The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-22 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 22, 1857.

.11ONT BLANC IS OPEN TO-NIGHT.

CHPdSTY'.4 MINSTRELS, POLYGRAPHIC-
HALL, King-William-street. Strand.
THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-THIRD ENTER-
TAINMENT.

Seventh week of the JULLIEN BURLESQUE, received nightly
with shouts of laughter. Doors open at half-past 7, commence at 8.
Stalls, 3s. ; area, 2e. ; amphitheatre, Is.; Private Boxes, Id. Is.
Seats can be secured at Mr. Mitchell's, 33, Old Bond-street, and at
the Hail. On Thursday and Saturday, a Morning Entertainment,
commencing at 3.

PROFESSOR WILJALBA FRIKELL.
ST. JAMES'S THE ATRE.—PHYSIC AD and NATURAL
MAGIC.—TWO HOURS OF ILLUSIONS.—Saturday Afternoons
at 3, and Every Evenirg at 8 (except Thursday and Friday, Dec.
24th and 250). Stalls, 55.: •Ralcony Stalls, 45.; Boxes, 35.;. Pit,
25.; Gallery, Is. ; Private Boxes, two gutneas ; one guinea and a-
half, and one guinea.—Places to be secured at Mr. Mitchell's:Royal
Library, 33, Old Bond-street.

A DEL AIDE GALLERY, Lowther Arcade,
Strand.—Great success of M. Lamotte's Havelock Schottische.
and Grand Fantasia from "I 1 Trovijore,:' an 1 the New Caledonian
Quadrille by Charles Hull. Principal cornet-a-piston, M. Boulcoart.
Open every evening at half-past 8. Dancing commences at 9. The
Argyll Band is to be engaged for private Balls. - R. R. BIGNELL, Ma-
nager.

R. KAHN'S MUSEUM AND GALLERY

IF OF SCIENCE, 3, Tichborne•street, facing the Haymarket
This Institution presents entirely new fsatures and offers unpre-
cedented attractions. Its object will be to combine Natural with
EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE, and to show the connection be-
tween the functions of the Human Body and the great Forces of
the Universe. Amongst tke numerous novelties now added, may be
named the large Oxyhydrogen Microscope, GUENAL'S AP-
PAREIL URANOGRAPIIIQUE (now first introduced). The latest
improvements in Electric and other Apparatus (iiclsding RUHM-
KORFF'S WORLD-RENOWNED COIL), Illustrations of Micro•
scenic Anatomy, Dissolving Views of Physiological Phenomena,
upon a principle never before attempted, &c. Lectures are delivered
daily on the various branches of Science, and their application to
the Human Frame, the Laws of Life, and the Preservation of Health,
by Dr. Kahn and Dr. Sexton. The Institution is illuminated outside
with DU BOSQUE'S MAGNIFICENT ELECTRIC LIGHT.
Open (for Gentlemen only) from 12 till 5. and from 7 till 10 O'clock.
ikamtastairttrlbsowriloie Building,. One 38illing. IlluitratedCata-
lognes, Sixpence. Programmes and Lectures gratis on application,
or by post free for six stamps.

COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' SCHOOL
for ORPHAN and NECESSITOUS CHILDREN, PINNER'

PATRON—His Royal Highness PRINCE ALBERT.

The ANNIVERSARY DINNER to celebrate the foundation' of
this Institution will be held at the LONDON TAVERN, BiQhops-
gate-street, on SATURDAY, the 26th of December. W. M.
TIIACKERAY, Esq , has kindly consented to take the chair. Mr,
Alderman and Sheriffs Lawrence, and William Roupell, Esq.,
M.P., have promised to attend. Tickets, One Guinea each, to be
obtained from any of the Stewards, or at the Offices of the Institu-
tion, 81, Cheapside.

_
ALFRED LENCH SAUL, Secretary.
December 21,1857.

COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' SCHOOLS
for ORPHAN and NECBSSIT3UB CHILDREN, PINNER.

