The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-01 00:00:00

7IIE IiVAUGURATION BALL.

(From the Washington Correvondenee of the Cincinnati Com-
mercial, March 5.)
Instigated by the devil, and persuaded by two
angelic faces, I went to this most beastly exhibition
of all that disfigured the inauguration of General
Grant. Into the narrow corridors and small rooms
of the Treasury was packed to suffocation a crowd
of men and women, pushing,, struggling, fainting,
and almost lighting. Over two thousand tickets
had been sold, and each ticket averaged three
people. There were men in swallow-tailed coats,
white chokers, and tight breeches, and women in
all sorts of costumes, of which the bare neck and
arms with immense trails predominated. We
climbed four flights of stairs to the ladies' dress-
ing-rooms and gentlemen's cloak rooms. We
gave—unsuspecting mortals as we were—our
Coats and hats to the reconstructed, receiving a
piece of pasteboard, with a number on it, in ex-
change. A dark suspicion crept over my prophetic
soul that I had parted with my coat and tile for
ever. Sandwiched between two lovely females,
I began the descent. ntream of humanity was
rushing up the winding-stair—a stream of humanity
was pouring down ; and, by the watch, it took me
one hour to reach the last step at the bottom. Vera
we fell into a tide setting heavily westward, a good
deal agitated by a stream of stout policemen,_
cotton-gloved coloured waiters, and some feeble-
minded young men, with hair parted in the middle,
that made a pretty strong current setting to the
east. For half an hour I and my convoy whirled in
an eddy, caused by a projection at a corner. Escap-
ing from this we fell into mid-stream, and madesteady
but slow progress. I suppose by morning we might
have reached the end of the corridor, had we not en-
countered a cross sea, made up of the diplomatic
corps and some military pumps, that carried us into
a reception room where the President and family
stool firm. Against these we were dashed with
great violence, made more fearful by a stout man
who bawled out, " Don't shake hands, don't shake
hands," as the President and Vice-President kept
violating this order. I could not understand the
meaning of it, unless the man was the court physi-
cian, and feared we or General Grant would catch
the itch. This was varied by weak females in tight
dresses fainting at intervals of five minutcti. And
the character of the officials may be gathered from
conversation I heard between the husband of a lady
ill from the heat and fatigues and a functionary. Ile
had carried her out, and fortunately found a vacant

,Ipntv In A hall where there was a little fresh air, and
while he held her tip 't,4:11.,; Fiertants passed With chairs.
lie made an earnest appeal for one GI tbesoc, bit
the stupid fellows refused. At last he seized one,
and was about seating his wife, when an official
c tine at him, demanding the chair. The poor man
expained, but the fellow replied that ho had his
orders—the chairs were needed for another purpose.
The husband bade his wife sit down, and then said,
"Now, if you take that chair, you must take it
from under my wife, and I hardly think that will
be a healthy proceeding," " You can gain your
purpose is that way," exclaimed the fellow, white
with rage, ' but if your wife is sick you had better
take her hor,i4e," " You are an insolent hound,"
roared the husband, " and if you will. give

me your address I'll smash your dirty mouth to-
morrow, when there are no women to protect you."
I was told that the scene in the supper room beg-
gared description. The doors were opened to the
entire crowd, and in two minutes the rooms were
packed to suffocation. To eat was impossible.
But to stir up-the temper and destroy dresses was
the rule. The long trails of rich material suf-
fered at every step. While trying to get to the
supper room I felt for some time under my feet
what seemed to be a soft carpet. I found, in a
few minutes, that it was the trail of a lady some
distance in advance. What guys women can make
of themselves when they try. I saw some youthful
female donkeys with their heads plastered over
with white powder and pomatum, as if their dear
little selves had terminated in an apple dumpling.
When at last tired and disgusted we sought the
dressing rooms for our wraps, I found that we
were pinned to the place for two days. Fortu-
nately, after invading the ladies' dressing-room,
very improperly, 1 found their cloak,,, and then I
ascended for mine. I found a crew actually fight-
ing in the ball above. At the hole in the door of
the cloak-room an idiotic face made mouths at us,
in the most exasperating manner. [Here there is a
hole in theballad, how it occurred we cannot tell, but
we give the fragments as we find them.] " Not your
old white bat." " Yes, my old white hat, and with it
my overcoat. It is lamentable that the rebels did not
take this d--d town and burn it to ashes. They
showed their spite by not doing so. It is an in-
fernal sinkhole of iniquity, depending for its miser-
able existence on the Government." I left the
venerable philosopher lamenting. What an extra-
ordinary fact it was that he lost his old white hat.
I had an idea, in common with the pensive public,
that it could not be lost. I believe he could not sell
it if he were to try. He could not give it or throw

