The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-02 00:00:00

•
THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OVEMBER 2, 1864.

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The Archbishop of York on Works of

Fiction,

The annual soiree of the Huddersfield Church Institute
took place on Monday—the Bishop of Ripon in the chair.
The Archbishop of YORK was one of the speakers, and
he addressed himself to the following sentiment:—" That
Church institutes exercise more or less directly an educa-
tional influence on their members, by giving them access to
well-chosen books and periodicals." Ho saidthat when he
looked at that sentiment he was somewhat troubled by the
over-goodness of his case. He did net know how to state it
in a way which should not still leave it a perfectly self-evi-
dent truth, and he almost desired that the practice of an■
dent disputation should be revived, and that some good
member of council of the institute would stand up and sup-
port the opposite tenet, in order to give him a chance of
saying something. (Laughter.) However, he supposed
there lay in this simply the statement that good and useful
reading, whether for youths or adults, is always a means
of education, and he should take it so—that our educa-
tion goes on by means of our reading after the original
fountains from which we derive it cease for us to flow.
What did they mean by useful reading ? In a church insti-
tute they did not mean by useful reading that which would
help them in their trade or profession, that was legitimate
reading, but it was not the highest use to which reading
could tend. He took it that useful study was that which
enlarged their sympathy for their fellow-creatures over the
whole world, and which enlarged their knowledge of the
world as it was governed by God. The kind of rough defini-
tion would include, of course, all history, from the great
works which have become classical in our libraries and on
our shelves down to the newspaper of the current day ; it
would include all scientific inquiry, and it would not exclude
well-chosen works of fiction; and, glancing over the list of
periodicals which that institution patronised, he saw that
they took a large and liberal view of the purposes of instruc-
tion, and that there were something like 50 periodicals dee
voted to different branches, including all the subjects he had
mentioned. He thought this was right, He did not think
that a great institution like that, set up in one of the great
centres of industry, ehould take too confined and restricted a
view of what reading might safely be put into the hands of
its members, and if for no other reason, for this above all,
that there was at the present day such a spirit of inquiry
and improvement that if an institution like this attempted
to shut out from any of its legitimate channels that spirit
of inquiry, then the instieution would cease to cover all the
ground, and beside it some secular institution. would be sure
to grow up. (Hear, hear.) In order better to understand
what useful reading was, he thought he might venture to
look at what was useless reading; and ho supposed if in-
stitutions of this kind were not to guide and supply the
want that working men would be likely to fall in, no doubt,
with the newspaper for one thing, and also for another with
those stimulating narratives which went now by the
somewhat barbarous term of " sensational stories." These
sensational stories were tales which aimed at this effect
simply—of exciting in the mind some deep feeling
of overwrought interest by the means of some terrible
passion or crime. They went to persuade people that in
almost every one of the well-ordered houses of their neigh-
bours there was a skeleton shut up in some cupboard ; that
their comfortable and easy-looking neighbour had in hie
breast a secret story which he was always going about trying
to conceal; that there was something about a real will re-
gistered iu Dectors%conituo s, and a false will that at some
proper moment would tumble out of some broken bureau,
and bring about the denouement which the author wished to
achieve. (Laughter.) This was the sort of food supplied
in every kind of publication, from the penny story up to
much larger and more important works. For those who had
no particular object in what they read no doubt these had a
great attraction. He would show them what was one cause
of that attraction. In the first place, they professed to give
a deeper insight into our social system—of course, it was
much deeper than anybody by his own observation could
possibly discover. (Laughter.) They taught them not to
trust to appearances—that there was behind a great world
of crime, wickedness, and misery to which they alone pos-
sessed the key. Now, it was this claim to superior truth
that gave them their first attraction ; they satisfied a certain
kind of spirit of inquiry. He would show them presently
that in point of truth they entirely failed; because, sup-
posing that these histories of great crimes had some founda-
tion, they would be at least a very one-sided view of human
nature. There was a much larger chapter of homely sym-
pathies—of pious mothers training little children, of secret
prayers offered up to God in the silence of night for those
children, of hints and helps to duty strewn in the paths of
these children continually—all this was altogether lost sight
of and left out of the account, because it was not sufficiently
stimulating in its nature, and they were left to believe that
the world—bed, no doubt, is was --was a mere welter of
crime, misery, and contusion, and that the historian could
find nothing else to record. This sty le of reading was tho-
roughly false and dangerous for another reason—on account
of what he would call its fatalism. Always they would observe
in this kind of fiction some great passion was supposed to take
possession of a man; it was love, or jealousy, or what not,
and it was enough to state that the man was stricken by
this passion to be sure that his destruction was settled be-
forehand by the writer of the fiction, and that there was no
possibility of escape. If he was not greatly mistaken, this
tone had greatly reacted upon society itself, and in some
of the great crimes perpetrated he seemed to see the in-
fluence of this kind of feeling. There sprung up in the
mind of an ill-regulated young man some great trial from
one of these great passions, and he had been told, or had
learnt in those his models, that he could not possibly be
escaped from, and so he gave himself up to it, and ended
his career by a crime which in reality was more terrible
than the writer of the fiction had ' ventured to conceive,
And it was also false because of its associating crime with
a certain grand strength. It was some great and strong or
beautiful person who was the hero or hereoine of one of
those tales of horror. Something had passed which in itself
was horrible, but which they were expected not to abhor,
because it was associated with qualities they were apt to
admire. Could they suppose anything more dangerous to
the young and to the weak and half-fallen than the con-
templation of this kind of creation of the writer It was
entirely false. Somo of them had read that day the con-
clusiote of one of those tragedies in the conviction of a most
miserable man for a most atrocious murder. But there, ho
thought there was indeed a moral, for in the first place de-
tection had fallen upon guilt, and in the second place they
had had laid before them the weakness and the contemptible
folly and misery of such a crime as that of which they had
read the history. It would be found invariably, he might
say, that crime.was the offspring of a broken nature, not
of a nature in its strength. (Hear.) He had conversed
himself with persons who had had the opportunity of ob-
serving the criminal classes, and their testimony was that
nothing so destroyed physical and mental power as a course
of crime. A man lived a life of dissipation—he lived the
life of a hunted beast, and the consequence was that before
four or five years were over—he was speaking what he had
been told by some of those who had actually observed it—
he sank under it and disappeared—that was to say, he died.
He (the Archbishop) had now shown, and he had taken
some pains to ground himself in the facts, what was the ex-
citing literature which was thrust into the hands of the
humbler members of the social body. Depend upon it, it
did the utmost amount of harm. But there was to be ga-
thered from this what was the better mode of study men
might practice. He would venture on a small touch of phi-
losophy. Bishop Butler told him that the sympathies upon
which the writer of fiction worked were given by the Al-
mighty Creator for practical ends and objects. "The first
time," he said, " we witness a calamity or hear of one we aro
strongly moved, and the proper result of that strong emo-
tion is that we should do something to succour and help the
suffering that moves on. It is in the nature of things that
the next repetition of that kind of spectacle will move us
less, and the next less still, until at last the mere emotion
will almost disappear ; but if we have used it rightly, as the
emotion disappears the habit of doing the thing that the
emotion was to prompt will have grown up in its stead."
So, the emotions were given us for a practical end, and,
apart from any other bad result whatever, he was sure that
the working constantly upon people's emotions, without
giving them the opportunity to put in practice what the
emotion suggested, was itself a great evil, because it wore
the man out in the finer part of him, and he was, so to
speak, jaded and palled, and unfit to do the thing which he
was intended by his Maker to do. (Applause.) And so ho
took it the object of all education was really practical, and
he believed that in order to be practical they must take not
a gloomy view of human nature, but rather a hopeful view.
A perfectly philanthropical view—au optimist view of
human society—would no doubt be false, A pessimist view

