The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-09 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Fire Queen steam tender, Staff-Commander
Paul, was undocked from No. 9 at Portsmouth yes-
terday, after repairs to her machinery. She will
coal, and, after trial, will prepare to convey Admi-
ral Sir M. Seymour and a party on a visit with
the Channel Fleet to Cherbourg.
The troopship Urgent, Capt. S. Henderson, after
coaling, will make a trial of her new screw, and if
all is found correct is ordered to prepare for the use
of a limited number of officers, and accompany the
fleet to Cherbourg on the 14th.
The annexed notification was promulgated from
the Admiralty, Whitehall, yesterday, for the infor-
mation of those officers desirous of being present at
Cherbourg next week A limited number of
naval officers will be received on board her Ma-
jesty's ship Urgent, at Portsmouth, early on the
morning of the 14th inst., for conveyance to Cher-
bourg and back. All applications must be made in
writing to the Secretary to the Admiralty, before
Saturday, the 12th inst. The rate of messing to be
paid by each officer received will be 7s. 6d. a day."
The Admiralty Board meeting at the Keyham
office of the Admiral Superintendent, which as-
sembled on Monday morning, rose shortly ,after 1
o'clock, when the Duke of Somerset and his col-
leagues passed through the engine factory, smith-
cries, and boiler factory in the great quadrangle to
the north basin, which is being dopened and en-
larged from five to ten acres, and for that purpose
is in the hands of the contractors, whose efforts are
retarded and to some extent suspended in conse-
quence of the terms required by the amalgamated
masons. Instead of 300 Mr. Bisset has only about
170 men, chiefly excavators. The construction of
the sides of the basin is stopped, and the piles of
wrought granite remain as they have been for many
months past undisturbed. The strike of the masons
against all the leading Government contractors and
most of the principal builders here continues. It
was commenced in consequence of the refusal of the
masters to accept a code of rules drawn up by the
Masons' Society in London. Plymouth was selected
as the place where the first attempt should be made
to bring the masterswithin the pale of the irrespon-
sible bodies to which the men belong. At Staddon
few non-society men are employed on the fortifica-
tions, and briskly pushing on the work. Picklecombe
Fort is at a standstill, and so are Bovisand and
Screasdon Forts. The operations on the long line
of the north-east defences are almost suspended
for want of masons. As far as possible the contrac-
tors are proceeding with their excavations and
earthworks, but they are unable to complete some
portions of their contracts. Four or five old masons
are allowed by the Masons' Society to work at the
Cattedown quarries. They are not members, but
are compelled to act in conformity with most of the
rules. After inspecting the excavations in the
north basin at Keyham, and the Greyhound and
Jason in the South basin, the Lords of the Admi-
ralty proceeded round the sea wall, through the
tunnel into Devonport dockyard. Here they in-
spected the north smithery, and went round No. 4
dock, in which is the new steam frigate Amazon,
launched in May last at Pembroke, and now pre-
paring for the first division of the steam reserve ;
she is a wooden ram. They then went on board
the sailing frigate Flora, fitting in the basin for a
receiving ship for the Commodore at Ascension.
After taking luncheon at thehouse of the Admiralty
Superintendent, the Lords of the Admiralty pro-
ceeded through the ropehouse and masthouse down
to the south smithery, outside which four hose were
connected with the pipes supplied with salt water
from an elevated iron cistern which is filled from
the mast pond by the engine of the south smithery.
This arrangement is for the purpose of protection
from fire. Four plugs near theropehouse were also
tested. Several members of the board returned to
their yacht, the Enchantress, while the Duke of So-
merset, Sir Frederick Grey, and Lord Clarence
Paget proceeded to the Chief office of the Admiralty
superintendent, where they received deputations
from the shipwrights, joiners, sailmakers, rope-
makers, and riggers, and from the artisans of the
Keyham factory, on the subject of wages. Depu-
tations from some of the minor branches could
not be received. This duty occupied the First Lord
until six o'clock in the evening.

