The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-06 00:00:00

THE PEACE SOCIETY AT FAULT.

Year.

In April.

xi '4 g
C.) 0 C.. C.
71 " 0
X '-
ra

5 s .
P 2 2

1718
1719
1720
1721
1722
1723
1724
1725
1726
1727
1728
1729
1730
1731
1732
1733
1734
1735
1736
1737
1738
1739
1740
1741
1742
1713
1744
1745. •••
1746 .
1747
1748
1749
1750
1751
1752
1753
1754
1755
1756
1757
1758
1759 .•
1760
1761
1762
1763
1764
1765
1765
1767
1768
1769
1770
1771
1772
1773
1774
1775
1776
1777
1778
1779
1780
1781
1782
1783
1784
1785
1786
17 37
1788
1789
1790
1791
1792
1793
1794
1795
1796
1797
1798 .
1799
1800
1801
1802
1803
1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
181:3
1814
1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838 ......
1839 .....
1840 ......
1811 ......
1842
1843
1844
1845
1816
1847
1848
1849.•• --
1850
1851
1852
1853

6 14
5
26 ::: 12

26 I 2,
24 I .

ii 1 ::: 1 2.1.

11
4 .
9* .....
8 ...

.5 112

.9 l4

- 11
11
9 - 17

C
.g
0 C.>
•

~. 27
14 1 23*

18

20 1 ..

24'
24
23
23

... 112

151-

. . 15* ...
7* 14
7 1 25 25
... 11 ...

11 1 .

8,
..
....
.. 15

2 1 ...

.123

i 22
i
16 ...
20 ...

7 1 ...

1120

15 I I
14
13 ••

51...
..i i... 114

oi..

..
7
16. 7
•• 7
•• 6

28 11 i

vaClosed in October
----From the above table we see t,------------hat during the fore-
going Times.
FirstlOda 9
ysNov.o7
' Second ............... 50 ~ Second
" Last .................. 16
op e n e,
(113 i
n 5
First yearslMarch
Or hat
Gays
. se.
0. r. :
A7pi.rril..l Niels :1.
7, Last
136 I I, In December

131
The average date for opening, therefore, is the 9th of

------
Note.—The dates set forth in this table are to be under-
stood as the actual dates the river was freed from ice, or
closed thereby. The addition of * indicates the opening or
closing of the river on the evening of t
the 6th and 14th of April), it is to be
commenced moving on the 6th, but be-
he previous day.
Where in the same year there are two dates for the opening
and at length moved away on the 14th
of April. Of such there are only two instances. If there are
r(caeasernki neo
ns ttehadteitohynaeatar
stationary
hllet7g3jaci3on, ,
two dates for the closing of the rivet by ice (as in 1730, the
31st of October, and the 9th of November), it is to be under-
stood that the ice set on the 31st of October, went away
again, and at length set fast the second time on the 9th of
November. This has taken place Iline times iu all, but in
1791 the ice went away twice before it finally sot for the
third time.

What has become of the Peace Association ? Has it
gone to the seat of war, wherever that may be, or what
Is it about when the press is teeming with suggestions the
most adverse to the objects of its mission ?

