The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 27, 1860.

WRONGS w-fircil CRY FOR REDRESS.

Mr. Crook's bill for the Protection of Women
and Children employed in Bleach Works, &c., will
be proposed towards the end of March. If, be-
tween this and then, popular opinion is not brought
to bear on this most atrocious question. it shall be
no fault of ours. We purpose that this article
shall appear in our columns frequently, until the
bill has again been brought before the house; and
we implore our brethren of the press to help the
country, and especially the Legislative Body, to a
right way of thinking on these horribly cruel mat-
ters. Our extracts are taken almost at random
from Mr. Hopley's pamphlet :
Samuel Price examined—" I was in the employment of
Messrs. Ainsworth, near Bolton. They employ about four
hundred people. It was mostly from eleven till two o'clock
in tho morning before we left off. In the last year I was
with them, from April, 1853, to April, 1854, we were busy,
as well as I can remember, through the spring and through
the summer, for six or eight months of the year; that is,
we went to work from six to half• past six, sometimes at
four, and left off from ten to twelve, one or two in the
morning, and sometimes after that. * * * All the
people in the works averaged these number of hours—some
even more."
[Observe that this dreadful toil was not an occasional or
exceptional fact. Girls and boys were thus working,
" through the spring and through the summer, for six or
eight months of the year."]
" At times, if a sudden order has come, we have not been
in bed more than 16 or 18 hours in the week (averaging

more than 211 hours of unrest out of the 24 during seven
successive days and` nights for girls and boys, some of
them no more than 12 years old)."—Report of the Com-
missioner appointed to inquire how far it may be advisable
to extend the Provisions of the Acts for the better Regu-
lation of Mills and Factories to Bleaching Works, pp.

