The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAV EVENING, MAY 18, 1864.

MISCELLANEOUS—Continued.
Credit Foncier, 115 13
Credit Fonder of Mauritius, lim„ 4i
Crystal Palace, 33 24 3
Egyptian Corn, and Trading, Um. 54
English and Australian Copper, 14
English and Scottish Marine, lim., 51 6
Financial Corporation, 45 4
Financial Discount, lim., 41
Fore-street Warehouse, lim., 64 1 7
Gen. Credit and Finance of London, lim.,
General Steam Navigation, 271
Hudson's Bay, in I
Imperial Financial, lim., 94 4 81
International Financial Society, lim., 11: 1
Italian Irrigation (Canal Cavouri,
Ditto, 6 per cent. Bonds, redem. 1870, issued 90, 865
Joint Stock Discount. lim., 74
London Financial Association, lim., 284
London General Omnibus Company, 24 k
Mercantile Credit Association, lim., 16
National Discount Company, Jim., 145
Ditto, new, 9:
Nova Sco:ia Gold and Land, lim,
Ditto, ditto, 23 3 24
Peninsula and Oriental Steam,
Ditto, new, 51
Smith, Knight, and Co., lim., 55
Societe Fina, ciere d'Egypte 6 5i
Trust and Agency of Australasia, 1irn.125 3
Universal Marine, Insurance, lim., 51:5

LAW INTELLIGENCE—(This Day.)

-~-

LORD MAYOR'S COURT.
(Before the Common Sergeant and a Jury.)
ADVERTISING FOR EMPLOYMENT.-A NEW CHIMNEY

POT,-HADDON Y. RAKER.

This was an action to recover commission for selling a
new and improved chimney-pot, and it created some amuse •
ment. Mr. Besley appearing for plaintiff, and Mr. Collins
for the defendant.

It appeared that plaintiff saw an advertisement in the
Daily lelegraph for canvassers for an article in daily and
great request. He was to have a commission on all he sold
and ho set out that he had introduced the article in a few
places, but with great difficulty.
In cross-examination plaintiff said he went round with a
sample, worse luck. (Great laughter.)
Mr. Collins—Why so ?
Plaintiff—Because I had to drag about all day with one
of the chimney-pots under my arm, in a hat-box.
(Laughter.) It was like a great pillow.
Mr. Collins—Why did you not put it on your head.
(Great laughter.)

Plaintiff—Because my head does not smoke. (Renewed
laughter.)
Another witness deposed to having gone round, but he
was not bothered with samples. He sold without.

An attempt was made to refer the case, but plaintiffs
counsel declined, and defendant's counsel endeavoured to
show that plaintiff was seeking to recover for more pots
than he had sold,

The inventor of the new chimney pots said he made cer-
tain terms with the plaintiff, lower than those claimed.
Defendant was the capitalist.

Mr, Besley—iN ow is this your advertisement—" Wanted
agents everywhere to introduce the overlastiog mousetrap."
(Roars of Laughter).

Witness—lt is.

Witnesses were called to show that special terms had
been agreed upon before the plaintiff went to work.
His Lordship having summed up,
The jury found for the plaintiff for his claim less 10s.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

