The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-19 00:00:00

A7LAN7IC AND GREA7 WESTERN 171rE LATE 7
RAILWAY COMPANY.

A private subscription is in course of completion
for £562,500 first mortgage bonds of the Atlantic
and Great Western Railway Company—an Ameri-
can
undertaking which, through the support of
Spanish capital, has been uninterruptedly carried
forward without disturbance from the war or any
other circumstance. This line is to complete a link
which will establish direct communication between
New York and the West without break of gauge,
but its chief peculiarity which has attracted notice
in Europe is that it communicates by a short branch
with the centre of the Pennsylvania oil districts, and
promises to command the whole of that traffic, and
greatly to facilitate and cheapen the transit of the
oil for shipment. The entire length of the work will
be 378 miles, and the whole is expected to be com-
pleted next year, but the construction takes place
in sections, as it passes through the States of New
York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The New York sec-
tion-48 miles, commencing at a'point of the Erie
Railway at a station termed Salamanca--has been
for some time in operation, and an issue of deben-
tures for 1225,000, secured on that portion, has
already taken place. The present issue is to be
secured by the Pennsylvania section of 88 miles,
which opens up the oil region, and the third and
last issue of £900,000 on the 242 miles which are
to constitute the Ohio portion is not to be made
until after two years from this date. The entire
share capital is £1,750,000. There seems to be no
doubt as to the extent and importance of the

traffic which the line most control, and the net
receipts even on the portions already opened are
stated far to exceed the amount required for the
interest on the debentures, while in addition
the company are to have a benus from the
Erie line of about 10 per cent. on all the
traffic they may bring to it. Under the cir-
cumstances, the value of the investment
must apparently depend on faithful management,
and on the probabilities in that respect each person
must inquire and judge for himself. The present
state of American currency and politics has not ne-
cessarily any very serious influence either on the
actual condition or future prospects of such of the
railway lines in that country as are distant from
the seat of war, since the depreciation of the cur-
rency can be met by an increase of charges, and the
check to the growth of population is compensated
by the check also imparted to the introduction of
rival schemes. Thus far the Spanish capitalists
and others interested profess themselves entirely
satisfied with the spirit and manner in which every
part of the undertaking has been carried out ;
and, in order to insure regularity of provision for
the interest and sinking fund on the bonds issued
in the London market, it is stipulated that the first
earnings of each half-year, as well as the whole of
the Erie bonus, are to be paid, until they reach
the requisite amount, to Messrs. Brown Brothers
and Co., of New York, to the credit of Messrs.
Samuel Gurney, J. P. Kennard, and Charles Moz-
ley, as trustees in England, The interest, which is
to be at the rate of £l4 for each bond of £225, is to
be paid in sterling in London, and the sinking fund
is to be of an amount that will cancel 4 per cent. of
the bonds in London annually at par. The issuing
price is to be 70, and the legal contracts in connec-
tion with the arrangements have been superintended
by Messrs. Freshfields.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Nov. 18,

If disaffection and disorder in a community are
the results of misgovernment, the South Dublin
Workhouse must be one of the worst governed in-
stitutions in the British dominions, The officers
and inmates are continually troubling the police
magistrates with their complaints of assaults and
riots on the one hand, and of oppressive treatment
on the other. At the late commission a number of
young girls were sentenced to penal servitude for
setting fire to their beds in the dormitory of the
workhouse. They seemed delighted with their sen-
tence, as it would remove them from the place
where they had been supported for a number of
years_ The Judge ou that occasion made some
sever. remarks on the management of the institu-
tion which produced such unhappy relations be-
tween the paupers and the officers. It was expected
that his remarks would have the effect of pi oducing
some change in the spirit of the government, while
the exemplary punishment of the refractory girls
would deter others from imitating their disorderly
condubt. But no such effect has been produced, On
the contrary, four of the men were brought before
the police magistrate yesterday, charged with mt.li-
ciously setting fire to the beds and bedding in the
male dormitory ; they were also charged along with
eight others with assaulting a number of the officers
by throwing stones at them. It was proved that
they struck matches and deliberately set fire to the
building, thereby endangering the lives of the in-
mates. Mr. Bell, wardmaster, deposed that he locked
up all the prisoners in the yard for the purpose of
pumping water for the use of the house. In an hour
afterwards he saw a man named Moriarty in the
act of taking off the lock of the door, assisted by
others. They put holdfasts in the wall to make the
door fast, and placed large stones against the door
for the purpose of preventing them getting in.
Witness went for some of th 3 officers to force open
the door, when they threw stones at them.
It appeals that the inmates feel aggrieved at being
treated as prisoners and locked up as a punishment.
At any rate, they so hate this workhouse that they
were rejoiced at the prospect of exchanging it for a
prison. At the request of the master the case was
remanded, as one of the officers, a wardmaster named
Francis, was so seriously injured as to be unable to
attend.

