The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 22, 1865.

ventio ns of science to the purposes of war, are questions
whic}4 urgently demand the attention of Parliament."

There is no appearance of a contest in this divi-
sion. Mr. Liddell, the Conservative, and Mr. IV.
B, Beaumont, the Liberal member, will be re-
elected, in all probability, unopposed.

Imprisonment of British Subjects in

Abyssinia.

Yesterday the papers on this subject presented to
the House of Lords, in pursuance of their address,
were issued as a parliamentary paper. The first
document, dated Feb. 2, 1861, consists of the in-
structions to Captain Cameron, British consul at
Massowah, upon his proceeding to his consulate,
and a list of the presents which he was ordered to
deliver to the King of Abyssinia. These instruc-
tions were very general. Captain Cameron was to
make Massowah his headquarters, inform himself
of the political state of affairs in Abyssinia, with
which her Majesty's Government were imperfectly
acquainted; and ordered, if he found the civil war
still going on, not to become the partizan of either
side, but to promote amicable arrangements be-
tween the rival candidates for power. He was to
keep her Majesty's Government at home fully in-
formed of all matters of interest, and, in addition
to concerns of a political or commercial nature, to
pay particular attention to any traffic in slaves
which might be carried on within his district. The
second paper is a short letter to Consul Cameron,
dated November 13, in which Earl Russell states
that the Queen having heard that the King of
Abyssinia paid a ransom for the late Mr. Consul
Plowden, and being desirous of making some ac-
knowledgment for the act of kindness, had directed
that a suitable present should be sent to the King.
A rifle and a pair of revolver pistols accompanied
this message, and Consul Cameron was to deliver
them to the King as soon as possible after his
arrival in Abyssinia. The next letter is of singular
composition ; it is a copy of an autograph letter of
the King of Abyssinia to her Majesty the Queen,
and it is as follows

THE KING OF ABYSSINIA TO THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND.
(Received February 12, 1863.)

In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, one God in Trinity, chosen by God, King of kings,
Theodoros of Ethiopia to her Majesty Victoria, Queen of
England. I hope your Majesty is in good health. By the
power of God lam well. My fathers the Emperors having
forgotten our Creator, he handed over their kingdom to the
Gallas and Turks. But God created me, lifted me out of the
dust, and restored this empiro to my rule, He endowed mo
with power, and enabled me to stand in the place of my
fathers. By His power I drove away the Gallas. But for
the Turks, I have told them to leave the laid of my ances-
tors. They refuse. lam now going to wrestle with them.
Mr. Plowden, and my late Grand Chamberlain, the English-
man Bell, used to tell me that there was a great Christian
Queen, who loves all Christians. When they said to me
this—" We are able to make you known to her, and to
establish friendship between you," then in those times I
was very glad. I gave the my love, thinking that I had
found your Majesty's goodwill. All men are subject to
death, and my enemies, thinking to injure me, killed these
my friends. But by the power of God I have exterminated
those enemies, not leaving one alive, though they were of
my own family, that I may get, by the power of God, your
friendship. I was prevented by the Turks occupying the sea
coast from sending you an embassy when I was in difficulty.
Consul Cameron arrived with a letter, and presents of friend-
ship. By the power of God I was very glad hearing of your
welfare and being assured of your amity. I have received
your presents, and thank you much. I fear that if I send
ambassadors with presents of amity by Consul Cameron
they may be arrested by the Turks. And now I wish that
you may arrange for the safe passage of my ambassadors
everywhere on the road. I wish to have answer to this
letter by Consul Cameron, and that he may conduct my
embassy to England. See how the Islam oppress the
Christian.

