THE NEW BATTLE OF DORKING.
(To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.") Sin,—Would you allow me to assure your reviewer (Spectator, June 30th) that I am perfectly well acquainted " with the story of the Crimea," and all the official Reports relating thereto ? Further, that I know very well " how much shipping would be required to transport one hundred and twenty thousand men across the Channel,"—a point on which the Crimean papers shed no light whatever. The latter deal only with the transportation of a force for long distances—the passage of the Channel is only a very short one—and for, say, six hours troops can put up with the same accommodation as Bank-holiday trippers. If your reviewer will consult " Lec- tures on Staff Duties " (I have not the book at hand to give him the page), he will see that it is officially known in England that sufficient transport for the purpose is always present day for day in the French Channel ports for the numbers • organised as I have indicated. The point involved is a very simpTeWae. (Wadi" on what the French think they can do, not on our estimate of their abilities, and they, looking - -on the question merely as the passage of a river, not of an ocean,-are firmly convinced that they could throw the force I have mentioned across the water in less time than we could get up steam in the boilers of our big ships. Whether they succeed or not is immaterial, for the attempt once initiated, a prolonged war, which cannot last less than eighteen months, must ensue, the chief sufferings of which will fall on our women and children. I have spent the better part of twenty-five years on the careful and detailed study of this problem, and would suggest that the little pamphlet deserves considerably closer attention than the Spectator has seen fit to accord to it. —I am, Sir, &e.,
THE AUTHOR OF "THE NEW BATTLE OF DORKING."
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