The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-09 00:00:00

BURY ELECTION.

--
(From the Manchester Guardian of the 7th April.)
Oar attention has been called to a long article in last
Saturday's Examiner and Times, accusing those Liberals
who are supporting Mr. Frederick Peel, at Bury, of an
abandonment of their principles and of deliberate self-
stultification and treachery.
Every true Reformer must lament the unhappy divi-
sion of the Liberal party in Bury; but let us inquire
into the facts, and see whether the supporters of Mr.
Peel, or those who brought out Lord Duncan, are really
chargeable with producing it; in short, whether it is
not Lord Duncan who is brought forward to oppose Mr.
Peel—a member of that Liberal Government of which
his Lordship has been a supporter—sod not Mr. Peel
who comes to oppose Lord Dancau.
Our readers are, no doubt, aware that the present
Member, Mr. Walker, has been for some years unable,
through illness, to tcke his seat in the House of Com-
mons; and that, during the past year, several meetings
of Liberal electors have been held to fix upon his suc-
cessor. Communications were received from Sir James
P. Kay Shuttlewortb, Mr. Fort, of Reed Hall; and Mr.
Sergeant Wilkins; and afterwards from Mr. Ashton, of
Limefiold; Mr. Henry Vincent, and Mr. H. N. Philips.
Nothing further was then done; but when the recent
Ministerial changes rendered a general election probable,
another meeting of Liberals was called, at which it was
positively stated that neither Mr. Ashton nor Mr. Phi-
lips would stand. It is to be lamented that neither of
these gentlemen could be induced to come forward; for
most probably either of them would have been returned
without opposition.
On Wednesday, the 3d ultimo, another meeting took
place, at which Mr. John Grundy, of Outwood, presided.
Inasmuch as both Mr. Ashton and Mr. Philips declined
the honour of representing Bury, it was proposed by one
party that Mr. Peel should be written to; by another,
that Lord Goderich; and by a third, that Lord Duncan,
should bo communicated with. Each of these proposi-
tions was negatived; some of the most active of Lord
Duncan's present supporters actually then voting against
him. As it was evident that no proposal whatever could
be carried, the meeting broke up abruptly; Mr. Grundy
stating that if another meeting were held, the parties
must provide another chairman.
It being manifest that, whoever was proposed he
would be objected to by a certain section, a portion of the
liberal electors, who had always been firm supporters
of Mr. Walker, considering that it was desirable, if pos-
sible, to name a candidate likely to unite all parties,
after due deliberation fixed upon Mr. Peel, a known
Free-trader, and one who, by accepting office under
Lord John Russell, had proved himself a progressive
Reformer. On the Friday after they prepared a requi-
sition, of which the following is a copy:—
" To FREDERICK PEEL, EIQ., M.P.
" We, the undersigned electors of the borough of
Bury, in the county of Lancaster, do request you to be-
come a candidate at the next general election, for the
representation of this borough in Parliament, on free-
trade principles; and we pledge ourselves to use our
utmost exertions to secure your return.
" March sth, 1852." _ _ _

This was immediately signed by a large number of
influential members of the Liberal party, and by the
Tuesday following had received the signatures of 258
electors of all shades of opinion.
In the meantime, two or three individuals calling
themselves a deputation (although authorised by no
meeting and bearing no requisition), set to work to find
* candidate to oppose Mr. Peel. They applied succes-
sively to Mr. John Grundy, of Outwood, Mr. Alderman
Watkins, and Mr. Bazley, all of whom declined to
stand. In their extremity they, on Tuesday, the 9th,
stumbled upon Lord Duncan; quickly overcame the
strong objections which, less than a week before, they
had entertained to his Lordship; and that evening pub-
lished his address. Subsequently, the requisition to
Mr. Peel was signed by 416 electors, comprising a
numerous and very influential section of the Liberal
party, and including the two brothers of Mr. Walker,
the present Member, the chairman, and several leading
members of his committee,
It is thus manifest that although Lord Duncan's ad-
dress was first published, Mr. Peel was, to all intents
and purposes, brought out by the Liberals several days
previously, on free traao principles, and had, befsre
Lord Duncan was waited upon, secured such an amount
of support as to render any opposition utterly hopeless.
Indeed, the fearful haste with whieh, without meeting,
without requisition, without authority, in fact, without
any of the usual formalities, Lord Duncan was brought
dow❑ by parties who, only the week before, had been
instrumental in rejecing him, sufficiently proves that
his Lordship was brought, not for his own sake, but
solely to oppose Mr. Peel.

