The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-19 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUPT

WooLwiesi, May 13.
Six,.—" D—n all inventions and all inventors."
Those were the energetic words said to be uttered by the
Duke when his attention was requested to some con-
trivance of a war engine. Another military authority
in a high position asked what was to bec sine of gentle-
men in the profession of arms if short work be made of
war by wholesale destructive schemes?
James Watt, of steam-engine celebrity, said that °fall
misfortunes which alight upon man none can be greater
than the genius of invention. The Earl of Dundonald
and many others may have learned by experience to
sympathise with James Watt. None, perhaps, but
inventors know the amount of discouragement and diffi-
culty there is to combat, should their inventions, how-
ever well conceived, have to encounter the interests of
existing establishments. -
But there is a l'm;t to the patience and patriotism of
man, and there is a fear that war engines which have
been offered to our Government will, from the indiffe-
rence with which tht y may have been treated, probably
from their not being understood, pass over to the Russiaits;
and that the first information the "gentlemen of England
who live at home atseai-e" may have of their existence
will he of their being employed in the destruction of our
fleet and army.
Would it not, therefore, be well to have a comm'ssion
for the purpose of examining inventions that are of vital
importance to England in her war with Russia ? In
such investigation there should be no foolish or lavish
expenditure of the public money. In testing by expsri-
meet the efficacy of a scheme, the invt ntor should be
bound to defray the costs of the experiments that might
be incurred by Government, in the event of failure
The members of the commis-ion should be thoroughly
competent to the duty required of them, and which
should be undertaken in a spirit of good feeling, and
with a desire to assist, ratber than to put down, an in-
ventor who may itu:imit his scht me for examination.
We are building and equipping war ships at an
immense expense. These costly ships can, it is confi-
dently asserted, be destroyed by an expenditure up in
each of about twenty pounds worth of explosive compo-
sition. Such destruction can be effected with ease, and
with small risk to those by whom it may be accomplished.
If the subject upon which I have briefly descanted
were brought before the public by a proper appeal great
good might result., for if the'war should continue it can
be much more effectively conducted than it has been up
to this date, and with a very diminished expenditure of
men and treasure.—l remain, Sir, yours sincerely and
much obliged,

A COMMANDER, R.N.

HA HOVER-SQUARE ROOMS.

Last evening the Rev. R. Boyle gave the fourth of his
series of lectures upon the four grandest works of Shahs-
pere. The subject was the second part of " Macbeth." It is
said that there is nothing new under the sun ; and when
speaking of criticims and lectures upon our immortal bard,
the saying may appear especially truthful ; and yet we
venture to think that the Reverend Gentleman has really
struck out a course of lectures quite novel in their form,
and very different in their substance from alining of the
kind that has of late years been submitted for public ap-
probation. We have had lectures upon the morality, upon
the historical accuracy, upon the philosophy of Shakspere ;
lectures upon his female characters, upon his kings and
queens, upon his heroes; lectures, in fine, in almost end-
less variety, upon the quarto and folio editions, upon the
real readings, upon the reputed corruptions of his plays.
But we know of no lectures which combine so happily, as
Mr. Boyle's lectures do, the useful with the pleasing, the
instructive with the 'agreeable, the critical and tho pro.
found with the light and fanciful. He addresses himself
at once to the eye, to the imagination, and to the intellect
of his audience. Possessing a clear, distinct, flexible, and
remarkably tuneful voice, andbeing a perfect elocutionist,
the remarks and illustrations, with which he varies his
several readings, show him to be a deep thinker upon and
a thorough master of his subject. His delivery of and
observations upon the second scene of the third act, evi-
dently took his hearers by surprise. It is a scene of no re-
markable notoriety, as exhibited anon the s-Age ; and yet
the picture he prese -tea of two tri=erable creatures, hus-
band and wife, seeking to south each other's sorrows, and
to pour the balm of consolation into each other's wiling
hearts, was one of the grandest conceptions of the whole lec-
ture. We anticipate mush pleasure from li's two lectures
upon " Hamlet," announced to take place next Tuesday
and Thursday.