it away, and here it was lost in a cloak room. This
event impressed me deeply. I went home in the
cal, without hat or overcoat, in the bitter cold ;
but I ruminated, I marvelled and wondered, and
all last night I dreamed that the venerable Horace
was a ferry boat and I steered him. Lost his old
white hat !

TIE REPORT TO THE SENATE ON

ORD NA NCE.

On the 15th ult. the Joint Committee on Ord-
nance, appointed 30th March, 1867, presented the

report of their investigation on the purchases, con-
tracts, and experiments of the Ordnance Depart-
ment. This document will be read with interest in

Europe, where it will excite surprise—first, because
it repudiates emphatically what is supposed to be an
American theory tenaciously held, that the most

effective projectile is a huge spherical mass of iron
thrown with a low velocity to rack as opposed to

what is known as the punching process ; next, be-
cause it deals with the scientific corps of the United
States in a way that no committee of another nation
would dare to do with a trained professional branch
of its own service. The Report, in allusion to the
struggle between attack and defence, between guns
and armour, asserts that the large guns of all na-
tions hive failed in a greater or lesser degree, and
in a manner which has tended to complicate the
problem. One gun has fired over 2,000 rounds,
while another precisely similar has exploded almost
at once ; and those of the strongest material when
tested often prove the weakest. The 30-pounder
is the largest rifled gun which has exhibited even
comparatively good endurance in America, and the
result- is no better in Europe. After discussing
briefly the systems of the great inventors, the Com-
mittee conclude that none are successful in prevent-

ing bursting or in attaining uniform reliance. Al-
though the guns introduced into the United States
service have been tested beyond question as to their
endurance all failed when tried in actual service.

Twenty-two large guns only were mounted at a
time on Morris Island, yet fifty burst during the
siege, being upwards of twice the number mounted
in the fort. All the Parrott's guns of the fleet used
against Fort Fisher burst, and forty-five persons
were killed ani wounded by five of these explosions,
while only eleven fell before the enemy's fire. This
is considered conclusive proof that the system of

