The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-10 00:00:00

TB "E-

The camp for the Western &Steals to be formed
this year at Kerriton Ball, near Brent, which is one
of the stations of the South Devon Railway. A
detachment leaves Plymouth to day to mark the
site. About 500 soldiers (in rotation), chiefly from
the Plymouth garrison, will be stationed there dur-
ing the season.

The half-yearly inspection of the corps of Royal
Engineers by the Director of the Royal Engineer
establishment commenced at head-quarters, Chat-
ham, yesterday by Col. H. D. Harness, C.B. It will
occupy several days, and two companies will be
taken up each day. The companies selected yester-
day were the 17th, under the command of Lieut.
Lambert, and the 22d, commanded by Capt. D. A.
Frazer. Each company will be put through a course
of company and other drill by the several officers, in
order to enable Col. Harness to test the abilities of
the latter in the discharge of this department of
their duties.

A General Order from the Horse Guards, dated
the sth inst., has been received at Chatham, direct-
ing that the establishment of all regiments of in-
fantry of the Line, with the exception of those in
India, shall be divided as follows :-10 service com-
panies, 3 field officers, 10 captains, 11 lieutenants,
9:ensigns, 5 stafr,47 sergeants (exclusive of school-
masters), 21 drummers, 40 corporals, and 730 pri-
vates ; two depot companies, 2 captains, three lieu-
tenants, 1 ensign, 10 sergeants (exclusive of school-
masters), 4 drummers, 10 corporals, and 120 privates.
Highland regitents have a piper-major and five
pipers in addition to their establishment. The fol-
lowing regiments have two assist.-surgeons, viz. :-
Ist battalion, 14th Foot ; 2d battalion, 14th Foot ;
Ist battalion, 21st Foot ; 31st, 39th, 40th, 50th,
57th, 67th, 70th, and 99th Regiments. The follow-
ing have a trained band-master :-2d battalion, Ist;
2d battalion, 3d ; 2d battalion, sth ; 2d battalion,
21st, 31st, 32d, 41st, 53d, and 86th Regiments.
The half-yearly inspection of the troops sta-
tioned at Colchester Camp was commenced on Tues-
day by Major-Gen. Lawrenson. The 9th battalion,
under the command of Col. Laye, executed a num-
ber of field evolutions in a manner which elicited
the approval of Gen. La wrenson, who was attended
by Lieut.-Col. Alison, Aide-de-Camp; Col. Guy,
Commandant of the Garrison; and Brigade-Major
Cooch. The 10th battalion was reviewed in a
lar manner yesterday.

The sth Dragoon Guards, at present stationed at
Ipswich, Norwich, and Northampton, are under
orders to leave for service in Ireland. The regi-
ment will embark at Liverpool about the sth of
May.

Major Tupper's troop of Royal Horse Artillery
yesteaday marched out of Woolwich garrison to be
stationed at Aldershott Camp,
The War-office order (relative to the exposition
of articles of industry and talent from Woolwich
Arsenal, manufactured for the Great Exhibition),
which has at sundry times been issued, recalled,
and modified, has again been received as at first
issued, permitting the whole of the articles pre-
pared to be exhibited without reservation, includ-
ing the boring and rifling instruments, the un-
finished sections of the Armstrong guns, &c. A
device was yesterday cut in wood, termed " beam
wood," the hardest species used in the carriage
piece the
establishment, to demonstrate the capabilities of the
rboasned, os
sham
inn drleeeske
by the
Carriage Department, the Crown, and underneath are the words,
,saawn.d
tlhtirsetlper,esseunrtms zed.
" Royal
Woolwich Arsenal." It will
bo forwarded to the Exhibition.

The East Norfolk Militia will assemble at Great
Yarmouth to-day for the usual periodical training
and exercise. On the 24th instant, the recruits,
May the main body of the Norfolk
i heBth
Artillery,
will also assemble at Yarmouth
fai‘oiliridl i
training.:Militia

The iuipet 'pd. yacht Refine lior tense has gone into
the careening dock at Toulon, being about to convey the
Duke of litunilton to Corsica,