The 4th, sth, and 6th letters were dated respec-
tively April 22, August 13, and September 8, 1863,
and express Earl Russell's disapprobation of
Consul Cameron's conduct in intermeddling in the
Affairs of Abyssinia, and directing him to return
to his post. The remaining papers consist chiefly
of copies of letters sent to the Foreign-office, con-
taining offers of assistance to obtain the liberation
of the British subjects imprisoned in Abyssinia.
On the 28th April, 1864, Dr. Charles Beke wrote
to Earl Russell, stating that a messenger from
Massowah, with letters from Europe, had fallen
into the hands of the King, who had the letters
translated to him. Dr. Beke was of opinion that
the effect upon the King of the letter from the
Foreign-office, directing Consul Cameron to leave
the court and return to Massowah, would be most
unfortunate, and expressed doubts whether the con-
sul would be permitted to take his departure. On
the 18th May in the same year Dr. Beke wrote to
the Foreign-office, renewing the offer of his services,
observing that he had resided three years in Abys-
sinia, visiting its remotest provinces, and was fami-
liar with its language and intimately acquainted with
its political, religious, commercial, and social affairs.
On the 4th of June, 1864, Major Plowden, first
cousin of the late consul, made a similar offer of his
services. On the 4th June Mr. Henry Dufton, of I,
Leeds, wrote to the Foreign-office, stating that his
son, who had spent four months at the Abyssinian
court, and had good opportunities of judging of
King Theodore's character, was ready to be the
bearer of a despatch from our Government to his
Abyssinian Majesty. An extract is also given
from the Leeds Intelligencer, in which Mr. Dufton
offers his views of the cause of the King's strange
conduct. A memorandum by Brigadier-General
W. M. Coghlan on the Abyssinian difficulty and
how to get out of it, dated February 8, 1865, gives
the opinion of that officer substantially as follows.
King Theodore is a parvenu, a powerful despot of
high aspirations and strong will, but he is not a
savage. The chief cause of his altered demeanour
towards Captain Cameron is the long delay in reply-
ing to the letter which he addressed to her Majesty
in January, 1863. It is understood that his dignity
is grievously wounded by this silence, which he
accepts as an affront, and a sense of this injury,
coupled with other circumstances, has led to the
baeffheavirestnhoawt tehnxisKinting at Gondar.
King refuses the
dTehpol
ro
or ai
sb ire e
as ts ao tne
toe
mission of Mr. Rassam, the assistant resident at
Aden, as not being of sufficient dignity, regarding
Mr. Rassam as a mere messenger and not an envoy.
General Coghlan therefore recommends a military
embassy, headed by an officer of rank, and including
some members of a scientific corps, as Theodore is
known to attach great importance to military rank
and to scientific men. The embassy should carry a
Queen'sletter indited in Oriental phraseology, highly
emblazoned and sealed, and containing compliments
and excuses, but no mention of the captives, whose
case is to be supposed to have become known to the
envoy on his way out. At Cairo the envoy should
endeavour to secure the services of two Abyssinian
monks, who, if not procurable there, might be got
from Jerusalem, who should be treated with liberal
consideration, impressed with the dignity of their
mission, and induced to interest themselves in its
ultimate object. One of them should be despatched
from the coast of Gondar, carrying a letter from the
envoy announcing his arrival bearing a letter from
the Queen. Arrived at Gondar, the envoy might,
as own his own responsibility, address the King on
the subject of the captives, expressing the hopo that
they had done nothing to incur his displeasure, and
requesting that in any case they should be released,
in order that the proposed interview might proceed
on the most friendly footing. Supposing the British
mission to be well received, and the captives to be
released, there would then arise the more difficult
task of obtaining from the King some apology as a
reparation for the wrong committed on her Ma-
jesty's subjects. This would perhaps be the severest
trial of the diplomatic skill of the British embassy.
There is, however, no reason to despair of success;
on the contrary, it may be hoped that a mission
dignified in its constitution, liberal in outlay, mode-
rate in demands, and circumspect in conduct, will
so gratify the pride of the King that he will make
no difficulty in the matter of tendering such apology
as may be acceptable to her Majesty's Government.
General Coghlan believes that there is no alterna -
tive process open by which this object can be ob-
tained ; he doubts the value of any warlike aid to
be obtained from Egypt, if even it could be obtained
at all ; and observes that Theodore is alleged to have
sworn to put all his prisoners to death on any foreign
invasion of his country to effect their release. In
April last Major 11. A. Leveson offered his
services to negotiate the release of Captain
Cameron. On the 19th of May Dr. Beke ad-
dressed a long communication to Earl Russell.
In his opinion it would not be consistent with the
dignity of the British nation to replace Mr. Ras-
sam's mission by one on a larger and more magnifi-
cent scale. He considers that it is well established
that King Theodore's ill-treatment of her Majesty's

