[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. " ] the Times of September
8th the special correspondent with the Red Force writes of the landing of the Blue Force
have been practicably impossible that the landing of the troops in the face of a proportionate opposing force would in war, with modern weapons, almost certainly be attended with irrevocable disaster is equally certain. The targets presented by the crowded boats were such that no boats could have landed under concentrated rifle fire." Bear- ing on the problem thus presented, the following extracts from speeches by Mr. Pitt are little less pertinent now than they were a century ago :-
"I was formerly, and still am, of opinion that to a regular Army alone we ought not solely to trust, but that in a crisis so full of danger wo ought to superadd to the
regular Army some permanent system of national defence, either to a certain degree compulsory or formed upon the voluntary zeal and patriotism of the country itself. This ought to be resorted to as the grand source of domestic security. The Volun- teer forces of the country would, fighting on their own soil for everything dear to individuals and important to the State,
be invincible in the maritime counties a much smaller force would be sufficient to harass or defeat the enemy on their first landing than a much larger force after."—(llecem- ber 9th, 1803.)
"It [the fortification of the capital] will not, I admit, make the difference between the conquest and independence of the country, for that will not depend upon one nor upon ten battles, but it may make the difference between the loss of thousands of lives with misery, havoc on the one hand, or on the other frustrating the efforts of the enemy."
—(July, 1803.)
"With all my respect, nay affection, for the new military system, our Naval defence is that on which we should chiefly rest our hopes."—(March 18th, 1804.)
I transcribe from Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt.—I am, Sir, &c.,
REGINALD LUCAS.
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