The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-20 00:00:00

,ES FOR 1864.

Newcastle-on-Tyne 2B
New Forest Hunt
Ipswich .. 3O
Worcestcr (Summer) 30

Nottingham .......... 9
-Winchester ........ 19
Southampton ........ 20
Chesterfield .......... 21
King's Lynn .......... 21
Goodwood ............ 2C
IBER.

Lincoln ..........
Kelso
19
Gloucester
Newmarket Houghton 24

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE—This Day,

LONDON, June 20.—Wind this day at noon—South-
West; fresh breeze and fine weather.
CARDIFF, June 18.—Wind S.W.—Sailed—Chetah, for
Hong Kong—Jane Littlefield, for New York—Argo, for
Trinidad.

SWANSEA., June 18.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Oberon,
from Caldira.
CLYDE, June H.—Wind S.—Arrived—Radama, from
Sgua la Grande. Sailed—Britannia, screw steamer, kr
New York.
FALMOUTH, Tune l9.—Arrived—Chushane, from lila-
vannah.
PLYMOUTH, June 17.—Wind W.—Arrived—Belmont,
from Quebec.
KINGSTON, June 18.—Wind S.—Sailed—Express, for
Barcelona.

(BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH-)
GRAVESEND, Monday Morning:
Arrived, June 19—Ann Stanton, from Riga—Niard and
110, from Christianstadt—Spitfire, from Regeffara—Eliza
Ann, from Belize—Astrea, from Odessa—Sedulous, from
Amoy—Juno, from Memel—Pocahontas, from New York
—Norma, from Stertin—Margaret, from Guernsey—Cou-
cordia and Catharine, from Randers—Danneborg, from
Malmo—Stella, from Dantzio—Zeernengen, from Stock-
holm.
Arrived, June 20—Gustaf Wasa, from Gottenburg—..
Psyches from Pomaron—Down, from Vignes—Agricola,
from Jamaica.
Morning
Sailed, June 19—Era, for Natal—Brenda, steamer, for
Odessa—Peninsuia, steamer, fporECAaLd,il—onEduaryopa, steamer,
for Leghorn—Kaffraria, for Algoa Bay—Rescue, fur Nevi
nfonr, Montreal—inEurtrho,mfarnomga,ttreomnoSrhthieltdosr,
York—Mauritius, steamer, for Calcutta.
Passed—Arcade, ship, from the west, for London—Es.k-
the west—Brenda, screw steamer, from London, for
fdoarl eA,
on, Malta.
Anchored—Louise, of Carnarvon, from the north, for the
west. fromex an d London,ia

We have to announce the death at Paris of M.
Roubier d'llerambault, deputy at the LegiAlative Body for
the circumscription of Mentreuil-sur-Mer (Pas de Calais).
He was in his Gith year.
M. Salezir de Mazarredo, lately the Spanish
Commissioner at Peru, has passed through Paris on his
way to Madrid.

Rear-Admiral Tardy do Montravel, Governor of
Guyana, has receiveJ permission to return to France on
leave, and is now on hia way home.

A fete took place three days back at Saint-Cerra.

tien (Stine-at-Oise), the summer residence of the
Princess Mathilde, on the occasion of the presentation by
her limpet ial Highness of a splendid banner to the Orpheo-
fist Society of the commune. The houses were dressed out
with flags, and triumphal arches bearing the Princess's
initials were erected. Tho benediction of the banner was
performed by the cure, and the gates of the villa having
been thrown open, the day was spent in the park an
grounds.

Oa the railway frora Paris to Dreux, which has
just been opened, as stated, there ars eleven intermediate
stations. This line places Paris in direct communication
with the fertile valleys DI the Eure and of Nounneourt.

Father Miranda, who formed part of the Mexican
deputation to Faris, has just died e`. Puebla.