consul had been mainly caused by the altered policy
of the British Government with respect to the rela-
tions between Egypt and Abyssinia, and that the
King hopes to induce her Majesty's Government to
retrace their steps, and continue to afford him ma-
terial aid against his enemies as was virtually done
when Mr. Consul Plowden was alive, that officer
having been an active partizan of the King, and
having lost his life while bearing arms in his cause.
This hope cannot be fulfilled, but Dr. Beke believes
that it would not be difficult to make the Abyssinian
monarch understand that by the policy now pro-
posed to be pursued towards him by the British
Government, and recommended for his adoption, he
might eventually obtain the object he has so much
at heart, inasmuch as by the cultivation of the arts
of peace he would so aggrandise himself as to be able
to cope effectually with his powerful neighbour. Dr.
Beke enlarged upon this subject, and dwells upon
the advantages which could be pointed out to King
Theodore in the capabilities of his country in cotton
growing, and its resources in coal and iron. He is
of opinion also that the telegraphic communication
between England and India should be effected by
continuing the Egyptian line from Khartum across
Abyssinia to the sea coast. Dr. Beke would support
his arguments by presenting to the King specimens
of articles of British manufacture capable of being
made from the cotton of Abyssinia, and specimens
of the infinite variety of articles that might be manu-
factured from the fine iron which the King's terri-
tories contain in such abundance.

Experiments at Shoebtu7ness.

Yesterday some interesting experiments were
made at this great school of artillery practice, to
ascertain the resisting powers of the new kinds of
ironclads which are about to be constructed from
the designs of Mr. E. J. Reed. The target experi-
mented on represented an exact section of what is to
be the new principle of construction in the Hercules
and other vessels of her class, which are meant to be
an improvement on the Bellerophon. The latter
vessel, as our readers may remember, is coated with
6-inch iron armour on a most massive backing, and
is pierced for 10 guns. The Hercules, of the same
length as the Bellerophon (300 ft.), has two feet
more beam, and is meant for only eight guns, six of
which, however, are to be 300-pounders and two
600-pounders, whenever the Admiralty can get them.
The thickness of the broadside of this intended ves-
sel is for a structure meant to float and be buoyant
in a seaway something stupendous. The total mass
which her sides oppose to shot is a combination of
iron and wood no less than 4ft. 21in. thick, of which
111 in. are iron and 3ft. 3in, solid teak, all cross laid,
and combined together in the most massive manner.
It is curious to notice how as after each succeeding
trial the guns gain the victory the thickness of plat-
ing and backing of ships are continually increased.
Thus, with the first vessels of the Warrior class,
41in. of iron and 18in. of teak were thought to be as
much as they could safely carry. In the vessels of
the Minotaur class these weights were added to by
making the plates 51in. instead of 4i-in. ; and with
the Bellerophon class this has been increased again
by having the iron bin. and the backing 24in.
Nothing, however, has been attempted either here
or abroad which at all comes up to the ponderous
strength with which it is intended that the Hercules
class shall be constructed. These new vessels are to
be built on the plan of the Bellerophon as regards
the general surface of their broadsides, but with their
vital parts—that is to say, just above and below the
water-line--strengthened with a thickness of metal
which may be said to make them, almost invulner-
able along their entire length. alms the ordinary
surface of the broadside is to be coated with slabs of
iron Gin. thick, but for 2ift. above the water-line
and 2ft. below it the armour is increased to a thick-
ness of no less than 9in., while for 4ft. more below
this belt under the water the plates are 6in. thick,
making her total depth of coating under the water
line Eft. Gin., instead of sft., as heretofore. These
• slabs of iron are throughout all their varying thick-
nesses backed up with teak beams 12in. thick,
inside which come the iron ribs of the ship 10in.
thick, the interstices between which are all
blocked in solid with beams of teak 10in., thick by
12in. wide. Inside this mass again comes the
wrought-iron skin lin. thick, and inside this are 17
inches of teak, with another iron skin 4in. thick,
which rests on a wrought-iron inner frame of ribs
7in. deep. The total mass is thus, as we have said,
4ft. 21in., of which 3ft. 3in. are of teak beams and
111 in. of iron. In short, the backing to the armour is
double the strength of all other iron-clads--a double
skin and double framing, with double beams be-
tween ; and it must not be forgotten that, though
the thickness of the plates varies from Bba. to 9in. at
the water-line to Gin. on the broadside, the solidity
of the backing is uniform throughout. The weight
of this mass per foot is about 5201 b., the weight per
foot of the Bellerophon being 3891 b., and of the
Warrior 3471 b.