The Waterford Mail reports a daring attempt to
burn the workhouse of that city on Wednesday
evening last by three women who had been refused
admission. Fortunately, Mr. Ryan, the master,
discovered the smoke issuing from the wards where
women of ill-fame, were placed, and on searching it
found a quantity of the bedding on fire. The women
attacked him with stones, and it was not until he
had obtained further assistance that he could suc-
ceed in extinguishing the flames, which were com-
mencing to spread to the bedding material in the
room. The women were given into custody. In
the same county, on Thursday night, the house of
Mr. Edmund Power, of Springfield, was attacked
by some persons, who threw heavy stones at it from
the road, and smashed all the front windows. Mr.
Power lately acted as solieitor for a Mr. Higgins in
prosecuting some persons for trespass, and it is be-
lieved that this outrage is a manifestation of their
revengeful feelings.
Probate of the will of Sir Thomas Wyse was yes-
terday granted in the Prerogative Court here, the
evidence taken in Greece having clearly established
its legal execution.

THE PRINCE CF WALES—A HAPPY COINCIDENCE.
—The Rev. Richard Tyacke, vicar of Padston, Cornwall,
relates the following happy and singular coincidence rela-
tive to the Prince of Wales's majority. On Sunday the 9th
inst., the Padston lifeboat belonging to the National Life-
boat Institution, was the means of saving, under very peril-
ous circumstances, the crew of four men of the sloop Loftus,
of Padsten, which had in a heavy surf parted from her
anchors and gone ashore. By the written permission of the
late Prince Consort, the Padston lifeboat was called the
"Albert Edward," after the Duke of Cornwall. It is
therefore rather a singular and happy coincidence that this
lifeboat, which is the only one in the kingdom called after
his Royal Highness, should on the very day on which the
Prince of Wales attained his majority, have rescued four
poor fellows from an inevitable death. This valuable life-
boat had on a veral previous occasions been the means of
saving several shipwrecked crews on the Domed Bar
Sands, under the most perilous circumstances.
ATTEMPTED MURDER.—Yesterday morning, be-
tween two and three o'clock, Captain John Peter Sweden,
a Norwegian, and Peter Lawson, mate of a vessel in the
London Docks, and also a Norwegian, who had been to
Deptford on business, were returning home, and when near
a low beer-shop by the Commercial Docks, stopped to listen
to what three Dutchmen were quarrelling about. The latter
suddenly pulled out their long knives and attacked the two
unfortunate
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police,cd fvco oiutnnhps
found
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nt
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they
heao
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tcfwehohrneeevrenesreyiieeensdthoato the hospital, where it was found that the cap-
tain had three very deep stabs in the back, one in the chest,
and several in the face. Lawson had been stabbed through
the jugular vein and in the region of the heart and chest.
Both now remain in a very dangerous condition Up to
the present time the assassins
sns have not been apprehended.

Mr. Whitworth, in a letter to the Times, says--
Will you allow me to state, with reference to the
late trials of my shells at Shoeburyness, that their
effect upon the timber of the target which repre-
sented the ship's side will not be really ascertained
until the iron plates are removed P The target is
formed of a solid frame of teak 18in. thick, plated
with iron on both sides, the plates being 4 and 5
inches on the outer and inch thick on the inner
face of the target. There is no doubt that the

18 inch timber between these two faces is very
much shattered internally byemy shells, though the
iron plates themselves are perforated with compa-
ratively unsplintered holes, In these, the first

trials of the shells with large guns, I was desirous
of using means already in use as far as I could.
The cavity of the 7.inch shell was therefore filled
with 51b. of ordinary cannon powder. It is now
evident that greater quantities of powder, either
alone or combined with other chemical agents more
powerful still, may be employed as bursting charges,
and much greater shattering effects will be produced.
The simple construction of shell and the means of
enclosing the bursting charge employed by me will
I believe admit of such agents being used with
much advantage, and without danger of premature
explosion. _

There is also another point to be considered ; flat
fronted shells are not deflected upwards by water
like the " round-heads." They will pass through
very many feet of water and then penetrate a ship's
side, or damage her rudder, or screw, as was shown
by experimf nts made at Portsmouth. A shattered
hole made in a ship's side below the water line will
be plugged, if at all, with very great difficulty.
The further trials of the 12-pounder field gun

reported in the Times of November 15 show that
inclined plates will not deflect these shells, the
plates having been completely penetrated at an
angle of 45 degrees.
ith some reluctance I take this opportunity of
adding a few words in reply to Sir W. Armstrong's
letter which appeared in the Times of November
13. In a former letter addressed to you by Sir
William he invited me to a " proper and systematic
trial" of our respective guns, admitting, in reality,
that such a trial had not yet been made. I readily
accepted the proposition, and offered to refer it to $
tribunal tube jointly appointed, and to agree to any
condition that might be determined upon by that
tribunal. But Sir William now states that the only
comparative trials that can be made must he official•
It was not necessary to wait for the proposition
or consent of Sir W. Armstrong to enable official
trials to be made. If he meant his proposition to
go on further than this, his former letter would
appear purposeless, so far as it related to compara-
tive trials of our respective guns.