The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-25 00:00:00

The Weather—Sun Office, .TUly 25, 1864.

THERMOMETER.
This day at Two o'clock
Barometer-29.54.
; light breeze, and cloudy.

Diplomatically—Everything is gained (in the way
of all the advantages resulting from the preserva-
tion of Peace) —fors l'honneur I We have been
threatening—an.l all our threats have come to
nought. We have been promising assistance.—and
that assistance, even at- the direst extremity, has
never once been forthcoming. There was
always a putting off, upon some paltry ex-
cuse or another. Holstein was invaded. Yes—
but it was not Schleswig ! Schleswig was entered
by the German troops, was entered and formally "
occupied. Ah—it was not Jutlrind ! Jutland was
penetrated. True—but tfiere Was the Island of
Funen ! Nay—it was actually intimated at
last by the Prime Minister of England, in
the presence of the House of Commcns, amidst
ironical jeers of indignation that in certain still
more dire contingencies—lf Copenhagen were
bombarded and taken, for example, f King
CHRISTIAN IX., the father of our young Princess.
of WALES, were seized by the Prussian Victors
in his palace, and were carried away thence as a
prisoner of war—England, even then, might—not
"could,'' but " might"—interfere ? Nothing
of the kind! England, even then, might
—it was a mere hypothesis—might—just
within the limits of possibility—reconsider
her policy ! Might—take into her ccnsideration
the advisability of acting, somehow or another,
differently ! No—the preservation of peace
in Europe is in itself, of course, a matter
for profound congratulation. Bat—it is certainly
no subject for self gratulation to England the
ignoble manner in which it has
,been brought
about! It becomes even matter for serious doubt
among patriotic Englishmen whether so absolute a
. sacrifice of honour, of dignity, of good faith, of
self-respect (in the dealing about us, that
ie, of so many utterly valueless fair promises,
and of so many utterly contemptible, because empty
and idle threats) is not a price too dear for us to
have paid even for the preservation of peace in
i Christendom.

HIGli WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAL—Morning, 6i. 24m.—Afternoon, 6h. 60m
To-m08.8.0w.-Morning, 7h. 12m.—Afternoon, 7h. 40m,

9:11k •
att sun,

The speech of Lord STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE
on Friday was very appropriate, and it is satisfac-
tory to know that there are some few remaining
politicianiwho will broach these awkward subjects,
and thus compel Ministers to make some attempt
at a reply. It is notorious that our Government
shirk all inquiries, and turn a deaf ear alike to the
voice et reason and the language of warning. That
is no excuse for those idle or indifferent members
who will not interfere, because they say it is of no
use to make any disturbance, since no result will
ensue. It is their duty to do their utmost, and if
they fail it is not their fault. At any rate all that
relates to this matter of which Lord STRATFORD DE
REDCLIFFE treated is so very unsatisfactory, and
the intelligence itself so unwelcome to English ears
that we cannot but hail every opportunity that
occurs for watching the progress and marking the
workings of the affair. His lordship put the ques-
tion very fairly before the House, and the tenor of
his remarks must have produced an impression upon
many of his hearers. In the first place, it is im-
possible for the most sceptical to deny that there is
great truth in his observation that such a thing as
the revival of the Holy Alliance must be deemed
far from improbable, and also that if such an
event actually occurred the combination of
the three military Powers, Austria, Russia, and
Prussia would be a great evil. They would inter-
fere with the freedom and the independence of all
the smaller States. This is strictly true, and, in-
deed, proofs are not wanting of the lamentable
effects which have been produced by the union of
these Powers. List year Poland was made

LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 25, 1861.

