The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 17, 1860.

METROPOLITAN, COUNTIES, AND
-I- GENERAL LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY,
27, Regent-street, Waterloo-place, London, S.W.
CAPITAL £lOO,OOO.
Assurances upon single and joint lives and survivorships.
Immediate annuities, and annuities to commence at a fixed
age. Endowments for children and for expected (amides.
Credit given for half the premiums for the first five years.
Three-fourths of the profits divided amongst the assured.
Policies purchased after five years premiums have been paid.
No charge for policy stamps, or other entrance lees. Loans
on approved real and personal security, conneotion with
life assurance. Service permitted within the United King-
dom, in any volunteer cor free of extra premium.
F. FERGUSON GUSON CAIIROUI, Manager.

WHEREAS, by a Decree of the High Court of
Chancery, made in a cause " George Mullins
and others against Frances Smith and another," bearing date
the 10th day of December, 1859, an enquiry is directed to be
made what charities were intended by the testator, Isaac
Smith, late of No. 19,Cannon-place, Brighton,Sussex, Esquire,
who died the Ist day of February, 1856, by the bequests in his
will, in the words following, that is to say, " The Church
Missionary Society ; the Church Pastoral Aid Society ; the
Moravian Mission Society ; the British and Foreign Bible '
Society ; the Naval and Military Bible Society ; the 'Royal
Orthopxdic Hospital, 6, Bloomsbury-square, London ; the
Malta Protestant College; the London Tract Society; the
London City Mission ' • the Charing-cross Hospital ; the
Royal Free Hospital, Gray's-inn-lane-road ; the Colonial
Church Society, the Society for Promoting Christianity
amongst the Jews ; the Brighton Town Mission ; the Lon-
don Society for Promoting Irish Missions ; the Female Or-
phan Society, Brighton ; the Indigent Blind Society, 27, Red
Lion-square, London ; the Brighton County Hospital ; and
the Brighton Dispensary ;" and all such charities claiming
under the above description to be entitled to the bequests,
are, by their treasurers or solicitors, on or before the 9th
day of March, 1860. to come in and prove their claims at the
chambers of Vice-Chancellor Sir Richard Torin Kindersley,
No. 3, Stone Building's, Lincoln's-inn, Middlesex, or in de-
fault thereof they will be peremptorily excluded from the be-
nefit of the said Decree. Tuesday, the 13th day of March, 1860,
at one o'clock in the afternoon, at the said chambers, is ap-
pointed for hearing and adjudicating upon the claims of the
above charities.— Dated this 3d day of February, 1860.
CHAS, PUGH, Chief Clerk,
MARSON, DADLEY, and MARSON, 1, Anchor-
terrace, Bridge-street, Southwark, Plaintiff's
Solicitors.

TEA. STRACHAN and CO.'s Strong rough
" Dernestie" Black at 3s. 2d. per lb.-26, Cornbill, Lon-

don. E.C.

TEA STRACHAN and CO.'s Fine "Inter-
mediate" Black at 3s. Bd. per lb.-26, Cornhill, Lon-

don. E.C.

TEA. STRACHAN and Co.'s Matchless
" Drawing- Room" Black at 4e. 2d. per lb.-26, Corn-
hill, London. E.C.

L ENFIELD PATENT STARCH.
kir USED IN THE ROYAL LAUNDRY,
AND PRONOUNCED DY HER MAJESTY'S LAUNDRESS to be
THE FINEST STARCH SHE EVER USED.
WHEN YOU ASK FOR
GLENFIELD PATENT STARCH,
SEE THAT YOU GET 'IT,
As inferior kinds are often substituted.
Sold by all Chandlers, Grocers, dm, &c.
WOTHERSPOON do CO.. GLASGOW AND LONDON

IF TOII desire Good Health smoke AROMATIC
HERB TOBACCO, prepared only by WILLIAM GR
STONE, and swallow your spittle, which will then strengthen
your digestive organs. Sold in square packets, 3d. per oz.,
3s. 6d. per lb. The smoke equals Oriental pastilles. Or, if
your sight or hearing is bad, take GRI MSTONE'S HERBA-
CEOUS EYE SNUFF. Sold in tinfoil packets, 6d. per oz.,
or in 11b. or 21b. jars. Or, do you want a new growth of Human
Hair? GiIGRIDIS CONE'S AROMATIC REGENERATOR is
the only article that will give it you. It is sold in triangul
bottles, with pamphlet of real testimonials, 45., 75., and lls.
(this size contains four of the 4s. size), by post, 125., and in-
cludes postage. &c. Family cases containing five, 118.; bottles,
.£2 4s. The above are produced at the Herbary from herbs,
flowers, and roots. All letters to William Grimstone, London
Depot, 52, High-street, Bloomsbury ; and by all respectable
merchants and traders.

