The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-12 00:00:00

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,- ~.1!, 19 f? '"?'4'. As glr ;
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metal rammer. This is the first time' -.`thisiek :- • iki;;47l
occurred with Mr Whitworth's gun; btkt- on seifiratk. i,,V41
occasions there has been great difficultyhiit gettiniqt-- ?"..../
home the shot of the shunt gun, which htts•,coly. S
been accomplished after continued blows.. All tbeso
hitches may, in a great measure, be said to arise
from the trials being concluded with dry gun s—t hat
is, no wet sponging allowed to renlove the fonlir, g.
Considering that these guns are intended entirely
for the naval service, where, as a mutter of course,
a bucket of water can always be got on shipboard,
and where, as a fact, wet sponges are always used,
it seems curious that the erduance at S.hoebury
should not all be worked with wet sponges. How-
ever, it is indisputable that a gun which works well
dry will work etill easier we, and so far, therefore,
it is not en unfair condition d trial. and, fair er un-
fair, it is applied with the most rigorous impar,
tislity to al:'.
During all this week trials V ill go on with the
70 pounders for range and accarscy. The field
guns have now fired nearly 2,E00 rounds eac'a. Im-
pressions taken of their bores last week sl2ow to
perceptible wear—in fact, for war purposes they
are all as good as the day they came from pt:ocf at
Woolwich.

-

PRICE..-...4d.
STAMPEA....Sd.

on the track of the best gun, i f no better invention,
or what is claimed to be a better invention, turns up
in the interval to insist on another endless trial. In
the meantime the supply of rifled guns to the forts
and fleets stands still, while all Europe and Ame-
rica are manufacturing them by hundreds. The,im-
portance of the time we are now losing may not be
remembered if we remain at peace—it will never be
forgotten should we unfortunately become involved
in war. Rifled guns cannot be manufactured elf •
.and by scares like the cast iron rubl:ish of old;
and the worst rifled gun is better than the best
smooth-bore ever cast. The most uncompz omising
partisan of Armstrong or Whitworth will always
admit that they are both admirable guns—the best,
certainly, that are known to exist in any country.
Is it too much, then, to ask, in the interest of the
public, that a certain number, say 100, of the 150-
pounders on each system should be ordered at once
and placed on board the large ships in commission,
there to be used with the other guns under all the
varying conditions of temperature, wind, weather,
and range which an ordinary cruise of six months
would be sure to develope The public who read
the marvellous results obtained at Shoebury in this
competition hug themselves with the idea that all
is going well, and that the country possesses an
invincible ordnance. This is a fatal delusion. It
cannot be too strongly impressed upon their minds
that these guns are being tried not manufactured.
War to-morrow would find this country without
any recognized rifle gun in either service, and what
is worse, with no means of manufacture to supply a
fraction of the want in this respect which hostilities
would instantly call forth. Nothing, in fact, can
be more unsatisfactory or even more dangerous than
the present state of our rifled gun question. The
old saying of " two stools" would have a fresh illus-
tration of its truth in the number of our ships that
would some to the ground if war broke out sud.
denly.