Progress of Ordnance at Home and Abroad,

The above was the title of a most important and interest..
ing lecture delivered by Commander R. A. E. Scott) R.N.,
at the United Service Institution, on Monday evening;
Captain Heath in tlte chair.
Capt. Scott remarked' that at his lecture in January, 1862,
he had to describe the French cast-iron guns, hooped, rifled,
which still fired the round ball, and made use of rifle pro-
jectiles with a low charge for the purposes of bombardment.
Now the French were fast making steel guns, which they
had rifled upon a simple
plan, and It had been said that 4-
one-third inch plates with wooden backing had been pierced
at 1,000 yards by a steel shot from a gun weighing 6 tons.
The rifling of their field-pieces, which are muzzle loaders,
continued unchanged, and the projectiles have similar stude
to those that were first adopted. American officers who
had taken part - in the struggle going on between the North
and the South had told him that in that country the navy
heed always been opposed to the iifled guns, and although
several of the larger Parrotts have been introduced it had
been in opposition to their opinion. One officer, who had
commanded a squadron,
told him that the craws were
afraid to use the tilled guns, and that in consequence
he gradually got rid of all but a few light chase pieces.
The experience at Charleston amply confirmed this idea,
fur a large proportion of the Parrott rifles gave way
below :an average of 300 rounds each, and most of
them gave way towards the muzzle, owing to the increasing
twist checking the shell, and so causing an explosion in
the gun. They stood pretty well when fired horizontally,
but could not stand high elevations where the recoil was
reduced. The new cast.iron 10-inch American gun of 74
tons, with a special charge of 431 b., was the most powerful
broadside gull in the world. This charge was only in-
tended to he used when the gun was employed against an
iron-clad. The 11-inch Dalhgren guns had been ordered
by the Secretary to the Navy to fire a charge of 301 b. of
powder when engaging
an iron-clad; but the usual charge
was settled at 291 b. fcr a solid shot, and 151 b. for a shell.
The light charges of 301 b. were adopted after many trials,
when it was found that 11 inch charcoal iron guns were far
stronger than anticipated, and that as an iron-clad would
be engaged at close quarters and the gun would bo laid
nearly horizontal, it would have but a comparatively small
strain thrown upon it. The Southern States, although un-
accustomed to the manufacture of iron, soon started a foun-
dry, and had continued to turn out guns in considerable
numbers. The size of bore most in use for their defaces
was a 10-inch. It was round steel shot from smoothbore
guns of this size which did such good service at Charleston,
and large quantities of the shot were made by Mr. Vavas-
seur, the present manager of the Blakely Ordnance Com-
pany. Several other English makers also assisted,
and the shot was sent out as " cheese." The
Southerners had a pet rifle called after Captain Brook,
which—like the Parrott gun--is of cast iron strength-
ened with a band over the breech. They found,
however, from the capture of the Atlanta, that they
were greatly mistaken as to the power of the rifle, and that
after all the smooth bore was the best gun, What dispelled
their confidence was a 4eolb. shot from a Rodman gun on
board the 'Weehawken, which shook every tirriber of the
Atlanta, and killed or wounded about 40 men, besides
paralysing the remainder of the crew. The Southerners had
received a considerable number of field guns from Europe,
some strengthened iron guns of large bore, and some steel
guns. But the Blakely Company knew more about that
part of the subject than the lecturer did, The Prussian
system—from which the English lead-coating and breech-
loading was a delicate off-shoot—consisted of a rifling
similar to the Parrott and Manton, with the exception that
the grooves narrowed towards the muzzle, and so relieved
the strain upon the gun. It was possible that this ingeni-
ous arrangement suggested the contrivance of the muzzle
nips in the English fine grooved and shunt guns, as well
as for the French plan, the principle being similar to
that of our early Enfields. The Prussian projectiles were
leaded so as tes show large projectiles of lead, which squeeze
down into, the rifling with comparative small strain. They
first need ono and then two wedges in their breech-loading,
but, they have not found breech-loading so satisfactory
as they anticipated for 24-pounders. The Prussians com-
menced with a field-piece made by Krupp of mild steel,
and the wear of these guns had given them no reason
to regret their choice of material. They then con-
verted their brass guns into rifled breech-loaders. They
are now replacing their new 24-pounder rifled guns of 50
or 60 cwt. and their cast-iron rifles by steel guns. It
appeared to have been a shot from one of these steel 24-
pounders that lately damaged the Danish cupola ship by
striking her ore the deck. Referring next to the Austrians,
Captain Scott remarked that after numerous experiments
with gun-cotton, and almost perfecting its use they seemed
unwilling to incur further expense, and therefore the manu-
facture was drooping. In the matter of artillery they had
made but little progress dining the past year. The position
of the Spanish, Swedish, Danish, and Italian artillery was
also about the same as it was in the beginning of 1862, The
Russians had been recently nuking numerous experiments.