Patron, His R.yal Highness Prince ALBERT.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, That a GENERAL HALF-
YEARLY COURT of the Governors of this Institution will be held
on MONDAY, the 28th inst., at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-
street, to commence at 11 o'clock in the forenoon, when an Election
of Children (six boys and four girls) will take place, when all
such questions and matters as may be lawfully brought before the
Court will be discussed and decided.
. _

ALFRED LENCH SAUL, Secretary.
81, Cheapside, Dec. 21, 1857.

DRESS AND FROCK COATS of !Superfine
Black Cloth, 21. 15s. Od. to Three Guineas. Black Dress
Trowsers, 1/. ss. Od. A choice Selection in Dress Waistcoatings.
Excellene with Economy.
GEORGE lIOBSON, Fashionable railor, 57, Lombard-street.

lir R. HOWARD, 6urgeon-Dontist, 52, Fleet-
street. has introduced an entirely new description of ARTI-
E f(l I'AL TEETH , fixed without springs, wires, or ligatures. They so
perfectly resemble the nataral teeth as not to be distinguished from
the original by the closest observer; they will never change colour or
dzcay, and will be found very superior to any teeth ever before used.
Tlis method does not require the extraction of roots, or any painful
o3eration, and will support and preserve teeth that are loose, and is
g utranteed to restore articulation and mastication; and that Mr.
Howard's Improvement may be within the reach of the most econo-
•nical, he has fixed the charges at the lowest scale possible. De-
cayed teeth stopped and rendered sound and useful in mastica-
tion.-52, Fleet-street. At home from ten till five.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, MONDAY MORNING.
THE IRISH JUDICIAL BENCH.

The death yesterday of Mr. Justice Jackson leaves
a vacant seat in the Court of Common Pleas. The
learned judge had been ailing for a few weeks past,
but within the last few days the disease under which
he had been suffering took so favourable a turn that
his friends and family had begun to entertain san-
guine hopes of his being able ere long to resume his
judicial duties. The hopes, however, were vain,
and at 4 o'clock yesterday evening he died at his
house, neur Howth. The following is from the
Freeman of teis morning :
"We are sorry to understand that inteliigenoe
reached town at a late hour last evening of the death of
this excellent judge, whose health has been so pre-
carious for a long time as to excite the alarm, of his
numerous friends. For several months past this
venerable judge has been afflicted with a painful
disease, the nature of which it is unnecessary to men-
tion. He, however rallied to such an extent lately as to
raise a hope, unfortunately ill-founded, that he would
soon be able to resume his judicial dutier. We regret,
however, to state that Mr. Justice Jackson is no more,
and we may add, a more humane judge never adorned
the Irish bench. It is needless to state that in the
earlier part of his career, Joseph Devonshire Jackson
was a politician well-known for the strength and depth
of his Tory principles. He sat in Parliament for many
years as the representative of the borough of Bandon
Bridge, and in the House of Commons was celebrated
rather for the power of his lungs than for the liberality
of his sentiments or the eloquence of his language ; but
on his elevation to the bench all his old prejudices and
party feelings were merged, and he dispensed justice
with an impartiality and, in its more penal forms, with
a clemency which won for him the approbation of all.
During the Bloody Assizes' which some years ago
marked the administration of the criminal law in the
south of Ireland, Mr. Justice Jackson frequently in-
terposed between the prisoner and the anxiety of
jurors to convict. Indeed on every occasion he ex-
hibited a humane desire to fulfil ens of the highest
dutiei of a judge in undertaking the part of the prisoners
advocate. He was not a very profound lawyer, but
few men in his time enjoyed so large and so lucra-
tive a practice, particularly on circuit, where he
shared the leadership of the Munster bar with the
late Mr. G. Bennett. Mr. Justice Jackson was not far
from his 80th year, having been called to the bar in the
Michaelmas term of 1808. We need not here enter into
the particulars connected with his earlier life, but they
most certainly redound to his honour and prove the
moral elevation of his character. We shall not now
speculate on the vacancy created by his demise. If the
Attorney-General wishes to accept, it is of course at his
disposal, hut it is doubtful whether Mr. Fitzgerald will
take a puisne judgeship. If we suppose a refusal on the
part of the Attorney-General, the option of acceptance
or rejection wi,l devolve on the Solicitor-General ; but
all who know Mr. Christian are aware that be will not
take a common law pursue judgeship. If we assume,
then, a refusal by the law officers of the Crown, who
will fill the vacancy occasioned by Mr. Justice Jackson's
death? Many persons are suggested, but we shall not
undertake to particularise the fortunate individual."

