The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-04 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

The following General Order has been issued
from the Horse Guards :

" The recent general inspection of arms at Alder-
shott, Shorneliffe, Dublin, and the Curragh has
shown that the spare, or unused rifles, in possession
of regiments are, with very few exceptions, in a
very unsatisfactory state of preservation ; that they
arc rusty, and gummed up with clogged oil or dirt,
and that they cannot be cleaned without the appli-
cation of some gritty or cutting substance. the fre•
quent use of which would damage and affect the
efficiency of the arms. Captains or officers com-
manding companies are responsible for the preser-
vation of the arms, for which they receive an allow-
ance from Government, and the General Command-
ing-in-Chief will admit no excuse for any neglect of
this important duty. The unused arms must be
those of sergeants, or of men in hospital, or of the
band; and his Royal Highness desires that all
those men (the sick excepted) will parade with
their companies once a week with their arms and
accoutrements, when a strict examination of them
will be made, the barrels inside freed from any
obstruction, and the locks duly oiled before being
returned to the arm-chest or placed in the arm-
racks. The arms of the sick in hospital are to be
in like manner inspected and put in order by the
armourer-sergeant, or, as may be directed, by
the officer commanding the company, who
is personally responsible for the efficiency
of all. Commanding officers will add to
every daily statement a certificate that the arms
were duly examined and found in good order on
the -, and that the instructions for cleaning
arms as prescribed in page 11 of the new edition of
the " Musketry Regulations," are duly observed.
The General Commanding in Chief likewise desires,
as a further means of maintaining the efficiency of
the rifles, and of detecting those which may become
unserviceable, that an annual inspection of the
whole of the arms in possession of regiments and
depots, at home and abroad, may be made in the
month of December in each year by boards consist-
ing of not less than three officers, one of whom is to
be a field officer. When available, officers who
have been trained at Hythe are to be selected for
this duty, and, when practicable, the assistance of
one of the viewers of the War Department is to be
obtained. The arms are to be minutely inspected,
stand by, stand, and the defects of each duly noted,
with a view to such repairs as may be necessary
being executed at the expense of the officers com-
manding companies. If the means are at hand,
barrels which are suspected of being dented, or in
any way damaged in the bore or rifling, are to be
accurately gauged, and, if any are unserviceable,
their exact number is to be stated, and the causes
to which their unserviceable condition is attributed,
as well as the dates of issue, are to be distinctly
specified in the proceedings of the boards, which
are to be sent on the Ist January to the General or
other officer commanding the division, district, or
station, for transmission to the Adjutant-General
and submission to the General Commanding in
Chief.

"By order of his Royal Highness the General
Commanding in Chief.

" G. A. WETHERALL, Adjutant-General.'
The newly invented breech-loading percussion
gun, which leas been perfected by Mr. Warry, the
armourer to the 3d battalion, at Chatham, was yes-
terday subjected to another trial at l3rompton bar-
racks, for the purpose of testing this new piece of
ordnance when used in firing shell. The model
gun was on this occasion loaded with one of Capt.
Norton's newly invented " liquid fire" rifle shells,
Captain Norton himself being present at the trial.
The charge of powder used to fire the shell was only
one drachm weight, or exactly one-fifth of the
weight of the proof charge. In order to test the
effects of the " liquid fire" shells -when fired from
the breech-loading gun, Captain Norton directed a
stout plank to be erected at the end of the range for
the shell to strike against. On the signal being
given the gun was fired, the first shell striking the
board, against which it burst, scattering the
" liquid fire" for some distance, The results were
most satisfactory, the portion of the -blank struck
by the shell bursting out in a second' or two Into
flame. Other shots were afterwards fired, all with
the most satisfactory results, The breech-leading
gun 41st completed by Mr. Warry is capable of
throwing a shot 2,000 yards, at which distance
Captain Norton states that he is prepared to set
fire to any combustible matter by 0110 of his shells.
On the first occasion of Mr. Warry's breech loading
cannon being brought under the notice of the officers
of the Royal Engineers and other persons interested
in the invention, doubts were entertained whether
the gun, after several rounds of firing, would
not be found to expand at the breech,
thereby rendering it comparatively useless.
The result of the experiments, however, recently
made with it proves that after the most rapid firing,
even to the extent of 50 rounds in five minutes, not
the slightest expansion can be detected in the
breech, the gun at the end of the firing being as
cool as at the commencement, the opening at the
breech admitting a draught of air to pass through.
Mr. Warry is about to arrange for the manufacture
of a breech-loading rifled gun, on his principle, of
much larger dimensions, and this he calculates will
throw a ball to the distance of five miles. Before
leaving Brompton yesterday Captain Norton pro-
ceeded to the Royal Engineers' practising ground,
and exhibited an invention of his for rapid Tortical