The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-01 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF Tllll TIMES.

SlR,—Ever since Dr. Rae's account of the discovery of
the remains of Sir John Franklin's party appearei in the
Times I have been anxiously waiting in the hope that some
notice would be taken, either by you or some of your
numerous correspondents, of that part of Capt. M 'Clure's
report, published in the Times of last year, which had
reference to a state►nent made to him by some Esqui-
nsaux to the effect that they had met with a party of
" Whites," had attacked them, killed some, and
dispersed the others. They also pointed out to him
the place where some of them were buried, and
offered to conduct him to the spot. Captain M'Clure
say-e, if I remember rightly, that he was unable to
take advantage of this information on account of the
foggy state of the weather and the situation of his ship.
With regard to the question of how our brave
countrymen carae to their melaccholy end, I think the
evidence is presumptive of their having been mur-
dered. Besides the positive evidence to this effect of the
Esquimaux reporting to Captain M'Clure, it is hardly
to be believed that starving men would prepare their
food as stated, and then lie down and die without par-
taking of it ; and certainly it is not likely that they would
mutilate more than one corpse at a time. If, as these
people stated to Dr. Rae, they were not the party who
discovered the remains of our countrymen, then how
do they account for the- -possession of so much plate
Putting all the evidence together, it is more reason-
able to suppose that our men were murdered, and that
the possessors of the plate were themselves the authors
of the foul deed.

I am, air, yours, &0.,
Sunderland, Oct. 28. Mmuicus.

THE LANCASTER GUN.

TO THE EDITOR OB THE DAILY NEWS.

Sir,—The suggestion of your correspondent "Con- ' ,
jecture," as to the probable cause of the bursting of the
Lancaster gun, deserves the attention of the military
authorities. It struck me, when I first heard of the ,
bursting of one of these guns, that it had arisen ,
from an inequality of the thickness of the barrel, and
that in order to secure safety there should be an equality
of thickness, which could be attained, as your corres-
pondent suggests, by giving an elliptical foini to the
outside as well as to the inside of the gun. A rope of
unequal strength, hem being thicker at one part than
another, will give way under a strain which one equal
throughout only to the weaker part of the first would
easily sustain. The same principle holds good with re-
gard to a sack not of uniform strength filled with e,rain
at t h eweak
sustaine rp part,
same, or even a,d
whereas if it had
Thebeen s aacllick e mayburst
weak, it would
greater amount of pressure without giving way. It
might be urged that the same objection is
applicable to
the common rifle, the barrel of which is thinner
course of the internal grooves than in the along the
notwithstanding which it is found t other parts,
practice ; but when the yielding °answer well in
rifle bullet is compared with . nature of the leaden
cast iron ball the reason i the stubborn nature of a
s obvious.
Dublin, October 30. ous.--Yeurs dr, , c.,
7 117. C.
_

NEW Z

—EALAND.—We have late papers from the New
Zealand settlements, reaching from Nelson to the 6th
of August, and from kucklaud to the end of July, but
they swat4in notiiing of importance.