The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-27 00:00:00

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THE SUN LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 27, 1863,

Mr. Blight, M,P., on the American Question.

you also maintain what you consider to be the just
rights of industry in your separate trades. Some-
times, indeed, you do things which many people do
not approve, aid probably when you come to think
more coolly of them you even doubt the wisdom of
them yourselves. That is only saying that you are
not immaculate ; that your wisdom, like that of
other classes, is not absolutely perfect. But they
have in the Southern States a specific for all these

Alabama to leave Liverpool, was guilty of negligence, and
has failed in its duty to a friendly nation."
which, having been supported by Mr. MATTS (a
carpenter), was carried unanimously.
Mr. TREMOR (a joiner), moved, and Professor
BESLEY seconded, the following resolutiow•
" That we altogether repudiate the statement tlinthe war
now raging in America is the result of republican or demo-
cratic institutions, but rather de we believe that the liberty
arising out of such institutions has made it impossible for
slavery longer to exist there, and we further believe that
should the South be successful in setting up a Government
founded on human slavery, to recognise such a Governmen
would be to take a step backwards in civilisation, and we
declare that we will use our utmost efforts to prevent the
recognition of any Government founded on such a mon-
strous iniquity. And we hereby tender our thanks to the
President, Government, and people of the Northern States
for the firmness they have displayed and the sacrifices they
have made to restore the Union and consolidate the liberty
of the republic; and, as the cause of labour and liberty is
one all over the world, we bid them God speed in their glo-
rious work of emancipation." _ -

A meeting of the Trades Unions was held last

evening in St. James's-hal), Piccadily, in favour of
the Northern States of America and of Negto

Emancipation. Mr. John Bright, M.P., president.
The great hall was densely crowded long before
the proceedings commenced. Among those present

on the platform were Mr. Stansfeld, M.P., Mr. Law-
son, Mr. John Stuart Mill, Mr. P. A. Taylor, M.P.:,
Mr. Newman Hall, Professor Bezley, &c.
Mr. BRIGHT, on rising to open the proceedings of
the meeting, was received with great cheering. The

differences between capital and labour, by making
labour itself capital ; and thus labour, being made

capital, becomes property, end the whole system
. .

moves with tltt perftet ease and harmony which
the world aciares so much in the Southern States

hon. gentleman said,—When the committee did me
the honour to ask me to attend this meeting to-night

of America. I believe there never was a qaestion

submitted to public opinion which it was more be-
coming working men to consider than the one of
which lam now speaking. But some persons may
ask, " What is to become of our trade ? What is
to become of the capital and the labour of Lanca-
shire ?" Well, I wish I could give you a safe and
useful answer to that question. lam not sure that
much of the capital of Lancashire will not be ruined.

;o take the chair, I felt that I was not at liberty to

refuse, for I considered there was something re•
markable in the character of this meeting, and I

need not telly ou that the cause which we are assem-

bled to discuss is one that excites my warmest sym•

pithy. (Cheers.) This meeting is remarkable, in-
. ..

whioh, having been spoken to by a Mr. CONOLLY,
was also unanimously adopted. _

asmuch as it is not what is commonly called a public

meeting, but it is a meeting, as you have seen by
the advertisement by which it has been called, of the

The following address was then moved and
seconded by Mr. PETHERBRIDGE and Mr. HEAP,
and unanimously agreed to :
" To ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED

I am not sure that a very large number of its popu-
lation will not have to remove and seek other em-
ployment either in this or in some other country.
I am not one of those who underrate this great
calamity ; on the contrary, I have scarcely met
with any, certainly not more than half a dozen,
who have been willing to measure the mag-
nitude of this calamity according to the
scale which I have viewed it. But let us examine
this matter so far as it bears upon the question
as to what you ought to do with regard to the
United States. The distress in Lancashire comes
from a failure in the supply of cotton ; that comes
from the war in the United States ; and that war
has originated from the efforts of the slaveholders in
that country to break up what they themselves ad-
mit to be the freest and best government that ever
existed, for the sole purpose of perpetuating the in-
stitution of negro slavery. Then, if the South (I
wish we had some better terms than South and
North)—but if the South began the war, and created
all this mischief, does it look reasonable that we
should pat them on the back and be their friends ?
(Cheers.) If they have destroyed the cotton or with-
held it, shall we therefore take them to our bosom ? I
have a letter written by an agent in the city of
Nashville, accustomed to buy cotton before the war.
Immediately after that city came into the possession
of the Northern forces he began his trade there.
Cotton came in, the Secession planters having began
to bring it in, and he had a fair chance of re-esta-
blishing his business ; but the moment this was dis-
covered by the commander of the Southern forces
they issued a paramount order that every boat
load, waggon load, or car load that was leaving a
plantation for the purpose of sale should be imme-
diately destroyed. The result was that the cotton
trade at Nashville was at once put an end to, and I

members of the Trades' Unions and trades socie-
ties in London. The members of these societies
have not usually stepped out from their ordinary
business to take part in questions of this kind,
or in any great public questions. But the sub-
ject which you are now met to discuss is one
of surpassing interest, which excites at this mo-
ment, and has excited for two years past,

,he attention and astonishment of the civilized

world. We see that country which for many years
during the lifetime of the oldest among us has been
the most peaceful, the moat prosperous, and the
most free among the great nations of the earth—
we see it plunged at once into the midst of a
sanguinary revolution the proportions of which are
so gigantic as to dwarf all other revolutionary re-
cords and events of which we have any knowledge.