What would the men of peace do if they saw a man
pulling off his coat to fight And what is the press at this
moment about but helping the soldier to pull off his coat
to fight I Surely, then, this is the time for the active inter-
ference of the Peace Association. The British soldier, as
he left our shores ea'iipped for war, represented with con-
summate perfecti.on a man bound over to keep the peace.
To the greattst possible degree he was deprived of the use
of his lirels. His stock throttled him ; his jacket was
.so in the sleeves, especially at the arm-pits,
as to confine his motions under penalty of excori-
PAion ; his knapsack was placed on his back with
regard only to uniformity, and without the slightest con-
' sideration for the convenience of the bearer, or the ad-
justment most suitable to his particular height and figure;
the cross belts perfected the embarrassment, and thus
altogether the man was reduced to the state proverbially
described as that of the "hog in armour." Add to this,
if a cavalry soldier, that the weapon of offence is
sheathed iu an iron scabbard, which renders it as ser-
viceable for cutting as a poker, and what can the
Peace Society want more ? A Quaker ought to dress
himself Jake a grenadier guardsman, to personify the
highest degree of inaptitude for action. A guardsman
attired like a Quaker would be alarmingly free for deeds
of arms. In some parts of the country they hobble
cattle to prevent their straying, that is, they tie one leg
to another, or attach a log. The British soldier is hob-
bled for active service with equal success by his uniform
and equipments. What is given to show, is so much
taken from the man's efficiency; and surely this ought
to satisfy the Peace Aisociation, and to enlist it in the
defence of stocks, straps, buckles, belts, and all the rest
binding over the soldier to the utmost contrivable harm-
lessness. Surely it is something to have the man in such
case that he cannot march to meet the enemy, but drops
down by the road-side. This at least keeps him out of
harm's way. The Chinese women's feet are so bound
and bandaged when young, that ample securities are had
against their gadding, or taking freedoms obnoxious to
the jealousies of their lords and masters; and the
British soldier comes next to the Chinese lady in
the disabled order. Antiquarians, a thousand
years hence, will account for the peculiar equip-
ment of our troops by the constitutional jealousy
of a standing army, standing /uces a non, be-
cause the men fall out in fits of strangulation.
Imagine what must be the feelings of a soldier in heavy
marching order when he hears the word of command,
" Stand at ease." As Magog the beadle says, when
dead drunk ho is told to get up, "It is all very easy to
talk of such a thing, but how do you do it ?" And
how, in the name of all impossibility, is the unhappy
soldier to stand at case ? It is, perhaps, the only word
of command he would willingly obey, but for his life he
cannot do it.

