The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-14 00:00:00

Foreign Mail Packet List.

.MAILS DUE.
&ustralla and New Zealand, via Southamptos Nov. 19*
Ditto, via Marseilles Dec. 14'
Brazil and Cape Verde, by British packet. Dec. 4.
Ditto, by Nrenoh packet Nov; 21
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena Nov. "a.
China, _Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton Nov 19.
Ditto, via Marseille& Nov. 21
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar, via Southampton 4 Nov. 19'
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton__ Nov. 19
Ditto, via Marseilles
India (Bombay), via Southampton. Nov. 22
Ditto, via Marseilles Nov 22
',Salta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton Nov 19'
Ditto, via Marseilles Nov; 22'
Mauritius, via Southampton
Ditto, via Marseille i D. I*'
Newfoundland
Portugal
Ditto, by private ship to Lisbon
United States and British North America, by Bri-
tish packet
Ditto, by United States packet, via Southamp-
ton

Ditto, via Curk
Ditto, by Canadian packet, via Londonderry ..Nov. 16°
West Coast of Africa, Madeira, and Teneriffe ....Deo. 12'
West Indies and Pacific (except Bahamas and
Honduras) No 413
Cuba snd Mexico
Bermuda, via Halifax Nov. 21
Bahamas, via New York. De° 11

• CAPTAIN IVPKILLOP'S COFFERDAM.—YeSterII
afternoon Capt. WKillop's cofferdam was again sucon
fully applied to H.M.S. Terrible, in the steam basill.„l'd
Portsmouth. The Kingston valve was taken out, """
Admiral Wellesley and Mr. Murdock, the inspector of taivf
chinery, with Captain Fellows and Captain Morrell, °
the Duke of Wellington, went down under the shies
bottom with lanterns. The operation was repeated. 511°1-
occupied, 27 minutes.
' EXPERIMENT AT THE WAR-OFFICE.—The follow'
ing letter appeared in a recent number of the
Pall Mall Gazette :—" Sir,—Now that Mr. Sul°
is dead, that Mr. Clode has spoken, and that the
administration, past and present, of the War-of:08
is again attracting its fair share of public attentOte
I think the following little anecdote may be of he
interest to your .readers. In the beginning t. 0
year 1858, while attached to her Majesty's Legat°46
at Washington, I sent home a report upon te,
" Morse" breech-loading " centre-fire" rifle,
ther with drawings of the arm and its cartilageci
I gave an account of the trials to which L 1:1,
seen it subjected : how it was loaded under
water in the river Potomac with cartridges whit ut
had previously been soaked in water for tweuti":ed
hours, and how, in spite of water dripping 011100
every part, and weeds and sand grinding in der
mechanism, it made fair shooting, and how Owe
favourable circumstances it could be fired twwey;;s
times a minute with ease and precision. '1"-rif
account was simply a true and faithful narration
what I witnessed in presence of Admiral DailLgr
(of big gun celebrity), Captain Wise of the "of
e
Department, and many others ; and as it went h°llo
through the channel of the Foreign-office, it err,
directly under the notice of the chiefs of the." e,is,
office, and so startled them that they incoutieen);o
burst the bonds of red tape, and, contrary t°
most stringent rules, and to all precedent,' °ram-a
at the expense of Government a specimen rifle 1:lie
one thousand rounds of ammunition for a cosilto ,
to examineand report upon. After the usual
ber of months the oracle spoke. The rifle was "01,
jetted. It did everything I said, it had done Ile
would do, but it possessed properties, which,
opinion of the committee, were fatal to its 111 tr
4
ductior into the British army. At the present -00
•even the authorities' acknowledge that the w
gre
desiderata in a military rifle are rapidity and af, s
racy of fire, which can only be combined ,
breech-loading rifle and a cartridge which,
r les its own priming and holds the prole-ttbis
in a metallic cylinder, thereby insuring th
coincidence of the axis of the projectile /110,
that of the barrel, and it may increase the Leh
fidence of your readers in the wisdomwitios
habitually presides over the technical departineos
of the War Office to learn the nature of the grlo/
on which the committee condemned the *or
rifle, and to compare the advertisement of hreetbs
loaders just put forth by the War Office with
,h, IT
A sr
objections of the committee in 1858. ,„ber,
Office advertisement, under date the 22d a Oew.tios
1866, stipulates that both the arms and aunllL3lage,
sent in shall be capable of bearing rough , ber,
damp, and exposure in all climates ;' and fil'arry
0
among other things, that ' the cartridges roust jog
their own ignition," and that the cartridges ulleie a
arranged on a table, the arm must be ca133400t
firing at least twelve rounds per minute wl" the
aiming.' The objections of the committee tool
Morse' rifle were three :-Ist. The rifle fired e.ageo
the ammunition too quickly ; 2d. The cartri esoi
were metallic ; 3d. The cartridges carried their NV.
ignition.—l am, sir, your obedient servant' Ot
HOPE, late 7th Royal Fusiliers. Malvern, Vet'
1866. [P.S.--When the War Office have P-Ooet
chosen the rifle of the future, I intend to Wl;lth
to try how it behaves when loaded under wa.er'orjet
weeds and sand grinding in the mechanisin,lll ova
that I may fully appreciate its vast superiorit.iteeio
the ' Morse,' and the astuteness of the colueli
condemning that worthless weapon.--W-

