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

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 9, 1864.

MARKETS--This Day.

MARK-LANE.

The demand for wheat in the country markets held on
Saturday was by no means active. Holders, however, were
firm, and previous quotations were well supported. The
trade for spring corn and lour was quiet, on former terms.
L On the Continent the corn trade continues dull ; and at
New York, with a very limited export inquiry, both wheat
and lour have considerably declined in value.
The arrivals of English grain up to our markets last
week were moderate. The imports from abroad amounted
to 6,496 quarters of wheat, 2,337 barley, 15,685 oats, 855
beans, 1,574 peas, 513 tares, 5,805 linseed. 7,730 oilseeds,
600 sundry seeds, 485 sacks, and 12,423 barrels of flour.
Compared with Monday last there was a considerable
fa/ling off in the show of samples of English wheat on the
stands to-day; but the condition of the produce was tole-
rably good. The trade opened with firmness, both Kent
and Essex qualities being held at an advance of is per
quarter.

CURRENCY PER IMPERIAL MEASURE.
Wheat—Essex and Kent, red, 1863, per qr 36s to 91s
Ditto, old —s —s
Ditto, white, 1863 9ls 46s
Ditto, old —s —s
Norfolk and Lincoln, red, old —s —s
Ditto, 1863
Talavera,
Rye—
Barley—Grinding 22s 25s
Malting 24s 37s
Malt—Suffolk and Norfolk 6os 66s
Brown
Kingstown and Ware 6os 66s
Chevalier 66s 68s
Oats —Yorkshire and Lincolnsh., Feeding lBs 23s
Potato
Youg-hal and Cork, black lss 23s
Cork, white l6s 23s
Scotch, Feeding l9s 23s
Beans—Tick
Pigeons,
Peas—Grey . ... 285 3 s
Maple 3ls 34s
White ..• 33s 368
Boilers 33s 36s
Flour—Town-made, per 2801 b
Suffolk 2Bs 30s
Stockton and Norfolk 27s 29s
American, per barrel ... 19s 25s

been large, and, notwithstanding the advance in the Ban'hl
rate of discount to nine per cent,, the biddings for all de-
scriptions have ruled active, at the full prices current at
the close of last sales. Continental buyers have also been
in good attendance, and these have made somewhat exten-
sive purchases, at very full prices. The private contract
market is very moderately supplied with English wool, and
and the trade is very firm. Buyers, however, appear dis-
posed, in consequence of the shortness of the supply as
well as of the high price of money, to limit their transactions
to the supply of their immediate wants.
Current prices of English wool per lb.
Fleeces —South Down hoggets 1 llt to 2 01
Halt-bred do
Kent fleeces
South Down ewes & wethers 1 9 110
Leicester do.
Sorts—Clothing 1 6 110
Combing .

TALLOW.
The tallow trade is steady to-day, and prices are 9d per
cwt. higher than on Monday last. P.Y.C. is quoted at
41s per cwt. on the spot; and town tallow at 388 9d nett
cash. Rough fat is selling at 2s 2d pa Sibs.

Particulars.

Stock this clay....
Price of Y.C. ..
Delivery last week
Ditto from June 1
Arrivals last week
Ditto from June 1
Price of Town—.