They had copied the French system of grooving. England
had supplied them with a large number of steel shot, and it
was understood that most of the 9-inch and 11-inch built-
up steel guns now making by the Blakely Company were
for that nation. The Russians had also given large orders
to Krupp for solid steel guns, and had also caused several
to be made in their own country ; but the larger charges
and heavy elongated shot used had prevented the heavy
solid rifled guns yet tried from withstanding 100 consecutive
discharges—a failure which might be cured by the use of
lighter shot. But there could be no doubt that the guns
were powerful, and behind the iron slabs with which their
forts are to be covered they would prove very formidable
antagonists to any ships daring to attack them, for they
could fire round shot with the heaviest charges. Having
thus briefly noticed the progress of ordnance abroad the
lecturer directed attention to proceedings at home ; but
inasmuch as when Sir William Armstrong's system was
adopted it was said that the country was bound to
work it out, any remarks upon home ordnance must
necessarily be confined to a resumd of the progress and
results of that system. He (Captain Scott) had the grati-
fication of stating, in connection with that system, that not
only had the Armstrong 12 pounder been reduced a foot in
length, but by the skill of Lieutenant Reeves of the Royal
Artillery, a sort of Dutch case had been adapted to the gun
for use at close quarters. Instead also of the new guns
being made of an excessive length, the 600 pounder is so
short that it approaches the howitzer in that respect. The
fifty Somerset guns building in the Arsenal were all that
could be desired for 6 ton naval guns. The vent piece of
the Armstrong was giving
a vent hole through the gun, thus following eh sely the
Russian type; and althou way to the double wedges and
gh the fine grooving had not been
entirely abandoned no new 160 pounders were now being
so rifled. In a word, breech loading was flickering in its
socket before having been finally given up by Sir William
Armstrong. The shunt system, of which the disadvan-
tages had already been pointed out, is also on the wane, it
having been proved that the early impression as to the
damage done to the muzzle from squeezing the shot was
well founded. The whole of the heavy guns rifled on this
plan had cracked round the muzzle. So, after all, it was now
plain groove, with sharp corners. But the same ten-
in contemplation to give up the shunts and grips, and come
to a
dency to fracture existed in these sharp cornered grooves as
in the shunt groove. r.
saapt. Scott next proceeded to notice
used, and remarked that the Armstrong ordnance
the Armstrong and Whitworth competition. He described
the guns
employed comprised all Sir William's latest improvements,
but did not
o t include any gun now used in the service, not-
withstanding
all that the nation had paid for the earlier
forms of the Armstrong gun. Mr Whitworth brought to
the contest three 12 pounders and three 70 pounders, such
as he proposed for the service. He had rounded out the
angles of his rifling, and his shot were entirely of iron
rounded at the corners--an improvement which had greatly
on the driving side of the gun's rifling
lreisisse;dpotuhnecie ;Wear
rsweighed about 78 cwt. Captain Scott then
al account of the result of the expe-
rimentsShoeburyness with these rival guns. Upon the
at
he remarked that it was so far below the
breech-loader
that some of its strongest standard of the others supporters
said—" us, at all events, have a breech-
had at last
bad good reason to say so, for whenever
the escape of gas. It was useless
conse •
40 or 50 rounds were fired consecutively, even with moderate
men in the rear of the gun had their faces
lgeaavdee
ra; nagn and technical
et eye c
quickness, the
became so agitated and nervous in
fact that soldiers were as fearful of
71
time by a spectator. The 70
once put in the wrong way, and
not screwed up. Botha these
200 rounds fired about fortnight
rapid
oahn
pod:
further
rul
firing
nhrt bieanresgssathi blackenedlconcealaotrs
d,tuahraei
dn g
leads,i but the lecturer had n o
ago the vent-piece was
the Whitwortho n,
th e projectiles
lecturer
remsva
remarked
r than the Armstrong shot.
the Palliser guns were next
de-
fectsonce the
were breechhapp
happily
screw
seen
questions was a great national
place earlier, and conducted
havepounder hesitation
greater
The Mackay, the BlakelYt
passed in review, and,
had
ln stating notpenetrating y
that
abi
nte eepenno3anvrtnrcdel
thoroughly, a very large sum of money would have been
advantage, chat the d sacnuds s
hadion oi ft
ttahke se
saved which had been expended upon weapons now proved
e lyco
ulittle
y_v_ ala unei.a
uTf
aheitsu r e
which money
hi
h wouldw a s
employed in developing the steel
manufacture r pmoafro artet
hi
usefullyve
admitted by Sir Wm.
Armstrong himself to be still far
behind then t great
e est h
a Prussian
firm represented by Krupp. All
other
utilised
the material already in hand,
e our
and expended very little upon new gene;
but .England at
once commenced a new manufacture, which was pointed out
at the time to be imperfect; and at the present moment
there was not a single portion of any of Sir William's plans
•
of rifling which could be adapted_ to a naval gun. Some
remarks upon the many failures of the Armstrong guns in
active service ; the benefits that would accrue from the sub-
ject of naval guns being taken up by a committee of prac •
tical naval officers and the best mode of plating vessels,
brought the lecture to a conclusion.