But I don't wonder at this revolution. No man
can read the history of the United States from the
time when they ceased to be colones of England
withodt discovering at the very birth of that great

republic that there were sown the seeds, if not of
its dissolution, at least of its extreme peril. The
infant giant in its cradle may be said to have been
rocked under the shade of the tomb. Colonial

weakness when face to face with British strength
made it impossible to put an end to slavery or to
establish a republic free from slavery. To meet
England it was necessary to tolerate slavery, and
from that hour to this—at least to within two or

three years of the present period—the love of union,
—the patriotism of the American people, has in-
duced them constantly to make concessions to
slavery, bee *use they knew that when they ceased
to make these concessions they ran the peril of that
disruption which has now arrived, and they dreaded
the destruction of their country even more than they
hated the evil of slavery. Bat those concessions,—
as concessions to evil I believe always do fail,--

believe, except to a small extent, is so to this very
hour. Take again the city of New Orleans. That
has been for many months in the possession of the
Northern forces. The Northern commander has
issued an announcement that any cotton sent
down to New Orleans for exportation, even
though it should come from the most resolved
friend to secession, should still be allowed to be
purchased there and shipped to Europe. But
you have not found cotton come to New Orleans,
although its coming down there would have
been no advantage to the North. No, the cot-
ton has been withheld by the Southern States,
with this single object, that they might create in
the manufacturing districts of France and England
a state of suffering that might at last become un-
bearable, and compel the Governments of those
countries, in spite of all that international law might
teach them, and in spite of all that political mo-
rality enjoined upon them, to take sides with the
South and go to war with the North for the sake of
liberating what cotton there is now in the Secession
States. (Cheers.) Such of you as read the city
articles of the daily papers will see that a loan has
been contracted for in the city, to the amount of three
millions sterling, on behalf of the Southern Confe-
deracy. It is not brought into the market by any
firm bearing an English name—(cheers)—but I am
prepared to say there are circumstances which give
rise to the belief that many Englishmen have taken
portions of that loan. Now, one of the great objects
of the loan is this—to pay in this country for vessels
which are being built here—for other Alabamas,
from which it is hoped so much irritation will
arise in the minds of the people of the Northern
States that even yet England may be plunged into
war, tied be made to appear to take sides with the
South and with slavery. The South was neurally
always hostile to England, because England was
always hostile to slavery; and the great hope of
the insurrection has been from the beginning that
Englishmen would not have the fortitude to bear
the calamities which the war in America has brought
upon them, but would at last, by some trick or
accident, be involved in a contest with the North,
and thus aid and strengthen the South. This ques-
tion is so plain that. you Englishmen cannot fail to
understand it—(cheers)—at least the 6,000,000
' people in the Milled Kingdom who are not enfran-
chised, they, least of all, can never any longer feel
a doubt upon the question. Their instincts are
always, in the main, right ; and, if they get the
facts and information, I can rely on their influence
being put in the right scale. I wish I could say
what would be as satisfactory to myself—the same
of others. There may be men, it is said there are
men, sitting among your legislators who will
build and equip Corsair ships to prey upon the
commerce of friendly powers—who will disregard
the laws and honour of their country, and who will
trample on the proclamation of their Sovereign for
the sake of gratifying a greed for that profit which
sometimes waits on crime, and who for the sake of
which are content to cover themselves with an ever-
lasting infamy. (Cheers.) There may be men, too,
rich men in this city of London who for the chance
of more gain than honest dealings will afford them,
would not hesitate to assist a cause whose funda-
mental institution and very corner stone of their
constitutional edifice is declared to he a felony and
to be infamous by the statutes of their country. I
speak not to these men. I leave them to their con-
sciences, in that hour which comes to all of us,—
when conscience speaks and the soul is no longer
deaf to her voice. (Cheers.) I speak to you, the
working men of London—the representatives as you
are here to-night of the feelings and interests of the
millions who cannot hear my voice. I wish you to
be true to yourselves. (Cheers.) Dynasties may
fall, aristocracies may perish, but you and your chil-
dren and your children's children will remain, and
from you the English people will be continued to
succeeding generations. (Cheers.) You wish for
freedom, and you strive for it in many ways, but do
not think of giving the hand of friendship or fel-
lowship to the worst foes of freedom that the world
has ever seen. (Cheers.) Do not, I beseech you,
bring down a curse upon your own cause which no
after penitence can lift from it. (Cheers.) I have
faith_in you. Impartial history will tell that when
your statesmen were hostile or coldly neutral—
when your rich men were corrupt, when your press
which ought to have instructed and defended you,
has been mainly written to betray your faith in that
♦ast continent whose populations are of your own
kindred—you clung to freedom with unfaltering
trust ; and be assured that God in His mercy will
N. et make it the heritage of all his children. (Loud
cheers.)

have failed to secure safety to the Union. There
were principles .at war which were wholly irrecon-

cileable. The South, as you know, for the last 50
years have been engaged in building up fresh ram-
parts by which to defend their institutions, while
the North have been growing yearly greater in
freedom. A contest, therefore, could not be distant ;
it was obviously inevite.b:e. In our day, then, that
which the statesmen of America hoped permanently
to postpone has arrived. The great trial is going
on in sight of the world, and the verdict on this
great question must at last be rendered ? But
how much is at stake ? Some men in this coun-
try, some writers, talk of it as if, after all, it was no
great matter that had caused this contest in the
United States. I say that a whole continent is at
stake. (Cheers.) It is not a question of boundary, it
is not a question of tariff, it is not a question of su-

premacy,or of party, it is not a question even o:

the condition of 4,000,000 of negroes. It is more
than that ; it is a question of a whole continent with
its teeming millions, and what shall be their pre-
sent and future fate. It is for those millions, and
among them, a question of freedom or slavery, edu-
cation or ignorance, light or darkness, Christian mo-
rality, ever widening and all-blessing in its influ-
ence, or an overshadowing and all-blasting guilt.
(Cheers.) There are men, good men, who say that
we in England who are opposed to war should take
no public part in this great question ; and only yes-
terd,,y I received from a friend of mine, whose
fidelity I honour, a letter in which he asked me
whether I thought, with the views which he sup-
posed I entertained on the question of war, it was
fitting that I should appear at such a meeting as
this. It is not our war. (Cheers.) We did not make
it. (Cheers.) We deeply lament it. It is not in our
power to bring it to a close; but I know not that
we are called upon to shut our eyes, and to close
our hearts to the great issues that are depending
upon it. (Cheers.) Now, we are met to ask one an-
other some questions. Has England any opinion with
regard to this great American question ? Has Eng-
land any sympathy on one side or the other with
either party engaged in this great struggle ? But,
to come nearer, I would ask whether this meeting
has any opinion upon it, and whether our sympa-
thies have been stirred in relation to it ? It is true
to this meeting not many noble, not many rich have
been called. It is a meeting composed of artisans,
working men of the City of London, men whose la-
bour, in combination with capital and directing skill
have built this great city, anit have made England
great. I address myself to these men; I ask them,
I ask you, have you any special interest in this con-
test P (Cheers.) Privilege thinks it has a great
interest in it ; and every morning with blatant
voice it comes into your street and curses the Ame-
rican Repubdc. Privilege has beheld an afflicting
spectacle for many years past. It has beheld
30,000,000 of men, happy and prosperous, without
Emperor —(cheers)— without King —(cheers)—
without the surroundings of a Court—(cheers)—
wit hout nobles, except such as are made by emi-
nence in intellect and virtue—(cheers)--without
State bishops and State priests, the sole vendors of
a law which works salvation ; without great armies
and great navies, without great debt, and without
great taxes. (Cheers.) Privilege has shuddered
at what might happen to old Europe if this grand
experiment should succeed. (Cheers.) But you,
the workers—you striving after a better time—you,
struggling upwards towards the light with slow
and painful steps—you have no cause to look with
jealousy upon a country which, among the nations
of the globe, is that one where labour has met with
the highest honour, and where it has reaped its
greatest reward. (Cheers.) Are you aware of the
great fact that in lo years, which is but as yester-
day when it is past, two millions and a half of your
countrymen have found a home in the United States
—that a population equal nearly to the population
of this great city, equal no man kingdom, has in
that space of time migrated from these shores P
In the United States there has been an open door
for every man, and millions have entered into it and
have found rest. Let us take the two sections of
the country which are now engaged in this fearful
struggle. In the one, labour is honoured more
than elsewhere in the world ; there, more than in
any other country, men rise to competence and in-
dependence, and no honest pursuit is thwarted by the
law. In the other section, labour is not only not
honoured, but it is degraded ; there the labourer
is made a chattel
; he is no more his own master
than the horse that drags the omnibus through
the next street, nor is his wife nor his
child, nor is anything that is his own. If
you have not heard the astounding statement, it
may be well to refer to it for a moment—that it is
h timesea r d iwt
astated o n ly
confinedt e -d atyo tnheagt slaveryroes.
not the black man only who should be a slave. I
T hienr e fjoerwe ,i 8 ifh
you lose your hold on negro slavery, you lose your
sheet-anchor for the cause of the slave. (Cheers.)
In your trade sooietiee you help each other, and

Mr. HOWELL (a working bricklayer) then moved
and Mr. ROGERS (a shoemaker) seconded, the fol-
lowing resolution :
"That the attempt of the American slaveowners to break
up the Union, in which their liberties and constitutional
rights bad never been interfered with, is destructive of the
first principles of political society, and that this meeting re-
gards with indignation the conduct of those public men,
capitalists and journalists in this country, who have abetted
the cause of the Confederates ; and, further, that the Go-
vernment of this country, in permitting the pirate ship

W !.3 P&P
)
NAt
use of very large ordinance with a 10.
seen in America lately 400-pounde
. drical form and hollow•headed, fired 'TtiaLY/
ton gun, which pierced plates of 9 inch4thioiclat S
long ranges. These guns were used in turrets, to
which was attached a lower and smaller turret, in
which the loading of the gun was managed by the
crew of the ship ; and this was much facilitated by
using a small tramway, on which the gun worked.
The time occupied in the reading of the papers
and the discussion was so long that it was found
necessary to defer any observations which the mem-
bers present had to make until after the reading of
Capt. Coles' paper.

PRICE
STAMPED ....sd.

since then, and now the demand for the new navy

was for ships with great speed and immense strength.
They must be 14-knot ships; they must be long to
have speed, and broad to have stability, and keep
their ports nine feet out of water. He put the case
of there being an Alabama upon the track of our
China and Australia trade; he would not call
her a pirate, but supposing such a ship in
time ?f`.-var, we had only two ships that
coulkohase her ; the IMence and the Resistance
would-Only follow in her wake, We saw the
whole available American navy engaged in trying to
catch this Alabama. Mr. Russell would do away
with the timber-backing of the Warrior, and sub-
stitute iron plates. It did no good ; it only caused
buckling of the plates, tending to draw out the bolts,
and took fire with shells, as we saw at Shoebury-
ness. The weight of this wood would be better
exchanged for iron plating. Mr. Russell gave Mr.
Pole's formula for the relative strength required for
plates versus guns. For
_ _

SEA-GOING SHIELD SHIPS.

A discussion took place last night at the United
Service Institution, on the merits of Capt. Co!es's
cupola or shield ships, a paper on which subject
had been read by the inventor on the previous
day. The chair was occupied by Sir J. paki„g.
ton. The right hon. baronet also presided on the
day when the paper was read. At the request of the
right hon. baronet Captain Coles briefly stated the
advantage which he claimed for his principle of a
moveable central turret armed with heavy guns, as
against the old system of fixed broadsides.
Commander SCOTT said he had submitted a plan
to the Admiralty in connection with broadsides,
which he thought would make ships armed on that
principle more efficient than cupola ships. His
plan was to give additional strongth to the more
exposed parts of the ship by greater thickness of
armour plates, and by giving the ship six or eight
largo Horsfall guns, each working in a separate
casemate. One objection which he urged to the
system proposed by Captain Coles was that it
would be impossible to work two 300-pounder
breech-loading guns in the confined space of the
interior of the cupolas. The concussion of heavy
charges of powder would also be most injurious to
the crew working the guns. An ordinary 68-
pounder with 161 b of powder required 171 feet to
work it, while the 300-pounder with 801 b of powder
would have been 19 feet clear in the cupolas. The
firing of a heavy gun with 801 b. of powder over the
deck would cause such a concussion as to sweep
not only everything off the deck, but one portion of
the deck itself. The concussion of firing a gun on
board would be terrific, and he did not believe that
300-pounders with 801 b. charge could be fired at
all. The arrangement of Captain Coles simply
amounted to fighting his ship from cupolas amid-
ships, and the question was, whether a ship would
be more efficient upon this plan than by fighting
the guns from broadsides. He believed that the
latter would be really more serviceable. With re-
spect to these heavy guns, of which so much had
been said, it must be borne in mind that there
really was no large gun now in existence, which
had stood even the tests of target practice. The
Whitworth large gun was known to be unwell in
its interior, and the Armstrong shunt gun had its
muzzle nearly blown off at the late experiments.
The only gun which had stood the test was the
Horsfall, one of which they might probably hear
again. Until these large guns were found to be
reliable it would be bad policy to build ships for
carrying them.

