The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-07 00:00:00

A SUBMARINE 'BOAT.

An American invention has just been brought to
this country, with a view to its being disposed of
either to this or any other European Government,
and which, if it ;does one-half of what the patentee..
guarantees can be done with it will make such a
change in the mode of carrying on a naval war as
will put steamers out of the question, and render of
no avail the tremendous forts of Cronstadt or Cher-
bourg. It is, nothing less than a submarine-boat
made only for working under water, in form much"
resembling the shape of a porpoise;but capable of
being made large enough to contain 8, 10, or even
15 men, if necessary, with .a proportionate quantity
of explosives. In a kind of specification which„ has.
now been laid before this and the French GovernL.
ment the patentee says he has invented and 'Oori;-,.
strutted a s übmarine boat, weighing about' eight
tons, in which he has, with others, sunk in Lake
"Michigan,and remained under water for four hours'
without any air tubes or other communication lead-'
ing from his boat above the , surfaCe of the "water,
and propelled the boat in and near the bottom of
the lake for several miles, at the rate of about three
miles an hour. Hehas;vrhile in his: boat, and under,
water, by, means of machinery working through its
side, sawed off timbers 14' inches square. He can
sink his boat' froth 'the surface 'almost instantly,
either to a few inches or feet from the surface of
the water, or to 100 or more feet, and again rise
quickly or"very slowly to ' or near the 'Surface"; go
forward, back, or sideways, or come " up bows first
or otherwise; as may be required. He can attach
powder torpedoes to the outside of his boat on its
deck or sides, and proceed under water out to sea,
in any weather, to an enemy's ship in sight, fix or
anchor :the torpedoes under the ship's bottom, 'set
in motion clock-work to fire the torpedoes, simulta-
neously or at intervals,'an'd retire; still-under water
out of danger from. the explosion and out of reach
of an enemy's guns. He can also convey powder
torpedoesin,sid,e his boat of 100 lb. (or More) Weight:
and when under an enemy's ship, pass them 'out of
the side of his boat through his patent hatch, and
fasten.,them to a ship's bottom and fire them as
above-named. He can enter an' enemy's harbour
under water andmake surveys, only showing-above`
the surface a sight tube, nci more
.than'one half
inch in diameter, and retire still under water,
and proceed outside to sea and make his re-
port to the commander of • a fleet or ship.
He can go out to 'sea, meet a hostile fleet,
go under. their bottoins, fix torpedoes to go off
by clockwork, or bore_ holes in their bottoms, and
come away unseen. With a large boat he can carry-
, a 12 or 24 pound (or euen larger) gun in the for-
ward end of his boat near the top,' so rigged that lie
can load in 100 feet depth of water, rise near 'to the
surface, sight the horizon for an tnemfs ship, and
if one is in sight take the course for her and pro-
ceed towards her even within a Stone's throw, rise
quickly, so near the surface as only to show the
muzzle of the gun through the outside porthole
valve, aim at the ship near her water line; fire, then
instantly sink to reload, and rise at another point
to fire again and repeat. If required, with a large
boat, he can remain under water with several men
with him, and do service at sea off or in harbours
for several days, without landing or showing one
inch of his boat above water. If the boat is required
for pearl fishing he can work all day on a pearl bed
raking up and taking in pearls and suffering no in-
convenience from impure air, and as the boat is pro-
vided with light for deep water work, he can move
about on the bottom like a fish and see pearls where
a diver would not. If the boat is required to visit
wrecks and remove treasures or goods, it is so con-
structed that" lie can saw, bore, or make fast chains
or ropes to any point of a wreck, and if required,
one or more persons can, while under water, go out
of the boat through the side hatches, enter a wreck

or dO other service, and return inside of the boat
again without inconvenience.
Curiously enough, the gentleman who has come
over here with this invention, and who, though-net
the inventor, is part proprietor of the patent, was
ihstructed not to oTer it to the British Government ,
until it had first been offered to the Emperor of the
French. The reasons for making such a distinction
arises from the notion which our transatlantic
cousins entertain of the red-tape system of the Eng-
lish Government, and their slowness to adopt any
sudden or great improvements. That this idea is,
hardly well founded is shown from the fact that
when the invention was first brought under the
notice of the Secretary'of the United States' Navy,
he merely wrote to the inventor to say, by way of
badinage, that American ships were required in the
water and never wanted to go under them. The
proffer to the Emperor of the French received even
less attention, as no answer was returned to the
letter at all. Contrary to American expectation,
when the letter was brought a few days since under
the notice 'of the English Board of Admira,lty it
received• full and prompt attention, and Sir Baldwin
Walker has already had interviews with the gentle-
man to whose care the disposal of the patent is
intrusted. Nothing definite has yet resulted from
these audiences, though as the cost of building the
submarine boat is very small, we believe that one
will eventually be constructed in this country, and
if it only fulfils half what the patentee expects of
it the invention will be purchased by the British
Government.

