The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-27 00:00:00

will happen. There are over 100 persons ever watching
him."
The following letters were sent to Mrs. and Mr.
Gal gey

"May, 1862.

" Mrs. Galgey, —Perhaps you are not aware of the trouble
which I can assure you that your husband has involved
himself in, in being the purchaser of the Lisheens estate
which was sold ant on Thursday, the 10th day of April,
1562, which will long be remembered by many persons. I
can go as far as to say that you will have cause to remember
and regret that 10th of April, more so than any other per-
son, if you do not speak to Mr. Galgcy, and tell him to gsgive
Mr. O'Connell his place, on the most amicable terms he
possibly can. If he will not do as I have stated here, he will ,
willatheahrpheiumto(sHhooroot
follows
pay for it by having his life 'taken. Yes, by the God of
NHVielalygeinve,
a sketch of ono man in the act of firing a gun at another.
Between the two are the words Your heart's blood. I
Iy orou la4sketch or l6mo
fe
ybr mere
on Christmas night. The blood from his temple flows ; his
brains are out of his long-tailed coat.' Below the figure
fired at are the words, ' Oh, do not shoot me, for
.God's sake
want, my fine half-pound dip. I'll keep yourself for burning
and anything you will ask me to do I will do it for you.)
hwatillw
The letter then proceedsßut he is too late; the fatal
shot has been fired, and he is no more.'
"A large coffin for a small body :
" (Here follows the figure of a coffin with a human body
lying in it. To the left of it is the figure of a woman sitting
on a chair with the words beside it, ' Do not cry, Mrs. Gal'
gey.') You are there, my boy, God be praised. Mrs. Gal-
gey, I swear by the God who made us that this will happen
if you do not look to your happiness in time. Perhaps you
are not aware that the persons he is taking the place from
aro orphans, six of them. You, as a Christian mother and
a mother of a family, must have some feeling for motherless
children; or by the Son of God you will have the same story
to tell before three months are wan end yourself. Do some-
thing, in God's name, that will end such a dreadful thing
being commenced. When commenced it will end by his life
being taken."

" May, 1862.
(The delineation of a coffin and a pistol heads the letter.)
" Villain Galgey,—l give you to see and understand that
you stand in a very dangerous position by being the pur-
chaser of the Lisheens estate, which youknow was sold out
wrongfully. You, the purchaser, will regret your doings
when it will be too late. You will pay for the deed you
have done by giving up, or rather by having your heart's
blood taken from you, and without mercy—for you do not
deserve mercy, when you showed no mercy to the widower
and orphans. You want to throw us paupers_ on the world.
I swear by the cross of Christ and by Heaven, and by the
God who reigns over us, that I and a dozen more men—
Tipperary boys—will watch to shoot you if you do not give
up all claim to Mr. O'Connell's property, by making a set-
tlement in it pleasing to all parties.
(Figure of a gun and coffin.)
" By the Redeemer of the World, you'll be laid in your
coffin before long if you do not act to the best of Mr.
O'Connell's liking. When you will be laid in your coffin
what good will your purchase be to you ? Do, in God's
name, all in your power to make a settlement, and I and
my comrades will pray for your prosperity, instead of show.
ing what Tipperary boys can do. Our motto is—' Boast
when the work is done."
The female prisoners, who are described as hand-
some and interesting young women, behaved very
violently during the investigation, and several times
invoked curses on the head of Mr. Leahy.

A.RIIIB2IIO.NG GUN v. IRON ARMOUR.

