The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-05 00:00:00

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION.

The Volunteers went punctually to their .work
yesterday, and continued it steadily ; from morn
till dewy eve the sharp crack of their rifles was
heard from the line of firing tents. But it was not
a day of many decisive results; only one series of
prizes could be declared as gained, and that the
second on the list. Unless the points made run
high, and settle the contest at once, behind the few
highest follow a long tailing of " ties," that must
be " shot off" before the winning list can be made
up. This is the state of the competition for the
Association's prize of 20 rifles, the silver medal, and
the right of competing for the Queen's prize of
£250, which is allowed to the second best 20 in the
contest for the rifles of honour. The places of 40
champions have to be fixed ; those of 15 are ascer-
tained, but five more have to ascend into the first
list, and the firing of ties for the second list was
stopped yesterday by the shades of evening that
closed over the expectants, who were just near
enough to the high numbers to make missing a
point very vexatious. The hour of dusk, according
to Sir Lucius O'Trigger, furnishes " a good small
sword light," but will not do for a long shot. The
firing was stopped when still short of the decision
point, and many of the ties for the Association
prizes have to be determined this day. The follow-
ing 15, however, may be considered winners of
prize rifles :
Henry—Edinburgh 17 points.
Sharp-9th Sussex .. 17 „
Bainbrigge—lst West York .. 17 „
Collinson—Gth North York .. .. 16 „
Pout--sth Kent .. 16 „
Burgh-10th Gloucester •• •• 15 I,
May-sth Sussex •• •• •• 15 ~
Baker—Bristol • . . • • • • . 14 ~
Wood—Edinburgh .. .. 14 „
Fielding-Ith Flintshire • . 14 „
Jenkins-sth Glamorganshire .. 14 ~
Jackson-32d- Kent .. .. 14 ~
Caiger-2d Middlesex .. .. 14 ~
Cocks-11th Middlesex 00 .1, 14 „
Phillips-Ist Shropshire Of 14 ~

The prize decided yesterday was that given by
Mr. Gye, as a commemoration of the Volunteer
Ball, in Covent-garden Theatre. It is a money prize;
£lOO to the best shot, and four sums of £25 to the
next highest number of points. The conditions
were—five rounds each person, at the three ranges
of 300, 500, and 600 yards.
The following are the names of the Winners :--
Points.
Whomes-4th Kent.. 20 XlOO
Sandford—St. George's 19 25
Robertson-10th Perth .. •• 19 25
18 25
Dove-91st Lanark .. ..
.. 18 25
Murray-Ist Perth .. • •
There are four ties in this list to be " shot off"
to-day, but as the result will not affect the prize,
and merely places the winners in an order of pre-
cedence, h
b atbl
e tiesc they
e will Waive the right.
The is the most complicated
rcehdee nce,
firing it i s
between pro
part of the proceedings.
The number of the prizes has been increased by
Miss Conti's, who offers one of 50 guineas, open to
all comers, with any description of rifle ; to be fired
from a rest, at the range of 1,000 yards.
The pool shooting at the " Aunt Sally" targets
has proved so attractive to the public that it is in-
tended to devote more of the butts to this unre-
stricted competition.
The following is an outline of the arrangements
on the ground to-day :
" The tics of the all comers' at the C and D
ranges will be shot off to-day at 9 a.m.
" The ties of the winners of Mr. Gye's prizes will
be shot at 9.30 a.m., unless arranged by private
agreement.
" The tics of Volunteers, to decide the firing for
the Association's silver medal and the right to com-
pete for the Queen's prize of £250, will be shot at
11 a.m.
" Mr. Fairbairn's prize, of a Whitworth rifle,
will be shot for, by the foreign competitors, at 11
'a.m.; and Miss Coutts's prize, of 00, at 2 p.m."
ast
The firing yesterday ceased at half-p 6.

rrHE COMET.—An intelligible astronomical
DIAGRAM, indicating the position of the Comet in
relation to the Constellation of the Great Bear, will appear
in the LONDON REVIEW AND WEEKLY JOURNAL,
conducted by Charles Mackay, of Saturday next, July 7.—
Office, 11, Southampton-street, Strand.