almost a complete wreck through the rapacity of

Russia, and every imaginable assistance was ren-
dered by Austria and Prussia. The latter kingdom
more especially conspicuously distinguished itself
for its zeal and energy in the cause, and now this
zeal many calamities have erisen through the joint
working of Prussia and. Austria; while Russia has
not only openly lent her aid, but done a good deal
in the way of secret service to those whose greed
and covetousness sent them forth to despoil and
appropriate the possessions of others. It is
impossible to shut cur eyes to the fact that
.1 these three Powers, flushed with victory,

intent on plunder, and incensed at the idea
of the spread of liberty, will not be content to re-
main stationary. Rest and be thankful does not
enter into the policy of their Cabinets; they are
always on the alert, and woe betide the small State,
the independent little kingdom, or the revolutionary
country that stands in their way, and incites them
to exterminate and crush. There can be no greater
mistake than to ignore the workings of a system
until it is too late to do anything to check its course,
or arrest its mischievous tendency. With Lord
STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE we egree in declaring
that this combination puts us in great danger, It
is one of those.unpropitiots developments of power
and those disastrous exhibitions of strong passions

without a curb that aro fatal to the interests of
communities, and totally subversive of the best laws
of humanity. Lord STEATFORD DE REDCLIFFE very
forcibly expressed his opinions relative to the mis-
taken views entertained by some respecting the atti-
tude that England ought to assume. The interests
of commerce are held to supersede all other consi-
derations. "If we wish to be safe and to escape
that which has been the almost proverbial fate of

The imminent probabilities of a general European
war have happily drifted nut of view within the
last few weeks. Peace among the Great Powers, it
is satisfactory to know, is not only still preserved
intact, but is likely to lip preserved for some time
to come. Whatever sinister hints to the contrary
may be thrown out by isolated Parisian organs like
Le Pays, the general impression, nowadays, both
here amongst ourselves, and beyond the Channel
in all parts of the Continent, is pretty much
what we have here intimated it to
b„. mgarding the mere fact itself—that peace has
not merely to this moment been preserved, hut that
it appears to yield every reasonable promise of
being yet awhile maintained intact, for a period of
indefinite duration—
we cannot bat look to the aetual
result, of course, with a sense, so fur, of profoun d
satiataction. But, While doing, so, in the interests
of humanity, it is impossible to do so in
our owa selfish national interests. It 6
impossible, at least, to look at the manner in which
this result has been secured, with any degree of,
BO to speak, national And for a
self-complacency.
reason, unhappily,
'Y too apparent, not only here,
but far and wide, all over the world, in both hemi-
spheres. Peace has beau preserved—but at what 2

sacrifice! At the sactlfice of the prestige, a
the name, and fana?, and influence, and
heroic repute of England. It is undeniable. All

all commercial countries, we must preserve that
high spirit of nationality, and that nobility of heart
which tells us that our best interests are not based
on mere sordid calculations of profit and loss."
These are sentiments which are worthy of a great
country, and it would be well if they were more in
vogue in high places just now, but on the contrary
our Ministers appear to put profit before every-
thing, and the dread of war before the claims of
justice or the interests of the oppressed. Earl
RUSSELL'S reply to the queries put to him was as
tame and unsuitable as usual on such occasions. He
either did not or would not see the drift of the re-
marks of the noble lord, as to his denial of the
authenticity of the rumour referred to. The noble
lord appears himself to apprehend that at some
future time there will virtually be a combination
that will possess all the attributes of the Holy
Alliance. The Powers in question are always
expressing a hope that the European
Sovereigns may unite in order to put down reaction-
ary movements. We shall only drift into further
perplexities, however, and meet with more diffi-
culties if Earl RUSSELL intends to act upon what
he hes eaid, namely, that he does not see that the
revival of the Holy Alliance can give us a just
cause for apprehension. He cannot believe that
those Sovereigns can mean more than to protect
their own dominions, and secure them from the
effects of democratic invasions. If he is going to
guide the course of his policy by this idea, he will
fail most completely in representing the best inte•
rests
of our country, and only add to the imbrog-
lios now distracting the nations of Europe. It is a
singular thing that whenever there
is a presage of
any great change
Occurring, our Ministers always
say that the rumour is false, or else, if it
turns
out tree, that there is no cause for disquietude.
He must be very ignorant or very credulous who
is any longer satisfied with this answer to the in-
quiries made under the infiaence of astonishment)
indignation, and dismay. The eoac;usion we arrive