BURROWS AN]) CO Wholesale Wine Mer-
chants, LIVE II POOL.
Mores Lime-street.
Offices 54, Duke-street.
The Proprietors beg most respectfully to call the attention
of the trade, noblemen, clergy, &c., and the public in general,
to their extensive stock of Choice Wines, of rare vintages.
BURROWS and Co. are not disposed to comment upon the
purity of their wines, which is daily most laudably acknow-
ledged by the public and eminent medical men of all coun-
tries, as the increasing ratronage of the highest families in
the lend is a sufficient guarantee.
They beg to call particular attention to their pure Tonic
Wines, as being so valuable to Invalids and persona of weak
stomachs.
A sample case, containing three full-sized wine bottles,
will be forwarded to any address on receipt of P. 0.0. for 6s.
6d., or a dozen for 245.
It is a well-known fact that impure and adulterated wines
are the greatest foes to health, producing acidity in the
stomach, and debilitating the d"gestive organs, while pure
wines will accelerate the digestive powers, invigorating,
strengthening, and bracing the nervous system.
Their Tonic Wine is admitted to be most essential to in-
valids, both old and young, and should never be absent from
the homes of the weak and sickly. Its properties are duly
acknowledged and appreciated by Use leading men of the
faculty, both at home and abroad.
To prevent imposition each bottle is sealed with the name
of the firm.
All orders to be made payable to HENRI' BURROWS.

TRI.IL OF WHITTVORTIP AS' RIELEI)

CA /17.21'0.17:

(Fi•ons the Correspondent of the Times.)
SOUTHPORT, THURSDAY.
The first experimental trials of the ranges and
accuracy of Mr. Whitwort.h's breech-loading can-
non, having the peculiar hexagonal bore and firing
the long six-sided cone, whic form the basis of
that gentleman's principle of rifled ordnance, were
made here during yesterday and to-day. The
results, which have so long been looked forward to
with eagerness by artillerymen and engineers, sur-
passed the most sanguine expectations. The success,
in fact, was really astounding. The accuracy of fire
and length of range obtained from trifling charges
of powder were so totally beyond what has ever yet
been attained that it is evident we are upon the
eve of another revolution in all relating to scientific
gunnery, and that even the greatest results which
have ever been obtained from the Armstrong gun
are likely to be in turn surpassed by Mr. Whit-
worth's ordnance. It is a very general though not
the less an erroneous opinion to suppose that each
great improvement is to be the last of its kind,
and thus with the manufacture of Armstrong's ad.
mirable cannon, possessing such qualities of range,
accuracy, and penetration as to be removed from
any degree of comparison with the old ordnance, it
was thought that the ne plus ultra of gunnery had
been attained, and that further improvement was
hopeless. The truth is, however, that in beginning
with a rifled breechloader we have merely made
the first step in an entirely new path, which may
lead to effective results even yet considered beyond
attainment. It is only within the last two or three
years that scientific men have at all directed their
attention to the laws which govern the flight of all
projectiles, and have studied the mechanical condi-
tion which these require in the form of shot and
rifling of gun. The Armstrong gun was a gigantic
stride in the progress of scientific gunnery, but the
experiments which have just been made at this
place show that it is not the last we must expect,
and that, though at present greater than all others
in range and precision, even the Whitworth gun in
both these points may be surpassed by others before
the year is out.
Mr. Whitworth's cannon have, of course, been
made entirely at his own expense, as that gentle-
man wished to work out his system as applied to
rifled ordnance independently, and to show by prac-
tical results that it possessed those advantages which
his mechanical knowledge led him to predicate, and
which his success with his rifled musket justified
him in anticipating.
The Whitworth bore is now so well known that it
is scarcely necessary to say it is hexagonal in sec-
tion, the corners being rounded off, and the interior
of the barrel may be generally described as being a
hollow polygonal spiral. Toe degree of twist de-
pends on the diameter of the bore, and is always
sufficiently rapid to compensate for any length of
shot which may be fired, on the principle established
by Mr. Whitworth, that unsteadiness in long pro-
jectiles maybe counteracted by rapidity of rotation.
The guns arc, of course, all made to load at the
breech. The first impression created is one of sur-
prise at the extreme simplicity of their construc-
tion, and at the consequent case ar_d certainty with
which they are worked, as will be apparent when
that operation is described.
As the guns are all alike in every respect but
proportions of size, a description of one will suffice.
The piece may, in familiar terms, be said to consist
of a tube rifled throughout from muzzle to breech ;
the breech is closed, when the gun is loaded, by a
cap, in shape something like the cap of a telescope.
The cap is fitted on the breech end of the tube,
which is screwed externally to receive it. It is
never wholly removed like the breech-piece of an
Armstrong, but. turns and works in an iron hoop,
which is connected with a projection at the side of
the breech by a hingejoint, on which it swivels
sideways. One great advantage of this plan of
construction is that it enables te whole length of
the barrel to be rifled, and thus every inch of it be-
comes effective as a gun, which is not the case
when a chamber or other breech-loading apparatus,
as in Armstrong's, for instance, occupies the breech
of the piece.