10, 11, Nos. 81-84.
William Johnson, finisher—" I am twenty-four years of
' age. I was eleven when I first went to work. I worked
' first for Mr. Fletcher, Leylands, ton years. At my com-
, mencement" (that is, when he was a child of eleven) " I
i began at twelve o'clock on Sunday night, and worked till
• eight on Monday night (20 hours) ; then wo started at
six o'clock on Tuesday morning, and worked till 12 at
night (18 hours) ; and we did that for two or three months
without stopping. * * * I have been at a worse place
than that for long hours since; at Mr. Whowell's, Two
Brooks. * * * There were a deal of young girls, one
or two under ten years of age.—lbid., p. 9, N 0.68.
[To have a full perception of the severity of this toil, it
should be borne in mind that a very large number of the
workers in these establishments are standing and " work-
ing hard" (as rapidly as possible) during almost the whole
of these lengthened periods. It is shown in evidence that
sometimes for days in succession the girls and boys have
no opportunity whatever of sitting down (save for their
hastily-snatched meals during the whole of the time spent
at the works.—Reports, passim.]
John Hamer, finisher—" I have been 15 years in the
bleaehing trade. I was employed at Messrs. Hollins',
Tootle Bridge, Bolton. * * * One morning we went to
work at five o'clock and worked till six the morning after"
(25 hours.) " All the sets were working the same hours"
(the young with the adults). * * * " I have been so
tired, though I am a strong and healthy man, that I have
often to sit at my bed-side when I get up of a morning,
and my fingers are so stiff and sore that I cannot dress my-
self. If I feel thus tired, what must the young girls and boys
feel ?"—lbid., p. 8, Nes. 61, 64.
[The frightful state of prostration—often ending in death
—to which the young girls and boys are reduced in some of
these establishments will be touched on presently ]
Ann Simpson (14 years old), Elizabeth Hilton (15),
Sarah Higson (16)—" We came to work last Friday morn.-
Ing at half-past six" (at Mr. Ridgway Bridson's Bleach-
-1 works, Bolton). "We worked all Friday night till half-
' past five on Saturday morning" (twenty-three hours.) "We
did not sleep any time in the night, except on Saturday
morning at half-past five we laid down to sleep on tho
hooking-box, and slept till a little after seven" (less than
two hours' sleep—and with the clothes still on—after
twenty-three hours' work) ; " then we went to breakfast for
half-an-hour, and then came and worked till ten minutes
past eleven."—lbid., p. 25, No. 236.
William Crompton—" I am 17. I have been four years
and a half" (that is, since he was twelve years and a half
old) " in the dressing-shop. We go on till different hours,
sometimes early, sometimes late. I worked once three days
and three nights" (he is only one, remember, among mul-
titudes—children as well as adults—whe toil in the same
way) ; "and not long since I began work on Friday morn-
ing at four and worked till five on Saturday night" (37
hours). " I mostly slept at meal times, and only stoped
one hour for meals' • the rest I ate while I was working."—
Ibid., p. 26, No. 246.
Surely all this is very terrible. But read on :
"James Thomson (Mr. Wallace's Bleaching, Scouring,
and Finishing Works for Cotton and Woollens, Burn-
bank, Glasgow)—" I am manager if these works, and
nephew of the owner. In summer some if the hands work
occasionally from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m." (18 hours) " the whole
week through ; we did this last summer several times.
Tree days we worked 20 hours each day. 'The ages of most
of our girls is from 10 to 18." (Observe these ages—some
of the girls mere children.) " The stove-rooms in which
they work are in winter heated up to 100 or 110 deg. ; in
summer the heat is from 120 to 130 dog." (and at times very
much higher, as stated by the same witness in evidence
given at a subsequent page.) " I feel, when lam Urging
the females to work these long hours that I am doing what
is not right, but I have been urged to do it to get a lot of
goods finished. Sometimes they stay hero all night, and
then we make a place for them to lie down upon in a store-
room upon the pieces of goods unfinished. Sometimes 14
or more girls will pass the night in this manner, after work-
ing 19 hours, and coming out of those hot places drippdinornneteelgeiudgil.letl.:
wet with perspiration, and their clothes wet through with
it."—lbid., p 59, Nes. 643-645.
And this in the country which is energizing through the
world to put down slavery I
Alexander King.—" I work at Mr. James Young and
Son's bleachworks, Auldhousufield, Pollockshaws. There
are about 300 hundred hands employed • of these 250 are
females. When we are busy the number' is about 400.
* * * Sometimes, about once a week, ono shift will be-
gin at 6 a.m., and go on till 6 the next morning" (24 hours).
"Thus has happened once a week on an average for the last
six months. The females all work in the stoves."—lbid.,
p. 61, Nos. 682, 683.
What a spectacle—what a hideous, sickening spectacle—
must 400 workers present at the close of their 24 hours'
toil! " The females all work in the stoves!" Among
them " will be some from 10, 11, to 13 years of age.; the rest
chiefly between that and 20 ;"—toiling, bear in mind, in a
temperature, exceeding, by some 20 deg. or 30 deg., the
general temperature of an Indian summer 1
Elizabeth Henderson (Mr. Clark's Bleachfield, Burnbrae,
Millengood).—" We sometimes begin at one o'clock upon
Monday mornings and work sometimes till nine o'clock on
Monday night" (20 hours), "and sometimes even all Mon •
day night, and get home at six o'clock on Tuesday morning"
(29 hours from the time of commencing work).—" Home
for four hours and out here again at ten o'clock, and work
up to 11 and sometimes 12 o'clock that night. The next
day we should come out at six and work the regular hours;
fbfroeorfmo roenl,2ea tthi night-work, gor
one
eta
and
may go on fel. a few days or a week, and then we
widno rtwkho'ergnkornghggt
te.d
toltbewsaos
bruasth;ranbdefiotrheasthbeeennegwoinygeaornwthhiesnwwaye
thhfoormro
uergeah-t
up to this time (March 24)."—A quarter of a year of such
toil as this I—lbid., p. 66, No. 783.
Elizabeth Edgos —" lam 14 years of age. I have worked
here" (at Mr. Seddon's, Breightmet Bleach-works) " four
years. Three months since I worked" (and of course she
was not working alone upon the occasion) "two nights and
two days. I slept four hours the first morning, and not at
thesef reoevinse shouldl
night.
re-
freshment. nneencot hmemWee evening
nes
it, noapgs
all the next night. I have very often worked till twelve."
—lbid., p. 49, No. 491.
If there be any one thing which more than another adds
to the enormity of this national iniquity, it is the fact that
allltihaersyeAtenrnribslme
isthha.te,s, lasitusstatluegirdsalaytilonw.as
12
there is not—nor ever has been—even so much as a ' diffi-
culty,' worthy of the name, to prevent a stop being put to
ic
ahsl(n2oaw4mnit
fhoheg.
rpateokitatumestrmdties ns)ytfi
..
two
co
ojlm,
oothglhnssaheievomanef
fovoiewenxmeott
Tir
in, khrfi(eouetdnrwbnsgkefmienrni
fingers
from
yiit
cracks,sni l
gathering
sslti
axa. hemsp
* * * 1 came here nearly three years ago. Six times
by the selvage, and tho other is ' " Ib'd 47
No. 457. run.nang. —t., p. •
eanatvnh nedetar hyl naefeenrhaxoinaigt
from being
morningte'
eoba iarenbn::::