Europe knows it to be 50. It is mattecTe;
pro-
found exultation through the length and breadth
of the Continent. It is not so with Franc IN «it
Englan. France never indulged
is so With England. during
the late diplomatic correspondence and negotiation:,
—in the matter of Schleswig and Holstein—in the
matter of dispute between Denmark and
G„many—Franca never indulged in those
false promises on the one side, and in those bragga-
(lnclose threats upon the other, that England,thanks
certainly did indulge in,
to Earl RUSSELL'S policy,
and indulged in apparently with a sort of insensate
perversity, prepense, upon system, and with a kind
of crass stupidity of deliberation. Reversing that
old heroic cry of anguish that thrills to
us through history, ae
might say now, in
regard to tae IhfeAt recently endured by Etigiand

at. is still the same, but a sad rehearsal of the past, LA, EST LNTELLIGENCE
and the people of England, who are the ruling
power of the world, have to look on while tyranny [REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.]
runs riot, and oppression holds Sovereign sway.
The next Sessicn of Parliament will doubtless
-witness some of the Effects produced by the work-
ings of this Holy Alliance, which it is now conve-
nient to laugh at, and to deny In toto. Our Go-
vernment cannot possibly lay claim to foresight.

This country has always been prompt to recog-
nise the dangers of monopoly. The evils are
indeed sufficiently great, and apparently readily
percretible to a people much less acute and much less
versed in commercial dealings. But early expe-
rie-ace, as well as the natural tendency of the ling-
lis'a temper, has inspired us with an especial dread
ot: anything approaching to monopoly. Year by
year the old remnants of it still at work in our
system are dying out, year by year the principles
of Free Trade are becoming more widely developed,
more generally adopted. The very foundation of
our time-honoured Constitution is the even balance
of power—restraining alike the monopoly of autho-
rity by the Crown, by the Parliament, and by the
people. Everything that has a tendency to cen-
tralisation is looked upon with much suspicion, and
this feeling is the protection of many cumbrous
establishments which might be better worked by
one central authority, but which are justly che-
rished by the people as safeguards against that
social despotism of which they are so jealous. Our
municipal institutions, our county magistracy, our
Poor-law system, have all in turn been abused and
criticised, as in truth they very often lay them- '
selves open to be ; but, after all that can be said
against them, they rest upon a firm foundation—the
conviction of the country that, with all their faults,
they are part of these barriers which our fathers
erected round their hardly-won freedom, and so
long as they last they afford substantial guarantees
that England shall continue to be governed by
Englishmen after their own fashion. It was this
strong feeling against anything approaching to
monopoly, or centralisation, added to the jealousy
and disfavour with which the House naturally
regards official accounts and official workmanship,
that gave Mr. COBDEN so many supporters in his
his attack upon the Government Manufacturing
Establishments on Friday night. The censure
which he passed on the originators, the enlargers,
and the superintendents of those establishments,
was wholesale and uncompromising. According
to his showing, we are lavishing unheard of sums
on articles that are comparatively worthless ; we
are employing large numbers of men and damaging
private business, in providing the country with
inferior articles at a high price; we are putting an
affront on the manufacturing interest of the country,
without deriving any benefit from our offensive
conduct; we are undertaking to do publicly what
could be much better and more cheaply done pri-
vately ; our stores are bad, our contracts vexatious,
cur accounts altogether unreliable, and the result
of all is likely to be that our supply will entirely
fall short in time of need, and we shall reap the
consequence of persisting in maintaining these
costly and inefficient establishments in a great de-
mocratic revolution. The answers to all these
charges, general and particular, are not long in
making their appearance. Mr Cobden's sweeping
accusations were met in many instances with a com-
plete refutation. Any quantity of arms, of amain.
nition, or of clothing, could, he said, be obtained
from our great manufactories at the brie rest possible
notice. Bat official experience proveS this assertion to
be incorrect. Mr.Mor; SELL cited a few instances from
our Crimean experience which serve to indicate the
necessity of the public service not being altogether
dependent oa private establishments. In 1854 5
200 tons of shot and shell was given to be delivered
within two weeks, but the full amount was not
forthcoming till January, 1856. Another firm
which entered into a similar agreement was a little
quicker in its proceedings, making its first delivery
of the required articles in June, 1855. A third firm
undertook to deliver 150 tons of shot and 150 tons
of shell by the 7th of January, 1855, and the same
quantity weekly afterwards. The way the con-
tract was fulfilled was by making the first delivery

CHINA AND JAPAN.
(By Telegraph from Suez.)
SHANGHAI, JUNE 6.
Major Gordon's force has been disbanded.
Sir Frederick Bruce is returning home.
Advices received from span state that Sir
Rutherford Alcock has arranged quarters for the
British troops at Jeddo.