THE GREAT SLANDER TRIAL.
The direct examination of the defendant Cam-
pion closed in the course of Saturday, and his cross-
examination was proceeded with. After the witness
had been some time in the hands of counsel the fol-
lowing interruption took place :
The CLief Baron stopped the business, stating that a
communication bad been handed to him for one of the
jurors, Mr. W. White, of Marlborough-street.
Mr. White on receiving the letter stated that be had
this morning left his mother very ill, and that probably
this was the notification of her death.

Mr. White having lc ft the box,
Mr. Macdono, b, Q.C., proposed that the case should
be heard with 11 jurors.
Mr. Lynch, Q.C., said he would not consent to any
such course being adopted.
Mr. Macdonogb, Q.C..—Oh, "there is a ♦ery good
reason for it, I assure you, as his Lordship will presently
see. We have an application in this case, my Lord, to
be made in Chamber; will my learned friends on the
other side attend ?
Mr. Lynch, Q o.—We certainly will not. There 19
do notice et this in auy affidavit.
• Messrs. Macdonogb, Q.C., and Whiteside then went
into his Lordship's chamber. The application was
stated to be private, and the nature of it did not trans-
pire.
The Court was adjourned till 11 o'clock this morning,
when the cross-examination of the defendant will be re•
sumed.

diminution to the privation 9, of many a straitened house
the apparently immaterial alteration of a word has wade.
The statistics in Thones Almanac shows that theyearly
dividends of the Bank were at no time less than 54 per
cent., except in 1783-4, when they were 5, and in 1792-3,
when they were 2i. From 1800 to 1814 they were 7,7 i,
and 7. ; from 1814 to 1829 10 per cent, excepting two
years ; and since 1829 until the last 12 months they
have been 8, Bi, and 9. Besides these dividends the pro-
prietors at different times have received bonuses
amounting to 800,0001. A bonus of 5 per cent. was paid
in January, 1856.

MR. SMITH O'BRIEIV ON SRO-RELIANCE.

A few days ago Mr. W. S. O'Brien made his first
appearance as a public lecturer before the Limerick
Mechanics' Institute of that city; and right well did
Mr. O'Brien discharge the duty which devolved
upon him as the speaker of the inaugural address
of the session of 1838. His remarks upon the vari-
ou s topics which he brought under the notice of his
audience were mostly characterised by sound sense,
and by an avoidance of all reference to the Utopian
schemes which had hitherto formed the staple stock
of those patriots who had traded extensively upon
Irish grievances and their remedy.
Self-reliance, in
Mr. O'Brien's view, should be the beginning of the
moral revolution which would raise Ireland from a
state of mere provincialism. " Instead," he justly
remarked, "of considering what we can do for our-
selves, we are always inclined to inquire what can
others do for us 1" And by way of
illustration he
observed...

" I shall only add one word more, by way of exhort*

tion to the young men of this. country, for the purpose
of endeavouring to induce them to abandon the habit,
which unfortunately prevails to a great extent, of seek-
ing to obtain situations under Governmnot. This habit
dose• not exist so much ainosig the woiking -classes as
among the middle classes and among the wealthiest
ranks of society. Such a disposition of mind tends much
to degrade the character of this country and to check the
natural energies of our people. I am confident that it
would be found upon inquiry that for every appointment
under Government conferred upon an Irishman there are
at least 20 competitors. Now if this be the case, it is
manifest that upon the occasion of each vacancy at least
19 persons must be disappointed ; and these 19 persons
are for the most part induced to hang on, re.ying upon
a vague hope, in a listless state of expectation, instead
of exerting their natural energies to make an independ-
ent position for themselves in the honourable occupations
of industry or commerce. This system of expectancy
tends also to degrade the character of our public men.
It is well understood at the Treasury that patronage is
given only to those who are prepared to offer an equiva-
lent for it in the support afforded to the Government of
the day. Hew is it possible, then, that a representative
can maintain his Parliamentary independence if be be con-
star.tly urged to solicit situations for his constituents
These remarks do not, however, apply to a system of pro-
motion dependent on competitive examination.' It such
a system could be universally established and acted upon
with integrity, the acquirement of a situation under
Government would be honourable to the successful
and even those who might fail would have the advantage
of an educational preparation which would be highly
useful to them in whatever path of life they might sub-
sequently choose. But I fear that we are still far from
the estaolishinent of a system of promotion which would
depend wholly upon merit ; and I speak not with refer-
ence to changes which may possibly hereafter occur, but
with reference to what actually exists.