Experimi

ttess,

On Friday the last but one of the most important
and valuable series of experiments which have been
conducted at this practice-ground by the members
of the Iron-plate Committee was made, in the pre-
sence of one of the largest assemblages of naval
and military officers and scientific gentlemen thret
hive ever yet attended the trial of any target.
Among others present were Lord Mouutchaeles,
Lord Dufferin, Lord Torrington, General Sir liarry
Jones, Mr. Thomas Page, C.E., Mr. W. Faizbairn,
Admiral Sir Charles Talbot, Captain Heath, R.N.,
Captain Derriman, R.N., the Hon. Captain Eger-
ton, R.N., Admiral Halstead, Captain Coffin,
Colonel Lefroy, Sir I. D. Hay, R.N., Commander
Hugh Burgoyue, the Hon. Colonel Wrottesley,
Commander Scott, Sir William Armstrong, Mr. P.
Rolt, Mr, Whitworth; Admiral Frederick, Admiral
Robinson, Admiral Grey, Admirel Drummond,
Colonel Jervis, Major Alderson, Cept. W. Palliser,
Captain Fowke, Colonel Hogg, Captain Key, R.N.,
Colonel Galwey, Colonel Baynes, Mr. E. J. Reed,
Naval Constructor ; Captain Harrison, Professor
Pole, Colonel Henderson, the Hon. Mr. St. Ale.ur,
Mr, Reed, R.N., Mr, Bascombe, Major-General
Taylor, General Rumley, Captain Dyer, &c.
The target, which was 20ft. by 9ft., was con-
structed after the pattern of the Lord Warden,
which is building at Chatham, and represented the
ordinary broadside of a wooden ship armour-plated,
with the addition of an iron skin outside the
frame timbers. These frame timbers were of Eng•
lish oak 12-lin. thick, strengthened by connecting
diagonal iron riders or bands 6in. wide by liin.
thick. Outside this came the inner planking, gin,
thick, and then a complete casing of wrought iron,
1/in. thick. Outside this casing again Was 9in, of
oak, which was again protected by rolled armour
plates, 4 •in thick by 20ft, long and 4ft. wide.
Thus the total thickness of the target or,
as we may call it, the Lord Warden, on the
model of wick ship the target was built was 35in.,
of which 6in. were iron and 291 in. oak. In addi-
tien to this mass there were four oak deck beams
averaging 15in. by 15in, square, and a massive iron
knee to each beam weighing nearly 4ewt. The
armour-plate bolts were 21in, in diameter, and the
beams which represented the upper and lower deck,
and which were 4in. thick, and laid longitudinally
along the back of the target, gave additional stiff-
ness to the whole, In theory it was supposed that
the inner plate of 1/in. thick coming between the
masses of oak inside the 41io. armour-plate would
be sufficient to keep out any shot—a theory which
proved totally groundless when it came to be tested
by the downright matter of fact arguments of steel
shut from the heaviest battery which has ever been
directed against a target at Shoeburyness. There
were six guns in position opposite the target, all
made on Sir William's coil principle, and rifled on
his shunt plan, which threw steel shot from 1001 b.
to 300th. weight, and were fired with charges vary-
ing from 251 b. to 501 b. of powder.
As the results are what principally interest the
public on these occasions, it is needless to go
through a long detail of every shot fired. It will be
sufficient to say that every shot went completely
through the outside armour-plate, and made its
effects more or less seriously manifest on the interior
backing. This is what the least effective of the
missiles accomplished, and proved at once that
4/in. of outside armour have no manner of chance
against even 100-pounders loaded with steel shot.
The result with these shunt guns and steel pro-
jectiles was at least 200 per cent. greater than
was ever effected about a year ago with Sir Wil-
liam's breech-loader end the conical-headed cast-
iron shot. Admiral Frederick's light 7-inch gun
did a great deal more than could have been ex-
pected, but the performances of all were, as a
matter of course, eclipsed by the heavy 9-22-
inch gun cf Sir William, loaded with 441 b. of
powder, and a 2201 b. steel shot. This gun was in-
tended for a 300-pounder, bat instead of being bored
out to 10/in., was only of the calibre we have stated,
leaving the increased thickness of metal to enable
the piece to withstand almost any charge of powder
or shot. This tremendous steel bolt struck the
target with a velocity of 1,460 ft. a second, and not
only went clear through, but went on through part
of the bank beyond and fell nearly a mile out to sea.
The ruin which it made at the back of the target
was complete. At the part it struck huge ragged
splinters were scattered far and wide, and one of the
massive iron tnees was broken off end whirled away
some 33 yarde to the back, striking a block of
grenice in its passage, and shivering a crowd of
little fragments out of it. What such a " knee "
would have done traversing the crowded 'tween
deck of a man of-war it is almost fearful to contem-
plate, and the amount of heavy rough splinters
thrown about showed at once that Mr Reed has
mode a serious mistake in not having an inner lining
of wrought iron to keep these murderous auxiliaries
from assisting the work of the enemy's shot. tn,..
Somerset 9.22-inch gun, which only weighs 6 tons,
was intended for a smooth-bore spherical 100