testing is defective ; and the Committee do not
hesitate to condemn it as valueless, showing nothing
of the gun's ability to do the work required in war.
The real conditions existing in battle have never
been truly copied. Heavy charges have been fired
as well as numerous, but slowly, so that the gun had
time to cool, while in action rapid. firing is neces-
sary. It is the heat produced by quick firing which,
by adding its expansive force to the bore, aids the
powder in effecting a rupture. "If the force with
which metals contract when cooled is shown to be
so potent, as to break the gun from the inside when
cooled from the interior, it can be seen that if the
gun be in a state of tension, which has the tendency
to compress the metal of the interior and extend the
exterior, the heat afterwards communicated to the
surface of the bore by the burning powder or by fric-
tion of the moving charge would assist the pressure
of the powder to break the gun, especially if the gun
should be fired a number of rounds in quick suc-
cession." This force should not be overlooked
when it has been known to break huge blocks of
iron spontaneously, as was the case with a large
mass of wrought iron prepared by Mr. Mallet in
England, by the mere force of contraction from the
centre towards the exterior as the mass cooled ; and
it may be the means of determining how the
stronger material is more liable to burst than the
weaker, and why the accidents most frequently
occur during battle. The following extract is given
from the report of the Chief of the Ordnance of
the Navy :—" Opinions differ quite as widely in re-
gard to the preferable mode of developing ordnance
power, whether it shall be by smooth or rifled bores,
by loading at breech or muzzle, made from iron,
cast or wrought, or from steel, solid or in con;
nected parts. The relation of mass to velocity is
also unsettled. In fact, the question involves the
necessity of going back to fundamental principles,
and starting thence by well-conducted experiments."
On this the Congressional Committee make these
severe comments :—" It therefore appears that,
notwithstanding a series of elaborate experiments,
extending over a long period of years, and the
practical experience of our recent war, the ordnance
officers of the Government have not yet determined
upon even the fundamental principles of their art,
and possess no positive knowledge of the problem
they have so long sought to solve. Mechanics is
an exact science, and ignorance of that branch of
it involved in the construction of guns would seem
to show either want of knowledge of its principles,
failure to understand their application, or superfici-
ality of investigation, surprising in men whose minds
have been from boyhood trained in the direction of
a specialty." Later in the report this is again re-
ferred to. Indeed it is necessary to give the remarks
in the words of the Committee, for in attempting to
summarizethemwemightbeaccusedof exaggeration.
"The fact that the ordnance officers of the Go-
vernment find it necessary, at this late day, to re-
turn to the rudiments of their art and begin their
experiments anew, as stated in the report of the
Chief of the Ordnance of the Navy, shows a defect
in the system upon which experiments have hereto-
fore been conducted, and in the organization of the
ordnance departments, calling for a remedy. The
difficulty appears to have been two-fold ; first, the
ordnance officers, knowing their positions secure to
them for life, have not felt the incentive to exertion
and improvement which stimulates men not in Go-
verfintalt employment, and they have become at-
tached to tantinc and to the traditions of their
corps, jealous of imrvations and new ideas, and
slow to adopt improvetneafd. An illustration of
this is found in - the fact that the late war was
fought with muzzle-loading guns (with the
.excep-
tioti of carbines for cavalry), although a variety of
excellent breech-load,rs ware urged upon the ti,,-
tention of the Government constantly ; and the
honour was reserved for Prussia, with a weapon
inferior to many American inventions, to demon.
strate the immeasurable superiority of breech-load-
ing guns. In the second place, these officers, edu
cated to a specialty, and proud of their positions,
come to look upon themselves as possessing all the
knowledge extant upon the subject of ordnance,
and regard citizen inventors and mechanics who
offer improvements in arms as ignorant and de-
signing persons, and pretentious innovators, who

have no claim to consideration. Instead of encourag-

ng the inventive talent of the country these officers

seem to have constantly discouraged it, and many
complaints of improper and oppressive treatment
have been laid before the committee by persons who

have sought to draw the attention of the pro-
per authorities to what were supposed to be vital
principles connected with their art. Another diffi-
culty that has retarded progress in the science of
ordnance has been the fact that prominent officers
have been inventors of arms, and have possessed
sufficient influence to secure the adoption and re-
tention in service of their inventions, frequently

without due regard to the question of real merit,

and to the prejudice of other and better devices
brought forward by citizens, or developed in other
countrie4. A further difficulty, calling for a remedy,
lies in the want of co-operation between the 'War
and Navy Bureaus. Great diversity exists in the
practice of the two branches of the service respect-
ing the arms adopted, and the manner of proving,

mounting, and using the same. The calibre, models,
chambers, and ammunition of the navy guns differ
entirely from those in use in the army. For example,
the navy 12-pounder boat howitzer has a calibre of
3.4 inches, while the army 12-pounder guns are of
the calibros of 3, 3.2, 3.67, and 3.8 inches. The