"Few living men have mingled with so many different
grades of society, or have seen so many ♦icisei.udee of
life • and this experience has taught me that moral worth
and intellectual prowess are not the exclusive inheri-
tance of any particular class. On the contrary, I am
convinced that there is often to be found in the breast
of an industrious mechanic more of genuine dignity
than inhabits that of the haughtiest peer. I have
dwelt in lordly mansions and in thatched cottages, and
this experience has convinced me that genuine happiness
is as often to be found beneath the lowly roof as in the
regal palace. Among the men that I have known who
have obtained the highest success in a professional or
commercial career the greater part have been the archi-
tects of their own fortunes : have owed everything to
their own abilities andperseverance. lam able therefore
to speak in terms of encouragement to the young
mechanics who have done tee the honour to ask me to
address them to-night, and to assure them as well as the
classes to whom Fortune has been more propitious, that
both individual advancement and national greatness can
under the blessing of Providence be secured only by
cherishing the manly sentiment of self-reliance. We ought
not, indeed, to reject the co-operation of those whose
sympathies we are entitled to elaim. Onthe contrary, I
have endeavoured to show to-night how many useful ob-
j ects might be promoted by the combination of those whose
interests are identical; but we ought to practise the habit
of considering, not what might be done for as by others,
but what we can do for ourselves. By acting upon
this principle the inhabitants of Ireland have it in their
power to make this country a realm whose name shall
be mentioned with honour throughout all ages and
among all nations of the earth. Since we cannot erase
from our annals the pages which tell of dissension, and
suffering, and degradation, let us at least pray that our
posterity may hereafter enact and record, a history that
shall realise our fondest aspirations."

MORTARS AND MORTARS.

