The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-01 00:00:00

(Froru ti.L. Timci.) -, -
Skill and perseverance have tritinsphed over the per.
tinacious resistance of matter, and the Portsmouth -
authorities, as haS been duly reported,-
,have succeeded.
this week in subduing her Majesty's steam-ships Avenger
and Retribution into four hours' utility and obedience.
Eoth-vessels consented to be-taken out for an airing, and -
returned in a satisfactory temper, without having either .
stubbornly refused to stir, or ruptured tfieniselveS by too
impetuous an exertion of their strength: 'lt is obvious -
that no ihips in the world know-better how to behave . _-
themselves than ours, whenever their -capridious tempers
bmipen to be in some degree conformable. Lest the
remarks which we, from time to time, think fit to make •
upon-this point should be misunderstood, we 'seedily
have,cmP i
fortunately,g
avow that it is with no wish to disparage any particular, -
system, or to depreciate the difficalties in the way_Of
ucces,
at
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ew
tehacadlllip.tutlbelinceonesot;t:
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owuhricihnvearneti'o-nisncleidecito' spomraectthicien,g r:ntdherweriiooraenthoannioehlty
be
4,
sional. A new element has been introduoed into nevi.. -
gation, naval architecture, and naval warfirre ; we
guided by the results of such experiments as can be
made with the nearest imitation of reality. Excellence
is no more likely to come by intuition in the Construe-. --
tion of steam-frigates than in any other department-of -
science.
.We must make indulgences for the rudimen-, tary epoch of the systenit. We know, perhaps, little
what steam can do; certainly we know little what it wilt do. It may transfigure the aspect of naval warfare, or
it may, as is sometimes suspected, prove considerably
less influential. It is obviously safer, however, to act ott
the former hypothesis, and this we can hardly' do with.' '
out some uneasiness and dissatisfaction at our present
plight. We have not made sufficient progress: ',What-
ever may be the explanation of the fact—whether the,
difficulties of construction and adaptation increase in a
,greater ratio than the merescale of the ship—or whether •
we have at some point taken a wrong turn—it is cer-
tain that we have by no means improved in proportion to
our efforts or our experience. The two little Deptfoed - ,
vessels of 3822—the Comet and the Lightning—are iiesid
toriously better craft, of their class, than, those" that •
have been built since; " and it is hardly too much to. say -
that the latest specimens of. our skill 'are the least *sue.;
cessful ; so that an inference might be drawn, with
apparent plausibility, that we were .actually retre•
grading. Moreover, in, the single real trial, and in the -
most decisive-of-She experiments, to which our steamerir
have been subjected, the result has been unfavourable.,
At Acre they answered less than any other class-the
expectations that had been formed of the new system of
I Warfare, and in our • sjuadrons of evolution they ai6
pretty invaiiably:fouid wAthiug,. 11seyAsiss 54,1,0gief44 .
cost, and prodifeexiiytedequate return...,,,,dl; .. .-
and it is surmised they won't fight. We build them 'of --
wood, and find that they won't float; we build them of
iron, and find that a single shot may possibly send them
be the bottom. Whether these deficiencies are the
attributes of our steamers or of abstract steamers,
we do not take upon ourselves to pronounce; but the
question is one, of immense importance, and its publics
discussion must tend to bring us more nearly to the
truth, and to diminish the cost of the investigation.
A pamphlet, from which we published an extract a
few days back, upon the engines of our steam-navy,
points to an element in the consideration of these
matters sometimes neglected. It is possible that the
fault may, at all svents occasionally, lie exclusively in
the engine-room, that the construction of the vessel may
be admirable, and that she may be unexceptionably
manned and handled, and yet be half her time imperfect,
and the other half incapable, owing to the mistakes of
the manufacturer, after she had left the surveyor's
hands. Though the writer of the pamphlet does not
conceal his personal interest in questioning the plan by
which engines have been supplied to the navy, yet his
statements and arguments are liable to the less suspicion
in so-far as they are allowably founded on official returns
made to the House of Commons upon Captain Gore's
motion for that purpose some time ago. It is there
shown that the engines furnished by one particular
house, in two cases out of the five included in the returns,
were actually incapable of duty for the respective pe-
riods of 393 and 353 days out of a service of three
years ; while in two other cases the engines from ano-
ther manufactory were only invalided for 38 and 51
days each, and yet that the latter house obtained scarcely
any share of Governirient favours comiared with the
former. Unhappily, though these returns were made in
1843, they are particularly apropos to 1846, as may be
seen by our naval intelligence week after week: The
effect still remains, whateVer may be the existing cause.
It is, undoubtedly, in,the highest degree desirable that
the benefits -arising from the free play of public con..
petition should not be lost to so material an .item of
public expense, and so important an object of national.
excellence. If the best engines can be supplied -on the
Clyde, they should come from the Clyde ; nor can we
conceive it possible that the Admiralty can be without
statistical returns setting _ beyond a doubt the facts_
requisite to form a judgment on this point. Those
'engines which are proved to do the most work With the
least coals and fewest repairs are the engines with which.
our steam-ships should be fitted ; and this discovery '
can be' made, we should. imagine, without any fear of
bias or delusion from ex pat* statements or professions.
`The responsibility upon this head, however, is not en-
tirely shifted- from the shoulders of the Surveyor of the
Navy ; for, independently of that supervision which he
may be presumed to exercise, the future quality of the-
engines is materially affected by the conditions which
he iLmoses on the manufacturer. Limits as to space and
weight must of course be attended to, but it is said that
they hav, been assigned somewhat arbitrarily during
our magnanimous experiments, and that the results have
been found detrimental. And there is one point con-
-410(4'0 with these discussions which common humanity
:orgies perempsors,..„. , ....,.:—. iv, ....,.. vwptoy
steamers pretty generally on the African coast, and the
climate to which these vessels may be thus destined
should be at least as much considered in their construc-
tion as the curious speculations of a naval architect. A
premium has lately been set upon small engine-rooms,
and the authorities have been humoured on this head
with very little regard to the lives of the unfortunate
engineers. But let our readers only imagine the conse-
quences of superadding to the deadly plagues of our
slave-trade service a confinement for two-thirds of the
day to a small furnace-hole I The place, in its own
nature, is as little like earth as possible, and we surely
need not lend it the appliances of our caprice to effect a
more complete transformation.