Their Highnesses the Prince de Joinville, the
Count de Paris, and the Duke de Chartres were pre-
sent yesterday to see the target tried, with Admiral
the Hon. F. Grey, Admiral Robinson, Lord Lau-
derdale, Chairman of the Turret-Ship Committee;
Lord Selkirk, Admiral Yelverton, Admiral Hal-
stead, Gen. Lefroy, Sir W. Armstrong, Mr. E. J.
Reed, Major Pallisser, &c. The target, which was
18ft. long by Bft. high, was composed of two rows
of plates, one half of which were fastened with the
ordinary through bolts, 3in. in diameter; an ad-
mittedly bad and inefficient method. The other half
of the plates were secured by 2iin. bolts on Major
Pallisser's system, having the threads of their
screws in relief instead of cut into the substance of
the bolt.

The massive target, as might have been expected,
came off perfectly victorious from its contest with
all the guns which were brought against it. It is
needless to recapitulate the order of the firing when
the result in every case was almost identical—namely,
that the outer armour-plate was more or less deeply
penetrated, sometimes gone through, and always
deeply bent in, but the backing throughout re-
mained absolutely unhurt. At the close of the
day's firing not a single rivet in the backing had
been displaced, or even the point cracked, except in
one place, where, under the terrific blow of a 300-
pounder, fired with a steel shot, propelled by the
enormous charge of 601 b. of powder, the inner fram-
ing ribs were slightly bulged. Beyond this, there
was nothing at the back of the target to show the
ordeal it had gone through, and, as the result proved;
all the visitors present might have safely stood be-
hind it throughout the whole course of the experi-
ments. That these trials were unusually severe may
be guessed from the fact that the firing was begun
with a 2201 b. steel shot, with 401 b. of powder, and
continued with gradually increasing charges till, as
we have said, the tests culminated with a 3001 b. steel
shot fired with 601 b. of powder. Most of these shots
still remain half embedded in the iron of the target,
though some were thrown out by the violence of the
shock with which others struck. One most interest-
ing part of the experiment, and one of the utmost
importance, also, was to ascertain how far Major
Pallisser's bolts are superior to those now used in
securing ships' armour. Of their comparative supe-
riority there is no question, and it is only the per-
centage by which they excel that is a matter of
doubt, and this cannot be known till the target tried
yesterday is taken down, and the bolts of both kinds
withdrawn examined.

So far, then, as the trials of yesterday are con-
cerned the victory remained conspicuously with the
target, yet it is beyond a doubt that the very reverse
of this result would have happened if the 600-pounder
had been tried against it in place of the 300-pounder.
As far as the 600-pounder has yet been used it has
simply swept away every target opposed to it, and
for the present, at least, it is admitted that it would
be almost impossible to expect flotation from any
vessel built strong enough to resist its force. Yet
it is not too much to say that it is almost only in
this country that the 600-pounder is an exceptional
gun. Mr. Krupp, at Essen, is now making 300
and 600 pounders for foreign Governments, not in
small numbers, but literally in scores. Captain
Blakely, whose system of rifled ordnance has always
been held in high esteem abroad, and has, in the last
few years, slowly but surely risen in the estimation
of our own most experienced artilleryists, has made
between 30 and 40 of these 600-pounders for the

Russians, and is not only engaged on more, but is
actually beginning 900-pounders for the same Go-
vernment. Up to the present, however, the English
people only possess one 600-pounder at Shoebury-
ness, and this an experimental gun, which, in spite
of great performances, is admitted to be capable of
great improvement. In the face of these facts it
would seem to be only a prudent measure to give
one of Capt. Blakely's 600-pounders a trial at Shoe-
buryness, in order to ascertain what are the merits
of a gun which is so much prized abroad, but which,
strange to say, has never even been allowed a trial
at Shoeburyness.