The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-17 00:00:00

TILL SVN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 17, 1864.

that we had been very much disgusted with our
failure in maintaining a certain treaty with respect
to Denmark, and the result of that feeling had been
to drive us into the other extreme. But there was no
reason for us to come to the conclusion that we were
never again to take any part in the affairs of Eu-
rope. The truth was that while on the one hand we
should not indulge in any meddling policy, or at-
tempt anythieg for which our insular or maritime
position unfitted us, on the other hand we should
not proclaim to the nations of the world that we
were prepared to witness passively any wrong
which might be committed by the powerful upon
the weak in Europe. His belief was that if small
States such as Denmark proper, Belgium, Holland,
or Switzerland were to be attacked by some power-
ful neighbour we should find it imposaib.e consis-
tently with our honour and our true interests to sit
by with our arms foided. Upon the subject of the
lamentable war still raging on the other side of the
Atlantic, it seemed to him that her M ijasty's Go-
vernment had represented with peculiar fidelity the
leelings of this country—and he believed that no-
thing was more creditable to the Government and
to Lord Russell than the true and honest neutrality
which had been maintained. He believed that they
had been right in not identifying themselves with
the enthusiasm for the Southern States so strongly
felt by the Conservative party, or with the fanatic-
ism on behalf of the Northern States expressed by
sections of the Liberal party. He sympathised
with the Northern States so far as their struggle
was for boundary and for the prevention of slavery
in territories still free from it. O❑ the other hand,
he had not withheld his sympathy for those States
which had fought gallantly for their independence.
(Cheers.)
Mr It. SMITH proposed " The Health of Mr S.
Western, M.P. for Maldon." (Loud cheers.)
Mr WESTERN, M.P., briefly replied.
Mr G. COURTAULD proposed the " House of Com-
mons,'' associating with the toast the name of Mr
C. Buxton. (Cheers.)
Mr C. BUXTON, M.P,, in responding, observed
that a great deal had been said of late as to the
rapid effacement of all distinctions between 'Tory
and Liberal, so that it was quite a relief to find that
i❑ one point at least the Conservatives were rapidly
diverging from the Liberals and taking a course
which, unless the Liberals were false to their prin-
ciples, if the Conservatives were false to the pro.
feseions they were making, must bring the two par-
ties into collision. The Conservatives seemed to
have got the idea into their heads that it would be
their policy now to push themselves forward once
more as the especial patrons of the Established
Church, and to make the country believe that if
Liberalism had its way the ruin of the Church was
at hand. This assumption must strike any one who
was not ignorant of the history of the last forty
yeats with astonishment at its audacity. Would
any man of common sense say that the magnificent
position in which the Established Church now stood,
rooted so deeply in the heart and mind of the Bri-
tish people, would have been possible had the To-
ries got their way ? They would have preserved
the Test Acts; they would have preserved the Acts
which interfered with the freedom of Dissenters to
worship God in their own way ; they would have
preserved the splendid sinecures which excited such
intense disgust. They would have preserved the
abuses by wtiich the old system of taking tithe was
surrounsied both in this country and still was in
Ireland. It surely could not be denied that the true
friends of the Church—those who had given her
that mighty hold which she now had in this coun-
try—were the Liberal party who rid her of the
abuses which disgraced and weakened her; and he
thought that no true friend of the Chinch,
whether Liberal or Conservative, could have
read Mr Disraeli's great speech the other
day without some consternation in watching
that dexterous orator balancing the Church
on his chin, to the infinite amusement,
it would seem, of his hearers—at least if we
might judge from the laughter, much laughter,
repeated laughter, with which his sallies on her
behalf, and especially his great joke about external
punishment, were received. What he (Mr Buxton)
feared was lest this outcry of the Tories, that the
Church was in danger. and that its true friends
must hurry on to its rescue, should by degrees lead