pounder, but the piece tried an Friday was rifled,
and thus improved it may be said to have accom-
plished great things, if we leave out of sight the
fact that it is more than four years ago since
Mr Whitworth sent his 70-pounder shot through
the 4-inch armour of the Trusty. This Somerset
gun, loaded with a steel shell of 1701 b., with
a bursting charge of 7!b. of powder, and fired with
201 b. charge, went through both outer and inner
plates and the intervening oak, where it burst, and
so shattered the interior backing of all es to mske
it evident that all the pumping resources of a steam
frigate could scarcely keep down such a leak, and
that two. would settle the question of her flotation
in ten minutes. It failed, however, to get right
through the target, though the partial hole which
it made soon afterwards afforded a striking illustra-
tion of the importance of getting a shell through
the armour ot' these it 'clad% Another 170th.
steel shell, with a 7lb. bursting charge, was firtd,
and struck the hole made by the previous shell we
have just mentioned as establishing the leak.
This
second shell passed through the armour-Plate and
lodged in the oak firmly, bursting and blowing its
charge forward like a gun. It is difficult to de.

scribe accurately the tremendous destruction Which
this small charge produced. It shattered the back
of the target to splinters, drove one of the armour

bolts deep into the beam supportiv, the target,
wrenched off and blew away to some distance one
of the massive knees, and covered the ground far
and near with fragments of the oak, each heavy
enough and hurled with suffifient force to have cut
a man in two. Anything mere terrible than the
effect'of such a shell on the crew of a ship it would
be difficult to conceive, and it was a pity that the
Lords of the Admiralty (who generally contrive to
leave the practice-ground before the weakness of
their ships is inconustably demonstrated) had not
remained to behold the total destruction which this
shell caused. Another shot fired from Sir William's
101-inch 300-pounder, with a 451 b. charge, went
through the lower part of the target, which N7BB

Comparatively uninjured, with the same ease and
destructive effect that the previous 2201 b. shot
had passed through the upper.
Some experiments were also tried with the
chilled cast.dron shot, cast on Capt. W. Palliser's
principle, the Tesults of which were equally sur-
prising and important. Hitherto the effect pro-
duced by firing against armour plates with cast-
iron shot has been almost absolutely nothing ; in
fact, to use the Duke of Somerset's expression in a
recent debate, it has been like pelting the targets
with mud. Daring the last two or three years,
however, Captain Palliser, of the 1.8,.h Hussars,
has conducted, at his own expense, a series
of
mosi
important experiments on casting shot ira cold iron
mould instead of hot sand ones, by which, without
3
aiding a fraction to the cost of castin ,but, on the
contrary, reducing it by about id. per allot, ht
chills the outside of the metal into the hardness of
steel, and obtains with a cast projectile which costs
about 2s. a result almost equal to that of a steel
shot which costs 50.3. The shot tried on Friday
ware only I.9o•pounders from the Frederick gun
with a 2.01 b charge, hut is every case they went
clear through the 4in, armour plate and deep into
the backing beyond. One of the peculiarities 01
Captain Palliser's most valuable discovery is that
after accompiishing its work through the armour
plate his shot breaks up into minute fragments of