Contemplate the condition of this poor child. It has been
at work since it was nine years old. And it has to go on
hour after hour, day after day, the akin of its instep still
cracking and festering, the selvage still sawing against its
gathering, running sores. Woe to the nation that shall
hear such things and will not raise its voice I
Amelia Weed (15 next July).—" I have been at this
re.n very bad;
tbhaed ;eytheroyc.dloatyh
cowmeparlasinthtemof
work about three years. We oftenest begin at 6 or Gin the
morning, and oftonest leave off at 11 or 12. * * •
Sometimes we do not leave off till 3 or 4 in the morning.
piece, in hooking, cuts their fingers
No. 158.
—sore, their skins being soft. 'Whose
' finger is bleeding,' is not an uncommon expression as the
blood stains the pieces; they then have to have their fin-
illt
hteirat udveesry:
g re tied up."—lbiti. p. 43, No. 414.
through.M y
suffering‘
; fingersrf Thinkh e 'frictionof
—f
ilat '6r
are
de
. ol ofdNf theet
fin-
gore the blood stains the pieces I
Sore feet, likewise,—the natural consequences of stand-
ingand make
especially among the little girls :
are very general, esp
so many hours, and frequently upon. very hot floors,—
" (No. 226 ) '
a time" (No. 228). "Ankle
had ' the aching legs' many
" My feet are almost always sore . ' Have
bone was growing out" (No. 273). The skin comes off,
my ankle bone has been
feet ; they bleed sometimes, and .
'out" (No. 277)•—"The skin is off very often, and
and they are very sore" (No. 274).—" I have often sore
growing
are often blood-raw"— these ?
[How can we comment upon facts like
N] ,
the soles of my feet are blood-raw" (No. 279).—" My feet
"are often blood-raw, and they pain me" ( '.i-.)
"My feet blister at bottom, and are very sore.. Mother
puts in summer
No. 285).—" I have always sore feet .
sore winter and
time" (No. 533.)--"' My feet arc often
that the skin
some snuff to them that makes the now skin come"
comes off with my stockings"
,(No. 504)•—",
summer" (No. 636).—" Feet often so sore
If you could
have seen my feet last night" (No. 491).
" I have
the skin was off my feet very badly" (No. 492).—
Her feet very
often had the skin off my feet" (No. 232).—"' Worked when
often get raw" (No. 448).—" My feet were always sore in
summer : they were blood-raw at bottom, and my ankles
are swelled with a deal of pain" (No. 463).
Equally painful to contemplate is the " dead•beaton"
state of the workers :
" I have scores of times seen both men and children
asleep at their work. and very dangerous work too" (No.
10).—" Very often they go to sleep over their work" (No.
51).—" I have almost every day to take a board and beat it
on the table to waken thorn, as they were slumbering at their
work." (Observe the expression, reader—' at their work*)•
" At that time they would be hooking cloth; and While
they should be doing it, I see them nodding and trying to
catch the hook" (No. 83).—" As to the older ones, I have