Nine more .condenined malefactors stood on the
pillory, on Thursday, in the Place du Falais de Justice.
MILITARY EXECUTION IN SPAIN.---Captain Do-
mingo Martin, of the Regiment of Extremadura, who
assaulted his colonel, has been condo mned to death, and
was shot on the 17th at Valencia. He entreated to be
allowed to give the platoon the word to fire upon him
On coming to.the place of execution he delivered an ad-
dress to the soldiers. saying.-:-" Be faithful to our
Queen; be firm and courageous in battle, ar.cl be patient
in fulfilling your .duties. Never allow your passion
to carry you so far as to commit the cria• for which I
am about to suffer. I shall pray to the Almighty to
grant that none of my companions may ever follow
my fatal example." He then embraced the priests
who attended him, and gave to the lieutenant who com-
mended the platoon an ounce of gold, to be distributed
among his men, whom he desired to fire at his head and
his heart, that he might die instantaneously. In a few
moments more he gave the word, and dropped a corpse.
By his will he left 2,000 reals to a charitable institution,
1,000 to the poor, 4,000 to his orderly soldier, that he
might procure a substitute, and also his uniform accou-
trements, arms, wardrobe, and other effects ; the whole
of the arreas of his pay to the corporals and privates of
his company, and 160 reels to be divided between the
men who bore him to his grave.
MR.;ROWLAND BILL.—The public will learn with
satisfaction that Mr. Rowland Hill has been appointed
Secretary to the Postmaster-General, at a salary of
1,200 Z a year. The appointment is a permanent one,
but Colonel Maberley still continues to be Secretary to
the Post-office. The office now filled by Mr. Rowland.
Hill is a new one, and has been created, as we under-
stand, for the purpose of enabling him to carry into effect
the remaining portions of his plan of Post-office reform..
We have reason to believe that the Government has
acted spontaneously in this matter, the restoration oi
Mr. Rowland Hill to office having been entirely un-
solicited on his pait.

DEATH OF A LITERARY LADY.-MT. Mills held
an inquest on Saturday, at the Coronation, Seymour.-
street, Euston-square, on the body of Mrs. Agnes Halt,.
aged seventy, of No. 5, Charles-street. Miss Agnes Hall,.
daughter of the deceased, said, that her mother was thee
relict of a medical army officer, and had been an authoress:
for inrty years. When Dr. Aiken edited the Old Monthly:
Magazine she wrote very largely for it. She wrote for
it latterly, tn. Fraser's Magazine, and for some of Mr. a.
Knight's publications. Deceased was attending to her
literary occupations up to Tuesday last, when she died
suddenly, whilst taking some beef tea. Deceased west
not in want of the necessaries of life. Dr. Kennedy, (
Tavistock-square, saw deceased both before and aftt sT
her death, and told her daughter that it resulted frog
natural causes.—Verdict, " Natural death."
THE FORGERIES BY THE POSTMASTER AT BAZNE V.
—Some time since John Pearce Morse, a chemist a

druggist at Barnet, where he was also postmaster,
sconded, as is well known, from that town, having o
witted forgeries of post- office orders to between 2,C

and 3,0001: Subsequent to the discovery of the oirc
stsnees, a reward of 50 guineas was offered for his
prehension, and, from the inquiries instituted, it
found that he had gone off to the continent. Peake,, k
of the POst-office officers, was then sent to Bruges, w t e
it was ascertained Morse had been seen, but found o.
his arrival there that he hal left that city for Bruer eels.
Peake followed him to Brussels, and from thence tr aced
him to Ostend, where he was discovered under the r .ame

of Morton, living at the house of a hair-dresser, in a
very reduced state, having squandered away all the
money he took with him, which is believed to have been
a considerable sum. He was immediately tak' nu into
custody by the Belgian authorities for travelling under a
false name, but it is not at present known win ther he
will be brought over to this country to be purn fined for
the crime he has committed.
SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH.--The submarine tel e-
graph was laid across Portsmouth Harbour to-day (Sa-
turday), from the Watering Island in the Dockyard to
the steps at the It(* al Clarence yard. The former ex-
periments were repeated, and they rally confirmed the
rot. that one wire, a prepared by Messrs. W est and
Taylor, is sufficient for electric telegraph purpose s under
'water. Several of the principal officers of the Dock-
yard, including the heads of the engineering department,
wcrc present during the trials, which proved most satis-
factory. The experiments were conducted. and er the
superintendence of Mr. Hay.--Hampshire T dep.() ph.
Mr. Commissioner Burge has suspended fol • eigh-
teen mouths the certificate of Mr. W. H. Tempe at, late
of Leeds, slarebroker, who had engaged in railway
transactions, without adequate capital.