the attendance was small, and -the experiments
were conducted with unusual :privacy. The great
interest was concentrated on the effect of the first
shot. With the high speed which our Warriors are
known to possess, and therefore the quickness with
i which they can steam past batteries or iron ships,
it was reasoned, with perfect truth, that it was next
to impossible in a running fight that they could be
hit twice in the same place. If the target kept out
one shot, there was every hope of a ship keeping
ofapllowddoeurbts. With au out all. The first shot, a 156-pounder,
iwstaasnefiereodr
2with a
yards. charge
Thisof 4 0l
solved b .
in-
describable crash that mingled fearfully with the
report of the gun, the shot struck upon a compara-
tively uninjured plate, shattering the iron mass be-
fore it into little crumbs of metal, splintering the
teak into fibres literally as small as pins, and,
though not passing quite through the side, yet
bulging and rending the inner skin of the ship in
a way that would have rendered it almost impos-
possible to stop the leakage. The second shot
(still with a 401 b. charge) struck close by the side
of the first, making the previous damage tenfold
Worse, if possible. To those who did not actually
see the experiments it would be difficult to
describe the manner in which the iron oppo-
site the missile was broken into minute frag-
ments like glass ; how the teak was so utterly
disintegrated that it more resembled tangles of fine
twine than even the remains of woodwork; and
how, above all, the inner iron skin was ripped into
gaps like torn paper. These two shots were quite
conclusive as to the power of the gun. Mad they
struck an iron frigate at the water line, no means
could have prevented her from sinking in half an
hour. Still, however, the shot had not gone com-
pletely through the side, which it was the great
object of the experiments to accomplish. The
charge of powder was, therefore, increased from
401 b. to 501 b., and the gun levelled at the upper-
most plate of the target, which had been left
untouched in previous tests. On this plate a white
spot was painted to guide the artillerymen, and so
true was their aim,—so exactly was the centre of
the mark struck,—that every vestige, of. the paint
was obliterated. With this increased charge the
shot passed, not only through armour plate, teak, I
and inner skin, but buried itself in the massive
timbers that support the target, and even loosened
the blocks of granite by which the whole is backed
up. Had it been the side of the Warrior against
which this missile was directed, it would not
only have gone through the side, but nearly
through the opposite side as well. Another white
mark was then made on the lowest plate of the
target, and again the artillermen hit it with the
same marvellous precision and with the same result.
The shot went through everything, and even the
fondest believers in the invulnerability of our pre-
sent ironsides were obliged to confess that against
such artillery, at such ranges, their plates and sides
were almost as penetrable as wooden ships are now
to the plain old-fashioned long 32's. Of course, ,
after such decisive results,, no further experiments
were tried; indeed, they could not be, as the 156-
poundcr evidently thought it had done enough
work for the day, and at the last discharge recoiled
so much as to got off its wooden platform and
imbedded the hind wheels of its carriage in the stiff
yet watery clay, for the production of which in the
largest quantities at the shortest notice Shoebury-
ness stands unrivalled. But quite enough had been -
accomplished, and Admiralty officials and armour
shipbuilders could only admit to each other in a
kind of confidential dismay that artillery had at last
proved too much for them, and that if invulnerable
ships were to be constructed they must begin del
novo. It was clear to all that the Warrior would
not stand the least chance against the new gun,
even unrifled.

The Warrior, Black Prince, Defence, and Resist-
ance—the only four armour frigates which we
have yet afloat are coated with 4' inch plates
of iron, with two layers of 10 - inch teak beams
placed transversely, and with an inner akin of
NI rought iron nearly an inch thick. It was against
this powerful combination of materials that the
156-pounder gun was tried on Tuesday with such
complete success. The new frigates building, the
Achilles, Hector, Valiant, Agincourt, Northum-
berland, and Minotaur, are all to be coated with
51-inch iron plates, with 10 inches of teak, and the
same inner skin of wrought iron. In these it i
hoped that reducing the teak backing and increasing
the armour plate will add to the strength of the
ship ; but long, very long before these vessels are
launched the present 156-pounder will be rifled to
throw a 300-pounder flat-headed shot, against which
ntortsirxesiorsteavneeneeaigth
short
oinrtches of armour may be able to
or
time exerting
e
oto u
rb
efforts
ffdoornt
se
awhennd spendingw e areaotu rt ranges.
hin What, in fact, is
m o
ns same
to construct
iin-
destructible ships and inventirresistible guns ? The
guns must carry the day. W
with safety, e have nearly reached
the limits of the thickness of iron plates which sea-
going vessels can carry There is prac-
tically no limit to the size of the coiled wrought-iron
gun. To-day
a 156. pounde rwlnswins-..a month hence
and the same gun will be a rifled 300-pounder, and a
600-pounder may be ready before Midsummer; but
with thicker than six-inch
ra,rmour 1
a
'Jdes no sea-
going vessel can be coated. !he Americans are now
guns, unrifled, each to
making two wrought-iron
throw an eleven-hundred pound shot. When we
get such results with a plain 156-pounder, what may
not the Federals expect to accomplish with gigantic
ordnanceiron
eleven-hundredef this
)oun dshot fired at short.range.
? Armour plates a foot
thick would be destroyed by the blow of a wrought-
At the conclusion of these trials some experi-
ments
raregnetst, againstWwohreichinafadieled Falrbairn's iion
so Mr.
on the last occa-
sion: Since then the armour
plates have been
bedded on hemp and indiarubber, and the effect
of this soft medium in diminishing the force of
the concussion upon the iron ribs beyond the
plates enabled it to stand much better. But the
general feeling seemed to be that some kind of
timber backing to the
plates was indispensable.
The most interesting portion of this experiment
was when the Armstrong 200-pounder was fired