The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-26 00:00:00

utmost of his power, to uphold the dignity of the house. It
would be in the recollection of the house, that a few nights
ago, whilst the naval estimates were under discussion, he
made some remarks upon the appointment of Mr
Reed, as chief contractor of the navy. Ile con-
sidered that appointment open to question ; but, at the
same time, in speaking of Mr. Reed, he thought he
carefully guarded himself from making any unkind or un-
generous remarks. lie asked the other evening whether
the person appointed to this important post had ever built
a ship, adding that if the question were answered
in the negative, that the appointment could not
be regarded otherwise than a most improper one,
because the holder of the office exercised great control over
all the dockyards, and the selection of an unqualified officer
wonld assuredly lead to lack of proper management and
discipline. He (Sir F. Smith) urged, in support of the
unfitness of Mr. Reed for the appointment, that
he had never been a member of the College of
Naval Architecture. It appeared that Mr. Reed had been
brought up in one of the dockyards, and had raised himself
from a very humble position to one of some importance.
As only a humble man himself, he (Sir J. Smith) liked to
see men rise, and rejoiced that Mr. Reed had been
successful in elevating himself in his profession.
He (Mr, Reed) had been sent to the School of
Mathematics and Construction, and had probably dis-
tinguished himself there. Still, as he was not a member
of the College of Naval Architecture, and had never built
a ship, he (Sir F, Smith) must take leave to say he did net
consider him fitted for theappointment conferred upon him.
He could not in that case have had sufficient practical ex-
perience to discharge properly the duties of his office, and
therefore: it was wrong to place him at the head of an im-
portant department of the navy, though he confessed he
should have been glad to have seen him falsify the opinion
he had formed with respect to him. Now, yesterday
he received a letter from Mr. Reed complaining of what he
had said in that house. (The hon. baronet read the letter
which set forth that the writer had been brought up in the
school referred to, which he considered quite equal to the
College of Naval Architecture.)
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

Bank of England Return.--This Day.

An Account, pursuant to t
cap. 32, for the week ending
of Feb., 1863:

he Act 7th and Bth Victoria,
on Wednesday, the 25th day

HAIM DE P LBTAIENT.
otes issued .......X28,370,210 Government Debt £11,015,100
Other Securities .. 3,634,900
Gold Coin & Bullion 13,720,210
Silver Bullion ....

Z 28,370,210

X 28,370,210)
BANKING DEPARTMENT.
oprietors' Capi- Government Soon-
:al £14,553,000 rities (including
Rest
.

Public Deposits (in-
cluding Exche-
quer, Savings'
Banks, Commis-
missioners of Na-
tional Debt, and
Dividend Ac-
counts) 7,901,658
Other Deposits 13,367,153
Seven Day and
other Bills 698,773

_.,
nuity) N11,043,070
Other Securities 18,669,000
Notes
Gold and Silver 893,886
Coin

£39,759,120
W.

£39,769,120
MILLER, Deputy Cashier.

Feb. 26, 1863.

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION.