which took the gloomy side, would also, to a certain extent,
be false ; that was to say, there was good and evil mingled
in the world. But though neither one view or the other is
perfectly true, when they came to the kind of practical
truth with which they had to deal, then he said the favour-
able view of society and of :nan's nature was the view which
helped them most in practice, and it, and not the other,
had truth on its side, Depend upon it, they were able if
they would to draw out much that was good from those
around them, much that was good in their own minds, and
there was nothing so sure to crush, and dwarf, and wither
them, as the belief that nothing good would come, and that
they could achieve nothing good for themselves and see
nothing good springing up around them. It was from the
opposite spirit that instiiutions like this arose, IL: took
it that the duty of every one of them was to consider his
own mind, to regard it as a great trust given him by
God. There was no greater mistake for a man to make than
to say, "My education is finished." It was never finished.
They were being taught by every day, by every book they
read, even though they did not agree with it; taught by
every social influence brought to bear upon them, and by
every opportunity of good when they made use of it. Their
education never ended, and therefore when an institute like
that prepared for its members a large amount of intellectual
food and recreation it did well. It was pointing out to its
members the duty of cultivating themselves to the highest,
It provided the proper means of cultivation, and thereby
kept reminding them to make a practical use of those powers
which God had given them. They might depend on it that
whatever was done by the school was carried on by the book
and the library, and both by the healthy food supplied and
the noxious poison it kept out, they were doing good to the
body politic and to the members of the Church of Christ.
(Loud applause.)

