The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-05 00:00:00

ME VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT.

A numerous meeting of gentlemen of the Jewish
persuasion was held at Zetland-hall, Mansell-street,
Goodman's-fields, last night, when resolutions
favourable to the formation of a corps of Jewish
Rifle Volunteers were carried unanimously. The
members present went through their drill, under
an able sergeant, and evinced great zeal to qualify
themselves for their new duties.

The Bth Tower Hamlets, East and Wrest India
Dock Company's corps, the rules of which have just
been issued, comprises the clerks and other officers
of the .above-nareed corporation, and although very
recently es; ablished, has not only become numeri •
tally large, but has also arrived at an advanced
state of efficiency ; so much so that a day or two
since the Captain (Mr. C. H. Wigram, a director of
the Dock Company) summoned the members toge-
ther, and having addressed them in line, appointed
Messrs. Hughes, Lawrence, Toole, Mayhew, and
Hewison to be the first non-cemmissioned officers
of the corps. The regiment went through a series
of movements with much precision under the super-
vision of Sergeants Skinner and Pinnock. Captain
Wigram then announced that the Government
tiles had now come to hand, and he hoped that
they would soon be enabled to commence practice.
The uniforms likewise will be ready shortly,
when military vitality will be given to the regi-
ment. It is understood that this regiment will take
part in a Volunteer demonstration in Victoria-park
at the beginning
of the new year.
The vii e'rlovemeit appears to be steadily making
satisfactory Progress in the metropolitan parishes ;
in none is this more evident than in the united
parishes of St. Gilesand
St. George, Bloomsbury,
where the 37th G.G.B
V.R.C., Captain Jeakes,
Commandant, has
increased its numbers threefold
-within the last two months,
They have the use
of a first-rate drill ground, liberally granted to them
by the trustees of the Foundling Hospital. The
rifle contest of this corps commenced on the 17th
ult.at Harrow. The contest was resumed on Satur-
last at the rage of the Victoria Corps at Kilburn,
when the remaining prizes were competed for, viz.
—A purse of £5, to be shot for by non.enit .
ems-
sioned officers, three rounds each, at 200, 300, and
400 yards ; nine competitors—won by Sergeant-
Major Hooper, who made 10 points. The silver
medal of the corps, three rounds, each at 150,
250;and 300 yards—gained by Private Cansick, who
scored 13 points. A short Enfield, given by the
Captain Commandant—won by Private D. Dola-
more, who made 12 points. A short Enfield, given
by Mr. R. Stedall—won by the Captain Comman-
dant, serving 10 points, and who gave the same to
the next highest. A silver medal, the gift of Mr.
C. P. Roberts—gained by Private Berridge, with
10 points.

On Monday there was a rifle shooting contest
among members of the Ist and 2d companies of the
Wakefield battalion of Rifle Volunteers. The
prizes competed for were two silver medals, one
for each company, to be shot for annually, the win-
ners to be entitled to wear them as badges of honour
for one year. Fifteen members of the Ist and Six

of the 2d companies, including officers, competed.
The ranges fired at were 150, 200, and 300 yards,
and five rounds were fired at each distance. Much
better practice was made by the Ist company of
Volunteers than by the 2d, but the firing on
the whole was below an average. In the contest
for the Ist company medal, Serge nt Glover tied
with Private Drake, each obtaining 20 points. In
shooting off the tie Private Drake fired first, and
missed ; Sergeant Glover scored a white, thus beat-
ing his opponent by one point. Private Grace
scored 17, Sergeant-Major Alder 16, and Lance-
Corporal :Carter 16, in the Ist company contest.
For the 2d company medal, Ensign Hart and Pri-
vate Sowerby scored 14 points each, and in shoot-
ing off the tie Ensign Hart won, The weather
and the state of the ground were very unfavourable
for the competitors.

THE NORTH ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH
EXPEDITIONS.

The'expeditions sent out during the late summer
respectively by the Government and the promoters
of the North Atlantic Telegraph, for the purpose of
examining into the practicability of the proposed
scheme for carrying a line of telegraph from Europe
to America via Faroe, Iceland, and Greenland,
have at length returned, having successfully
accomplished their arduous mission. Having left
England at a season almost too far advanced for
northern navigation, and having encountered an
autumn of unusual storminess, followed by a
winter which for its earliness and severity was
almost unprecedented in those latitudes, both the
Bulldog and the Fox have, nevertheless, most
successfully proved the ultimate practicability of
the North Atlantic line. As has been mentioned,
the season was severe, and in every respect the
most unfavoirable for the route that has occurred
for nearly half a century, and yet, though seen in
these very worst aspects, the difficulties
encountered were not such as could prevent or
retard the successful establishment of the line.
Difficulties exist—no great undertaking can be
entirely free from them—but they are totally
different from those which are popularly supposed
to interfere with the route, and, indeed, are only
such as by the present knowledge of electrical
and telegraph science can be overcome. It will be
remembered that her Majesty's ship Bulldog, under
the command of Sir Leopold M'Clintock, left Eng-
land for the purpose of examining the depths of
the sea between the various stations on the pro-
posed route. The depths from his careful exami-
nation have proved altogether more favourable for
the laying of a cable than those on which the
former American cable was successfully submerged,
the water being 400 fathoms less in its deepest
parts. The Bulldog left the north of Scotland on
the Ist of July for the Faroe Islands, taking sound-
ings about midway, where according to the charts
the depth was 680 fathoms, but finding soundings
readily in 254 fathoms with a favourable bottom—
a depth in which the laying of almost any kind of
cable would be a matter of certainty. The Bull-
dog, after visiting several places among the
wild and beautiful islands of the Faroe group,
sounded across to Ingolshofdi, in Iceland. In this
section of the route no difficulties were experienced,
the average depth being under 300 fathoms, and the
bottom being mostly of a favourable character. Sir
Leopold M'Clintock subsequently visited and ex-
amined Faxe Bay, on the north-west coast of Ice-
land, which, notwithstanding the popular belief to
the contrary, is as free from ice and icebergs as the
shores of the Isle of Wight. From Iceland to Green-
land, across what is technically called the Greenland
Sea, the soundings were, as had been expected,
found by the Bulldog to be deeper than on the
Iceland and Faroe section of the route, but still the
greatest depth was far less (nearly 900 fathoms)
than the deepest portion of the direct route. It is a
remarkable fact, as showing the erroneous impres-
sions which have prevailed even among scientific
men respecting this region, that no ice was found
away from the shore where the charts of Manby
and Scoresby represent the sea as impenetrably
covered with it. The Bulldog being a paddlewheel
steamer, unadapted to such navigation, did not
pass through the drift ice so as to land on the east
coast of Greenland, so long considered inaccessible
to ships. She however stood along the coast, sound-
ing occasionally, nearly as far as Prince Christian
Sound, when a gale of wind compelled her to stand

off shore. From this date, July the 19th, to the 18th
of August, Sir Leopold M'Clintock was unable to
proceed with his soundings in consequence of con-
tinued gales of wind, which drove out the drift ice

from the bays and fiords, and prevented the Bull-
dog, on account of her paddles, from approaching
the coast. After attempting to enter several of the
more southern ports, Sir L.M'Clintock entered God-
haab, towing in with him the vessel containing the
coal intended for his ship. The weather had been
most stormy, no less than eight gales of wind hav-
ing been experienced during the preceding fort-
night. The quantity of loose drift ice on the
coast was greater, according to the information
of the Danish residents, than had been seen for
many years. The Bulldog, after having sur-
veyed the harbour, coasted Southward to Cape
Farewell, as far as the prevalence of drift ice
would permit. From that point, at some
distance from the land, a line of soundings was car-
ried to Hamilton Inlet, on the coast of Labrador.
The depths between the two points were very
regular, the greatest being 2,032 fathoms, 400
fathoms less than the direct route across the At-
hntic. The examination of Hamilton Inlet, made
by Sir Leopold was necessarily a hurried and im-
perfect one, but very little ice was seen on the
Labrador coast. On the return voyage a second
series of soundings were carried from Hamilton
Inlet to South Greenland, where the Bulldog
anchored, in Julianshaab, on the 29th of September.
The weather she had experienced during her voyage
from Labrador was most severe; she encountered

no less than five gales of wind in eight days. After
a cursory examination of some of the deep fiords
which run inland for a considerable distance--
several of which were deemed admirably adapted
for the reception of the cable—the Bulldog left
Julianshaab, on her return to Iceland, on the 3d of
October, and suffered some injury to her paddle
floats and cutwater from the floe ice, which pre-
vailed at the entrance of the fiord in larger quan-
tity than had been known for nearly 30 years. The
Bulldog up to this time had obtained no informa-
tion respecting the Fox, and many began to enter-
tain serious apprehensions that she had been beset
upon the east coast of Greenland. Though made at
the most unfavourable season, the examinations
were said to be most satisfactory. In the channel
of the various fiords a most considerable depth of
water is almost universally found. On the Bth of
October the Bulldog again approached the coast of
Greenland, close to the entrance of Prince Christian
Sound, at the extreme south end of Greenland, and
found so very little ice that Sir Leopold Nl'Clintock
commenced taking a line of soundings in towards
the fiord. His intention, however, was frustrated
by the springing up of one of those terrific easterly
hurricanes which occasionally sweep the coast of
Greenland, For 30 hours the wind blew with such
terrific violence that no canvas could withstand its
force for one moment, and the Bulldog had to lie
to under " bare poles," keeping the engines going,
in case of falling in with ice. For three days the
vessel gradually drifted southward and clear of the
land. While the storm was at its height the engines
seemed to have hardly any effect upon the ship.
The vessel suffered less than might have been
expected from so violent a hurricane, but yet sus-
tained considerable damage. The jibboom, the bow-
sprit, and the tiller were carried away ; one quarter
boat was washed away, the other quarter boat and
the stern boat were stove; the sponson Roofings
were all washed up, though constructed of nine-
inch oak beams ; portions of the bulwarks and the
paddle-boxes were also washed away. After the
abatement of the gale the Bulldog continued her
line of soundings back to Reikjavik, in Iceland, but
was subject to almost continuous interruptions from
gales of wind. But the few soundings which could
be made were of the most satisfactory character, a
depth of only 748 fathoms being found where it was
expected to find 2,000. The return soundings of
Sir F. L. APClintock were of a peculiarly interest-
ing character in a scientific point of view, inasmuch