The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-12 00:00:00

ni en ts.

necessary for the heads of such departments
to avoid, the error of constant change which
fritters away the public money and keeps
the services constantly unsettled, and the error of
too great caution, which delays effecting any con-
siderable alteration until the superiority of some par-
ticular arm or system is undeniably proved. This
is the mistake which Austria fell into when she
postponed arming her troops with breech-loaders
until she could learn from the experiments of other

nations which was the best kind of gun. Unluckily
for her, the experiment was tried against herself,
and the battle of Sadowa left her little room
for doubting whether or no the needle-gun
was superior to her own. Such shortsighted
savings often prove the worst extravagance in the
long run, and this particular piece of economy
has cost Austria dear. At the same time the
' expense of the experiments is very great, and may
well alarm a Government with an embarrassed
treasury. They are often pushed to an unneces-
sary extreme, entailing a needless outlay, as when a
gun having fired several hundred rounds with credit
and safety is kept firing until it htiiscs—a good
servant destroyed, and the money thrown away.
Still there is no question that experiments to a certain
extent are highly desirable, for it is surely wiser
to test our offensive and defensive weapons in time
of peace to find out the weak points ourselves in- ,
stead of having the enemy to make the discovery.
It is one of the advances of modern civilisation,
'hid), was never thought of in the old
rugged days
of
warfare. We read of many
instances in which the sudden failure of armour or
weapon occasionedhe
and
combatant,
notion of Governments going to
great cost to build walls and guns for the purpose
of destroying them, would certainly have astonished,
our ancestors not a little. The public at the pre-
sent day willingly accept this outlay as part of
the necessary expenditure, and are only• -
when they consider any
suggestion has
not had a fair trial. In the ca
opinion that
important lndignant
se of the Turret
system it was the sheer force of public
drove the Admiralty to give Captain CoLEs
even the partial and unsatisfactory trial
which they ungraciously afforded. It was no thanks
to the prudence or provision of the late Administra-
tion that we did not find ourselves compelled to re-
sist the attack of a strong naval power without ade-
quate force, although we have had the advantage
of the experiencepainfully acquired by the Americans
during their momentous civil war.
Those four years' struggle in the great Republic
have furnished European Powers with ample
opportunities for obsarvation, and have established
tome points beyond dispute, fix Irma allowing

us to believe that they found it easy in war time to
supply the deficiencies of peace, the American
statesmen have not hesitated to proclaim the
difficulties against which they had to contend, and
the official report of the navy especially cautions the
Government against relying on private yards or
other means of increasing the naval force of the
country ander the pressure of immediate require-
ments. The American administration have given
proof that they do not intend to repeat the mistakes 1
of former times, for they are actively prosecuting
inquiries. The experiments of Fortress Monroe to
which we referred the other day have established
some important principles. They have conclusively
demonstrated the superiority of iron over granite or
stonework of any kind for resisting the destructive
efforts of modern artillery. The experiments of
Shoeburyness fully confirm these conclusions, and
we are glad to find that our authorities are not
too proud or too prejudiced to profit by them.
The engineers of the War Department have
determined to alter the construction of the Spithead
forts from a combination of granite and iron to
one entirely of iron of a massive character. In this
they are very wise seeing that any additional ex-
pense in the construction will be amply compensated
by the greater durability of the forts. If we are to
have fortifications at all, there can hardly be any
dispute as to whether we should have the best pos-
sible. Like many other things, if worth doing at
all is worth doing well, and any partial
or superficial mode of doing the work
is only an ingenious form of wasting the
public money. There is one point in connection
with these experiments which is wcll worth atten-
tion—the superior power of resistance of iron,
backed with earth or sand, to the iron immediately
facing the granite. The principle on which this re-
sult is founded is one well known and often applied.
It would be advisable, therefore, to turn it to ac-
count in the erection of our forts. Sir JOHN PAK-
INGTON and General PEEL are acting wisely by per-
.sonally inspecting our dockyards and fortifications.
They have assumed arduous and responsible
duties, and must not attempt to discharge them
upon mere hearsay information, What with pro-
fessional etiquette, individual jealousy, and the in-
tangible influence of prejudice and association, it is
very difficult to arrive at the truth without a close
examination. Facts are stubborn things, and the
logic of the guns will not bear contradiction. The
destructive effect of modern artillery upon all the
forms of defence hitherto employed has been as
clearly demonstrated as the superiority in some ways
of the turret principle. We trust that a new system
will now be inaugurated in these two important
branches of the public service, and that we shall
have the interests of the country consulted to the
exclusion of all less worthy considerations.

