The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-22 00:00:00

[PRIOR 4D. STAMPED s°•]

e
01;11131cla time 1,800 rounds
under
invention
from t
the
ohe
mo superintend-
ence rltT) er
untilry,
cs eci e tnht
of Birmingham, has been under test on board her
tom formajesty s pistol
ship Excellent,
have been fired from it with unprealldented aeon-
theporefs,Cnatptti.mlel,e=3,g
racy at various ranges, without cleaninsifia weapon,
which, notwithstanding, gives no recoil, in proof
of which Captain Hewlett gave the inventor the
following certificate, which is fixed on the stock
of the gun :
"-This is to certify that I have seenl,Boo rounds fired-
from this rifle without cleansing.
" July 20, 1858." "R. H. HEWLETT.
The rifle missed fire but twice in the 1,800 rounds,
and, whether discharged by officer or Man, 86 per
cent. were " hits." Yesterday the,rifie was taken
to the camp at Browndown, and its capabilities
exhibited before the troops and Instructors in
Musketry of the loth Foot (Lieut. Cuthbert) and
Royal Marine Light Infantry (Major Lowder).
The practice at 700 and 800 yards was marvellous,
notwithstaudincr a very pbwerftil wind, and will be
continued to-day. Its advantages over the old
pieces are 3ib less in weight an I five shots to one
in time of firing, giving it the advantages of a re-
volver with a tremendous range, and no necessity
for cleaning out under about a couple of thousand
rounds.

The military transport Spirit of Trade embarked
Lieut. Macnaghten, 10th battalion Royal Artil-
lery, and 21 non-commissioned officers and pri-
vates, together with their wives and families, and
sailed yesterday fro& Woolwich for New Zealand,
Her Mijesty's steam transport Dee, laden with
steam gear for the Bacchante and Orlando, left
Wo divich yesterday morning for Portsmouth and
Devonport.
Two additional mortar-wssels, Nos. 23 and 24,
arrived at Chatham yesterday.
The frigate Calliope, 26, granted by the Lords of
the Admiralty as a Church ship for mariners, was
moored on Tuesday in Plymouth Sound. Divine
worship will be conducted on hoard by the honorary
chaplain, the Rev. Francis Barnts, M.A., incum-
bent of Trinity Church, Plymouth.
The brigantine Lark, 2, Lieutenant-Commander
Wm. B. Monger, belor ging to the Liberian Go-
vernment, arrived in Plymouth Sound on Tuesday
evening from Monrovia. She is to be refitted at the
DevonportDockyard„ _ _ _

Mr. ‘V. J. B. has been appo'nted master
to the Victor Emmanuel ; and Mr. J. F. Allen as-
s,stant-payina,ter to the Terrible.

EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT TO THE
CR, glllO RN E BALLOON.-MIRACULOUS
ESCAPE.

No little consternation was crested last evening
in the neijibourboods of the Clapham-road and
Kennington Park, in consequence of the following
somewh,t extraordinary aceldent, which was well
nigh attel;cled with fatal results to several persons:

Prow all the particulars that could be Obtained
it seems that a fete rook place yes erday, in Cie-
niorne Gar dens, in aid of the funds of the Bluchers'
Charitable Inst,tution, and, amongst the many
attractions afforded, a grand galloonr.scent was
announced to take place, and, acco- dingly, shortly
before seven o'..lock, the balloon being. well filled
with gas, and the aerial voyagers having taken
their seats in the car, the signal was given to "Let
go," when the machine rose mljestically, and for
some time kept will rising considerably, and float-
iiig through the clouds. Upon getting nearly over
the Ciaph4m-road, the balloon was Ea:en by the
thousands who-were witnessing its progress to corn
mence rapidly descending. Ballast a the same
time c.uld be seen faking to the ground, but still
the machine kept falling, and wh-n about two
hundred feet from the grraind, the silk was seen to
coaapaa, and the crown fall over on one side. The
whole of the bysanders th,n hecam•r3 satisfied that
,;rther the silk had become rent or ihat the valves
had got displaced, or would not ke., ftrely ; but
one thing was quite certain, ;hat the parties in
charge of the balloon got as low in the car as pos-
sible, then worked the ropes the bcst way they
could, to keep clear of trees and housetops ; but all
of a sudden, down came the ponderous machine
near the Dorset Arms Tavern, the escape of gas at
the time be ng almost enough;"-to suffocate those
who rushed fur w,aoloeut of curiosity. Fortunately
th&l, irelkii.iere in the car were not seriously in-
jured, but only a little shaken. So great was the
populace that had it not been for the exertions of
the police the machine would hare been totally de-
stroyed, but owing to their exertions and those of
the neighbours, it was placed in a waggon and re-
moved to Oremorne Gardens. The accident, it is
believed, arose solely from one of the va!vea acting
imperfectly.