The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-06 00:00:00

NEW WRIT.

On the motion of Colonel TAYLOR a new writ was or-
dered to issue for the election of a member for South
Shropshire, in the room of Viscount Newport, who had
been called to the House of Peers.
The house then adjourned.

The Navy of the United States of America.

The following is from the pen of a British naval
officer now in service in his ship off Fortress Monroe :
It is not correct to say that the 100-pounder Parrott is
the ordinary broadside gun of the American navy, the 9in.
Dahlgren or rear-chock carriages being in the majority of
instances the broadside gun. The frigates had a few Par-
rotts, but they sent them on shore the other day,when they
were found by Admiral Porter to be unsafe after they got
warm. I went on board the Colorado, and saw everything
there worth seeing in the shape of gun gear. Her Parrott
when
wheels,
one
fiust
te
e used to
n a to the s
workp h gsu n
a s.
o T guns are fitted splendidly; their compressors are something
like ours, only larger, and are so powerful that a breeching
isic
h neveren
ontgr the sua nvi
m e
axlegs haveb
oufllhe r
i enc c egw, nhat
eel
nl e
vt hehree
the gun will almost run round by itself. The rear-chock
carriages aro like ours, but they have an upright screw
passing through the cascabel of the gun for elevating and
depressing. The Colorado is a pine-built ship, 10 years
old, with wooden knees, and, although no longer than
our 50-gun frigates (American tonnage must be reduced
1.10 to make it equal with ours), she throws a broadside
heavier than our three-decker Victoria. The Dahlgren
guns were intended for shell guns, but since the war solid
shot has been supplied for them in case they should meet
Southern ironclads. As to the Yankee ships not being able
to carry their guns, I can only say that all have been em-
ployed on the coast during the war, and I have heard no
complaints of their seaworthiness. The ships in classes 3,4,
and 4 (a) have all their boats hoisted out at davits, so as to
have all their room in amidships to work their pivot guns.
Class 4 (a) have bow and stern rudders, with shallow draught
of water, to fit them for river work. Class sis a numerous
one of very good little vessels, about 150 ft. in length,
with good beam. Their pivot gun is mounted abaft the
foremast. Class 7is a special vessel, plated with 4iin. of
iron, with an iron belt round the bow and stern at the
water-line, with transverse armour bulkheads on the gun-
deck. Her guns are all broadside pivots, with wrought-
iron carriages. She has been engaged several times at
Charleston and Wilmington, sometimes within 500 yards,
and although struck more than 300 times by Southern
shot she has only one or two of her armour-plates
cracked. Class Bis a sister ship to the Colorado, cut down
to within sft. of the water amidships, like our Royal
Sovereign; but she has no speed, nor is she a handy
vessel. Class 9is a new and decidedly improved Moni-
tor. Class 10 is the Americans' best turret class, being
built with an entire wooden hulk up to the deck (the others
are a mere raft laid over a smaller hull, and projecting about
sft. all round). The same description of armour and turret
is used in all. The sides aro coated with slin. of iron, and
the deck with 2in. The turrets are 22ft. interior diameter,
coated with 15 lin. iron plates as armour, bolted together,
and without backing. The turrets all revolve by steam
power. The Parrot guns have burst right and left, as you
must have heard. There is a new gun that I have not yet
seen, of 20in. bore, throwing a shot of 1,080 weight with a
powder charge of 100 lb. Great things are reported of this
weapon. I subjoin a list of ships and guns, in classes, of
the United States' navy :-
UNITED STATES' SKIPS IN CLASSES :-1. The Colorado,
screw frigate, 3,400 tons (American) ; one 11-inch and one
150-pounder rifle pivot gun ; forty-two 9-inch and four
100-pounder rifled broadside guns ; 2,6061 b. broadside shot;
2,1231 b. broadside shell. 2. The Brooklyn, screw corvette,
2,200 tons ; twenty 9-inch, two 100-pounder rifled, and two
60-pounder rifled broadside guns ; 1,2201 b. broadside shot;
9901 b broadside shell. 3. The Lackawanna, screw sloop,
1,300 tons ; two 11-inch and one 100-pounder rifled pivot
guns; ten 9-inch broadside guns. 4. The Iroquois, screw
sloop, 1,000 tons ; one 11-inch and one 150-pounder rifled
pivot gun ; four 9-inch broadside guns. 4 (a). The Talla-
poosa, paddle sloop, 900 tons ; two 11-inch pivot guns ;
four 9-inch broadside guns. 5. The Pembina, screw gun-
boat 500 tons; one 11-inch pivot gun; four howitzer
broadside guns. 6. The Powhattan, paddle corvette,
2,400 tons ; one 11-inch and one 150-pounder pivot
gun ; ten 9-inch broadside guns. 7. The New Ironsides,
iron-clad frigate, 3,400 tons ; fourteen 11-inch and two
150-pounder broadside guns; 600-horse power ; estimated
steam rate, six to seven knots. 8. The Roanoke, three
turrets, 3,400 tons ; six 15-inch pivot guns ; 350-horse
power; estimated steam rate, five knots. 9. The Dictator,
one turret, 1,800 tons; two 15-inch pivot guns ; 950 horses'
power ; estimated steam rate, ten knots. 10. The Monad-
nock, two turrets, 1,500 tons; four 15 inch pivot guns;
600 horse power ; estimated steam rate, eight knots. /1.
The Mahopac, ono turret, 1,000 tons; two 15 inch pivot
guns ; 350 horse power ; estimated steam rate, seven knots.
12. Tho Montauk, ono turret, 880 tons ; ono 15 inch and
ono 150 pounder rifled pivot gun ; 250 horse power; esti-
mated steam rate, six knots.
UNITED STATES NAVAL GuNs.-1. The Rodman, 15 inch
bore, 42,0001 b. weight, 4401 b. shot, 3301 b. shell, 351 b. to
501 b. charge, 131 b. bursting charge for shell, 1,700 yards
range at 5 deg. of elevation. 2. The Dahlgren, 11 inch
15,7001 b. weight, 1661b.:shot, 1271 b. shell, 151 b. to 201 b.
charge, 61b. bursting charge, 1,800 yards range. 3. The
Dahlgren, 9 inch, 9,0001 b. weight, 901 b. shot, 68iIb. shell,
101 b. to 131 b. charge, 31b. bursting charge, 1,7001 b. yards
range. 4. 150 pounder Parrot, 8 inch, 16,5001 b. weight,
1351 b. to 1541 b. shot, 1351 b. shell, 161 b. charge, 10.81 b. and
4.81 b. bursting charge, 2,100 yards range. 5. 100 poun-
der Parrott 6.4 inch, 9,7001 b. weight, 701 b. to 1001 b. shot,
801 b. to 100 lb. shell, 101 b. charge, 5.31 b. and 3-71 b.
bursting charge, 2,100 yards range. 6. GO pounder Par-
rott, 5.3 inch, 4,9001 b. weight, 601 b. shot, 501 b. shell, 61b.
charge, 2.11 b. and 3.21 b. bursting charge. 7. 30 pounder
Parrott, 4.2 inch, 3,5501 b. weight, 301 b. shot, 291 b. shell,
Vb. charge, 1-51 b. bursting charge, 2,200 yards range.

