The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-16 00:00:00

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Ce.g.,essei
• sse--
due to purely exceptional causes.
010;eNVn,e'
containing the copper vent-pie-Cie
worth's guns is such a good idea,
capable, as was proved by its renov
day, of such comparatively easy acjustateß;that-
would bs a loss to the service if in practice it was
found a failure. Only time end the test of repid
firing can show sshether it is a failure or a success.
After the piece was re-vented and returned to the
committee it was found that advantage had been
taken of the gun's rest to give it a thorough clean-
act fair between the competitors '.ordered Sir Wm.
clean-
ing. This the committee at once detected, and to
Armstrong to have his gur.s cleaned also. We may
add, while on the subject of et:eaning the gun, that
Mr. Whitworth's is fired with an oil lubeicator in
the charge at each round, whereas Sir William uses
no lubrication whatever with his slinaL guo, which
is only dry sponged.
A great deal of nonsense, has been written nbont
low traj, ctorics and alt the other scientific slang. if
we may SJ term it, of gunnery. Ile escves-, as the
qaestion of trojectories—or, in plain terns, the
flight of the shot—is likely to become an imooetant
matter of dispute, we ms y venture on explaiui-og to
our readers what the whole thing means, whia'h can
be done in a very few words and without the use
of technical terms. All shot when they leave the
gun incline steadily down by their own gravitaeion
towards the earth, so that when objects are abased
at at a considerable distance the guns have to be
given a corresponding elevation to overcome this
tendency. The line, therefore, which al/ shot take
in their passage through the air may be described
as a segment of a circle, rising from the gun's mouth
till it descends with the shot on the object aimed at.
In proportion as this segment of a circle rises high
in the middle, or is a flat ellipsis, so is it called a
high or low trajectory, and in theory the gun which
has the lowest trajectory—that is, which sends its
shot in the straightest line to its object—mey be
said to shoot the best. Bat, in actual fact, a low -
trajectory is valueless, except at short ranges, when
it can be got from any and every rifled gun. A low
trajectory at 1,000 or 1,500 yards makes the greater
part of the shot's flight about the height of a man
from the ground, and is therefore certain in war-
fare to take off the heads or legs of any troops in-
tervening between the gun and the object aimed at.
This, as we have said, any rifled gun will do. At
long ranges this is useless, for then such elevation
has to be given to the gun that the flight of the shot
is always considerably above the ground, and whe-
ther it be 15ft , as in a low trajectory, or 20ft., as
in a high trajectory, is of not the slightest con-
sequence, as in either case the shot injures no one.
Such, in plain language, is the real meaning and
value of these high-sounding terms, to which we
should not have thought it necessary to allude:, but
that it is stated that there is a permanent error
in the sighting of Mr. Whitworth's gun, which
is in its favour to the extent of 41 minutes ele-
vation above what appears to be its., level. We
give this, however, as a mere on dit, for though
the attention of the Committee has been drawn,
to it, no decision has been come to. If the re-
port should turn wet, on examination of the gun,
to be unfounded, Mr. Whitworth may justly claim
all the merit that attaches to a low trajectory at
short ranges. If, however, 41 Minutes have to be
added to his elevation, it will leave the question of
superiority in the same state in which the whole
contest still remains—namely, that in accurary and
range there is really nothing to choose, and for •
destructiveness and endurance we must wait the
issue of next week's competition.

~.--~.

Vacancies, Promotions, and Appointments
in the Civil Service,
(Rom the Civil Service Gazette.)

WAR•orricE—Mr P. Gaskell and Mr D. Overton
M‘D armid have been appointed temporary clerks in the
Adjutant-General's Department.
EDUCATION-OFFICE-Mr P. Do Page Renouf has been
appointed an inspector of schools.

POST-orrlcE—The postrnastership of Wolverhampton
is vacant—income, £3lB, with an cffiee, p-fovided by
the Crown. Mr X. E. Blake has been appointed a tempo-
rary clerk, and Mr H. M!,s,ey a clerk, at Chester—Mr W.
11. Carr has bout promriiel from th...) 2d to the Ist class
Acce,uu7, Branch, Dublin.

CUSTOMS—Mr VI. Caird, clerk, Ist class, has been pro-
moted to be a principal clerl:—Mr B. Howson from the 2d
to the lst class, Mr A. Elston from the 3d to the 2d class,
Mr G. Ellice, from the 4th to the 33 class, Mr J. M. New-
man from the sth to the 4th class of clerks, and Mr W.
Smith from the Gth to the sth class of Clerks in tho %rare-
lit,using and general duly department, London—Mr W.
31.`CaIlum from the 23 to the let, Mr G. Middleton from
the 3.1 to the 2d, and Mr J. Rodgerson from the sth to the
4th class of out-door ufficers, Shields.

INLAND REVENUE—Stamps and Tax Branch—Messrs
F. R. Meynell and C. Riskman have been promoted from
the 3d to the 2d division, 2d class, Messrs. F. H. Freer, and
R. A. Long from the 4th to the 3d class, and Messrs. T.
Lordan and R. W. Thornby from the 4th to the 3d class in
the Accountant-General's Department—Mr W. Srcith.,sur.
veyor of taxes, has been transferred from Stafford to Yeovil
Mr J. B. Watson, surveyor of taxes, from Knaresborough
to Beverley—and Mr W. Maher, surveyor of taxes, from
Richmond to Haverfordwest—Mr S. Smith, assistant cur-
veyor of taxes, has been promoted to be a surveyor, and ap-
pointed to Knareaborough—and Mr F. Smith, assistant
surveyor, to be a surveyor, and appointed to Richmouti,
Yorkshire.

