The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-30 00:00:00

'SUN, LONDON, 'FRIDAY EVENING, • NOVEMBER 30, 1860.

LA GLOIRE.

Mr. H. Vivian, in a letter to a contemporary,
says :—During the interesting and valuable dis-
cussion upon shot-proof ships which has lately
taken place in your columns I am not aware that
any description of the famous French frigate La
Gloire has been given. If such is the case you may
not deem the following remarks unworthy of in.
sertion.

I may preface my observations by stating that
being accidentally at Toulon a week ago, and hearing
that La Gloire was in the roads, I went alongside
and sent my card to the commander affixing to my
name the words " Membre du Parlement Anglais."
I received a mere verbal message that no one was
baysea allowedslliuuemavbee;de
unusualttaoh
wsa et
weapon
ptaoh f
is
nGe
toorii
France,r
bgt
Gloire
eais
we T
r wilfully
gfnuadlrhl
dyi is
et dtmhaarsoy wt
ono restrictionthereforeo novelpe open for
i s
f,
andbo ler
imitation.
My description must consequently be limited to
the externals of the frigate and to the details which
I gleaned from various sources, more or less accu-
rate. La Gloire carries 36 broadside guns, though
pierced for 40 ; she is said also to carry four heavy
guns on deck ; her broadside guns are all rifled ;
her ports I judge to be about eight feet out of
water; she has a bowsprit and three masts, strictly
fore and aft rigged, although she can set a large
square sail on her foremast; her spars are not much,
if at all, larger in proportion than those of an or-
dinary passenger steamer ; she has apparently a
flush deck, with, I was informed, a shot-proof house
on the after part far the captain. At present she
is probably three feet by the stern, judging from
her water line ; she is said to draw five metres, or
about 16 feet. Her cutwater, which is stated to
be 50 centimetres (equal to 1 foot 71 inches) thick,
recedes from the water line upwards, the lower
portion being from 2 to 3 feet in advance of the
upper. Her breadth of beam is carried very far
forward, giving an appearance of weight and bluff-
ness to her bow, which however may be more duo
to the want of a few extra feet of cutwater than to
an actual absence of fine lines. Her bow overhangs,
but very slightly, it at all ; her stern is neither
round nor square, but sharper than her bow, pre-
senting finer lines, and with a very considerable
flare or overhang. She has a set-off at the water-
line, some 3 or 4 inches deep, such as ships of
war generally have just below their ports. Her
sides have about the inclination in wards usual in
men-of-war. Her plates, I was informed, are 15
centimetres (about six English inches) thick; those
forming the first row above the water-line are about
5 feet long by 2 feet 9 inches wide ; above these are
two rows of plates, about 4 feet long and 1 foot
wide ; above these again, the larger plates. The iron
used in their manufacture is stated to be of a very
superior description ; one extensive works, near St.
Etienne, is engaged almost exclusively in their manu-
facture. The plates are said to extend about 2?-;
metres, or say 8 feet, below her water-line ; she is
coppered from that point to her keel. I was informed
that her engines are of 1,000 horse-power. Her
speed all agree in stating
iat 13 knots. She is con-
stantly sent to sea, and s reported to behave well
though labouring somewhat in very heavy weather.
Upon one occasion she was in a gale during which a
first-class frigate lost all her quarter boats. Her
tonnage and dimensions I could not learn. She is
decidedly not a very large vessel, but little if at all
larger than modern frigates of her class. Perhaps
the most important point remains still to be noticed.
La Gloire is not an iron ship ; she is built of wood,
doubtless of stronger scantling than usual, but still
she is a wooden ship, built in in a Government dock-
yard by the ordinary shipwrights and of the mate-
rials at hand. She was plated in a dry dock after
she was launched, and it would not therefore seem
that any extraordinary expense could have been
incurred in her construction. A sister ship is now
building at Toulon. Her sides are lined with men
as thickly as they can work. Two frigates of the
old stamp stand half finished and neglected hard
by. At least I could not see one man at work on
them.

