The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-15 00:00:00

in the standing army in India, to say nothing of
that in casualties, commissariat, and all other ex-
penses attendant on the movement of h rge bodies
of troops through countries like India, it becomes
an important question of political eco omy, and of
great interest at the present moment. The money
value of such saving to the country could not well
be estimated at less than three or four millions. As
to the present artillery, they are very heavy, expen-
sive, and must be accompanied with ammunition
waggons. The new field-piece is inexpensive, can
gallop over almost any ground, and carries its own
ammunition. The fire of grape and canister from
the present field artillery is of little or no effect
at a distance of 350 yards. The shower of balls
from the new field-piece is effective up to 600 and
1,000 yards. With regard to cavalry, it is the
fire, not the bayonets, of the infantry which de-
stroys them. If cavalry are seen at 1,000 yards dis-
tance, the new field-piece can open on them, and con-
tinue its fire till they are within 200 yards ; that
is, the cavalry, during seven minutes, are exposed
to such a destructive fire that they would
be demolished or demoralised before they came
within 200 yards, the charging distance ; and
even if the cavalry did charge, they could not, with
their sabres, touch the men. The new field-piece
can be made musket-ball proof without much
weight. This species of artillery, if placed at cer-
tain distances, would render the disembarkation of
an enemy upon our shores impossible."
The resemblance probably which the invention
bears to the Fieschi machine has called forth in-
quiries on the part of the police in a manner which
Sir C. Shaw complains is needlessly and unconsti-
tutionally inquisitorial and annoying to him per-
sonally, and a correspondence has taken place
between the gallant general and the Police Com-
missioners in consequence.

NEW AND IMPROVED AMMUNITION

FOR THE TROOPS IN INDIA.

The troops in India will shortly be supplied with
an improved description of ammunition for the
Enfield rifle. With this ammunition no difficulty
or inconvenience will ever be experienced in load-
ing the rifle, and " fouling" will be considerably
diminished under the most unfavourable circum-
stances—namely, when the barrel has been pur-
posely " fouled " and "leaded" in a way to render
loading almost impossible with the old ammunition ;
the bullet of the new cartridge goes down the
barrel with the weight of the ramrod.
It appears, also, from the results of a long course
of experiments conducted in the Royal Laboratory,
that the "accuracy of the fire" and the length of
range are not affected by the alteration -which has
been made in the cartridge ; 1,500,000 of the im-
proved cartridges are supplied weekly from the
Royal Laboratory ; 4,000,000 have already been
sent by the overland route to India, and three
complete sets of apparatus for manufacturing the
cartridges will shortly be forwarded overland in
charge of duly qualified officers.
Twenty thousand shot and shell have been for
some time past supplied weekly from the foundry
of the Royal Laboratory. The rate has now in-
creased to 25,000 weekly. This supply exceeds
what was obtained from the contract system during
the Crimean war, although all the available re-
sources of the country were then engaged by the
War Department. A very high standard of quality
has been attained in the foundry, and owing to the
peculiarity of the apparatus employed, the work is
almost entirely performed by labourers and boys,
and consequently the Bost to Government for the
shot and shell produced is only about one-half the
price that was paid to contractors during the late
war.
_ _

Everything in the foundry is done upon the
‘, piece-work" system, so that the actual expense
incurred can be accurately computed.

FEARFUL SCENE AT A FIRE.

COURAGEOUS CONDUCT OF AN ESCAPE-

MAN.

Yesterday morning, about 5, a fire, attended with
a crious loss of property, which, had it not been •
for the praiseworthy exertions of G. Harmsworth,
the conductor of the Camberwell-gate Royal So-
ciety's escape, would have been attended with fatal
results to two persons—a man and his wife, broke
out in the premises belonging to Mr. Macrae, a
tea-dealer, &c., situate at 1, William's-place, Wal-
worth-road, within a short distance of the spot
where such a fearful saciifice of life took place from
tire about two years since, and which led to the es-
tablishment of the. resent escape. From inquiries
made on the spot, it appears that police-constable
N 452 discovered the fire, and at once gave an
alarm, but so strong A hold had the fire ob •
tuned, that it was found impossible for any
one to get downstairs, and the proprietor and
Mrs. Macrae made for one of the windows, and
screamed loudly for help. Harmsworth, the conduc-
tor of the Royal Society's escape, immediately pro-
ceeded with his machine to the burning house, and
arrived just in time to rescue from a horrible death
the two persons therein. To get the female out he
was obliged to carry her down the ladder, she being
insensible from the heated smoke; and he was com-
pelled to carry her nearly 300 yards in the fresh air
before he could restore her to consciousness. The
engines of the brigade from Waterloo-road and
Southwark Bridge-road stations, together with that
of the West of England office, were quickly in at-
tendance, and a good supply of the Lambeth com-
pany's water having been procured, the firemen,
under the direction of Mr. Foreman Henderson,
went to work, but they were unable to get the 1
flames subdued until they had travelled through
every part of the house. The origin of the fire could
not be learned. The sufferer, it is believed, was
insured in the Sun Fire Office. Mr. Superintendent,
Lund and a body of police were present, and mate-
rially assisted the firemen.

FR 031 THE GAZETTE OF YESTERDAI

WAR-OFFICE, SEPT. 14.
2d Regiment of Dragoons—Lieutenant-Gcneral Arthur IV.
M. 'Lord Sandys, from the 7th Dragoon Guards, to be
Colonel, rice Lieutenant-General Archibald Money,
C. 8., K.C., deceased.
7th Regiment of Dragoon Guards—Major-General Michael
White, C. 8., to be Colonel, vice Lieut.-General Lord
Sandys, transferred. to the Colonolcy of the 2d Dragoons.
ADMIRALTY, SEPT. 8.
Corps of Royal Marines—The following promotions
have taken place, under her Majesty's Order in Council of
the 13th September, 1851, in consequence of the death of
General Thomas Adams Parke, C. 8., on the Field Esta-
blishment of General Officers of the Royal Marines, viz. :
Lieutenant-General John Rawlins Coryton to be General.
Major-General James Irwin Willes to be Lieutenant-
General, vice Coryton, promoted.
Colonel-Commandant John Tatton Brown to be Major-
General, I
vice Wiles, promoted.