The newly invented machinery for working the
12 ton 300 pounder Armstrong guns, with which
her Majesty's ironclad frigate Bellerophon, 16, 1,000
horse power, preparing for sea at Chatham, will be
armed, having been completed, the first of the ex-
perimental trials took place at Chatham on Satur-
day. There were present Captain Stewart, C. 8.,
superintendent of the dockyard ; Capt. Tatham, of
the Bellerophon ; Mr. Thornton, principal master
shipbuilder ; Mr. Baker, chief inspector of machi-
nery, who conducted the trials, and other officials.
The importance of such an invention becomes appa-
rent when it is stated that each of the 300 pounder
guns which the Bellerophon will carry in her bat-
tery weighs, with its slides, carriages, &c., no less
than 17 tons. To cast loose, manoeuvre, and train
guns of this class while the vessel is pitching and
rolling in a beam sea, by the ordinary appliances of
manual labour, would be simply impossible.
The machinery invented by Mr. Reed, the Chief
Constructor of the Navy, and tested for the first
time on Saturday, promises to effect a complete re-
volution in the system hitherto adopted of handling
and training guns on board our ships of war, the
trials made proving that by the adoption of the
machinery proposed some three or four men will be
sufficient for working guns of the largest size pos-
sible to be placed on board our ironclad vessels. At
the same time it should be bserved that the object
of the invention is not merely to enable the 12 ton,
or even a larger, gun to be trained with facility, but
also to put it under complete control when the ship
is pitching and rolling in a seaway. To accomplish
the first of these objects it is only necessary to mount
the gun-slides upon rollers at front and rear, and
then apply the training force by means of a tackle
in the usual way, or by means of the winches
adopted in the invention of Captain Astley Cooper
Key, C. 8., in the Minotaur, or in the more com-
plicated plan proposed by Commander Scott,
of a toothed wheel and rack on the deck, as
fitted in his experimental slide now introduced into
one of the vessels of the navy. It is obvious, how-
ever, that the facility with which a heavy gun,
mounted on rollers at both ends, can be trained at
a broadside port, in smooth water, would make it
dangerously liable to break loose in a seaway, unless
placed under the control of machinery. To insure this,
under all circumstances, even in the event of the
officer in charge being killed during action, Mr. Reed
appears to have devised his machinery on a wholly
novel, but, at the same time, perfectly practical
principle. Any complicated mechanism to be worked
by sailors intheharry of a general engagement would
be sure to fail, and consequently the machinery
fitted on board theßellerophon is exceedingly simple.
On the gun-deck itseli nothing whatever is visible
excepting an ordinary doublewheel of metal, between
four and five feet in diameter, formed exactly like
a steering wheel, and supported on a hollow standard
containing the gearing-wheels that give motion to
the machinery below. Even this wheel itself maybe
dispensed with, for an exactly similar wheel is fitted
on the lower deck underneath the battery, in
case, as would obviously be most desirable, the
whole of the machinery for working the gun would
be entirely away and out of the reach of injury,
while the orders of those in charge of the gun
could be transmitted by means of an ordinary voice
tube of gutta, percha. The object -of fitting the
guiding-wheels on both decks of the Bellerophon
is to enable them to be worked separately, in order
that the Lords of the Admiralty, on the occasion
of their inspecting the machinery in the course of
a few days, may determine which shall be retained,
or whether both may be desirable, the one being
used as supplementary to the other. Fitted below
the beams of the gun-deck is a shaft turned by
the wheels described, on which is a powerful worm,
or screw thread, gearing into a worm-wheel.
The latter is keyed on a short vertical shaft of con-
siderable strength, which passes up through the
floors of the main deck, and is furnished with a
strong flat lever lying along the deck and underneath
the slide, the vertical shaft and horizontal lever ex-
actly resembling the rudder-head and tiller of a
.ship. The lever is firmly connected with the slide

by means of a very strong connecting pin, or bolt,
working in a slot. This completes the machinery,
which, as will be seen, contains but few pa: ts, and
those of the simplest and best-known 1 nd. The
trials on Saturday showed the advantage of mount-
, ing a slide on rollers on both sides, as in order to
train it it was only necessary to turn the wheel
placeddon either deck, when the gun and carriage
moved with the utmost readiness and precision. The
instant the wheel was stopped the gun was brought
to a standstill, just as in the case of guns mounted in
a revolving turret, so that the nicest accuracy of
aim may be obtained. On the whole being released,
the gun is locked by the worm and worm-wheel, the
" pitch" of which is so nicely adjusted that, while
I the slightest motion of the machinery will move the
gun, no amount of rolling about can cause the gun
to " fetch away," and set the machinery in motion.