The Armstrong and Whitworth Trial,

The competition for supremacy between these field-guns
has now lasted a month, each week of which has given
varying results with regard to excellency, though none of
them of such a conclusive kind as would warrant even the
most experienced in pronouncing an opinion as to the ulti-
mate success of either. We say "either," for though three
guns are in the field—the Armstrong shunt-gun, the
Armstrong breech-loader, and the Whitworth—yet the
varying equality of the competition we hays spoken of must
be understood to refer only to the performances of the
shunt-gun and the Whitworth, The breech-loader is a
good gun, and most especially is it good in its shell practice,
a missile which it was only made to fire, But, beyond its
shell practice, it is deficient in a thousand minor points, not
much, perhaps, when stated singly, but formidable in the
aggregate to either Sir William's shunt-gun or the hexagon
of Mr. Whitworth. Out of this country, where the science
of artiller), practice is carried to a pitch of perfection which
is apparently, to judge from the make of their ordnance,
not even attempted by other nations, the breech-loader would
no doubt be thought a perfect weapon. But, side by side
with such severe standards of excellence as Sir William's
shunt gun and Mr. Whit worth's hexagon, what were before
thought to be minor imperfections are now, with stern jus-
tice, measured as radical defects, and it is not too much to
say that the breech-loader is looked upon by all virtually out
of the contest. It now turns only on the comparative merits
of the shunt and the Whitworth. Thus, then, whatever
may be the result of the trials as regards the supremacy of
the Armstrong shunt-gun or the Whitworth, the competi-
tion has not been made in vain. Alt eady the country has
gained an immense advantage by the incontestable proof
thus affisided that the gun with which our batteries in the
field are now armed is not the best that can be got. Such
an all-important isa.th is well worth a little cost and trouble
to elicit, and we know asew beyond all doubt that, whatever
may be the result of Mr. I.cstiitworth's claims, Sir William
Armstrong himself has in the si‘sunt gun invented a very
much fitter piece of ordnance than that on which our troops
are now depending in the use of the bressch-loader. The
literal market value of such a result can scarcely be over-
estimated. It now, therefore, only remains to is() proved
which of the two conquerors of the breech-loader, the Arm-
strong shunt-gun or the Whitworth, is the better piece, aid
whenever this result is definitively ascertained the country
may rest content in the assurance that they possess an artil-
lery which, until it is copied, will be without an equal in the
world. In the present state of this competition we cannot
venture on even a surmise as to which of the two will
prove the victor; but we can say confidently that the time
is fast approaching when the most momentous question at
issue between the two ordnance—that of endurance—will be
decided one way or the other. Nine hundred and ninety-two
rounds have already been fired from each gun, and each now
gives the signs of wear which may or may not be developed
into alarming weakness at any moment.:3lore than this, in the
absence of strictly reliable information, and with the intense
party feeling which prevails among the supporters of each
gun at Shoebury, it would be unwise to say. We must add,
however, that both Sir William and Mr. Whitworth disre-
gard these defects as comparatively trivial, and that, on the
other hand, the committee did not quite agree in this opin-
ion, or, at all events, as a prudent measure, have determined
after the thousandth round, which will be fired to-day, to
treat them as unproved guns and fire them with a long lan-
yard while the gunners are under shelter, The mere fact of
such precautions being taken is an evidence of the begin-
ning of the end—an end which would terminate the whole
controversy if it took place with the big guns, but which we
must be careful not to regard as final with these small ones.
The principle of strength, rifling, and construction which
answers for a large gun will, as a mathematical certainty,
answer for a small one, but as an almost invariable rule
what does for a small gun will not do for a large one. The
great question, therefore, of destructiveness, length of range,
accuracy, and endurance will be tested quite irrespective of
the results of these field-pieces. It will be the trials of the
large guns which will form the court of final appeal.
As far as they have yet been gone through, the trials
embrace almost every kind of performance which could be
exacted from a gun in active service, with very many which
the utmost exigencies of a rough campaign would rarely
call forth. For range at various degrees of elevation the
tests have proceeded up to ten degrees, at which Mr.
Whitworth's gun threw its shot on an average 350 yards
further than the shunt. This may seem a trifling differ-
ence at 4,000 yards, or nearly twe and a half miles—a range
at which an engagement with such light guns would be
quite impossible. It must not, however, be forgotten
that if at two miles and a half there is an advantage
to Mr, Whitworth of 350 yards, at 20 degrees elevation, or
four miles' range, his superiority would amount to nearly
half a mile of increased range, and increased range as re-
gards the shot is greater penetration and more direct flight,
which is, in other words, a lower trajectory or flatter curve
as it drops from the muzzle of the gun to the earth. As a
set-off against this we must bear in mind that Sir William's
shunt gun has been found to be sighted too low and Mr.
Whitworth's too high; and, though the difference is far too
minute to affect the results at 4,000 yards, it might make a
material change in the question of flat trajectory at 400.
In fact, from the tests made of initial velocity, or the speed