The Prince and Princess of Wales at
Clothworkers'-hall,

Yesterday the corporation of Clothworksrs, one of the
oldest and wealthiest of the ancient guilds of the city of.
London, presented the freedom of their order to the Prince-.
of Wales, and afterwards entertained his Royal Highness
with the Princess of Wales and a select company at lun-
cheon in their hall in Alincing•lane, In February, 1863,
at a special meeting of the Court of Assistants, as the
governing body is designated, his Royal Highness was
unanimously elected a freeman of the company, on the
motion of Mr Justice Willes, seconded by Alderman Sir
John Musgrove, the Court desiring thereby to manifest its
loyalty and attachment to the Throne and its esteem for his
Royal Highness. The resolution electing him to the freedom.
recorded the fact that his illustrious and lamented father had
conferred upontheir ar cient and loyal corporation the honour
of accepting a similar compliment at their hands, and also
of becoming a liveryman. The Ciothworkers were incorpo-
rated by Royal Charter in 140, in the reign of Edward IV ,
and the guild at different periods of its history has enroll(
kings, princes, statesmen, and other distinguished person
among its members. In 1607, during the mayoralty of Si.r
John Watts, himself a Clothworker, James I. was admil ;tod
to the brotherhood and entertained aca grand banque in.
the hall, in consideration of which his Majesty was ple see d
" of his princely bounty" to order that two brace of bus ;ke
presented to the company yearly for ever—a behest whit 3b
is observed to this day. Again, in 1662,. Sir John Rot oinso n,
then Lieutenant of the Tower of London and Lord Mayo r,
entertained in the hall of the company Charle:; 11. and h is
Queen, the Queen Mother, and their Royal H ighnesses t 1 to
Duke and Duchess of York. On the 25th of March, 181
the Dukes of Kent and Sussex honoured the company with
their presence at a banquet, as did also in 1844 the there
Premier, Sir Robert Peel, and the rest of her Majesty's
Ministers; and in 1860 his Royal Highness t le late Princa
Consort. Secretary Pepys, the author of the fan sous Diary,
was a member of the company, and presented tl ,em with a
magnificent drinking cup of silver gilt, which t. hey retain
to this day and are justly proud of exhibiting.
The ancient hall of the company, then uproar ds of 180
years old, was restored after the fire of London in... 1666, but
having, nearly 200 years later, become dilapidated by tines
and unsuited to the requirements of the corporation i t was
taken down, and the present stately edifice was erect ed on
its site in 1859. A memoir of the company states that " the
associations of the old hall were venerated. Kings, 2. rinces,
and nobles of the land had assembled there, and sea at men
eminent in every station of life. It was deo, orated w ith the
effigies and records of the bequests of the good and great,
and it had an aspect of comfort as well as of state." The
present hall is one of the most magnificent of the kind in
the city of London, though as yet but little known. Si teratod
in a crowded thoroughfare and among a class of in ode rex
edifices, some of them more like palaces than places de voted
to trade and commerce, its exterior, handsome though it bo,
is apt to escape notice. The most imposing feature c f tine
interior of the building is the banqueting hall, which is of
stately proportions and elaborately decorated. The ro of,
divided into small compartments, is supported on pillars of
polished granite and splendidly embellished with gold. T. he
arms of the twelve principal civic companies are emblazont
on the walls, and those of eminent past masters, in stained
glass, ornament the windows. The banqueting hall is ap-
proached by a spacious vestibule and a noble flight of stairs,
which is lighted by a lantern in the roof of elegant proper-
tams and design. A spacious court room, a reception room,
and two drawing rooms make up the rest of the interior of
the building.
The ceremony of yesterday took place in the court mous,
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess arrived
at the hall at half-past 1 o'clock, and were received at th.o
entrance with every mark of consideration and respect Ly
the Master and Wardens, accomp‘ nied by their clerk, Mr
1L B. Towse, all of whom wore their robes of office. A
detachment of the Hon. the Artillery Company, of which
his Royal Highness is Captain General and Colonel, formed
a guard of honour on the occasion, under the command of
Capt. Ritherdou. On alighting the Prince and Princess
were loudly cheered by the people who had assembled out-
side, and the band played the National Anthem. From the
entrance their Royal Highm SSES were escorted to the re-
ception room, where the Wardens and members of the
Court of Assistants had the honour of being formally pre-
sented to them. Their Royal Highnesses were attended by-
the Marchioness of Carmarthen, Earl Spencer, Lieut.-Ger_
Knollys, and Capt. Grey. The Prince wore the blue
riband of the Order of the Garter on the occasion. Their
Royal Highnesses were then conducted to the court room,
attended by the members of their suite and household men-
tioned, and the Masters, Wardens, and Assistants being
constituted a Ccnrt, the ceremony began. The Duke of
Manchester, the Bishop of London and Mrs. Tait, and Miss
Burdett Coutts were also present among others. The Master
having requested the Prince and Princess to be seated, the
clerk of the company (Mr Towse) read the resolution of the
Court inviting his Royal Highness to assume the freedom.
This done, the MASTER (the Rev. Edward John Ward,
A.M.), addressing the Prince, who rose as ho did so, said
the pleasing duty devolved upon him of requesting his Royal
Highness to accept the freedom and livery of the Com-
pany of Clothworkers, and of expressing, on the part of the
governing body, their sense of the honour his Royal High-
ness had conferred upon them by condescending to become
a member of their ancient guild. He hoped that might not
be the last occasion on which they would be honoured by
the presence of his Royal Highness. They esteemed it a
high privilege to enrol the name of his much-lamented
father on the list of their brotherhood, and they trusted
that hereafter, as in times past, there would be a continuous.
association between them and the Royal family of this king
dom. The Master then handed to the Prince the gold box
enclosing the document relating to the freedom, and re-
marking that it was set in a table of chestnut wood, part of
a beam of the ancient hall of the company, on the site of
which the present building was erecte.l.