TO THE EDIT= OF THE TIME.
Sir,—Your column of "Naval Intelligence" of
this morning contains a summary account of the
late encounter between the formidable new gun of
Sir William Armstrong and a target constructed
on my plan, which is scarcely consistent with my
view of the facts, and which certainly exhibits a
bias the opposite of my own. As lam one of those
who have consistently for many years worked hard
for the introduction of iron as the right material
for the construction of the fleet of the future, I beg
you will hear the other side before pronouncing a
judgment, especially as I imagine the present to be
a critital moment in our history, when the Admi-
ralty may either lapse into old ways or go boldly
forward with a new and true policy.
I am, of course, biassed in favour of my own
plan of attaching iron armour without making holes
in it, and also of forming a ship's side entirely of
iron, so as to be strong as well as to resist shot.
But no amount of opinion or prejudice can shake
this fact, proved at Shoeburyness on Friday, that
the great gun, weighing twelve tons, did on that
day fire two successive shots at my target without
penetrating the armour. It is equally true that no
other armour has been able to do this. If you will
next take this fact, that of all the other kinds of
shot fired at this target no single one penetrated
the armour, I think you will admit that the im-
pression conveyed by your informant is hardly the

J. SCOTT RUSSELL
20, Great George-street, Westminster, S.W.,
May 24.

same as mine.
The one fact made prominent by your informan
is that the target was penetrated in one place by
a 150-pounder shot.
Sir, it was penetrated, but only by a shot which
everybody knew beforehand must go through; a
weak place was selected, which we all knew to be
weak, and which we had proved to be weak. We
were all of one mind before it was tried. A nar-
row plate was selected, the shot perforated the nar-
row plate, as it ought to do ; and this gives us no
information except what wo knew before. But it
was mere child's play to the Armstrong gun, for
plates of the same narrow dimensions had before
been shattered even by shells filled with sand. To
prove an axiom, therefore, was all that was gained
by that shot.
The main object of the experiment was, however,
to discover what would resist shot best, not what
would fail to resist it. Experiment has proved that
iron plates 41 inches thick and 3 feet wide, united
by my continuous rivetting to 2 inches of iron back-
ing, making up 7 inches of iron pretection, are
sufficient on an iron ship to stop the missile of the
e to
great Armstrong gun from penetrating. If after
this discovery any one think it of cons.d equenlcl
not
know that a plate less than 2 feet vvile i will
ma-
stop it ho is welcome to that additiona
n or
tion. own praetical con- i
elusions from Friday's experience:—
Permit me 11JVI to express my
First, I think it incontrovertible that an iron
ship constructed entirely with iron armour on my
method, using as a pattern those dimensions and
that arrangement only which were successful in
stopping the two Armstrong shots on Friday, is
practically shot-proof.
Secondly, I think, although I am biassed, that my
target,
changed aifnt esrh a
pt he
,e b
ofiring e
foofr
eFarni daabye,
hii
ns
dm,
uthchanitehses
target is at present fit
oriTghiniradlllyV,lartrhioinrktatrghae.
ttmy
to receive more battering, without destruction, than
the Warrior target.
In conclusion, I will mention one fact which is
not mentioned by
your informant. He says that
than my target is
heavier
es naont stthaete
the whole of Warriorthis
difference—that
ray target excepting the 41-in. plating
is part and parcel of the substance and strength of
the ship,
and forms nu extraneous addition to its
weight. The addition made by my system to the
weight of the ship is, therefore, less than by the
Warrior system. From these facts I leave you to
draw your owa conclusions.—I am, sir, your
obedient servant,

-
Sermons in the United States seem to aim at a
.moreexciting ideal. In a recent sermon Parson Brownlow
is said to have told his flock that ho would have them
" tight the Confederates till hell froze and then fight them
on the ice ;" while even the Rev. IL Ward I3eeeher
indulges in images needlessly irritant to the ner-
vous system, for example, " This is God's eel"'
yard. lie is sawing out Umber ; and You are
o
that timber. To-day he is ripping you with the saw*
The next day
morrow he is smoothing you with a plane.
he is rubbing up the surface nails,som kind of a rasp. He
plies you with hammer,We should not sleep under
and all sorts of instruments."
and and screws, and bolts,
such preachers, but we should do nothing half so good,—
Spectator.