It would appear from the foregoing details that
many very important objects have been attained in
La Gloire. In spite of her armour her speed is
higher than that of most men of war, an element in
itself of enormous power. I have no desire to
theorise on the means by which this high speed may
have been attained, but I may remark that a por-
tion of it may be due to the absence of lofty masts
and heavy rigging, to the rapid passage of which
the air must offer very considerable resistance. In-
deed, we know what speed a ship scudding under
bare poles will attain, and the converse must be
equally true, ,though in a less degree. Again, the
lightness of her rig would necessitate the presence
of but few men on deck during action, and if shot
away there would be little to foul the screw. I
imagine, nevertheless, that she could show canvas
enough to give her steerage way when cruising
with her fires banked up, or to enable her to lie to
in heavy weather. The projection of her cutwater
at, and probably below, the water-line would cause
her to crush in the sides of an adversary at the
most dangerous point, and the immense strength
given to the cutwater shows that this mode of
attack is contemplated. The shape of her stern
would make it exceedingly difficult to rake her,
while it enables her to steam astern nearly as fast
as ahead. She is protected as far below the water-
line as a shot could well penetrate or as she could
expose while rolling ; below this she is coppered,
and thus the disadvantage of fouling, and conse-
quent loss of speed, is avoided. Her guns are all
rifled, and here I may say that I was informed that
all guns now served out for active use in the French
navy are rifled ; I myself saw several hundred
yards of conical shot for rifled guns piled about
four feet high, and the same width, and I was tcld
that there are 150,000 conical shot for rifled guns
in the arsenal at Toulon alone. I saw no round
shot. The bore of these guns is about seven Eng-
lish inches ; they are of the calibre of the old
French 301 b. round shot ; they have three grooves
about two inches wide and 3.l6ths deep ; the fore
part of the shot is hollow, the hind part solid ; they
weigh 25 kilogrammes, equal to about 55 English
pounds; they have one projection for each groove,
partly of iron, partly of lead.
Having thus endeavoured to explain the various
points which seemed to me to be worthy of note, and
the bearing they appear to have upon this important
subject, I may perhaps be permitted to say a few
words on the general question. The impression left
on my mind, after an attentive comparison of this
formidable vessel with the fine ships lying at anchor
around her, was that they were as useless in her
presence as old flint muskets in presence of the
arms of the present day. It may be true that we
have yet to learn the effect of a concentrated broad-
side at short range on iron armour ; it may be true
that Mr. Whitworth's gun and projectile can under
favourable conditions pierce such armour as that of
La Gloire ; but would she allow the concentrated
broadside at short range ? Would she place herself
in the favourable position for Mr. Whitworth's
operations? Her speed is superior to almost every
ship in our navy, and she could, therefore, choose
and maintain whatever distance she pleased from
her adversary. That distance would be the point
at which his shot would rattle harmlessly against
her armour, while she would throw molten iron
into his unprotected sides. What seamanship,
what gallantry could avail against such odds ?
The French have four such vessels already afloat;
one, the Normandie, I am .told, is a two-decker.
They are said to have 10 others in rapid progress,
several of which are in an advanced state. Before
many months are over they will have between 400
and 500 guns behind iron walls, and this will have
been achieved, not by extravagant experiments in
unheard-of iron scantlings, paid for at the rates
which attach to all new and unusual constructions,
but simply by ceasing to build ships of the old class
and by employing the resources of their own dock-
yards in the construction of ships adapted to the
exigencies of modern warfare. It is, indeed,
earnestly to be desired that our Government may
be content to press forward in the same direction,
to cease from the construction of ships which we
may reasonably fear will prove hereafter to be
useless, and that they may without further delay
avail themselves of the resources at their command
as the French have done. We should thus be saved
from a repetition of the discreditable condition to
which our navy was not long since reduced, and from
the extraordinary additional outlays which appear
to be impending over us.

VIOLENT STORM.—WEXFORD, Tuesday Morn-
ing.—Strong gales of wind prevailed here during the early
part of last week, which gradually increased in violence as
the week proceeded, until on Saturday evening it reached
a perfect hurricane. The waves were dashing over the
quays, and large quantities of sea wreck were thrown over
the street for nearly 20 yards. On Sunday it was, if pos-
sible, worse than on Saturday evening. About 3or 4
&clock in the afternoon a messenger came into Wexford
from Blackwater, at full speed, with the intelligence that
a large vessel was off the shore in a dangerous state, and
it was feared she would run ashore. The inspector
here immediately proceeded to the spot, when he found
the vessel had fortunately got out of danger, and had
proceeded on her journey. Oa Monday afternoon, about the
same hour, another messenger came into town with the in-
telligence that a large vessel, name unknown, had run
ashore on the Blackwater Bank, only a few yards distant
from where the unfortunate Pomona foundered about a year
ago. The messenger stated that before he left three of the
Lloeyedi:
crew had taken to one of the boats, in the hope of landing in
safety, but when a few yards from the shore their boat was
swamped, and the whole three were buried is the boiling
Surge. Mr. Coghlan, of her Majesty's Customs hero, and
lßarntligtifiot,r
bthuitshdaisdtrincote prerotucernedeeddwtohethnethscee
pnoesotflethfte.
hands ofethmeaunnfy
There are ruortmunouatres,vebsustelnhoanvee
bofeetnhleomst.founded on
a good foundation. It is to be feared, however, that all

NAVAL AND MERCRANT SE.RVICE.

