Our Defences.

Admiral Scott said, as those present were aware, he had recently been Home, and since his return he had been asked to give an address or read a paper on defence to Volunteers and others. He would do so on Wednesday night, when the Mayor would preside. Preparations for defence in this Colony were far beyond the necessities of the case, and he hoped to be able to bring that out clearly before them. The works already carried out were merely a commencement, and they might go on with any number of forts. The expenditure for their maintenance would be very great indeed, apart from the great curse of a standing army, which was eating most of the nations away.