THE DEFENCE OF SYDNEY.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 774, 9 February 1871, Page 3

THE DEFENCE OF SYDNEY.

The "Herald" gives a long account of the defensive works being constructed at Sydney. It thus proceeds : The commission, we understand, recommended what is termed an inner and an outer line of defence. The former being more important and more urgently required, is that which the Government are in the first instance chiefly carrying into effect. " The " outer " line of defence consists of a battery at Middle Head of seven 6Spounders, a battery at George's Head of three 68-pcunders and two 10-inch guus ; batteries at the South llend, where two 110-pound Armstrong guns are be planted, two 08pounders, and two 8-inch guns ; booms from theSowand Pigsshoal to George's Head and Lady's Bay ; a double line of torpedos placed outside the booms ; and casemated batteries consisting of three 32-pounders at each end of the booms; aud a battery of two 68-pounders at Shark Point. The " inner " line of defence will comprise one 68-pounder and two 10-inch guns at Bradley's Head; one 68-pounder .and four 10-inch guns on Garden Island; six 32-pounders on Goat Island, three 13-inch mortars at Fort Phillip, one 8-inch and three 32-pound-ers at Fort Denison, two 10-iuch and four 32-poun-ders at Mrs Macquarie's Chair, five at Fort Mac•quarie, and five 42-pounders at Dawes' Point. Several members of the Government and of the Defence Commission were occupied at the South Head in marking out the trenches connecting the batteries there, and to-day they will be again engaged in performing similar work at some of the other batteries. The weather was delightfully fine, and was the more agreeable as compared with the several wet and stormy days which the Premier, Minister for "Wbi'ks, and the Commissioners have spent on the shores of the harbor in attending to necessary arrangements. Having marked out the trenches of the battery at the inner South Head, the party proceeded to witness the explosion of a blast at a site selected for one of the guns, having a large projecting shelf of rock intervening between the proposed position of the gun aud its range seaward. Holes were "jumped" into the rock to ;; depth of about nine feet, and the four ■charges, each consisting of 10 lbs of powder, were simultaneously exploded by a magnet-electric instrument from the Telegraph Office. The quantity of rock displaced measured about twelve hundred tons, which were hurled with a terrible crash into the ■ocean. Gangs of men were at work on the gun pits and the trenches, all o.f which are being excavated out of the solid saudstone rock. The gun pits will he excavated to a depth of 4 feet 3 inches, and the trenches to a depth of 6 feet 6 inches. These traverses, or covered ways, are in the torm of zigzags, and, communicating between the pits, furnish to the gunners a means of escape from explosive missiles which may happen to fall into them. There are between forty and fifty men at work on the pits at the South Head, and more will be put on in the course of a few days. Mr Wall is is the contractor for this work. Men were also to be seen at work on Mr Loveridge's contract at George's Head, and on Mr Young's at Middle Head. The two 110-pounder Armstrong guns placed near to the lower Lighthouse will sweep a radius of aWeast two miles seaward, and they will also command the North Harbor, Middle Harbor, and westward in the direction of Bradley's Head. Another gun of large calibre, portion of the armament ordered from England, will be placed at the edge of the precipice higher up, and it will have a similar range. The position of five guns, near Camp Cove, ismarkedout,andtheycanbebroughtto bear upon a vessel immediately it enters the Heads. The battery at Middle Head will also have a range seaward, and uo sooner can a ship cuter the Heads than it will be raked by a cross fire from the batteries we have named. The site appears to be the best which could be selected, and nature had given every advantage on the Bide of defensive operation. In addition to the two casniated batteries to protect the boom from injury by boat crews, there are twenty-two guns which will concentrate their firing upon any ship which may attempt to force past the boom. The ship would not be far from any battery ; and our artillerymen, who have the reputation of being good shots, would no aoubt be able to smash up any vessel of the stamp we may expect, before she would be in a position to venture upon that hazardous experiment.

Mrs Agassiz tells us that in certain Amazonian tribes, while the wedding festivities are going on, the bridegroom's hand is tied 'up in a paper bag filled with fire ants. If he bears this torture smilingly and unmoved, he is considered fit for the trials of matrimony.

DR. GUMMING ON THE WAR. On September 25, at Crown Court Chapel, Covent Garden, the Rev Dr Cumming stated that many years ago he delivered a series of lectures at Exeter Hall on the Apocalypse, and he then drew from prophecy (his words were taken down in shorthand and were in print) that the downfall of the papacy would take place in ISGS, or within two or three years from that time. The newspapers of the day sneered at and ridiculed him : but who was the false prophet now ? The Pope had now only a manse (to speak in Scottish phrase), sis acres of glebe, and a parish church, although it was a very magnificent one—that of St. Peter's. He expressed his opinion that Ftaneiscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, Grey Friars, Black Friars, and ritualistic priests, were doing what they could to bring about the " lie " of which the Apocalypse spoke. Some day, before long, he thought they would have to call a Protestant meeting in Exeter Hall for the purpose of conveying a vote of thanks to the Pope for having broken up the Roman Catholic Church ; for having split it into so many divisions that it was not possible they could ever he healed. AVheu the Russian war broke out he drew from prophecy that it was not a single war, but the first of a series of wars. In ISSI there was the Crimean war. Shortly afterwards there was th« 3 Indian mutiny. Then there was the Italian war, and then the Prussian War against Austria. Now there was this most terrible war, in which there had been already more terrible slaughter than at any time during the history of mankind. The rev. doctor expressed his hope that recent events in France would aid the extension of, the Protestant faith, as there were 1200 Protestant or Hugenot Churches in the country.