68 pounder 4l inches.
130 „
200 „
290 79 • • 8± 71
400 „
500 „
600 „
We have now to provide against a 300-pounder
sending shot with a velocity of 1,500 feet per second,
and we have to mount and fire this gun rapidly and
easily to the ship ourselves. He could not but think
that this would be done with all the able mechanics
and engineers the country possesses. Capt. Coles's
cupola he had made himself, and this one had been
tried successfully. The turntable was the only
mode he knew of which enabled such heavy guns
to be moved with so much ease; and by this means
too the weight was kept in the central line of the
ship. The Prince Albert he could not think a judi-
cious application of the principle, and the Royal
Sovereign was much worse. But give any one of
our gallant naval officers a 15-knot ship, with a
cupola forward and one aft, and the engines and
rudder shot proof, and he would be bound they
would give a good account of any Alabama in the
world. But if it was required to work guns even
on the broadside by machinery, it was only to say
so, and there were plenty of mechanics who could
do this. Mr. Scott Russell intimated that he knew
how to make a larger number of guns available than
in a cupola. He could see how the 300-pounder
broadside gun could be put on a par with the turn-
table 300-pounders. The portholes in the cupola
have the great advantage of being small, but it
would be quite practicable to work a 300-pounder at
any elevation in an opening which shall not be larger
than the muzzle, only sufficient to allow of aiming.
As to weights of armour,he would expect to see used
71-inch plates, with 31-inch iron backing, in vessels
500 feet long and 70 broad, of 12,000 or even
22,500 tons—Great Easterns, in fact, 700 feet long
and 83 broad. Mr. Scott Russell pointed out that
the Hector and Vali .nt are not proof against shell
at their unarmoured parts; they would be blown
up by shell entering here. But we must adopt ex-
pedients of partial protection and partial battery.
The Warrior has more iron in her than the Great
Eastern, in consequence of its not being used with
economy. Protection to the water-line he did not
much care about,'as the water-tight compartments
serve the purpose of protection. He attributed much
to the labours of the Iron-plate Committee, and
looked to next year to show us how much progress
had been made in scientific knowledge and profes-
sional acquirement, and ended by saying that engi-
neers and naval architects were ready to serve the
Government, and to put up with loss rather than
the service of the country should suffer.
Mr. REED then followed with his paper, which,
after a few observations alluding to his having re-
signed his office of secretary to the society so as to
avoid embarrassing them, referred chiefly to a de-
fence of bis plan of construction adopted in the En-
terprise sloop of 950 tons, and an attack upon Capt.
Coles's cupola plan. His iron-cased ship was as
unlike the Monitor as possible; it was well out of
water, well supported at every part, the armament
in the centre, of few guns of long range, with the
steering apparatus and engines protected by proof
armour. Ho would armour-plate every ship of
every size to a certain degree, giving them large
guns with long range and high speed. Anything
like the Monitor would be R decadence, a disgrace
to our pride and to the " flag that has braved the
battle and the breeze." The form of our ships should
never be compromised as it is in the cupola plan.
They must have good handsome masts and rigging.
He advocated wooden ships, and especially wooden
bottoms in small ships particularly. But if 14-knot
ships must be had, iron is the only material to make
them of; and this was according to the first design
he had the honour of submitting to the Admiralty.
He stated the evidence of the surveyor of Lloyds',
that in some iron ships not five years old 1,000
rivets had disappeared iu the bottoms. And in
private yards he knew of the plates being joined so
badly as to require caulking, as the records of the
society, he believed, would show. Still he would
not deny that now no labour or capital is spared in
private yards, and a high degree of excellence is
attained. Mr. Reed described the enterprise, and
said the frame of this ship was of timber converted.
She had her battery in the centre, in a water-tight
compartment, with means for fore and aft firing of
the guns. In the Renard and Favourite the iron
upper work was avoided, and they were completely
plated. He alluded to the severe criticisms his plans
had met with from the press, and especially from
Admiral Halsted, defending the Enterprise from the
charges brought against her in that gallant officer's
pamphlet. As to the cupolas, or turrets rather, of
Captain Coles, they were exposed on at least 10
square feet on all points. The trials with the
Trusty in 1861 he tt ought not conclusive, as breech-
loaders were used. Then these cupolas could be
easily wedged by boarders. He could see no pro-
spect of such vessels being made seagoing, and in
action, as the bulwarks are permanent, the guns
could not be fired fore and aft. By an array of
figures on the black board Mr. Reed showed that the
statement in the Mechanics' Magazine (Feb. 27) as
to the weight of broadside being in favour of the
cupola, was not only erroneous, but that the advan-
tage was largely in favour of the Favourite. Guns
of 20 tons he expected to see worked by machinery;
and if we dispensed with these 120-ton turrets we
could afford to use machinery. Small shield ships
could tot be constructed, and as to the ship now
proposed by Captain Coles, it was impossible to con-
struct them as designed. Rapid turning of a ship
with broadside ports like the Favourite would be
gained by using the double screw system and high
speed ; experiments upon which had recently been
successfully made by Captain Astley Cooper Key.
He did not regard the Enterprise, Resolute, and
Favourite as specimens of the class of ships he con-
ceived would become the future style of naval
architecture.

