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Appendix No. 4.
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PENANG.
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it would be better to leave the place entirely open, warning the mercantile community that in time of war it would be well for them to send their moveable valuables to Singapore for security.
Should no heavy armament be mounted, the fort should be retained as a place to which the European population might retire in case of rioting amongst the Chinese.
It is intended to place the Sikh police in the work, and it has been said that with these men and two companies of British infantry at the lines, which are about 3 miles distant, forces could be brought to converge upon any disaffected part of the town in case of an insurrection.
It is doubtful, however, whether it would be desirable to have the small garrison divided in that way into two portions; better, perhaps, to depend altogether, for the protection of the Settlement in event of internal commotions, on the police force alone, and remove the European garrison to Singapore, where in time of war their services would be more urgently required.
Penang is only at a distance of thirty-six hours from Singapore. There is telegraphic communi- cation between the two places, and, if required, troops could be quickly brought to the place.
This question, however, as to the necessity of retaining any European garrison at Penang, is a subject in which the Colonial authorities can best form an opinion.
I inclose copies of Reports by Captain McCallum, R.E., and of a correspondence between the Governor of the Straits Settlements and the officer commanding the troops on the subject of removing the garrison from the fort.
I have, &c. (Signed)
W. CROSSMAN, Lieutenant-Colonel, R.E.
Inclosure 3 in No. 79.
Memorandum on Fort Cornwallis, Penang.
FORT Cornwallis is, militarily speaking, a thing of the past, situated at the extreme point of the low flat plain which lies on the north-eastern corner of the Island of Penang (and upon which the capital, George Town, is built). This fort has been handed down to us as a relict of a time when the town was small and compact, and when wooden vessels carried smooth-bore ordnance of moderate calibre and power.
Against external attack, however, its position à fleur d'eau would have at any time militated against its efficiency, had it even been originally designed of a more formidable character.
A
Its trace is that of bastion fronts on four sides of a perfect square, each 450 feet in length. The faces of the bastions fall on the re-entering angles, and the length of the flanks sweeping the lines of defence is 40 feet only. Emplacements for guns firing through embrasures are provided in the bastions where the thickness of parapet is 17 inches, the curtains being occupied by masonry walls preceding lines of barracks and stores, which occupy a considerable portion of the interior space. full masonry escarp 11 feet high runs round the fort behind a berm 12 inches wide, in front of which a second drop wall, 5 ft. 6 in. high, is provided. The ditch is a wet one, 27 feet wide, and having a maximum depth of water of 5 feet, controlled by a tidal sluice in the counterscarp of the north-eastern salient.
The magazines are situated in the north-western and south-western bastions. Such is a brief description of a work which, as I have said, was never a very formidable object from an attack sea- ward, its exterior space being close and confined, and the faces exposed to enfilade and reverse fire, its useful purpose being essentially to overawe the town. The great extension, however, to the south ward and inland has deprived the fort even of this advantage, and it remains now but as a place of refuge for women and children in the event of serious Chinese riots. Beyond this benefit, works of fortifications, whether ancient or modern, are perfectly unnecessary in this Settlement, either for Imperial or for colonial purposes, and this I pointed out in a Report furnished by me early in 1878, when requested by Governor Sir William Robinson to give my views as to the policy of providing defence works for Penang. The fort maintained in its present condition is really a source of danger to the town, for, situated as it is in the neighbourhood of the most important public buildings and commercial establishments, its appearance from seawards is such as to invite bombardment from any enemy's cruizer which might find its way into these waters. The proposed concentration of the military establishments at the sepoy lines and the location of the semi-military European and Sikh police in the fort is, I consider, a wise step, not only for facility of administration, military and govern- mental, but as providing the means of the command over the town, which will, by the step proposed, be between two armed centres, which can converge on any disaffected quarter, and thus the more easily suppress any disturbances which may be taking place: whilst, therefore, the buildings within the fort are kept in a state of efficiency as police quarters, I would recommend that creepers be allowed to grow over the revetment walls, and that they be given an appearance of decay and picturesqueness, compatible with maintaining their present inaccessibility to a Chinese mob except by escalade.
H. E. McCALLUM, Captain, R.E.
(Signed)
August 19, 1881.
Inclosure 4 in No. 79.
Memorandum on Fort Cornwallis, Penang.
1. I QUITE agree in the views expressed by his Excellency the Governor as to the desirability of withdrawing the detachment of infantry at present quartered in Fort Cornwallis.
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