The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-19 00:00:00

G/L .RATEY AT L.ZVERPOOL.

e'--e_-

The Free Library presented by Mr. William ke-.-
Brown to the people of Liverpool, was inauguri4 ; easna,„snee
on 'Wednesday. The building itself is descrilansr,r,l
Very handsome : k a‘ a-a:Oar:es:e
ws astes !-:\.- X 4 -1
It is placed on the north side of Sha'-brow,, a --SV
close proximity with the north end of St. George's-a
~, . . 'panda
Hall, and on a level corresponding with the genera .N a
features of that structure. Externally its principal • cl
front consists of a handsome hexastyle portico of
Corinthian architecture, surmounted by a pediment..
The shafts of the columns are plain, and rest on a ..
basement to which access is obtained by a hand-
Procrastination has its advantages, which are ,
some flight of steps. At each side of the central
hidden from the eyes of superficial and CO'narrins portico there is a wing, with a slightly projecting
place moralists. The philosophers of the AdmiT.o3tY flank, sufficiently ornamented to relieve it from any -
arc cleaaly alive to this fact, and are resolved to silol' charge of tameness or monotony, yet not of such
that a vice which is said to be the thief of time sh,\l-` importance as to interfere with the predominating.
at least prove. in their hands the means of saving; ,
laspect of the portico. Interiorily the chief architec-
English money. They will allow the French Go- aural feature of the edifice is a noble central hall, en-
Terns:cent to waste time end money in naval experi- t ering. from a vestibule of moderate dimensions and
meats, an ei commit the folly of being prompt,while 1
1 t 1, stetul decoration. The hall spokenof is 96 feet long
to reap the advantage and bor- i ' a,
they stand ;wily ,
row the experiment iv hick, at any rate
,until_yes_ two laortions in its height lay a gallery, on the front
for. bheridan's
teriay, they determined not to pay
~. of senich a handsome stone balustrade extends come
maxim of doing nothing to-day that can be done
.Pletely round the hall. The gallery is supported
to-morrow, because w hen to-morrow conies you n
la
aY on square pillars, above which there is a cortespond-
not have to do it, scone to be earning some juetiti ing range.
4.1 lonic columns extending nearly to the
cation in the case of frig to building ;and it is
just r00f,,. an
d supporting a series of groaned arches. The
propensity of our naval ceiling, which is richly ornamented... is pierced by
possible that the, habitual
officials, of always being in the wake of the national 1 three square apertures filled with pound glass,
determination, may in this instance prove an adVane which transmit a copious supply of grasivated light,
tage. The game of paradoxes is,. however, always further augmented by the light of seven large win-
a difficult one, and in such an important affair as dows on the east and west sides of the ha2l, so high.
shipbuilding is actually dangerous. ,It is possible lasto be almost top lights •lii all the easea:'• The
that by having waited thus long the Admiralty are lower portion of this fine hall it is proposed dill
just in time for positively the latest invention in fuxther to enrich by the introduction of statuary.
naval architecture ; and the country may be saved Its upper portion or gallery is be appropriated to
the expense of six Warriors and as many Rams, the purposes of a picture gallery, for which its fine
which, if it had possessed a hasty and lavish Adnii- mellowed light and great exteentedc admirably fit i
t.
rally, it would have been obliged to pay for. • The wing portions 9f the Contain
Without thinking .it necessary to consider the! wally useful
really working or practically P
a of
p artments
or easternpart
Times the supreme authority upon naval architecture 1 the institution. The right band,. of
the public will commend the enterprise of our con- ' the building, is devoted exclusively to the purpose%
.
temporary in promptly bringing under its notice the 0. f the library ; the left, or west part, to
those
of
latest scheme for casing our ships with iron. So th e museum. The leading feature o the_
fort long,
is
long as it seems to be a law that Englishmen can- a barge and commodious reading;
the
108 feet 101,1 g,
not go to bed without the prospect of being faced 49 feet wide, and 50 feet high in the ceiling.b itir
in the morning with some new warlike contrivance, casSesrn side is to a great extent occupied sr a. Tun.-
no invention whatever is entitled to be regarded as ter, easom behind which the librarian's assis
south-.
final, and every one sees that the difficulty of the will mi. pply books to the readers. To the
h.
authorities lies in the surprising energy of the east of Otis is a " reference" reading-room, in w_ c
suggestive or creative faculty of our scientific men. books of a more valuable class may be consulted,
~ ,
~,,,,
All that can be done is to lose no time in balancing An intee:esting feature of the museum departs.
