The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-29 00:00:00

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THE STEAM RAMS OF LIVERPOOL.

(From the Times' City Article.)
Although the statement of Lord Russell at Blair-
gowrie, so far as it bears on the case of the Liverpool
iron-clads, was indefinite, an opinion has been gene-
rally formed in the City that it is the intention of
his lordship to cause them to be detained, even
if the existing law should be decided in their
favour, so that Parliament should have an opportu-
nity, at the instance of the Government, to pass a
measure for the purpose. If this be really the
course contemplated, it will be viewed with great
anxiety. Not only does it involve the ques-
tion whether that system can be called " neu-
trality'' which in the midst of a conflict between
two belligerents makes a law to alter the balance in.
favour of one of them, and gives to that law practi-
cally a retrospective effect by detaining the objects
upon which, if it now existed, it could be brought
to bear, but also whether we shall not enter upon a.
path of inextricable embarrassment if we once
attempt to commence a plan of selection so as to
declare that as neutrals our traders may make and
sell certain specific articles, and must refrain from
making and selling other analogous articles,
it being left a matter of theoretical discussion
as to the things to which, under particular times
and circumstances, any especial belligerent may be
entitled to make objections. With such a precedent
established we may be sure that in every future caeaz
the most extraordinary demands will be put forth,
and that if we point to the law as it stands we
shall be told we have nothing to do but to alter
it ; that we made such alteration at the time of
the American struggle, and that if we now refuse
we shall indicate an animus that must be resented.
Looking at these points it is believed that, however
convenient for the Ministry that proposed plan may
be in order temporarily to stave off importunities or
threats, there could tcareely bo one for which we
might throughout the future have to pay more:
dearly. It is felt by our merchants that a Parlia-
mentary debate on the proposition will draw out
every point that either the patriot or the political
economist could wish to be weighed, and that in
that respect the introduction of the contemplated
measure will be attended with advantage, no assem-
bly in the world being more fitted to deal with it
than the House of Commons. But at the same

time it is doubted, looking at the possibility of the
Ministerial proposal being rejected whether it will
not prove that the most expedient course would
have been to have stood quietly on the existing law
of England and the United States, and not to have
given a new pretext for irritation such as will bo
afforded by any Parliamentary remarks or decision
that may not be palatable to the Washington poli-
ticians, or that may serve the purpose of diverting
attention from indignities inflicted by France by
raising an increased outcry against England.

PROSPECT OF A GAYER SEASON--The gentle.
men of her Majesty's private band, who have been released
from duty for some time, are in expectation of receiving
orders to resume their services at Windsor Castle during
Christmas.
GRAPE, CANISTER, SHRAPNEL, AND SHOT.—..
Grape consists of nine shot arranged in thre9 layers,
which vary in size according to the calibre of the gun ; they
are held together by two plates of about one-fourteenth of
an inch less diameter than the calibre of the gun, two rings,
a bolt and a nut. The canvas bag arrangement is toe old
for this war ; it is not so simple or durable, and has not
been used for years. Canister for a gun contains 27 small
cast-iron balls, arranged in four layers, the top of xis,
the remainder of 7 each; for a howitzer it contains 4S small
iron balls in 4 layers of 12 each ; for the same calibre you
will see that the balls for canister is a tin cylinder, closed at
the bottom by a thick cast-iron plate or a wooden sabot, and
at the top by a sheet-iron plate with a handle attached ; the
interstices between the balls are closely packed with saw..
dust to prevent crowding when the piece is fired. Shrapnel
consists of a very thin shell, which is filled with musket
balls ; the interstices are then filled by pouring in Melted
sulphur; a hole is then bored through the mass of sulphur
and bullets to receive the bursting charge. Now to explain
the difference between a "shrapnel" of "spherical ease'.
and a " shell." The destructive force:of a shrapnel is what
it receives from the charge in the gun, the powder ;in the
shrapnel being only to break the envelope and spread the
balls, they still moving forward by force of the impulse
they received from the charge in the gun. A shell is made
much thicker than the envelope of a shrapnel,and nearly OA
with powder, and will do no great execution it it explodes on
the ground, it having destructive qualities in itself, aside
from the discharge of the gun. Ashrapnel has only half of the
charge of powder that a shell proper has ; thus a 24-pounder
shrapnel contains 175 musket balls and 6 ounces of powder.
A 24-pounder shell has 12 ounces of
Powder. A 6-pounder
shrapnel has 39 musket balls and 25 ounces of powder:*
American raper.
AN AMERICAN FOREST.---These forests are gene'
rally entirely composed of trees of the same family,
which render it impossible to guide oneself, unless gifted
with that miraculous intuition which the Indices and huu..
tern possess, and which enables them to march with cu.
tainty in the most inextricable labyrinths. Wherever the
eye may turn, it only
their desperate
monotony, and wearying to the eye by
nameless streams,
Perceives immense arcades of verdure,
infinitely prolonged,
thatt u a ll
runlea
loe
nt i
wild beasts only crossed at intervals by the tracks of
beneath the covert, and
Which are mixed strangely together, and even-
whose windings cannot possibly be followed. Tho trees, of
3r,unknownagwiooatmcriiinyg places,
prodigious height and size, grow closely together, and aro
connected by a network of lianas, which, growing in every
direction, form an impassable wall ; from the end of the
branches bang, in long festoons to the ground, that greyish
moss known as Spanish beard, while the tall straight grass,
that everywhere covers the ground, shows that human foot
has nut trodden the soil here for a lengthened period. 111
theAtuerioan forests, night has mysteries st ill inure terrible.
Beneath these immense domes of verdure, which the sun is
powerless to pierce even at mid-day, and which remain
constantly buried in an undecided clear obscure, the dark-
ness may, so to speak, be felt; nothing could produce a
flash in this chaos, excepting, perhaps, the luminous eye-
balls of the wild beasts, that dart electric sparks from the
thickets,
Here, night is truly the mistress; the darkness
is peopled by the sinister denizens of the forest, whom the
obscurity drives from their unknown hiding-places, and
who begin their mournful prowling in search of prey.
From each elump, from each ravine, imae confused sounds
that have no name in lmman language; some clear and
sharp, others hoarse and low, and others, again, resembling
aliawiin,;, or sardonic laughter, aro blended in a horrible
concert. Then come the heavy footfalls on the ground,
and the sullen flapping of birds' wings, as well as that in-
cessant indistinct murmur,which is nought else but the con-
tinual buzz of the infinitely little, mingled with the hollow
I moan always heard in the desert, and which is only the
) breath of Nature travailiae; with her incomprehensible
secrets,—austaveilitnard's Seronfihml,