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NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

TOULON: A WAR PORT.

"L'EMPIRE c'est la paix," Louis Napoleon said, solemnly, to his nation, on his election as emperor; but that did not prevent him beginning the Eastern war. "L'empire c'est la paix," he repeated, when the treaty of Paris restored peace to Europe. With the same remark, he has accounted for the enormous extension he has given to his land and sea forces since his accession to the throne, as well as the colossal fortresses and ports, which reached their culminating point in Cherbourg. August, 1858, will be remembered in history as the epoch when the first rent was made in the Anglo-French alliance.

But, although Cherbourg is a marine fortress of the first class, protecting with its mighty works the entire northern coast of France, and menacing England's shores, it did not suffice for the hundreds of miles of littoral, and hence the emperor considered it necessary to create a similar place d'armes in the south, adapted to secure French supremacy in the Mediterranean, and offer the southern fleet a safe haven.

There was, probably, another motive at work, which the emperor certainly did not make known, but which is now generally recognised by naval authorities. In spite of its thousands of guns, Cherbourg is not impregnable, as we have been led to believe. Great errors have been committed in the construction of this mighty fortress, principally in the armament of the mole, and the three forts erected upon it. This mole forms the principal line of defence to the roads and harbour. It commands both these inside and outside, as well as nearly all the land forts. But this isolation in the sea, which seems to give the mole its greatest strength, can easily produce its destruction. The mole is armed with 250 guns, but the breadth of the platform is only 30 feet, and there is no space for any other troops than those serving the batteries. Two thousand men are the outside strength it can receive. In addition to this, at high water, men-of-war can lie close alongside. If, then, the attacking force is divided into three squadrons, two trying to force the entrances into the port, while the third, composed of invulnerable block-ships and gun-boats, steers straight for the mole, and boards it, with 8000 or 10,000 men, it is probable that it would fall into their hands. In that case, most of the land forts and the harbour would be exposed. The attacking ships having their rear covered, would, in union with the 250 guns of the mole, speedily annihilate all the enemy's works. As night would in all probability be selected for such an operation, it might be effected with proportionately small loss. Of course, we assume that the French fleet has been previously beaten, and cannot attack our ships in reverse. This May-VOL. CXIX. NO. CCCCLXXIII.

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is the true reason, in our opinion, why Louis Napoleon is building such an enormous fleet and concentrating it at Cherbourg, for the fortress can alone be saved by the presence of an Invincible Armada. Whether the French fleet is so, time alone can tell, and, perhaps, sooner than is generally expected.

The Emperor of the French, far too acute to risk all on one throw, selected Toulon as his second war harbour, and it is admirably situated for the purpose. With less bravado, but with equal energy, this renowned port has, during the last few years, been converted into a second Cherbourg, although not possessing any great likeness to that fortress.

Toulon, at present the chief town of an arrondissement of the department of the Var, is situated on the northern shore of a bay, which runs for some distance in a north-westerly direction into the French mainland. To the north, a high chain of hills runs half round the bay; at the south, the entrance to the harbour is protected by lofty promontories from easterly or westerly winds. It is guarded from the south wind by a peninsula running across the entrance, to the north of which are the great roads. Close to the town are two large basins formed by magnificent quays and moles, called the old and new port: the eastern one for vessels of war and merchantmen, the other kept exclusively for the navy, having been greatly enlarged in 1856. The depth of the outer roads is 60 feet, that of the inner roads and basins 30 feet, so that a fully equipped vessel of the line can float at ease in them.

THE HISTORY OF THE TOWN.

Toulon, called by the Romans Telo-Martius, suffered severely from the inroads of the Saracens, and hence its progress, in spite of its excellent situation, was considerably impeded in the middle ages. The old Counts of Provence fortified it, and in the thirteenth century Saint-Louis extended the works. By the sixteenth century the seafaring population had so largely increased that large faubourgs were formed outside the wall. In the reign of Francis I. the population amounted to about 15,000. The landing of the Turks, whom Francis summoned to his aid in 1543 against the emperor and Henri VIII., and who passed the winter at Toulon under the notorious Barbarossa, greatly checked the improvements of the town, but they commenced again under Henri Quatre, who, in gratitude for the fidelity of the population, pulled down the old works, and united the town with the suburbs, which he again surrounded with bastion works. The first stone of this line was laid in 1589, and in 1594 the moles were begun, intended to provide the town with a spacious and secure harbour. A portion of the latter was reserved by Henri IV. as a war port, and he also built an arsenal. With the rapid growth of the French navy, this harbour soon proved insufficient; but though the want was recognised during the reign of Louis XIII., it was only remedied by his successor, or rather by Colbert, who drew up the plan for an extensive naval establishment. Vauban, to whom the task was entrusted, commenced it in 1669, and completed it in his own masterly way.

The progressively increasing population made it from that date most desirable to enlarge the town and the old harbour. Since 1784, the plan has been frequently discussed, but it was not really undertaken till 1836,

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