The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-19 00:00:00

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TIM' DEFECTIVE MORTARS OF MESSRS. I

GALSBELL D CU.

A long and somewhat tedious correspondence
with reference to a contract of Messrs. Grissell and
Co. for mortars, presented to Parliament„by the
Royal command, was published yesterdatt The
subject has already been discussed in our columns.
It may suffice to state, for the present, that (se-
cording to a paper before us) two mortars, 13-inch
sea-service, 5 tons, made by Grissell and Co., were
tried by firing the ordinary service charge, at Shoe-
bury-point, Essex, after they had been subjected
to the usual proof-fire at Woolwich. At the 10th
round one of these mortars burst in a vertical direc-
tion through the centre of the bore, and it was
then discovered that a plug bad been screwed into
the rear of the breech about 2 inches long and 11-
inch in diameter,' seriously weakening the mortar in
that direction, and thus rendering it more liable
to burst. This led to au examination of the rest of
the mortars at that particular point. There were
found three other mortars that had been plugged i
in a similar manner, one of which had already been
rejected on account of having plugs inserted in the
face to fill up flaws in the metal. Another of the
mortars supplied by Grissell and Co. burst on the
usual proof, such being an extraordinary instance
of inferior metal. The officer, Lieut.-Col. Mitchell,
R.A., under whose orders the defective mortars
were fired at Shoebury, reports that " the screw
had evidently Leen inserted with great care, and
could not be detected unless specially sought for."
Such is the substance of Lieut.-Col. Eardly Wil-
mot's official report to Mr. Monsell, M.P. Here-
upon follows a long explanatory letter, written to
Lord Panmure by the firm, into the details of
which it is of course out of our power to enter.
Messrs. Grissell conclude by saying—" the gist
of the matter is, have we intended fraud ? On
this issue we fearlessly claim from your lordship
and our fellow-countrymen an unqual fiedacquittal.'
Whatever the intentions of the Messrs. Grissell
may have been, their explanation does mot appear
to have satisfied the Government. Their letter
was referred to Lieut.-Colonel Eardley Wilmot.
That officer is inclined to doubt that the iron
(partly) used by Grissell and Co. (the Staffordshire
iron of Grazebrook and Co.) is " the highest on the
list of strong irons ;" it is at least certain, as he
observes, that the peculiar mixture of iron used
for the mortars "has utterly failed." Colonel
Wilmot reports, with reference to the plugging of
the mortars, that Mr. Grissell explained it
to be an ordinary custom in large castings,
stating that "it had been done by his foreman
without his knowledge, it being a common custom
—that the mortar was not a bit the worse for it,
&c." Mr. Grissell's urgent appeals to the colonel
to induce him to receive the mortar (No. 4)
were met with a stern refusal, and Mr. Grissell is
indirectly censured for not having then pointed
out that three other mortars were plugged. In
answer to Mr. Grissell's assertion that there was
"no fraud or disguise," certain suspicious circum-
stances are adduced by Colonel Wilmot which
would seem to indicate a desire for concealing the
insertion of the plugs and determination to escape
detection. In short it appears to the colonel that
"the statement of Grissell and Co. as to the plugs
in the face of the mortar is not consistent with the
facts displayed on the plugs being extracted. All
the plugs are 21 inches long, and there are at least
two flaws of about 4 inches deep. The plugs are
of cast iron, which is very unusual. The mortar was
delivered painted, and on the discovery and rejec-
tion of this mortar, no evidence appears of a desire
to point out and explain the cause of theplugs in
the breech." Messrs. Grissell made another strong
appeal to Lo d Panmure on the 9th inst., in which,
after entering into all the details of the case and
adverting to the severe remarks recently made on
the subject in Parliament, they entreat his lord-
ship to remember that " their characters as men
and as tradesmen are at stake," and that early and
public reparation is due to them. This letter was
referred to Col. Wilmot for his opinion, and on
Monday last (April 14) Lord Panmure wrote to
Messrs. Grissell to this effect—viz., that after hav-
ing carefully considered the charge against the firm
and the evidenceon which itrested, it appeared to his
lordship that Mr. Grissell's statement to Col. Wil-
mot of his previous ignorance of the existence of the
plugs was not correct ; that Mr. Grissell acted most
improperly in not stating to Colonel Wilmot the
existence of certain centre-holes, and that, with
reference to the holes in the face of the mortar, " a
deception was practised fur which Mr. Grissell is
responsible, whe' her it was practised with or with-
out his knowledge." Lord Panmure further ad-
duces the bursting of all the three mortars of
Grissell and Co. tried with the ordinary service
charge, as an incontrovertible proof that the ma-
terials whereof those mortars were made were not
of such quality as to insure their fitness for service.
Lord Panmure concurs in the opinion of Colonel
Wilmot and Captain Caffin, that the boring of the
holes in the centre of the breech was injurious to
the strength of the mortar; but he admits that
the plugs inserted (with the exception of those in
the face), were not placed there for the purpose of
concealing flaws ; and here the matter rests.