In the course of the discussion which followed, Captain
Selwyn commented adversely upon the late leading article
in the Times upon the practical lesson to be deduced from
t
the late fight in the North Sea. The Times declared that
guns and long ranges would decide future actions;
and the Times also made other remarks concerning which
Captain Selwyn observed that it was very dangerous to the
naval supremacy of the country that the leading journal
should draw such incorrect conclusions and teach such

false lessons. Young naval officers were, perhaps, better
instructed in the conten Is of the daily papers than in the
duties of their profession, and were therefore likely to pay
too much attention to the remarks of those gentlemen who,
sitting at home at ease, seemed to be eatable of saying all
kinds of things upon all subjacts. No naval action ever
had been or ever would be decided at long ranges. On the
contrary, he believed in the tactics gallantly pursued by the
Austrians in going into close quarters and doing what they
could, although in that case, as in many others, two to one
was one too many.

A vote of thanks brought the proceedings to a close.

Mr, Dion Boucicault and Mr, Webster,

" THE FOX CHASE.'
iltE LDI.TOR or THE SUN.

Sfit,—An announcement to the following effect has
been made to the public by Mr. Web4cr, the manager of
the St. James's Theatre, in reference to wy new comedy,
in five acts, entitled the " Fox Chase"

" Notico.—This comedy, when sold to Mr. Benjamin
Webster, was guaranteed to be new and original,' or it
would not have been so announced; but Mr. Eoucicault
has just acknowledged, in a private letter, that he took the
idea from the French drama of Sullivan.' "

As this notice has been freely repeated and commented
upon by the press, I beg of your courtesy and sense of jus-
tice to admit my reply. I have not acknowledged in a
private letter that I " took the idea from the French
drama ' Sullivan;' three weeks ago, in a letter to Mr.
C. Mathews, I observed that the story of my
piece was the same as " David Garrick," then forthcoming
at the Haymarket ; the anecdote underlying the two sub-
jects being the same. I now beg Mr Mathews to suffer
this letter to be published. There is nothing in it of a pri-
vate nature, and there could be no reason for withholding
the whole of it from publication, except a desire to mis-state
a part of its contents. Mr Matt hews knew that I had pro-
duced the piece completed, and in good form, in America,
in 1844, and he wrote to me concerning these alterations and
additions. I replied that I had no copy by me of the New
York edition, and if the incomplete copy in Mr Webster's
hands were thrust on the stage, it would barely escape
failure. Tho facts are these :—ln 1863 I offered Mr Webster
an unfinished comedy in five acts, called " The Married
Bachelor ; or, Don Quixote the Second ;" he lent me £5O
upon it; and it is needless to observe that such an amount
is a very small part of the value of a "new and original"
comedy in five acts, such as Mr. Webster states he pur-
chased under my guarantee. He made no inquiries as to
its originality. For eleven years the play remained un-
noticed in his possession, until the 2d of May, when he
advertised simply "a new comedy," by Dion Boucicault,
Esq., to be produced on Saturday, May 7. On that day he
postponed the performance for three days, and altered his
description of it, calling it a "now and original" comedy,
which announcement he maintained for three days—long
enough to enable him to issue the above notice on the day
of performance.

As " David Garrick" was produced at the Haymarket a
week before my comedy was announced as "new and ori-
ginal," as my private latter was antecedent to that period.
Mr. 'Webster was fully acquainted with the similarity
which existed between the two works, and his announce-
ment was thus made to create an occasion to make an
apology in the form of the above notice.

leave it to the public to form their o cm opinion upon the
motives which have induced this gentlemen to produce my
work in a manner to secure the failure I predicted, and then
to place a playbill in the hands of the audience on the first
night, containing a further inducement to them to condemn
the play tendered for their entertainment. —Your obedient
servant, DioN BOUCICAULT.
Manchester, May 13.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Utterers of untruths should have good memo-
ries," is an old saying, and Mr. Boucicault's is rather at
fault.