from four to eight ounces weight, so that in fact
the projectile carries in itself almost the penetra-
tive powers of steel shot, and the explosive frag-
ments of the most powerful shell. No aportunity
was afforded on Friday ofjudging the effect which
these fragments would produce, as Cipt. Palliser
had not shot large enough for the guns which could
have sent them tnrough the 35in. of mixed oak ani
iron that composed the target. But not the slightest
doubt appeared to remain in the minds of thosepre-
sent that if a sufficiently large projectile was used
it would pierce the target, snd its breaking up
prove as advantageous, in point of destructiveness,
as the largest shell. Of all the discoveries
which Shoeburyness has brought forward few
promise to be more valuable to the country
than this of the chilled shot of Captain Palliser, and
it is to be hoped that their utility will soon be tried
on a more extended scale than was possible on Fri-
day. We may also add that Capt. Palliser has, by
the simple process of lining our cast-iron guns with
wrought-iron calls, discovered a means of rendering
our old cast ordnance available as rifled cannon.
This plan has been tried at Woolwich and found to
answer even beyond the hopes of its inventor, and
the acres of guns now lying at the Arsenal and our
various dockyards can soon, and at small expense,
be converted into rifled ordnance on any pattern
which the result of the Whitworth and Armstrong
trials may induce the Government to adopt. Too
high praise can scarcely be given to the exertions
of a young cavalry officer, who, conducting expe•
riments at his own expense, has now brought for-
ward results which, in the matter of cast shot and
rifling our cast guns, will effect a saving of millions
to the country.
After these experiments the target was in such a
state of ruin that there was no place left sufficiently
sound on which to try the effect of another pro-
jectile. The general plan of the target was not
considered very satisfactory. The outside 4-}in.
armour plate and the ltin. plate between the oak
gives a weight of six inches of armour to be carried
by the ship, but dividing the plates in the manner
we have stated gives very little more than half the
resisting power which would be afforded by six
inches of iron rolled into one plate. The want of
iron lining to check the splintering of the target
seems also to be considered a grave defect. Had
the outer armour plate been 5 inches instead of 41-,
and had the other half inch been used as a lining to
the oak inside, very different results would have
been gained as to the resistance of the mass, and
the splinters would have been done away with almost
entirely. The armour plates, which were manufac-
t ared by the Millwall Company, deservedly attracted
the highest praise. Though pierced in all directions
there was not the slightest sign of a crack to be
found i❑ any part. Better plates have seldom been
seen at Shoebnry.

AMERICA.

