The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-08 00:00:00

FRANCE.

BOURSE, April 7.—The English funds arriving
with a fall of g per cent. has caused some little
heaviness in this market, but prices have, notwith-
standing, been maintained at the closing quotations
of Saturday. Threes, for the Account, are now
at 70f. Railway Share Market also dull. The
following were the last quotations :

4t per per Cents ... 98 30 Bank Shares —
Do. eud month.... 98 30 Credit F oncier 1530
3 per Cents
Do. end month 7O 10 Piedmontese Fives. 68
New 3 per Cents
Do. end month.... Austrian

Credit Mobilier.. 792 50 Spturieh Threes....
Do. Account -- I Home Debt

RAILWAYS.

Cash. Acconnt.
orleanß
Northern
New ditto
Lyons and Mediterranean 1133 75 .. 1131 25
Geneva

Southern 787 50 .. 786 25
Western
Eastern .. ~
Sardinian
_ __ • .

Austrian
Lombard

LAW-THIS DAY.

------~

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
(Before Mr. Registrar Roche.)
IN RE BONNET.

'I his was a meeting for choice of assignees, &c., in the
case of this bankrupt, Rebecca Bonney, who carried on
business as a wholesale confectioner, at Riegate. The
accounts by Mr. M. Thomas, Gresham-street, shows debtor
to creditors, £1,133, to ditto holding security, £230 ; assets,
good debts, £45 ; property given up, £265 ; ditto in the
hands of creditors, £400; debts, £45.
(Before Mr. commissioner Evans.)
IN RE THE CUMBERLAND LEAD MINING COMPANY.

'1 his was a petition to wind up the affairs of this com-
pany, which was formed in December, 1858, for the pur-
pose of working a lead mine in Cumberland, and were duly
incorporated. The nominal capital was £20,000, in 4,000
shares of £5 each. 3,356 shares were subscribed for, and
business was carried on until September, 1861. The whole
of the capital had been absorbed, and a resolution had
been passed for winding up voluntarily.
The petitioners are Mr. Thomas Bell, of Headingham,
Essex, the holder of 200 shares ; and Mr. N. Linds, of
Moorgate-street, gentleman, holder of 580 shares.

IN RE HALL.-APPLICATION FOR RELEASE.
This bankrupt came up from Horsemonger-lane Gaol,
on an application to be discharged from custody.
Mr. G. Lewis, Hatton-garden, opposed, on the ground
that the notice was insufficient, having only reached him
by post last evening at seven o'clock; besides which there
was no affidavit.
Mr. Aldridge said that one had been sworn.

Mr. Lewis—lt is not in the proceedings, and until it is I
can't be supposed to know it. I cannot know what is in
your, office.
Mr. Aldridge—The non-delivery of the notice is the fault
of the post office. I believe the letter was posted in time,
Mr. Lewis—You can see by the post-mark I could not
have received it till after sever last night.

Mr. Roche—That is a matter for the Postmaster-General
—you must apply to him.

Mr. Lewis—Eight and forty hours is absolutely requisite
and in Mr. Commissioner Goulburn's Court three days'
notice is required.

Mr. Aldridge—ln some cases another detainer is lodged
after notice—is this one ?

Mr. Lewis—No ; this is a very different thing, there is
only one detained; he would, to save trouble, take notice
for Friday next.

The Registrar said. after the case of Newton, before the
Lords' J ustices, it was better to keep to the full timo.
Mr. Lewis proposed to examine the bankrupt, which was
objected to until the question of release was argued. The
case was therefore adjourned until Friday.

IN RE ROUSELL.
This bankrupt was a commercial traveller at Dalston, and
his last examination bad been adjourned sine die, no account
baying been filed.

Mr. Drew, Basin,ghall-street, now stated that the ac-
counts had been duly filed, and applied for a day to be
appointed for the examination.

Order made accordingly.

SIRAIII RAMS v, IRON-CASED SHIPS.

Mr. Nasmyth, in a letter to a contemporary says:
Nothing but the most earnest conviction that the
few remarks I desire to offer may have an impor-
tant bearing on the subject of our national defences
would have led me to presume to solicit for them a
corner in your valuable columns.
Late events have, however, brought the subject
of iron-cased ships so prominently before the atten-
tion of the Goverement and of the public generally,
as a subject involving the most vital interests of the
nation, that I trust you will afford me the oppor-
tunity I so much desire of saying a few words on
the subject.
It appears to me that in the remarks which have
been made in Parliament and elsewhere, in refe-
rence to the successful attack by the Merrimac on
the Cumberland, sufficient attention has not been
given to the steam-ram action of the Merrimac,
which, however imperfectly constructed as a bona
fide steam ram, yet performed her duty in that
respect with such complete success as to have settled
the fate of the Cumberland by her first blow acting
as a steam ram, as from that moment the Cumber-
land began to sink into the water a hopeless wreck.
The guns of the Merrimac, no doubt, added to the
destruction of life, but that was not requisite to
secure the destruction of the vessel, the fate of
which was decided, as before said, by the first
steam-ram blow given by the Merrimac.