ASSIMILATION OF THE MERCANTILE
LAW.

(From the Times' City Article.)

On the 26th ult. attention was drawn to a clause
in a bill brought in by the Lord Chancellor for
assimilating the mercantile law of the united king-
dom intended to repeal the 17th section of the Sta-
tute of Frauds, which provides that no contract
involving 101. or upwards is valid unless made by
some note or memorandum in writing. This has
always been acted upon in London and regarded
with great favour, but in Manchester and else-
where it has fallen into disuse, while,'with regard
to Scotland, the statute has no application what-
ever. The question was, should the Scotch law be
made to conform to the English, or the English to
the Scotch ? The Chancellor decided in favour of
the former; but, looking at the fact that all the
principal transactions of the empire centre here, it
seemed questionable whether it" would he wise to
disturb the London system, unless some strong
objection to it could be urged upoit principle.
This, however, was not possible; and, as the ques-
tion was obviously one of expediency only, it was
recommended that the merchants and traders of
the metropolis should not allow the clause to pass
without clearly coming to an understanding as to
its desirableness or otherwise. It is now under-
stood that the feeling is generally adverse to the
proposed change ; and a petition against it, of
which the following is an abridgment, is in course
of signature :
"That a bill has been introduecd the first section of
which purposes to repeal the enactment 'That no cm,-
tract for the silo of any goods, wares, and merchandises,
for the price of 101. sterling or upwards, shall be al-
lowed to be good, except the buyer shall accept part cf
the goods so sold and actually receive the same, or give
something in earnest to bind the bargain or in part of
payment, or that some note or memorandum in writing
of the same bargain be made and signed by the parties to
be charged by such contract, or their agents thereunto
lawfully authorised.'
"That the mercantile business in the City of London
has grown up under, and has adapted itself to, the pro-
visions of the said act, and, while your petitioners appre-
hend great risk and danger from a departure from this
practice, they are unable to discover any advantage in
the proposed alteration.
" That the law imposes no unnecessary technicalities
on contracts ; they are required to be in writing, but
may be in any form convenient to the parties, and are
frequently effected by letters between the principals.
"That in London a large part of the contracts are
negotiated by brokers, and by the present practice all
contracts entered into by a broker are sent to principals,
who are entitled to reject the same within 24 hours, if
not in conformity with the intentions of the parties,
"That these provisions insure certainty and give con-
fidence in transactions in business, the importance of
which can scarcely be appreciated.
"That your petitioners conceive that, notwithstand-
ing the proposed alteration of the law, all contracts of
importance will continue to be reduced to writing ; but
your petitioners will lose the protection the law now
gives them.
" That if the law shall be altered your petitioners may
-be called on at a lapse of many months to perform con-
tracts of which they have no knowledge, arising out of
misconception of those with whom they have been en-
gaged in treaties, or of brokers or agents, to say nothing
of the risk of fraud and collusion on the part of brokers
and atrents, the resalt of which must obviously be an
increase of litigation and perjury.
"That a large proportion of the contracts entered
into contain stipulations as to the period of arrival, of
the shipment, or the delivery of goods, besides provi-
sions as to their quality and price ' • and the value of the
contract mainly depends on these details. That, unless
those stipulations are reduced to writing, there can be
no certainty that buyer and seller are agreed upon the
contract they have entered into.
" That your petitioners attach great value to the prin-
ciple now acknowledged, that none but written con-
tracts are valid in law. Those who choose to rely upon
an honourable mutual understanding can now do so,
but in practice it is rarely ever done, from a sense of
its inconvenience. The measure now contemplated
would not probably alter the practice of using writ/en
contracts, but would deprive the merchant of the secu-
rity he now possesses in the knowledge tbat he is bound
by no agreement which has not been accepted and re-
vised by him, or which he has not had the opportunity
of revising."

FOREIGN CHAPLAINCY. —We understand that one o
the best chaplaincies of Brussels will shortly become
vacant by the resignation of the presei.t highly-esteemed
holder, the Rev. Mr. J. Blacker. The appointment,
we believe, rests with the Bishop of London, upon th
xeconunendation of the B of Clarendon.