The Press.
London, England, 1855-11-17 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

than the projectiles themselves. Red-hot shot produce
different but even more dangerous effects. If they lodge
in the sides, they gradually ignite the timber, and, unless
prompt attention be paid, occasion a tire which compels
the abandonment of the vessel. Some balls of this kind
reached one of the French line-of-battle ships, at the time
of the cannonade of Odessa, and did considerable damage.
It must also be added that the fire of cannon on shore
placed on solid platforms must be more just than on board
a vessel agitated by the sea ; that the line-of-battle ship
presents a large target for the fire of the battery, and that
her draught of water will not generally allow her to place
herself in whatever position may be wished.
The writer then proceeded to explain the force of
various kinds of shot, and to demonstrate the terrible
effects of the Paixhan.shell guns, which throw con-
cussion shells horizontally against a ship's side :
But what has rendered the artillery of forts still more
formidable is the invention which has rendered illustrious
the name of General Paixhans, and which consists in
throwing horizontally, and with as much precision as solid
shot, hollow projectiles of large calibre, one of which only,
in lodging in the side of the vessel, just between wino. and
water, may, in bursting, produce a leak which it will be
found impossible to close : one of these projectiles may,
therefore, be sufficient to sink a line-of-battle ship. The
same effect is not produced by an ordinary cannon-ball
passing through the side ; the fibres of the wood again
close, and only leave an opening for the water, which can
be readily plugged. Before this discovery of General
Paixhans these shells were only thrown vertically, and,
although they might by falling on a vessel make their way
through the decks, yet the uncertaintyof their fire rendered
them in reality not very formidable. The principal object
which the Emperor had in view was to find a means of
constructing vessels at a less expense, which could be built
with greater expedition than a large vessel, draw less water,
and consequent" approach nearer the shore ; and, having
their sides covered with a thick coat of iron, the hollow
shot fired at them from the Paixhans guns would break
like glass against them. The original idea, therefore, was,
not to render a vessel invulnerable, but to counteract the
effects of the invention of General Paixhans. Impressed
with this idea, the Emperor ordered experiments to be
made, which were tried in his presence at Vincennes.
Panels of wood, representing a section of the side of a ship,
were erected, and covered with plates of iron of different
thicknesses. Guns of large calibre were placed at a short
distance, and the effect of their fire allowed a calculation to
be made as to the thickness of the iron sheathing required,
which, without encumbering the vessel too much by its
weight, would protect her sides against these hollow shot.
The experiments showed that the iron sheathing also
resisted more solid shot than would be likely to strike it
during a long engagement. This fact being determined,
the Emperor commenced the planning of a special vessel
according to the following programme : one tier of guns,
light draught of water, not very high above the water-line,
and effectual protection against every kind of projectile.
Sailing qualities were obliged to be sacrificed to the parti-
cular object in view, and the Emperor gave to this new
engine of war the name of "floating battery," in order to
show that it was not a vessel made like any other, to
pursue or to avoid the enemy, but a real siege battery, to
energetically and for a long time contend against fortifica-
tions considered by the enemy as unattackable by sea. On
the French naval engineers being consulted, they readily
comprehended the proposed plan, which was promptly de-
cided on. The floating battery could only be masted in
such a way that the masts could be entirely lowered before
going into action, and a steam-screw would allow of its
taking up its proper position without other assistance.
The article then explained the details of the various
experiments made, the result attained, and concluded
with ascribing the merit of the invention, and ',for •
getting the Russian artillery) also of heavy field-
artillery, to the French Emperor :
As soon as the first experiments of the firing had con•
firmed the ideas on which this new invention was based,
and even before the plan was fully decided on, the Emperor
eagerly communicated his views to our faithful and great
ally. Competent persons, men of knowledge and experience,
at first felt some surprise, for the question was regarded is
one that could not be solved ; but, experiments on the
effect of the fire having been made, they full confirmed the
results which had been obtained in France. The two
Governments then agreed to build a certain number of
these floating batteries, which have just made their first
trial at Kinhurn. The projectiles which struck them, not-
withstanding their size, could neither pass through nor
damage their sides, and they soon opened practicable
breaches in the stone walls. Thus, not only have the
floating batteries, as the Emperor wished, neutralised the
formidable properties of the Paixhans shot, which produced
such disastrous effects at Sinope, but the experience of war,
like the experiments at Vincennes, have proved that they
can resist round-shot. Our navy and that of our allies,
who now are acquainted with the properties of these war-
like machines, will know how to turn them to good ac-
count. The Emperor had before that furnished France
with a description of artillery which performed a very
material part in the victories of the Alma, of Inkermann,
and of Tractir; he has now endowed the navy with an arm
which has only just made its appearance, and of which the
future career will prove the power.