IRON VESSELS AS MEN OF WAR.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING HERALD.
Sir,—.Mr. Engledue, late an officer in her Majesty's
navy, has, in a letter to you, stated his opinion that
iron vessels have been prematurely condemned ; that
iron vessels are better qualified to stand the brunt of
an action than wooden ones ; that the results of the
experiments at Portsmouth have been decided by
amateur artillerymen, firing from the Excellent at
iron butts, representing sections of iron vessels simi-
lar to the Simoom and Greenock, &c., and that these
decisions were faulty.
I am sorry to find that a gentleman, whose name
formerly stood so honourably known amongst gun-
nery officers, should have declared his conviction that
the repeated trials carried, at great expense, on board
the Excellent, by his late brother officers, have only
amounted to a failure, and impressed them with
erroneous convictions, for it only proves how lament-
ably deficient his information must of late years be.
Captain Chads and the officers of the Excellent
cannot reply to his censures in the papers, as the
rules of the service forbid them. I am not so cir-
cumstanced, and as the theories of an able and good
seaman, as Mr. Engledue undoubtedly is, may pre-
judice men ignorant of the subject, and lead them to
reflect that all has not been done to test the efficacy
of iroa versus wood, I beg to write, for their informa-
tion, that the trials undertaken by Captain Chads,
and superintended by himself and officers of the
Artillery and Engineers, included every ingenious
device, and every plan of protection and defence that
the constructive talent of gunnery officers could con-
template as likely to answer in resisting the effects of
shell and shot on iron vessels were successively tried
and proved-utterly futile, whilst the impression at the
Conclusion of the trials on the minds of those expe-
rienced artillerymen employed in carrying out the
details wall, that absolute destruction to crew and
vessel would ensue to the iron vessel from the well-
directed fire of a wooden one—all combative arrange-
tnents being equal on both sides, save the structure
of the ships.
Tne results of these numerous and satisfactory ex-
periments are not published for general information,
but they would have been communicated to Mr. En-
gledue had he continued in the service, and followed
up a career so well commenced. I cannot publish in
a public paper the results of a series of trials, under •
taken for wise purposes, at a great expense, and for
secret information ; but this 1 can tell ironmasters,
builders, and shipowners, and all others, who are par-
tial to the statements of Mr. Engledue, that wooden
butts of good, bad, and indifferent timber, and all
sizes of scantling, have been fired at under all cir-
cumstances, with shells, shot, and small arms, with
.igh and low initial velocities, and the result was
in favour of wooden vessels, built with any timber,
as compered with iron ones, of all sizes, and any
workmanship. That shots penetrated easier, made
larger
and in brea holes, drove whole plates in, started rivets,
breaking distributeddeeks,e y a shower of small lang-
ridge over the
one of them
to give a black fellow a headache that heenough would
not recover from in a hurry. That shell
is still more destructive than shot, ceteris paribus,
and that, with reference to canvas screens being bun
Up, he must have a poor opinion of his brother gun-
take if he fancies they never applied them. Let him
take the trouble before he next writes to ask the ques-
tion of Captains Chads, Hewiitt
, or Wiseman, and
they will inform him
thrbo.ugh screens like small
—good honest wrought-iron plates,_ without a particle
enoughg
..em. to satisfy the
of rust on them—went
shot, but each small piece
appetite of a giant in swallowing them.
With reference to that portiong of his letter in which
he states that amateur artillerymen from the Ex-
cellent have prematurely condemned iron vessels
for war purposes, I think it simply a want of
good taste on his part, and an unjust reflection
of them,flectionon
his brother officers ; he was himself one
and by no means desirous of the
and the cou , I
name, as a pro-
fessional man, of 44 amateur ;"ntr
am happy to say, certainly does not consider the
ability and zeal of Captain Chads,a old war officer, likely to be ranged on the side of an
anaatuer engagement next war. distinguished_
Mr. Engledue would be very sorry to have one
of his fine iron-steamers a target for an enemy ;
and I can assure him that the iron-steamer
Phlegethon,
on shore to When I was on board of her, was run
under Sir T.prevent her sinking, whilst operating
Whilst, had Cahochrane, against an enemy in Borneo.
would have be:
been a wooden vessel, the damage
that last resource
orfePaired without being forced to
I beg to remai._ rnan-of-war.
u Your very obedient servant,
Alita AYLMER PAYNTER,
Commander, R.N.
enter Lane, of
NARROW ESCAPE.---Dr.
Street, was riding yesterday on Brook-
when a dog flew at the heels of
littilincrtba'ck Rotten-row,
companion, a young lady, was n°;se nuPon which his
doctor jumped
fright, and the lady was thrown off.-Th"ehe horse took
from his horse, although both were canterin
eu tbe lady
at the time, and so, by timely assistance, rescued quickly
over the
nor-gate,
from her perilous condition. The horses
rails, and were with difficulty stopped near GrPosed
without having done any mischief. This perrniZ
into the park ought certainly to be prevented. isiTlia" curs
dents have arisen from the same cause, and the owi: accei;
the dogs too commonly enjoy rather than deplore the
dents dents consequent on their animals' conduct.
TUE ROYAL SAPPERS AND MlNERS.—Detachments
of this important branch of the Ordnance service will leav
t4eir head-quarters at Woolwich at the latter end of this
month for Gibraltar, Malta, the Cape of Good Hope, and New
Zealand, to fill up the companies at those stations.
A DUEL.—A duel with swords took place at
Madrid on the Ist, between M. Sagasti sad M. Mantilla, in
consequence of a political dispute• The both wounded
- ;At ;lot poriousiy, • Y were
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April.