Supposing, then, the gun to have been fired, a
description of the operation of loading and dis-
charging will explain the construction and action
of the breech-loading apparatus. By turning a
handle fitted on the cap the latter is unscrewed
from the breech and turned back, and, being sup.

ported always by the hinged hoop, is, when open,
turned with it on one side, leaving the tube open
from end to end. The projectile is then placed in
the gun, the powder-cartridge is pushed in behind
it, the breech-cap is shut like a door into its place,
and, while the hinge supports it in a proper posi-
tion, three turns of the handle screw it on to the
end of the piece. It is, in fact, a breech on a hinged
hoop, which shuts and then screws on. The
touchhole is fixed in the centre of the breech cap
at the back, and is, therefore, in line with the axis
of the piece. The gun is, therefore, fired by the
ordinary friction tube, and, though no trial of speed
has been made, it can, we think, be fired rather
more quickly than Armstrong's. Before referring
to the shape of the projectile and the cartridge, it
may be as well to state that all Whitworth's guns
are made of a mass of homogeneous iron, bored out
of the solid piece. The larger guns, such as 80-
pounders, are strengthened by wrought iron hoops,
forced on by hydraulic pressure. Self-acting ma•
chinery is employed in making all the guns, and the
operation is thus cheaper and more economical than
forging.
One of the most important and distinctive features
in Mr. Whitworth's system of rifling relates to his
projectiles. These are simple, uncoated, hard metal
bolts, made of various shapes, according to the pur-
poses for which they are employed. They are made
ley self-acting machinery, and are so shaped that
their bearing sui faces fit the interior of the barrel,
and it may be said that the rifling, therefore, is done
by machinery in the workshop, an not by the ex-
plosion in the pan.
Fur firing through soft substances and into ma-
sonry tubular projectiles are employed ; for piercing
thick plates of wrought iron flat-fronted projectiles,
made of homogeneous iron, are used. We believe
that a series of experiments are shortly to bnmade
at Chatham by the direction of the Admiralty with
the view of testing the powers of the Whitworth
projectile in penetrating wrought iron plates.
It remains to say a few words as to the cartridge
used by Mr. Whitworth. For ordinary practice,
and where length of range is important, the fore
part of the projectile is made to taper slightly, the
front being rounded off, and the rear part is made
nearly to c)rrespond with the fere with regard to
the degree of taper, but its end is flattened, and
sometimes slightly hollowed out. The importance
of establishing a proper relation as to shape and
relative weights of the fore and hind part of a pro-
jectile is apparent from the fact that a projectile
which is so made gives an increased range of more
than 23 per cent. as compared with one with a si-
milarly shaped front and the ordinary cylindrical
rear. _

-
This increase of range is due entirely to the shape
of the projectile, as the charges and' other condi-
tions of firing are exactly alike, and may be said
to be obtained by applying to projectiles moving
through the air the proper principles of construc-
tion, exactly as a ship constructed with proper lines
to facilitate her passage through the water attains

the greatest speed.
The powder is contained in cases or cartridges
made of tin-plate, which are shaped to fit the rifled
interior of the barrel. The base of the powder car-
tridge is pierced centrally, and its orifice corres-
ponds to the touchhole made in the breech-cap, so
that the flash from the fuses reaches the powder.
The front of the cartridge is closed with a wad or
cake of lubricating substance. This wad forms
another important feature in the Whitworth sys-
tem, as it effectively distributes the lubricating
substance over the interior surface of the gun, and
obviates all necessity of sponging out tho barrel.
After the piece is fired the powder-cartridge case
remains in the gun, and when the breech-piece is
unscrewed and swung aside the case is withdrawn,
and with it the fouling deposits left by the explo-
sion of the powder.
Thus much for the general principles of the gun.
It only remains now to show the results which they
achieved.
Southport, a small and not very well favoured
watering-place, about midway between Manchester
and Liverpool, was the spot selected for the trial of
the guns, and it would be difficult in all England
to find another better suited to the purpose. The
whole coast-line for about 20 or 30 miles is a per-
fect dead level of muddy sand—a cheerles howling
wilderness. Nothing bigger than a wrecked star-
fish or derelict mussel occurs to Lreak the flat
monotony for miles, saving always when above
high-water mark the wind has harried and chased
the sand into small hillocks, the abrupt little peaks
and crumbling sides of which are fringed with a thin
and sickly weed called " star grass." The weather
during the last two days has done much to enhance
the naturally uninviting aspect of this place; the
shore as the tide recedes is thinly coated over with
plashy ice, and the snow, though disdaining to