THE PRINCIPALITIES.

BUCHAREST, JULY 24.

The Bon2anza has been suppressed in consequence
of the publication of farther violent attacks upon
the Government.

The Moniteur will publish tomorrow a report on
the state of the finances of the Principalities.

FRANCE.

BoussE, July 23.—The aarket still continues in
the same feverish and inanimate state, and the
limited transactions up to the present hour show a
slight further decline. Tarees, for the Account,
are now at 66f. 10c. Moiilier, after receding to
972 f. 50c., have since recovered to 980 f. So little
Railway
tiwaahout yesterday's quotations,
hases i
tb
werebeen
donenominalin R Shares that the prices aro
The market continued heavy to the close, and left
off as follows :

4A per Cente .. 94 50
Do. end month.... --

3 per Cents
Do. end month 66 10
Credit Mobilier 977 50
Do, end month 977 50
Bank Shares
Credit Foncier 1217 50

I:talian Loan 6B 10
Do. end month 63 05

Ditto Threes —
New Mexicau
ILussian
Austrian ..
Spanieh Threes —
aomo Da'ot

Roman

[33e7c7re-d-

ILALLITAXB.
Cash.
872 60
978 75
893 75 '.. 897 50

Account.

Orleans is..;

Northern
Lyons and Moditerranean

New ditto — • •
Suuthern 637 50 .. 637 50
Western
50 .. 477 50
Eastern ... • • 00000 .07111• 477
SarJ,r, ian 351 25 ..
Austrian
413 75 ~ 412 50
Lonsbard
North of Spain
Saragossa.. 528 73 .. 527 50
Ditto to Barcelona

in June, 1855, and this was in a time of
war, when the welfare of the public service
depended so largely upon a faithful per-
formance of contracts, and there is no reason,
as Mr. MONSELL said, why we should suppose that
things are much altered now. But, thanks to the
much abused establishment at Woolwich, a quan-
tity of shot and shell equivalent to the whole of
that expended at Sebastopol might be produced in
six weeks, and the number of cartridges con-
sumed during the siege might b 3 forthcoming in
half that time. So much for the advantage gained
in point of promptness and certainty. When we
come to the consideration of the guallty of the articles
supplied, the importance of Government establish-
merits becomes still more perceptible, Unhappily, it
is not safe to trust inen's lives and health altogether
to the honesty of contractors. The revelations of the
Crimea might convince even Mr COBDEN, but they
were not officially quoted on Friday evening. The
public, however, have not forgotten the boots that
were destined for some distant and unthought-of
locality, whence the report of their quality would
scarcely reach England, and not be critically
examined with a view to the exigencies of war.
They have not forgotten the tool 3 which proved so
unfitted for their purpose, nor the still sadder and
darker memory of the inferior preserved meat which
so grievously disappointed the poor frost-bound
wanderers in the Arctic regions. Ail these things
have taught us that it is not well to trust exclusively
to the private establiztimento. Mr COBDEN admits
that in earlier days Government establishments
were useful as a check upon contractors, but now he

says " the great shipbuilders, the great gunmakers,
the large tailoring establishments, are better cheeks
upon each other through the force of competition.
But unhappily the competition tends rather to keep
down the price than to improve the quality. "It
is the disposition of contractors," says the Marquis
of HARTINGTON, " to supply samples cheap rather
than good ; and as even the lives of our soldiers and
sailors may depend upon the qcality of articles fur•
nished to the Government, I. cannot seo how the
men of cur navy and army can be protected without
a minuto inspection of the articles contracted for."
Several of the establishments objected to are used for
the purpose of testing the goods provided, and, in
spite of Mr. COBDEN, this is an unavoidable neces-
sity. The fact i‘,3, that special wants must have a
special supply, and general provision will not do.
When the hon. gentleman was busy with his corn-
law agitation, the regular press could not serve his
purpose, but he must start a journal of his own :
'lnd so, in times of sudden pressure or alarm, it
will not do for the Government of this country to
depend wholly upon commercial enterprise, how-
ever great. Of course the official establishments
should be kept within bounds,
and a close super-
vision of the accounts should be kept by the House,
and so far Mr. COBI)EN'S motion may do good ear-
vice. It is certainly desirable, too, that more hear-
ing Should be given to suggestions from without,
and that a fair share of encouragement should be
given to the general industry of the country, but
it is unworthy of a country like England to be at
the mercy.nt any trade in time of war or emergency,
and experience has proved it to be also most
unwise.