In the naval and military intelligence of Saturday it
was announced that the 36-inch mortar designed by Lord
Palmerston had again been subjected to trial and again
shown signs of defective construction. The association
of the Prime Minister's name with this monster cannon
is no doubt due to its having been ordered by him on
his own responsibility, without the previous sanction of
the War Department and the Woolwich authorities. The
latter are probably anxious to have it clearly under-
stood that they have had no share in recommending the
construction of so useless a piece of ordnance. They
may even quote it as a set off against the still more
conspicuous failure of the Lancaster gun, for which
they are undoubtedly answerable, and the manufacture
of which, after an enormous expenditure, has been
finally abandoned. In truth, whether the public looks to
the existing state of artillery science at Woolwich, or to
the experiments which have found promoters there, or
to those which have been forcibly thrust upon the War
office by the pressure of inventors out of doors, the re.
sults hitherto realised have been equally unsatisfactory.
The Russians did, indeed, cover the humiliation of their
retreat from the south side of Sebastopol by calling the
fire of their opponents a "feu d'enfer," but can we take
much credit for the compliment implied in that term
The late war clearly enough demonstrated that the Bri-
tish army has not, as it undoubtedly ought to have, any
conspicuous or decisive superiority over those of other
countries in the artillery arm, and tbat a monstrous
wastefulness of ammunition and materiel, which in
the strictest sense of the words means money—a
wastefulness preposterously out of proportion to the
destructive effects produced is common to all.
It being proved, therefore, that we are only on a par
with other. European States upon this point, and that
the existing system is very far short of what it should be
in electiveness, we now
find ourselves called upon to
confess, at the end of several years devoted to experi-
ments that our attempts at improvements have not been
'myth's wrought-iron gun, Krupp's
steel gun, Mallet's huge mortar, Lancaster's rifled can-
non,successful ; that If as
and many more of the same class, have failed ; and
that we have very little to show for the money expended
in these abortive schemes
beyond the knowledge that
we cannot violate the laws of mechanical construction
and of chemical science with impunity. Whether the
new pied of ordnance was favound at the War-effice, or
the Horse Guards, or down at Woolwich, or by the
Prime Minister, the result has still been of the same un-
fortunate character. The Russians, with their superior
quality of iron, can at least equal, if they do not sur-
pass, us in the size of their heaviest ordnance. Our allies
the French claim to be more effective than we are upon
the all-important point of field artillery. Are we, then,
to submit to this dangerous equality, and do our un-
rivalled mechanical resources offer us no escape from a
Position which the backward state of artillery science
throughout Europe only renders the more humilia-
ting ? The answer cannot be doubtful ;i ndeed, if we are
not mistaken, the question has already found its proper
practical solution. We must give up all attempts to set
the laws of the material world at defiance—to rifle can-
non so that they must either burst themselves or their
shells—to cast and to weld iron in masses which far
transcend the limits hitherto attainable consistently with
sound workmanship—to achieve by a tour de force what
can only be obtained by the regular graduated advance
of judicious and well-directed experiment. This succes-
sion of failures in the Woolwich marshes only illustrates
the same simple economic truths which place a limit to
the size of the London dray-horse—which makes the
one-horse cart superior to the waggon, the narrow-guage
to the broad-guage for goods traffic, which compelled our
mechanical engineers to seek by the fast action of per-
fectly forged parts in their marine engines for the power
which the size and consequent imperfections of larger
parts working at slower speeds could not maintain with-
out the risk of constant breakdowns. •
While some men of really inventive talent and a
great many charlatans have been permitted to
waste the public money in trying vainly to improve
our artillery, it seems passing strange that it should
not long ago have been discovered how impossible
it was to hope for successful results in the direction
in which they were working. It
was; clear that while
increased range and precision of firing were, wanted, it
was nearly as important to bring the charges of ammu-
nition and the weight of mewl in guns into more mans
geable proportions to each other,
and to the facilities for
transit on active service. No sensible man can have
witnessed the frightful damage done to the efficiency of
our army in the Crimea by the exigencies of the siege-
train during the winter of 1854-5 without being im-
pressed with this conviction.
The principle of the rifle
offered an obvious suggestion for the proper means of
working out the foregoing problem, but then for artil-
lery rifling by grooves would not do without the use of
a pliant metal in the projectile, and the cost of lead ron-

dere4 its application to that purpose impracticable. It
was necessary therefore to alter the existing mode of rifl-
ing, and to modify the bore of the cannon, so tat an iron
projectile could be discharged from it rotating on its own
axis in the line of flight. This resn't once secured, it is
(Amiens that a field piece or gun of position would become
a rifle on a large scale, and that the same immense increase
of range and of penetration which had been realised by the
smaller weapon as compared with Brown Bess would be
placed at the command of the artillery. It is consolatory,
after a series of failures worthy even of Brunel in launch-
ing the Leviathan, that the country has at last the well
grounded hope of an improvement by which our ord-
flange may be placed on a proper footing. In pursuing
those careful experiments which he undertook for the
Government principally to improve the rifle, Mr. Whit-
worth, the eminent machinist, adopted a polygonal
spiral bore of a uniform pitch, but more rapid than
could be attained by grooves. This bore has enabled him
to surpass immensely the range and penetration of the
Enfield rifle ; but even these advantages, important as
they are, scarcely surpass those which it places within
the reach of our artillery service. The strain of the pro-
jectile being distributed evenly over every side of the
polygon, iron can be substituted for lead in the projectile,
and this simple but beautiful mechanical appliance at
once becomes available for cannon. Moreover, Mr.
Whitworth has discovered in the course of hie experi-
ments that according to the quickness of the turn in the
polygon is the length of the projeotile that may be fired, so
that 241 b. and 481 b. shot have been sent to extraordinary
ranges with half the usual charge of powder from an ordi-
naryl2-pounder howitzer. Here, then, is at once the so-
lution of the whole question which has troubled the
brains of so many inventors, real or pretended, foryears.
The artilleryman at one stride resumes the relative
positiln to the soldier of the line which the Enfield rifle
had so perilously deprived him of, and this mechanical
country, after finding herself on the level of France,
Russia, and other European States,, is once more, as
daring the Peninsular campaigns, enabled to assert her
natural superiority..iik tp heanufticture of cannon.
trust thiit ne Vitty jeacmailia..on- the"past- of 'narrow--
minded officials will be allowed to interfere with thecourse
of Mr. Whitworth's experiments, and that the encourage.
ment which he is now receiving from the Minister at
War and the Commander-in-Chief will enable him, at no
remote date, to realise for the benefit of the army and
the nation that revolution in gunnery which the results
already obtained by him pronsise.—Times.