make a permanent lodgment in such an inhospitable
region, has condescended to alight in patches here
and there, giving, if possible, a colder and a wilder
aspect to the shore ; but, notwithstanding the pre-
sent inclemency of its appearance, Southport offers
unrivalled facilities for practice with longrange
guns. Mr. Whitworth could not possibly have
found a better place for testing the merits of his
weapon. In facility of approach, retirement, and
length of range, it is infinitely superior to Shoebury-
nen. The Admiralty, we understand, gave Mr.
Whitworth leave to practise along this shore, and
freely offered him every facility in their power for
conducting his experiments. The proprietor of the
sand-hills before mentioned also in the kindest man-
ner offered him every assistance, and allowed him
to enclose whatever length he thought proper. The
guns were placed on the shore, between the rough
sand downs on the left and high-water mark, some
two or three miles below Southport. The 18,
12, and 3-pounders were together. The 70, 80,
90, or 100-pounder gun—for, though its best prac-
tice is made with an 801 b. projectile, it is equally
fitted for throwing those of the weights we have
said—was placed in the rear of the rest, mounted on
an ordinary ship's gun carriage. The others were
properly mounted, ou carriages similar to, though
both stronger and lighter than, the ordinary field-
service gun carriages. This difference of mounting
enabled the light 3-pounder•, which was especially
tested, to be elevated to a most considerable angle,
while the 80-pounder, as it ought to be called,
could only be tried at an elevation of five degrees.
Each of the guns presented much the same appear-
ance as those of Armstrong, except the 80-pounder,
which was heavier, because made, in our humble
judgment, of an unnecessary thickness, in order
that it may eventually be tested up to the most se-
vere charge of powder and weight of projectile.
This gun weighs four tons ; the Armstrong 100.
pounder is only to weigh 2i tons, which, in point
of weight, gives a decided advantage in favour of
the latter weapon. It is, however, merely fair to
state that, while securing every necessary degree
of strength, Mr. Whitworth might easily, we
should think, reduce the weight of his 80-pounder
to GO cwt., though with very heavy guns the
advantage of comparative lightness remains with
the Armstrong. 'With anything under 12-
pounders the Whitworths, from the nature of
their manufacture, can be constructed of such
lightness, and, at the same time, of such strength,
as, in these respects, to sui pass Sir 'William's
best guns of the same low calibre. As all the
ordnance used at Southport have only been made
for firing and experimental purposes, they are not
finished off exteriorly with the same elaborate care
displayed in the breech-loaders turned out from
Elswick or Woolwich. The difference, however, is
merely external, for to a practised eye both weapons
display the same careful workmanship in essentials,
and the same perfection of manufacturing skill.
At the first glance it is difficult to realise the
fact that the 3-pounder—the long, thin tube, like
a telescope cn wheels, and only weighing 2081 b.—
can really be one of the most folrind::ble engines
which the science of modern warfare has produced
—a terrible weapon, capable, with a charge of
powder not very much greater than is used in a
large duck gun, of dealing almost certain death at
a distance of five miles. As compared with the
bluff, thick, fist muzzled oervice gun of a year ago,
both Armstrong's and Whitwortli's guns seem
almost to be animated by an instinct or intelligence
of their own ; and nothing would more forcibly
illustrate the triumph of mind over 'tatter than to
see the cumbrous moss of iron now called a 68-
pounder placed side by side with a Whitworth 3-
pounder tube, capable of destroying its ponderous
antagonist at a distance of 10,000 yards! The
frr•st experiment was made with the 80. pounder, in
order to show the revolving motien given to the
projectile by the increase in the pitch or turn of the
rifling. For this purpose the gun was loaded with
only 8 ounces of powder and one long conical shot

of 601 b. weight. - With any other cannon such an
insignificant explosive charge would have failed to

