The Sun.
London, England, 1831-06-27 00:00:00

EXPERIIIENTAL VESSELS.

two experimental vesSels are at present building in the
docks at SheeilieSs, a Steamer, to be called the Salaman-
der, and a frigate, to be named the Calliope. The Sala-
mander is intended for a ship of war; and is to be made
sufficiently strong to carry a mortar. She is 175 feet in
the keel and 200 feet aloft, and *ill mount g 2 guns. The
imbers used in her are of English oak and African oak,
the latter being placed in the legs important parts. They
are precisely of the size and substance used in a frigate of
the largest class. The wheels, instead of projecting from
her sides, as in ordinary steam-vessels, will be let into the
sides, a digression equal to abOut three feet being created
by running the timbers up straight along the space to be
occupied by the paddles, which are to be less broad than
those generally seen ; thus, when the wheels are covered
by the protecting planks, the sides Will present an entirely
unbroken, surface ; so that the shape and symmetry of the
ship will he as perfect as it might be in an ordinary frigate.
In the construction of the Calliope, English oak, Afri-
can oak, mahogany, cedar, teak, and other timbers are to
he used ; the great object to be obtained by building her
being po.itively to aseertaiii What species of timber is the
best and the most durable. She will accordingly be kept
afloat for ten or twelve years, and at the expiration of this
period it is proposed to strip her, and decide upon the re-
lative merits of the timbers used in her construction. She
is large enough to carry 32 guns, if pierced after the usual
fashion, but she will only carry 24, which are to be
mounted according to the plan adopted by Captain Mar-
shall, in the .Donegal; the advantage of which that
all and each of the guns are given a more extensive space
wherein to range, being fixed upon pivots, and having
the carriage divided into two parts, the latter of which
is moveable. With guns mounted in this manner, it is
possible to bring the whole weight of metal to bear upon
any given point at a short distance, and also to fire into
boats alongside and under the muzzles of the guns.
Greater room is required to work guns thus mounted, and
consequently) instead of the usual number, five, there
are seven timbers between each port-hole. This
ship also, in accordance with the new fashion, is round in
the stern, and, in common with the Salamander, is to
have masts made after Sir Robert Seppings' plan--.that is
to say, masts which, being divided into 42 pieces of une-
qual lengths, and embraced by iron hoops that are se-
cured with a screw, may, in the event of any injury, be
repaired by the ship's carpenter, wherever the ship may
chance to be. In the old masts there are only five or six
great pieces, and the hoops were driven on red-hot, and
consisted of a simple circle. It was impossible, therefore,
to repair these masts, unless by laying down the vessel
in port (for which purpose it was in most cases necessary
to return to England), and unshipping the mast ;
whereas, with Sir R. Seppings' mast, it is only necessary
to unscrew the hoop near the part injured, and removing
the damaged timber, to supply its place by the appro-
priate one of the 42 pieces, all of which are regularly
marked and numbered according to their designation, and
may be carrie 1 without any inconvenience on board the
vessel. It is expected that the Salamander and the Cal-
liope will be fit to go to sea about Christmas.--, Observer.

We understand that the verdict in the case of
the NeWtonbarry massacre is " Justifiable Homicide."
This is the verdict of the Coroner's Inquest; and it re-
mains to be seen how fir their view of the transaction will

be adopted by the Government. We have at all times
under,tood that the yeomanry in this part of Ireland were
of the most violent and factious character. The effect of

the affair will probtbly be to induce Ministers to recon-
sider the propriety of the embodying of this most odious
and exceptionable description of force.—Morn. Citron.
BRUTAL ASSAULT.-KILMALLOCK, lith
JUNE, 1831.—A few evenings ago a private of the 69th
r,giment, stationed here, named NoLAN, induced a woman
who lived with hint for the last three years, to walk with
him to a field adjoining this town. During the walk,
NOLAN, impeachel the woman with unfaithfulness to him,
which she solemnly denied. She was advanced in preg-
nancy by NOLAN, who seized his b iyonet, looking round on
the field where they were, and upon observing boys at
play i❑ the field, he declined drawing the bayonet, hut coin.
munced kicking the unfortunate woman in the right side
and loins, which caused her to give premature birth to an
infant, on the fiend where she then stood ! The infant, of
course, was dead at the birth. The conduct of Police
Serjeant WILLIAM DANN on this occasion is highly laud-
able : upon hearing of the transaction, he repaired to the
house where the unfortunate woman lay (dangerously ill),
and afterwards waited on Major AIONNINGS and Captain
SUTTON. These officers, on hearing from Serjeant DANN
all the circumstances, placed NOLAN under arrest, and yes-
terday Mr. EvANs, of Ash Hill, a Magistrate, attended by
Major MoNNINcs and Captain Surrox, went to the bed-
side of the unfortunate woman, arid took her informations
against NOLAN, who is committed to abide his trial.—
Dublin Freeman's Journal.

