The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-20 00:00:00

inches thick, then angle iron and ribbing, and
finally a backing op with timber balks and supports
IS inches thick. It is not expected that even the
largest ship can carry much heavier pkting than
this, yet Mr. MACKAY'S gun sent a shot clean
through this obstacle and carried a large portion
of the target away with it. The principle cn which
this gnn is constructed is perfectly novel, and if, as
there can be little doubt from the result of the re-
cent trial it will do, if it prove as effective at long
ranges as it has done at 200 yards, it must produce
a great revolution in the science of artillery. It
is curious to observe that the most striking im-
provements in mechanics and engineering are often
suggested by men who have been brought up in
a perfectly different walk of life. Sir W. ARM-
STRONG, for example, belonged originally to the
legal profession, but he nevertheless introduced
hydraulic cranes and his celebrated breech-loading
field-pieces. Mr. JAMES MACKAY, a timber mer-
chant of Liverpool, has upset all the theories of
artillery engineers by combining the advantages of
the smooth bore and the rifled cannon, and by turn-
ing to profit the windage which has hitherto been
the bugbear of artillerists. Sir. W. ARMSTRONG,
in his shunt gun, to a certain extent lessened the
loss of initial velocity caused by the resistance
offered to the projectile by the grooves of the barrel,
out Mr. MACKAY obviates the resistance altogether
and gives his shot a greater rotatory motion. The
principle heretofore adopted in rifled cannon has
been to allow as little windage as possible, and to
impart rotation to the projectile by making it fit the
grooves of the piece. Mr. MACKAY, on the other
hand, has conceived the plan of having the
grooves so arranged that, while the shot fits
closely to their outer edge, the grooves are
left open for windage. By this arrangement
the gas has to travel some feet further than the
shot, and in doing this imparts a rapid and perfect
'spin to it. Now, as the shot does not traverse the
grooves, they do not offer the same resistance to it,
as in the case of ordinary rifled cannon, and there-
fore the pressure on the gun is necessarily decreased.
Again, as the shot is not checked by the resistance
of the grooves, its initial velocity at the mouth of
the gun is as great as that of a shot from a smooth
bore, while at the same time it possesses a greater
rotation than an ordinary rifle projectile. 'We do
not wish to enter upon the question which was
raised by the noble lord the Secretary for War,
as to the possible inaccuracy of the instruments
used at Liverpool to ascertain the velocity of the
solitary shot fired from Mr. MACKAY'S gun, but if
there be any truth in the report of the result of that
one shot, which Earl DE GREY does not deny, we
think our conclusions are pretty well borne out by fact.
The shot struck the target with a dull thud a little
below the bull's eye on the right, and in the very
strongest part, where it was backed up by the rib
of the ship's side, the angle iron, and the timber
balk. At the point of impact a perfectly circular
hole was cut. The shot then powdered the teak,
passed through the inner skin and the angle iron,
shattered the timber balk into fragments, and was
picked up 82 yards beyond the target, together with
a circular piece of the iron armour, about 80ib.
weight, it had carried with it through the back sup-
ports. The sand showed that it had spun to the
last. About 70 fragments of iron, bolts, and frag-
ments of the inner skin and angle-iron were picked
up 100 yards from the target. The shot when found
was reduced from 13 inches to 11 inches in length,
and increased about an inch and a half in diameter
at the end which struck the target. The other end
was uninjured. The whole target was forced back
about six inc'aes, and so much deranged that mire
shots were not fired. After this, will any-
body say that the principle ought not at
once to be tes•ed to its fullest extent.
To the country to wait for a perfect gun
until some private individual has impoverished
himself in diecnvering and perfecting a wea-
pon which it was the duty of the Govern-
ment to assist him in developing his inven-
tion. Mr. MACKAY is independent of such patron-
age, or he would not have been able to astonish
the public in the way he has done, but that is no
reason why, if his discovery be of service to the
nation, the nation should not recognise his claims.
If there be any merit in the invention, it must
necessarily follow that the strain upon the piece
must be much less than in the present system of
rifled artillery. Why, therefore, cannot this sys-
tem be applied to the much abused, but yet effec-
tive 68 pounders, whose only fault seems to be the
want of accuracy and force at long range. Earl
DE GREY and RIPON has promised that the new
gun shall receive all due attention. Let us hope
that that attention may not be such as has been
paid to too many modern improvements !

Lord GRANVILLE has not made matters better as
regards the Council of Education, and it will not
elevate public opinion as to his discretion, though
they may admire his candour in avowing it, to find
that he declares himself to be responsible "officially,
morally, and practically for what had taken place,
He also saddles himself with the odium which Mr.
LOWE incurred by Lis hasty and abrupt declaration,
for he proclaims that he would have made j'ist the
same sort of answer. This may be deemed very
magnanimous, and many may call it chivalrous,
but it is really most absurd, and rather an insult to
the House of Commons thus to reiterate that what
that assembly has pronounced to be an injudicious
course, is precisely the one which he would follow.
It is strange that one of so much experience as the
noble lord should not have known better than thus
to commit himself, and, after all, what good did it
do. He did not state that he intended to follow
Mr. LOWE'S example; but he seemed to defy in-
quiry and to charge the House of Commons with
conspiracy or for having presumed to
meddle with matters beyond its ken. Lord GRAN-
VILLE laid great stress upon the appointment of a
committee to inquire into the state of the case. This
may be all very well, but there are two things to
notice—first, that it is not quite the thing to talk
of the appointment of a committee, as if it were an
act of penance which it hal to perform, for having
presumed to pass an opinion on a subject of
national importance; and next, that it by
no means follows, as a predetermined fact,
that the result of such inquiries and in-
vestigations prove condemnatory of the vote
lately passed or subversive of the implied cen-
sure. Of course it is not pleasant or palatable to
be told either privately or publicly that one's con-
duct or mode of action is unfitting or unsuitable,
bat it is somt times needful to make these assertions,
and utter these unwelcome truths. After the
hubbub and commotion that has ensued it may
doubtless be deemed advisable to prove more justly
the facts of the case, but it does not in consequence
follow that by this means the Honse will undo its
previous decisions. To begin with, it is a very dan-
gerous practice and a most unwise custom for the
Council of Education to interfere and alter the res
porta of the Inspectors. The evils of the system
are manifest to all who will take the trouble to
think on them dispassionately and unprejudiced.
It confers a sort of arbitrary power on the autho-
rities which it is not safe for them t be invested
with. It may be all right, but at the same time it
may be all wrong, and it certainly -affords the
chance to the censors and critics of expunging all