The Express.
London, England, 1863-08-01 00:00:00

PRINCE4RIt.

. . _
"MI HMINISO, CrIUSINTOSI.—And ROMEO AND .113LIZT.
Mims. Walter Montgomery, neorge Vlulnq, nelmore, and
H. liardea ; kdlle walla Colas an.l Hrs. H. Marston.

LYC ILU N.

TKO, smut.. A SUDDLS ATT ‘CK. Mmes. nor* and
orlddloonab : Yue Dennote and Mn. Les.—And TIM DUKTCB
Marro. Werra reenter. Shore, Jordan, Ilroaa, and
Ilaymond ; Limn C. Lnelereq, K. Terry, sad Klawor.

ARITA NNIA.

Tuts Evans% THE MISER'S_ DAUGHTER —THE GREAT
GHOST SCENE trona THE WISHING GLEN, with Professor
s aditi gallon of figreints Spectral Illoalon.—THE
lir4rol LIFIL—And TUE CIIWIE Or DISOBF.DIENCIL

111611 WATER AT LONDON BILIDGR.
rim DAT MornLAA 31 Tra . . Aftwrskruk. 31 25m.
Icusoakow-•ll.orniog. 3h. 44r0... .A.ftwucon. 42. 7s.

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST L

Sirce the success of the Whitworth guns
against iron plates in the trials made list autumn,
the country has been anxiously awaiting the pro-
gress of the great competitive examination which
is to decide whether our future armaments are to
be on the principle of these guns or on that of Sir
W. ARWITRONO. It is n►tural, therefore, that the
public should be disappointed that the Report of
the Ordnance Committee, just published, contains
no information on this question, and that it should
be not less surprised at the announcement
made a few days since in the House of Com- '
mons, that four months more at least mast
elapse before the rivals are ready for further ex-
periment. We confess that the tardiness of the
two competitors scarcely seems to us sufficient to
absolve the authorities from blame for delay. Our
interest is in very slight degree involved in the
question whether the one or the other shall be
able, by extreme care in the construction of his
piece, to send his shot a little further,
or to attain a slight advantage in the ele-
ment of " mean lateral deviation." Both
are, beyond question, accurate enough for
all the purposes attainable in actual war. But
what we really want to know is, which will be most
serviceable in all the rough work of war. We want
to know which is most enduring with least weight,
which is must rapidly served, which is least sub-
ject to derangement either by its own fire or by
hostile fire, which is most easily repaired. All
these are questions of paramount importance, but
they do nut need for their solution that we should
wait till each engineer has turned out a gun
finished with all the skill and expense that can be
lavished upon it. They rather require that the
ordinary guns of each maker should be taken,
furnished for field service to a couple of batteries
of the Royal Artillery, and placed for naval service
on board the Excellent, or some other of our vessels
devoted to the purpose of practice, and in such
circumstances exposed on equal terms to all the
severest and continued test, of actual service.
With regard to the Armstrong guns, we are able
from our own stores to supply all that are wanted
for such testa. They are indeed already issued to
the service, and none others are needed or should
be admitted on Sir Wimasx's part. As for the
Whitworth guns, we know not whether they are
to be bad in our markets, though it has been re-
ported that many of them have been exported to
America. But in any case the proper course is
that Government should give Mr. WHITWORTH an
order in commercial course fur a supply of his guns
sufficient for trial ; if either he cannot or will not

furnish them, judgment must be held to have gone
against him by default, and we must continue to
nee the Armstrong' until a service gun of better
construction shall be offered to us on terms per.
mating of its equal triaL
Meantime, however, our authorities may be
fairly asked to devote themselves to some other
experiments of importance even greater. We have
to determine not merely what is to be our future
gun, but what is to be our future projectile, and
what our future defence from the enemy's projec-
tiles. Strange to say, these are matters which
remain as undetermined—so far, at least, an any
public experiments have indicated—as they were
a year ago, or five years ago. Yet the question,
as we have more than once endeavoured to show,
lies not very deep below the surface. The whole
revolution in naval architecture, which has resulted
in the building of none but armour-clad "hips,
arises from the one fact that common cast-iron
spherical shells have been found to be of fatal
effect when fired against wooden ships. But these
missiles, it is also established beyond dispute, are
absolutely harmless when fired against even half.
inch plates of iron. If, therefore, we were to cover
our three-deckers with armour, not of four and si:

inches in thickness, but merely of three-quarters of
an inch in thickness, we should at once
restore to ourselves the naval position which
we held from the time of Brant to that
of NilaoX. Our ships would be penetrable
by shot, as they were under those commanders,
and as they have been in evilpy naval battle yet
fought. But they would be impenetrable by
common shell, the new bugbear of our modern
sailors. Before, however, this suggestion can
safely be acted upon, two questions must be settli d
by experiment, and our complaint is that these
experiments are yet wanting, or at least are un-
divulged. The first is to ascertain whether cast-
iron shells, if made conical instead of spherical,
would penetrate, and assuming that they would
penetrate in a greater degree than the old spheri-
cal shells, then to ascertain what thickness of iron
"rill be requisite to keep them out. And the next
exp,oriment is to ascertain what effect will be pro-
duced ,1.7 wrought-iron shells, when we have come
to adopt J. :Itch a thickneas of iron armour as
will render cast-iron thells useless in any shape or
11, is ob4.Aus that these twoclsssesnf experiments
are 10,0,e all
in ?Ala to the construction of that
iron-plated
n„,c,„ $.-hich we are hereafter to rely.
Wehave ascerta- • ed that we shall fail in the effort
to keep out shot. The Warrior target has been

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