LITERA:TTJBE,

The Story of the Guns. By Sir dames Emerson
Tennent, K.C.S., F.R.S., &c.... Longman and

will rest on silezeexcluded particles, as if floating on quick-
silver. With similar devotio: to accuracy, Mr Whitworth,
in the search for a means of determine-e: dimensions with
precision, tiottstrUcted a machine, so accurate,;and deli-
cately made as to measure objects which differ even by the
millionth part of an inch—a division so minute as to be per-
ceptible only by touch after it ceased to be discernible by the
eye. So nice is the adjustment that in using it an inch of
steel can be held to be an inch, only so long as the ther-
mometer stands at 62 deg, the slightest excess of tempera-
ture; and the ataneard yard, a square bar of steel, when
placed in the machine is so expanded by the slightest touch
of the finger as to show an appreciable lengthening even
under the iv iluence of the irifieitesinial amount of heat
thus imparted."
It was after England and the continental Ilations gene-
rally had awakened to the censciousness of the deLleiaPiets
of the old regulation musket, the Minis rifle, the invention
of a French non-commissioned officer, attracted universal
attention, and Lord Hardinge, after having consulted with
MrWeetley Richards, Mr Pura. dey and other celebrated gun
makers, introduced the Enfold rifle. After various experi-
ments it was discovered that although the guns were made
upon the same pattern and in all respects alike, no two
were alike in their performance or properties. In
this strait Lord Hardinge had recourse to Mr Whitworth
is 1853, requesting him to construct machinery whioh
would enable the workmen to produce guns which should
be practically as well as theoretically similar. From this
date Ms Whitworth commenced to study the science of
gunnery, with what results his success with the rifle
musket, and his armour piercing projectile can bear wit.
ness. It is a curious fact that the three greatest construc-
tors of artillery in this country, none of them belong pro-
fessionally to the business. It is true that Mr Whitworth,
as a mechanical engineer, when devoting himself to the
construction of wrought iron artillery, was, to a certain
extent, in his element, but as regards Sir William Arm-
strong and Captain Blithely, they were unquestionably
amateurs. It is not our intention to follow Sir E. Tennent
through hie protracted review of the details of each stop in
the progress of the inventions and experiments of the last
five years. To those who are really interested in the sub-
ject, we would rather recommend the perusal of the work
itself. The impartial observer cannot fail, when be exa-
mines the question carefully, to stereo with the author, that
much valuable time has been lost, and a vast sum of money
recklessly expended, through the prejudice and prct ,ssional
etiquette of the Ordnance Select Committee. It is no fault
cf Sir William Armstrong that the committee rejected
the claims of all other competitors, because they
were desirous of experimenting upon his guns alone.
Although SirW,Armstrong was placed in a situation of great
delicacy, not to say embarrassment, as a member of the
committee when the productions of other inventors were
being considered, not a breath of suspicion has ever fallen
upon him of using his position to the detriment of other
inventors. Sir W. Armstrong, on the contrary, no sooner
saw the position in which ho stood, than he disarmed
censure by cancelling his engagement with the Govern-
ment, and throwing up his appointment in the Ordnance
Departnaeet. Independently of all higher considerations
we believe that his confidence in the excellence of his own
gun led him rather to court than to shun competition.
With the other members of the committee it was however
far different. Captain Scot says in his evidence before the
committee of the House of Commons in 1863, that it is his
opinion that the determination to make some plan of Sir
William Armstrong's succeed, caused the Ordnance Select
Committee to reject or delay all the plans of other inven-
tors. Again, the Duke of Somerset, in his evidence before
the same committee, reluctantly attests the distrust enter-
tained by inventors generally of the decision of the select
committee, and says that " many of the inventors used to
come to him at the Admiralty, because they did not like the
Ordnance Committee at the War-office. And as an illus-
tration of the difficulties interposed by the system, his
grace goes on to state that after witnessing the performance
of the Whitworth gun, when it penetrated the armour
plates of the Trusty, and, " could have sunk her," he says,
" with ono or two shots," he felt desirous to have some of