often and often seen them down asleep, not being able to
hold up for their work. If the manager had gone out, they
would drop down in a minute in the packing-boxes and go
to sleep" (No. 68).—" We have often gone to sleep on the
tables, or with our heads on the wet cloth, or anywhere
where we could sit still" (No. 378).—" The little ones very
often fall asleep standing to their work"—
[Mothers of little ones, you will not, you cannot read, and
then not stir in this. You have a mission hero. Say not
that you can do but little in the matter. Let but the ma-
ternal feeling of the country rouse itself, and not another
session shall pass away without the rescue of these little
ones.]—
They " fall asleep standing to .their work. They fall
asleep standing before their hooks. I have to keep them
awake ; and my heart is so sore for theur that I cannot
speak to them. I have worked at bleach-works, in the
finishing-room, twenty years, and it has always been so in
all the works where I have been" (No. 462).—" It falls
very hard upon the weaker boys. I have often seen them
sleeping on their legs, and I have done so often myself.
Their whole frame suffers. I have know at least eight in
the last twelve years who have fallen into consumption and
died" (No. 414).
This retiring fromwork to die is of coursevory common :
"I have buried one little sister; my parents always
thought it was from the ,long hours. She came here at
ten, and was fourteen when she died, and she used to work
very lung hours. She was ill" (that is, off work before she
died) " ten days only (No. 223).—"1 have often been ill
from working in the great heat. -My leg is now bad from
it, and the doctor told me I must give up. Tho girls very
often suffer from it ; go away and die from it and the long
hours" (No. 646).
Ten consecutive witnesses (pp. 42-44)—ten consecutive
witnesses, mark you, employed at different establishments
mention "many cases within their knowledge, of boys and '
young men having been ill and off Work, and who have died
from the long bouts" (No. 422). Naturally, with females
matters are even worse.
Now, reader, it is no use mincing words. Look upon all
this calmly, weigh the matter Well, and have the manly or
womanly honesty to call it by its right name ; and what is
it? Wholesale murder—murder for gold.
The man who poisons another to escape the payment of
a debt, is hung, m . The,an who stops another in the Queen's
high-way and dernagas " your mosey or your life," is
hung. But these, who build up princely fortunes with the
bloody hands and bloody feet of helpless little ones—who
wade through killing tyranny to wealth —who live upon
women's and children's life's blood,—who are guilty of the
death not of one only, but of scores of their fellow creatures,
—these roll about in carriages ; and after founding a church
er two, and a school or two, are looked upon as just, liberal,
and benevolent mon ; and sit on magisterial benches ; and
take their place is Parliament ; and assume an interest in
the welfare of the poor ; and argue upon the rights of labour.
Woe to the legislature that contains within its body the
rust that must corrupt 1 Woe to the nation that hears such
things and will not raise its voice !
There is nothing in this report more touching than the
patient and almost despairing anxiety shown among the
operatives for a protecting law :
"We are all most anxiously looking for the bill" (No.
420).—" Is there eny sign of the ten-hours bill being got-
ten" (No. 213) ?—" Is there any chance for the bill being
passed this session" (No. 240) ?—" I feel very tired many
times, but I dare not stop. I would like the short-time bile'
(No. 211).—" I know that all in this room are very anxious
for the short-time bill" (No. 221).--" Every girl in the
room would like a short-time bill, though they would earn
less wages" (No. 276).—" I should like the short-time bill
very much" (No. 278).—" I have talked to them many a
time about the hours being shortened like the factories.
They wish that time would come" (No. 462).--" We have
long been waiting for the short hours" (No. 494).--" We
all very much want the short-time bill" (No. 495).—" They
all wished for the short-time bill very much" (No. 509).
" The short-time bill will do us all good" (N0.543.)—" I
have seen the girls, when they have been taking a piece
from the pulling-up machine fall asleep ; ono of them was
not ten years of age. The child looked as pale as a piece of
cloth. I have seen men take this child in their arms and
say they wished they could see it in London in this state ;
—that is, so livid and wan fromwork. I mean that if they
could see such things in London, they would know that
there was a want of a bill" (No. 68).
Think of all this, ye apathetic legislators. And think of
this livid and wan child, ye cruel men of mammon. Her
little hands can ply her task no more. " The spoil is in
your houses." . . . For twenty years have these poor
operatives, "by meetings, by associations, by petitions to
both houses," been endeavouring to rouse attention to all
this awful tyranny, and for twenty years has their cry
none up in vain 1-11epley's " Letter to the Men and
Women of the United Kingdom."
Mr. Crook's Bill wit be brought forward for a second
reading towards the latter end of March.