PROPOSED UNION OF CITY
CHORCIIES.

On Tuesday afternoen a general meeting of the
Fellows of Sion College, comprising the incumbents
of all churches and parishes within the. old Arch-
deaconry of. London, took place in their great hall,
for the purpose of considering what answer they
should return respecting the bishop's inquiry rela-
tive to the proposed union of some of the city bene-
fices. The Rev Wm. Scott, M.A., incumbent. of
Christ Church, Hoxton, the President of Sion Col-
lege, took the chair. It may be mentioned, iwtx-
plana,tiou of the' object of the meeting, that some
years since :the Rev. Charles Hume, rector of St.
Michael's, Wood-street, made a formal proposition
to the lath Bishop of London for a union of some of
the parisheS in the city which, having considerable
endowments, have little or no resident population,
with a view to the endowment of additional churches
in destitute portions of the metropolis and its out-
skirts. The late bishop concurred in Mr. Hume's
suggestion; and introduced a:bill into Parliament
to effect that object, but it'met with a strong opposi-
tion; and wag eventually. withdrawn. The present
Bishop of London, in his primary charge to the
clergy of, his. diocess in Nov. last, adverted to the
subject, and has ,also addressed formal inquiries to
them, with. a View to determine, what course he
ought to adopt in reference to the matter.. The an-
swers to the inquirieS ,of the bishop made by the
clergy .present some . curious features.. The Rev:
J. -Charlesworth,. rector. . of. the joint parishes
of St. Mildred, Bread-street, and St. Mar-
gaset Moses, replies in answer to the biSheP's inter=
rogatories that the largest attendance at any of his
church services is 10,- that his net income is £220
a year, and that the population is 258. The Rev.
J. lklinchin, rector of the joint parishes of St. Mil-
dred, Poultry, and St. Mary Colechurch, reports
that the largest attendance at his services is 30, his
net income £2BO, and the population 500. The Rev.
Thomas Darling, rector of St. Michael Paternoster
Royal and 'St Martin's Vintry, reports, that his
largest attendance is 25, his net income £240, popu-
lation 430. The Rev. Dr. Kynaston, high master of
St. Paul's school, reports that the attendance at the
church of the joint parishes of St. Nicolas Cole
Abbey and Sf:' Nicolas Olave, of which he is rector,
is. 30, his income £263, ,with a house in, good repair
—population- 592. The .Rev.. Charles Mackenzie,
rector of the joint parishes of St. Benet, Grace-
church, and St. Leonard, Eastcheaii,. of which he is
rector, is 48, net income £287, population 300. tThe
~Rev. Dr. Stebbing, rector of St. Mary Somerset and
St. Mary Woolchrirchllaw, reports that his largest
attendance is 40, net income £260, population un-
known: The Rev. ThomaS' Jones, rector of 'All-
hallows, Lombard-street, reports that :hiS largest
attendance is 50, his net income £396; population
456. The Rev. F. J. Stainfortli, incumbent of 'All-
hallows Staining, reports that hig largest attendance
is 50, net income £BOO, population 500. Many More
of the same sort might be given from the official
returns, and in• some cases there is an attend-
ance of 100, or 150- persons where the income of the
incumbent is upwards of £l,OOO a-year. The patrons
of these city cluuches, with whom it is belieVed there
would be no-difficulty in carrying out-the Bishop of
London's views of amalgamation, are Eton College,
the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, the Duke of
Buccleuch, the Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop of
Canterbury,,the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury,
the Corporation of London, . the Grocers' Com-
pany, Balliol College, Oxford, the Duke of
Northumberland, 'Magdalen College, Cambridge,
the Governors of St. Bartholomew's Hospital,
the Dean : and Canons of Westminster, the
master and wardens of Merchant Taylors' Company,
Corpus. Christi College, Cambridge, the Drapers'
Company, and a few private individuals. The meet-
ing held at Sion College on Tuesday was of a private
character, although a very large• number of !the
clergy were present, and took a strong interest in
the discussion. It was agreed that the opinions of
the incumbents whose interests it was proposed to
affect should. be collected and arranged 'for pre-
sentation to the Bishop of London. .

