56
letter that 23 places for
Batteries have been reserved many of them in the very centre and most crowded part of the Town, but that no steps have yet been taken for the erection of one single new Battery, and that strong opinions are entertained not only by Civilians but by artillery Officers on the unreasonable extravagance of the scheme proposed.
17 SE appears to Me that the probability of Hong Kong being ever left, even for a short time without ships, was, for many reasons, less than it was in 1857, and I can scarcely conceive that Her Majesty's government will be prepared to provide against this possible but very improbable contingency by constructing 23 Batteries and maintaining a Garrison sufficient to man them.
I should have thought that a strong battery at the: