The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-20 00:00:00

THE VOLUNTEER MOVEMEIV T.

Her Majesty's Court of Lieutenancy has sanc-
tioned the addition of three new companies to the
2d City of London Rifle Volunteer Corps (Captain
Commandant G. A. Spottiswoode). Its strength is
therefore now four companies. It meets for drill
three times a week—twice at head-quarters, 10,
Little New-street. for recruits, and once in the court
yard of Bridewell Hospital for company drill.
The 24th Middlesex (Uxbridge) Corps, under the
command of Capt. Hilliard, met on Sunday morn-
ing at the railway station, Uxbridge, and, after
going through several of their evolutions, marched,
preceded by their band of fifes and drums, lately
presented to them by the Hon Miss Irby, to church,
where a sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr.
Price, who is chaplain to the corps. The enrolment
of members is steadily increasing, and the Lord
Lieutenant's sanction has been obtained for the for-
mation of a new company.
An influential committee has been appointed in
Greenwich, at the head of which is Mr. Ald. Salo-
mons, M.P. for the borough, for the purpose of
forming a marine artillery corps or brigade for the
service of artillery, and for gunboat service on the
Thames. The suggestion, which originated with the
worthy alderman, has been very favourably received,
and sufficient support has been already promised to
render its realisation certain. It is proposed to ac-
cept the services of a large body of persons whose
business is immediately connected with the river,
watermen and lightermen, and also of amateur
watermen and others, who will form a company
distinct from the professionals. Tne value of such
an arm of defence may be gathered from the fol-
lowing extract from the report of the Naval
Committee appointed to inquire into the sub-
ject of floating batteries, booms, rafts, &c.:—
" The committee having examined several of the
Thames river barges, wood and iron, and consulted
an eminent engineer conversant with the subject,
are of opinion that two of them, from 60 to 90 tons
each, could cocroly connected together and fitted
to carry two heavy guns, with a breastwork, for
river defences. Iron canal barges are also suitable
for this purpose, but being smaller, averaging 40
tons, three of them would be required for the same
armament. Such small batteries could be rapidly
prepared, and if placed within a boom, connected
with chains, where water is smooth, would be a
formidable barrier."

The 2d Sussex (Cuckfield) Corp 3 of Rifle Volun-
teers, consisting of two companies and numbering
153 members, under the command of Capt. Meek,
was inspected on Friday by Lieut.-Col. Moorsom at
Cuckfield-park, the seat of Capt. Sergison, one of
the captains of the corps. After marching past,
the corps was put through various battalion move
ments—the manual and platoon, skirmishing, and
file,and volley firing. At the conclusion Col. Moor-
som complimented the men on the steadiness of
their marching and general efficiency. The corps
dined together afterwards, when most of the leading
gentry in the neighbourhood were present.

EXPERIMENTS WITH TIIB ARM-

STRONG GUNS.