. _
NEW PATTERNS NOT ISSUED FOR GENERAL SERVICE.
Solid 10 inch, 16,0001 b. weight, 1211 b. shot, 951 b. shell,
251 b. to 401 b. charge, 41b. bursting charge. 8 inch,lo,ooolb
weight, 651 b. shot, 501 b. shell, 161 b. to 201 b. charge, I.Blb.
bursting charge.

Liverpool Cotton Market—This Day.

Market quiet and unchanged.
3,000 or 4,000 bales.

Sales probably

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE—This day.

LONDON, April 6.—Wind this day at noon—South-
Easterly; moderate breeze and fine weather.

FALMOUTH, April s.—Wind N.E.—Arrived—Anna,
from Porto Rico.
YARMOUTH, April 4.—Wind N.E.—Arrived—Tho Tom
Cringle, from Hartlepool for London.
PonTsmorru, April s.—Wind &E.—Arrived—Maria,
from Callao for Cowes.
SOUTHAMPTON, April s.—Sailed—Germania, steamer for
New York.

DRIXHAbf, April s.—Wind S.W.—Sailed—llivernise,
for St. Thomas.
OFF DOVER, April 6.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Patrician,
from Calcutta.
& SHIELDS, April s.—Wind N.W.—Sailed—Lady West-
moreland, for Quebec.
QUEENSTOWN, April 4.—Wind calm.—Arrived—Maria,
from Cardenas.
HOLYHEAD, April s.—Wind N.W.—Arrived—Maud,
from Liverpool for Cuba.
SUNDERLAND, April s.—Wind
or Quebec.

(13Y MAGNETIC TILEGRAPII.)
GRAVESEND, Thursday Morning.
Arrived, April 6.—Excel, from St. Michael's ; Provi-
dence,fr Gravelines.

DEAL, Thursday Morning.
Passed—Her Majesty's ship Ploier, from Jamaica for
Chatham.