the qualities of each new-born scheme, and to take ment consists of the spacious hall, devoted to the • •
care that in settling the differences to a nicety we purposes of te Polytechnic gallery, or museu.m of
do not get behind our less discriminating and more practical meclattanical science. This is 86 feet long,
sanguine rivals. They at least hare adopted what by 50 feet wide, and 50 feet high. Mr, lohn
seems to be an undeniable truth, that iron is more Weightman, the borough surveyor, designed to
durable than wood, and while we have been superintended the ?minding, which, as ,a minor
struggling to ascertain how much better one is matter of detail, it islay be mentioned has cost
than the other they have been content to rely upon somewhere about £40,000.
the general truth. Procrastinating and undecided, The munificent donor a this very handsome and
the Admiralty have only had time to admit the useful edifice, it should be mentioned, is Mr. William.
superiority of iron in a general way, and then ii Brown, the principal partner in the extensive mer-
all haste to make an iron construction of some kind t eantile firm of Brown, Shippley, and Co., of Liver-
upon the most likely principles. The question of pool, a gentleman who has long- occupied a promi-
its penetrability must be settled at a future time ; ned position among the leading commercial men of
no matter so that the ships are built. It must be this town, and who, it May be WielAbered, was one
confessed that amid the consternation of alarmists of the Parliamentary representatives of South Lan- -
and the differences of scientific men it is something cashire fai three successive Parliamelitsnfrom -which
of a relief to hear of a plan which offers a plausible position lee i retired at thedastgenezaisselection. The
expectation that the difficulty is met—at least for library has been purchased by the Library Com-
a time. It is too much to hope that the combined paid far ' out 'of a,.
mittee of the' Town Council, and
efforts of nature will in this case be as final as the with their own consent, On the inha-
rate imposed,
poet tells us they have been in the construction of bitants of the toy,. The collection of booke amount
a Shakespeare. If Mr. Jones is not the victim of a to upwards of 40,1,100 volumes, of which many are •
fallacy, or ensnared by the sanguine temperament of valuable and standassd works; and it is rapidly in-
a man who has patented an invention, we earnestly creasing in the numbe; and importance of the works
hope that for the present, at least, the force of nature which it contains.
will no further go, because, in the event of that lady The museum consists .elliefly of an admirably-
not being exhausted, there is a fear that Great preserved collection of objects of natural history-,
Britain will get no navy. bequeathed to the town by tilt° late Earl of Derby's
"The rules of the game" which had been going to which, however, valuable additions have since
on so long between shots and butts have included been made, partly as purchassee and partly as
the condition that the shot should hit the object at donations.
something like a right angle, and an impartial con-
sideration of the results has proved the contest to
have been as nearly " drawn" as possible. Some-
times the shots have pierced, at others they have
failed, and in each case they have done more or less
damage—perhaps an inconvenient quantity of less
has been observable. But Mr. Jones has devised a
plan by which the plane of the mark, instead of
being at right angles (speaking in round and not
strictly accurate terms) to the line of the projec-
tile's flight, is at an angle of 50 degrees--that being
the angle which a ship built upon his plan makes
with the water. All the additional power of resist-
ance which a ship of this kind may get is clearly
due to the direction of its sides, which by their
inclination may be said to shirk the bolt directed
against them, Just as of old an arrow that struck
anything at a particular angle would glide off in-
' stead of entering it. Experiments have been made
upon a butt encased in iron, 5 feet by 21 in size, and
though as many as 17 shots were fired against this
limited space, not one effectually penetrated. Not
only is the new ship to have the power of resisting
shot, but it is to have engines of 1,200 horse power,
by which it will run through the water at the rate
of 14 knots an hour ; and since it is presumed invul-
nerable steam power and steam mechanism are its
sole reliance for locomotive purposes.
Such is the attractive sketch which is offered to
England of the implement by which she is to main-
tain her naval supremac. Have we really reached
the solution of the problem which has distressed us
so long ? or will this last vaunt serve only to delay
,the Admiralty and provide materials for discussion
among mechanistte "and =port captains ? There is
nothing in the opening statement made by its ad-
vocate which has not been predicated of nearly every
similar contrivance that has been offered to the
public, and we are rather dismayed by the old array
of assumptions under shelter of which it is pressed
upon our notice. Nothing seems easier to the un-
initiated than to discover whether a shpt does or,
does not penetrate a given material, or, if it does
' penetrate, to ascertain what amount of damage is
received by objects placed in arrear of the target.
