THE DEFENCE OF THE LAND.
THE debate on Monday night is a sufficing recognition of the public anxiety on the subject of our defences. It amounted to a confession front 'both Governments, late and present. The pre- sent First Lord of the Admiralty expressed his hope that " the policy of this country will ever be to maintain its Navy in an
effective condition, and to keep up an effective Channel Fleet, and further, to have a reserve of available seamen to man our ships upon an emergency, without the recurrence of so humiliating and unsatisfactory a state of things as we have lately witnessed in our ports." Sir John Pakington censured the late Government for its reductions, and almost in the same breath cried, " I do not blame the late Government, and in fact admit that I am respon- sible for contributing to the pressure under which they acted." But the late Government consented to act " under pressure " : it gave way to the demands of a minority, because that minority employed popular claptrap ; and now, in the session of 1858, Sir Charles Wood is blaming the Opposition of 1857, while Sir John Pakington is admitting that the blame is just. " Brother, brother, we are both in the wrong !"
But are " we " in the right now ? Is the present Government securing for us those very safeguards which it admits to be ab- sent ? In order to render the position of the country quite satis- factory Sir John Pakington tells us that we should have a Channel Fleet fully equipped. It is now about the middle of April, and he assures us that he hopes to fit out in the course of the summer that same Channel Fleet, although it is " notorious" that under the system which he helped to enforce when he was in opposition, "our large line-of-battle ships are not refitted in less than nine months" • and he still lacks all the sailors to man the fleet. Ac- cording to the account given by the First Lord of the Admiralty, therefore, our marine defences are not sufficient for the purpose, and the country is at this moment not impregnable to attack. At a later day we shall perhaps learn the state of our land de- fences ; or more .probably, we shall have some general assurance that it is " all right." There is an impression that we shall do something towards keeping out the bold invader if we boast loud enough ; although it is notorious that any foreign power which chooses to exercise the privilege can obtain complete information of our real state. It is only to be hoped that our Government is as well informed respecting the naval and military position of some other countries, as the Governments of those countries are upon our naval and military position.
While Sir John Pakington, and perhaps the Secretary-at-War, are talking about small reductions here and there, the point upon which the public is really interested, is the completeness of the
whole system of defence. We have many journals, there of that anx- iety. Amongst the correspondents of the ournals there was the letter of our own esteemed correspondent last week, " W. B. C.," who gives utterance to more than an individual view, when he points to the peremptory necessity of rendering the military posts that command the approaches to the Metropolis absolutely suffi- cient to keep off an enemy. His plan is a circular fortress in Richmond Park ; the works of which would not materially, if at all, diminish the picturesqueness of the place, while they would add to the attractions for the Londoners on holiday expeditions. "An Englishman" has printed a pamphlet, proposing the esta- blishment of the "Royal Rifle Society of England," having in connexion with it a defence fund, and affiliated to it a minor as- sociation of young men in the poorer classes, whose expenses would be in part paid. The same pamphleteer suggests the throwing-up of earth-works on the coast of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with other adjuncts to his general plan. The idea, in a different shape, has already obtained rather extensive cur- rency : it reminds us of Mr. Edwin Hill's plan for a domestic Defence Force, to be composed of persons who might be engaged for a certain number of days yearly in undergoing the proper drill, but would for the rest of the year be free for the ordinary business of life ; a class that would thus connect the military defence of the country with the heart of so- ciety, and would be the nucleus for a larger force got together on any case of emergency. Another pamphlet more recently published by an " Engineer " suggests a plan of in- trenched positions in a line from London to Kmgston and Windsor. It is true that any force landing in Kent or Sussex would have to encounter serious obstacles before approaching London, and amongst them, as Lord Palmerston said, Aldershot would present one of the most difficult positions to be mastered or turned. That there are natural features of the country which might be improved for purposes of defence ; that there is a very numerous population practised in the use of fire-arms ; and that "English spirit" would soon collect an army out-numbering any conceivable force thrown upon our coasts, are facts as obvious as the crowd in London streets. That engineers would strike out plans on the spur of the moment is equally certain. As to the ultimate result of any wild experiment of invasion, it is not worth while even to inquire. But, as we have said, the whole of the mischief that we should have to deplore would happen in the first forty-eight hours. Now any notorious absence of prepa- ration would be about the most eloquent suggestion for employing restless Praetorians that could be conveyed to the ear of certain powers ; while the fact of preparedness would also be one of the most eloquent suggestions in the same quarter to employ any superfluous and troublesome energies in other directions. And the first and last word, the Alpha and Omega of this subject is that in so momentous a business as the are et foci we really cannot afford to leave anything to chance. Our statesmen must try to realize some of the consequences that would fall on them if anything went wrong in this direction, which might have been anticipated on their part. And the oldof the House of Commons declining money is now thoroughly exploded.
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