The special correspondent of the New York Times
with the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac
writes from Coid Harbour, near the Chickahominy,
Friday, June 3, 10 p.m. :
" Judged by the severity of the encounter and the
heavy losses we have experienced, the engagement
which opened at grey dawn this morning, and
spent its fury in little over an hour, should take
its place among the battles of the war ; but viewed
in its relations to the whole campaign—it is, per-
haps, hardly more than a grand reconnaissance—a
reconnaissance, however, which has cost us not less
than 5,000 or 6,000 killed and wounded. The ob-
ject of the action was to force the passage of the
Chickahominy, on the north side of which and cover-
ing the roads to Richmond the rebels had planted
themselves in a fortified line. What we have done
is to feel this line by a vigorous attack, in which,
though gaining some temporary successes, ar.d at
one or two points actually carrying the enemy's
works, we have, on the whole, reached the conclu-
sion that any victory that could here be won must
cost too much in its purchase. Ido not say this as
speaking with any authority, but only as recording
the general conviction of the army. Such convic-
tion, however, when the common judgment of such
men as have to-day led their lines against the
enemy, is apt to be of itself authority, and hence I
think I may es felt' predict that there will be no
renewal of the assault on the lines of the Chicka-
hominy; that we must look to the resources of
strategy to plant this army in a position where,
being at less of a disadvantage, its valour will have
a better promise of adequate reward. It is in this
view that the action of to-dly assumes to me the
aspect of a great reconnaissance. But it might
easily have been more. Were prudence not as
much a characteristic of Lieutenant-General Grant's
mind as pluck, did he not know as well how and
when to cry a halt as to order an advance, he might
have pushed the action from a reconnuissanee to a
bloody battle ; but to me it is clear we should have
had only another Fredericksburg and its useless
slaughter. General Grant is not EO poor in resource
that he need do this; and I think already his eyes
are turned away from the Chickahominy to lines and
combinations more bold than any yet essayed."
After a lengthened view of the situation which
led up to the battle on Friday, he goes on to describe
the event thus ;
"In saddle at 4 o'clock in the morning, the grey
light of dawn is struggling through a thick envelope
of clouds, and a light pattering rain is falling. Our
men still lie behind the breastworks, worn out with
the work of the night ; the rebe,s, too, lie behind
their intrenchments, and only the sleepless pickets
peer with wary eyes forward through the dusk of
the woods. All is still as the grave; yet in 30
minutes the storm of battle will burst forth along a
stretch of six miles. There is but time to take a
glance at the lines. Here on the lett wing of the
army is the corps of Hancock (the 2d), connecting
with him on the right and forming the left centre, is
Wright's (the 6th); then Smith's (tho 18th), which
holds the centre; next comes Warren's (the sth),
which forms the right centre, and then Burnside's
(the 9th), which holds the extreme right. Our line
runs almostparallel with the Chickahominy and from
one and a half to two and a half miles north of it. On
the left wing we approach nearest the river; on the
right we are somewhat refused. Hancock, holding
the left wing, rests across the Despatch Station road
(that is, the road leading from Cold Harbour to Des-
patch Station); our right is across the Totopamoy.
The rebel front is formed immediately in front of the
Chickahominy, in three lines (two lines of battle
and a skirmish line), on an irregular line to conform
w Between ou d s ridgedtahnceltwn ar
msi andi s s
aw
la
nmwp
ss
we
af the
p y
rground.
the
whose dark hollows will soon be lit up with
the firss of death. Suddenly from behind the rude
parapet there is an upstarting, a noiseless springing
toarms,of officers forming
the line. th
Them
uaffitteadcke:aaasiznuds
ordered for 4 30, and it
e
may have been five minutes after that, or it may
have been ten minuea, but it certain].y was not later
than 4 45, when the whole line was in motion.
Skirmishers are thrown cut and presently meet the
enemy's pickets as we learn by the smart fusilade
we hear. Our artillery opens, the rebels respond,
and in a moment the deadly conflict is joined. The
metaphysicians say that time is naught,is but a cate-
gory of thought, and I think it must be so, for into
ten mortal minutes this morning waa crcwded an age
of action. Ten minutes of the figment men call
lime, and yet that scant space decided a battle!
There are a thousand details, ten thousand episodes,
but the essential matter is this, that that first rush
of advance carried our whole front butt up against
the line of works, which we were unable to break

through, or, Lreaking through, were unable to hold.
Conceive of this in the large—the fi2rca onslaught
amid deafening volleys of musketry and the thunder
cf artillery, and the wild, mad yell of battle, and
see the ranks mowed down, cud the lines break
here and there, and the sullen, obstinate retreat,
every inch contested, and we shall then be able to
dese,:nd to some of the points of action as they
individualise themselves along the line. Hancock
held the left of the whole line of battle ; and of
me three divisions, that of Barlow held the
extreme left of the army, that of Gibbon
was drawn on the right of Barlow's, while
Birney's divisors was held in reserve. Of the
(oar brigldes of Barlow's division, Brooks had the
left and Miles the .•ight— each brigade in double