. ,
chamber of the navy gun is of parabolic form, while
the army gun has a cycloidal chamber, or none at
all. The models of the two guns are entirely diffe-
rent, so that neither could be used on the carriage

of the other; the army guns being furnished with
trunnions, and the navy gun having, in some cases,
the loop and loop-bolt of the old carronade. The
system of sighting is also different. A gunner in
one arm of the service, without special instruction,
could not use a gun belonging to the other ; one
being graduated to seconds of time of the flight of
the shot, and the other to degrees of eleva-
tion. The Navy has 8,9, 11, and 13-inch smooth-
bores, while the Army guns are of the calibres of 6,
8, 10, and 12 inches. In the guns of the two
branches of the service there is no uniformity, in
either rifle or smooth-bore, in the 20 calibres

adopted below the calibre of the 32-pounders. It
is impossible to use Navy ammunition in an Army
gun or Army ammunition in a Navy gun. Co-ope-
ration between the Army and Navy while in active
service is thus greatly restricted, and in some cases
has been entirely prevented. Offensive operations
on the part of a joint expedition of the two might
be brought to an end by the want of projectiles for
the land forces, while the ships of the Navy might

have a surplus of the very articles required, but
which could not be used by the land forces. Not
a single advantage is claimed for this lack of uni-
formity, while the disadvantages are very numerous

and apparent. It has grown out of the fact that
officers iu the two branches of the service have
succeedei in securing the adoption of their own
inventions, and the rivalry existing between them
has prevented fair competitive trials of the various
devices and systems advocated by each, neither
being willing to admit the merit of the other's in-
ventions, or to utilize the knowledge gained either

by their successes or their failures. The experi-
ments, being duplicated on account of this jealousy,
have been, necessarily, needlessly expensive. A
further increased expense results, iu time of war,
from maintaining two separate organizations br
the procurement of arms. The two Ordnance Do

partmeuts are brought into competition with each
other in the matter of contracts and purchases of war
material from the private workshops and factories
of the country, thus putting the Government
in the attitude of bidding against itself."
The conclusions of the Committee are that no fur-
ther purchases of heavy guns should be made for
the present--that the Rodman system is defective
as well as the Dahlgren ; that the real cause of
heavy guns bursting should be determined by ex-
periments, inventors encouraged, efficient harbour
defences adopted, no naval or military officer be
permitted' to take out a patent for articles required
in the service, and that the Ordnance Department
of the service be abolished, the duties being handed
over to the Artillery. The necessity of a change
the Committee consider to be shown by the fact
that the country has a vast coast line to defend, gs
great navy without a rifled gun of large calibre,
and a corps of ordnance officers who have " failed
to discover a remedy for the failure of the guns,
or to master the rudiments of the science in which
they have been trained at the public expense." AP'
propriations are asked for to purchase over 1,900
guns for the forts, of a kind shown to be inferior
in range and penetration to the guns of Foreign
Powers, and unreliable as to endurance. " The ex-
perience of all nations goes to prove that the most
effective way of developing ordnance power is hi
rifled guns. To return to smooth-bores, throwing
huge spherical masses of iron with low velocities,
is to disregard all modern progress in the science of
gunnery, and to return to the arms in use two cen-
turies ago. Furthermore, the advisability of using
guns of such great size is very doubtful, for the
slowness with which they can be handled and fired
makes them less effective than smaller guns deliver-
ing a more rapid fire. Two hundred of the gurl
required it is proposed shall be Rodman 12-inch
rifles, notwithstanding all of that class of sung
heretofore procured for the army or navy and sub'
jetted to test have either burst disastrousl3 before
the lowest reasonable test has been completed, Of
have given such indications of failing, after a fess'
rounds, as to be considered unsafe." Perhaps 0°
other portion of the Report will create more sut:'
prise than this last extract. In England expert"
ments were expressly instituted-at Shoeburyness
to
test the smooth-bore Rodman throwing a heaTi
spherical shot at a low velocity. " Wait !" elc;
claimed a noble lord on the ground to an officer 01
the Royal Engineers, " till the Rodman is brought
into play." They were testing at the time somo
chilled projectiles, and were on the tiptoe of eiv,
pectation to see how the target would be demo,
lished by the heavy shot from the American smoot.b
bore. " Why," said the Engineer officer, " it was ltl
throwing cricket balls at it ; they had little more of
feet." Notwithstanding, it was supposed that Attie"
ricans would obstinately adhere to their racking
system, but this Report will effectually demolish
any such supposition. It was possible that having,.
finished their war they might throw the subject
aside, and pay no further attention to it, hut those
who calculated that they would adhere to a gate'.
proved to be faulty, with their attention fairly at;
rected to the matter, have very little knowledge 0:
the national character, and their erroneous impree
sion will by this. Report be somewhat removed.