Liberals to take for granted that this really was so,
and that as the Conservatives were the friends of
the Church the Liberals therefore, as a matter of
course, must look on themselves as her enemies.
F Bat in reality the Liberal party was needed for the
rescue of the Church from a serious danger that did
actually threaten her—not indeed in her connection
with the State, nor yet in her emoluments—but lest
the Conservatives should succeed in the endeavour
they were making to recover that freedom of thought
within the Church herself by which she had hitherto
been marked. There was no doubt that of late men's
minds had been much disturbed by what seemed to
them dangerous opinions among the bishops and
clergy themselves. Mr Disraeli, in his great ora-
tion, seized eagerly on this alarm, hoping, it would
seem,that if the tide were taken at its flood it would
lead him on to fortune; and no doubt he thought
that the tremendous broadside which he poured
into the Broad Church party would be heard with
general delight. Undoubtedly it was only a small
section even of the Liberal party which belonged
to that Broad Church; but he trusted the Liberals
would not, either on that account, or from any fear
of sharing in the distaste with which that party
was regarded by the people at large, stand idly by
while the Tory party availed themselves of a tem-
porary alarm in order permanently to cripple the
energies of independent thought among the clergy.
It was the most essential principle and the greatest
glory of Liberals to bo the advocates not only of
civil but of religious freedom ; but let them not
merely lisp the phrase of "civil and religious
liberty,' without standing
_courageously by that
great and true principle. Mr Disraeli, of course,
with his usual skill tried to increase the unpopu.
larisy of the Broad Church party, by declaring that
the comprehension at which they aimed was that of
including everybody who believed nothing. He
said they repudiated creeds, and rejected articles,
and he did not hesitate to apply to them the word
:,ceptical, and to predict that, if they became para-
mount, the result might in time be that opinions
the most absurd might be developed, to be followed,
perhaps, by the incantations of Canidia and the
Corybanlian bowl. (Laughter.) The weapon by
which the Conservatives hoped to drive out the
Broad Church party was a court of final appeal, in
which the clerical element should be supreme. It
seemed almost incredible that in the nineteenth
century a skilful statesman should set himself to
restore ecclesiastics to that position which they had
so invariably disgraced—the position of judges in
cases of heresy. The Conservatives could not en-
dure that clergymen accused of heresy should be
tried and judged by the Lord Chancellor, with
merely two or three Episcopal assessors. They
wanted the Church authorities to be absolutely
supreme. 'What was the real meaning of this pro-
posal ? Neither more nor less than this—that
they wished the tribunal to consist of men who
would share in their views, and might be trustee
to condemn those who might trespass upon them.
But after all, the only real question that such a
tribunal had to judge was whether the clergyman
who was accused had or had not violated the law
of the Church by his teaehivg. Who was so fit
to lay down the law as he who had risen to the
very top of the legal profession, viz., the Lord
Chancellor ? Who was most fit to ascertain whether
the clergyman's writings really bed or had not
violated that law—the Lord Chancellor, who came
to the case an impartial judge, or the bishops who
inevitably must feel some kind of prejudice against
the assumed heretic? All experience had shown that
bishops when intrusted with judicial power abused it, no
merely to the ruin of the unhappy individual upon whom
they sat in judgment, but to the prejudice of the Church to
which they belonged. The express aim of some Coneetva-
tives appeared to be to put down anything like indepen-
dence of thought within the borders of the Church of Eng-
land. They had what he admitted was a very natural feel-
ing—namely, an intense aversion to seeing others forming
',pinions of their own of a novel kind upon religious topics.
That feeling was natural enough. Almost everyone expe-
rienced it more or less; but he regarded it as the highest
triumph of wisdom, both of head and heart, to be wilting to
allow others freed,m to think for themselves, even when
their thoughts might seem to us falsa or dangerous. To be
sure, the clergy did not stand in this respect on the same
footing with the laity, They had declared their adhesion to