TILE D_E'AN OF CARLISLE ON CHRIST-
3IAS FESTIVITIES.

At a,- meeting of the Carlisle Total Abstinence
Society, du Tuesday, the 28th ult., the Very Rev
Francis Clo§e, D.D.,' Dean of Carlisle, thus -.re-
ferred to the festivities and amusements of Christ-,
• mas and Other- holiday' Occasions : To a Christian
mind there ' was no single thing more painful
than thiS fact it had certainly dwelt upon his own
heart---.that-those' seasons which are observed by,
Ihe great majority 'of our countrymen in comme-
moration of great gospel events, such as the birth of
-•-Christ, and the descent of God's Holy Spirit, at
Whitsuntide---that these are the seasons of all
'otherl When in a Christian country—aye, let them
acknowledge it. with shame, in a Protestant coun-
try—that-these are the seasons when the devil keeps
high holithiy-, and when it seems to be an excuse—
a thing taken for granted—that people should be
drunk. (Applause.) ASk them why they go about
reeling in drunkenness, and they tell you they are
le.:ping' Christmas. .(Laughter,) There was 6
some-
thin to his mind perfectly painful in- the e,
news-
papers of that morning—something calculated to
strike the heart of the Christian, and send us all on
our knees to pray to God to avert the -judgment
we deserved. The London. newspapers devoted
whole :columns and pages to descriptions
of the special- temptations and wickednesses. of
the theatres., And, in connection with this, he
found 'that on the next morning,. as usual, the
police courts were thronged with persons charged
witlroffences arising from the same cause ; but it
was ObserVed, he was glad to say, that at somei of
the police offices the numbers were not so great as
they generally were on, these occasions. But what
:Struck him again was, that the worthy magiStrates
sitting in _the chair of justice let the offenders off
more easily than usual, " because they were keep-
ing Christreas-1" To his mind, if he had been in
the Magistrate's place, he would.have. fined them
.double for ''being drunk on Christraas-day. (Ap-
plause.) But it showed the. vulgar notion, which
had reached even the bench itself, that was held as'
an excuse and a palliation for a man . making a
beast
.of himself, that he did it_on a day which hin
fellowXhristians kept in memory of the love of God
to' His creatures. He (the. Dean) would not do more
than allude to a frightful circumstance that had
taken place the day, before. At one of
.the low
theatres on the south side of the Thames an alarms
of fire was raised, and in consequence, no leSs than
-15 vermin§ were killed. This was at a Christmas-
keeping theatre. And it was remarkable that the_
persons killed were all youths, not one of wham
was above 21 or 22 at the utmost, sonic of them
much younger. It was what they called " boxing*
night," and at a place where theperformanceWas,so
, popular, that they were obliged to have two
audiences a. day—aa afternoon and an evening
exhibition. Oh ! that they could See the time when
they would be.obliged to have double services on
religious subjects ! ' -,::This was indeed a painful and
humbling -event. God. forbid that he should say
that those poor, thoughtless boys, many of them
the dregs of the population; had been visited by a
special judgment. No ;' they were not to say that
those on " whom the Tower of Siloam fell were
greater-sinners" that those who escaped. God's ways
were not our ways ; but the lesson this accident
read to them all was, that if they kneW better who
'were restrained from drunkenness, debauchery, and
even from those deubtful placeS of public amuse-
ment called theatres, which were, in his humble
judgment, -the, receptacles of vice of every de-
scription—let them .net think themselves better
than others, but rather remember ;that God, by
this very fact, had . put • then). under the
solemn responsibility of doing all they 'could- -
to prevent people from doing these thin' gs—that 'if •
it was not for the. grace of God which enabled them
to restrain their.passions, they should be just like
others. ;If they had the Se. promises and hopes, let
them do all they mild to • restrain the wicked, to
prevent and:lay hold upon and arrest the course of
sin and vice in this country. Therefore it was that
he was there that night.- (Applause.)