Ever since 1845, when I first introduced the
subject of steam-rams to the Admiralty, I have
given my earnest attention to the subject, as one
of the most simple and effective agents in naval
warfare ; and, having watched the results of the
experiments that have been made on iron plates,
by which we seek to render our ships of war in-
vulnerable to shot, experience and reflection kave
satisfied me that, unless we provide ourselves with
bona fide steam-rams, great as the shot-resisting
capabilities of our iron-plated war ships may be, not
one of them could exist above water after receiving
on its side a single blow from an iron-plated
steam ram of 2,000 tons. Such a weight of ram
moving with a velocity of eight or ten miles an
hoer, wonld, if it deposited its momentum on the
side of the strongest iron-plated ship, transcend in
the destructive effect of one single blow all the
broadsides that could be delivered during hours of
continued firing. As the grand object of naval
warfare is the destruction by the most speedy mode
of the ships of the enemy, why should we con-
tinue to attempt to attain this object by making
small holes in the hull of the enemy when, by one
single masterly blow from a steam ram we can crush
in the side of any armour-plated ship, and let
the water rush in through a hole " as wide as a
church door,' and certain to send her below water
in a few minutes ?

No iron plates, however thick, as forming the
sides of an iron-plated war ship, could ever with-
stand the crushing-in action of an end-on blow from
a steam-ram possessed of the momentum due to
2,000 tons, moving with even S 3 moderate a velocity
as 10 miles an hour. While such a crushing blow
would be fatal wben delivered on to the side of the
enemy, the result to the steam-ram would be prac-
tically harmless.
In the construction of such a ram as I refer to
everything would be done to give her " end-way
strength," while at the same time being hampered
with no interior fittings except what was due to
the attainment of high speed. Under such fa-
vourable conditions a degree of speed might
be given to her such as to enable her to
overtake any more cumbrous vessel, against the
rudder and screw of which she could easily rush, and
so, in the first place, utterly disable the locomotive
power of the enemy and then sweep round to gain
due momentum and direction, and crush in the
plated sides of the then comparatively helpless
enemy. For such purposes it would be well to have
a covey of smaller nimble rams, to act as what I
woild term "cripplers "—namely, to rush at the
rudders and screws of the enemy's ships, which
would render them an easy prey to the great rams
and other agents of destruction.
Vast as has been our expenditure on such vessels
as the Warrior and other vessels of her class, the
steam ram principle in them is so imperfectly car-
ried out, and overlaid and hampered with traditional
naval details, as to render it more than doubtful if
any of them dare to act as "steam rams," certainly
not as such against an iron-plated enemy.
I earnestly trust the Admiralty will not lose a day
in testing the efficiency of a bona fide steam ram,
and not let us have to be taught a humiliating lesson
as to the capabilities of such tremendous agents as
they are certain to prove from some
hostile
quarters.

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge
has been suffering from an attack of influenza and cold for
the last few days.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury
entertained at dinner on Saturday evening the Marchioness
of Lothian, the Countess of Bective, Lord and Lady
Burghley, Lord West, Mr. and Lady Augusta Fremantle,
Mrs. Lane Fox, Mr. Whiteside, M.P., &o,
The health of the Earl of Derby continues to
improve, and hopes are held out by his lordship's medical
advisers that in a few days the noble earl will be so far re-
covered r,s to leave town for the country to recruit his
heir dui ing the Parliamentary recess.
The: Earl and Countess of Clarendon intend to
receive a succession of visitors at the Grove, near Watford,
during the holidays.
nLadyrnMolesworth entertained at dinner last
v e
• ,the Earl of Cork, Earl Granville, Maria Marchioness
of AileshurY, the Earl and Countess Somers, Viscount and
Viscountess Enfield, Viscount Torrington, Viscount Strat-
ford de Redcliffe, Lord Elcho,
e
the Right Hon. Sir Edward
Bulwer Lytton, Mr. Delane, and Mr. Hayward.
The lion. Gerald and Lady Maria Ponsonby have
returned to town from visiting the Earl and Countess of
Clarendon, at the Grove, Watford.

CRIINIINAL COURT-THIS DAY.

OLD COT.TRT.
(Before the Recorder.)
EMBEZZLEMENT.

Abraham Emden, traveller, pleaded guilty to an indict-
ment charging him with embezzling the sum of £l4 35., and
various other sums of money, the property of Robert King,
his employer.

The Recorder sentenced him to three years' penal servi-
,ude.

RECEIVING STOLEN PROPERTY.

Gothard Poehler was indicted for feloniously receiving a
quantity of muskwash skins, and Wm.Patzolt was indicted
for stealing the same from his employer.

Patzolt, who pleaded guilty, was adwilred a= a witness
against the first-named prisoner.

The prisoner Patzolt was in the employ of Messrs. Op-
penheim, furriers, Cannon street West, and the property ill
question had been stolen from their stock. It was after-
wards disposed of by Poehler to a person named Lilly-
cramp, much below its value.

The jury found the prisoner guilty, and at the same time
said they highly disapproved of tl',o conduct of Lillycrane
The prosecutor said he had. ir,any reasons to believo that
Patzolt had been made a tool of by the other prisoner.
The Recorder said he entirely concurred in the verdict •
He should, therefore, refuse to allow Liliycramp his e•
ptnses. With respeo',. to Patzolt he had no doubt he had
been incited to rob employer, and that he had unfortu-
nately yielded to the temptation. As the prosecutor had
spoken favourelly of him he would only sentence him to
6 months' iraprisonment, with hard labour, but as for
Poehler he appeared to be a person whose object was to in-
cite people to rob their employers. He should, therefore,
sentence him to 4 years' penal servitude.