One of the most recent stages of the competition
with the 12-pounder field-guns was made with their
trail buried in the ground, so as to enable the guns
to get the enormous elevation of 33 deg. Several
rounds were fired, and at this contest for range
Mr. Whitworth gained a most clear victory, as,
indeed, in the matter of range he has throughout
been more or less ahead of the shunt gun. This,
indeed, was to be expected from the much smaller
circular area, and therefore diminished resist-
ance, of his shot. But what at trials of 6,8,
or 10 degrees had at most only been 400 yards,
at 33 degrees rose to a most formidable gain. In
rough numbers Mr Whitworth averaged the im-
mense range of 8,800 yards, or a little short of five
miles, and Sir William's shunt gun averaged about
6,700 yards, or short of four miles—an increase of
range to Mr Whit worth of nearly a mile and a quar-
ter. Even if we call it only a mile, this is a most
important advantage. It may be said that field-guns
are rarely, if ever, wanted to be used at this eleva-
tion, which is true enough, but it is equally true
that the gun which possesses it in addition to other
qualifications is in range by so much the better gun,
and unless the committee consider that what is
gained in superiority of range by diminished area
of shot is lost i❑ efficiency as a shell gun, this vic-
tory of Mr Whitworth's must weigh seriously in
their decision.

As regards the trials against the armour with the
70-pounders, we have already expressed our opi-
nion as to their very unsatisfactory nature and
result. Two things, however, they have very
conclusively proved, if proof were needed, which
are—first, the immense importance and value of Mr
Chalmers's principle of backing targets; and, second,
that though there are no soft places in a target,
there are some which are very much harder than
others. Singularly enough, as regarda Mr. elaai-
mers's principle, two shots, one from Sir Wil-
liam's shunt-gun, and one from Mr. 'Whitworth's,
struck full upon a plate where it wes supported
behind by one of the horizontal stringers which
are used at wide intervals in the Warrior plan of
building, but which, according to Mr Chalmcreai
patent, ought to be used at intervab of about
nine inches apart. All were astonished to see that
these two shots fired at 50 yards had failed to
penetrate to little more than one-third of the depth
which on the previous day they had accomplished
at 600 yards. It was some minutes before this
apparent mystery was solved by finding that both
shots had struck on where, as we have said, the
plate was supported by one of the stringers pro-
posed by Mr. Chalmers, and all on the ground
could only look with astonishment at this unex-
pected proof of the value of an invention which to
this hour the Admiralty persist in depreciating. As
to striking upon hard parts, it often happened that
the shot struck on bolt heads or just in front of
where the plate was supported by a main rib, and
though, of course, in war there would be the same
chances to contend against, yet in a trial of this
kind the widely differing results, according as the
shots strike on supported or unsupported parts,
make it exceedingly difficult to arrive at a good
general average of the performance of each gun.
Mr. Whitworth got a fine result from one of his
shells, which went clear through the armour plate,
and burst in the wooden backing, giving the target
a great shake and slightly, but very slightly bulging
the inner skin. With one of his shells, also, Sir Wil-
liam got a still finer result, drawing the lower plate
on which it struck with all its massive bolts bodily
forward, nearly 2in., knocking off the heads of 10
out of the 40 bolts, which fastened all the plates of
the target, and setting the target itself on fire. This
shell shook the target more than any which was
fired against it. With solid shot the result was
pretty equal—that is to say, all got more or less of
their noses through the plate, and some got through
it almost entirely, except when, as we have said, '
they happened to hit on very hard places. It must
be recollected, however, that the small sectional
area of Mr. Whitworth's shot has always enabled
it to penetrate iron"; it is in damaging effect that
his solid shot frequently fails. The sectional area
of the Whitworth is 23,75, of the Armstrong 31.17,
and the work to be done in penetration must be taken
inversely as the areas, that is if both shot penetrate
say 6in., the Armstrong would have done more by
reason of its having made the larger hole. From
this competition against iron Sir -William withdrew
his side- wedge breech-loader, and, though it remains
to compete in other stages, it is by its withdrawal
from the armour contest virtually put out of this
competition altogether. From its lightness this in-
dividual breech-loader can effect very little worth
speaking of against armour, and Sir William per■
haps did well in withdrawing it, lest its failure might
have damaged the reputation of the principle of
this breech..loading system. This new principle of
closing the breech by powerful wedges of such
solidity that it is apparently almost impossible
to break them, while they fit with such accu-
racy as to slide easily into their places, seems
to answer very well up to the present. It is most
earnestly to be wished that either this or some
other principle of breech-loading for our heavy
guns may be discovered by mechanicians, for with-
out some such apparatus the use of very heavy
ordnance, which seems now absolutely
eg6fd :antt e s t
on board ships, will be attended with the
e last
difficulties. In the trials for rapid firing
oes at a
target, this new breech-loader week, when each gun was to fire 120 rounds
White; got
o in
rth
through its
work splendidly in 88 minutes,
in 132 minutes., to
127 minutes, and the shunt g
with the white dry wtwitilicoeutthweraetevr,amerely
wedges of the dArlyl the guns we
ne rde
ownocrek eodt
rh 8
some
o v hemsr
e d
difficulty in getting
breech-
loader, which were c
bucket of 'water was thrown
sul-
phurous deposit of the powder. After it had got
bitrseectah:kwa hen all parts instantly worked
into
t o through
the
with the most perfect ease. Once during these ex-
periments with the heavy guns Mr Whitworth's
jammed in the muzzle, and was not got home
great difficulty and the use of a heavy
shot jammed

