The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-02 00:00:00

The City of Dublin contract steam-packet (relieved by the
Iberia) took her departure for Gibraltar and England on the
19th inst. without having been admitted to pratique, the qua-
rantine from the lonian Islands having been increased from
seven to seventeen days, in consequence of the admission of
the new Lord High Commissioner, the Hon. Stewart 111‘Kenzie,
into the town of Corfu to perform his quarantine in the Go-
vernment Palace, within a week of his leaving Alexandria,
where the plague was raging.
The Calcutta sailed yesterday from Syracuse to water, and
will be followed in a few days by the Cambridge, which latter
will, perhaps, before returning, visit some of the Italian ports
of the continent,.
The Britannia will leave next Week, also for Syracuse, to
water, and during her Ilisence Sir John A. Ornmanney's flag
will be hoisted on boirdithe Howe, which, with all the vessels
of the fleet, will visit Naples about the sth proximo, to accele-
rate, by their imposing presence, the definitive settlement of
the long pending sulphur claims.
The Vanguard will shortly proceed to Tunis, and the Rod-
ney to Corfu.
The Prometheus may be looked for from Gibraltar, with the
mail from England of the 12th, about the 29th inst., and the
Iberia, from the lonian Islands, about the same time.

MR. WARNER'S INVENTION.
(From the Naval and Military Gazette.)
To say that we are not prejudiced against such projects
as that gentleman is stated to have discovered, would be
untrue. We admit that, in common with members of the
United Service of the highest rank and ability, we do re-
ceive any such propositions with extreme suspicion, not
as to the honesty, or even the conviction of the schemers,
but because we know, from constant experience, that such
are generally possessed of sanguine minds, and apt to
impute motives to those in authority, because they will
not admit the value of the projects, oftentimes extremely
clever and ingenious, but not applicable to purposes of war.
It is not • many years since the steam-gun attracted
considerable attention—a model is even now exhibited,
showing to the whole world the possibility of applying
steam to projectiles; and if we recollect rightly, Mr.
Perkins incurred considerable expense in preparing a
large model, which impelled a ball of 121bs. But this was
for various reasons pronounced by competent authorities
inapplicable to war, not only afloat, where steam of such
high pressure would be highly dangerous, but on shore;
and although the principle has been known, admitted,
and publicly exhibited for years, there is no intention of
adopting it as a war engine by this or any other nation.
Again, we remember, sonic six or eight years ago, a
celebrated west-end gun-maker, who boasted that he
could produce a piece of ordnance capable of projecting
a missile for twenty miles or more. His assertion was
treated with ridicule, by those who considered the initial
velocity required in a body that should continue to over-
come the resistance of the air for one-fourth of that
space; yet he went so far as to submit his project to the
Board at Woolwich, and demanded a large sum for the
discovery; being required to explain, he refused, and so
the matter ended, the Board not feeling justified in
recommending Government to entertain a project of
which they could give no opinion, in feet, to " buy a pig
in a poke." • - .
Now, to us it appears that Mr. Warner is much in
the same position as our friend the gun-maker ; and that
no responsible Minister or Board will ever be justified or
induced to negotiate with him, until he has established
certain essential preliminaries. First, if there should
prove to be any merit in the invention, and that is made
out to the satisfaction of the Government, to how many,
or to what extent, has the secret been already divulged ?
and what satisfaction can be given that after the invention
is supposed to be secured, it may not appear in some other
shape, and thus induce fresh demands ? Secondly—Sup-
osing that Mr. Warner has discovered some means of
_ng or overcoming the objection to the use of ful-
minating substances, and rendered those highly destruc-
tive and sensitive substances subservient to his purpose,
what security can be given that, when the project is
brought into action, otber Chemists may not effect the
same when it becomes worth while to apply their abili-
ties to the task ?
. It is true the last objection may be said to depreciate
the value of any invention ; and so it would, did not the
patent laws apply in ordinary cases, from which this is
exempt. But, considering that Mr. Warner and his
friends have (according to the Times) expended upwards
of 35,0001. upon this project, and (according to report)
now demand a very large sum for the invention, having
refused (according to Mr. Wakley) 300,0001. from a fo-
reign Government, we think the two objections will
weigh against the purchaser in the mind of any Minister
that may control the finances of this country.
Mr. Warner appears to be unfortunate in appealing to
the testimony of dead men, for the letters published go
for little one way or other, except to prove that the late
Mr. Lukin of the 'War-office introduced him to the late
Sir Herbert Taylor, by whom he was recommended to his
late Majesty, whO directed the late Sir R. Keates to
examine into the
,affair, who took into his council the
late Sir Thomas Hardy ; and there are copies of letters
published in the pamphlet, to prove that Mr. Warner was
in communication with all these distinguished personages,
but there is no recorded opinion of any one of them as to
the practicability of the project. We think that a letter
or a report under Sir H. Kcates's hand, " expressing his
conviction of the efficacy. of Mr. 'Warner's invention" in
1831 or 1832, before the infirmities of age had made wreck
of his mind, would be of more value than the published
extracts of his notes making, appointments, and desiring
that the same specimens which had been shown to him
•
might be brought for his Majesty's inspection, thereby
implying that lie had never witnessed even such a prac-
tical experiment as was lately shown on Mr. Bond's
fish-pond.
Oer space warns us that we must close the subject, for
this week at least ; but before we do so we may remark
that Mr. Walesby confirms two reports that are rife with
relation to this affair. The one, tlaat the late talented
Editor of the Tinzes, (Mr. Barnes became suspicious
that lie had been imposed upon ; the other, that a
military officer who witnessed the last experiment is
" incredulous" as to the efficacy of the invention. We
believe, moreover, that the individual Alluded to is high
in the confidence of the Duke of Wellington.
We shall have some observations to make in our next
upon that part of the statement which relates to the opera-
tions against Dom Miguel, when it appears Mr. Warner
was directed by his late Majestyto test his invention.
This, could harldy be done without the knowledge of Sir
W. Parker, commanding in the Tagus, and Captain Glas-
cock, in the Douro. These distinguished officers are
alive, and we hope likely to live to perform good service ;
why is it that no appeal is made to them ? It is scarcely
possible that Mr. Warner could have saved Oporto, sup-
plied the destitute city with his own gunpowder, and held
himself in readiness to destroy the Miguelite fleet (acting
too by desire of King William the Fourth), without cap-
tain Glascock, the British officer in command before the
city, being cognizant of his intention.
We beg to assure Mr. Warner that we shall be at all
times most happy to give publicity to such explanations as
his stated case appears to require, and we think he is
Jvrong in permitting his claim to be made the handle for
political acrimony. Let him moderate his pretensions,
and cease to incur ridicule by such pompous assertions
respecting the destruction of fleets and armies, as if the
Vessel containing Isis apparatus were impregnable.