at which the shots leave the gun's muzzle, it has been proved
that the actual velocity is higher with Sir 'William's shunt
gun than with Mr. Whitworth's. At 800 yards, however,
Mr. Whitworth's shot is close upon Sir William's, and at
1,000 or 1,100 yards is, no doubt, equal with it in rapidity.
We only mention this fact of initial velocity to show that
on the question of flat traje Stories Sir William's shunt gun
has a flatter trajectory up to 1,109 yards than Mr. Whit-
worth's. But flat trajectories, or, to speak in plain Eng-
lish, low lines of flight of shot from the gun's muzzle, are
only valuable at low angles of the gun itself—that is, when
its muzzle is not much elevated, and the shot therefore
ranges throughout thegreater part of its course across a field
at about the height of a man. At high elevation of the
gun, when a great range has to be reached, and the diffe-
rence between a high and a low tranjeetory is a difference of
100 or 200 yards above the ground, the low trajectory that
passes at 100 yards is in practice as valueless as the high
trajectory which passes at 200, for in both cases the shots
are not more noisy and quite as harmless as the idle wind.
8..: at low elevations of the gun a low trajectory is valuable
fttf
in practt and is a result which all scientific gunners and
i
strive hard to obtain, for, as a rule which
inventors a guns,'
est trajectory at all ranges is the
truest gun—that is,
never varies, the lON.-
h is the gun that sends its shot
longest in the straightest line. The test of initial velocity
proves that Sir 'William's shunt-gun has the lowest trajec-
tory up to 1,000 yards, and the increased range gained by
Mr Whitworth at 4,000 yards proves that h.I keeps not the
lowest throughout, but a low trajectory for thelo,7lsest time.
Last week trials were made at stockades, very similar in
their power of resistance to the " pahs" in New Zealand.
These trials proved nothing worthy of recording, If meant
to show that men under cover of the stockade could be killed,
the targets were placed much too close to the 15 inches of
green elm which formed the stockade to display the effect of
the shell on bursting inside them. If it was meant to destroy
the stockade, the charges with which the shells were fired
were much to large, as they all passed through before burst-
ing. The whole trial was, in short, one which had evidently
been discovered among the red-tape archives relating to the
tests of smooth-bore artillery, for as a test of rifled ordnance
it was almost worthless. The charges of powder were
either very much too great for such obstacles, or the ob-
stacles themselves were very much too great. The most
mterestieg trial was made with targets representing regi-
ments of intently in quarter-distance column. Each gun,
the shunt, the breech-loader, and the Whitworth, had a
series of targets to itself. These targets were of 2-inch
deal, and for each gun preeented a front of 54 feet wide,
and behind each front liLe of 54 feet were placed five
similiar targets, at intervals of 15 feet apart. They were,
in fact, placed for each gun so a.' to present exactly the
same formation in width and depth of a regiment of
pin-
fantry, moving, as they almost always do .raove;
. from
Thecant
to point, when in action in quarter-distance 61°
targets, however, were nine feet high instead of five, as a
regiment at 450 yards; which was the range for the - uns to
practice at, would have appeared to artillerymen. The
firing was expected to be made with case shot; but Mr
Whitworth preferred either percussion or time shell, for rea-
sons which we shall presently endeavour to explain. The
practice with all the guns was good, except in the case of
the breech-loader, for the shortcomings of which very plau-
sible reasons were given as to wrong sighting, with which,
however, we have nothing to do, merely confining our re-
cords to results accomplished.
Both the Armatrongs
.fired with segment shell and con-
cussion fuses; the Whitworth with shrapnel shell and
time fuses. On each series of targets the following results
were produced wtth five rounds from the three guns. With
the Armstrong shunt-gun there were through the six tar-
gets, from first to last, 591 distinct perforations :and 682
places in which either fragments of the shells had lodged
or deeply indented the wood, making 1,273 marks in all.
With the Armstrong breech-loader there were 333 perfora-
tions and 368 places in which the fragments had either
struck or lodged, making 706 marks in all. With the Whit.
worth there were 524 perforations and 132 places in which
either the shrapnel bullets had struck or lodged, making
656 marks in all. In addition to these marks Sir William
had opposite the targets opposed to his shunt-gun three
ragged holes—one 10 inches by 9 inches, one 14 inches by
12 inches, and one 15 inches by 5, so that in destructive
effeot the victory of the Armstrong shunt is here so pre-
eminent as to require no further comment. On Friday
morning last the same trials were continued with the same
targets to find the number of men which each gun would
kill in five rounds—the result to be ascertained after the
firing was over by forming up soldiers in line in front of
each targets and then counting the perforations only which
had been made its the wood behind every man. This test
gave the shunt-gun. a total of 108 mon killed, to the breech
loader's 118 men killed, and to the Whitworth 89 men
killed, In this case, also, very plausible reasons are
alleged to account for the Whitworth shells killing in
theory fewer than the other, but we can ;no more enter
into these excuses than Sir William's explanations why
Whitworth beats him in range, or why his breech-
loader shot badly at the trial we have mentioned.
These tests, we have said, ought to have -been made with
case shot, but Mr. Whitworth did not wish to use it,
tend
in
preferred his time-fuzee shells. Case shot is a
cylinder filled with musket balls, and stoppe
breaks d at each end
with a wooden wad. This cylinder instantly on