THE HANOVERIAN ELECTORAL COLLEGES were con-
voked on the 3rd inst. According to the Constitution
of 1840, the definitive elections must be concluded
within six weeks after the publication of the royal
ordinance. The Constitutional party rely on pre-
senting itself en masse at the elections, and they
think they shall obtain an imposing minority iu the
Second Chamber. The period for the States General
to meet is not yet fired.

1091

tortign pt,orrtspoithatt.

FRANKFORT, NOY. 13.
[T is most injurious to the reputation, as also to the

interests, of England that the Times should persist
pertinaciously in its abuse of the Liberal and Anglo-
Gotha party in Germany, mote especially of that
section which has the Prince Royal of Prussia for
its rallying point. The approaching visit of the King

of Sardinia has been seized upon by the Times to

draw a comparison betwixt the frank and hearty
friendship of Victor Emanuel and the more cautious
amity, according to that authority, of the young
Prince Frederick William of Prussia. This is shame-
fully unjust, and, so far from reflecting discredit on
the object of attack, challenges an investigation of
character, certain to elicit the real deserts of the
accused, but not fruitful of the same advantage
to the accuser. To personal comeliness the Prince
adds those manlier graces and acquirements that
are particularly valued amongst Englishmen, and
they are joined to an affitbiiity of deportment and
kindliness of disposition that have gained him
the high estimation of all those by whom he
has hitherto been surrounded. Subtracting the
prestige of his elevated rank and placing him in any
society, he would bear the distinguishing mark of a
highly-bred gentleman ; and if to these external
merits be added those of a careful education, with
an early predilection, acquired by parental teaching
and example, for England and the English, it may
be said without incurring the charge of adula-
tion that he is eminently suited for the exalted and
happy destiny that it is supposed awaits him. Let
it be admitted that no sovereign deserves heartier
welcome at the hands of England than the King of
Sardinia—but even he and his warmest adherent..
would blame those unwise panegyrists who would
laud him at the expense of one whose good offices
may be of more avail to him hereafter than the vain
sycophancy of the Whigs of England.
To the difficulty of finding a Secretary of the Colo-
nies, it would appear, is added the amusing refusal
of the Duke of Argyll, a Minister, and chairman of
a public dinner at Glasgow, to propose the toast of
" The Allied Armies." It has had a disparaging
effect on the Continent. These derogatory admis-
sions of Ministerial weakness and disunion at a crisis
so pregnant of event tend to degrade the character of
the English Ministry, and to depreciate the vaunted
attributes of representative government. Damaged by
Whig subordinates, and coupled to Whig incapables,
any Minister must stagnate unless the Augean stable
be thoroughly cleansed from Whig impurities. The
hpes of Austria have had their rise and fall in propor•
Lion to the ascendancy or decadency of the Whig faction.
The December treaty by which the Anglo-Frank
allies became bound to an inanimate and corrupt
adjunct, was applauded and supported by the
Whigs ; the occupation of the principalities, an act
ostensibly hostile, but covertly favorable to Russia,
and really advantageous to Austria in a sense adverse
to Turkey and the allies, met with Whig approval.
Lord John Russell, in his mission to Vienna, became
the sorry victim of Austrian policy, by whose Minis-
ters and Emperor he was humored, cajoled, and
ridiculed. The sibilant marks of disapprobation at
the Mansion-house banquet have destroyed the
little prestige he may have had in Vienna, for the
false are ever the first to join in the cry of " haraud
sur le bandet." And it is during this process of
Whig servility towards Austria that the English
chaplain at Vienna has been officially insulted and
imprisoned. The British Consul at Cologne, also,
has been condemned for acts improper or not, but
in obedience to the behests of his Government. The
Whigs have been systematic in their defence of
Austria, and egregiously abusive of the Liberal party
in Germany. Become audacious from an immunity
of punishment, the Vienna Cabinet now seeks to
wrest the Danubian principalities from Turkey by an
endeavour to create Prince Stirb), the hereditary
opponent of the Porte, Hospodar of Wallachia and
Moldavia for life, under an Austrian protectorate.
Virtually, this would be a dismemberment of the
Turkish empire, with a future appropriation of Bosnia
and Servia by like means.
There is an evident stir in the Scandinavian king-
doms. Not less certain is it that a prurient uneasi-
ness affects the German sovereigns, and these causes
combined sufficiently accounted for the presence of
MM. Prokesch Osten, De Beust, and Von der
Pfordten at Paris, and for the mission of General
Canrobert to Stockholm. To assert with official
gravity that the object of the German Ministers in
their visit to the French capital was nothing but a
curiosity to see the Exhibition, and that the journey
of the French general was solely to convey to his
Majesty of Sweden the insignia of the Legion of
Honour, is a diplomatic absurdity, totally inopera-
tive with those who occupy themselves seriously
with the passing events of this momentous day.
Germany, as well as Italy, is impatient of Austrian