The bombardment of the old Martello towers at
Eastbourne and Bexhill has resulted as might have
been anticipated, in a victory for the Armstrong
gun over the 68-pounder. But if we are to regard
these experiments as testing the comparative merits
of smooth-bore and rifled ordnance, they are only
partially satisfactory. They show us what execu-
tion the Armstrong can do at its short range, but
not what the heaay smooth bore can do at its short
range. We were perfectly prepared to see the tough
old tower at Eastbourne crumble under the fire of
the Armstrong 100 and 80 pounders, at a range of
1,032 yards, and we were not at all surprised to find
the companion tower at Bexhill resisting the attack
of 32 and 68 pounders at 1,036 yards. It was
scarcely worth while to go to all this trouble for an
experiment which was not calculated to display the
surpassing advantages of the Armstrong, and which
merely showed the 68-pounders attempting work
they were not fitted to do. The trial, in fact, was
about as rational as a steeplechase between a crack
hunter and a dray horse, both excellent animals in
their wav, but offering no match. The shot from the
smooth bore, artillerists inform us, travels for a
short distance at about twice the speed of the rifled
projectile, but it loses this superior velocity after
the first 500 yards, while the rifled shot retains its
lower speed over a very much longer course. To
obtain, thou, the fair and proper use of the round
shot, we should employ it within the range of its
greatest power; the effects, in that case, may be
rationally compared witk those produced by the
Armstrong at the same distance ; but in the experi-
ments upon the Martello towers the range chosen
was actually greater for the smooth bores than for
the Armstrong, whereas it should have been the
reverse. To have made a really sound and reliable
experiment, the Armstrong gun should have been
placed at least 2,000 yards from the tower, and the
68-pounder within 500. The relative advantages
of the two would by this means have been exhibi-
ted ; as it is, the Armstrong has not been tested to
its full capabilities, and the smooth bore has been
tried under palpable disadvantage. Do any of the
distinguished artillerists who witnessed and pre-
sided at those experiments suppose that Bomarsund
would have been breached and taken if the 68-
pounders had been brought.to bear upon the granite
walls at the same range taken for the attack on the
Martello tower at Bexhill ? Upon the Russian
fortress, which we may conclude was rather
stronger than our old Martello tower, some hundred
of the heaviest shot and shell were fired at a little
over a thousand yards without any practicable
breach being made; and the business was done by
a few 68-pounder ship guns landed and brought up
to within 400 yards of the -veils. Unless, therefore,
the old tower at Bexhill was really to be rapidly
demolished to make way for something stronger in
the way of a coast defence, we can see little prac-
tical utility in the trials of the 68 and 32 pounders
upon it.
We had thought that the numerous experiments
upon defensive structures of earth, wood, stone,
and iron, which have for some years past been
going on at Portsmouth and Shoeburyness, had
pretty clearly defined the powers of the old and
the new artillery; it may not be so, and certainly
these latest experiments have the recommendation
of shoring the effect upon real fortifications in-
stead of Jfortified target. There may be condi-
tions of stability in a whole fortified work nut
altogether attainable by a model of parts only,
even if it be made out of sections of the same
material, and possibly. some of the targets, espe-
cially those of iron upon granite blocks, which
have been so easily destroyed, afford no very reli-
able evidence either in favour of the guns or against
the defences. In this view the practice upon the
Martello towers was called for, but they might
have been planned with a more direct reference to
the capabilities of the Armstrong, and conducted so
as to shut out all fallacies, and render the conditions
equally favourable to the two guns. In point of
range they have not exhibited either weapon at its
best. They have shown us what the 68 and 32
pounders cannot do, but not what they can do ;
while they leave us in doubt as to whether the
accuracy and destructive power of the Armstrong
are as extraordinary at long range as at that which
for rifled ordnance must be pronounced short range.
The immense advantage that would belong to a
body of artillery attacking a fort with Armstrong
guns would be that they would be able to commit
desperate havoc upon their antagonists with com-
paratively little risk to themselves, as they would
be out of the range of the rifle. But suppcsing
that the Martello had been defended by riflemen
only, every gunner would have fallen before the

place was made untenable. We had a real service
experiment of far more value in the attack of
Capt. Milward's battery upon the Chinese cavalry,
when, at from 1,200 to 2,200 yards, the shells were
pitched into the trenches and amongst the troops
with unerring accuracy. Even had the Chinese
possessed the Enfield rifle they could not have
touched our men at this range. But there is every
reason to believe that the Armstrongs would be
found equally efficient at a much longer range, and
it is surprising to find that no shots were tried
against the Eastbourne tower beyond the 1,032
yards. If the Armstrong is not effective for bat-
tering purposes beyonkthe reach of the rifle, it is
desirable to know this.

It is not with any desire to under-estimate the
valuable qualities of the Armstrong that we make
these remarks, but rather to point out the amazing
want of experimental acumen in the trials at East-
bourne and Bexhill. Not only was the long range
test not made with the one gun whose peculiar
property it is, and the short range omitted with
the other whose special excellence is its battering
power at point blank firing, but the guns were not
tried on equal conditions as to weight of projectile.
The Armstrongs which did the great damage to
the 6 and 9 foot brickwork were 80 and 100 pounder
guns, while the round shot guns were only 32 and
68 pounders. Again, the number of shots fired by
the Armstrongs was more than three times as many
as those from the smooth bores, being 170 at East-
bourne and 52 at Bexhill. All exactness and
nicety of judgment are prevented by this ill-con-