Obviously it is in a seaway only that mechanism of
this nature can be put to a satisfactory test, but,
judging from the obvious strength of the machinery
employed in the Bellerophon, there can be but little
doubt that it will be perfectly practicable by this
system to train even a much heavier gun than one
of 12 tons at a broadside port with complete security
at sea. It should be observed that it is scarcely pos-
sible for the discharge of the gun to affect the train-
ing machinery—an important consideration, as the
play of the slide upon the bolt of the lever is per-
fectly free. It only remains to be stated that the
trials made on Saturday were perfectly successful,
and demonstrated the perfect practicability of the in-
vention. With four men at the wheel the gun was
manoeuvred and trained with the utmost freedom
and facility, a period of exactly one minute being
all that was required to bring the gun over to a
complete arc of a circle, although from some altera-
tions in the drawings the lever prevented it being
trained to the extreme angle. The machinery will
remain fitted to the gun to await inspection by the
Lords of the Admiralty.

The screw steam sloop Peterel, 11, Commander
Edward Maddox, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, ar-
rived in Plymouth Sound yesterday afternoon.
The Edwin Fox was inspected yesterday by the
military authorities, and the troops, 26th Camero-
nians, and detachments of other regiments from
Aldershott, will embark to-day.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Lieut. Walter W. Poynder, to
the Scorpion ; Sub-Lieut. Henry A. Street and Sub-
Lieut. George H. Hill, to the Scorpion ; Alexander
M'Donald, assist.-surg., to the Linnet ; and Win.
B. Fletcher, assist.-surg., to the Research.

THE UNITED STATES.

PHILADELPHIA, July 25.

On the 22d of June the largest ironclad in the
American navy was launched at New York. She is
called the Dunderberg (thunder mountain), and
was built at the yard of W. H. Webb, the builder
of several celebrated vessels, among them the Rus-
sian ship General Admiral, the Re Luigi di Portu-
gallo, and the Re d'ltalia. She was launched
without the slightest accident in the presence of an
immense concourse of spectators, and will at once
be fitted up for sea. Her draught when ready for
sea will be about 21ft., and her displacement of
water about 7,000 tons. Her tonnage measurement
as registered is 5,090 tons, and her iron armour will
weigh about 1,000 tons. She has six main and two
donkey boilers, each main boiler being 13ft. deep,
17ft. Gin. high, and 2lft. front ; together they will
weigh about4so tons. The boilersurface is 30,000 ft.,
the grate surface 1,200 ft., and the condensing sur-
face 12,000 ft. The engines are horizontal back-
action condensing with two 100-inch cylinders, and
45in. stroke of piston. The propeller is 21ft. in dia-
meter, andhas a varying pitch of from 27ft. to 30ft.,
and weighs 34,5801 b. The coal bunkers will contain
1,000 tons of coal, sufficient for about 12 days'
steaming. The plan of the Dunderberg is novel, and
the results promised by her constructor will make
her one of the greatest sea-going ironclad rams
afloat. Her floor is flat, her sides angular, and her
lines such that she must be very easy in a seaway,
so that in all probability she will be able to use her
guns when other vessels are rocking fearfully. The
casemate surmounting the hull is pierced for 21
guns, and its sides slope inward at an angle of 35
degrees, sufficient, it is believed, to shed shot with
case and certainty. The sides of the casemate arc
over 3ft. thick, covered with plates of hammered
iron 9ft. long, 28in. wide, and Skin. thick, and fas-
tened on with heavy screw bolts. The peculiar con-
struction of the Dunderberg makes her, as it were,
two vessels, the space beeween the inner and the
outer ship being used as coal bunkers, thus serving
as an additional protection to the engines and boilers.