But this is, we all, know by this time, a popular
delusion. It is a matter upon which there may be
half a dozen opinions. Englishmen "may be for-
given for dreading the announcement some months
hence, by an eye-witness pr his initials, that Whit-
worth's bolts play old Harry with Jones's sides,
or that the 'Jones vessel cannot be got to mop in
the water on •account ofa shot beingelodged in her
principal boiler. It may not be so; but we must be
prepared for something of this kind and its attend-
ant embarrassment: It is best not to be too sanguine,
and, above all, to put a limit upon theoretical as-
sumptions of the, capabilities of a fleet made up of
vessels that have never yet been tried or seen. All
the balances that' are made between sails- and
steam, between relative capacity for unprecedented
rapidity and being waterlogged, must be of limited
value until we are unfortunately compelled to test
them in the only school in which their truth can
be ascertained. Hitherto the results of war have
shown that it has a great tendency to equalise, to
take the edge off nice schemes and nice weapons,
and to throw combatants back upon the good old
qualities which have always been followed by vic-
tory. A great deal was said during the late war
about the havoc made by the French rifled cannon;
but no ono doubts that if the the Austrians had
been properly handled the war might have ended
very differently. Solferino was won by the French
because the Austrians had a line of battle twelve
miles in extent. All these uncertainties, how-
ever, do not interfere with the one great fact, that
we must speedily have a fleet of iron-cased vessels
of the best kind. The Admiralty must at once sit
in judgment upon the new plan, and if it promises
well an experimental vessel should be speedily
con-
structed. It may be the ill luck of this generationesno
'to have these things forced tn its. but
otlfierunpi
ow.
help. We have escaped the lll'e;itendureg and to
der, which our forefather
complainhado that we have
discuss, and should not
et; To determine the
to decide the question ef.o
° armament with the
merits of a vessel and its
a
time of peace it would be
requisite nicety in
the first two that shall
worth while to anchor
as from and opposite to each
be completed 50 bar
of both, and fire them by
other, load the guns
d out ef harm's s an
, place way, and
electric battery, I
compare the damage .
t ought not to be
then 4: any r experiment wolld
very great--as re-
ecture to a minimum, and
thingduce conjecture
like security
at a not very costly rate..
Herald.

A meeting of the working classes was held the
same day preparatory to the final presentation of
the library. The working men presented Mr.
Brown with a silver shield and a clock—testi-
monials of their gratitude. • ,
Mr. BROWN, in returning,thanks, said—We hope
yell will influence your fellow-workenen to visit the
library and museum. We promise them spacious
apartments, well ventilated, comfortably war
mostmed,
well lighted, and handsomely furnished, and
intelligent and intellectual society, witkout costant
Many of you will recollect the ignorance sod w
of thought ,that prevailed among a large body • of the
working clase'es 30 or 40 years ago.. When .theY
had any dispute with their master about wagOsy
or anything else, they thought they were reveng-
ing themselves and punishing him by breaking'
and destroying ,his res.chinery, forgetting that his
capital and his works were the instruments with
which they had to care' bread for themselves and
their families. •Far different is their conduct now.
Education has made such progress that they are
much more intelligent ; they see that such
suicidal conduct would be as bad as the carpenter
destroying the • tools by which he lives. It
is now pretty well understood that the more we
improve our machinery the more wog' incr
mo ease
hands our
customers throughout the world, and tho re
he demand.
are wanted to make articles to meet tA
We do not give the present generation of Working
men sufficient credit for their intelligence'. They
clearly see that accumulated capital is necessary to
give them regular employment, and that if IY4v any
means that increase of capital was prevented .they
would be great sufferers. Hence the volunteer,
movement now going forward as necessary to guard
•against• invasion, which would be most disastrone
to both master and man. It would be every great
misfortune if these two parties were independent of
each other er of other nations. It would be a
very great grievance if I were to be compelled to
be independent CS my bootmaker, and I think he
would be as great a sufferer without my custom.
