The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-07 00:00:00

THE GATLING GUNS.

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The report of the special committee appointed to carry
out comparative experiments with the mitrailleuse and
Gatling guns has been published Woolwich. The com-
mittee, which consists of Colonel E. Wray, C. 8., R.A.
Sresident), Captain the Hon. F. Foley, R.N., Colonel G.
haw, R.A., Lieutenant-Colonel Fletcher, Scots Fusilier
Guards, Captain Beaumont, RE., Captain Noble, R.A.,
and Lieutenant-Colonel Heyman, R.A. (secretary), offer
no opinion as to the merits of the rival weapons tried in
competition, but give the results of each experiment in
full detail in a series of tables, with a simple column
of remarks relative to the conditions of the various trials.
and the general conclusion is decidedly in favour of the
small Gatling of ten 0•42-inch barrels. In a special com-
petition between this gun and the Montigny mitrailleuse
of 37 barrels, the forNer made 618 hits in 3 min. 31 secs.
in 720 rounds at 600 yards ; the Montigny, at the same
range and with the same number of rounds, scoring 538 in
4 minutes. With 555 rounds at 800 yards the result was
even more favourable to the Gatling, which made 439
hits in 2 min. 26 sec., against the Montigny's 292 in
3 min. 8 secs. The trials against field guns firing
shell and infantry armed with Snider and Mar-
tini-Henry rifles were likewise favourable to the
small Gatling, and a comparison of • the total effects
of the experiments versus weight of ammunition expended
gives the followingfigures ;—The small Gatling, weighing
3cwt., expended 4921b5., of ammunition, and scored 2,803
hits; the Montignymitrailleuse of 3cwt., expended 4721435.,
and scored 1,708 hits ; the 12-pounder breech-loading field
gun, weighing Bcwt., expended 1,2321b5„ and scored
2,286 hits ; and the 9-pounder muzzle-loader, weighing
also Bcwt., expended 1,0131b5., and made 2.207 hits. The
report concludes with the details of some practice made
with the several guns before the Secretary of State for
War and his Royal Highness the Field Marshal Com-
manding-in-Chief.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—One Shilling Day, Tuesday,
Dec. 6th, 1870. Admission by season tickets, 1,255; ditto
on payment, 701; total visitors, 1,956.

With reference to the rumoured outbreak of cattle
plague in Herefordshire, Mr. Fleetwood, veterinary sur-
geon, of Hereford, on Saturday visited the herds reported
as having been attacked, and certifies that the stock are
suffering from foot and mouth disease only.

FEELING IN CHINA.—The following is taken from
a letter dated Hong Kong, October 10, 1870 :—" Your
war in Europe has quite deprived us of the attention our
case deserves. I hope next mail will bring us news of
peace between France and Prussia, and of the starting of
an expedition for China. It must come to that. The
Chinese are drinking in with the utmost avidity all the
accounts that reach us of French disasters. They say the
French won't now.come to. China, because theycan't ! The
result. of. this confidence on their part is but too evident.
They are making enormous preparations• to meet the
French if they do think of coming, and matters simply
now stand thus :—lf somebody does not come to teach
them better manners, every foreigner, without regard to
nationality, will have to make up his mind either to
leave China or be murdered. Last week Canton was very
much disturbed. Residents there are getting very un-
comfortable. Altogether, the anti-foreign feeling is now
rampant throughout the whole empire, and nothing but
the bayonet will put it down."