1092

interference, which is inimical to her unity by the
introduction of foreign elements into her confedera-
tion which have nothing in common with purely
Teutonic interests. M. de Prokesch Osten departed
from Frankfort not well satisfied with the anti-
Gallic ebullitions of M. de Gerlach, and he distinctly
notified to M. Bismarck SchOnhausen the impression
made at Paris by the Russian and Ministerial mani-
festo against the French empire, and which was
published by royal permission.
The French general is to visit Copenhagen on
his return from Stockholm, a resolution consequent
on the late political approximation of Norway and
Sweden. The Scandinavian kingdoms are drawing
closer their bonds of union, and a French envoy is
forthwith despatched on an especial mission. Russia
has no national outlet to the ocean except by the
Gulf of Archangel, and the free navigation of the
Cattegat is a necessity. Hitherto Stockholm has
been passive in its sufferance of Russian encroach-
ment. Any commotion amongst the border Laps
at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia might authorise
the presence of a Russian army which would not
delay crossing the Tornea, and occupying Swedish
Lapland by way of material guarantee, whilst the
Aland Isles might harbour a fleet to command
Stockholm and imprison its sovereign. The Straits
of Copenhagen are more difficult of disposal; but a
crafty and deep policy under Russian management,
more dangerous than a standing army, might super-
sede the employment of force. It is in this case
that England is all-powerful, and it is for that reason
that every effort will be brought into play to disunite
French interests from those of England, in order
that by the jarring dissonance of instinct and opposing
policies some fortuitous advance may be made b 3
Russia towards the accomplishment of her projects.
It is on this account also that the insolent pamphlet
of M. de Gerlach is well calculated to further the
views of the Cabinet of St. Petersburg by rekindling
Frerch animosity, since, whenever a peace may be
concluded, Russia will eagerly cement an intimate
union with France, in determination to be predomi-
nant on the shores of the Baltic, and to keep the
northern States of Germany in subjection.
J. E. L

SIENA, Nov. 9.
" 11. Santo Padre in Consistorio" has formally an-
nounced that the Austro•Papal Concordat has been
fully rat►fied, and will be forthwith published and
proclaimed in the churches. Thus, all the benefit:,
conferred on the old Roman empire of Germany by
Joseph 11. and Leopold are summarily abrogated
without the consent of those to gain ecclesiastical

freedom for whose ancestors the imperial sovereigns
forfeited their lives. It is not pertinent for the pre-
sent to examine the modes and the attendant cir-
cumstances of their death. Ecclesiastical tri-
bunals, presided over by the sacerdotal spirits of
iniquity, will arraign freedom of thought and
the right of conscience—will condemn liberty of
speech, crush the liberty of the press, and chastise even
unto the death the parole doubt of Raman Catholic
infallibility. And all this tyranny of evil is to be
perpetrated in an age of boasted civilisation. In
glaring and appropriate accompaniment to this Jesuit
aggression upon mankind in Austria and Northern
Italy, appears the ostentatious and " OFFICIAL" burn-
ing of the Holy Bible by the Redemptorist Fathers
at Kingstown, near Dublin, on the sth of November.
The Roman Catholic stewards of the holy mysteries
of Christ have replied to his divine and apostolic
order to "search the Scriptures," by burning "the
Word that was with God, and the Word that was
God," with sacerdotal contempt and anathema. In
the account given by the English papers it is said
that the Roman Catholics, or at least some of them,
have hastened to contradict the report as void of
foundation, terming it a Protestant libel, and a
cunning lie devised for their prejudice. Neverthe-
less, the fact seems to have been conclusively proved
by sundry charred remnants of the Holy Book.
Here, and at Rome, the insult to the Word of God,
Protestantly published, bas been magnified by the
Jesuits in proud exultation, as the first step to the
extinction of Protestant heresy in England, and they
revel in joyful hope of final success, seeing the im-
punity with which the Roman Catholic deed of grace
has been committed before the face of all men.
Protestant England is losing its prestige. Her sons
have ceased to be "the sheep of the Good Shepherd,"
and are here accounted to be more like in their
nature to those other beasts of field that "ran
violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished
in the waters." Jesuitry and Puseyism are hasten-
ing the downfal of the olden faith, and corrupting
that reliance on the Holy Word "which we have
heard with our ears," and wherein "our fathers have
declared the noble works He did in their days, and
in the old time before them."
And Italy has not been safe from the gens
mimics inihi." Fresh grannies and continued in-
dignities are in store, That literature which