Compare the British soldier with the British sailor ;
the one all for show, the other all for use. The
exigencies of the ship's duties have not allowed of
any tampering with Jack's freedom of motion. A
man must have the unfettered use of his limbs ia
go aloft in a gale, and reef topsails while the ship
is pitching bows under, and the sail is fighting
with all the fury of the storm against the hands gather-
ing up its heavy folds, and knotting the nettles. And
see a soldier go into action, trussed as it were for the
spit, and compare him with the seaman standing to his
gun, stripped to his waist that nothing may interfere
with his freedom and vigour of limb.
'We do not mean to imply that it would be fitting to
equip the soldier as loosely as the sailor, but merely that
all but the Peace Association would desire him to be
emancipated from ligatures of various kinds, which, if
they do not disable him, yet cruelly tax his powers, and
in the same proportion impair his efficiency. Some
little progress has already been made towards the sol-
dier's emancipation, and all through the labours of the
press, assisted indeed by some military men who look to
uses, not to show and systems which are behind all the
rest of the world.
But for the press, our troops at this moment would
not be armed with the Minie rifle. Brown Bess had
her last advocates in high military authorities ; and
swayed by them so late as the session before last, Mr.
Monsell declared that it was not advisable to arm more
than about 200 of every regiment with the efficient
pieces now in use. The press, too, has taken off the
stock ; as (or the knapsack, the soldier throws it away
when he goes into action, thus showing that if it has
not its proper place on his back when work is to be done
it shall have none at all.
Yet we are told that it is an insufferable presumption
for civilians to pretend to opinions on these professional
matters. We are rebuked for not respecting Admiral
Chads' bird's view of Cronstadt, and his awful report
that the walls of that fort are of solid granite Now
certainly we were not reverently struck by the stress
on the solidity of the granite, granite not being a ma-
terial of which band-boxes are usually made ; but, as
we stated in our last number, the obvious suspicion oc-
curred to us that if the granite seemed of any
soli-
dity greater than what usually belongs to granite, the
probability was that it was a sham, as has been proved
to be the case at Bomarsund.
Next we are blamed for having a notion that gun-
boats can be built on a more perfect plan than that of
the Admiralty, by combining wood with iron, and thus
getting a scantling for a heavy armament with a very
, small draught of water.
, We have done our best, accordingly, to read with all
. respect and edification the account of the performances
• of the Arrow, which proved so worthy of her name by
• throwing her shells anywhere but to the mark. Her tar-
' get was indeed small, the bull's-eye being no bigger than
• the cliff over the Needles ; and such the excellence of
• the practice, that the lighthouse at the top of the lofty
cliff struck its flag after the fourth shot, and the garrison
• marched out and surrendered at discretion, avowing that
▪ two ,hells had all but blown up the building. There was
* no such siege practice as this at Chatham ; here a
• place was actually evacuated, and a pic-nic party
• to boot had to fly for their lives. The gunnery
• is of the unexpected sort, and an enemy would
•• not know where to he safe against it except
.• well in front. In explanation of these vagaries,
- it is said that the Arrow rolled heavily, and well she
might do that if she was in the sea running in or near
the Bridge in anything of a breeze ; but we have a notion
that the Nix or Salamander, with their snugly-stowed ma-
.. chin ery and better placed centre of gravity, would have been
.. somewhat easier in the [lame surf, and would not have been
•• so aspiring in their practice towards the lighthouse. Be
• • that as it may, her Majesty must have been extraordinarily
•• impressed with the prowess of her gun-boat the Arrow,
" and must have inferred how formidable she would be to the
enemy when even her Majesty's own lighthouses and
pic-nic parties were not safe from her at a handsome
distance from the mark. Considering the width of her
• practice, this vessel's name merits the addition of the
... Broad Arrow peculiar to the Crown. Nearly was its
••• mark clapped on the Light which was not built of glass
••• as solid as the stone of Cronstadt.
••• Let it not be supposed that we mean to impeach the
"* gunnery of the officers and crew of the Arrow. The
io,„ fault in practice was doubtless solely referable to the
build of the vessel, and the broadside position ,of her
6 armament. A correspondent of the Times thus explains
the defect in the plan of the Arrow, and shows the
14* superiority of the Prussian models, the Nix and Sala-
-5* mender, to which we have so often referred :
"The Prussian vessels are about the same size or tonnage
as the/ English ; nevertheless, the Prussian vessels are so
formed as to have room and means of working four guns of
such size as those of which the English only carry two.
This arrangement is peculiar to the Prussian boats, and
cannot be adopted in our own. The next peculiarity is
this—The two long guns carried amidships in the Arrow
cannot be fired in a line with the keel ; they can only be
fired broadside, and trained forward to an angle not ex-
ceeding 56° on either side of the keel ; so that there are
31° on each side on which there can be no fire. Seppose,
therefore, these gun-boats to be chasing ; the vessels must
deviate 31° from their course in order to fire a gun • or they
must yaw round 61° to fire alternate guns on either side.
On the other hand, the Prussian boats can lay their course
and fire two guns simultaneously mid without interrup-
tion in a line parallel to their keel, and even convergent on
the ship chased; and are equally able, at the same time, to
keep up a fire aft on a vessel in chase. Their full speed
and their full armament can therefore be simultaneously
employed, which in the Arrow is impossible.
"The Arrow has -no remedy for this state of things so
long as she keeps her guns amidships. It was with the
guns so placed, firing out of the broadside ports, that the
experiments were made the other day. It would be pos-
sible in the Arrow to remove the guns into the bow, but,
looking at the size and construction of the vessel and of
the guns, I am sure that in a heavy sea that would be an
experiment neither convenient nor devoid of danger."
Further, it is to be remarked that as the rolling of a
vessel from side to side must be greater and quicker than
the pitching from stem to stern, it must he by so much
more difficult to lay w gun correctly in a broadside posi-
tion, as in the Arrow, than fore and aft, as in the Nix
and Salamander ; and this doubtless explains the very
excursive flight of the shot and shell of her Majesty's
new gun-boat—Examiner.

REPRESENTATION OF WIGAN:-Mr. Acton, the mayor
of this borough, has publishea his address, announcing
himself a candidate for the honour of representing it in
Parliament, on Liberal princi▪
ples. Mr. Acton tells his 1
fellow-townsmen :—" For many years I have had the
pleasure to bs intimately connected with
privilege and
Mr. Thickness° in public and political affairs. In poli-
tics and questions of public policy, I believe we generally
agreed. Time has served to confirm the principles I
have so long held, and events to my mind have proved
their soundness." Mr. Woods, who had been applied to
by a body of electors, in a letter, dated from Kissengen
iu Germany, declines to divi▪ de the Liberal party by 'be-
coming a candidate on this occasion.