The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-10 00:00:00

THE 'SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, 'NOVEMBER 10, 1862.

charges of official disloyalty and corruption, has
been broken up by General Wool, and its members
arrested.
The Governor of Maryland has gone to Washing-
ton to demand the release of the members. The
arrest has caused much excitement.
The steamers Tubal Cain and Ann have been
condemned.

•••••...D.l.lloWron..
advise the secretary of State vita "esPect to the
armament of works of fortification proposed to be
constructed, cr in respect to which any alterations
may have been made during their progress. All
questions relating to changes in the existing arma-
ments are to be referred to him. The Deputy-Adju
tant-General of Royal Artillery, the Director of
Stores, Accountant-General, Director of Contracts,

eads of manufacturing establishments, and others,
will render the Director of Ordnance every assist-
ance in their power, and supply him promptly with
such information as he may from time to time re-

quire.
The command of the 3d depot battalion at Chat-
ham garrison will shortly become vacant by the
transfer of Lieut. Col. G. N. K. A. Yonge to a line
regiment. The officer mentioned as the successor of
Col. Yonge is Lieut.-Col. T E. Knox, C. 8., 67th
Regiment.
Recruiting for the several British and East India
depots at Chatham garrison, the service companies
of which require augmentation, has fallen off very
much within the last few Weeks, The depot of the
83d Regiment, the head-quarters of which are at
Dover, is now very strong, and a large detachment
has been forwarded from Cnatham to join the
service companies. Recruiting for the 75th Regi-
ment, which was discontinued some time since, is
ordered to be again opened iu consequence of the
service companies of the regiment being below their
proper strength.
Ensign Marvin, 2d battalion, 6th, !las proceeded
from the camp at Colchester to Harwich to assume
the command of the detachment stationed there, in
the room of Lieut. Gubbins, of the 66th, who has
received leave of absence till the 31st of December,
Capt. Manners, Ist battalion, Ist Regiment, will
join the service companies of that corps on the
arrival of Capt. Hill, who will take the command
of the depot.

A testimonial has just been presented at the
camp at Colchester to Colour-Sergeant Sweeney,
who, after serving in the army for nearly 20 years
has received the appointment of Sergeant Instructor
to the 3d West Riding Volunteer Corps, stationed
at Bradford.

A large block of barrack buildings is about to be
commenced at Warley, near Brentwood.

sion, I will accept, in the earnest wish that the re-
- mnx- be advantageous to the public service, and
• any reserve on my part, that

SV,II

it coriiidehbf

it will be of an amicable nature.
Before concluding, there are pne or two poi1;!1, in
Sir William's letter which require to be noticed. It
is true that nearly three years ago propositionawere
made that competitive trials between Armstrong
and Whitworth guns should take place, It was
proposed that they should be conducted by the Ord-
nance Select Committee, and to that I assented,
though I felt that, for reasons already explained,
some of its members must necessarily be influenced
against my gut.
I asked, however, first, that the trials might be
attended by disinterested spectators, such as mem.
bers of the principal scientific institutions; second,
that my guns might be worked by my own men,
or men chosen and selected by me third, that the
trials once begun might be continued without in-
termission, so that they might not be prolonged in-
definitely.
The Ordnance Select Committee conceded the
first point but refused the others.
Being very anxious for the trials to take place, I
yielded the second point, though it was one which,
as has been explained, had been conceded to Sir W.
Armstrong, when the Ordnance Committee tried his
guns.
As the programme was so long and varied that
it would have extended over many months, unless
carried out without intermission, I was abliged to
repeat my request for the third point.
The Ordnance Committee persisted in refusing to
concede it, and the trials did not take place for this

reason.
With reference to my 7-inch gun, which pene-
trated the Warrior target at Shoeburyness, Sir Wil-
liam complains that 1 have not recognised my obli-
gations to himself.
If he will state which of his inventions has beerl
used in the construction of that gun I shall be very
glad to express my acknowledgments for them. He
probably supposes that its inner tube, like that of
his gun, is made of welded coiled bars. This is not
the case; it is formed of a solid bar, bored out—
construction of which he, I believe, does not ap-
prove. It is true the gun is built up and its hoops
are made of welded coiled iron, but so were those of
guns made by me in 1855.
Guns built up of welded coiled hoops were, as Sir
William must admit, well known in this country
before he introduced his rifled ordnance. Though
for practically carrying out the system he is enti-
tled to claim full merit, he equally with myself is
indebted to those who went before us for the prin-
ciple of what is termed the coiled construction. He
has used it in his way for his purpose ; I used it
in my way for mine.
For the ready and able assistance afforded me by
Mr. Anderson in the manufacture of my gun at
Woolwich I have already expressed my thanks, but
it is only due to myself to state that the gun, be-
sides being rifled on my system, was made to draw-
ings supplied by me. It was of too large a size fur
my works at Manchester at present to undertake to
make it, and for that reason I asked ,or permission
to have it made at Woolwich. Similar permission,
it should be remembered, has been readily accorded
by the War-office to many others besides myself. I
have before stated I should have preferred the gun
to be made of hoops cast in one piece, and ham-
mered, instead of being formed of welded coiled
bars, and gave my reasons for my preference, to
which I adhere.
With reference to the use of improvements made
by me in artillery and projectiles, I should regret
extremely if there could be any doubt that I am,
and always have been, desirous that they should be
used in every way that can benefit the public ser-
vice. _ _ _

Sir W. Armstrong well knows that during the
last two or three years he has made such experi-
ments as he wished with steel flat fronted projectiles
without any impediment being offered by me, and
if he has not done as much with them as my guns
have done, it is not the fault of the projectiles. Pro-
bably, as Sir W. cannot yet see the mechanical ad-
vantage their shape gives them over the " round-
heads," he did not give them sufficient trial.
Until I shall have completed the trials of my
shells, and fully proved their power at long ranges,
I am naturally unwilling that concurrent trials of
them should be made, which might not with other
guns be more successful than those made with solid
projectiles of the same shape, especially when no
application is made to me, as is usual in such cares,
for permission to use my improvements.
When my own experiments are concluded it will
give me much pleasure to see Sir William try, if he
chooses, projectiles like mine with his guns ; and I
repeat here what I have already stated on other
occasions, and what I have endeavoured practically
to carry out, that my object is to aid as much as I
can, and in any way that I can, the public service.
If it be to its advantage to adopt the whole or any
part of my improvements, I will readily give my
assistance in furthering the adoption, without con-
sidering the persons who may have to carry it out.