The Express.
London, England, 1862-04-04 00:00:00

ASSN WIEST SILL.

This bill v nod • third time and paawal.
THE NAVY.
The Earl el HANDIFICIE, parowasd evil asked
tie First Lod of tto Adinisalte what was the aurober of
iron plated shire abort ao4 had what way istr.o4od
to 11.• door *kb tbr ship. of this bet that aro bolt of
trn.,er • The boa* earl said ha wilted to amoottato from
U. Rovorovnest • statement at what their views were with

r...a:ral to the navy
r.e Duke of MOM IlLikiT rid he duet remind their

lot fahige that • few twin ego, is the summer of 1859,
',two ht Ithe Doke of Somerset) fine came Trio °flee, the
A Ininity we. willed upon by the public. by that bowie,
and the Howe of C natituus. sot to lay and the budding of
wooden ship% but to a 4.1 to the strain...C. of tba
awry ; and whew he brat emus luso he
food • programme for tlor buildiot of • Large t0......er of
woodra •Mpa, aid als.• of two into ships. He did out
think it night to depart fruits that prupataule ; and wooed-
tn.& two nos caws" vist•ela were proceeded with, was the
7:..rriur, awl the other the Work Prutur. But the gonteruuseat
retoleed before Nu, mutat., to build four -4 theee iron
tweets hooted ef two. It was found iuz,or.roirot to hare
_

;h as tt th rib
lo; ;- arsonliagly, whereas
tlai Warrior ark Priam war, built of *OW tows,