[ADVERTISEMENT.] Dyspepsia (Indigestion), Constipation;
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liver complaints in every stage, are only aggravated and acce.t,
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Barry's health-restoring Revalenta Arabica Food, as proved
•
thousands of cases which had been considered hopeless, such tP,,
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ria, catarrhs, colds, influenza, noises in the head and ears, rhe'
matism, gout, impurities, eruptions, hysteria, neuralgia, irritlr
bility, sleeplessness, acidity, palpitation, heartburn, headaebix;
debility, dropsy, cramps, spasms, nausea, and sickness, even 0
pregnancy or at sea, sinking fits, bronchitis, scrofula, tightne:o
of the chest, pains at the pit of the stomach and between 4'4
shoulders, &c. We quote a few:—The Pope's health restored 1110
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health or Yf
tsh Fe
oHo odiy
ing all other remedies, he has confined himself entirely to
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effect on his health, and his Holiness cannot praise this excelle.6
food too highly.—From the "Gazette du Midi," July 25. Cur
No. 46,270 —Mr. James Roberts, timber merchant, of Fritaleft:
Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting of blood, live
derangement, and partial deafness. Cure No. I,77l—Lord Stuflo.'4
de Decies, Lord-Lieut. of Waterford, of many years' dyspePl
No. 49,832—" Fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspeP.„B 0,
nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spas.",
sickness, and vomiting.—Maria Joly." Important Ca,ution.„,
Beware of the many unsavoury and more than sloppy imitaticre
to which, without authority, Baron Liebig's name is most an'
ciously attached. ,„
In tins, at Is. lid.; I lb. 2s. 9d.; 2 lbs. 4s. 6d.; 5•
225. ; 'l4 lbs, 40s, —Also Du BARRY's REVALENTA.ARABICA Cfl014
LATN POWDAR is packed in tin canisters; for 12 cups at 25., for
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cups at 3s. 6d., for 48 cups at Gs., for 288 cups at 305., tot 576 MO
at 555.—being about one penny per cup. The 30s. and 550...07,6
are sent free of carriage in England on receipt of Post OPP".
Order.— BARRY nu BARRY and Co., No. 77, Regent-street. Igo
don; and all Grocers and Chemists.

Births.
01$
HOOD—On the 30th ult., at Stoke, 11 Devonport, the ..--
Mrs. Hood, of a son. Of
LOFTIJS—On the 30th ult., at 40, Ebury-street, tho wile
Colonel Loftus, of a daughter.

Marriages.
BVP.Y---PILLING —On the 30th ult., at St. John's Chtl,ro
Chr,ster, Jolla °swell Bury, of Wrexham, to Mary .."'"
Pilling, of t..:,tefield, Wrexham.
STANvoiti—GoDSo::—On the 80th ult., at All Saints',
nismore-placq, Robe:',t Harley, son of Sir Robert St ter
ford, late Captain 27th Its, t., to Dorcas Sarah, dattglY
of Septimu Holmrs Godson, Esq., of Lutland-gate,g
Tenbury, Worcestershire.

Deaths.
BATTYE—On the 30th ult., at Skelton Hall, near °
William Walker Bettye, Esq., aged 79. 0111
PECIIELL—On the 28th ult., at Bix Rectory, Homed
Thames, the Lady Caroline Pechell, aged 61.
RUSSELL—On the 30th ult.. at Dover, Rear-Admiral
Jo
Russell, of Maulside, Ayrshire, N. 13., aged 59.

-- --- cifi''
London : Printed and Published by WILLIAM ANDI 4&• 094
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE SUN Mae', N°
ty 0
Strand, in tns Precinct 'ol the Ss voy ;tithe CO°
MiddlefleZe•ThUrlldaYl April 1, lso,