THE WHALE.--At his pavilion, Charing-
cross, we paid our respects to this mon arch of the ocean,
and retired from our interview with him deeply impressed
with the majesty of his magnitude. In sober truth, this
immense and very perfect skeleton is a great natural
curiosity. It is upwards of 100 fret in length--all
the bones being carefully put, together; the end of the
tail alone is preserved with the skin on ? The whole is
supported on iron bars, and the space within the circle of
the ribs is so large that seats are fitted up in it, on which
a considerable number of persons could sit It is said to
have been, en one occasion, occupied by four-and-twenty
musicians, who performed a concert therein. This, we
presume, was previous to the animal's decease ; but if these
were four-and-twenty Jonasses, what a rumble, rumble,
they must have kept up in our poor friend's stomach.--
The body fl iated into some of the Dutch ports; and Baron
CUVIER having calculated from the appearance of the
skeleton and the state of the hones that the animal had lived
nine or ten centuries, we may safely conclude that he died
of a good old age. The skeleton is admirably well accorn_
modated in his pavilion ; and if the spirit that once ani-
mated it " can come from the regions of air," or, having
passed in the course of transmigration into the body of some
Signor, should visit its former tenement, how gratified must
it not to be to find it treated with such honourable distinc-
tion. A hook, containing a number of autographs of those
who visited this natural curiosity, when on the Continent,
forms a part of the present exhibition. Amongst other
names we find that of CHARLES, the late King of France,
and also that of Lours Purim.. The latter is in a good
hand, but the former is a wretched scrawl. CIIVIER'S
name, more illustrious than either of those, also appears there.
THE KING AND TILE LAUREL.—The head
representing WILLIAM IV. upon the new coinage of
sovereigns (just issued) is without the wreath of laurel
which is placed around the brow of GEORGE IV. upne,
the old coinage. The cause of the omission has been
thus accounted for :—When the artist placed before the
KING various designs for his NIAJESTV'S approbation,
some of the heads were deficient in the wreath, and the
QUEEN, who was present, placed them on one side, ob-
serving " The KING of England has ever been repre-
sented upon the coins of the realm with the laurel
wreath. It cannot be dispensed with by 'WILLIAM the
Fourth !"—The KING, with the most perfect coolness,
immediately replied, " Pardon me, ADELAIDE ; but first
let me gain the battle, ere I assume the symbol of the
victor ;" and then, turning to the Earl of , the
Lord in Waiting, continued, in an under-tone, "By
Heavens! my Lord, if we beat the Anti-Reformers, the
laurel shall be introduced upon every coin of the realm."
A SLIP BETWEEN THE CUP AND THE LIP.
—One night lately, an occurrence took place in a cottage
nen. the village of Poolewe, on the West coast, which oc-
casioned at first sonic alarm. A decent cotter's wife, who
has a fair daughter, of whom she is somewhat proud and
" vauntie," invited the Captain and mate of an English
vessel then lying in the neighbouring bay, to enter her
hut and partake of her humble hospitality. The parties
gladly obeyed, and enjoyed themselves till the evening,
whe❑ curds and cream were produced, and a candle Was
lighted. The candlestick, however, could no where be
found, and the landlady, unwilling to keep her visitors in
the dark, placed the •' luminary" in a bottle which she
had found among the papers and other stray effects of her
husband, who was at that time in Inverness. " All went
as merry as a marriage bell" for an hour or two, till
the candle burned down, and the remainder falling
into the bottle, the latter went off " like a cannon ball,"
says our correspondent, " quite through the roof,
the bottle being half full of gunpowder." A piece of the
bottle went into the Captain's arm and wounded hien se-
verely, while another fragment coming keen as a north-
wester in the teeth of the mate, struck the glass out of
his mouth. The rest of the crew, who were in the vessel
in the bay, hearing the report of the explosion, and fancy-
ing the Captain had fired a gun to apprise them that be
wished to return on board, were at the spot in an instant,
accompanied by a posse of dogs and neighbours whom the
report had aroused. They met the Captain and mate in
full retreat, under the persuasion that they had been in-
vited by the kindly crofter's wife for no other purpose than
to be Burked and plundered. An explanation afterwards
took place, to the sorrow and derision of the honest woman,
but not to the entire satisfaction of the Englishman, who'
could not fairly appreciate this unlucky instance of High-
, land hospitality.--Dumfries Paper.

GREAT DOINGS OF THE OPPOStTION-

AND WHAT NEXT?

A fiery amendment of the Lords' Address, abusing the
tri-coloured Ministry and the jacobin Reform Bill, were
the least with which we were threatened. The King was
to have been alarmed, the Whigs displaced by the Feebles
the Reform Bi I burnt, the press gagged, the habeas corpus
suspended, the soldiers called out, and the whole country
conservatively convulsed for the preservation of borough-
mongering. How have these mighty promises been ful-
filled ? With what arms did the new opposition attack
the great measure? These questions will be answered by
the following notice of the important topics which occu-
pied the House of Lords for twelve consecutive hours fol-
lowing the delivery of the King's speech

LORD FLLENBOROUGH
Objected to the King's speech being read until after the
reading of " some Bill." The first reading of the Select
Vestries Bill moved, and the Bill read a first time accord-
ingly ; spoke against the formal commencement of the
address, insisting on the third instead of the first person
plural; objected to the address being at once voted by the
House, without tho previous sanction of a committee ;
repeated the objection ; again repeated the objection ;
spoke at length on the same subject—(rose and spoke six
times.)