Had no!.. the fanr of Sir E. Tennent been long
ago established in the literary world, his Story of
the Guns would certainly have brought his name
prominently before the public, not so much on account of
the intrinsic worth of the production, which is in reality
only a careful compilation of statistics, as from the acri-
mony with which he has been assailed in many quarters
for having simply told the truth. He states in his preface
that having held a commission as an officer of artillery in a
foreign service during a time of war, he naturally takes a
great interest in the controversy which has been going on
for the last few years relative to the guns of rival inventors.
It has been his object in the compilation of this work to
give a succinct and impartial history of the controversy
since its commencement; and es far as facts are concerned
his boldest critic may be silent, for throughout the
volume the author has fortified his assertions by continual
relerenee to blue books and other available sources of infor-
mation. When it is the object of an author to give his
reader a clear insight into a subject so little understood ex-
cept by professional men, it is necessary to enter consider-
ably into detail. This must, to a certain extent, render a
work of this kind tedious, but Sir J. E. Tennent has endea-
voured as far as passible to obviate this by describing the
gradual progress made in the improvement of firearms and
artillery since an early period, and also by furnishing inte-
resting histories of the careers of the two great artillery
engineers whose rival claims to supremacy form the subject
of the present investigation. It is not our intention to
dilate upon the particular forms and constructions of the
various guns which from time to time have been brought
forward. The Armstrong breech-loader, which, from the
accuracy of its fire, and the destructive nature of its pro-
jectiles, was without a rival in 1858, was selected by the
committee on rifled cannon, who recommended the imme-
diate introduction of Mr Armstrong's rifled guns for special
service in the field. At this period Mr Whitworth had not
taken any steps to construct a gun on any special plan of
his own. He had simply yielded to the solicitations
of the Government in rifling some brass guns on the hexa-
genet principle, which had pro-eed so successful with small
arms. At the close of 1858 some cast iron guns which had
been rifled by him burst, when he addressed a communica-
tion to Lord Panmure, at that time Secretary of War, ex-
plaining the causes of the accident, and deprecating the
further use of cast iron metal for rifled cannon, and received
in answer a letter from the 'War-office informing him of
the determination of the Secretary of State to discontinue
further experiments with ordnance rifled on his principle.
He then resolved to construct a gun capable of resisting
the extra pressure to which rifled cannon are subjected.
From that time to the present Mr 'Whitworth has been
diligently engaged in carrying out this determination. Sir
William George Armstrong, his great rival, is a descendant
of one of the old border families, and was educated for the
law. Unlike many other gifted men who have been forced
from circumstances into uncongenial positions, he applied
himself with industry and success to the legal profession,
and was for many years a member of one of the principle
legal firms of Newcastle. Still he never abandoned the
tastes which Nature had so unmistakably bestowed, and
which had showed themselves even in his childish games,
When only five or six years old he used to employ himself
in setting a number of spinning wheels in motion by means
of weights descending on strings from the top to the bottom
of his lather's house, and in making these wheels imitate
the grinding of corn, the pumping of water, &c But how-
ever uncongenial the sphere, or unapt the profession, where
there is so strong a bent of the natural genius it is certain
to find a vent, and, accordingly, in spite of his living among
briefs and parchments until his 37th year, the name of Wm.
Armstrong became associated with one of the most remark-
able mechanical inventions of cur time, while he was still
practising as a solicitor. He was making an excursion in a
mountainous part of Yorkshire about the year 1835, when
his attention was drawn to the waste of power in a stream,
which after descending from a considerable height in suc-
cessive cascades, spent its last remaining strength in turn-
ing a mill wheel at the foot of a hill. Although the force
required was dependent on the height from which the water
came, Mr Armstrong remarked that the portion in use was
taken from a level which was only a fraction of the full de-
scent. He perceived the practicability of realising the full
power of the fall by conducting the water in an iron pipe,
and causing it to act upon suitable machinery below, and
applied himself to devising an engine to be worked by water
pressure. He pursued the idea first given by the force of
mountain streams to the construction of artificial towers in
towns, into which water was raised by the steam engine to
give it the requisite " head." The result of his casual visit
to Yorkshire has been known to the world by the construc-
tion of the hydraulic crane, whose silent agency produces
such marvellous effects. Its immense power has been happily
defined by a " Quarterly Reviewer" in these terms—" At
the foot of every crane, under the piston of every hoist,
ab every dockgate, unseen and noiseless, the power lies dor-
mant, but a woman's hand, applied to a small handle, will
set in motion a force sufficient to raise a mass weighing 50
, or 100 tons, and either to place it in the hold of a ship, or
