The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-29 00:00:00

THE STEAM RAMS OF LIVERPOOL.

(From the Times' City Article.)
Although the statement of Lord Russell at Blair-
gowrie, so far as it bears on the case of the Liverpool
iron clads, was indefinite, an opinion has been gene-
rally formed in the City that it is the intention of
his lordship to cause them to be detained, even
if the existing law should be decided in their
favour, so that Parliament should have an opportu-
nity, at the instance of the Government, to pass a
measure for the purpose. If this be really the
course contemplated, it will be viewed with great
anxiety. Not only does it involve the ques-
tion whether that system can be called " neu-
trality° which in the midst of a conflict between
two belligerents makes a law to alter the balance in
favour of one of them, and gives to that law practi-
cally a retrospective effect by detaining the objects
upon which, if it now existed, it could be brought
to bear, but also whether we shall not enter upon a
path of inextricable embarrassment if we once
attempt to commence a plan of selection so as to
declare that as neutrals our traders may make and
sell certain specific articles, and must refrain from
making and selling other analogous articles,
it being left a matter of theoretical discussion
as to the things to which, under particular times
and circumstances, any especial belligerent may be
entitled to make objections. With such a precedent
established we may be sure that in every future case
the most extraordinary demands will be put forth,
and that if we point to the law as it stands we
shall be told we have nothing to do but to alter
it ; that we made such alteration at the time of
the American struggle, and that if we now refuse
we shall indicate an animus that must be resented_
Looking at these points it is believed that, however
convenient for the Ministry that proposed plan may
be in order temporarily to stave off importunities or
threats, there could scarcely be one for which we
might throughout the future have to pay more
dearly. It is felt by our merchants that a Parlia-
mentary debate on the proposition will draw out
every point that either the patriot or the political
economist could wish to be weighed, and that in
that respect the introduction of the contemplated
measure will be attended with advantage, no assem-
bly in the world being more fitted to deal with it
than the House of Commons. But at the same
time it is doubted, looking at the possibility of th©
Ministerial proposal being rejected whether it will
not prove that the most expedient course would
have been to have stood quietly on the existing law
of Englund and the United States, and not to have
given a new pretext for irritation such as will be
afforded by any Parliamentary remarks or decision
that may not be palatable to the Washington poli-
ticians, or that may serve the purpose of diverting
attention from indignities inflicted by France by
raising an increased outcry against England.

PROSPECT OF A GAYER SEASON--The gentle-
men of her Majesty's private band, who have been released
from duty for some time, aro in expectation of receiving
orders to rosume their services at Windsor Castle during
Christmas.

GRAPE, CANISTER, SHRAPNEL, AND SHOT.--.
Grape consists of nine shot arranged in thres layers,
which vary in size according to the calibre of the gun; they
are held together by two plates of about one-fourteenth of
an inch less diameter than the calibre of the gun, two rings,
a bolt and a nut. The canvas bag arrangement is too old
for this war ; it is not so simple or durable, and has not
been used for years. Canister for a gun contains 27 small
cast-iron balls, arranged in four layers, the top of six,
the remainder of 7 each; for a howitzer it contains 48 small
iron balls in 4 layers of 12 each ; for the same calibre you
will see that the balls for canister is a tin cylinder, closed at
the bottom by a thick cast-iron plate or a wooden sabot, and
at the top by a sheet-iron plate with a handle attached ; the:
interstices between the balls are closely packed with saw-
dust to prevent orowding when the piece is fired. Shrapnel
consists of a very thin shell, which is filled with musket
balls ; the interstices are then filled by pouring in melted
sulphur; a hole is then bored through the mass of sulphur
and bullets to receive the bursting charge. Now to explain
the difference between a "shrapnel" of "spherical case"
and a" shell." The destructive force of a shrapnel is what
it receives from the charge in the gun, the
Powder ,in the
shrapnel being only to break the envelope and spread the
balls, they still moving forward by
force of the impulse
they received from the charge in the gun.
A shell is made
much thicker than the envelope of a shraMelyand nearly filled
with powder, and will do no great execution it it explodes on
the ground, it having destructive qualities in itself, aside
from the discharge of the gun. A shrapnel has only half of the
charge of powder that a shell proper has ; thus a 24-pounder
shrapnel contains 175 musket balls and 6 ounces of powder.
A 24-pounder shell has 12 ounces of powder. A 6-pounder
shrapnel has 39 musket
balls and 25 ounces of powder.—.
American Taper.

gene. AN A3IERICAN FOREST.—These forests are
rally entirely composed of trees of the same family,
which render it impossible to
guide oneself, unless gifted
with that miraculous intuition which the Indians and bun-
ters possess, and which enables them to march with cer-
tainty in the most inextricable labyrinths. Wherever the
eye may turn, it only perceives immense arcades of verdure,
infinitely prolonged, wearying to the eye by their desperate
monotony, and only crossed atintervals by the tracks of
wild beasts, which aro mixed strangely. together, and even-
tually lead to unknown
wateemg places, nameless streams,
be followed. The trees, of
that run silently and gloomily beneath the covert, and
Whose windings cannotpossibly
prodigious height and size,
in grow closely together, and aro
connected by a network of lianas, which, growing in every
direction, form an impassable wall ; from the end of the
branches bang, long festoons to the ground, that greyish
moss known as Spanish beard, while the tall straight grass,
that everywhere covers the ground, shows that human foot
has not trodden the soil here for a lengthened period. is
Ceu:it:Hum Inrush, night has mysteries still more terrible.
Beneath these immense donit.s of verdure, which the sun ie
powerless to pierce even at mid-day, and which remain
constantly buried in an uudeeidel clear obscure, thoelatk-
ness may, so to speak, be felt; nothing could product a
flash in this chaos, excepting, perhaps' the luminous eye-
balls of the wild beasts, that dart electric sparks from the
thickets. Here, night is truly the mistress ; the darkness
is peopled by the sinister denizens of the
.forest, whom the
obscurity drives from their unknown Inkling-plae,es, and
who begin their mournful prowling in search of prey.
From each clump, from each ravine, leen°, confused sounds
that have no name in human language; some clear and
sharp, others hoarse and low, and others, again, resembling
miawling, or sardonic laughter, are blended in a horrible
concert. Then come the heavy footfalls on the ground,
and the sullen flapping of birds' wings, as well as that in-
cessant indistinct inurmur,which is nought else but the con-
tinual buzz of the infinitely little, mingled with the hollow
moan always heard in the desert, and which is only the
breath of Nature travailiue with her incomprehensible
secrets,— Ciud!ve dintarcts b'tronghand.