The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-09 00:00:00

1850.

1851

1803

leaving the gun, and the balls, spreading into a circle, tell
with murderous effect upon men at 400 and 500 yards, and
I from the shape of Mr. Whitworth's hexagon rifling it is
said he cannot use this missile with effect. Such a deficiency
—if it really exists—is not of serious moment; but still it
would be a deficiency, and as such, no doubt, recorded
against the gun. Using time fuzes at such a range as 450
yards appeared to be objectionable. In time fuzes a mis-
calculation of the time of bursting, even such an infinitesi-
mal miscalculation as 1-10th of a second would be sufficient
to make the shell burst 40 yards too soon or too late. When
such fractional nicety is required it is like expecting im-
possibilities to suppose that men in the hurry and hot blood
of action, with the enemy as close upon them as 450 yards,
would be able to cut fuzees with such minute accuracy as
to allow for 10ths of seconds in ever varying distances.
How it would be in action with no previous knowledge of
the ranges was shown on Friday at Shoeburyness, where,
with perfect knowledge of the range, with ample time, the
most scrupulous care, and every scientific adjunct required
to insure success, only one shell out of fiva burst precisely
where it was wanted, right in front of the targets. In mak-
ing these remarks we wish most carefully to guard ourselves
from being supposed to advance anything against either the
principle or efficiency of Mr. Whitworth's time shell, of
which it is not too much to say that it is the most perfect
missile of the kind ever invented. The percussion shell of
the Whitworth gun is far inferior to it, and, as compared
with the general efficiency of Sir William's percussion shell
may be pronounced almost a failure. As yet it has effected
so little that on every occasion he can do so Mr. Whitworth
prefers to use his time shell, and with very good reason,
After the trisls at these targets were over, another test of
endurance was made by firing 50 rounds of shot from each
gun, which were then left to cool, and impressions taken of
their interiors to show wear and tear of bore. It is only
necessary to say that these impressions proved that the guns
are wearing, though we are not yet in possession of such
authentic information as to state which has worn most.

In our account of the experiments made at Shoebur;n- ess
on Friday the merit of Captain Palliser's plan of fastening
armour-bolts was inadvertently ascribed to his brother.
The praise is due to Captain William Palliser, of the 18th
Hussars.

IRELAND,

DUBLIN, May 7.
The affliction of Lady Fitzgerald and her family
has been aggravated by a barbarous outrage on
the part of the peasantry. The popular feeling,
it seems, did not go with the verdict of the jury,
and the impression that prevailed among the lower
classes was that the suicide of Sir Thomas Fitz¢
gerald was deliberate and of malice prepense, with
the avowed purpose of defrauding his creditors.
Consequently, they thought that the verdict
should have been simply that he was guilty
of self-murder, and as such unworthy of
Christian burial. This view is to be ascribed
chiefly to an hereditary animosity to the family,
dating from 1798, when the grandfather of the late
baronet, by his atrocious cruelties to the insur-
gents, acquired the sobriquet of " The Flogger,"
by which he was long remembered in Tipperary.
The Irish peasantry firmly believe in Providential
retribution incases of oppression, and, if the wrong-
doer escapes in this life, they have no doubt that his
descendants will be punished in his stead. Th• his-
tory of this family seems to have confirmed the po-
pular belief, for it has suffered several heavy calami-
ties, and all have been regarded as divine judg-
ments. The son of " the Flogger," who inherited his
titles and estates, was drowned coming from Liver-
pool in the Nimrod. A young son of the suicide
hanged himself some years ago from a nail stuck in
the wall, to which he fastened a cord. According to
the popular story, the boy was showing to his little
sister and brother how his grandfather used to hang
the rebels. Believing, however, that the verdict should
have been filo de-se, a mob of strangers assembled
in the churchyard of Ballygriffin on Saturday even-
ing, and filled the grave with stones. The funeral
procession was as private as possible, the remains
being followed only by a few relatives and friends.
They were met by the mob at the gate, expressing
in such menacing terms their determination that
the corpse of the suicide should not enter that con•
secreted ground, that all remonstrances and en-
treaties were unavailing ; and the coffin had to be
borne back to the house. The Rev. Mr. Ryan,
P.P., exerted himself to calm the excitement of the
people; and next day he addressed them from the
altar, strongly condemning their conduct. On
Monday morning the interment took place
under the protection of a strong body of
constabulary 150 in number. A guard remains
upon the grave day and night. The funeral service
was read by the Rev. J. M, Poole, rector of the
parish. The Rev. Mr. Ryan and his curate, Mr.
O'Connor, were present, and exhorted the people
not to disturb the remains just committed to the