earryireg *gams, the Ddersoe aid Resistance were now
Mesereeted of .4700 taus, end tarrying 12 guns.
A new mienies was new relied, that there
.guns
were sot milinently protected, and accordingly
• new class of gripe wm set oe tout, which he
might call lb* valiant clams. Of these MO would
be breached in August, earl two alms not until next year'
*wise to a failure tie the part of the contractor.
With this question of vessels arose another gnat
questioe of ermonenti ; and after further debterat:oe three
vessels were hid down in the summer of last year, which
be n.•ght desseihe se of the Minotaur class, of 4,700 toes,
cer-ying 10 gone, aU a which were protected, and of 1,300.
bone pewee Tait lordships would Ind that they had 10
.easels of a.m. Four of these were already launched, es
be had mentioned, and one more would be :if ea: in August,
and effectise this autumn. He (the Duke of Somereete
however, did mot feel satisfied with the progress which had
been mode, aid accordingly lie had directed five wooden
ironies to Le isegthened and fitted with iron eletee, thus
producing a class of %reseed of 4,000 tons and carrying
12 sues. Three of thew would be reedy this cesium, and
two more early mat ye.r. Then mine to le cousArred the
question of the mode of building them vesse.s, 1111 I of fitting
teem with repulse, amording to the plan recommended by
Captain Cole, Hitherto this plan had been nan.iilerel, but
it had newel be.. tested in any way. Aceontagly one of
three cuprite. was subjected to the severest testa ; end he
mishit nieutiot that one of the advent •ecs _:tending the
creole' es.. that gees could he fired froni them much mons
repidly thin from the deck of the Excellect. They fired at
tbe cupp,t, titst some eight or ten shots of tulie., then men.
Of La). : awl, tiredly, ...toe 40 chute .o! 110,11,., but
without rioting the slightest injury, eeeei t .n one in-
s/awe, w:,ete one of the pletes sma den ient. Then,
again, it was found possible to tire two guns
in the ..310 cupola. the. donlilieg the .efcct of
tee dischseee. At the time when these expe:in,ente were
being mei • uo riartreular &leen' was felt, mil ace mingle
he (the I, ..• reenerset) hod not thought it necessary to
se ply a. t ereasury for an extraordinary, grace hot coo,
'Merest • prestbn might well he left to the dieisiou of
melamine lint be had now ordered the cope r,etion of a
timid die eiv of iron, to be fitted with cupolas en -Amain
Cotse's eleu Thu ship was to be 2170 feet long, its
Menage ere, to he shove 2,000 toes. and it was to
draw Gel. 21 feet of 'ester. Thin would he s miry powerful
andafeetere vesel. But it might possibly Ms why not
try the ere t of a cupola on a wooden ship, Well, that
had lieu trnight of, but at occurred to ttet i• he bad
tried the esemintent on an old ship mid a failure had taken
place, it sexed have cast daciedit on the whole maim. .tt
the same time, it was hie belief that perfctt seen, would
attend the eating down of wades shies for the purpose of
covering teem with iron piste. sod fitting them wen iron
cepolae. (Hear, hear.) Hut in order to make sure he had
thought it taut to order en iron ship to be constructed on
this preiciple. It wain ship carrying guns io a emote, and
was pante it. capable of going retied the world. Thee six
deferent •::a--wed vessels had been construeted ; but still
be hail out Mt satisfied The iron plating on these vessels
wet 11.4 .et ernegesough ; card, M the present state of dia.
coveter. the iress plates did not cootribote to the
=•li of the ship. Hut the. evil be bed lei doubt
he Remedied. Ina noble earl asked tiro what
the Admitslty were going to do with their warden ships.
That was not es easy question to &sewer • het at present
they writ convening, us the way he bad dee:riled, live
frames of :Mo•ol•tntile ships, three a which, as lie had
already a. J. would Ire ready IS Aegest, 11,11V,11 Ilanlfin of
frigates.• eld oight of large corvettes. His °mien we that
it lanattl 1., imeable to cut down twenty linemf.tiattle ships,
sad Meet them ie lb. way described, and coseequently
if the timid wished fee iron ships this amenry was
la • ee -dim to compete with *by ether power.
He them c asse to tie euestosi of the late coudiet which
bed Picea 'leere ire the American -eaters, and he would en-
deavour t, riaiiaguirib between what they hail learnt by it
Inad what i rt. He thought it wee already the undivided
eeisiou of all experiment ewe that when Won sash's met
win wireless sailia, the latter could not live. But there was
this wi 1 titillative*. They all knew before that tram ship
would 1., necessary for purposes of cant defence.
But it • metier awl other foreign power; followed
the ma,.
...e, and had iron Mips elm, this coen.l
try meet he Immoral to have inn skips in all
arts of •he world. They must sow send iron vessels to
say portent -4 the globe where inanmensh were likely to be
seeded Ile thee aves to the finsadal question, and be did
not think teat the cuesequesces were likely to prove se
OrEte."e.i; aoilanteLL".7ll, b7 sop preen...
lied" ea.
femme
.to reapers, that iron ships were absolutely
1311•1 ant... We. He Wm I rake of :t.'-pnler...t) Co.'
hiesiel it bail led hint to s very de. rent coracle-
sin, and he thought the invutemshility of iron remade
wee aw .• se. of miry greet doubt. Much had been said
about te• •ra of the Iletema.• runsiug town the
terierei tog de; hu. ,t i, est he remembered thet the frigate
VW at , and the Merrimie was a main of .• ne• .1,000
tass, thecett are nieviug at a very rapid rate. He believed
her dame 'meet was smite five er ass kents au hertr. He
helirrei test one n' our own tree frigates attacking
a wool-s •uch eirceinistsocea n.igl.t have
&faced aimilar result. fao that he ;a not thiek
ens's-lain ; at any wits, it e•,::111 net be
so easy -he Merrimac to run dews a steamer in mane,
which •.• e. ripe bee smelt as a bare would ten afore a
greyboe el, it yet remained to be learnt how fa the Met-
rms.. Wes minted Le the encomia. He harmed it wee
quite tee the, the Iferrieme wee defended with railway
Men ler...eit they hail limn previously rounded. The
/10•ItOf., nil the ether Wee was a maid of very curious
lane nee whirls Mr. Eric note n • letter which bad at least
been at- ',sated to hone had declared to be quite new.
't.lrat letter purported to clayey an adesositios
to the Admiralty. and his (the lake of Somerset), os the
pert n 1 the !Anisette, felt murk ohlieed for the admoni-
tion ; awl Mr. Ericson would newly emenee hie mused.
meet. 1.-mu • tile departineet r, at deal of trouble
et
ebi;er• r weer. But the Moeda. is fact, won enmethisg
leewere •re std a dirty] hell Hee deck we only 2 feet
above tle er. when the water was sr moth, them
ass uo p. ree tea ea her 'leek whatever. The crew arid
.(bean leepassUy lived %seder mast, aril their reale
Pie Alli of veotilstioft was by a pipe which en up throneh
the de .o that living our board such a vessel. reed,' not he
Tar* 0: • ...at. rase- celeste. moreover, was Melt with
i3ch nee over inch iron ; owe were ,ode of four alit
inches of : in. where was n great deal streamer. That ee.
prelate. else superior strewth of solel If 01b hail been
tried reps•edly, and open that sulieet there was u., timid
Thus fel te, it ems eel wa. -kfeet!ve. The :limiter moremee
wee not tilted to go from port to pore lie perceived fines •
later to a Monter.; paper, it lad bees stated that the
Meador b oi beep .11 but het ou the voyage ; that she wand
bays sun. had it not beim for tlie aMirdance of a steamer;
that lee crew were nearly stifled by seneke, &meant vapour
from the f Jamas, mid foul air. and that with 41)0 semen
beer-4 life was vary much like abet it must have lases%
the !tele at Calcutta. It was stated that &sift
the name such was the want of vemelation is
the that the eyes and 110•01 of the
seamen shed blood; whilst the omenesioe is the cupolas we.
m great e. to disahle many of the artillerymen. This era
of coucussioe in the cupola. he Wield eLeeree, had teen re-
medied in the case of our owe vessels now in conetrectMe.
Then, agsiii, much was said of the American 11-inch and
il-luck trah4reu gum ; but the question wee, what velo
city did they medals ! Owe of their tared gang attained
a velocity ouly of 000 feet in • seemed • whilsts:ct.l•rowier
of ours attained a speed of 1.500 feet. in • That
was dm a rifled gnu ; but what was more remarkable wee,
tat ride) would not do. ft was at first supposed that
setting we, I'-re rifled guns ; but in order to attain the
highest ...Welty poseiblo, recourse must he bad to heave.
armuth.bored iron guns; sod with wrought-iron gene of
that ekscripten. wso a velocity was attained of 19700