THE COMMERCIAL TREATY WIIII

FRANCE.

We received yesterday a Parliamentary paper
entitled "Return to an Address from the House of
Lords," dated February 16, 1860, for copies or
extracts of any correspondence (in addition to any
already presented to Parliament), which may have
taken place between her Majesty's Government and
her Majesty's Plenipotentiaries in Paris respecting
the negotiation of the Treaty of Commerce with
France.

The return is of the briefest kind, consisting only
of four pages. There are one or two formal notes,
acknowleding receipt of communications. Besides
these, the important despatches are four in number.
Lord J. Russell writes to Earl Cowley and Mr.
Cobden, under date January 26, 1860, and receives
their answer, under date January 28. Lord J. Rus-
sell in the first despatch named calls the attention
of the English Plenipotentiaries to seven points of
detail, and receives their answer in the secontl,
after their meeting with the French plenipotentiaries
to discuss the matters to which Lord John had in-
vited their attention.

In the first place, under article 2 of the Treaty,
Lord John wishes that the terms " British coal"
and " British coke" should be substituted for " Eng-
lish coal" and " English coke." Alterations allowed.
2. Lord John, under the head of the same article
lad asked that the words "shall not exceed the
lowest rates which is now paid by Belgian coal"
should be substituted for " shall not exceed that
which is now paid by Belgian coal." The English
Government had contemplated that the general
standard four years hence should be the lowest
rate now leviable on Belgian coal, wherever or
however imported into France. The French Pleni-
potentiaries decline to accede to this proposition in
terms, with the remark that in the French tariff
there is no mention whatever of Belgian or English
coal. France, for the purposes of coal importa-
tion, is divided into three zones, and coal, without
reference to its origin, is subjected to a higher
or lower rate of duty, acc.)rdingly as it is im-
ported into one or other of these zones. The
existing rates are 3 fumes, 11 francs, 1 franc, exclu-
sive of the 2 decimes war tax, still in force. The
Plenipotentiaries of the two countries finally agreed
to drop all mention of Belgian coal, and to name
1,1 francs as the maximum rate to which foreign
coal will be subjected, four years hence, on its in-
troduction into France.

The third point refers to the additional 10 per
cent. which, according to article 4, is to be paid to
the French Custom-house over and above the de-
clared value of goods claimed in consequence of
presumed short declaration of value. Lord J.
Russell remarks that the practice of the English
Custom-house has been to pay only 5 per cent. in
excess under the circumstances named, and proposes
this modification to the French Government. They
accept with thanks. The fourth point is more im-
portant ; it refers to article G and to the wine duties.
Lord John suggests that, as the proportion of duty
payable on French wines has been very closely cal-
culated according to the duties now payable on
English distilled spirits, an express provision
should be inserted in the Treaty, with reference to
the two higher classes of French wines, that if
henceforward the British Government find it ex-