Admiral ORsTED said he did not think there was
much force in the objection that heavy guns could
not be fired from the cupola without injury to the
floor of the deck of the ship. The proposal to work
guns of 22 tons weight in active service for broad-
side guns was certainly not of a practical character.
Such guns would require steam engines or hydraulic
rams to work them. They might be pretty in
models, but for real service they might as well try
the monster guns of the Dardanelles. (A laugh.)
Captain OSBORNE wished to know by what me-
chanical arrangements it was proposed to ensure the
moving of the heavy cupolas at a time when a heavy
sea was rolling, so as to obtain the great range
which was claimed as one of the merits of the sys-
tem of Captain Coles.
Captain FISHBOURNE, R.N., confessed that he saw
a difficulty in respect to these cupolas in the shape
of the recoil. He felt convinced that large guns
would be obtained, and then large charges would be
necessary in order to obtain the requisite velocity,
and this would lead of necessity to great recoil,

which would be most inconvenient in the confined
space afforded by the cupolas. They would be
towers or turrets worked by turntables, which would
be useful not only for these turrets, but which migh t
be very conveniently applied to the working of
heavy broalsides.

A GENTLEMAN present contended that the effect
of the firing of large guns with these enormouw
charges of 801 b,, or very nearly a barrel of powder,
would be absolutely to kill the men who had to
work the guns in the cupolas. (A laugh.)
Captain BLAKELY argued that guns of very large

calibre could be made, and instanced in support of
his views the fact that in America they used 300,
600, 800, and even 1,000 pounder guns. He had
offered the Admiralty a 700-pounder gun on eon-

dition that they would use it. The offer had not
been accepted, but he was still prepared to lend the
gun if the Admiralty would condescend to use it.
(A laugh.)
Captain SYMONS thought that with the use of

Mr.FAIRBAIRN stated that he had proposed in 1855
to the Admiralty to investigate the subject of iron
plates for ships, but was not encouraged to proceed.
Admiral HALSTED, in reply, admitted that he was
mistaken as to the statements in his pamphlet about
the Research having the iron box, as he called it,
or rectangular cupola. He protested, however,
against being provided with these ships of war,
one-third of whose guns were useless, and main-
tained that no trials had ever been made of targets
representing ships' sides until the ships were in pro-
gress of construction. The Whitworth shell fired
upon a target stronger than the Minotaur in Novem.
ber last had initiated a revolution in naval gunnery
and shipbuilding, and henceforth it was shell that
was more difficult to keep out than shot, for it pene-
trated with more facility than solid shot.
The reply of Capt. Coles, who was present, was,
by consent, deferred till this day, when he will
read his paper upon seagoing .blpid 6/3438' 1
After the diseussiov, Mr. LANCASTER, the well-
known artinerior, stated, in reference to the future

the double screw lately introduced, it would give
so much facility in the movement and handling of
ships as to afford to the broadside ship all the
advantages claimed for the movable cupolas.
Captain Coles's ship itself might be improved by the
adoption of two screws.
Captain COLES replied to the various objections
urged. He pointed out that the proposal of Com-
mander Scott to have six heavy broadside guns of
24 tons each would not in action be more effective
than a cupola ship, which would engage the broad-
side one on equal terms with three guns only, and
those placed in the centre of the ship. The shield
ship was therefore equal to a broadside ship of
twice the same number of guns. He denied that
there would be any serious effect from concussion
in the cupola, and stated that Captain Hewlett and
other naval officers, with himself, were in the
cupola at the time of firing 110-pounder guns and
felt no inconvenience either from concussion or from
the effect of smoke. The space allowed for the
recoil in his shields was, he contended, quite-
sufficient. The experiments made on the Trusty
showed that the concussion of powder had no
serious effect on the deck. He fully approved of
the suggestion of applying the two screws to his
ship, as it would enable his cupolas to be worked
more rapidly and efficiently. He regarded as
groundless the objection that the shield or cupola
would become jammed in action or be difficult to
move in a heavy sea. Various other points having
been replied to by Captain Coles, a vote of thanks
proposed by Sir John Pakington was unanimously
agreed to, and the discussion was brought to
close.

Mr. Chichester Fortescue, M.P., is still indis-
posed, and unable to attend to his official parliamentary
duties. The hon. member is attacked with mrAsles,
A NEW SYSTEM OF CONTROLLING CLOCKS BY
ELECTRICITY has been hit upon by 117, Verite of
Bervais, while experimenting at the new terminus
of the Chemin do Fer du Nord in Paris. Under
the pendulums of some of the many clocks in this
vast establishment he placed small electro-magnets
which, upon becoming active, exercised at a given
moment an attraction upon the iron or steel in the pendu -
lums. On the pedestal of the normal clock he placed a pile
which communicated with it at each second, and ronderel
the magnets active. Mr. Verite found, to his great surprise'
and delight that, under the influence of this simultaneous
action, all the pendulums oscillated in the most perfect syn-
chronism, even when their rate varied otherwise five or tea
minutes a day, A current every two seconds is found quit&
sufficient to ensure the most delicate regulation. M. Bon—
naterre, a letter from whom appears in Les Mondes, states
that the result is most satisfactory, and that for very little
outlay one will be able to control all the clocks of a town
by the best among them, so as to be no longer compelled to.
hear 12 o'clock strike for a quarter of an hour ; he sugges'a
that a normal clock should be established in the tower of Lt..
Jacques, and that all the principal ones in Paris Should be
connected with it. Alas: that we have no M. Bonnaterre
in this London of ours, whero above all places on earth
" time is money," and such an arrangement would be most
valuable.--rh, _treader.