ground.
A coroner's inquest held at Waterford lately re-
minds us of negro life in a Slave State. A man
named Keown was found dead on the road in the
townland of Grange on Thursday morning. The
body was divested of coat, hat, and necktie, and
discoloured under each ear. The coat was found in
the house of Mr. Penrose, a gentleman of means,
near whose residence the body was found: It ap-
peared that the deceased, a man about 60, had been
in the service of that gentleman and slept in the
house, which he had left at 1 o'clock on the night
his death. Under these circumstances the consta-
bulary arrested Mr. Penrose, pending the coroner's
inquiry, on suspicion of having murdered his ser-
vant. The first witness examined was his sister,
Miss M, M. Penrose, who stated that she never
heard her brother threaten deceased, and that he
could not have gone out on the night in question
without her knowledge. She had known servants
to run away on ono :.4r two similar occasions to
keep out of the way. Another witness, Mary Ann
O'Brien, a servant in the house of Mr. Penrose,
told the following story—Her master came home
about 11 on Wednesday night a little ender the in-
fluence of drink. He neither saw her nor the man-
servant, but threatened to take their lives. Witness
left the gate, not wishing to be in his way, as Le
had several times struck her. Keown and she then
hid under the tree. Mr. Penrose had let out the
dog, and the deceased bid his companion hide, or
the dog would find them out. They soon after left
the tree and concealed themselves in the coalhole,
where they remained for two hours. Witness then
took courage, and •rept out to Miss Penrose, who
said she would leave the house and had written
about lodgings. Witness then called Larry (the
deceased), and said all was right as Mr. Penrose had
gone to bed. Bat hearing his voice " very cross"
she ran out at 1 o'clock. He came down and said
he would take her life. She ran, and he followed
her to the road gate. She heard him say that Larry
was past his labour, and he would take both their
lives as they were no use. He had attacked her
three months ago and struck her very severely, and
also nine months before. When he was in liquor
he often struck Larry. He knocked him down
twice by striking him on the side of the head
severely, and grasped his throat. Mr. Penrose
seemed to " have a great wish for Larry," though
he struck bin.
in a passion. Larry had taken
off his coat and necktie because he was afraid his
master would " choke him with the handkerchief.
He did so several times." Mr. Penrose was never
cross when he was sober. He came home under the
influence of drink two or three times a week. He
was not always violent. Mr. Penrose was exa-
minen, and stated that he came home late on Wed-
nesday evening, having taken some liquor during
the day ; he did not strike Larry that night, but he
asked him about a dog and " called out he was nu
use." He also scolded the cook about leaving the
kitchen door open. He did not notice where de-
ceased went. Dr. Carroll, who had made. a post
mortem examination, deposed that there were no
marks of wounds or contusions or violence on the
body. There was fatty degeueration of the heart,
and the lungs
were congested;
Theainaorlycl
highly congested and full
ofcabuiosoet
e
se
undue or extraordinary
the heart was sufficient to dh.e
death.Ti v
he
dailsseoa
aost
man was not able to bear

excitement.
The Coroner, Mr. Dalahunty, Eymmed up, and
the jury found that deceased " died by the visitation
of God." Mr. Penrose was discharged.

Two Austrian men-of-war left Brest on Saturday
for the North to join the Austrian squadron.
kPLEASANT !--" Colonel," said Butler, " should the
chances of war throw me into your hands, what would you
do with me ?" " I should execute you upon the spot." "Is
this purpose entertained generally by the officers of your
army ?" " Yes, and by the privates too." " Sir, I thank
you for your candour." " Sir, you are entirely welcome to
it."