The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-09 00:00:00

National Rifle Association.

lie says:--
The holm of the Hartford was put hard aport, her ma-
chinery started, she described a segment of a circle, and just
as Buchanan (the captain of the Tennessee) had thought to
strike her squarely amidship and cut her in two, as she was
capable of doing, the towering prow of the noble old ship
struck him a tremendous blow on his port quarter forward
that knocked every man aboard his craft off his feet. The
force of the collision checked the headway of both vessels.
The blow given by the Hartford was a glancing one, and
the two vessels came up broadside to broadside. At this
moment a full broadside from the Hartford was let go at
her antagonist, but it was like throwing rubber balls against
a brick wall. Those heavy 9-inch solid shot, though the
muzzles of the guns which fired them were scarcely 10 feet
from the target, bounded away from the sides of the rebel
Monitor, and flew high in the sir in all directions, having
failed to leave more than a slight indentation in her iron to
show where they had struck. Simultaaeously with this fear-
inl discharge Buchanan threw open his ports and discharged
his broadside of four Brooks' rifles, which passed completely
through. the Hartford and expended their force in the water
beyond. Such was the relative fighting and resisting qua-
lities of the two vessels. The Tennessee immediately put
on steam again and started to try her strength with some
other of the wooden ships. The Brooklyn lay nearest, and
for that vessel she headed. Here she was met with almost
precisely the same reception as with the Hartford. In-
stead of butting, she received a butt ; both vessels came
together broadside to broadside ; both broadsides were
discharged, and the ram went on her way to try a third. In
this manner she encountered the Richmond, the Lacha-
wanna, the Oneida, and others, in each case with exactly
the same result. And then she turned to run back through
the fleet. She had tested their metal ; her sides were some-
what bruised I but she had suffered no damage whatever.
But for the limit of the powers of endurance of her crew in
the heated atmosphere beneath her close casemates, she
could stand this manner of fighting all day and not be hurt."
The daring Confederate had then to run the
gauntlet of the entire Federal fleet of monitors:—
In this promiscuous fighting it was difficult to tell
which of the vessels was doing the best work or which
was receiving the most damage. All the wooden ships
were suffering too much to admit of such a mode of
fighting being continued. Farragut's ready .re
our
resources
supplied a change of tactics at the opportune time. he
vessels were put in motion, describing a circle about the
rebel, the sloops and Monitors being directed
to ram her
every time they came around. That order of
of the battle
most
was
quickly put into execution, and was produotive
gratifying results. Each vessel chased its leader sb?ut,
throwing a broadside into the enemy at every opportunity,
and whenever the chance offered running in to get a butt at
her. In this way the plucky fellow was terribly used.
Every time one of the sloops came on to him the concussion
was such as to throw her crew off their feet. The scene
aboard the Tennessee at this time is described b
hy her
she
offi
cers as fearfully confused. The frequency wit which
was rammed and the continuous artillery fire that was
rained upon her so demoralised her men that they could not
be kept at their guns. A panic seemed to prevail among
them, and,although as yet none had been hurt, they begged
to surrender, fearing, at every new shock, that they would
be sent to the bcttom. And had they been less demo-
ralised they could under the existing circumstances have
inflicted but trifling more damage on us because of the course
pursued by Farragut, which prevented them from getting
range upon our ships or or attempting to run them down.
The number pitted against the rebel was so great that he
could only remain passive, and occasionally, comfort
the fears of his men and coax them to quarters, let fly a
broadside. I cannot attempt to describe the work of each
vessel in that mixed encounter. For half an hour it was
utterly impossible to distinguish one from another in the
confused jumble the whole presented any distance away,
half covered as they were in a cloud of smoke, the continu-
ous roar of 150 heavy guns telling of the prolongation of
the strife. Occasionally the Tennessee could be made out,
apparently endeavouring to escape her tormentors, when an
unlooked for enemy, striking her on the quarter, would
throw her out of her course, and compel her to remain and
face the music. During this exciting melee the Manhattan
got one good shot in directly at her broadside. The huge
bolt of iron struck fairly at the lower angle of her heavy
casemates and penetrated into the inside, spending its force
in the effort. This was the only shot that ever passed
through her iron. It seemed and was truly wonderful that
a craft of any kind could so long hold out against such odds
in number, and against such a terrible cannonading and
punchin as the fellow was exposed to. But ha exhibited
no outward signs of weaknese—he only sought to get away.

The Secretary of the National Rifle Association
presents his compliments to the Editor of The Sun,
and will feel greatly obliged by his inserting the
accompanying amended rules of " Rifle Trial" in
the columns of his paper.
11, Pall-mall East, Sept. 8, 1864.