the doctrines of the Church, and in receiving emoluments
they entered into a kind of honourable compact not to vio-
late her doctrines ; and especially in the case of parish
priests the laity had a right to demand that their clergymen
ehould not outrage their religious feelings, Notwithstand-
ing that, he utterly denied that it could be for the real inte-
rest either of the laity or of the clergy, or of the Church
herself, that the minds of her members should be bound
down under a tight and narrow bondage. We might fairly
claim that no man should serve at her altars who did not
accept her leading principles; but it would be the greatest
folly in the world to carry that stringency so far that the
clergy should not dare to use their minds vigorously and
boldly within those Ride bounds. (Hear.) It had been the
unique characteristic of the Church of England, that she
had given liberty to her ministers to stamp their mind and
character upon their teaching instead of being forced to
cut their teachings to one exact pattern; and at this
time, when there was such a mighty stir of mind every
where, it would be most disastrous to the clergy and to
the Church it they were restrained by joutward artificial
machinery, elaborated for the express purpose, from exer-
cieing:their intellect upon the question of questions, " What
is truth ?" He could not imagine how any thinking man,
who knew anything of the :religious history of the world,
could suppose that religious history in such a country as
this could be kept at a dead stand-still. It must undergo
some change, it must pass through phase after phase of
development—and the rash endeavour to resist the univer-
sal law of nature, and to keep the faith of mankind in
stagnation must inevitably in the long run, deaden the
faith which it sought to preserve. (Hear, hear.) Those
who in their terror of anything which bore the faintest
semblance of unorthodoxy would set on foot the most
potent machinery possible for its extinction, forgot one
thing which it was of the highest importance to remember,
viz , that if you put down all false thought lyou inevitably
put down all true thought along with it. There was no
alternative, if you gathered up the tares you would root up
the wheat as well. The censorship of ,the press wherever it
had been attempted had shown that if men were to be
crushed the moment they passed beyond some narrow limit
they would et length become afraid to stir—and if we shut
up the minds and mouths of the clergy by creating a more
stringent inquisition in opinion than that which now
existed the result must be that thinking men would shrink
more and more from entering the Church, and that her
ministers who ought to be the leaders of religious thought
would sink into mere repeaters of parrot phrases. We
might depend upon it that the intellectual decay of the
Church must in due time break her power over the heart
and mind of the English peuple. He trusted, however,
that the Liberal party—Dissenters as well as Churchmen
—would stand by the great principle of religious liberty.
(Cheers.)
The healths of the Chairman—Mr R. B.:Baker and the
Liberal Electors of South Essex—of the Liberal Electors
of North Essex—of Mr Rebow and the Liberal Electors
of Colchester—of Mr Bagahaw and the Liberal Electors
of Harwich—of the Liberal Electors of Malden, and
other toasts followed. It was announced that it was in-
tended to bring forward a Liberal candidate for North
Essex—but the name of the gentleman in question was not
indicated•