His ROYAL HIGUNBSS, turning to the Master, Wardens,
and Assistants, assured them that it was a great source of
gratification to him to receive the freedom of their company
and to be enrolled among its members, and he thanked the
Master for the kind words he had been pleased to address to
him on the occasion.

The Clerk then tendered to the Prince tho accustomed
oath, which he took and subscribed. It pledged his Royal
Highness substantially as a freeman to be good and true to
our Sovereign Lady Queea Victoria ; to observe, maintain,
and keep the laws and ordinances for the government of
"the fellowship of the art or mystery of clothworkors," and
for its common profit; to be obedient at all times and in all
lawful matters to the Master, Wardens, and Assistants, and
to attend before them at all times upon a lawful summons
either of clerk or beadle, having no lawful or reasonable
excuse to the contrary.
On the motion of Alderman Sir J. MusGrtovE, seconded
by Mr Alderman ROSE, M.P., the seal of the company was
affixed to the deed of enrolment, and with that the cere-
mony terminated.
took luncheon
queting hall, where their Royal Highnesses ,
ar. The Master
The Prince and Princess were then conducted to the ban.
which was served with befitting Wend°
presided at the entertainment, the Princess sat on his
es were the Duke of Man-
chester Dire
hand, and the Prince o
Highness il his left, and on the right
and left of their Royal ,
Ward, the wife of
ththe 13'
e Master, the blar quii
and Marchioness of Carmarthen,
..General Knollys, wad
'shop of London
and Mrs Tait, Earl Spencer, Lieut
Captain Grey, Miss Burdett Coutts, Mrs Thwaytes, and
Lieut, The Colonel Cavendish. company was about 150
in number, and included the Wardens and Assistants and
members of their families and friends. The hall was taste-
fully decorated with the banners of the company, and be-
hind the chair of the Master there was a grand display of
their ancient plate.
The mAsTER gave the toast of " The Queen," which
wits drunk with every mark of respect. He afterwards
' proposed, in complimentary terms, " The Prince and Prin-
cess of Wales."

His Royal Highness the PRINCE, respondi,,p, to the
me oemni be
l enti:, mtaohlt,e2llelr,
my
a s te
wmaynn e Lords,warmest
t Ladies,hanks f Gentle-
,—luarndthevery
kind words in which the Master has proposed my health
and that of the Princess, and for the way in which the
toast has been received by every person in this hall. I need
hardly assure you that it has been a source of sincere gra-
tification to me to-day to be enrolled as a member of this
ancient corporation. I feel proud to think that I follow in
that respect in the footsteps of those Kings, my ancestors
and relations, and of my beloved and lamented father, who
received a similar compliment at the hands of the company.
In my turn I beg to propose a toast, which I am 6uro
will be well received in this hall. It is " Prosperity to
the Clothworkers' Company, coupled with the Master and
Wardens."
Tho MASTER having acknowledged the honour which
,his Royal Highness had paid them, the Prince and Prin-
cess took their departure, attended as before. Their
Royal Highnesses were escorted to their carriage by the
Master and Wardens, and as they left the hall the crowd
outside raised an enthusiastic cheer.

C