aver

We have recently seen a description of a high
apparatus for saving lives from stranded vessels, and
from vessels in a sinking state at sea, constructed and
brought into practice by Lieutenant Thomas Kisbee,
R.N., Honorary Vice-President of the Royal Interna-
tional Shipwreck Institution, Paris. The apparatus is
light and simple, and may be carried to a wreck by
two or three men in almost any situation, , and
appears calculated to meet every case ' in which the
first communication has been effected by means of
Manby's Apparatus or Dennett's Rockets. It will be
found useful in life and other boats, where there are
obstacles to their going alongside ; and at sea,
when a boat cannot with safety be lowered down.
The apparatus consists of a net made of small line
capable of bringing a woman and child, or a man with
his bag, on shore. A float or circular buoy, its dia-
meter 32 to 34 inches, under diameter 20 to 22 inches,
diameters of its sections full 7 and 5 inches, cir-
cumference 19 ; made of juncus effusus covered with un-
bleached calico, dressed with three coats of oil or thin
paint, weighing six or seven pounds, and is quite sufficient
to keep a man's head and shoulders above water in a sea-
way, together with the weight of line that must occasionally
bear upon it. The float may also be secured to the hoop
of the net, and this has been tried on two oc-
casions with a man in it through the surf at Yar-
mouth. A pair of petticoat trousers made of stout
canvas alike before and behind, the waistband 14
inches wide, and the depth from the top of the band
to the centre of the clutch 21 to 22 inches, which
when laced to a hoop and fitted to the float, will admit
of the latter reaching close up under the arms of a good-
sized man. Lieut. Kisbee has .also proposed a sort of
telegraph by night, and from The result of experiments
made, the words Look for a line—haul in if ready, shout,
&c., have been read 150 yards off very distinctly, or 200
yards, a distance within which the greater number of ves-
sels are stranded.—Naval and Miiitary Gazette.
MALINAISON.—The Quotidienne gives the fol-
lowing rather interesting account of the Chateau
de Malmaison : " After having formed part of
a fief of the Abbey of St. Denis in the 14th century, Mal-
maison was purchased by Christopher Perrot, councillor
of the Parliament of Paris in 1622. A hundred and fifty
years afterwards it became the property of the Count de
Canteleu, who improved the grounds considerably. After
the brilliant campaigns of Italy, Bonaparte, who was
then anxious for retirement, purchased Malmaison for
three millions of francs. At this place be planned the cam-
paign of Egypt in 1798, and on his return it was here
that the affair of the 18th Brumaire was resolved upon.
During the Consulship it was his favourite place of
residence, and his Court there became very bril-
liant. The chateau was not enlarged by him,
but it was much embellished, and seveal hot-houses
were added to the gardens. The first hortensias, now be-
come so general, was raised at Malmaison, and a menagerie
as extensive and rich as that of the Jardin des Plantes, was
formed, as also a bergerie, in which were kept the first
Merino sheep introduced into France. Itwes at Malmaison
that the most important political measures of the day
were decided upon, and that Talleyrand advised the
arrest and murder of the Duke d'Enghien. When Na-
poleon become Emperor, quitted Malmaison for St.
Cloud, he said to an ambassador, 'I am going to' take
possession of a vacant Throne. I ascend it free from the
crimes which are too common to chiefs of dynasties. Let
history be consulted, and a comparison be made.' In
1810, Josephine, repudiated by her husband, went to
Malmaison to hide her tears, and here. Napoleon, in 1815,
gives vent to his despair."
THE CAMBRIDGE BRIBERY CASE.—The
Tory Journals have of late said a great deal on a charge
of bribery made against the agent of the Liberals at
Cambridge. On this case the Cambridge Advertiser says :
We do not hesitate a moment in pronouncing the
whole affair, from beginning to end, a premeditated,
foul, and most atrocious conspiracy—a shameful and
most dishonourable scheme trumped u-p by the Tories
to cast odium on their opponents. Such is the opinion
of every honest and unprejudiced pence:).