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

memory!' by decapitating lawless Kings ? Why'
not swear members of the Anti-State Church So.
ciety that they will not imagine, compass, or con-
trive the destruction of the Establishment ? The
truth is that reason and argument, not oaths, must
now be the defence of il,ll that is worth defending.
Indeed, if protective oaths were needed on behalf of
any party it would be the. feebler one, the minority,
who need them ; and members of the Churgb. of Eng-
land should be sworn not to take advantage of their
being
in a majority, to oppress by legislation Ca-
tholics and other Dissenters. Should Mr. FITZ-
GERALD'S bill be defeated he might, perhaps, pro-
pose another, suggesting certain things which all
English Churchmen should swear to, in order to
secure the liberties of unendowed and unprivileged
sects. Dissenters and Catholics might cull a choice
selection of perseCuting canons and sentiments from
Church of England offices, laws, and acknowledged
authorities, were they to rummage her compara-
tively modern antiquities—antiquities still so ten-
derly cherished.

MR. G. T. F. SMITHS WEATHER PRE-
DICTIONS FOR MARCH, 185 g.

Generally fine to the 6th, and windy near then, probably
slight rain may occur near the 6th day ; from 10th to 13th
stormy and variable, with rain or 'llOl storms ; from 14th
to 17th still very stormy ; from the 17th to 20th or 21st it
will be stormy and very windy at the Equinox, variable
with bright gleams of sunny weather; and this kind of
weather, so variable, with sunshine and storms, continues
to the end of the month.

The average of mild weather has still continued, as men-
tioned in the explanatory remarks in reference to January
last, a period in which a powerful combination of inclement
testimony failed in its results ; and, as previously stated,
tends to strengthen my anticipation of another comet's ap-
proach to our hemisphere. It will be remembered that
similar anticipations in reference to the last comet were
not mistaken.

LECTURE
_ON THE
_USE OF COMB US-

TIBLE MATERIALS IN WAR.

On Tuesday last, a lecture was delivered in the
theatre of the United Service Institution—Major-
General S. Stanhope in the chairt---by J. Macin-
tosh, Esq., " On the Use of Combustible Materials
in the New Strategies of War." In order to ex-
plain his remarks, he classed them under five
heads :-lst. Facilitating attack by ships of war
against sea-face fortifications. 2d. Facilitating
attack upon earthworks. 3d. The inefficiency of
the ordinary shell and fuse as used during the late
Russian war. 4th. The destructive powers of in-
cendiary shells when used against shipping, &c.
sth. Method of preventing troops, &c., from cross-
ing rivers. Mr. Macintosh then went on to say
that he would propose to aid our navy in attacking
strong sea forts, by
.attaching an incendiary naval
steam brigade, consisting of small and inexpensive
steamers, having suitable iron compartments filled
with his combustible compound, composed of pre-
pared coal, tar, and naphtha, which can be easily ob-
tained in any quantities, and at a trifling cost. These
vessels would be sent in ,wind and tide favouring,w ith
a time fuse ignited leading to a bursting charge.
On exploding the bursting charge the inflammable
fluid would be scattered on the surface of the water,
causing the immediate ignition of the naphtha, and
producing a dense black suffocating smoke, which,
driven by the wind against the sea face, enters the
embrisures, and either suffocates or drives away the
enemy's gunners, leaving the forts in our possession.
Another plan was to discharge a sufficient quantity
of the naphtha upon the surface of the water to
windward of the fortress, and ignite it by means of
a shell or rocket containing naphtha and potassium ;
by the great affinity of the latter for oxygen, the
floating liquid, which cannot mix with the water,
will be immediately inflamed. The lecturer then
proceeded to explain his method of driving the
enemy from their earthworks and rendering them
untenable, by firing into them diaphragm
shells filled with his compound, and contain-
ing a bursting charge. The naphtha from the
bursting shells saturates the earth, and continues
to burn with a dense smoke. There was also
another kind of shell explained for use against
troops, the shower of inflammable material from
which sets fire to anything combustible with which
it comes in contact. It would be of great use in
disorganising masses of infantry or cavalry. A.
third kind of shell with a bursting charge wa,s de-
scribed, containing naphtha, with a few pills of
potassium, which in the bursting of the shell ignite
the naphtha. These would be useful for marine
purposes for firing into harbours amongst shipping,
stores, &c. Mr. Macintosh concluded his lecture
by explaining the use of his invention in the de-
stroying of pontoon bridges, rafts, &c. The lec-
ture was attended by the Earl of Shrewsbury, Lords
Overstone, Ingestre, and Ranelagh ' • Lieut.-General
Sir W. Codrington, General Cannon, Vice-
Admiral Ryder Burton, Major. Farrell, Captain
Stopford, R.N., and many members of the naval
and military professions.

