The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-26 00:00:00

doubt but that he had extraordinary zeal for his party. In the days
when we had close professional observation of him, Mr. COPPOCK was
distinguished by many good qualities ; and although we had the pre-
judices of hostile opinions, we were sometimes favourably struck with
h►s just sense of things Like other men, he had his weak points.
We were always aware that his post was not a lucrative one, and his
friends never made any secret of his position ; but, like other Liberal
politicians, Mr. Corrocv found great enjoyment in intercourse with the
notabilities of Parliamentary life. In the strategy of his peculiar call.
ing, Mr. COPPOCR fought an attacking game better than one of retreat
or pure defence. He was quick in perceiving " opens," but he wanted
subtlety, and he often was encountered with superior skill His
thorough identification with his party was his most prominent feature;
and in his grave we will do him the justice of saying that we do not
believe that any rewards could have tempted him to sell his cause or
his colours. We do not disparage him in saying that, as far as we
could judge from hostile ranks, his talents as a man of business
seemed to us much overrated. It was by his untiring zeal that he
won the sort of name he possessed, but we have known him to have
made great mistakes. He was far more skilful in dealing with a low
than with a high class of what in the courtesy of electioneering are
called " difficult cases." On the middle-class politicians of the Libe-
rals Mr. COPPOCK was very successful ; and his influence with tT-.:1
journalism of his party was wide and various, and had no inter-
mission. We can easily understand how the crash of the " Surrey
Gardens Company," and the strictures consequent on its enormous
mismanagement, must have powerfully affected him ; but we would
fain believe (and it is the opinion of several) that it was his reputation
as a man of business, not his character as a man of integrity, which
was most deeply compromised in that unfortunate affair. There is
much curiosity, it is said, in Liberal circles to know, " where are we
" to find another Coppock ?" and Mr. HATTER will be puzzled, or pre-
tend to be so. Patriots from the provinces will, doubtless, be forth-
coming, and Mr. HArrza will be besieged with applications.

A further correspondence between Mr. VERNON SMITH and the
Directors of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company,
and Mr. VERNON SMITH and the East India Board, has been published
this week. The correspondence bears upon the statement recently
made by Lord DERBY with respect to the ignorance Mr. VERNON SMITH
had displayed concerning certain arrangements for the transmission
of troops across Egypt ; but, beyond that, it has no immediate refe-
rence to the Noble Earl. The question has now passed into another
phase. It is no longer a question between Lord DERBY and Mr.
VERNON SMITH, hut it is between Mr. ANDERSON, the Directors of the
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, and Mr.
MANGLES, the Chairman of the East India Board. Mr. ANDERSON, in
his letter of last week, stated distinctly that, after all had been
finished, and the instructions for the transport of the troops de-
spatched, a special messenger came down from the President
of the Board of Control to inquire whether " such an arrange-
ment could be made." Here is a very distinct assertion. This
week Mr ALLAN, of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navi-
gation Company, on the authority of a communication made to him at
the India-house, explains that the inquiry referred to by Mr. ANDERSON
was received at the India-house, not at the offices of the Peninsular
and Oriental Steam Navigation Company; whereupon Mr. MANGLES,
upon being applied to by Mr. VERNON SMITH, denies that
any one in the India-house could have had any authority or ground
for making such a communication as that Mr. ALLAN declares he had
positively received at the India-house. Here, then, is a nest of con-
tradiction. A ray of light, however, appears. Mr. MANGLES
admits that Mr. VERNON SMITH did at that period make
certain inquiries of detail relating to the arrangement
" which had been concluded " for the transmission of troops
across Egypt. It is impossible that the question can stop here.
Mr. ANDERSON'S assertion that "a message came down" is distinct.
Mr. A statement, though not very distinct, points to the same
erd, viz., the despatch of a certain message by the Board of Control ;
and Mr. MANGLES admits that at this period, when everything had been
concluded, Mr. VERNON SMITH did make certain inquiries.

Lieutenant-Colonel .TAmEs, R.E., Superintendent of the Ordnance
Survey, has been appointed Director of the consolidated Topographi-
cal Department of the War-office, which is to include the Topographi-
cal Branch of the Quartermaster-General's Office, Horse Guards, the
Ordnance Survey, and the Topographical Depot established by the
Duke of NEWCASTLE in the War Department.

The experiments carried on at Woolwich with Mr. MALLET'S
mortar, on Friday, the 18th inst., were attended with less
success than on the first occasion. Then seven rounds were fired
before any contretemps occurred, although the dire,: last charges were
50, 00, and 70 lbs. of powder respectively. On the 18th, although the
uniform charge was 40 lbs. of powder, at the sixth round the mortar
wam declared hors de combat. At the first trial a range was obtained of
2,400 yards, or nearly a mile and a half; at the last, with a reduced
charge, 1,700 yards, or about a mile. True it is, as stated by Mr.
MALLET, only "a single wrought•iron external ring of nine inches by
" three inches thick was discovered to be fractured, the fracture being
through an unsound welding equal jai area to about one half the