THE EAST INDIES.—Mr E. Jackson has been appointed
to officiate as Paisne Judge of the High Court of Judica-
ture at Fort William, in Bengal, during the lion. H. V.
Bayley's absence—Ml C. F. Vaughan has been confirmed
in his appointment to the Public Works Department as an
accountant, third class, and posted to Oudh—Mr F. A B.
Glover has been appointed to officiate as Civil and Sessions
Judge of East Burdwan--Mr H. G. Paynt,er to be assistant
to the magistrate and collector of Patna, and to exercise tha
power of a magistrate and deputy collector in that
district—Mr H. B. Lawford to be a magistrate and col-
lector of the second grade in Furreedpore—Mr H. W.
Alexander to be a magistrate and collector of Midgapore—
Mr T. E. Ravonshaw to be a magistrate and collector of
Patna—Mr T. Twedio, deputy magistrate and deputy col.
lector of Narail, to Dinagepore, in which district he will
exercise the full powers of a magistrate—Mr. V. Irwin to
be assistant to the magistrate and collector of Jessore, and
to have charge of the sub-division of Narail, exercising the
powers of a sub-magistrate of the Ist class ; Mr R. Porch
to be assistant to the magistrate and collector of Naddea,
and to have charge of the sub-division of Meherpore, exer-
cising the powers of a sub-magistrate of the Ist class— the
Hen. R. S. Ellis, C. 8., sanitary commissioner at Madras
—Mr J. G. Thompson to act as judge of the Court of
Small Causes in the Zillah of Telicherry—Mr J. W. Reid
to be head assistant to the collector and magistrate of
Tinnevelly—Mr J. H. Garstin to be head assistant to the
collector and magistrate of Malabar—Mr A. C. Trevor to
act as second assistant to the collector and magistrate at
Kaira—and Mr H. E. Jacomb to officiate as under-secre-
tary to the Madras Government in the revenue, financial,
and general departments.

Fearful Collision and Loss of Life at the
Mouth of the Thames,

GRAVESEND, FRIDAY, April 15.
Early yesterday morning a very alarming collision took
place near the Mouse Light, a few miles below the Nore,
which resulted in the immediate foundering of a barque
called the Enterprise, Captain Hitch, and the loss of three
of tier crew. The unfortunate vessel was bound for St.
Vincent with a valuable cargo. She went down the river
on Wednesday, in charge of Mr. Speeding, a Trinity House
pilot, and anchored near the Mouse Light, about half-past
8 o'clock, for the night, the .weather being clear, with a
sharp breeze from E.S.E. The ship rode safely enough until
a quarter-past 3 o'clock on the following morning, when a
vessel, since ascertained to be the scheoner John, Captain
Lister, from Newcastle. stated to have been tinder fall can-
vas, came into collision with the Enterprise, striking her
on the port bow, just before the cat-head. So severe was
the shock that some of the crew were thrown out of their
berths. All hands were eoon on deck, and it was discavered
that the barque was rapidly sinking. One man succeeded
in getting out of the hole in the bow, and scrambling on
the
Enterprise the schooner. Within three or four minutes of
Enterprise being run into she sunk, in several fatholn-g,
four of the crew going down with her, One pear
r was observed struggling in the water; his
cries
for fellow
were most piercing, but at the moment no assistance could
be rendered. Another of the tour,
sttuhliceec se d
piloted
hart, took to the foretop gallant masthead asf hour
.le
was
His cries were heard, and in the course 0
o.anby b
the fishing
taken off and rescued from a watery
grave
then remained
smack Express, Grover, master.
Ihrleasnd in a sinking state,
by the schooner, which was dismaare a youtlat,hnesvmeseede Lsucrickk-.
remainder of the crew
and on board which the pilot and
wentin
oat
in
n herthe
of the Enterprise had got. '!'hey succeeded
near the Black Tail Buoy,. and,an .0,
a but nothing mild
smack in search of the mining
d"ifficti..y
it was experienced
greatest
each other, and for a time, it
in clearing the vessels from be seen of them. The t
was feared, that the Inooner would go down with the
schooner
having been fallen in with, she
barque. The Victory
.
till] brought her up the river to this
took the schooner m
Ww
hulk,a the crew of the smack assisting
names of those who perished were Slater,
in
pumping. The
Grant, seanicu, and W. Barrow, a lad.
aged 49, and John
place, alongside the coal

VEWSPAPER

;1?

f
v
It

STEW THE ATRE-RO YAL, ADELPHL-
Sole Proprietor and Manager. Mr. B. Webster.
THIS EVENING, ICI ON PARLE FRANCAIS : Mr. J.
L. Toole, Mr. R. Phillips, Mr. Billington, and Miss K.Kelly.
At 8, LEAH : Miss Bateman, supported by Messrs. A.
Stirling, R. Phillips, Billington, Stuart, Eburne, Stephenson ;
Miss H. Simms and Mrs. Billington.
To conclude with THE AREA BELLE : 3lessrs. J. L. Toole,
P. Bedford, K. Homer, Miss Woolgar, and Mrs. H. Lewis.