TDB ACCIDENT TO THE CALAIS
STEAMER,.

Commander Pittock, of the Prince Frederick
William, in reply to a letter in the Times, says :
Omarriving off Calais at about 1.15 a.m., blowing
hard W.N.W. and a heavy sea running, the usual
night signals were shown from the harbour piers
for my vessel to enter, and while entering at easy
speed between the piers, in consequence of the low
state of the water and heavy sea, the vessel touched
on the bar, and lost all command of the helm ; the
following sea lifted her, and she struck the east pier
with great violence, completely disabling the port
paddle-wheel, and, on giving the order for the
engine to go ahead, the engineer reported that the
engines would not work in consequence of the
damaged state of the wheel. The vessel, thus com-
pletely disabled, drifted past the east pier and
stranded on the sand, broadside on, and a heavy
sea striking her carried away the davits and port-
quarter boat, and the carpenter reported the mail
awl baggage and fore cabins were filling in conse-
quence of two plates having been partly stove in.
The after-cabins and engine-room were quite
watertight, and from the construction of the vessel
(being in watertight compartments), and built ex-
pressly to take the ground in the tidal harbours of
Dover, Calais, and Ostend, I did not apprehend any
further damage to the vessel from her being ashore.
I most distinctly deny, as stated by " One of the
Saved," that I requested the mail•guard to come on
deck, as he was not safe in the cabin, and instead
of my impression being that the vessel would have
parted across the centre, she was too firmly embedded
in the sand to apprehend any such danger, and too
firmly constructed for such a casualty to occur.
Neither did I nor any of my crew state that the
Calais people ought to have sent off boats an hour
previously, but I afterwards stated that no boat
could live in such a sea. The fact that I sent the
ship's boat ashore with six passengers is the best
contradiction I can give to this misstatement.
I never asked for or obtained the assistance of
the lifeboat, neither did I exhibit any signals of
distress. At about 4 a.m. the lifeboat came along-
side, and I asked if any passenger or passengers
wished to go ashore, as it was perfectly practicable
to reach it, I having, as before stated, previously
sent the Ship's boat ashore with six passengers. I
did not urge any person to embark in the lifeboat ;
on the contrary, I assured them of their safety if
they remained on board, as in a few hours every-
body would be able to walk ashore. Many of the
passengers now entered the lifeboat, when, from
some unexplained cause, although not overcrowded,
she capsized, and all those who kad entered her
were immersed in the water, and, most unfortu-
nately, three were drowned, although not more
than a few minutes in the water. Instead of the
lifeboat righting herself, as stated by " One of the
Saved," by the passengers holding on to the lash-
ing, this very circumstance prevented her doing so
as soon as she otherwise would have done.

With respect to the very serious charge made
against me as a seaman by " One of the Saved,"
for allowing the lifeboat to receive passengers on
the windward, instead of the leeward side of the
vessel. I most distinctly and emphatically
deny that the lifeboat every received a passen-
ger on the windward or weather side of the,
vessel. During the whole time she was alongside
the Prince she was on the leeward side, and in
confirmation of this " One of the Saved" will per-
haps recollect that the staysail was hoisted and the
sheet hauled to windward the port side, making
the starboard side—that is, the side the passengers
were embarked in the lifeboat—the leeward side
of the vessel, the same side and place where the
ship's boat had previously embarked her passengers.
I make this denial, not only in justice to myself,
bfruoltni taonaththehiearpnc;uvraolfantlxleietl3irf.eboat, who were indefa-
tigable in their efforts to relieve the passengers
towed into Caltaoissiate
p.m., without having sustainedt
harbourh a t
o nthe Princenioy n
damage
aa ym,
ag wasnighte to safely
aher
e
9r
hull beyond two small holes in two of her plates, ,
which filled the fore compartments with water.

Lord Henry Gordon Lennox has resigned his
Lordship of the Treasury, lie will be succeeded by Mr.
Peter i3lsokburn, M.P. for Stulanashixe.