Mr Boucicault, in his letter relative to the comely of
" The Fox Chase," says that he did not state that he took
his idea from the French drama of " Sullivan," but from
the same source as "David Garrick" at the Haymarket,
which is avowedly " Sullivan"--a distinction without a
difference. "We must speak by the card, or equivocation
will undo us," it seems- I hope Mr C. Mathews will com-
ply with Mr Boucicault's request and publish his letter. 1
ask fOr no better sample of Mr Boucicault's epistolary style.
I have a vast number of Mr Boucicault's letters which, if
he desires to see in print, his wish shall be instantly
acceded to, with notes.
Mr Boucicault states that in 1853 he offered me an un-
finished comedy, in five acts, called " The Married Bachelor ;
or, Don Quixote the Second." That I lent him £5O upon
it and made no inquiry as to its originality. Now mark, sir,
how a plain tale sets him down, The comedy was not only
finished up to the last speech, but had been carefully rewritten
in parts, as the manuscript in my possession will amply
prove. In verification of its being finished, it was offered, and

I presume accepted, at the Royal Princess's Theatre on
December 12, 1852, nine months before he brought it to
me, and afterwards to the Lyceum Theatre, but whether
before or after it was sold to me I have no data at present
to ascertain precisely.
Knowing that Mr. Boucicault's originality in " London
Assurance" and other dramatic works had been rather
seriously questioned, I required Mr. Boucicault's assurance
that this comedy was " new and original." He assured me
it was entirely so, and on the title-page of each act is written
by Mr. Boucicault himself "A new and original comedy in
five acts, by Dion Boucicault." In addition to this, the
memorandum of agreement, dated September 5, 1853, drawn
up by himself and witnessed by my son, commences—

"Received fifty pounds on account of my new and original
comedy, Don Quixote the Second,' being half the entire
purchase money, if successful."
It must be understood that Mr. Boucicault was in the
continual habit of borrowing sums of money of me, and
working a portion of each piece. I have before me now
his I 0 U for £2OO, dated June 23, 1853, scarcely three
months before the arrangement for the comedy. This I OU,
with many others, are now only curious autographs, as
Mr. Boucicault's incidental residence in America for seven
years allowed him the advantage of the Statute of Limita-
tions.

The production of the comedy until now was delayed in
consequence of the illness and death of Mr. Wright, for
whom the character of Tom Waddy was written. I pro-
posed it as the first piece to be produced this season at the
St. James's Theatre, and knew nothing of its not being
original; but "The Silver Lining " was preferred.
However, being confident in the word and honour of Mr.
Boucicault as to the originality I did not conceive delay was
dangerous. Upon finding that I had been imposed on, at a
time when I was his only friend, I thought it a duty to
myself to announce the fact. I appeal to the public if his
borrowed work has not been produced and cast in a manner
to secure the success of any drama deserving success, and
not in a manner, as he asserts, to secure its failure and
condemn the play. The artists saved it, and were twice
called at the end. Doubtless Mr Boucicault has been con-
founding this comedy with three or four others that he had
advances of money to write, but forgot to do all but the
titles.—l am, sir, your obedient servant,

Royal St. James's Theatre, May 17.

B. WEBSTER.

Condemnation of La Pommerais,

PARIS, May 17 (Evening).

_ .
The trial of the poisoning case of La Pommerais
was concluded today. The jury found the prisoner
guilty of poisoning the widow De Pauw. No men•
tion of extenuating circumstances having been
made, La Pommerais was condemned to death.

The main points relied upon by the prosecution

were :

That the deceased died of poison.

2. That the 'poison was the nature of those
which, belonging to the vegetable kingdom, might
leave no characteristic traces in the organs, and
might not be eliminated by chemical analysis, but
which revealed their presence by their effects, and
were discovered by the deadly action which they
exercised upon living animals.
3. The experts attracted not only from the matter
vomited by Madame Pau w on the flooring of her
room, but also from the organs which were analysed,
a toxical principle which, being tried upon animals,
produced effects analogous to those experienced by
Madame Pauw.

4. These effects and this action greatly resemble
those known to be produced by digitalis, and the
medical men, without positively affirming that digi-
talis was the poison used, say there is a strong pre-
sumption that Madame Pauw's death was caused
by that substance.

5. Madame Panw was in no way ill till the day
before her death; the alleged affection of the heart
and stomach for which she consulted several doctors
was like the fall she said she had had—fables in-
vented by her, or to which she lent herself.

6. The autopsy silo wed conclusively that she
neither died from a fail nor from internal hemorr-
hage, nor acute or chronic gastritis, nor from a per-
foration of the stomach, nor from any natural
cause.

7. That poison was found in the prisoner's house,
which he cannot account for.
B._That digitalis was one of these poisons.

THE PRUSSIAN S IN JUTLAND.—We learn from a
reliable source that on the 11th inst., the day previous to
that fixed for the cor.mencement of the truce, Field
Marshal Wrangel imposed a fresh contribution on the m'
habitants of Jutland, and that the troops under his corn •
wand actually levied it on the 13th and 14th inst,