Mr. GRANT DUFF has been addressing his con-
stituents at Elgin according to his annual custom.
There is in this retrospective glance which he takes
of past events nothing striking or original in the
way of comment, but a good deal of sense and
some reflections that may profit his friends to
dwell upon. Mingled with these we may notice a
disappointed, if not an irritated, state of feeling.
Mr. DUFF seems to be in not -the most agreeable
state of mind respecting the Ministerial or the
Opposition side of the house. Certainly it is
unpleasant to have to make the avowal which
he had at the commencement of his long
and interesting address. " Gentlemen, for
the first time since 1858, your member comes
before you as a member of a discomfited party—
discomfi ted, I trust, not for long, but nevertheless
discomfited." At any rate the hon. member was
...L...., IS attrriri,uxfn:he anneara ti have „had
the late Government at the commencement of the
year. Referring to the state of things when Par-
liament opened, he thus defined the prospects of
the political horizon :—" lie must have been indeed
dull who did not perceive that lIER MAJESTY'S
late advisers could not land the Liberal vessel, and
we, the innocent passengers in what the Yankee
mail-driver more expressively than classically de-
scribed as a most unhandsome " nip and frizzle of
a fix." Mr. DUFF did not speak in very flattering
terms of Lord PALMERSLON, and indeed he seems to
have been among the number of those who thought
that a great start would be made in the cause
of progress when he was no longer connected with
the Government. Experience must have shown
him his mistake, for nothing could possibly have
been worse than the attempt that has been made ;
and if those who see events seek to arrive at the
real marplot they will find it in Mr. BRIGHT. Mr.
DUFF, in a more advanced part of his speech,
seems to entertain some glimmering notion of this
fact, for he says that Mr. BRIGHT was very mode-
rate in the little he said in the House of Com-
mont ; adding, "it would have been well for the
cause of Reform if he had been equally moderate out
of doors, for he has more than once in the last
few months given a needless advantage to its
numerous and watchful enemies." This is exactly
what we have been saying all along respecting
those speeches of the honourable member
for Birmingham which have abounded of late.
They are really most injurious to the cause
they profess to serve, and the best excuse that
can be offered for their framer is, that he is too
excited and wound up in his projects to comprehend
the extent of the evil be is doing.
asThosemewuhroe setof
out really anxious for a moderate
Reform might well be justified in thinking that it
may be well to pause when they see such extraor-
dinary doctrines broached by one who styles him-
self the great champion of the cause. The more
Reform is identified with the name of Mr. BRIGHT
the worse will it be for its chance of success, and
the less likely are we to have it settled in a satis-
factory manner.

The criticisms of Mr. DUFF upon the late Pre-
mier are very good, and will no doubt meet with
the admiration of many who have had the misfor-
tune to be under such a leader. "Lord RUSSELL
has never, with all his experience, learned that a
party is not a machine, but a body of men. The
lines in which Lord LYTTON described him 20 years
ago are still true." " Mr. GLADSTONE," adds Mr.
DUFF, "is the last man in the world to make up
for any want of communicativeness on the part
of his colleague and so a great want of
union and sympathy was the consequence."
The plan which Mr. GRANT DUFF thinks would
have been better seems certainly to present great
advantages, and, indeed, we think that the present
Govrnment might try it with a good effect. Ile
says that they might have presented a measure of
Reform to the House, and have it read a first time
before the close of the Session, and then there
would have been ample opportunity before the next
year of ascertaining the sentiments of the country
respecting it. Such a scheme might have been
PPosed, but it would not then have been neces-
sary, said the hon. member, quoting the words of
the late leader
of the Opposition for the Govern-
ent to "change its front in the face of the enemy."
We entirely concur with the opinion of Mr.
GRANT D UFF when he say
exaggerations and the s"I believe that the
weary
o raet o
trhye, toAf
Man
nothing of mere rabid nonsense, bk
dater adtirew to Ur, J 3
Rica; I.‘its which the