Artillery Experiments at Portsmouth,

The great cause of" Whitworth v. Armstrong"
entered upon a new phase on Monday in the com.
mencement of the trial of the three 70-pounder
rifled guns at Portsmouth, which have baen con-
structed on the plans of Sir William Armstrong and
Mr Whit worth for competitive trial as naval ser-
vice guns. Two of these weapons have been fur-
nished by Sir William Armstrong, one being on the
wedge breech-loading, and the other on the shunt
muzzle-loading principle. The third gun is Mr
Whitworth's, on his ordinary muzzle-loading prin.
ciple, but it is fired from a rear vent leading to the
centre of the cartridge through a paper tube.
The members of the Commission appointed to
superintend and report upon the trials, which it is,
perhaps, necessary to state here are merely a con-
tinuation of those which have already occupied
their attention at Shoeburyness, arrived at Ports•
mouth by the early train from London yesterday
morning, and immediately embarked on board the
gunnery ship Excellent, Csptain Astley, C. Key,
C. 8., on the port battery of which ship the three
guns were mounted, and whence the trials were to
commence.

The members of the committee comprised Major.
General Lumley, Inspector General of Infantry,
President ; Major-General Taylor, Inspector-Gene-
ral of Artillery; Colonel Ormsby, RA.; Captain
Wilson, Royal Navy ; Colonel Simmonds, RE.;
Captain Singer, Royal Navy ; Major Young, R.A. ;
Professor Pole, F.R.S.; and Major Dyer, Seere•
tary.
Mr Whitworth and Viscount Torrington were
pCesent as representing the Whitworth Ordnance
Company, and Captain Noble and Mr Randall re-
presented the Elswick Ordnance Company.
The programme of the committee provided in the
first instance for 120 rounds to be fired from each
gun, from on board the Excellent, 60 rounds to be
independent firing, at 2,600 yards range, each gun
to do its best at the target ; and 66 rounds to be
quick firing, as though firing point blank at an
engaged enemy, time to be taken in both instahoes.
In the quick firing the gun not to be laid on any

target, but a sufficient amount of elevation to be
given to prevent the char ce of an awkward ricochet,
and training enough to ke.p.th,fliaht of the shot
in as straight a line with the target as necessary to
keep it clear of other objects. The wtdge gun to
be fired with a 91b charge of powder, the shunt gun
and Mr Whitworth's muzzle-loader to be fired with
each a 10Ib charge. The non-artival of the cart.
ridges for Mr Arnitworth's gun from Woolwich
effectually debarred it from all share in the day's
firing, which was thus confined to Sir William
Armstrong's two guns. These latter indeed only
fired 80 out of their 120 rounds each, owing to the
state of the tide, and they will therefore recom-
mence the firing of their allotted quota this morn-
ing in company with Mr Whitworth's gun, the
ammunition for which it is presumed will have
reached her Msjesty's ship Excellent in time for
second day's trial, if it could not get theee in time
for the first day. It only remains to give a plain
record of the firing yesterday with the two Arm-
strong guns, any comparison between them andMr
Whitworth's guns being necessarily deferred until
the first course of firing has been completed by all
three guns. These results yesterday were as fol-
lows :

INDEPENDENT PINING.
Description Number of Time,
of Gun. Rounds, m. s.
Shunt 2O
Wedge
Wedge ....
Shunt • • 20
QUICK. FIRING.
Description Number of Time.
of Gun. Rounds. in. Fl.
Wedge
Shunt ........ .... 20
Wedge ....
Shunt 2O