The biddings for 30,00,000 rupees in bills on
India took place yesterday afternoon at the Bank
of England. The proportions allotted were—to
Calcutta 17,42,100 rupees, and toMadras, 2,20,000
rupees. The minimum price was fixed at ls. 111 d.
on Calcutta and Madras, and ls. 110. on Bombay.
Tenders on Calcutta and Madras at and above the It*
minimum will receive in full. On Bombay no ten-
ders were made above above the minimum.

On Tuesday last John Peter De Gex, Esq., of
Lincoln's-inn, Joshua Williams, Esq., of Lincoln's-inn,
Edward Francis Smith, Esq., of the Middle Temple, and
George Jessel, Esq., of Lincoln's-inn, were sworn in of her
Majesty's Counsel.—solicitors' Journal.
FATAL ACCIDENT ON TIIE SOUTH DEVON RAIL-
WAY.—PLYMOUTH, April 6.—To-night's up goods train
from Plymouth ran off the line at Totnes. The stoker was
killed, and the driver seriously injured. The line is blocked
up, and the midnight express train's passengers were trans-
forred to a special train at Totnes.
A Warsaw letter, in the Posen Journal, speaks
of the arrest of three persons who had arrived from
Paris with French passports. They are the two brothers
Ulatowski and an ex-student at the School of Medicine of
Warsaw, who had been charged by the National Govern-
ment to purl arms during the revolution. It was the
Russian Ambassador at Paris who warned the police of
their approaching arrival. Orders were issued to allow
them to pass the frontier, and on reaching Warsaw they
were followed by the police, and all their movements
watched until at last they were taken into custody. A
number of workmen were arrested at the same time.

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA,

(From the Times' Corresporident.)

NEW YORK, March 24.
The buoyant confidence of the Northern press
and people that Sherman would carry all before
him in his march upon Raleigh has been somewhat
abated by the intelligence that each of his two ad-
vancing columns has been checked by the Confede-
rates. Richmond papers of the 22d report that
General Hardee fell upon Sherman on the 16th inst.
at a place called Averysborough, on the Cape Fear
River, halfway between Fayetteville and Raleigh,
and defeated him with great carnage. The state-
ment, however, that the Federal loss was 3,300 and
that of the Confederates only 450 looks like an exag-
geration. The other victory was achieved by Gen.
Joseph E. Johnston, apparently over General Scho-
field at Bentonville on the 19th (Sunday last.)
Since that time no news of any further
.encounters
has been received, or, if received, they have not
been communicated to the public. It is understood
that the Confederates, commanded by General Lee
in person, will make their first stand at or near
Raleigh, and that if unsuccessful in defeating and
routing Sherman they will retire upon the line of the
Roanoke, where reinforcements from Richmond can
reach Lee within a few hours. Although, therefore,
a reverse of the Federal arms is possible, and ought
to be taken into account by all who would not de-
lude themselves with over-sanguine expectations,
the Northern public, almost en masse, and as if by
universal consent, believe that the war on the part
of the Confederates is so utterly hopeless that it
only needs a magnanimous proclamation of amnesty
to all the Southern leaders to induce General Lee
to yield up his sword, and retire from the conflict
with the honours of war, and the grateful remem-
brances and admiration both of North and South.
Mr. Lincoln has gone to Fortress Monroe—some
say for the benefit of his health, and to free
himself, if only for a few days, from the mos-
quito-like cloud of office-seekers who worry
him " nigh unto death" by their greedy importuni-
ties. Others allege that his object is to confer with
Gen. Grant on the proposition made by Mr. Jeffer-
son Davis, to the effect that Generals Lee and Grant
should hold a conference to debate, with perhaps
better results than attended the efforts of the civi-
lians who recently met on board the steamer in the
Hampton Roads, whether peace and reconciliation
be not possible at this moment. It is likely that this
explanation of Mr. Lincoln's visit to his generalis-
simo is the true one, for the camp of an invading
army and the tent of a soldier is not the place that
a sick man would naturally select for the benefit of
his health, or the repose and refreshment of his jaded
system. It would be easier, if health alone and relief
from the toils of office were Mr. Lincoln's object, to
claim the sick man's privilege of seclusion, and shut
himself up in the inmost sanctuary of the White-
house, insensible to all comers but those of his own
family and household. For this, among many other
reasons, the general belief is that Mr. Lincoln's ob-
ject is peace, and that a new, or a renewal of an
old, proposition to the South may be every hour
expected from his pen.
The fall in gold appears to have been temporarily
arrested. The failures that have already occurred in
consequence of the great appreciation of the cur-
rency have not been anything like so numerous and
so heavy as were anticipated, but a very uneasy feel-
ing prevails, and the excitement that exists in Wall-
street is scarcely to be considered that of exhilara-
tion, but rather of a gloom that closely borders upon
fear