Messrs. E. Penning
R. G. Pbad
W. Barnes
J. Thorp
Mr. E. Fen]
COLIMA/

Messrs. J. Davies
J. Perkins
W. Webster
H. W. Valiance
Mr. J. Davi,
OORDW,

Messrs. L. Houghton
W. Tegg
W. Connell
Stewart
king, Deputy.
[-STREET.
Messrs. C. Hogg
T. Westall
J. E. S. Saunders
H. Roberts

Leg, Deputy.
AINER.

Messrs. Lott
Joyce
H. L. Taylor
Mr. Lott, Deputy.
CORNIIILL.
A poll takes place to-day on behalf of Mr. Purnell,
for this ward, so that the complete list cannot yet be
given.

Messrs. J. Cbaffey
J. Lamb
W. Croneber

Messrs. H. Jones
B. E. Brown
H; Lloyd
J. Parker
CRIPPLIGAr
Messrs. J. Pickering
E. Stillwell
G. Cuthbert
W. King

OBIPPLXGATE-WITHIN.
Messrs. W. Brass, jun.
J. Edmunds
B. Spilbury
J. Burkett

DOW

1-WITHOIJT.

Messrs. W. Morisse
S. Read
J. Johnson
J. Sewell

Messrs. Krppel
G. Harker
T. Whits
Mr. Kepp
FARRINCIDC
Mesas. J. Morris
J. Kelday
H. Blake
Young
Glover
G. R. Bengough
Holt
Mr. Holl
PARRINQDO
Messrs. J. M. Barnard I
C. E. Butler 1
G. Roes
G. Scamell
W. T. Bedford
C. Wooltorton
W. Gresham
S. F. Langhatn
Messrs. Barnard. an,
LfraiGl

GATE.
Messrs. J. Kearns
J. Coleman
J. Truscott
,el, Deputy.
ON-WITHIN.
Messrs. C. Reed
G. Virtue
G. Dolland
E. Wheeler
C. Phillips
M'Lauchlan
T. Millard
,t, Deputy.

IN-WITHOUT.

Messrs. J. Anderton
R. Williams
R. Obbard
G. Walter
T. Cotterell
E. Hodgson
H. J. Liss
W. Lawley
d Obbard, Deputies.
101311 N.
Messrs. C. Sully
T. Webber
I A. Crosley
J. Symonds
n, Deputy.

Messrs. S. Unwin
T. Snelling
E. Howard
R. C. Bache

Mr. Trawl:
MIME

Messrs. Cork
T. B. Simpson
Mr. Cork,
PORTS

tEET.
Messrs. T. Symonds
W. Simpson

:, Deputy.
SO EN.

Messrs. Christie
T. C. Hayward.
J. Annie
J. Venables

Megan. G. Vile
G. Bone
D. King
T. Mills

Mr. Clrvisti
QITZENI

Messrs. W. Itathbono
T. Burroughs
G. Rayment
Mr. Ratlbol

Le, Deputy.
HITHE.
Messrs. T. H. Saunders
J. Terry
Todd

ne, Deputy.
TB. _ _

Messrs. G. Aitchison
Redhead
Turnbull
Barkley
Mr. Aitchis

Messrs. Nissen
Smith
Cornell
_ Verry

ion, Deputy.
TRY.

Messrs. Archer
W. D. White 1
T. Sprague
Mr. Arche
WALD]

Messrs. G. Mason
C. Gammon
R. Tress

r, Deputy.
ROOK.
Men Ts. T. 'Rowley
H. E. Murrell
T. H. Fry
Mr. Condor, Deputy.

Messrs. Conder
F. Male
W. Dawson