Tr,;A7rmstrong Guns, by constant improvement, are now
peitection. Tne same is the case with Herring's Magnctio
brushes, which are now so perfected that failure with them
is all but impossible. They are the true remedy for grey,
hair, neuralgia, and nervous headache. N.B.—Counterfeits
are being made. Ofliceo, 32, Lasinghall-street, London'

/~

f%

LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 1863.

- ---~

In the House of Lords yesterday, after a shor t de-
bate in which the subject of London railways was
considered, the second reading of the Great Eastern
New Metropolitan Station and Branches Bill was
negatived and the bill itself referred to a select
committee. The Tobacco Duties Bill was passed
through all its stages. The Lord Chancellor ex-
plained his plan for augmenting the valae of small
ecclesiastical benefices in his gift, and added that
he was aware the successful operation of the bill
must depend in a great measure upon the proper
framing of its complicated details; and he, there-
fore, proposed that if the measure were read a
second time, it should be referred to a select com-
mittee. Lord Cran worth, Lord Chelmsford, the
Bishop of London, and the Dolce of Marlborough,
expressed a decided approval of the general prin-
ciple of the measure, which was read a first time,
and the second reading appointed for to-day.

In thellouse of Commons Sir R. PEEL, in answer
to Lord H. Thynne, said that the Government had
not received intelligence that the United States Go-
venment were recruiting in Ireland.
In reply to Mr. Whalley, Sir R. PEEL also said
that the disturbances which had taken place in some
Irish towns on the 10th were only the acts of a few
disaffected individuals, and entirely opposed to the
feeling of the county.
Mr. DoDsoN called attention to the charges for
the diplomatic service, and moved that all sums re-
quired to defray the expenses of that service ought
to be annually voted by Parliament, and that esti-
mates of all such sums ought to be submitted in a
form that would admit of their effectual supervision
and control by the house.
After a brief discussion, in which the Chancellor
of the Exchequer opposed Mr. liaison's views, the
motion was negative d by 133 to 65 votes.
The house then went into committee of supply,
taking the votes in the civil service estimates.
When the house resumed,
The Corrupt Practices at Elections Bill was read
a third time and passed.
The Telegraphs Bill was then taken in c)mmittee,
and passed through that stage.
The Office of Secretary at War Abolition Bill wee
read a second time, its object being to abolish techni-
cally an office which has merged into that of Sec •
retnry for War.
The Oaths Relief in Criminal Proceedings (Scot
land) Bill, the object of which is to allow affirma-
tions in lieu of oaths in certain cases, was read a
second time. The Local Government Act (1858)
Amendment Bill, the object of which is to extend
the operation of the Act of 1858 to places to which
it did not at present apply, was read a second time.
The adjourned debate on going into corn nittee on
the Salmon Fisheries (Ireland) Bill was resumed,
and the adjournment was again moved. After dis-
cussion, on a division the motion was lost by 39
.to
5, and the bill went into committee pro forma.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER obtained
leave to bring in a bill to make stock certificates
transferable to bearer.

The other business was disposed of, and the
House adjourned.

Ij Mr. BRIGHT labouring under the delusion that

he is the citizen of a Republic, instead of being,
like the rest of us, numbered amongst the subjects
of a Sovereign ? It would really appear so. The

honourable gentleman is still railing—in the tr est

elcquent manner, it is true, but still railing--per•

petually against the very shadows of Crown and

Sceptre, against th© mere phantoms of what more

vulgar rhetoricians have dubbed before now the

" bloated aristocracy." In his plain thinking and

out speaking there is very much, no doubt, of the
sturdy independence of JOHN BULL. But it is
JOHN BILL, Quaker wise, with his choler* up. It
is a specimen of the genus BULL, before whose eyes
the trailing of the scarlet robe of a peer is just
sheer distraction. Nothing appears to irritate JOHN
BULL—we beg Pardon for so transparent a lapsus—
we meant, of course, and should have said, JOHN
BRIGHT—more than the flourishing of that red
garment of the nobility, unless indeed it be the still

more maddening gleam to him of the purple of a
Mona►cb. One filiation alone apparently can

soothe his agitated feelings, at the mere thought
of these dreadful symbols of old-world vanity—that

one assuaging and tnoPifying consideration being

the thought of the—well, yes! the— ;]tatea

cf Arc.,eriva

Nothing t.,) all appsarance Call EV,.tt shake Mr.

ERTUIT'S i::yaity--not to Queen VICTORIA, 1)0
nothing of the kind! but tu the United States of

Anierici. His feelings of respect and admiratio❑

for the institutions of the great North Arnerion

vutures to.ask if this word is nut
a vary obvious misprint ?