Vacancies, Promotions, and Appointments
in the Civil Service.
(From the Civil Service Gazette.)
Homo office—Mr J. C. A, Bones, deputy-governor of
Portsmouth convict prison, has been appointed governor of
Pentonvillo prison. Captain C. B. La Tonche has been ap
pointed deputy-governor of Portsmouth prison.
War-office—Mr C. A. Ellis, first-class clerk, Royal Car-
riage Department, has been promoted to be principal clerk
in the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield, vice G. C.
Munro, superannuated. Mr J. Weld, second-class clerk,
Royal Laboratory, has been promoted to the first-class, vice
Ellis. Mr R. E. White, third-class clerk at Enfield, has
been promoted to the second class, vice Weld.
he Post-office—Mr Robert Grime has been appointed
postmaster at Doncaster.
Customs—Mr John Rennison has been promoted to the
Ist class of examining officere, Grimsby. Mr George
Fuller has been} promoted to the 2d class of examining
officers, Grimsby. Mr Joseph Read has been promoted from
the sth to the 4th class of out-door officers, London. Mr
J. B. White has been promoted from the sth to the 4th
class of out-door officers, Landon. Mr R. M. Parks has
been
officers,
pr ordoont
de o
nf. r oi‘mi r tjhoes
espthhmt owt
ehret
o4ottht
hasel a sbs eoe
nf
promoteout-doo rd
from the sth to the 4th class of out-door officers, London.
Mr Robt. Johnstone has been promoted from the sth to the
4th class of out-door officers, London. Mr Wm Morton has
been promoted from the sth to the 4th class of out-door
officers, London.
Inland Revenue—Stamp and Tax Branch—Mr John
Purdue, inspector of taxes of the 14 Metropolitan district,
has been superannuated. He served over 50 years.
Excise Branch—Mr George Curtis, supervisor, Hinckley
district, Leicester collection, has been appointed to Mill.
bank district, London, South, collection.
Ireland—Mr P. J. '1 wohy has been appointed a third
class clerk in the Board, of Works Office, secretary's de
part ment, vice Mr E. D. Thorpe, promoted.
Scotland—Mr Thomas Win. L. Spence has been appointed
a clerk in the Lunacy Board Office, Edinburgh.
The East Indies—Mr H. C, Barstow, assistant magistrate
and collector al Agra, has been appointed to officiate as a joint
. magistrate and deputy collector. Mr W. E. Neale, assist-
ant magistrate and collector, Meerut, has been appointed to
officiate as assistant commissioner in the Jhansi division.
Mr J. H, Carter, assistant magistrate and collector, Muttr
has been appointed to officiate as ussistaut commissioner in
the Jhansi division. Mr W. Johnston, commissioner of
excise and stamps, has been appointed to be also registrar-
general for registration of assurance in the N.W.P. Mr
A. Shakspear, commiseionerof the Beaares division, has been
appointed to officiate as member of the Sudder Board Of
Revenue during the absence of Mr Muir, or until further
orders. Mr G. P. Money, judge of Allahabad, has been ap •
pointed to officiate as commissioner of Benares. Mr A. S.
Donald has been promoted from the 3d to ,the 2d grade of
small cause judges in the Punjaub. Mr G. D. Westropp
been promoted from the 3d to the 2d grade of small cause
the
eou.
Class,t d
commissioner
su ht ya wcoumr. . commissioner
spas
epi
sot
.hnpse
_r.
commissioner, has been
j ns dt goel sa
class,
thhaes
been Punjaub.promoted
Wtpl
•
ty
has been promoted from the
apdr uo
Maxwell,tmr otithie edj2dfo class,rareopjiltAythel c.
Peshawur.oC2mrdimPtPoi sss;odene
Major T, W. Mercer, assis-
o
tant commissioner, Ist class, hail been promoted to be de-
puty commissioner, 3d class Peshawur. Mr G. Knox,
as-
sistant commissioner,peshwau. Li
hrasbeenen appointed from the 2d to
the t class,t.
e.. G. Sandeman, assistant
o
mmissioner, has been promoted from the 3d to the 2d
class, Peshawur. Lieut. Col. J. ja. Beadier,
C. 8., has been
transferred from the Hisser to the Peshawur division. Mr
eilaate at Mooltan. Mr E.
Wilmot
ppointed to the Hisser
c
dWi
v. i
sPi
oonr ,b cuot mt mo iososni ottn.
neur e, ht aos bof
ci
beeni spmr ipoj.
he p
ntetd Priacipal of the Government
Friz
elle, assistant commissioner,
hs l
elhi to tit Goorgaon district
Mr J. G. Ryall, extra assietazt commiss.oner,
coale gb
e e
n has
transferreda Ds ellei
from
has been
transferred from the Scalkote to the Thong district. Dr
Aitken has been appointed to officiate as assistant master
at Madras, without prejudice to his other appointment.
The Rev. J. R. Macfarlane, senior chaplain of the Church of
Scotland, has been permanently attached to the station at
Bellary. The Rev A. C. Bell his been appointed chaptain
of St. Andrew's Church at Madras. The Venerable T. Deal-
try, M.A., Archdeacon of Madree, has been appointed to be
joint chaplain of St. Georges Cathedral. Mr W, C. Stuart
has been appointed to be deputy collector and magistrate of
the 3d class, in succession to 14
-..Raghunda Raw promoted
to be posted to the Malabar district. Mr
J'. A. Majoribanks,
fourth-class deputy collec'or sett magistrate in the Kistna
district, has been appointed to abt as deputy collector and
magistrate of the third class,
On iud pay, in the place
of D. V. Narasiega Row. Hewetson has been ap•
pointed to act as deputy collector and magistrate, during the
absence of Mr Boalth on leave, and to continue in the Male
bar district. Mr Huntly p.
•-•erlon assistant to the collec-
tor and magistrate of Cohnbators, has been vested with the
powers of a subdrdinate raagistrate of the first class.

