The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-15 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

The experiments which have been made at Chat-
ham with the model of the newly invented breech-
loading cannon, the invention of Mr. Robt. Warry,
armBurer to the 3d battalion at that garrison, hav-
ing been attended with complete success, orders
have been given for the .manufacture of a breech-
loading cannon on a much larger scale, so that the
same may be tested by a committee of scientific
officers connected with the Royal Artillery and
Engineers. The new gun which is now being
made will be 18 inches in length, the barrel alone
being of the length of 16 inches from the breech
to the -Muzzl6. Arsit Is"-intended' to put the
gun to a series of very severe tests, the utmost
care is being taken in its manufacture at
the establishment at Brompton. The barrel, which
is of great thickness, is to be made of brass, with
wrought-iron casings and the entire weight of the
gun 101 b. The ball to be used in the experiments
with this new piece of ordnance will be the newly
invented elongated rifle shot, the invention of Capt.
Norton. This rifle bullet is stated to possess several
important advantages over the conical rifle ball now
in use, there being no " plug" in the base, and the
ball being coated with paper, the great amount of
friction which prevails in the propulsion of the
bullet from the barrel is considerably lessened.
The new breech.loading cannon is so constructed
that it can be elevated or depressed to any sight,
while, by a simple contrivance, the muzzle may be
pointed in any direction without moving the car-
riage. The inventor expresses his confident belief
in being able to throw 10 balls per minute a dis-
tance of 2,000 yards. It is stated that the first
model breech-loading gun made by him repeatedly
sent the balls into a target placed at 100 yards'
distance, the shots being fired at the rate of 50 per
minute.

THE BEGTNT OF PRUSSIA'S SPEECH.

(From the Morning Advertiser.)
The speech of the Prussian Regent to the Cham-
bers confirms to the letter all we have written
on his character from the day he assumed the reins
of government. The case is precisely as we fore-
told, contradicted though we have been by many
of our contemporaries : the Prince, the firmer he
finds himself in power, the more unmistakeably ex-
_

hibits his true despotic nature. The harangue
before us, we think, will dispel the last lingering
doubt among those who hoped better things from
Prince William. In matter, as well as in style,
this effusion vividly reminds us of similar produc-
tions of the now demented Monarch, who once was

such a mighty stickler for Right Divine, intact and
uncompromised. It is curious to observe how the
Regent—who, with all his absolutist tendencies,
did formerly but little garnish such aspirations
with flowers of speech—now also breaks out in a
flight of those bombastic inflated tirades which his
eccentric brother, Frederick William IV., so fre-
quently committed. To read the address of the
Prince to the Deputies, it would really appear as
if things had gone back to the year 1847, when a
haughty monarch—insane with his arrogant ideas
of " Kingship by the Grace of God"—strutted
about the White Saloon, buttoned and buckled in

full regimentals, and browbeating the representa-
tives wo had come at his summons. .

To the general reader not conversant with the
famous stock tags of the lunatic King, many ex-
pressions of the Regent will lose their peculiar
haute gout. Germans, however—or such among
ourselves as have followed more closely the course
of things in Prussia—will at once observe that
Prince William, remarkably enough, has thought
proper to introduce into his speech several cele-
brated mots, by which Frederick William IV.
rendered himself on many occasions sufficiently
notorious. This is a fact worthy of attention. It
shows that the Regent has already so far deve-
loped his audacity as to openly make sport of
the liberal expectations that were once formed
of him. Thus, in the very first instance of the
speech, he is reported to have said that " he re-
quests the Deputies to assist Government with
their judgment and devotion in the course which
he has taken in regard to the policy of Prussia, its
glorious history, and its patriotic traditions—a
course which he is determined firmly to pursue,
within limits immoveably fixed." This dynastic
finality doctrine has been often broached, in the
same words, by King Frederick William. It is a
defiant throwing down of the Royalist gauntlet in
the face of every species of Reformers. It is tanta-
mount to declaring that the condition of the people
in Prussia is to remain henceforth, and for ever,
confined within the iron circle which the egotistical
and narrow wisdom of any obfuscated crowned head
has thought proper to forge.
The sentence immediately following is another
reproduction, word for word, of an ill-renowned
phrase used by Frederick William IV. in his me-
morable harangue of 1847. "To preserve to the
King," says the princely speaker, " the prerogative
of the Crown unscathed is one of the chief missions
of my Regency." This again is synonymous with
a refusal of all piactical development of Parlia-
mentary institutions. It means the maintenance
of the absolute Royal power, as hitherto practised
by the irresponsible rulers of Prussia. Similar
expressions are to be found pervading the entire
speech. Those who know the peculiar turn of
mind and thb specific phraseology of the King,
might well believe that he had again returned to
the scene. In fact, the threatening allusions to his
formidable army, so extensively dealt in ; the stress
laid on the care the Regent intends to take of pre-
serving undiminished the " Royal dignity ;" the
Quixotic flourishes about the black and white ban-
ner; the adoption of the Kreuz-Zeitung's parole of
a " kingdom by the Grace of God ;" the emphasis
given to the " old Prussian spirit" which " finds its
expression in shouts of ' Long live the King !' "
and the studied silence on every topic referring
to real amelioration and political progress : all
these features are so eminently characteristic of
the family oratory, that the resemblance in the
speeches of the two brothers is all but identical.'
Nay, to complete the delusion, the Regent even
apes such ridiculous, spasmodic expressions of the
King's, as, for instance,—" Forward! help me to
bold high that banner ! He who follows it, follows
Me !" and other melodramatic rant, long since the
jest of all sensible men in Germany.
This Royal oration is altogether a sorry produc-
tion. Not a single proposition does it contain of
efficient reform •, not a solitary hope does it hold
out of a better future. All that the Deputies are
expected to do is, that they will " readily vote the
supplies for increased outlays," which the Regent
considers " are required for the maintenance of the
Royal dignity, for augmenting the military, forces,"
and so on. " You will perceive from the Budget,"
says he, " how much attention I have constantly
devoted the improvement of our army, which
has always, with unshaken devotion, struggled for
and maintained the honour of Prussia, as well in
war as in peace." A pretty prospect truly, for the
unfortunate tax-paying public ! And a singular
praise of the Prussian soldiery ! It hadbeen thought
by some that the army had made itself of late rather
a little too conspicuous " in peace ;" that its Junker
swashbucklers had shown themselves somewhat too
prone to interfere with the liberty—and, in some
cases, with the personal security—of the citizens, to
be thus bedaubedwith gratitude for their magnani-
mous services "in peace." It was fondly assumed—
not that we include ourselves among such fond be-
lievers—that the Government of the Regent would
abate this dragooning preponderance, and resettle
the State on a civil basis. But such flattering
dreams are now rudely dispelled. The army is
publicly thanked for the laurels won "in peace." It
will here be remarked also that the Royal praise
and gratitude are confined entirely to the regular
army, and in no way extends to the ranks of the
Land.wher,—a circumstance telling pretty plainly
that this latter popular branch of the military or-
ganisation is destined to be speedily abolished.
The paragraph referring to the German Duchies
of Schleswig-Holstein we need scarcely dissect. It
contains nothing better than what the French call
la blague. On the northern frontier of Schleswig-