Her dimensions are—length, 380 ft. 4in. ; beam, 72ft
10in. ; depth of hold, 22ft. 7in., height of casemate
inside, 7ft. gin. ; length of ram bow, 50ft.
One enormous keel and six keelsons strengthen
the ship fore and aft, and aid in sustainingthe great
weight of the armoured casemate and battery.
Bulkheads, dividing her into sections, give addi-
tional strength and guarantee safety in the event of
stranding in collision. The ram is part of the ship,
and is not bolted or fastened on as is usually the
case, but is an extension of the bow, which for
50ft. is a firm and solid mass of timber. This...is
covered over with heavy wrought-iron armour, and
forms a terrible beak, which, driven at a high rate
of speed, would pierce through the strongest ships.
On the side of the vessel below the casemate the
armour is 31in. thick, and placed on vertically
in screw bolted slabs, from 12ft. to 15ft. long and
3ft. wide. The propeller and two rudders are
protected by a shelf, which runs out aft and
is braced to the stern and sides. One of
her rudders is common to all ships, the other is
placed above and forward of the huge propeller, so
that if the main one is damaged it can be at once
replaced. The Dunderberg is brig-rigged, and has
been for nearly three years building, and her arma-
ment will consist of four 15-inch Rodman guns and
12 or 14 11-inch Dahlgren guns—a battery of im-
mense power. The most important part of the
vessel, however, is her speed, and this cannot be
tested until she is ready for sea. Immediately after
the launch she drew 15ft. aft, 13ft. amidships, and
9ft. 6in. forward. Her draught when ready for sea
is not to exceed 21ft., and her engines are 5,000 ac-
tual horse power. The contract on which she was
built calls for a speed of 15 knots an hour, and if
.this speed is got out of her she will be a formidable
vessel for service. Much time will be required to
prepare her for sea, and then she will take her place
at the head of the American navy.

There is much murmuring throughout the coun-
try at the construction of this costly vessel at a time
when the Government finances are in so bad a way
that retrenchment is necessary on all sides. The
navy is being rapidly depleted, and every squadron
will be reduced to the smallest number of vessels
possible to keep up appearances and enable it to
properly perform its duties. In many parts of the
country vessels are being sold at auction, and all
the navy yards are busily employed dismantling the
larger ships, preparatory to laying them up in ordi-
nary. The expenses of the Government will be
made as small as possible, both for the navy and
army, and were it not for the fear of a brush in
Mexico, both branches of service would quickly
be placed on a peace footing. As this retrenchment
is going on frugal people cannot see the use of fit-
ting up this enormous ship and sending her to sea,
but the great desire for show that America has so
I strongly developed will no doubt prevail, and she
will go abroad to astonish Europe.
There •
la a note of preparation all over the country
for the reception of the Atlantic cable, and ageueral
grumble at the very high tariff Of charges: the mana-
gers propose to adopt for messages. ills' considered
that, if the cable is successful, such newspapers as
wish to procure European news will have to in-
crease their prices in order to pay the enormous ex-
pense. There is a great doubt, however, of the suc-
cess of the undertaking, and though every One will
heartily welcome the arrival of the Great Eastern
with her precious freight, there are fears that the
second cable will meet the misfortunes of the first
one. Heart's Content, the point selected for land-
ing the cable, is situated in Trinity Bay, Newfound-
land, about 30 miles from the Bay of Bull's Arm,
where the first cable was landed. Heart's Content
is a small village of 900 inhabitants, mostly fisher-
men, and posseses a beautiful harbour surrounded by
high hills. The water is deep enough to permit the

Great Eastern to approach near the shore with per-
fect safety. A small two-story house:in the centre
of the village has been purchased for the office of
the Telegraph Company, and an operating room is
being carefully fitted up on the firstfloor. The room
will be made perfectly air and water-tight to prevent
the slightest external influence from affecting the ex-
ceedingly delicate instruments that are to be used.
Two stone columns, built from the solid rock, rise
up in the centre of the room, and on these will rest
the galvanometers by which the messages will be
receivedfrom Valentia, and sent to the United States.