The second annual meeting of the National Rifle
Association commenced in the Royal Arsenal
marshes on Monday, for the purpose of testing the
rifles to be used at the forthcoming Wimbledon com-
petition. Major-Gen. Hay, Captain Horatio Ross,
and Captain St. John Mildmay were present as
members of the Council, the latter gentleman act-
ing the part of secretary as heretofore. The names
of the competitors entered for the occasion were
Messrs. Ingram, Reeves, Terry, Prince, Kerr,Whit-
worth, Bissel, Turner, Parsons, Baker, and Aston,
the first five having withdrawn before and during
the contest. Mr. Henry, who acted last year as a
most formidable competitor with Mr. Whitworth,
was present on Monday merely as a spectator, and
stated that he was readyto tryhis own weapon against
that of the winner, whoever he might be, et the close
of the trials. .Each gunmaker was provided with his
six rifles of the same description and quality—viz.,
minimum bores, 451; maximum weight, Vb.; and
minimum pull of trigger, 61b. The rifles were fired
from fixed mechanical rests, and the arrangements
were nearly similar to those of last year. The best
figure of merit is to be selected as that which shall
be used in the competition for the Queen's prize.
The following state of the targets, obtained on.
Tuesday over the 500 yards' range, will show the
various figures of merit :—Whitworth, 57 decimals;
Baker, 65; Parsons, 73 ; Turner, 74, Aston, 91 ;
Bissel, 87. The result of the 20 rounds fired by Mr.
Whitworth on Monday, was yesterday ordered by
the Council to be cancelled, and the shots to be fired
anew, on account of a breach of No. 8 Article of the
Regulations, which states that "No cleaning out
after trial shots, or during the 20 recorded shots,
shall be allowed." The breach of the article con-
sisted in Mr. Whitworth having employed a me-
chanical ramrod, having a point fitted to the bore
of the rifle. This is constructed so as to push the
lubricator down on the powder, and in doing so
drives the fouling of the rifle down also, and leaves
a clean tube for the bullet. This was observed by
Captain Ross, and objected to by the Council, on
the ground that it infringed the rules, which pro-
vide that no cleaning rods shall be used. The dia-
gram made on Tuesday by 11r Whitworth to stand
in the place of the objectionable one of Monday,
varied, however, but slightly from the former one.
After computing the 500 yards' range, the result of
which appear in the above scale, Mr. Whitworth
and Mr. Aston fired 20 rounds each over the long
range of 1,000 yards, at the termination of which
Mr. Aston stated his determination to withdraw
from the trials. On Tuesday the weather was ex-
ceedingly appropriate, with a slight variation and
rise of the wind towards the latter part of the day,
and which somewhat affected the flight of the
bullets over the long range. The result through-
out was highly satisfactory.
The contest was continued yesterday, the com-
petitors present being Messrs. Whitworth and
Turner, Parsons and Baker, and Mr. Bissel, who
fired alone on account of the retirement of Mr. Aston.
The range was 1,000 yards, and in order to facilitate
the proceedings the two pairs of competitors were
enabled to fire at the same time, a double range
having been placed at their disposta. The firing
commenced at 10, and terminated about half-
past five. Mr. Whitworth, as usual, made the best
of the diagrams yesterday, the whole of which,
from the double target, are as follows :—Whit-
worth, 1.6411.-2.10 ft. ; Baker, 2.74-2.78 ; Par-
sons, 2.37-1.94 ; Turner, 3.02-2 65 ; Bissel, 3.40
—2.89 ; the calculation being the radius from the
first hit and not the centre of the target, the object
being to obtain a uniformity of aim rather than
accuracy. A portion of Mr. Parson's firing WWI,
found to be grouped together in a singularly close
cluster, 16 of the shots falling together nearly one
over the other, the remainder falling wide of the
mark, from the fastening of the rifle becoming
somewhat loose, and the second batch of shots all
followed another, making a similar figure to the
first. Had not the shift taken place they would all
have struck in a space of 2ft. 3in. square. One of
his targets made at 500 yards, had a mean radial
deviation of .32 of a foot. The cause of Mr. Henry
withdrawing his name from this year's contest was
mnit
stated
tbsyaghaiminsitn thea l
ee
int t e;ri 0 y
rests, t o
nat
t coofuvnacri
il
ousi
ach
and states his strong conviction that the uses
of a variety of the rests cannot give the true figure
of merit of each rifle, there being as much difference
in the quality and construction of machine rests a s
sameation a n
amanufactured in the rifles themselves. The offer, therefore, that
each competitor be allowed to bring his own rest La
both useless and unfair. In his opinion, each com-
spue
pt ipt ol
ire
as hboyu ltdh
eu sAe
stsho
cerest, V h ch shouldby
bset
neutral party who would have no interest whal-
ever in the competition.

As we stated last week the claim of the Colonials
promoted for distinguished service during the
Crimean war has been decided in the negative. Sir
George Lewis gave this answer to their champion, Colonel
Lindsay, in the House of Commons, on Thursday night.
General Lindsay, indefatigable to the last, has moved for
returns upon the subject which, we presume, he wishes to
put forth by way of protest. We all know the story of the
Chiet Justice, who when a defeated suitor protested against
his decision, said, " Well then, protest sir, and go home:*
We suspect this will be the case with Colonel Lindsay and
his proteges.—Artny and Navy Oacette.
The oyster fishery on the western coast of Franca
has been most successful during the last few days, The
FecamP boats brought in on an average 14,000 each. The
total quantity there on Saturday last 100,000. At Saint
Valery the catch was from 5,000 to 10,000 each boat.

ARRIVAL OF THE GLADIATOR.--LIVERPOOL, Feb.
25.—The steamer Gladiator has arrived here from Nassau.
She brings 500,000 dols. in specie and 420 bales of cotton.
THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND THE BRAZILS.
—The Nord of yesterday says :—" We aro informed that
very precise instructions have been sent by the Govern-
ment of the Emperor to the French legation
Janeiro, in a sense essentially sympathetic with I3rsz
at Rio de