Republic are clearly indestructible. Through the
fiery ordeal of the present deadly conflagration of
CivilWar,there,in that afflicted country, his homage
for the perfection of that particular exemplar of a
Democratic form of Government, pass scatheless, as
if animated with the life of a salamander, and
clothed in raiments of asbestos. There is something
charming in this devotion—it is so complete. In
its completeness it is perfectly Arcadian. One
"listens delighted" to the dulcet utterances of a tender
affection so untiring and unconditional. Mr.
BRIGHT'S love of America, since first ho became
wedded to her cause, seems never yet to have got
out of its honeymoon. If there were a Dunmow
across the Atlantic, as there are all sorts of other
places, such as a Cairo, and a London, and a
Rome, and so forth, under an American aspect
—if there were among those other topo-
graphical plagiarisms, anything at all like our
English Dunmow, with its porcine and marital
institutions—Mr. BRIGHT would certainly be in a
f-ir way to win his Flitch of Bacon at the appointed
time. Listen to him as he yesterday prostrated
himself in the dust before his own ideal of what
America is, and in the same breath railed like
another self-banished TmroN against the country of
his birth and the people who are, never-
theless, to be supposed, in spite of his
fearful language against ,them, to be still his
own countrymen ! Speaking of the deplorable
civil war yet ragiog at its fiercest in America—
speaking of that civil war yesterday in St. James's
Hall, Piccadilly, to an immense concourse of work-
men there assembled together as a demonstration in
favour of the Northern States and of Negro Eman-
cipation, Mr. BRIGHT asked his artisan audience in
so many words, " Have you any special interest in
this contest ? " Without immediately giving his
own answer to that point-blank inquiry, the hon.
gentleman went on to remark, with scorn in every
inflexion of his harmoniousvoice, and in every move-
ment of his eloquent lips, " Privilege thinks it has a
great interest in it, and every morning with blatant
voice it comes into your street and curses the Ame-
rican republic. Privilege has beheld an afflicting
spectacle for many years past. It has beheld 30
millions of men happy and prosperous, without Em-
peror, without King, without the surroundings of
a court, without nobles, except such as are made
by eminence in intellect and virtue [General BUT-
LER to wit, we will suppose ? or Admiral WILKES
let us say ? or BARNUM? or TRAIN ? or Nature's
nobility of that kind, Mr. BRIGHT P] without state
bishops and state priests, [Mr. BRIGHT quite for-
gets that there have ever been such people in
existence as a JOSEPH SMITH or a BRIGHAM
YOUNG, apparently], sole vendors of the law that
works salvation, without great armies and great
navies, without great debt, [No ! but they are
making one now fast enough !], and with-
out great taxes. Privilege has shuddered
at what might happen to old Europe if this
great experiment should succeed!" Whereupon
Mr. BRIGHT having reached that climax his
congenial audience breaks into a storm
of applause! For all the world, just as if
that " great experiment" had succeeded ! And so
on, and so on—risque ad nauseam, as the classically-
educated Captain WRAGGE would say, if not ad
infinitum. Seeing what we all see, knowing what
we all know, as to the state of things politically and
socially amongst ourselves and amongst the North
American republicans—Mr. BRIGHT can yet de-
nounce the European system as a" rotten system"—
those are the very words he used in its regard as
recently as yesterday ! Vaunting to the skies as
nothing less than absolute perfection the free insti•
tutions, the blissful condition, the complete com-
mercial prosperity enjoyed by the enviable race who
look up to their Chief—not in a Windsor but in a
White House ! Beholding in that chief not a mere
Constitutional Sovereign like Queen VICTORIA, but
—again we are tempted to employ the favourite
language of Captain WRAGGE, in order in any
way adequately to express the emotions inspired by
the theme—that ne Plus ultra of Dignity, Autho-
rity, Wisdom, and Beneficence, profanely called by
Some "Old ABE!" For ourselves, we are almost
tempted to call him sometimes, still more profanely,
" Old Gaby"—say, when he is making some more
than usually senile ghost of a joke to the sound of
the distant carnage among the opposing armies of
Federals and Confederates ! Or, again, when in the
midst of the ruin and desolation caused by the
feebleness of his wholly inconsistent policy he is
outraging public decency alike in the Old World
and in the Ne w by actually receiving an absurd little
dwarf, like General Tom THUMB, with a sort of
State ceremonial. These, forsooth, are the objects
of Mr. BRIGHT'S unstinted admiration, while he
can find nothing but foul words to lavish from
a marvellously ample vocabulary upon the
Political Constitution, the Free Press, and the
other (in spite of Mr. BRIGHT) still popular in-
stitutions of our own fatherland, of England, of the
United Kingdom. We certainly stand amazed
before the choice made in this matter by the
lion. member for Birmingham.', It is the result
surely—(at least we may venture to say that)--
of an astounding hallucination.

The presentation of the City Address to her
MAJESTY will give general satisfaction, and is one
of the most gratifying of the incidents relative to
the Royal Marriage. It is the first step taken in
a direction that lead the Sovereign back again
to her subjects, after ;the gloom and seclusion of
the late trying year. Right and fitting as was that
retirement it still has been attended with secondary
evils that have militated against the prosperity of
trade. 'hus, many well-wishers to the community
havebeen anxiously looking forward tothe time when
the Court mourning should cease as to a period when
better times might 07awn on those wholie dark days
in business have made them dejected and despond-
ing. The civic authorities presented a most appro-
priate address, and while invoking the blessing of
heaven on this auspicious union they made special
allusion to the happy influence which they desired
it might exercise upon the present position of the
QUEEN, and added that they trusted " it may prove
a solace to voar MAJESTY under your present cares."
This truly represents the general wish of the
nation. From the time when the Prince of
\VALES'S marriage was first spoken of, all concurred
in expressing a hope that this new interesting and
important event might rouse her MAJESTY from the
depression which she so naturally felt, and which is
sometimes more painfully overwhelming when the
time for mixing in active life draws near than even
in the first crushing hours of affliction. Her
MAJESTY'S reply was very satisfactory. She ad-
verted in touching terms, not only to the occasion
of joy, but the event of sorrow, in which her people
had shown their sympathy :--`= I am truly sensible
of the gratifying proofs of loyalty and attachment
to myself and the Royal Family which have been
exhibited by the citizens of London, not less in their
deep sympathy in my heavy grief, than on the
occasion of the marriage of the Prince of WALES."
This is a suitable recognition of the deep feelings
that have been everywhere evinced on the subject
of the irreparable loss that Her MAJESTY has sus-
t_;it7Ed, is another matter of rejoicing in this
i
and that is, that the most
ci ni
d6cd p. o T:e c tare is
y,
sin a 1 affort is over, since the trial of such a

nature is always the greatest. It is ear-
nestly to be trusted that all who have
influence with her MAJESTY will persuade ber not
again to lapse into retirement, but to come forward
on all State occasions, and where there is no great
parade or excessive gaiety to be expected, to resume
those duties in the performance of which she so ex-
cels. Then we shall have the satisfaction of feeling
that the marriage of the Prince of WALLS was twice
blessed in its results, and, besides witnessing the
improvement of many desponding classes of the
community, wo shall know that the chief per-
sonage herself has the best prospect of being restored
at least to partial happiness. Nothing can divert
the thoughts from the weight of overpowering cares,
or soothe the memory that is prone to dwell too
much on natural grief, as the distracti)n of active
engagements. This is one great bentfit bestowed
by toil on the heirs of Adam's doom, and it will be
conferring no kindness on our well-beloved
Sovereign, if her nearest advisers seek to prevent
her from incurring any fatigue or responsibility,
now that so many engrossing attractions and so
many new and engaging objects are at hand to
interest and sustain her. We trust that the
ceremonial of yesterday is an augury of the public
re-appearance of one whose absence no one can sup-
ply, and who is so associated with the best wishes
and hopes of her subjects that to know she is still
in the gloom of retirement will east a damp on all
heartfelt rejoicings and throw a sombre shade over
all coming festivities.