The Extensive Forgeries on Malton Firms.

It has been stated that during last week forgeries upon
the Melton corn merchants had been discovered to have
been carried out by a member of the trade at Scarborough,
who had absconded. The person charged with forging
acceptances of the Messrs Rumen of Melton, and Mr
Pearson, of Hungerford House, Norton, and others, to bills
of exchange for large amounts, and which he had got dis.
counted at Scarborough, 'So, is' a young man named Isaac
Huddlestone, 27 years of age, who hes now for some time
carried on business as cornfactor in Scarborough, and has
there ranked as one of the first men inthe trade. It appeals
that Mr Thomas Pearson, of Melton, by accident made
the discovery that Huddle'stone was floating bills bearing
his acceptance. This gentleman and the other firms
whose names have been used never gave a bill in their lives.
An investigation ensued, which resulted in the flight of
Huddleston, anti the issuing of a warrant fur his apprehen-
eion. Since the instrument has been placed in the hands
of the euperintendent of police at Scarborough,
more extensive forgeries have been detected. The
specific charge made against Huddleston is that he felo-
niously forged the acceptance of a certain bill of exchange
for the payment of £ll3 25., with the intent to defraud;
and with uttering the said bill of exchange, well knowing the
same to be forged. It is, however, stated that his bad paper
will reach a startling amount. Huddleston, it seems, kept
hie carriage, and actually drove cut of town on Sunday week,
as usual, to a small etation. He is married, and took his wife
with him. But it is ascertained that before absconding he
purchased and took with him a new Sharpe's repeater re-
volver and 500 cartridges to fit, and ho also took a now rifle
of Moorhouee's stamp. It seems, therefore, he is fully pro-
vided for close company. yesterday a reward of £5) was
offered for information which shall lead to Huddleston's
being found by the police, It is, however, the opinion of
many that Huddleston, getting some days' start, has sailed
from the country. The affair has caused no little stir in the
district. The fugitive wee a native of Scarborough, and
quite a leading man,—,Leeds Mercury.

The Collection of Naval Models at South

Kensington Museum.

The great bulk of the colection of Naval Models formed
by the Admiralty has lately been removed from Somerset-
house to South Kensington, where it has become for the
first time accessible to the general public. This collection
was commenced by Sir R. Seppings, who was Surveyor of
the Navy during some years in the beginning of the present
century, and it has been continued by his successors to the
present time in a tolerably complete series. The first in
order of time and historic interest is the Great Harry,
which was built in the reign of Henry VII., and played an
important part at the unsuccessful attack on the French gal-
leys at Brest in April, 1813, where she bore the flag of Ad-
miral Sir Edward Howart', whose impetuous bravery cost
him his life in that engagement, which gave the English
command of the narrow seas during the whole reign of
Henry VIII, Of this ship the Admiral thus expresses
himself in a letter to his Sovereign :•
" Sir,—Your good ship is the flewer, I trow, of all ships
that ever sailed. Sir, she is the noblest ship of sail is this
great ship at this hour that I trow in all Christendom."
She possess=es a special historical interest, also, as having
been the first vessel of the Royal navy properly so called in
England, the Crown having been hitherto dependent on the
Cinque Ports for a supply of vessels whice were required
for any emergency, and which were resumed by their e wners
as soon as the special service for which they wore required
had been rendered. The Great Harry was accidentally
burnt at Woolwich in the year 1553. It is a very remark-
ablo structure, and conveys a good idea of the requirements
of ships of war at that period. The observer cannot fdl to
be struck with the small extent of the immersed portion of
the hull compared with that out of water, and the enormous
structure at the head and stern—the forecastle, aptly so
called, and the poop, intended to harbour and protect large
numbers of bowmen and arquebusiers, who played the most
important part in naval engagements ce those days, which
were chiefly carried on hand-to-hand. The broadside guns
were small and of light weight. With an armament similar
to that of our modern ships, the Great Harry would have
been absolutely dangerous. As it was, it must have been a
matter of no slight peril to navigate her during high winds
and through heavy seas, even in the Channel. To have
crossed the ocean in her would have subjected the bold
mariners who attempted it to almost certain shipwreck. It
is instructive to observe in the series of models of later date
how very gradually the dimensions of the forecastle and
poop were reduced to meet the exigencies of a heavier and
more effective armament, and of ocean navigation. A
strongly marked forecastle and poop were characteristic of
our ships until nearly the middle of the 18th century, while
the practice of building large vessels, with flush decks, as
in the case of our irouclads, has been introduced only within
the last few years. Between the building of the Great
Harty and that of the Royal Sovereign, or Sovereign of the
Seas, built in the reign of Charles I. with the ship-money,
the collection of which led to such notable results, an in-
terval of nearly 150 ye irs occurs. 'the disturbances arising
from the change of religion in the days of the later Tudors,
and the consequent exhaustion of the Exchequer, prevented
all addition to the Royal navy during this peliod. The
vessels which played so important a part in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth in defeating the Spanish Armada and es-
tablishing the supremacy of England at sea were hired from
the private trade to meet the emergency, and reverted to
their original owners as soon as the emergency was passed,
and were engaged probably during the remainder of their
existence in a traffic much resembling piracy, which com-
pletely broke the Spanish power at sea. These ships, pos-
ceasing so high an historical value, are unrepresented in
this collection. The Sovereign of the Seas was built in 1635
by Mr Peter Pett, the second of a generation of naval archi-
tects who were the chief constructors of the navy from the
reign of James I. to that of William 111., and is a consider.
able improvement on the Great Harry. From this time the
series of models is tolerably complete, though the names of
many of those of the period are unknown. Among those
possessing an historic interest may be mentioned the Vic-
tory, of 100 guns, built in 1735, lost in the Channel in 1744 ;
and her successor, launched in 1765, the renowned flagship
of Lord Nelson at Trafalgar in 1805, which still, as the flag-
ship of the Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, perpetuates
to successive generations the memory of teat glorious era in
our naval annals; the Royal 'William, built in 1682, and
the Royal George, launched in 1756, which went down at
Spithead with Admiral Kempenfeldt and all her crew in
1782.