There are three circumstances remarkable.in these
returns. One is the remarkably short time in which
the wedge gun fired its second 20 rounds at its
short
ntr
ea
quick
ott
tee
firing
,re
ono
ggp
(9
9eo xpo
ace eir
net
id.
ei2nno,g
with
ye
iot
ha;
whichwc ua rs s tme
ia; t
made
el ifi
;er s
and
course of independent firing (10 min. 23 sec.), the
nqc
dou course
e
comparatively lengthened period (13 min. 15 sec.)
it took to complete its second course of 20 rounds
at quick firing. The cause of this difference ap-
peared to lie in the working of the wedges at the
to the want of tact in the
numberew at the gun gave him the duty
e e
wedge into position in closing the
bofr h
breechee eh,
hauling
seaman
topartly ereceive the key-bolt. It might, at the
same time, be owing to a slight disarrangement of
wts owing
the key-bolt, or fouling of the wedge face or the end
of the tube upon which it closes. An intended
after-examination would, however, discover the
cause of the delay, which, slight in nature as it
must have been, yet sufficiently delayed the work-
ing of the'gun as to give the great difference in the
time noted in firing of 20 rounds.
Firing was resumed on board her Majesty's ship
Excellent, at Portsmouth, yesterday, with the 70
pounder Armstrong and Whitworth rifled naval
service guns, under the superintendence of the
special committee, Captain Astley C. Key, C. 8.,
conducting the firing as on the previous day. The
committee's programme was somewhat departed
from, owing to the non-arrival of the Whitworth
ammunition from Woolwich, and the firing, which
was intended to have commenced at 10 a.m., did
not open until 1 30 p.m., with 40 rounds of
shot from the ordinary smooth-bore eight-
inch gun (65 cwt.), to afford the committee
a means of comparing the time occupied
in landing the ordinary smooth-bore gun of
the navy against the improved rifled guns under
trial. Prior to the firing from the 68-pounders
being concluded 12 cartridges had been forwarded
to the Excellent for the Whitworth gun from the
Priddy's-hard magazines, where they had been spe-
cially prepared for the purpose, in the absence of
the expected supply from Woolwich, and it was de-
cided to fire 12 rounds of independent firing from
each of the rifled guns, and recommence on the
morrow, if the Whitworth cartridges should by that
time have come to hand. It is necessary to state
here that any fault attaching to the non-supply of
these cartridges rests entirely with the authorities
at Woolwich, and not with Mr Whitworth.
The difficulty experienced in closing the breach
of the wedge gun in the first day's firing (Monday)
was owing, as was anticipated at the time the firing
was going on, to a want of tact on the part of one

of the gun's crew, and a fouling in the wedge
grooves. Changing the man's number at the gun
and washing out the grooves at once remedied the
defect, and caused the gun to work with its former
freedom.

The firing results with the 68-pounder smooth.
bore and the three rifled guns yesterday was as

'ollows

Eight-inch (65 cwt.) smooth-bore gun, indepen-
dent firing, 1,800 yards range, 101 b charge of powder,
hollow shot ; number of rounds fired, 20; time occu-
pied in firing, 14 min. 4 sec. Quick firing—Number
of rounds fired, 20; time occupied in firing. 9 min.
5 secs.

Whitworth rifled 70-pounder gun, rear-vent, in.
dependent firing, 2,600 yards range, 101 b charge of
powder ; number of rounds fired, 12; time occupied
in firing, 8 min.
Wedge Armstrong rifle gun, independent firing,
2,600 yards range, 91b charge of powder; number of
rounds fired, 12 ; time occupied ia firing, 6 min.
45 sec.

Armstrong shunt rifled gun, independent firing,
2,600 yards range, 101 b charge of powder; number
of rounds fired, 12 ; time in firing, 9 min. 56 sec.
The shunt and wedge Armstrong guns the men
of the Excellent have been for some time accus.
tomed to. Mr Whitworth's gun with its rear vent
was a perfect stranger to them, and the first three
or four rounds were fired in consequence more
slowly than they would have been had the men
fired previously from the gun, however short the
number of rounds might have been, and as a proof
of this there was a very marked decrease in the
time between each gun during the last six rounds
of the 12 fired.