The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-19 00:00:00

SWITZERLAND.

The Executive Government of Switzerland, in
consideration of the probable complications of the
Eastern question, proposes to station a body of
troops on the German frontier, and is about to de-
mand a grant from the Federal Assembly with this
object.
SCREW STEAM NAVIGATION.

The magnificent screw steamship Himalaya, Captain
A. Kellock, belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental
Steam Navigation Company, since her appearance ill
the Southampton Docks has been the object of great
interest and attention to numerous visitors of all classes
of society who have been permitted to go on board to
make an inspection of the wondrous triumphs of enter-
prise and skill displayed in this gigantic ocean steamer.
The Himalaya is the largest ocean steamship in the
world. She is, in fact, " the Duke of Wellington," not
alone of the Peninsular and Oriental Company's fleet, but
takes ducal rank among all the merchant steamships at
present in existence. The Himalaya is 3,550 tons register,
equal to over 4,000 tons burden, and is of the extra-
ordinary length of 372 feet 9 inches. The length of
keel is 311 feet ; breadth for tonnage, 46 feet
inches ; depth of hold, 24 feet 9 inches. These pro-
portions, when contrasted with the dimensions of
other ships, give a great advantage, particularly in
length, to the Himalaya ; for example, the Duke of
Wellington, of 131 guns, although of greater beam and
depth, is inferior in length by 92 feet to the Himalaya.
The screw steamer Great Britain is 335 feet long, or
40 feet shorter than the Himalaya, while the American
clipper ship Great Republic, recently destroyed by*
fire in New York, was only 325 feet long, or of 47 feet
less length than the Himalaya. Although the Himalaya
exceeds in so large a degree the length of the Duke of
Wellington, yet she is inferior in tonnage to that ship,
the Duke being 3,759 4-94 tons, or about 205 too,
larger than the Himalaya. The superior burden of the
Duke of Wellington is produced by her enormous
breadth of beam, which is 60 feet, and her depth, which
is 57 feet forward and 65 feet aft, both these cualities
being indispensable in ships of war to enabl4 them to
carry their heavy armament of artillery with tAe requisite
supplies of ammunition, stores, &c. The Himalaya is
built of iron, and was constructed by Messrs. J. C.
Mare and Co., of Blackwall. The engines, of 700-horse
power, by Messrs. Penn, of Greenwich, are on the trunk
principle, similar to those supplied by that firm to
the Agamemnon and other vessels. Their splendid per-
formance cannot be exaggerated ; they work like the
mechanism of a chronometer, and propel the ship
through the water with incredible smoothness and ease
of motion. The cylinders of the engines are of 84 inches
diameter, with a WI feet stroke, and the revolutions Ter
minute are from 50 to 60. The screw is a two-blared
one, on the old principle, of 18 feet diameter, with a2B
feet pitch, and weighs nearly seven tons. The vessel is
full ship-rigged, and the masts, spars, and sails which
have been supplied are those suitable for a clippership
of 1,600 or 1,800 tons. Captain Kellock says frost the
experience he has already had of the qualities)f the
vessel, that in a heavy breeze there would be no dificulty
in getting 18 knots or 20 miles an hour out of the
ship by using both steam and canvass. Passenger by this
magnificent steamer will revel in every luxury ,nd com-
fort that can be comprehended in a sea voyge. The
saloon, nearly 100 feet in length, will dine ro persons;
the bed cabins are the largest and most roolY ever yet
appropriated to marine travellers. Thee is in the
various suites of apartments accommodati4 for 200 first
and second cabin passengers, besides tie usual mail-
rooms, baggage-rooms, store-rooms, oter-tanks, &C.
The ship will carry 1,000 tons of meas cement goods on
freight, and in her bunkers can sow 1,200 tons of
coals. The spar-deck is flush from stem to stern, and
it is when setting foot upon this vt of the vessel that
her immense size produces an ext ordinary effect upon
the spectator. An uninterrupteipromenade of 375 feet,
or 125 yards is here provided. o walk round the spar
deck precisely one-seventh of
4 mile has to be traversed.
The possession of such a
Himalaya must be a ras iupendous steamship as the
cer not merely of local, but
national interest. If, IzAlappily, the threatened war
should break out, they
is no telling the uses to which,
upon emergencies, es vessel and other steamers of
lesser size, belonginr co the great steam companies might
be applied. 3,000 men could be embarked at South'
ampton, and con4Yed by the Himalaya in 11 days to
Constantinople •r the Black Sea ' • while steamers such
as the ColomPs Plata, Atrato, Jason, Argo, Crcesuo,
and many °ors might be dispatched with proportionate
numbers. By employing temporarily the great
steamers ocallY congregated at Southampton, a small
army mght in fact be rapidly thrown upon any partion'
lar point of the European or Asiatic coast, where the
exigencies or unexpected hazards of war should render
such succour necessary. For rapidly transporting im-
mense supplies of provisions, ammunition, artillery, of
men to the fleets in the Black Sea in the Mediter-
ranean, or in the Baltic, it is difficult to say what
enormous services might not, on emergency, be ren'
dered by a few steamers such as these, should the
Admiralty, at any time find it desirable to employ
them. Armed with long Paixhan guns, manned-
with a sufficient force of seamen trained to gull'
Himalaya would laugh to scorn
aryships-of-war to capture her.
ntheerY effsourcfha
of a ship
any a
ordinary
rtdhine
With her steam power of 700 horses, she could escape
From and outstrip in speed any fleet of ships-of-war,
while she would in a running fight, inflict great damage
upon her assailants. The Duke of Wellington, according
to accounts recently received from Lisbon, is as easily
handled at sea as a Cowes yacht ; and, if we rightly
interpret the intelligence which has lately reached us,
the Admiralty are determined to try, on a more ex'
tended scale, the principle of screw line-of-battle ships.
Instead of ships of 4,000 tons, 800-horse power, and
carrying 131 guns, there is nothing to prevent the
construction of ships 500 feet long, of 10,000 tone
burden, and capable of mounting 200 or 250 pieces
of ordnance of the largest size. Line-of-battle ships
would then be turned into moveable fortifications of
the most tremendous and destructive character, capable
of being transported with incredible rapidity from place
to place. If this principle be once admitted—and there
seems nothing to prevent its feasibility—no land fortifi-
cations will hereafter be enabled to resist the gigantic
naval forces which may be appointed for their reduction.
Warlike operations on the ocean will assume an entirely
new character, and the time may come when these for'
midable fortresses of the sea will be classed in militia./
operations as floating citadels, and when the destruction
or loss of one of them will be considered as a disaster
equal to the fall of a land fortress, which may be de'
fending a line of strategic importance in a military sense.

THE LATE EXTENSIVE ROBBERY IN GLOSTER-MAO%
HYDE-PARK.—NOtwithstandir6 the united exertions of
Inspectors Grant and Field, the mystery of this robbery
has not yet been p.rved. Although suspicion is st'
tached to a eeri.in party, enough has not yet been dig"
covered L. Justify his being taken into custody. In this
owse the thieves got hold of easily convertible articles in
the shape of diamond necklaces, brooches and armlets ;
we consequently fear all hope of recovery is lost. It ha*
however, often happened, that months after a robbed
of this kind has been effected, the guilty parties bar°
been apprehended.

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