The Express.
London, England, 1866-06-16 00:00:00

IMPORTANT EXPERIMENTS.

The daily journals this morning contain full
and minute details of an important experiment yesterday
afternoon to test the efficiency of Captain Cowper Coles'
turrets on board the Royal Sovereign. The trial took
place off the east end of the Isle of Wight, in the pre-
sent* of Board of Admiralty, Prince de Jolaville,
the Count de Paris, many English officers of dining:-
Unction and scientific men. There were four steel
shots fired, each weighing 210 pounds, from the
12i-ton guns mounted in the central battery of
the Bellerophon, which was moored 150 yards from the
Royal Sovereign. The first shot was aimed at a canvas
target—placed above the after turret—by way of experi-
ment, for purposes of elevation. Part of this target was
canted away. The first shot at the turret struck near the
porthole and did considerable damage. The second pene-
trated the plate at the weather side of the turret, and the
third, directed at the deck, did little damage. It struck
the turret on the port bow, and fall close to a yacht some
distance off. The result was that the turret itself was
left intact ; neither was it disabled, but worked easily,
although several plates about it were displaced.
The Times observes :—" The important fact now remains
as the result of this somewhat costly trial that, drawing
an inference from yesterday's trial, no amount of pounding
from shot could possibly disturb the equilibrium of the
Royal Sovereign's turret's base, and that if the whole
exposed portion had been shot away the base with its
turntable and revolving machinery would still remain
absolutely perfect. There are errors of construction in
(the Royal Sovereign which may be remedied in
future with other turret•ships, such, for instance,
as the want of a tie collar, or ring of metal, round the

outer face of the turret et the upper edge, to prevent
- • •

the plates falling outwards when their fastenings are
loosened, as also leaving the bolt-tails and nuts without
any over-lining, and thus turning them into grape shot
when the turret is struck by heavy missiles. The success
of the turret of the Royal Sovereign over the 12i-ton gun
iIIIIIIIIIIIPS in Its importance for many reason', and it also
proves conclusively by the deck shot the value of curved
or deflective surfaces in warding off shot blows from wood
or from iron. All honour, therefore, to Captain Coles for
his persistent (advocacy of a system of mounting ordnance
on board a ship that will, at any rate, add a power to our
fleet of ironclad' equivalent in nature and force to the
siege artillery of an army before the famous Venetian
Quadrilateral ! Several members of the Board of Admi-
ralty expressed their admiration at the excellent practice
made on the turret with the gun from the Bellerophon.
The captain of the gun was Gunner's Mate Bowing, of her
Majesty's ship Excellent."

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE REFORM BILL.—
The following address from the residents of Rochester and
Chatham to the Chancellor of the Exchequer is now in
course of being signed by the inhabitants of those places,
and has already received a large number of signatures:—
" To the Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer—
We, the undersigned inhabitants of the city of Rochester
and borough of Chatham, have witnessed, with gratitude
and admiration, the courage and honesty with which you,
on behalf of her Majesty's government, have hitherto car-
ried forward the Bill for the Reform of the Representation
of the People in Parliament. We have viewed with indig-
nation and regret the policy of vexatious obstruction
offered to the measure by the hereditary and persistent
opponents of pregreu and freedom, and we earnestly
intreat you to bbaaffle this opposition by a determined
adherence to your resolution not to close the present
session of parliament until its opinion bas been fairly
and decisively taken upon the bill. And your memo-
rialists, assuring you of their respectful sympathy, beg
to subscribe themselves,
REPRESENTATION or DEWSBURY.—In expectation
that Dewsbury was about to be enfranchised as a parlia-
mentary borough, a requisition was recently got up and
signed by GOO of the inhabitants who, in that event, would
be entitled to vote, asking Mr. E. A. Leatham, who for-
merly represented Huddersfield, to offer himself as a can-
didate. On Wednesday, the requisition was formally pre-
sented at a crowded and enthusiastic meeting of the in-
habitants. Mr. Leatham, in accepting the invitation,
delivered an eloquent address; and the meeting afterwards
adopted resolutions, expressing confidence in, and admira-
tion of, the hon. gentleman, and pledging themselves, in
the event of Dewsbury being constituted a parliamentary
borough, to give him their unqualified rapport.
JURIDICAL SOCIETY.—A meeting was held on
Wednesday, the 13th instant ; Mr. Droop in the chair. A
letter was read from Lord Westbury, accepting the office of
president, and intimating an intention shortly to take part
in the meetings of the society. Mr. C. H. Hopwood ad-
dressed the society upon the bill brought in by the At-
torney-General for the abolition of forfeiture in felony and
treason. The chairman, Mr. Massey, Mr. &ebbing, and
Mi. V. Thompson, took part in the discussion which

followed.
ACCIDENT TO AN EXPRESS THAIN.--011 Thursday
morning an accident occurred near Inveresk to the express
up train from North Berwick to Edinburgh, by the breaking
of the tire of a waggon wheel. At two
season the express
is usually accompanied by one or two fish trucs, and it
would appear that the wheel of one of them had given way.
There was a sudden stoppage and partial dislocation of
the train, some of the passenger carriages having
been jerked off the rails, while the contents of some of the
fish boxes were scattered on the line. The passengers
generally were much alarmed, but none of them would
appear to have suffered injury. Owing to the accident,
the line was temporarily blocked. A telegram was sent
to Edinburgh, from which a special train was immediately
despatched to bring up the pa.sengeri, who reached their
destination about an hour late. No time was lost in
taking the necessary means to clear the line.—EdintergA
Courant.
FATAL ACCIDENT TO A VOLUNTEER.—A lament-
able accident, resulting fatally, occurred to a young Scotch
gentleman, named George Alexander Stewart, on Wednes-
day afternoon, at Winchester. Deceased, who wall being
i educated at Winchester College, was a member of the
cadet corps of volunteer rifles raised and maintained by
that learned and venerable institution. Some of the col-
lege volunteers were at target practice at the ride butts on
Teg Down on Wednesday, and towards the close of the
firing a young gentleman named Sewell (also a member of
the corps) took a loaded rifle from the ground, and from
its not having a cap upon the nipple presumed it was un-
loaded. Sewell placed a cap upon the rifle, pointed the
weapon at another person's hand,for the purpose, it is pre-
sumed, of " sighting " it, pulled the trigger, and in an in-
stant the fatal bullet had sped through the fingers of the
upraised hand and into the breast of poor Stewart, who
immediately exclaimed that he was wounded. He was
promptly conveyed from the ground, and medical assist-
ance procured, but all efforts were unavailing, and he ex-
pired in a few hours. An inquest was held on the body
yesterday, and a verdict of " Accidental death " was re-
turned. The unhappy deceased was a very promising
youth, and only 16 yeen old.
The wool crop of Michigan will, it is expected,
reach 12,000,0061 be. this year.