Mr. G. D. H. Elphinstone, in a letter to a con-
temporary, says :—I will yield to no man in in-
terest in the welfare of the seaman, whose claims
on the country I shall continue to press on the
attention of the Legislature. I admit much has
been done, but much still remains to be accomplished
before the situation of a seaman on board a man-of-
war attains that point when dismissal from the
service will be the greatest punishment which can
be inflicted ; but I look on that man as the seaman's
greatest enemy who could calmly suggest the pos-
sibility of a repetition of the unfortunate occur-
rences which took place last year—disturbances
which could only have occurred in a recently raised
force, and for which there was no adequate provo-
cation.

The country is perfectly alive to the importance
of improving the condition of the seaman ; his posi-
tion is regarded with the kindliest feeling, and. I
have no doubt in a few years all real grievances
will be swept away. The only way in which this
kindly feeling can be counteracted would be by
such conduct on the part of the men as your cor-
respondent, " One who Knows the Service," points
out, and apparently is inclined to justify.
Your correspondent sums up his case by the state-
ment that " the seamen of the Royal Navy are, as
a body, the worst paid, the worst treated, and the
worst fed class of sailors in the world." I deny these
allegations, and I will endeavour, as shortly as
possible, to show that they are in a great measure
without foundation.

Captain Brown, Registrar-General of Seamen in
the port of London, in a paper, No. 19, Appendix to
Report of Naval Commission, states that all cases
of a sudden increase of our naval force are followed
by a rise of wage 4 in the merchant service, which
appears to subside gradually as the wants of the
two services are supplied. " The Royal Navy was
increased from 12,936 seamen in 1792 to 54,042 in
1793, to 71,776 in 1794, and so on progressively,
until it reached the highest point of 115,347 actu-
ally serving in 1813. At the commencement of the
war a very large portion of the increase was drawn
from the merchant service, that being the only
available source from which seamen could be ob-
tained." This extraordinary demand on the national
stock of seafaring men naturally forced the wages
of the merchant seamen up to a very high point,
but the return of peace caused a reaction, and the
average of merchant seamen's wages from 1835, the
period when we first have accurate returns, to 1853
was from 40s. to 505., the ordinary wages being 40s.
o 455., per month. In 1853 and 1854 the same cir-
cumstances occurred as I have alluded to above, and
wages in the merchant service rose to 60s. to 705.,
a point from which the necessities of the Navy has
not yet allowed them to descend. In 1852 the wages
of an able seaman in the British Navy was £2 ls.
per month, in addition to which he had all the
advantages of prospective pension, cheap clothing,
&c. ; and, as the average wages for the previous
18 years in the merchant service was not much, if
at all, above 40s, to 455., I do not think the matter
of pay justifies the statement of your corres-
pondent. The wages of an able seaman now are
'.£2 9s. Id. for continuous service. The state of
the case is this :—The wages of the merchant
seamen fluctuate with the requirements of trade ;
the wages of the man-of-war's man are a fixed
quantity, which does not fall far short of the
other on an average of years, and exceeds the ave-
rage of merchant seamen's wages if we take credit
for clothing, bedding, mess things, slops, &c., set-
ting aside medical attendance. prospective pension,
Green wich(which it is hoped will be soon improved),
and many other advantages which the merchant
seaman does not enjoy.
Secondly, as respects treatment. Many witnesses
were examined by the Royal Commission in 1858,
and the complaints made as to the treatment in the
service resolved themselves into a deficiency of bread
and shrinkage of beef, and the difficulty of allot-
ment to their wives; no complaint whatever was
made of any treatment on the part of the officers
calculated to produce dissatisfaction. On the con-
trary, the witnesses testified most willingly to the
kindness and forbearance they had been accustomed
to meet with from their superiors. I may here men-
tion that the allowance of bread has been increased
by Ilb. per diem, that the Commission also recom-
mended a similar increase in the allowance of beef,
and the allotment question has been placed on a
proper footing.
Thirdly, as to food. After a close examination of
all the dietaries of the various branches of the mer-
chant service, the Commission recommended an addi-
tion of *lb. of meat and *lb. of biscuit per diem.
At the same time it must be admitted that a large
sum is annually paid to men for savings, amounting
at that time, on an average, to 1-4-d. per diem, or
3s. 9d. per month, per man. (See evidence of Sir
Richard Bromley, question 6,272). I have no
doubt whatever—in fact the evidence proves it—
that the allowance, with these additior-c, is nnir-1,-
At the same time, I believe that the dietary of the
Navy might be much improved. It is a fact that
the life of Ihe seaman is very much shorter than the
average of almost any other class of men, and I
cannot help thinking that, in addition to other
causes, the nature of the diet has some relation to
the question. Captain Pierce, of the Sailors'
Home, says :—" A sailor above 50 is most rare; 40
is considered old, and the large majority are from
20 to 35. If you ask me what becomes of the old
men, I can hardly say, but I believe seamen die
either at home or abroad from various causes at an
early age."
Surely this is a question which would repay an
inquiry ; the subject Aould expand beyond the pos-
sible compass of a letter. _