At such a critical time as this undoubtedly is, both
for North and South, it is curious to see how very
loudly the Hibernian portion of the American people
are beginning to insult and to breathe vengeance
against Great Britain. No person whose business it
is to watch the tide of political life in America, and to
note the chips or the straws that are borne upon the
strong current, can fail to perceive the unusual activity
of what is called the Fenian Brotherhood, and the un-
usual importance attached to their speeches and pro-
ceedings. The ignorance of social and political
science, one of the characteristics of the Americans,
which their friend Mr. Cobden reluctantly and sor-
rowfully acknowledges, is, if possible, exceeded by
their ignorance of British politics generally, and of
the social condition of Ireland particularly. They
do not know, or will not acknowledge, that Irishmen
flock to America by hundreds of thousands every year
because the population is too large for the agricultu-
ral resources of a little pastoral island, better fitted
to produce cattle than corn ; and that this exodus
is perfectly intelligible and natural, and is as good,
within certain limits, for the emigrants as for the
old country which loses and the new country which
receives them. They are told by Irish exiles who
know better that Ireland is treated by Great Britain
as Venetia by Austria, or Poland by Russia, and
they believe it. They are told that the Irishman
has no political privileges, and can acquire none ;
that he is a serf, if not a slave ; and that, like the
negro on a Southern plantation, he has no rights
which his Saxon " tyrant" is bound to acknowledge,
or which he can enforce against the said tyrant, ex-
cept the sacred rights of insurrection and assassina-
tion. They are unaware that Ireland is fully repre-
sented in the British Parliament, that the members
for Irish boroughs, cities, and counties are for the
most part Irishmen, that the voters who elect them
are Irish also ; that elections are perfectly free ;
that Ireland which complains so lustily of wrong has
a representation nearly double in number to that of
Scotland, which does not complain at all ; that the
laws in Ireland are impartially administered by Irish
Judges ; and that if the grievances of Ireland were
fairly traced to their source, there would be found
but one, and that one for which the British Govern-
ment could not even here be held responsible. It is
that the people, on account of their own superabun-
dance of numbers, cannot obtain farms to cultivate
on a soil which is not only extremely limited, but
which is, moreover, from the moisture of the skies,
far better adapted to pasturage than the plough.
This grievance the Irish themselves are busily en-
gaged in curing, by voluntary expatriation to the
Western States of America, where land is cheap, and
where every man of ordinary industry and prudence
can easily secure the fee simple of a farm of 100 or
200 acres at a price scarcely more than half as much
as he would have to pay for the yearly rental of a
similar quantity of less productive land in his own
country. But all this is a fathomless mystery to the
Yankee mind. The Irish in America have a rabid
hatred of England, and as the expression of this
feeling is agreeable to Americans, because it is
thought to be an element of 'military strength in the
always popular contingency of a war with Great
Britain, the Fenians are encouraged by men in
power and in high social position to extend and
complete their organisation and keep their imaginary
wrongs continually before the public. During thelast
eight or ten months the Fenians have been more ram-
pant and violent than at any previous time, and that,
too, in spite of the opposition of the Roman Catholic
bishops, who have denounced the movement as
highly impolitic and dangerous. The papers in all
the Northern States overflow with reports of meet-
ings of the " Brotherhood," to whom have lately
been added a " Sisterhood," and the most urgent ap-
peals are made for money to purchase arms to be
sent to Ireland, so that when the long-wished for
invasion of the Green Isle by a hundred thousand
Penians, under General Francis Thomas Meagher,
or some other Hibernian, shall take place, the in-
vading army shall be welcomed on the shore by a
native army at least as strong, each man with a
sword at his side, and a pike or a rifle in his
hand. At a great meeting of the Brotherhood held
on St. Patrick's-day in Philadelphia, it was enthu-
siastically resolved, "That it is now manifest:to the
wcrld that it is the deliberate purpose of the
nefarious and malignant tyrants that rule Ireland
.to utterly aterminate by force and fraud the
Irish race from the face of their native land, and
to erase the name of their country from geo-
graphy." The egregious stupidity of the resolution
was no bar to its acceptance by the fools or knaves
assembled to swallow or " endorse" it, nor was the
next resolution less to the taste or the purpose of the
audience, though in one sense it was not quite so
silly as the proem of which it was the corollary—.
" Resolved, That the Irish people have a right to,
live upon and to own the soil bequeathed to them by
their sires." The British Government has never