At present there is a break in the connexion between
the United States and Newfoundland. By the 27th
of July it is expected that a line will be in order
from Heart's Content to St. John's,Newfoundland,
but at last accounts the cable across the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, which has been out of order since the Ist
of June, had not been repaired. On the 22d of July
a steamer left New York with instruments proper
for under-running the cable and discovering the
break, but the cable cannot be repaired in time to
make it available for transmitting messages by the
Ist of August, when the Great Eastern is expected.
Until the break is mended, the only thing that can
be done is to have a fast steamer in position to carry
messages across from Cape Ray, Newfoundland, to
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. This will be a slow
method, but the best possible under the circum-
stances. It is expected the Great Eastern will have
enough cable left to fill up the gap. During the
week intervening until the Ist of August every one
will anxiously anticipate the arrival of the cable and
the solution of the great problem whether the two
continents can be placed in telegraphic communi-

cation.
The finances of the country are still at sea, and no
one seems to know how the Secretary of the Trea-
sury will procure funds to meet the heavy demands
upon him. Ordinarily the payments of the Govern-
ment are about four months in arrear of its expendi-
ture, so that for the next two months the payments
will be for the discharge of debts incurred during
April and May. During those two months the ex-
penditure was about $200,000,000. For the three
months succeeding the expenditures are less by one
third, so that in October, November, and December
$200,000,000 more may be expected to fall due.
Within ten weeks about 43100,000,000 of certificates
of indebtedness will fall due, so that $500,000,000
must be paid before the end of the year. Towards
this large indebtedness there may be anticipated
from internal revenue $100,000,000 ; from Customs
$40,000,000 ; from the unsold portions of the loan,
$30,000,000 ; and from miscellaneous sources per-
haps $30,000,000 more, making an aggregate of
$200,000,000. The Secretary of the Treasury has
a deficiency of $300,000,000 to meet, and no re-
sources, and this is what causes the flutter among
the financiers. It will be some time yet before the
pressure comes, and until then there will be all sorts
of suggestions -what to do, all of which will be
found unsound. That the Treasury will tide it
over, however, there need be no doubt, for it has
been in worse troubles than this one, and scores of
Treasury printing presses are still at command.
American politics are very quiet, and the politi-
cians have taken a season of rest until the meeting
of Congress. In order to get away from the office-
seekers, President Johnson contemplates a private
visit to a friend who has a mansion on the Hudson
River, and he will be the guest of the owner as long
as official duties will permit. The President has
lately exhibited remarkable clemency in releasing
every Confederate military or naval officer of
every grade confined in the North. The prisons
are nearly emptied, and the Confederate civil offi-
cers of high rank are now the only prisoners. In
Richmond he has somewhat mitigated the rigors
of the Confiscation Act, by ordering the restoration
of the property of all Confederates who have
been pardoned, but in other cases the confiscation
continues, and it is now extended into many other
parts of Virginia. Every case, however, is stayed
until the United States' Supreme Court can decide
upon its merits. The editor of the Richmond Whig
has been allowed to print his paper, but is restricted
in regard to free discussion in political matters. Ho
has resumed publication, and says he will do the best
he can under the circumstances, and still vigorously
opposes the Government as far as the restrictions
will permit. The elections throughout Virginia last
week were universally in favour of the Southern
rights candidates, and have so invigorated the
Southern leaders that Colonel Moseby, of guerilla
fame, announces himself a candidite for Congress.
The opposition to Governor Perry, of South Caro-
lina, has been entirely broken, and the President has
finally decided to support the Governor, come what
may. This is a severe blow at the Radicals, who
wished to oust him and have some fanatic like But-
ler appointed in his place. South Carolina is again
quiet, and the last phase of the negro riots has
passed away in the capture of an entire regiment of
white troops known as Duryea's Zouaves (who per-
sisted in attacking the negroes), and shutting them
up prisoners in Fort Sumter. The negro war, how-
ever, continues elsewhere. It is stated that for 400
milas the Alabama river is lined with the finest
plantations, the owners of which, disgusted at the
idea of free negro labour, wish to go abroad, and
are willing to sell out at $4 or $5 an acre. The
Georgia newspapers publish articles on probable
scenes of bloodshed in that State if the Government
does not at once assume control of the negroes.