pedient, for purposes of finance, to increase the duty
on British distilled spirits—now fixed at Bs. a gal-
lon—they may augment the duty on that class of
French p'oduce now charged with 2s. a gallon in
the proportion of 21d. a gallon for every ls. increase
in the duty payable on English distilled spirits,
and of lid. a gallon on the wines charged ls. 6d.
for every additional Is. of duty allowed.
Three verbal errors are then pointed out, and
rectified by permission. Article 10 had reserved to
each Government the power of levying "landing or
harbour dues, in order to pay the expenses of all
necessary establishments at the port of importation."
For the word " harbour" the word " shipping" is
substituted ; and " the port of importation" now
stands " port of importation or exportation." In
article 16 an error of translation from French
into English is rectified. As both versions
now stand, it is declared that "merchandise
of British manufacture and production shall
not pay more than the maximum of 25 per
cent." Finally, under article 19, the words
" to all other nations" are substituted fork' to other
nations."
In the two concluding despatches of the corre-
spondence Lord J. Russell and Earl Cowley re-
spectively announce to each other, under date re-
spectively of Feb. 2 and Feb. 4, that ratifications
have been formally exchanged between the two
Governments on the parts of the Queen of England
and the Emperor of the French.

MR. WIIITIVOR7IPS RIFLED CANNON.

FROM TILL CORILESPONDENT 01' TILE TIMES.

SOUTHPORT, TIIURSDAY.
The experiments with these rifled ordnanc.,‘ were
resumed here tluring yesterday and to-day, in the
presence of what might almost be called a great
concourse of gentlemen, when the out-of-the-way
and rather desolate nature of the spot is taken into
consideration. Lieut.-General Pennefather, Major-
General Anstruther, Major-General Watkins, and
a number of other military officers came down from
London to witness the trials, and there were also
present a considerable number of machinists and
scientific gentlemen from London, Liverpool, and
Manchester, and, in3eed, from all parts of the
kingdom, anxious to witness the successful working
of a gun the gradual progress of which towards
completion has been so attentively watched for
months past. Officers specially sent by the French,
Austrian, and Swedish Governments were also pre-
sent, with some American engineers, Admiral Gren-
fell, of the Brazilian navy, Capt. Mends and the
officers of the Hastings, and others. A general hone
was entertained that the large 80-pounder would
have been tested on a stand which would admit of
the piece being elevated to such a degree as would
show its utmost powers oC range. Unfortunately,
however, the carriage for this gun, which is being
constructed at Manchester, could not be brought
upon the ground, so the trials yesterday were with
guns of the same calibre as formerly, though not
elevated to obtain more length of flight with
the projectiles. Long-range shooting, in fact,
was out of the question, as the tides, being
high during the greater part of the day, re-
duce the extent of available range ground to
some 7,000 yards, so that even had the carriage for
the 80-pounder been ready it would have been dif-
ficult to register any distance beyond that we have
mentioned. One of the chief causes of the delay,
also, arose from the fact that Mr. Whitworth is
entirely occupied in getting ready for his approach.
ing trials at Sheerness against the iron cased float-
ing batteries. At previous trials last year he in
every case sent his shot as easily through the sides
of these vessels as if they had only been made of
the usual strength of oak. But it is supposed now
that the wrought•iron armour-plates for the frigates
are forged of greater strength than heretofore, in-
asmuch as Sir W. Armstrong with his 70-pounder
failed to make any serious impression on them, and
the solid old bore 68-pounder at. 200 yards effected
very little, unless several struck the same place,
when the plate broke, though it let nothing
through. Against these plates Mr. Whitworth
uses a perfectly flat-headed projectile—as flat at
the top as the crown of a hat, which instantly wakes
its way through the armour, when, as mechanics
will easily understand, the sharpest pointed shot
would fail. 'With the present 80 pounder it is said
the thickest plates of the Warrior will be pierced
with as much ease as ever, even if backed up with
the 22 inches of teak behind.

The three guns used in these trials were placed
on the same part of the beach as on previous occa•
sions, the crowd of visitors finding their way there
in and on conveyances of all kinds, so that the
bleak shore presented an appearance which on any
other part of the coast would have festive and ani-
m

ated. Even to these barren wills of Southport it
mparted almost a lively air, and took the chill, so
o speak, off the dreary mounds of sands, which
ook as if they had been shipwrecked there and
cast away.

