Notifications for the principal seaports
terrifying London, What herculean un-
6er'akipg. That city is twelve miles long
from east 10 west, and eight miles wide from
NORTH 10 south, with n population of three
niIlions. 1t would no doubt be the riches
prize that ever fell into the hands of con
queror with its vast docks, crowded with the
shipping of all nations; its immense ware
houses and store houses, filled with the tribu-
,fy h.arr vi fS
banking establishments. which regulate the
money circulation, and the commercial inter
ests of all the earth the princely palaces Of
its mobiles and rich commoners! What a city
for sacking and plunderiag, as old BLUcHKE
said. The mass of movable wealth In Lon
don is enormous AS TO its customs, the ne
duty paid annually now exceeds ten million:
of pounds sterling. A war in England anc
the capture of London would produce disas
ters which would be felt from one end of the
world to the other, and the effects of which
would not be entirely oblterated for n hun.
dred years to come.
And yet, we fear that with all this immense
wealth, England is not as capable of defence
rs when she was nation of hardy archers
and spearsmen. A free country cannot have
. large standing army, and if the French once
9duu uiOH AtT suOjeS, sut no iOICe
can oppose their triumphant march to Lon.
don A modern British historian has remark
ed, that "a hundred thousand troops, wei
disciplined and commanded, will keep down
millions of pIoughmen and artiZans -
YET, with the exception of hundred and fifty
thousand effective soldiers at the utmost
what has England to oppose to half a million
of Frenchmen. and these Frenchmen the bes
soldiers of the world Nothing but the navy
vet that navy is the only wall she needs round
her shores. That navy is as supreme ano
dominating upon the sea as France upon the
shore The Introduction of steam may MAKE
great revolutions in warfare, but it cauno1
make seamen of Frenchmen. Who would
wish to see the fast-anchored isle, the land OF
our fathers. the fountain of our liberties, sub
merged by the overriding wave of continent.
al military deepotism! There may he those
who would be delighted with that spectacle
but it will not be seen in our day and genera.
ton.