The models of the ships are arranged according to their
rates, thus enabling the student to estimate the progress
made in shipbuilding. in this country from time to time.
This was exceedingly slow up to the commencement of
the present century. In 1719 the Navy Board, content with
the performance of the vessels then in the Royal service,
laid down a table of dimensions and tonnage for ves-
sels of each class—from the first-rate, carrying 100
guns, down to the gun-brig—from which the constructor
was not at liberty to depart. A vessel of the highest
class was thus limited to about 2,000 tons burden,
and no latitude m as left for improvement or for adapting the
chip's carrying power to increased weight of armament.
Although, as a matter of. fact, some deviations were ad-
mitted, especially in the attempts which even then were
made to introduce the improved French types into our ser-
vice, yet so little real progress was made that when in the
middle of the century the master-ship srights of the several
dockyards wore required to forward to the Navy Board pro-
posals for an improved scale of dimensions and tonnage for
the several classes of ships, the changes proposed were
trifling, and in some cases were absolutely ntl. Thus, the

scale of 1719, with very insignificant alterations, remained
in torte until the peace of Amiens, when a greatly improved
scale was established on the plan of the French navy, the
vessels of that nation having proved their ineontestible
superiority during the revolutionary war. Even then, how-
ever, the fatal mistake of requiring a fixed tonnage for each
class of ships was adhered to, and rendered nugatory the
attempts at improvement made after the.peace of 1815
to 1830, by building experimental ships to compete with
each other. Sir William Symonds, who was appointed
Surveyor of the Navy by Sir James Graham in 1831,
was the first constructor who succeeded in freeing him-
self from these fatal shackles. The injurious results of
these restrictions is plainly traceable in the sameness of the
models during all this period. The rule for determining
the tonnage being based on purely arbitrary principles,
leaving ono of the dimensions--the depth—at the disposal
of the constructor, led to the flaring bows, falling-in stern-
ports, and full, deep bodies which so long characterized our
ships and rendered them bad sailers, and especially dan-
gerous on a lee shore, from the great amount of leeway
they made.
During this period the French had encouraged the appli-
cation of scientific principles to shipbuilding with great
comparative success, the French ships captured in war and
taken into the service having uniformly proved to be far the
best of their class.

The observer will not fail to trace the cauqes of the supe-
riority in the models at the French ships in the collection
a superiority due to th 3 absence of the restrictions so fatal
to progress in England, leaving the French naval architect
tree to avail himself of all the resources of his art.