deposit it in any other spot within reach cf the arms of the
crane. With equal ease the gates of docks 100 feet in width
are opened or shut, and the works of the dockyard done
without a stranger being able to perceive what it is that sets
everything in motion." Attempts to realise the power of
water had indeed been previously made in Hungary as
well as in the mines of Cornwall and Saxony,
but not only were these efforts unknown to Mr Armstrong,
but they were so different from his own method that he
retains the unquestionable distinction of this important in-
vention. So successful did it prove that he was induced
to abandon his profession, and to devote himself exclusively
to that line of lite for which nature has especially fitted him.
In conjunction with some friends he established the Elawick
Engine Works, and some years after obtained further dis-
tinction by the construction of his hydro-electric machine,
thernost powerful means devisedlof producing frictional elec-
tricity. At an unusually early ago he was elected Fellow
of the Royal Society. After the battle of Inkermann, in
which two 18 pounder guns, brought up with great diffi-
culty, turned the fortune of the day, Mr Armstrong per-
ceived the importance of giving to field guns the accuracy
and range of the rifle, and removing the impediment of
weight by substituting forged for cast iron guns, He re-
ceived from the Dune of Newcastle a degree of encourage-
ment not of ten accorded to inventors, and put together his
first wrought gun in the spring of 1855, but he had still to
go through much arduous labour and many tedious experi-
ments before he considered that he had attained success.
He used to make his first trials at dawn on the sea shore,
and afterwards occupiel a lonely hut amidst the moors, his
targets being placed on the side of a valley, across which
hs fired by night as well as by day, through the assist •
ance of an ingenious invention of his own, His first
great success was his three pounder breech loader, and
afterwards his 12 pounder, which, for accuracy of range
at that time (1858), astonished every enc. Although he
has succeeded well on the same principle up to 18 and
32 pounders, it is generally admitted that it is in his
light guns that the working of his breechloading prin-
ciple excells all others. Sir William Armstrong has freely
admitted recently that for heavy ordnance the breech-
loading system is a failure, and he has therefore, in
the construction of his 1C inch 300 pounders,
adopted the muzzle loading principle, cutting
the grooves of the rifling in such a manner
that the shot enters the gun easily but fits the bore tight
in leaving it. This is what is denominated the shunt
principle, and whenever the 300-pounder has been tried
against armour placed targets at short range, the shot
has penetrated. That guns of an enormous size can be
constructed upon Sir W. Armstrong's coil principle cannot
now be doubted, when the results of Ike late trials of his
600-pounders at Shoeburyness are taken into consideration.
Sir 'William Armstrong, as we have seen, was not
brought up to the profession of an engineer, but his
natural bias led him to follow that pursuit. Mr Whit-
worth, on the contrary, is a man of high professional
celebrity, in fact he way be reckoned one of the first, if
not the first among the mechanical engineers of this coun-
try, Sir E. Tennent observes that "For this eminence
in his profession Mr Whitworth is indebted to a natural
aptitude for its cultivation, but mainly to an exhaustive
knowledge of its principles and processes, acquired by un-
conquerable perseverance. Endowed with a taste for me-
chanics, and with something like an instinct for overcoming
difficulties, he developed and disciplined his powers by
serving in early life under the ablest masters, Maudslay,
Clement, Holtzappfel, and others of the class whose
genius and ability have raised mechanical art to its pre-
sent high rank in England, especially by the improvement
of those wonderful self-acting engines which under the
name of engine tools are now so extensively used for
working in metals, us well as for the production of other
machines dependent on accuracy and precision. Mr
Whitworth does not belong to the ordinary type of in-
ventors, quick, versatile, and ingenious, acting from im-
pulse on apparent inspiration; his prod uctions, on the
contrary, are the results of slow and deliberate thought,
bringing former observation to bear upon tentative expe-
riment, and accepting nothing as established till it has
undergone proof. Proceeding with a logical severity to
rest further operations only on ascertained facts, his pro,
cess is so strictly inductive, that he might justly be desig-
nated the Bacon of mechanics. For the attainment of
perfection it is the belief of Mr Whitworth that the
superiority of all machinery is dependent on two elesnents
—the power of measuring with unerring precision, and
associated with it the faculty of producing a true
plane surface that is, one so absolutely level,
that when it is opposed to another of equal
truth their contact must be in all parts complete.
The Astronomer Royal, Mr Airey, in his evidence before a
committee of the Houma of Lords in 1855, stated that the
degree to which Mr Whitworth had succeeded in making
perfect the planing of surfaces was entirely unknown before
his time. To such a pitch of excellence has he brought it
by a process peculiar to himself, that a plate of metal
prepared by him when opposed to the face of another
similarly treated, exhibits a contact so intimate as
to enable the operator to lift the under one with
it, as if by its actual adhesion to the upper,
or if less closely applied, so that:the thinnest possible layer
of atmeeplaeric air may still remain between, the upper plate