BB s 0 N'S WA T C IIE S.
" Perfection of mechanism. Morning Post.
Gold
Silver 2to 50 guineas.
Send 2 stamps for Benson's Illustrated Pamphlet, descrip-
tive of every construction of watch now made, with their
rices.
Watches sent to all parts of the kingdom free by post, or to
P
India and the Colonies for Si. extra.
33 awl 34, Ludgate-hill, Lonolt...E.C. 1749.

THEATRE-ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Lessee, Mr. J. B. Buckstone.
THIS F'VENTNG the performances will commence with
BLAND ROUTE. Messrs. C. Mathews, Buck-
THE OVE
stone, Compton, Chippendale, Rogers, Mrs. C. Mathews, Miss
Weekes, and Mrs. Wins.
After, which, the new farce, entitled FITZSMYTHE OF
FITZSMYTHE HALL. Messrs. Buckstone, W. Farren, and
Rogers ; Mrs. Wilkins and Miss Henrade.
To conclude with THE ODDITIES OF THE OHIO. By
the Leclercqs

intuitive knowledge (for it becomes intuitive) of
the allowance requisite for the direction of the
wind, and the parabolic curve described by
every projectile in long shots—all this needs
considerable experience, and a zest for the
object. It is with pleasure, therefore, that we have
witnessed the formation of several Rifle Corps
already, and most cordially do we recommend
them to the attention of our young gentlemen.
We all know what a formidable body the French
Chasseurs de Vincennes are; and we have all been
rejoicing lately in the efficiency of the T urkish Rifles,
trained on their model, at Oltenitza ; but should an
enemy ever land on our shores, the merits
of the rifle would display themselves tenfold.
With every inch of our country well known to us,
and abounding, as it does, from its populousness
and high cultivation, with available shelter for
defence and ambuscade, a national supply of rifle-
men would almost limit an invader to the coast
on which he landed. For domestic defence, at any
point, it would hold any enemy in fear, and per-
haps in check, till our screw steamers and regulars
could combine arrangements to finish the business.
Then, after adverting to the Duke of WELLING-
TON accepting the colonelcy, with the Earl of
PERTH as major, and to the letter of Lord PALMER-
STON accepting the offer of a volunteer corps, &c.,
we went on to say :—" In Prussia, the Landwehr
familiarises the youth to the use of arms. Here
\we have nothing of the kind ; but were a taste
for rifle practice diffused pretty widely, it would go
far to qualify our young men to become, at a very
short warning, most efficient defenders of their
country. The fundamental qualification is to be a
good shot; the requisite drill is more easily ac-
quired, btit for the former, skill and practice are
essential. Where so much of the training must
consist in target work, the requisite discipline be-
comes a highly interesting and stimulating amuse •
ment ; and some of us can testify from experience
that well conducted rifle practice is only second in in-
terestto the fowlin g-piece and the pointer. We really
think it preferable to the modern battue shooting,
a practice all but unknown when those of us above
50 had not reached half that age. We most heartily
wish success to the Victoria Rifles, and hope they
will soon be followed by other corps competing
with them in furnishing first-rate marksmen. We
do not quarrel with YOUNG ENGLAND for their
taste for cricket, but we must hold that the man
who can hit the bull's-eye very often, may be of
much more service to his country than the man
who can score most notches, or knock down most

wickets."