The day was an unusually fine one, though, from
the very uncertain state of the wind, about the worst
for accurate firing. The puffs of air were from all
points, and at the end of the range quite contrary to
the direction of the wind at the spot where the gun
was fired. The experiments commenced with the
3-pounder, at a low degree of elevation. As usual,
it was loaded and fired by one of Mr. Whitworth's
people, and the ease and rapidity with which it
was managed excited the utmost astonishment
among the gentlemen present. That which, next
to the gun itself, seemul to be most admired, was
the tin cartridge-case for the powder. This case is
of hexagonal form and about seven inches long,
with a very fine hole at the back, through which
the flash of the friction tube ignites the powder.
At the end which meets the shot is a small lump of
grease, which, being melted by the explosion,
lubricates the barrel from end to end. The im-
portance of this tin cartridge is, that while it per-
mits the use of a lubricating material for the rest of
the barrel to be used, it quite does away with any
necessity for sponging out the breech, which at the
end of a hard day's firing remains as clean and
bright as if the gun had never been used at all. In
fact, the tin case takes the whole impurity of the
powder remaining in the barrel till it is withdrawn
for the next charge. Any one who has seen the
careful spunging or rather washing out which the
Armstrong gun requtres, and the time which after
each discharge is consumed in this operation, will
at once see the value of the tin case for the car-
tridge. As rewards facilities for transport, free-
dom from the chances of accidental ignition, and
safety from damp, its superiority to the flannel
cartridge is, of course, obvious. Another point
which seemed to please equally the military men
and engineers on the ground was the extreme sim-
plicity of the breech-loading arrangement, and the
fact of the double-threaded screw which closes it
being outside the gun instead of inside the chamber.
as is the case with the Armstrong. It is this sim-
plicity of mechanism which enables one ordinary
workman to load and fire the piece with such ease,
and it is to the fact of the screw being outside in-
stead of in a chamber specially made for it that
the Whitworth is fitted for firing either round shot
or conical shot of any length whatever. When
the carriage for the 80-pounder is ready, Mr.
Whitworth intends firing a 2001 b. shot from
it at 35 degrees elevation. One of the objec-

tions formerly urged against Mr. Whitworth's
rapid pitch of rifling was the resistance it occa-
sioned to the passage of the shot, and the conse- i
quent danger of bursting the gun. In theory this
objection appears to be well-founded ; practically
we find that with a piece of string passed through
one of Mr. Whitworth's projectiles, a sharp move-
ment of the hand is sufficient to draw it rapidly out
from the breech to the muzzle, In the Armstrong
the resistance caused by the 40 sharp grooves cutting
into the double rings of lead is, on the contrary,
immense, and to this is due the immense recoil of
the gun each time—a recoil nearly three times
greater than we find in Whitworth's. •
The first nine shots with the three-rounder at
three degrees were fired in about six minutes, with
the following results :
Yards Range. Deviation from true line.
1,607 yard to the right.
1,593 Line.
1,589 .. Line.
1,588 1 yard to the right.
1,577 I ditto.
1,575 ditto.
1,573 .. • . ditto.
1,568 .. .. 2 ditto.
1,552 .. I ditto.
The practice with the three-pounder at 20 degrees
(each time with 71 ounces of powder) was not so
astonishing with the first five shots as on former oc-
casions, in consequence of a signalman having mis-
taken the direction in which the first shot fell. The
range and deviation in yards were as follows :
Yards Range. Deviation.
6,918
.. 26 to the left.
6,749 .. 27 ditto.
6,602 54 ditto.
6,556 35 ditto.

6,511 ..
6,561 ..
6,316 ..
6,469 ..
6,319 ..

.. 34 ditto.
.. 20 ditto.
.. 20 ditto.
.. 11 ditto.
.. 12 ditto.

The 12. pounder gave a fair average result at 5
degrees elevation—all the shots, 10 in number,
struck at from 2,290 to 2,350 yards range, and all
at about 21 yards to the right of tho true line, At