Births. k V?
HASLEHUST—On the 12th inst., at Chestnut soll•
tuamstow, the wife of W. H. Haslehust, Esq., ("" too'
LOWNDES—On the 11th inst., at Braunston, Norha`'
shire, the wife of Lieut.-Col. Lowndes, of a 6°o' ooatil
NICKALIS—On the 13th inst., at Holmesdale,
Darenth, the wife of Tom Nickalis, Esq., of a 0013 89dr
NICHOLSON—On the 13th inst., at 4, Sussex-acigs,re,,./00.
park, the wife of W. Nicholson, Esq., MY.,

• u
Marriages.
t Par° i
MIDWINTER— SOPER— On the 12th inst., at bed 0011,.°
church of St. Dunstan's, Stepney, Charles, seclovitae';
the late Captain Midwinter, of Albert-square,' j SO"
vial-road,otrod,S
ljarr
WirtnnAm—Vccux—On the Bth inst , at St. NrarP'lco33.4"
Dorset,
tt,hsiordliediatourg.hter of the lave •
lebone, Lieut.-General Sir Charle; A. Windham' gent
to Charlotte Jane, eldest daughter of the late itev"
Des Voaux.

Deaths. 7,011,134'
DUCHANAN—On the 13th Sept., at Dunedin,
st., Newd 41'
John Buchanan, formerly of 47, Moorgate- nb- faCV
BASSETT—On the 11th inst., at Ilerntitage liii°'
mond, Thomas P. Bassett, Esq., aged 83. VW':
BERNARD—On the 12th inst , at 6, Jer
Colonel Peter Bernard, formerly' of the 68fh g ,
myn_street, wow
(Light Infantry), aged 65
CAFFIN —On the 10th in t. at Myrtle 17111„87 Blacki°
Kent, the wife of W. Ctstli'n, Esq., aged 8u- .0.n., of
DOUGLAS—On the 12th inst., Robert J. Douglas', P"
4
31°51
Lockerbie. . e/4.
94
AlAhsrox—tra On the 12th inst , at Ludlovr, B.
1411
a Magistrate and Alderman of the bOro, aged 5 site,
°ll
ROSSITER—On the 12th inst., at Kensington, It
FpSEsq., aged 53.
WENTWORTH—On the 11th inst., at Wandsworth, J
.--
Wentworth, Esq., engineer, aged 47.
..,. l_jitooS •
London : Printed tad Published byWILLIAg -5 $O. of
of No. 112, Strand, Printer at Tna SuN
0000600ty
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy. In_the
Mlddlesex—Wednesday, November 14,1