The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-21 00:00:00

HAY MAItK2TS.

SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, £3 Os to £4 15s Od ; Clover,
£4 Os to £5 15s Od ; and straw, 43;t0 £1 16s per load,
A fair demand.

CtriktemtnaND.--Merviow hay, £3 5s to £4lss Od ; clover, •
£4 Os to £5 15s Od ; and straw, £1 5 to £1 108 per load.
Supply limited.
WHITECHAPEL —Meadow hay, £3 Os to £4lss ; clover,
£4 Os to £5 17s Od ; and straw, £1 4s to £1 lbs per load.
Trade steady.

m EAmNooRTAITI
lEORN
„LI
rirTticerisielcNie
THE
thus SrelitAeXrasPtoEßanE oCc:uMr--
rence mentioned in a Paris letter A banquet, and a
performance at the Porte St. Martin Theatre, were to have
taken place on Saturday neit,
April 23, in honour of the
300th anniversary of the birth of Shakapere. Hamlet,'
the Midsummer Night's Dream,' and Falstaff, made up
the programme of the representation. The banquet alone
will take place—it is hoped so at least—but the performance
is prohibited. If allusions to Denmark were feared, • Hamlet'
might have been replaced by • Othello ,' there also, it is
true, allusions to Venice present themselves ; but what can
be urged against Falstaff , or the ' Midsummer Night's
Dream ?' Is Falstaff a demagogue,
and has society any.
thing to fear from the subversive principles of Titanic ?
Imagine the astonishment of the English when they read
in their journals, under the heading of Paris :—'The au-
thorities have just prohibited the performance in honour of
Shakspere, deeming it incompatible with the maintenance of
public
DISPATCH OF THE INDIA, CHINA, AND AITE
TRALIAN MAILS.—SOUTHAMPTON, Wednesday.—
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamship Delhi,
Capt. Kellock, sailed hence to-day at three o'clock, with
the mails for Gibraltar, the Mediterranean, Egypt, Adcn,
Ceylon, India (except Bombay), China, Mauritius, Ans-
tralia, and New Zealand, together with 33 first and 24
second class passengers. The Delhi took out on freight
Hi boxes of specie, value £123:100; and a full cargo of
general mere:laud/60%

The trials on Monday were to prove how each
gun—the Armstrong shunt gun, the 'Whitworth,
and the Armstrong breechloader—would act
against common brickwork walls and villages, both
with shot and shell. Bat the walls erected to test
the value of this experiment were not by any means
the ordinary rubble masonry of villages or common
brickwork, but were, in truth, most substantial struc-
tures, built in the best manner, three bricks thick,
hid in cement. A wall was provided for each gun,
81ft. in height by about 14ft. wide, and 28iin. thick,
and at these the guts were at first expected to open
at 9CO yards. The Committee, however, gave orders
that they should commence at 1,200 yards, and the
ill luck of commencing and finding the range fell to
Mr.-,Whitworth's lot. Four shots were allowed for
this purpose, and at the fourth the target was hit
at 1.45 of elevation, and the 15 rounds to which
each gun:was limited, five of round shot, five of
common shell, and five of shrapnel shell, commenced
with Mr. Whitworth's gun. The result was utterly
unexpected. It was believed that as a
_shell gun
Mr. Whitworth's explosive power was weak, but
the accuracy of the piece was known to be perfect.
Every one, therefore, looked at the gun, which was
laid by Mr. Whitworth's most experimental assist-
ants, hitting the wall each time, but effecting com-
paratively little with either its shrapnel or com-
mon shell. Extraordinary as it may seem, this
really large target for a range of 1,000 yards, as
it turned out to be, in fact received out of the
15 rounds only seven direct hits, wagsmissed alto-
gether six tunes, and hit once after a ricochet. Of
the Ave rounds of solid shot two hit fairly, and
two hit after touching the ground close in front.
af the common shell three hit and two missed,
Altogether, of the shrapnel she'.l two only hit and
three missed. The gun, during these rounds, after
the first range had been ascertained, was only
altered two minutes of a degree—that is, from
1.45 to 1.47, and this variation should, if the gun
shot accurately as to longitudinal range—that is,
as to the place in which the shot dropped—have
only given a difference of one foot higher or lower
in the spot it struck the wall. But slight as
was this change of elevation, it was, from
some unexplained reason, enough when at 1.45 to
make the shot strike in front and ricochet over an
Bi-ft. wall, or, on the other hand, when elevated to
1.47, make it miss the wall altogether. Such an
erratic performance was what no one expected,
though the supporters of the Armstrong claimed
that it entirely bore out their theory that the gur,
though shooting with wonderful accuracy as regards
deviation either right or et't of the true line, is not
to be relied on in the exactitnde of its longitudinal
range—that at the same elevation and the same
range and with the same charge it will drop its shots
in a true line, but at most varying distances. As
impartial recorders of fact, we are bound to say
that this theory is not borne out by the returns given
of the practice at long ranges. On the other hand,
however, it is to a great extent confirmed by the
sheeting at targets, at which 10 have been fired at
from different ranges, and Sir Wm. Armstrong has
claims to have won 7 out of the 10.