move the long mass of iron placed over it. With
the Whitworth gun, however, the ponderous shot
was expelled at a low velocity with a peculiar
roaring hum, which was due to the revolution on
its own axis as it ploughed through the air, falling
at a distance of about 700 yards from the spot. On
striking the earth it ricochetted to a considerable
elevation at right angles with its line of flight, fall-
ing towards the sea amid a shower of sand and
water scattered high into the air.
The firing with the 12-pounder field gun was
than commenced. The range, as at Shoeburyness,
was marked out by tall thin poles placed 1,000
yards apart for a total distance of 10,000 yards
(about six miles), having short sticks placed in the
road at every 100 yards between the chief poles.
The day was fine, and, though rather dull at the
commencement, cleared up towards 1 o'clock. Still,
for the immense distance to which the range is ex-
tended, it was difficult to see anything at all beyond
the pole which indicated 4,000 yards, though, as
each was fixed in a precise line behind the other, the
gun had only to be laid with a proper degree of ele-
vation to reach the most distant point. With the

12-pounder, however, no experiments have yet been
made expressly to test the range, and yesterday a
six-feet target with a two-feet bull's-eye was
hoisted at 1,000 yards, to show the accuracy of its
fire. Two shots were allowed to lay the gun and
find the range, the second of which passed between
the target and the pole which held it. Of the eight
which were then fired all went through the target
within a space of four feet square, and two through
the bull's-eye, which, from the place where the gun
was fired, looked scarcely bigger than a man's hand.
In this result there was nothing astonishing to
those who have seen the Armstrong fired, or even
the very best practice made now and then with
smooth-bored field artillery. The charge was 28
ounces of powder, the service charge for an ordinary
gun of the same calibre being 56 ounces. With the
28 ounces, however, the force and velocity of the
shot seemed enormous; the flight was low, the
ricochet very great, and nearly always to the right,
in the direction of the pitch of the rifling. One
shot, after passing through the target, first grazed
the sand at 2,200 yards, then again at 3,000, after
which it went on ricochetting along the shore,
touching it every 200 or 300 yards, until it buried
itself 5,600 yards from the place where it was dis-
charged. The elevation of the gun was 1 deg. 28
min., at which the recoil was very little, the explo-
sion much less than that of an ordinary field-piece,
and the noise occasioned by the flight of the shot
comparatively very slight. One man served the
gun with the utmost ease, withdrawing with screw
nippers the tin cartridge case from the breech after
each shot. No sponging or cleaning of any kind
took place, and though, of course, the smut of the
powder was in the barrel, the gun was, to all prac-
tical intents and purposes, as Olean after the firing
was over as when it first commenced. There was

no heating worthy of notice either at the breech
or muzzle. The screw-piece of the breech scarcely
ran with the ease which it should have done, but
these drawbacks should not enter into considera-

tioa just now, as yesterday the guns were tried
almost for the first time, and especially with the
view of finding out a working deficiency. The
very slight stiffness of the screw simply arose
from the fact that the little lever handle used to
work it was too short, and was not weighted at the
end as the lever handle of the Armstrong is. It is
hardly necessary to say that these are mere matters
of detail in finish, which can only be ascertained
by practice, and which, when known, are remedied
in an hour. Another matter which requires ahem.
tion relates to the copper fuse friction tube, which,
when the gun goes off, is, as with all guns, blown
out of the touchhole in the breech. In these guns,
however, as we hate shown, from their peculiar
construction, the touchhole is in the middle of the
back of the breech, so the copper tube is ejected
backwards in a line with the gun with considerable

force. This inconvenience Mr. Whitworth is pre•
paring to remedy by a means of catching the tube
as it is blown out. When 10 rounds had been fired,
with the results we have stated, from the 12-
pounder gun, the light 3 pounder was run forward
by two men, and practice was commenced at the
pole at 4,000 yards,. or very nearly two miles and
a-half distant. This range is constantly attained
by the 68 and long 32 pounders in the service,
when they get an elevation of some 25 or 30 de-
grees, and are charged with 10 or 161 b. of powder.
The range of 4,000 yards, under these circum-
stances, is, as we have said, often attained ; but
practice at a mark at such a distance is never
heard of. The length of Whitworth's 12. pounder,
we should have mentioned, is about 6 feet ;
its bore nearly 3 inches; and the pitch or turn
of the rifling the same as that of all his light
guns, namely—one complete turn in 40 inches;
or, roughly speaking, the shot makes nearly
two complete revolutions on its axis before it leaves
the gan. The bore of the 3 pounder is about 11
inches diameter; its rifling, of course, is at the same
pitch, but the length of the gun being shorter—
about 5 feet 2 inches—the shot-is not turned so
much before it leaves. Practice, then, with this
3 pounder commenced with 10 degrees elevation at
4,000 yards, the charge being only seven onyces and
a half of powder. The working features of the gun