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134

No. 249.

Governor-General the Earl of Dufferin, K.P., G.C.M.G., G.C.B., to the Right Hon. Sir M. E. Hicks Beach, Bart.-(Registered July 23.)

(Confidential.) Sir,

Ottawa, July 12, 1878.

WITH reference to the correspondence which has ensued respecting the defence of the principal Canadian Atlantic ports, I have the honour to transmit herewith, for your information, a copy of a Memorandum prepared by Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Selby Smyth, K.C.M.G., commanding the militia, furnishing full details of the armament of the several forts and batteries of the Dominion.

Inclosure in No. 249.

Memorandum.

64

I have, &c. (Signed)

DUFFERIN.

WHEN we receive the seventeen converted rifled guns just demanded from England, we shall have an armament of forty-four rifled guns for garrison and coast defence, mounted within the last eight months, in addition to the armed forts and batteries previously effective.

The rifled guns newly mounted will be in position as follows, viz. :-

Vancouver's Island, British Columbia.

Victoria. Two 2-gun batteries of 64-pounder guns, total 4.

McAulay's Point, between Victoria and Esquimalt, three 7-inch 6-ton guns.

Entrance to Esquimalt Bay and Naval Arsenal, one 12-ton and one 9-ton gun. Total for defence of Victoria and Esquimalt, nine heavy rifled guns.

Sydney, Cape Breton.

Eight Palliser guns on two batteries.

St. John, New Brunswick.

Five Palliser guns on Fort Dufferin.

32

64

32

Four Palliser guns on Redhead battery. Two Palliser guns on Partridge Island. Three Palliser guns on Dorchester battery.

32

Ten 4 Palliser guns.

One 8-inch Palliser gun.

Quebec, Citadel and Works.

One 7-inch Palliser gun and one 10-inch* Palliser gun.

from Sir William Palliser.

The three latter are gifts

In addition, there are at Quebec four 7-inch breech-loading Armstrong rifled guns, and on the Point Levis Forts three 7-inch breech-loading Armstrong rifled guns.

At Fort Henry and Fort Frederick Kingston, there are two 7-inch breech-loading Armstrong guns on the Salient.

There is also a considerable armament of smooth-bore guns mounted along the coasts independent of the armaments of Quebec and Kingston, and Fort Wellington, Prescott.

It is only to be regretted that all are not long-range rifled cannon, viz. :—

Pictou, Nova Scotia

Charlottetown, Prince Edward's Island..

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

Liverpool, Nova Scotia

Digby, Nova Scotia..

St. John, New Brunswick

31

St. Andrew's, New Brunswick

Gaspé, P. Q.

Smooth-bore on batteries for coast defence

::

6 32-pounders.

19

>>

2

6

16

1929 193

45

2 8-inch.

2 68-pounders.

2 32-pounders.

2 24-pounders.

• Not yet arrived.

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