CONDITIONS FOR COMPETITIVE TRIAL
OF RIFLES FOR 1865.
I. The annual competitive trial of rifles shall take
place at Woolwich, commencing at 11 o'clock a.m.,
on the 22d of November next.
11. Each competitor shall furnish six complete
rifles of precisely similar description.
111. The conditions as to bore, weight, pull of
trigger, stocks, sights, shall be as follows:
A. Bore—Minimum, 451.
B. Weight—Maximum, 101 b. The barrels and
stocks not to be weighed separately.
C. Length of barrel, 33 inches.
D. Pull of Trigger—Minimum, 61b.
E. Stocks—Half-stocked. All the barrels of any
one set of rifles may be fired from the same stock.
F. Sights—Regulation Enfield, but so arranged
as to admit of any other sights being subsequently
fitted to the rifles.
IV. Any person intending to compete shall, on or
before the 22d of October next, pay an entrance fee
of £lO, and shall at the same time sign a letter to
the secretary in the annexed form accepting the
conditions of competition as here laid down. Each
competitor may enter more than one description of
rifle, subject to these regulations and to the payment
of an additional entrance fee of £lO for each addi-
tional set of rifles.
V. The rifles shall be delivered at the office of the
association before 11 o'clock a.m. on the 21st of
November, and shall be tested and examined be-
tween the hours of 12 and 5 p.m. oti that day, in
presence of the council, by the superintendent of
the Royal Small Arms Factory. The rifles deli-
vered by any competitor will not be accepted with-
out the certificate of such superintendent that the
conditions Nus. 11, and 111. have been complied
with by such competitor.
VI. Each competitor shall, previous to the trial,
fill up and sign the annexed paper, stating the par-
ticulars of his rifle and ammunition, and the price
of the rifle.
VII. The charge and ammunition used b°y the
competitor at the trial shall be the same in all re•
spects as stated by him in such paper.
VIII. The price of the rifle shall in no case ex-
ceed £2O, and shall include the cost of a disc aper-
ture back-sight with Vernier scale, and a covered
slot foresight with graduated lateral adjustment.
The rifles must admit of these sights being fitted to
them.
IX. Three rifles cf each set shall be taken indis-
criminately for trial, and these shall be numbered
from one to three.
The rifles shall be tried in the order in which
they are numbered.
X. The order of shooting shall be determined by
lot to be drawn by the secretary, not less than 15
days previous to the 22d of November. A letter
will be assigned accordingly to each competitor for
each set of rifles delivered by him. Notice will be
given to each competitor of the letter drawn for
him.

XI. Letter A, rifle No. 1, shall commence the
trial; letter B, rifle No. 1 will then be taken, and
so on in succession ; and after the rifles No. 1 have
been fired, then rifles No. 2 will be fired, commenc-
ing with letter A.
The firing shall be continued from day to day
with the letter and number nest in order after the
rifle last fired on the previous day.
XII. The rifles shall be fired from fixed mecha-
nical rests. Government rests shall be assigned by
lot to such competitors who do not bring their own.*
XIII. Each competitor shall be responsible for
the adjustment, fitting, and general condition of the
rest used by him during the trial.
Each competitor shall either be present to fire his
rifles, or shall appoint a representative to do so.
XIV. The distance fired at shall be 1,000 yards.
Eight trial shots shall be allowed for each rifle
before the 30 competitive shots are fired.
Thirty competitive shots shall be fired coneecu,
tively from each rifle.
XV. No cleaning during the 30 competitive shots
shall be allowed.
XVI. The diagrams giving the mean radial de-
viation and taken as at the School of Musketry, at
Hy the, shall decide the figure of merit of the rifles,
XVII. The description of rifle that gives the best
figure of merit shall be selected as the one with
which the Queen's prize, second stage, shall be com-
peted for at the ensuing prize meeting of the As-
sociation.
XVIII. The figure of merit determining the best
description of the rifle shall be the average of the
three rifles of one description.
XIX. No mechanically fitting leading rods shall
be used.
XX. Competitors may use the clinometer to take
the angle of elevation, which shall be recorded by
an officer appointed for that purpose:rho clinometer
may also be used to readjust the angle of elevation
during trial, but only in presence of this officer, and
with a sanction of a member of the council, or some
person appointed by the council.
X.I. No telescope shall be used by cotnpetitors
or spectators after the trial shots.
XXII. Competitors shall either be present them-
selves or appoint some one tab() present at the target
They or their
when the diagrams are taken off.
representatives shall sign the diagram, which shall
also be countersigned by the secretary, or by some
person appointed by the council.
XXIII. The secretary shall select one of the
three successful rifles to be kept by the council as
a pattern arm.
XXIV. The successful competitor shall be re-
quired to supply to the association, by the Ist of
May, 1865, 60 rifles which shall in every respect be
similar to the pattern arm, except that they are