THE NAVVIES SEN'T OUT TO THE
CRIMEA. '

Sir S. M. Peto, accompanied by Mr. Taylor, solicitor,
of Furnival's-inn, waited upon Mr. Arnold, at the West-
minster Police-court, in reference to a statement made
in this court by a man 'named Howard, one of the
" navvies" sent out to the Crimea.

From the explanations given by Mr. Taylor. it ap-
peared that Howard,-with others, left England on the
19th of December, in the Prince of Wales, but. owing to
his having been guilty of robhing some of the men of
their clothes, he was tried by a naval court-me,rtial on
beard the Queen, in &leas Bay, and, having been con-
victed, was ordered to be sent home. Tyson and Noble,
two other navvies, were convicted,by the court of the
same offence. In cm sequence of this conviction alone
had an end been put to their contract.. Howard had not.
been allowed to do any work at Balaklava on the railway,
and was not entitled to any wages in connection there-
with ; so that his statement on that head was quite
groundless. The firm had considered the three men en-
ttled to their wages up to the time of their conviction—
i. c., from the 19th of December to the 31,t of Jnnuary.
Money had been paid for them in London, in ignor-
ance of their misconduct on their passage out ; and
Howard hadin all received 101. 55., and had there-
fore been overpaid 15.5. When the three convicted
men reached Balaklava,, Sir Edmund Lyons said
that they might he allowed to go on with their wor': if
Mr. Beatty thought proper ; but Mr. Beatty and a
committee formed of the principal officers of the engineer-
ing, transport, and other departments, decided that
it would be very injudicious to employ convicted felons
with the other workmen, and so determined that they
should lie sent back to England. - Besides the felony
spoken of, the men under, notice had been guilty of
drunkenness and disorderly conduct, and had been
(Tclered to be sent home on that account also. Mr. Tay-
lor then put in the most coirvincing documentary
evidence to support the statement thus made, and
at the same time read an extract from resolutions of the
officers' committee at Balaklava, showing that the porter
was to be had three times a week at cost price by any
man applying for it.
Mr. Arnold said that after the statement made he
was perfectly satisfied, and of course-should not think
of granting a summons. He was sorry Sir Samuel had
been put to the trouble of attending.

GENERAL C.ANRORERT'S ORDER OF THE

DAY.

The following order, dated May 2, has beet
published on the affair of the Ist inst. by Genera'
Canrobert

"The Ist corps has just added a glorious action to
those which have already honoured our arm's in this
campaign. The enemy had established in fr .nt of our
attacks on the left a series of fortified posts, which they
had connected together most solidly, and which seri-
ously menaced our worse nearest the town. The whole
was defended by several battalions. In the night of
the Ist this work' was attacked by three columns of
our men, formed of the 46th of the Line under
Colonel Gault, and detachments from the Ist
Regiment of the Foreign Legion, and from the
43d, 79th, 42d, and 98th of the Line, under the
orders of General de Salles, seconded by Generals Ba-
zaine and de la Motterouge.‘ These trlops advanced
with great spirit, and ultimately forced the enemy -back
into the town ; and the engineering department,
under Colonel Guerin, worked with such vigour
as to ensure their definitive establishment in the
enemy's • work, from which they carried away the
guns with which it was a.rm..d. Colonel Viennot, of the
Ist Regiment of the Foreign Legion, died glorionsly ewor '
in hand at the head of his regiment. I have to thank the
generals, officers, and soldiers, for their admirable condo°,
in this affair. I thank, in particular, Gen. Pelissier, in
command of the 1.1 corps, for the able arrangements with.
which he prepared the result just obtained. This day,
the enemy, seconded by their artillery, attempted to re
cover the ground which they had lost, but their effort.
proved fruitless befora the gAllantry of our soldiers an
the skilful fire of our artillery. " CANROBERT."