The models of English ships of war built since 1832, under
the influence of more enlighten( d knowledge, will bear corn-
parison with those of any nation.
The vessels of the last few years are almost unrepresented
in this collection, the only model of an ironclad being that
of the Northumberland, now building at Millwall. This is
much to be regretted, as vessels of this class possess a spcial
interest at the present moment. It is to be hoped that this
reproach to the collection may speedily be removed.
For many centuries the principles on which the strength
of ships and stabili•y of their forms depend seems to have
been utterly unknown by nevi' constructors. A ship—of
course built of wo d, there were none other in those days—
consisted of a series of vertical frames tied together by
horizontal planks, presenting the same mode of construction
as a gate would do if it were made only of upright posts
joined together by horiz Altai bars. Every one knows the
speedy fate which would overtake a gate so put together.
It is, therefore, no matter of surprise that the vessels built
on a similar principle exhibited material symptoms of in-
herent weakness, many having been recorded as having
" hogged" or " sagged"—i e having broken their backs by
the falling in of the portions fore and aft to a very appre-
ciable extent even in the act of launching. The very simple
expedient suggested itself to Sir Robert Seppings of binding
the vertical and horizontal pieces of which the ship was
composed by diagonal tie •beams or riders, thus converting
the rectangle—a form of known instability—to that of the
triangle, a form of equally well-known permanence. This
inc.' revetment was introduced about the year 1820 with
a good result, which justified the expectations of the
inventor. Sir Robert Seppings, naturally and justly proud
of this success, had several very elaborate and interesting
models illustrative of his new method of construction made,
These are to be found in this collection, and may even now
be studied with advantage. At a later period, during the
surveyorship of Sir Baldwin Walker, these wooden riders
were replaced by iron—a simple substitution, representing
in a first-class ship a gain of 61 tons in weight, and adding
greatly to the neatness and finlih of the structure.

The modes of putting together an iron ship are illustrated
by a series of models of parts of the Warrior, the first built
of our ironelads, one of them showing a whole rib, or trans-
verse section—others showing smaller portions in detail,
together with the armour plating and the mode of putting
it on. There are also other models of the mode of pitting
together the frames of an iron vessel, acocrdiag to the prac-
tice of Mr Samuda, the eminent shipbuilder.

Nevertheless, this most interesting department of modern
naval construction is not represented as fully and completely
as is importance merits, and it is to ba hoped that the
authorities of the Museum will lose no opportunity of
making additions to it. Among the Admiralty models will
be found many sent to the Admiralty by inventors seeking
Government patronage for thr:r schemes —sonr:e of them
groteequo and strange enough, all, however, interesting
and instructive; for much may bo learnt even from the
study of plans which no sane person would think of adopt-
ing ; and there are few plans so absurd but that they have
a glimmering of sense in them.

Besides the Admiralty models there are some—by no
means as many as could be desired—sent by private persons.
Among these the mwt conspicuous and valuable is a serie.
illustrating Lloyd's mks for putting together wooden and
iron ships, These rules hare not been adopted without great

care and consideration, and may be said to embody the most
approved systems of construction adopted in the private
trade, and will well repay a careful study.
Mr G. Turner has also sent soma interesting models, and
Mr White, of Whitehaven, has lent a set illustrative of his
mode of building adapted to the Nautilus propeller.
Besides the forms and modes of construction of ships, the
roasting, rigging, ropes, and chain cables are amply illus-
trated—and models of details of many of the operations
employed in the dockyards, several kinds of gun and gun-
carriages and mortars, engine-room signals, and various
kinds of inventions for steering, to., are exhibited.
Among these the curious observer will find a complete
set illustrative of the block-making machinery invented by
Sir I. Brunel for the use of the Government early in the
present of ntury, and set up in Portsmouth Dockyard, where
it has remained in us4lto the present day. This invention
was rewarded liberally by the Government of the day, and
was considered a masterpiece of skilful adaptation of ma-
chinery. Since that time the principles of machinery have
become more extensively recognised, and successfully ap-
plied to most ingenious and important uses. No factory or
workshop but abounds with such marvels of the ingenuity
of man at the present day; but the name of Sir I. Brunel
as one of the more successful pioneers in this now well-
trodden field must ever stand pre-eminent.

It were endless to enter upon he details of the boats,
spars, and other accessories of the armament and fitting-out
of ships, which may be studied with advantage in the Naval
Gallery at South Kensington, to which the public have now
free access. Enough has been said to establish its national
value. It were much to be desired that the modern modes
of propulsion were as amply illustrated as the details of
naval construction, and that models of marine steam engines,
screws and paddles, with the details o: the several parts of
each as adopted by various eminent makers and employed
in the Navy, wore here exhibited. It may, perhaps, be not
out of place to remind shipuilders and engineers that the
loan of models of vessels and engines, and their several de-
tails, will be thankfully received by the authorities of the
South Kensington Museum.