It is announced that the President has approved
the arbitrary course pursued by Governor Brown-
low, of Tennessee, in excluding every man from
voting at the coming election who has had any con-
nexion with the Confederacy. The people thus
disfranchised are ninety-nine hundredths of the
voters, but when election day comes it will be found
that they will all vote, in spite of Brownlow and his
orders, and that the candidates opposed to him are
elected. Pronunciamientos cannot keep people from
voting where all think alike, and at the head of
the Congressional ticket chosen will no doubt stand
Emerson Etheridge, now in a military prison for
opposing Brownlow.
Although a majority of the people, headed by the
President, have declared against negro suffrage, the
Radicals are not satisfied, but still agitate the ques-
tion. They are gathering their forces for a strenuous
movement when Congress meets. The Republican
State Committee of Massachusetts has just issued
an address, indicating that a movement for uni-
versal negro suffrage in the South will undoubtedly
be made, and if successful at least three of the
Southern States will be placed under the control of
the blacks. The Radicals say that although Presi-
dent Johnson has declared against negro suffrage
he is at heart in favour of it, and be has several
times told leading Republicans that his policy with
regard to it was not yet settled. They confidently
anticipate being able to force him into it by means
of the strong majority they will have in the coming
Session of Congress. It is reported that Dawes, of
Massachusetts, stands alone among the New Eng-
land members in opposing negro suffrage, and the
only Western member of any prominence who is
opposed to it is Kasson, of lowa. Those who know
the feeling of the members of the next House of
Representatives, say it will be largely in favour of
negro suffrage, and the Senate will have nearly, if
not quite, a majority on the same side. The Radi-
cals count strongly on this and the result of their
labours in bringing in new Radical members be-
tween now and December. The Conservatives,
on the other hand, hope to have enough Southern
members in Congress to control matters. The
Radicals, it seems, contemplate the extension of the
elective franchise even more universally than to the
negroes, for more than one newspaper in New
England has recently published articles pointing to
the great advantages to result from allowing the
women to vote, especially in States that have demo-
cratic tendencies.
There have recently been important decisions with
regard to Confederate property which interest
foreign claimants. When the property of John
Slidell was confiscated in New Orleans a claim was
made for 290,000 f. by Macuard and Co., of Paris,
and anotNheerw
Orleansclaimfofror money advanced
dbvyanteheed
oC n rt-
itmizoens'
Bank
egnaegmesy; wasobfuttheit
United decided States,
histhat,
property Sl i d being
belonged,an
under the provisions of the Confiscation Act, to the
Government, and these claims could not be enter-
tained. The Attorney-General has decided that
foreign claimants of captured cotton stand on the

same basis as American claimants, and must make
their claims as Americans do, before the Courts of
Prize. The ownership of 9-10ths of the cotton of the
South is in such a muddle that all the lawyers in the
United States cannot straighten out the titles.
The news from the Rio Grande is still a subject
for grave speculation. A just cause of war has arisen
in the conduct of Cortinas, who has really estab-
lished his headquarters on the Texas shore ; signs
custom-house permits for the port of Sabinette,
Texas, and gives safe conducts to places 20 miles in
the interior of American territory. He finds shelter
for himself and market for his booty on American
soil. Yet I have no fear that this will lead to hos-
tilities, for no rules of internatiowl law, such as
control no other countries, can be applied to Mexi-
can matters. Our Government will submit to much
more than this. The report that 25,000 additional
troops were to be sent to Sheridan, and that steamers
on secret service were fitting out in New York har-
bour, caused quite a flutter ; but the excitement
subsided when it was found that they were to
supply the places of troops and vessels now in
Texas, to be discharged from service before the end
of August. As for the announcement that General
Grant had remarked, " The French will have to get
out of Mexico," I believe him to be far too prudent
a man to say anything of the kind, even if he
thought it.