The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-01 00:00:00

7111TIVU tti II GUN MANUFACTORY.

The visit of Mr. Childers during the past week
to the Whitworth Gun Manufactory at Manchester
certainly appears to lend some confirmation to the
rumour obtained to a certain extent in the navy,
that the First Lord of the Admiralty is not quite
so well satisfied with the present ordnance and their
projectiles, mounted on the decks of our molt re-
cently commissioned irenelads, as may generally
be supposed. We have been so long accustomed
to praise so highly the coil-built gun and is
s
ogival-headed Palliser projectile that possibly the
known (Ideas of both have been ignored, and a
false belief engendered cf their infallibility. If the
First Lord really entertains any doubts as to the
efficiency of our present rifled naval gun and its
projectile as an armour-destroying power in any
future action between the ships of this and any
other country at sea, he is not at all singular in that
respect. For some time past a feeling has been
growing up among naval officers and others ac-
quainted with the subject, that, as we increased the
size of our naval ordnance to 12, 18, 25, and now
to 30 tons weight, we were drifting rapidly into a
state of things that as yet was not by any means
clearly defined or understood, but which it was just
possible might be attended by two primary condi-
tions that should render the guns of our ships prac-
tically harmless against an enemy's armour. The
two conditions that threaten the efficiency of the
Artillery of the navy are-1, the acknowledged
weakness of the gun itself, and its incapability to
withstand the burning of very largely increased
powder charges ; and, 2, the defective properties of
the projectiles and their brittleness. The weakness
of the guns has been officially acknowledged by the
order to give the turret guns for the new ship, the
Devastation, five tons weight of metal each in excess
of those of the Monarch, although the guns of each
ship will be of the same calibre, and will throw the
same weight of projectile. Their weakness was also
very fully entered into and illustrated by Sir Joseph
Whitworth in a paper read by him before the Bri-
tish Association at Exeter, in August last, where he
stated that the battering charges to which the 25-
_

ton guns of the Monarch were limited was 70 pounds
of powder, when the charge due to their weight of
metal was actually 150 pounds. The deflects of
the ogival-headed projectile are known and ad-
mitted beyond ail dispute. As, therefore, it is
equally beyond dispute that all naval actions in
future will be fought, not muzzle to muzzle, or with
each pegging away at the thickest part of his
enemy's armour and opposed to a concentrated fire
from his heaviest guns, but as far as may be possible
on obtuse angles and with the shot striking ob-
liquely, where lies the fighting value of the ogival-
headed projectile ? If it strikes the side of an
armoured ship obliquely—as in the firing at the
turret of the Royal Sovereign—it flies off at an op-
posite angle to that of its flight from the mouth of
the gun to the ship's side, for it has no " bite," or
it breaks up into a thousand pieces. It has made
good penetration into and through planking and
targets, but with such work done by ,it
the gun has been fired at right angles with the plate
pierced, and then the cone-headed form of the shot
enabled the latter to "shoulder" its way through.
There is no record of oblique firing at armour plates
or plated targets with the present naval gun, nor
does there appear to be any record in existence, at
the Admiralty or elsewhere, of the question having
been closely considered in its application to iron-
clad fleets of the present day. It is to be hoped
that Mr. Childers will, in this instance of the guns
and their projectiles for her Majesty's ironclads,
act as be has done iu other instances at Whitehall—
see into the matter personally, and form his opinions
independently of any interested advice, however
vehemently it may be tendered. The subject is one
of such vital interest to the efficiency of the navy
that no neglect or compromising measures can ever
bide it from public sight.

BANK OF FP►ANCE.

PARIS, Nov. 25.

The following is the return of the Bank of France
for the week ending to-day, together with the cor-
responding figures of the previous account :

DEBTOR,
Nov. 18.
fr. c.
Capital of tho Bank 182,500,000
Profits in addition to
Capital (Art. 8, Law,
June 9, 1857) -7,044,776 02 7,044,776 0
Reserve of the Bank
and its branches
Reserve of landed pro-
perty
Notes in circulation
Banknotes to orderand
receipts payable at

Nov. 25.

182,500,000

22,105,750 14 22,105,750 14

48,888,246 08 48,715,100 26

sight .....................
Treasury account cur-
rent creditor ......... 200,084,471 97 241,426,478 9
Current accounts, Paris 322,251,095 51 314,063,990 85
Do. branch banks...... 43,568,562 46,226,102
Dividends payable...... 949,892 918,241
Discounts and sundry

7,724,287 57 8,018,542 35

interests ............. .
Rediscounted the last

991,660 38 991,660 38

- six months
Surplus of recoipts not
distributed - -
Sundries

Total
CUEDITOR.
Nov. 25. Nov. 18.
Cash in hand and in fr. c. fr. c.
Branch banks
Commercial bills over-

180,857 77

390,570 66

due
Commercial bills dis-
counted, not yet due 319,822,421 01 308,584,308 43
Do. branch banks 295,968,399 292,978,850
Advances on deposit of

bullion _
Do. branch banks
Do. on French Public

18,815,100 -
2,581,380 -

18,735,900
2,760,78

19,058,300 -
8,965,600 -

19,011,700
8,454,900

Securities
Do. by branch banks
Do. on railway shares
and debentures 89,988,700
Do. branch banks
Do. on Credit Fonder
Bonds
Do. branches
Do. to the State (Con-
vention, June 10,
1857) 60,000,000
Government Stock re-
-12,980,750 14 12,980,750 14
serve
Do. disposable
Rentes Immobalisees
(Law, June 2, 1857) 1607000,000 100,000,000
Hotel and furniture of
the Bank and landed
property branches
Expenses of manage-
2 116 747 63
ment 2,123,069 08 ~181 55
Sundries

39,939,200
32,969,350

1,097,600 --
1,266,600 -

1,097,100
1,270,000

60,000,000

9,187,784 -

9,190,184

Total ............... 2,247,986,401 29 2,223,546,962 49
(Signed) ROULAND.

THE WHEREABOUTS OF DR. LIVINGSTONE.—AII
anxiety regarding the fate of Dr. Livingstone is, we are
rejoiced to say, at an end. From a recent telegram we
learn that in may last he was at Ujiji, on the east coast of
Lake Tanganyika, in lat. 5 deg. S. To this place his
supplies had been sent Burton gives the distance from
the coast at 540 geographical miles, increased by the
winding route pursued to 950 milee, occupying 150 days'
march. It is the great mart for slaves and ivory and palm
oil, and the most fertile place in that portion of Africa.
The fair season lasts from May to September. While
on this subject we would mention that the map which ap-
peared in our last issue was drawn by the author of the
paper, and did not emanate officially, as our expression
might seem to indicate, from the Royal Geographical So-
ciety.—Yature.
BREAXIAST.— EPPs'S COCOA.—GRATEFUL AND Coat-
FORTING.—The very agreeable character of this prepara-
tion has rendered it a general favourite. The Civil Service
Gazette remarks : —" The singular success which Alr. Epps
attained by his homoeopathic preparation of cocoa has
never been surpassed by any experimentalist. By a
thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern the
operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a careful ap-
plication of the fine properties of well-selected cocoa, Mr.
Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately
flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doc-
tors' bills."
Made simply with boiling water or milk.
Sold only in tin-lined packets, labelled jAMIS grrs And
,GQ.,ll9voopattig c cmif3tp, LtnAl9n,