L There is in existence a large class of well-mean-
ing but narrow-minded individuals, who in their
attempts to reform and remodel the world are likely
to do a great deal of mischief. We have many
representatives of this well-intentioned body of
meddlers among us, and though the good sense of
the community generally keeps them in check they
occasionally contrive to carry their point, and by so
doing produce a reaction which is injurious to the
real interests of religion and order. We can all
• remember the disastrous results which followed the
introduction of I ord GROSVENOR'S Sunday Trading
Bill, when the Government were forced to yield to
the illegal opposition of riotous mobs what
they had refused to the common sense and
justice that generally regulates our legisla-
tion. The injustice of men, whose homes and
club-houses were furnished with every luxury,
forcing a rigid observance of the Sabbath on those
whose tables must often be bare, if not supplied on
the morning of that day, was so manifest and
glaring that the general feeling of the public sup-
ported the opposition to the bill, however unseemly
or disorderly the forms in which it was expressed.
We have now a repetition of the same mistake,
originating, doubtless, with men of excellent
principles and benevolent intentions, who are sin-
cerely anxious for the good of their fellows, but
who make the very common and serious error
of trying to drive instead of to lead them.
Experience has often enough proved the utter
futility of such an undertaking. If men would lay
down their vices at the word of command, as soldiers
do their arms, there might be some hope of good
results from the projects of Lord ROBERT MON
TAGU and the schemes of Mr. SOMES. But, a 3 if
to afford us an invincible answer to their plausible
arguments, we have an existing proof of the falacy
of such theories in a part of the Uaited Kingdom
which ought, according to its laws, to be the most
highly moral and sober nation in Europe, but which
is unfortunately very much the reverse. The
practical consequences of the FORBES MAC-
KENZIE Act are not such as to encourage
the most enthusiastic of teetotallers to desire its
extension to England, yet the object of Mr. SoMEs'
" Bill for shutting public-houses on Sunday " is
virtually the same. It is confidently asserted by
those qualified Ito judge that the FORBES MAC-
KENZIE Act has in no wise diminished the sale of
spirits, inasmuch as the poorer classes, compelled
to purchase their stimulants over night, provide
alcohol—which does not deteriorate by keeping—
instead of the comparatively harmless malt liquor
which is their usual beverage. The evil effects of
gin drinking are already evident enough among our
lower classes without the Legislature throwing this
additional temptation in their way—a temptation
which apeears the greater when we remember that
on Saturday night the artisan's pockets are full
and that the Sunday is his holiday, with which
he naturally associates some degree of convivial
enjoyment. To pass a bill like Mr. SOMES'S would
consequently be to transfer the profit from the
publican to the gin palace, to irritate the lower
classes, and to make them regard with disgust
the welcome day of rest—that Divine boon which,
like every other good gift, is given for man's use,
not his abuse. Anything that tends to elevate the
minds of the working classes, that by degrees re-
fines and cultivates their tastes and habits, is a
,tep gained towards the better employment of the
Sunday ; but arbitrary legislation and restrictions,
which are felt to be unjust because directed only
against the poor, will never succeed in rendering them
' religious and temperate. Mr. ROEBUCK'S satirical
suggestion, that in the event of the bill in question
being read a second time he should move that all
club-houses be shut on the Sunday, was a pointed
reproof to the ill-advised promoters of this now
social reform. The bill will, no doubt, meet with '
a very strong opposition when it comes on for the
second reading, and it will, we should hope, be
finally thrown out ; but so great is the mistaken
z-,al of the promoters of such schemes, and so easy
is a consent to high-sounding regulations which do
not effect the comfort of the voter, that it will be
necessary for the real friends of order and progress
to be ready to meet it. The less our legislation
runs directly counter to the feelings and wishes of
the masses the better, and the less our pious obser-
vances depend on Acts of Parliament, the more ad-
vantageous it w.. 11 be for the real interests of religion
and civilisation.

The Very Latest Literary Intelligence.

lady Audley's Secret—has been Found Out.

For further particulars inquire of Mr. W. S.
Fullom, of Surbiton.

N.B.—We are sorry to add, moreover, that Miss
Aurora Floyd, otherwise Mrs. Mellish, proves after
all to be a mere Woman of the World.

Nevertheless—Miss Braddon has actually had
the courage to write the following amazing little
note to one of our contemporaries ;
Miss Braddon presents her compliments to the Editor of
the .211-ol ning Poet, and begs to state that her novels, "Lady
Audley's Secret" and "Aurora Floyd," are entirely and
thoroughly original, and not derived in the slightest degree
from Mr. Fullom's book, of which she never heard until
the publication of that gentleman's recent lett. rd.
6, Meeklenburgh-square, March 26.

MR. SUTHERLAND EDWARDS, the author of "Ttl€
Russians at [tome," "The History of the Opera," and
other m orks, has been &spatched to Poland, as correspon-
dent to the limns,

Mr. Sims Reeves and Mr. Santley will sing a!
the National Choral Society's Passion-week performance of
the " Messiah," at Exeter Hall, on Tuesday the 31st
being the only occasion these great singers will sing to
gether in this oratorio during the season. Mr. G, W.
Martin conducts as usual.

CANADIAN MAILS.—The Royal Mail steamship
North American sailed from Liver2ool fur Portland yester-
day. Besides ti Canadian mails she took out a fall cargo,
and had about 1.50 pasz-.ngc:rs, of whom 15 were cabin pas-
oeng,Ars.