FACILITIES FOR THE INVASION OF ENGLAND.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2597, 4 May 1877, Page 3

FACILITIES FOR THE INVASION OF ENGLAND.

At the Royal United Service Institution ; -on Feb. ; 17, General Sir W. Godrington j presiding, Major-Q eneral T. B, Collinson, i jB. E ; i4.eli^ereda lecture on the present | facilities' 'for'the invasionof England- and ! tne defencdtheteof. "He pointed' but the ' elements' ?of danger to our island fortress whictahaTe arisen in the: course .of the last generation, andurged .that no defences exist'at' present in r Chatham or London worth mentioning, "There are," he added, "batteries to defend the access to the Thames and Medway, but on the land side Chatham is at present virtually defenceless. It offers now to the:enemy the attraction.of a harbour and arsenal for his operations, and an.■opportunity of destroying one of \pur newest and finest docifyards^and bur only- one. On the Norih Serf| i:almbst Worth ah expedition in "wSelf. The Boyal Commission of I860 '! proposed to i inake a great ptrategic fertress of it, by connecting it with the Thames, arid thus ensuring a communication between, the north and south, and bn the flank of an enemy ad vancing on London. But that war lever died out with LbrdPalraerstoh, and a peaceful chill set in, under which that, among other defensive measures of the commission, sank to rest. Some day we shall awake ft/gain j and then not only the. defence of Chatham but of London will be the questions : For a strategic fortress at Chatham would not* ensure London ; the British field-army, if defeated between the coast and London, could not retreat to Chatham, and the garrison of that place could? hot bereinforced with numbers and

quality enough' to enable them to 1 ;leare their defences. And if bur fieldarmy, occupied phatham in the first instance, it would enable the invader to enterLondonwith a comparatively small force, watching Chatham with Ibis main bod/i and §Q give him the advantage of fighting" the decisive battle, with the prestige of having sacked the metropolis and destroyed Woolwich Arsenal, and with the material guarantee of the Lord Mayor end Corporation in his camp. I

don't doubt but they would be ready to sacrifice themselves for their country, but I presume, if tho alternative was presented to them'beforehand, they,would prefer spending a few millions in preventing the enemy from entering London at all, except at a great loss and greater risk. A strategic position on the west of London, c6rrespcndin" in some measure to Chatham on the east, might produce this effect, us the field-army if denfeated might rotire behind it; but that would uot save Woolwich Arsenal, and when such immense interests both material and moral are concerned, it would be indeed penny wise and pound foolish to hesitate on the score of such expense as is involved to make the j metropolis and the arsenal secure."— Home News.