These having been so long our deliberate views,
backed as they were from time to time by appeals
to an indifferent public, we can but heartily rejoice
that they are now shared by the whole nation, and
that soon we may expect to see every town in Eng-
land setting up its rifle butts, and the rifle becoming
to England what her long-bow once was-

Alas ! for the poor little Innocents. The hot
weather is beginning to tell upon them already.
It was only on Tuesday last that the dog-days
commenced, and that we had our first glimpse
of summer weather. And upon that very even-
ing had we not an untimely " count out" in the
Commons ? It appeared at the moment quite a
casualty, something wholly fortuitous, a simple
inadvertence, one that nobody at all had preme-
ditated. But a rumour since then unfolds its
wings and begins to flutter about clubland—to
the effect that the count out was by no means
accidental—that it was, on the contrary, a dodge
deliberately resorted to by the allied gas, water,
and railway interest to defeat, by delay, the Me-
tropolitan Gas Regulation Bill ! Nay, the indi-
vidual member upon whom this ingenious " do" can
be fathered has been particularised. Mr. JAMES
BEAL, taking up his pen at 209, Piccadilly, and ad-
dressin g himselfto our contemporary the Daily News.
has pointed the feather end of it distinctly at the hon.
member for Peterboro' ! Referring to the count
out on Friday, and attributing it, as before said, to
a device of the allied gas, water, and railway in-
terests, with a view to the defeating by delay of the
Metropolitan Gas Regulation Bill—" Mr. WHAL-
LEY," he writes, " has the credit of the achieve-
ment." To whomsoever this credit appertains
there is the suspicion of the dodge here specified as
one disingenuously resorted to by the advocates and
abettors of the gas monopoly. At the very least
this appears upon the face of it rather suspi-
cious. The count out occurring when it did has an
ugly look. It is unquestionably a matter that re-
quires searching investigation. More particularly
is this desirable seeing how energetieally the gas
delegates, led onward by the honourable
baronet the member for Westminster, have
been battling of late in the interests of the great
body of the gas consumers! The odds against
them all the while being enormous, as might be
recognised, as the phrase is, with half an cye, upon
the merest casual glance at the funds upon the
opposing sides—the delegates themselves with an
almost empty money-bag, and the gas companies
confronting them with an aggregate capital of
somewhere about £8,000,000. Notwithstanding
which disparity of " means" or " materiel," so to
speak—RlGHT was here again proving, time after
time, just one too many for MIGHT, when lo ! there
opens before the next advance move of the delegates
the pitfall of Tuesday night's count-out ; dug, or,
at any rate, covered over, quoth rumour, by
that doughty champion of the gas companies, the
hon. gentleman the member for Peterboro'.
However this may be, in truth, the count out of the
preceding evening was as suspicious as it was inop-
portune.

Yesterday again two more of the unfortunate
innocents that are already massacred fell untimely
victims before the advent of that seasonable
battu which appropriately ushers in towards the
close of July the heathery sport of the August
grouse-shooting. One of these numbered 25 upon
the list of votes and proceedings of the House of
Commons (No. 105) under date Illercurii 4. die
Ina. 1860, appearing there under its own
dirty frousy name of Dealers in Marine
Stores Bill, already read a first and second
time, and yesterday to be considered in
committee. The object of this bill by the
way, it may be at once stated, is, or rather was, of
the most highly moral kind. Mr. SPOONER
watched over its development, and was seconded
in the humane attempt by Mr. NEWDEGATE. Was
it not, in fact, designed expressly to " put down,"
after the fashion of Sir PETER LAURTE, the lie-
ceiverA of Stolen Goods ? But how ? By means
of a bill that the home Secretary was obliged to
stigmatise last night as more arbitrary in its pro-
visions than any lie (Sir G. C. Lewis) well remem-
bered to have ~. een. And certainly on looking into
even a few arndyg these provisions, it appears to
have well deserved this rather unenviable charac-
ter. It would (unless modified in Committee) have
rendered it incumbent upon all plumbers, black-
smiths, silversmiths, ironmongers, in fact all per-
sons dealing in metal, to take out a license, and to
be liable at all times to police inspections ! One
of the difficulties appeared to be the discovery of
some exact definition of what might be said really
and truly to define the Marine-store Dealer. As