Mutual dependence ol man on man and nation on
nation is wisely ordained by Providence. I wish
we were more depending on France and France on-
us. Our mutual material inierests might have re-
lieved us from the anxiety we now feel as to their
relative position and ours. Just consider the effect
of an invasion of our soil from any qoarter. None
has more to fear from it than the indusirial artizan,
for our commerce would be paralysed,
rovement suspended, and' hundreds of WensaLds
oAll our im-
f men thrown out of employment without
on which the bread of their families and them
depends. I hope the good sense of those w4oa_.
address, and others, will not leave the country
ject to the caprice, whim, or ambition of any. man,
pre
but that they will volunteer their seeviees t°
vent such a -dreadful calamity as
produCe. Our Library will inform you
theheziv!
an invasiondruts
a
govern their people, and will teach a
rch bi
wssinge
we enjoy under a constitutional monay.si
_
are well armed no one dare desecrate Tv:mot be
putting a hostile foot upon _
orere
pwareed cultotivmaet meet nm our
mminpdsowthere,
better
the m
contingency. If weered ourselves to be
brought under the rule of any continental
despot we should lose the freedom
and our la of the Press,
our constitution, our ws. It
rests with ourselves to protect and preserve these
bi nsu iemg
great
t a !evil netial geefs
t,
handa
tc
ioonut ianuude
ourt o byiertritused
e and noble Queen.
Lord BROUGHAM wasthe next speaker. He
delivered an address on the value of free libraries
and museums to the working
well entitled to rem classes. He alluded
being
to Watt as one who, a working man, was as
ficial effects. remembrance as Stephenson, to
show that working men, with properly directed
pTahbelreeofwpasroadnuoctinhger
energies are ea
tliiiiveormknstg
manybene
however, whom he had two years ego met withh
John ;
n Plummer, a working shoemaker of
Kettering, in Yorkshire, who had just published as
address to •
the working classes, showing the danger
and detriment of strikes.
The Hon. ALGERNON EGERTON was the next
speaker. He said, within the memory of men still
living, it was believed that knowledge was wed.
ought to be confined to the aristocracy, and that
if any of what was then called the " lower orders,"
were able to acquire knowledge. the first use they
, would make of it would be to tear the aristocracy
to
pieces. That opinion was now exploded. He hoped
that before long England, which at present was the
freest, would also be the best educated in the world.
JOHN PRIEST said, while fully recognising the
advantages which arise from several distinctions of
rank, he gloried in being a working man. He be-
lieved, in fact, that the full object and attributes
of hunianity were to be found in conjunction with
hard work. The distinctions' of rank were, no
doubt, valuable to society ; but their utmost reach
could not for a moment compare with the distinc-
tions of intelligence. If he might be allowed such
a liberty, he would say of the learned and noble
and venerable lord who had addressed the meeting,
that, much as he valued distinguished rank, he did
not think for a moment that it could be placed in
comparison with the distinction which he had
earned by his intellect. (Cheers.)
Sir J. BOWRING, who arrived late, delivered an
address on the advantages of literature and science
to working men. He illustrated his subject by
reference to Chinese thery- and practice as con-
trasted with what exists ion
this country,

Private letters from Brazil express great dis-
satisfaction at the circumstance of the English Govern-
ment having. suddenly put a stop to the proceedings of the
mixed commission sitting at Rio de Janeiro, by the appoint-
ment of the two Governments for the adjustment of all
outstanding and long -pending claims. There are many
claims made by British subjects against Brazil which have
never been settled, and at least an equal number on the part
of Brazilians against the English Government. The mixed
commission, which had sat for a few months only, had
given in three cases decisions in favour of Brazilian sub-
jects, when Lord John Russell put a stop to further pro-
ceedings. It is reported at Rio that Mr. Morgan, the
Commissioner for the English Government, has requested
to be removed from his appointment, feeling the false posi-
tionin which he has been placed, but that as yet his desire
has not been acceded to. The reason suggested by the
Brazilian claimants for the suspension of proceedings. by
the English Government is, that the reclamations against
England on account of vessels and property seized are so
numerous that we are alarmed at the amount. Looking at
the fact that we sanctioned the appointment of the com-
mission by a special treaty, and nominated our own com-
missioner, it is not unnatural that in the absence of expla-
nations severe remarks should be made; but the English
public will hope that whenever the question may be mootedm
in Parliament the answer will be such as to prove. satis-
factory not merely in a technical point of view, but that
liberal and equitable sense which alone would be creditable
to Oreat 13ritaiA in Gala matter,

Intelligent© has been received from Madrid of the
twos, after but a few hours' illness, of Mr. O'Shea, the
eminent banker there. Mr. O'Shea had resided upwards of
60 Tears in Spain, and was greatly esteemed throtigheUt
both Spa2ltaliand Ta6liah eocittY ba yam tea try