these guns manufactured, and obtained the concurrence of
Lord Herbert, who was their Secretary for War; but the
Ordnance Select Committee not having tried et approved of
Kr Whitworth's mode of rifling, his attempt was defeated."
Five years have passed since the first committee was ap-
pointed to investigate the relative claims of inventors for
the production of suitable artillery for our army and navy.
In 185 S Sir W. Armstrong produced a serviceable light
field piece. In MI a Select Ordnance Committee have
commenced in earnest to test the relative merits of heavy
guns rifled upon the system adopted in the French canon
rays, and those advocated by Mr Lancaster and Comman-
der Scot—while another committee is still engag©d in a
protracted series of trials of the Whitworth and Armstrong
70-pounders. We trust that the energy thus at last dis-
played may be carried on until a satisfactory result be at-
tained. But, why have these long years ,been allowed to
pass by and no progress made, when as yet we are unpro-
vided with efficient guns for the navy. The answer is
simply, because the Ordnance Select Committeee, like all
other Government institutions must do every thing en
regle, and it requires public opinion and Parliamentary
pressure to move them from the beaten track—and if Sir
E. Tannest has in any way promoted the investigation of
this matter by the publication of " The Story of the Guns"
his labours have not been in vain.

Macaulay's Hieory of England. People's Edition,
Part IX. Longman and Co.

The most ambitious of the literary achievements
of Lord Macaulay, though by no means to our
thinking his masterpiece, is still being most effectu-
ally popularized by means of this excellent cheap
edition of it in a periodical form. Five more of
these shilling monthly parts will complete it. And
the work will then take its place upon the bookshelves of
the multitude at large, side by side with the companion
edition of those Critical and Historical Essays of Lord
Macaulay's by which his great reputation is most secure
of being perpetuated. A supplementary volume, if not
even two supplementary volumes, might then extend
the round half dozen, made up by those two volumes of the
"Essays" and by these four of the " History" to a seventh,
perhaps even an eighth, volume, comprising the
cellaucous" writings, the " Lays," and the " Speeches."
Already, indeed, the Messrs. Longman have done nobly
by the reputation of the greatest of all English Frose
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countrymen by whom his resplendent genius is so fully
appreciated—the Messrs. Longman have done nobly, we say,
both by the great Author and his numerous readers, by the
variety of editions in which his works have already, thanks
to them, been issued from the press editions, cheap and
costly, 16m0., Bvo,, 4t0., cloth, calf and morocco.