Lastly, your correspondent says that "the money
that has been spent in royal commissions and in-
quiries as to how to man the navy would have
manned it long ago if given in addition to the men's
pay."
During the last 8 years there have been two in-
quiries into this subject. In July, 1852, a commit-
tee of naval officers was appointed, consisting of
Rear-Admiral A. Fanshawe, C. 8., Capt. the Hon.
R. S. Dundas, C. 8., Capt. P. Richard, C. 8., and
Capt. J. Shepherd. This committee collected a mass
of most valuable evidence, and produced important
results.. As it consisted entirely of naval officers,
the expense must have been but small, probably the
difference between full and half•pay for the time
being. In 1858 a royal commission was named, con-
sisting of the Earl of Hardwicke, chairman ; the
Marquis of Chandos, Right Hon. E. Cardwell,
Admiral W. F. Martin, Sir J. D. Elphinstone,
MT., Admiral J. Shepherd, Mr. John Shepherd,
Deputy Master of the Trinity House; Mr. W. S.
Lindsay, M.P., and Mr. Richard Green. They met
on the 29th of June, and made their report, after a
long and careful inquiry, on the 19th of February,
1859. The cost of this commission, as stated in a re-
turn moved for by Mr. Massey, was £964, 2s. 11d.
The labours of this commission have not been alto-
gether fruitless. In compliance with their recom-
mendation the men have been supplied with a suit
of clothes, a bed and hammock, and mess utensils
on joining a ship; their allowance of food has been
in various ways increased, and I trust the Admiralty
will see fit to carry the whole of their recommenda-
tions into effect ; the most important of them all is
the proposal to establish school ships at all the lead-
ing ports. This is the only satisfactory mode of
manning the navy, and until it is done we shall
never see any permanent improvement in the con-
dition of the men. It is too bad, when we squander
money in every conceivable manner, that a scheme
so reasonable and so important should not be car-
ried out.

The great obstacle to placing the Navy on a
proper footing arises, first. from the difficulties
thrown in the way of increased expenditure by the
Treasury ; and, secondly, by the Admiralty allow-
ing the Treasury to override them. Thus, the re-
served post captains and warrant officers' widows
ars deprived of their just rights under the most
contemptible pleas, and all setts of injustice is
habitually practised.
There are many things in the Navy which re-
quire amendment, respecting which there is no
difference of opinion ; they would cost money, and
therefore remain without remedy. Whenever we
have a Board of Admiralty who will lay down a
distinct policy for the reformation of the Navy,
submit it to the Government, and stand or fall by
it, something will be done. We might then hope
to see the fatuity of paying ships off as soon as
they have arrived at a perfect state of organization
put an end to ; we should hope to see wholesome
and comfortable barracks take the place of un-
wholesome and miserable hulks; and we should see
our men-of-war fitted in commodious docks, instead
of lying in the stream after the fashion of 60 years
ago.
It is perfectly impossible in the compass of a
letter :to do more than touch upon the various
accusations contained in your correspondent's letter.
I would therefore recommend the reports of the
Commission of 1853 and 1859 to the attention of
your readers, who will there see the real state of the
case fully investigated.

[ADVERTISEMENT.]—Holloway's Pills.—Youthful In-
firmities.—From causes scarcely perceptible at first, the
young become prematurely enervated and debilitated. They
lose alike their looks, energy, and confidence. The general
cause of this melancholy state is a disordered stomach,
which Holloway's Pills will regulate. By improving diges-
tion and purifying the blood they work wonders. They act
so kindly, yet so certainly, upon every organ necessary for
healthy digestion that the nervous system soon recovers,
and the wonted good spirits speedily return, with strength,
vivacity, and vigour. The most delicate may safely take
Holloway's Pills. They cause no violent effects upon the
system, but gradually accomplish their end without much
restriction in diet or pleasure. The composition of these
pills secures them from doing mischief.

UNDER THE WALLS OF PEKIN.