When the Whitworth had done firing Sir
William commenced with his shunt gun, which at
the same range made very beautiful practice. Out
of tLe 15 slots, 14 struck the wall direct, and the
loth grazed it at the edge of a broken part, raising
sufficient dust to mark a hit, tut otherwise doing
no damage.

The examination of the walls which followed
these trials, for the twilight was then deepening too
fast to continue the experiments with the breech-
loader, showed that every single shot which had
hit these really massive structures had gone clean
through them with apparently the most perfect
ease. Two of Sir William's shot or shell had gone
through the same hole, and one, as we have :aid,
had only just grazed at the top, but done no
damage. Still the whole wall was dilapidated and
rickety, full of holes, cracked in all directions, and
with masses of its brickwork dislodged, so that one
or two more well directed shots would evidently
have brought the whole mass to the ground. Mr.
Whitworth's wall was almost equally ill-used, and►
considering that only eight of his shot and shell
struck it, it was plain that allowing forthis difference
of hits, the destructive effect of his gun on the wall
was fully equal to the destructive effect of Sir
William's. The wooden targets, however, which
were placed at a little distance behind the walls to
show the effect of the scattered fragments of shell,
told quite a different tale. Sir William's target was
splintered into great holes, and where unbroken its
face was seamed in all directions with the iron seg-
ments striking into the wood. No more convincing
proof, iu fact, could possibly be given of the de-
structive effects of the Armstrong shell. Mr.
Whitworth's target, on the contrary, was scarcely
:narked, and only with the fragments of his common
shell. Nowhere on its whole surface could it be
traced that any of his shrapnel bullets had eve❑
struck it; and undoubtedly, its far as it has yet gone,
lir. Whitworth's shapnei shell has effected scarcely
anything deserving of mention.
On Tuesday the continuous firing test was applied.
It was fixed to commence at 11 o'clock, but it was
nearly one before the guns were ready, is conse-
quence of Mr. Whitworth's application to the com-
mittee to be
allowed to remove his vent-plug or
touchhole before the firing commenced, in order to
replace it with a new one. This made the second
time that Mr. Whitworth has changed his vent-
piece; and though we have not space to enter into
the technical cl-tails which made such changes ad-
visable, it is mere justice to state that they were of
a purely exceptional character, and in no degree
rclit:ct against the gun or its method of venting,
which is simple in the extreme.

The firing of the 200 rounds for endurance com-
menced soon after 1 o'clock, and before it began the
Committee stated that it was to be distinctly under-
stood that the trial was not intended to show which
gun would fire fastest, but which gun endured best
under continuous and quick but orderly firing. On
this understanding, terefore, the firing commenced
and was continued incessantly for nearly an hour
and a half, with only two or three seconds' interval
between each discharge, so that the endurance of
the spectators, who had to be close to the artillery,
was even more severely tried than the endurance
of the guns. After some 30 rounds the screw of Sir
William's breechloader, which had become fouled
with the sulphurous powder smoke, worked very
stiffly, but on water being poured over it it at once
recovered its usual free action, and so continued to

At the end of the 200 rounds' firing all the guns
were so hot that it was impossible to touch them,
yet before they had time to cool the next test was
applied to ascertain if the severe trial they had
undergone had injured them or impaired their
shooting in any way. For this purpose they were
ordered to fire at small bull's-eyes, marked on three
targets, at 300 yards' distance, three shots being
allowed to each gun to ascertain the range, and
then five more to each, the results of which were to
be recorded. At this competition the Whitworth
and the breechloader shot about equal, and neither
of them particularly well. The Armstrong shunt
gun, on the contrary, made one of the most beau-
tiful targets that has been seen at Shoebury, plant.
ing all its shot in a space of about 15 inches square.
In fact, Sir William's superiority at this contest
was so marked that it left little room for compa-
rison between his target and Mr. Whitworth's.
Before continuing the trials further, impressions
will be carefully taken of the interiors of all the
guns, to ascertain if they have been damaged or
worn in the least degree by the 200 rounds' quick
firing, This inspection, however, is likely to be a
mere formality after the satisfactory proof which all
the guns gave by their firing afterwards that as yet
they are unhurt. To-day and to-morrow the tests
will be resumed again for range and accuracy.
In reference to the firing at three degrees of eleva-
tion, which we stated in our last notice as being a
close and equal competition between Sir William
and Mr. Whitworth, we have now to add that a
more careful examination of the returns has shown
'hat in accuracy, and also in range, the advantage
at this contest is clearly on Mr. Whitworth's side.
So, also, in reference to the statement which im•
plied that Mr. Whitworth had washed his guns
without the knowledge of the Committee, we are
assured, on the highest authority, that Mr. Whit-
worth applied to the Committee for leave to wash
his guns, and the permission was at once given, and
that Sir William was allowed to do the same.

In the coarse of another ten days or so the com-
petition with the small guns will be brought to a
close, and that with the heavy ordnance begin. In
this second stage both conapeti'crs are c Tally con-
fident of success.