The following letter, which is interesting, from
the circumstance that it supplies an account of the
very latest occurrences reported as taking place
before Pekin, is from Captain Carrington, of the
Marine Battalion now serving in China. This
officer was severely wounded in the storming of the
forts at Taku, having received a gingall ball, which
passed transversely through the lower lip, and not-
withstanding which, though desired to withdraw
to the rear by the colonel of the battalion, he
with great gallantry kept his place with the
stormers. He served with the Marine battalion in
the Crimea, volunteered for duty in the trenches,
and was continually in the front :
" Under the Walls of Pekin, Sept. 22.

" I will resume my account of occurrences up to
this point. I cannot exactly tell you that Song-
chow is taken, but I believe that the results are
much about the same. We had a very agreeable
day yesterday in moving about after cavalry, from
5 o'clock in the morning till 6 o'clock in the even-
ing. Our brigade, which consisted of a wing of
the 99th Regiment and our battalion, with a bat-
tery of artillery and some cavalry, moved round to
clear out some intrenched positions between Song-
chow and Pekin. I believe that at the same time
the French force and our other brigade were to
assault Song-chow. General Grant and all our
chief people remained with us. The fighting—if
after the Crimea I may apply that name to it—
began about half-past 9 o'clock and lasted till
about 1 o'clock. Sir John Michel, who commands
the division up here, cautioned us not to be in a
hurry to fire, but to let the Tartar cavalry come
quite close up to us. It was soon after this that
down came a whole cloud of horse. We remained
quietly waiting for them, and the Dragoons were
also quiescent, for the purpose of giving them, at
the proper moment, the treat of a charge. But
our cavalry were cleniel a chance ; as, although
the Tartars are by no means afraid of the Sikhs,
they cannot stand the gleam of the movements of
the King's Dragoon Guards. However, these
masses of Tartar horse advanced very steadily
within about 200 yards, when, greatly to their
consternation, but unfortunately too much in anti-
cipation, the 99th, who were on our left rear,
opened fire. This suddenly brought up the Tartars,
and then we formed line. Mean while the Dragoons,
considering they were in accessible distance, charged
the Chinese cavalry. The Tartars waited until our
men had neared them within 50 yards, and then
they fired a volley, wounding a captain rather
badly and killing a trooper. They then turned
about and made rapidly off. If the ground had
only happened to be tolerably favourable very few of
them would have escaped, but the sly fellows were
on the other side of a broad ditch, over which our
first line of Dragoons went in flue style and safely,
but on account of the prodigious dust which was
kicked up by the charge the second line could not
see the ditch, and so the one half of them were
baffled. However, a considerable number managed
the ditch and caught up the broken enemy, laying
them straight with somewhat greater rapidity than
they had expected.
" After the defeat and rout of this body of cavalry
we kept following the enemy, and cleared out four
camps. All the camps were left standing, to which
we set fire. About two o'clock we halted near a
military village, and after taking it (its defenders
bolted after a few shots) our men were let go in to
refill their water bottles. I assure you it is very
hard and thirsty work charging cavalry about such
a dry and insupportable country. The millet is but
lately cut, and you have a plain of stalks, standing
about a foot and a-half high, with sharp tops that
pierce like spikes. Several of the horses have been
lamed by these points. As I had no immediate or
nobler exercise for my sword, I strolled about the
village, trying my skill at cutting heads, indeed ;
but on this occasion only heads of puzzled fowls, as
they ran past me to accidental cover. This is very
pretty execution for hungry men. In company
with two other as equally skilful headsmen, I se
cured about 20 fowls, which established quite a
possible cuisine for us. Nor should we have been
without our dessert, for in one garden I found some
delicious grapes. However, there was no time to
cook, and therefore I was compelled to put up with
only a fragment of biscuit.
" We set fire to this place before leaving, which
is only ;seven miles from Pekin. I wish we had
made a dash on ; I verily believe we should have
taken the Celestial metropolis, with very little loss,
for most of the Chinese troops were outside.
" And now for some news which will be very
interesting. I have told you all about the loss of
Mr. Parkes and of the Times correspondent. I can
now add that when we sent in for the captives the
Chinese returned the artful and dubious answer that
Mr. Parkes had already left to return to our camp,
and that they had not seen him since he set out.
I think the Chinese will not dare to touch Mr.
Parkes or the prisoners. We have sent a second
message to say that if the prisoners were not given
up in three days we should force our way in and
sack Pekin. This of course we shall have to do if
Mr. Parkes and our other friends do not speedily
appear, whether •the treaty thereby be spoiled or
not. A flag of truce came in this day with a
despatch for Lord Elgin. The latest reports are of
negotiations again."

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.