The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-01 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

The depot brigade of Royal Artillery was yes-
terday mustered on the barrack field, Woolwich, in
command of Lieut.-Col. and Brevet Col. G. R. H.
Kennedy, in heavy marching order, for the pur-
pose of putting into effect the thorough equalisation
of batteries composing the brigade, destined from
the present date (July 1) to constitute the nursery
of the entire corps. The brigade is composed of
3,000 picked men, and as they appeared yesterday
for inspection, each man equipped with his com-
plete accoutrements and travelling kit, ready to be
transferred to new quarters, it was remarked that
a more soldierly body of men could not bemet with.
in her Majesty's service.
_ _

Yesterday Morning Major-General S. R. Wesley,
the DeputyAdjutant-General, resumed his inspec-
tion of the Chatham division of Royal Marine Light
Infantry, commencing the day's proceedings by
witnessing detachments from each of the companies
go through the gun drill, in which exercise all the
officers and men of the Royal Marines are in-
structed, in order that they may assist in working
guns on board ship. The ease and quickness with
which the marines moved about the heavy guns
and went through their exercise was exceedingly
satisfactory, and left no doubt that in action the
working of the ship's guns might safely be left t
the Royal Marines. Owing to the great deman
there has been for Marines to join the new ships
which have recently been commissioned, the num-
ber of duty-men now at head-quartrrs does not ex-
ceed 300, consequently the companies yesterday
presented a very meagre appearance.
A sample carriage, destined for Sir William Arm-
strong's 40-pounder siege gun, constructed from a
design of Col. Tulloh, Superintendent of the Royal
Carriage Department, Woolwich,-was yesterday
tested in the Arsenal Marsh, and proved extremely
applicable and available, even beyond the anticipa-
tions of the committee.

THE STEAM IA2IL

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
SIR,—I have latterly avoided bringing my name
before the public in connection with the question of
the steam ram, hoping that the plan would be car-
ried out according to the principles I had submitted
during the Russian war, and subsequently repeated.
at various times to the Admiralty ; but your ar-
ticle of to-day on the subject obliges me to disclaim
any participation in or knowledge of the manifest
incongruities and absurdities there particularised.
I shall slightly touch on the details of my plan as
you have already published them in your paper,
but must observe that they have been somewhat
modified to meet the superior power of Armstrong's
guns.
I perfectly agree with you that the certainty
of her screw being fouled by the wreck of her mast
and rigging is ose insuperable objection to the ram.
you describe. The inconceivable absurdity of a
telescope or any moveable bowsprit for a vessel of
6,000 or 7,000 tons, to be rigged in and out accord-
ing to the rapid exigencies of a battle—these and.
other similar absurities are so gross that I can
scarcely believe you are correctly informed in the
details you have given. I quite agree in your
opinion as to the incalculable efficiency of a well-
constructed steam ram. It is self-evident that
a vessel combining incombustibility, comparative
invulnerability, power to:destroy by collision, with
quickness of movement and speed beyond all the
lame vessels of the day, armed with a few heavy
guns, adaptaa both for incendiary projectiles, such
as shells loaded with molten iron, liquid fire, &c.,
and solid shot, must be superior to ships deficient
in all these qualities. I allude more particularly •
to all our large screw timber-built vessels of war.
My idea is, that the vessel I describe should for
general service have a rudder and screw at each
end ; masts and sails (if she carries them) made to
lower down and house when preparing for action,
and that for our home seas she should have
no masts or sails, but paddles, besides the two
screws, the paddles constructed to fit into two
hollows, so that the protective bulwarks should
enclose them, and the strongest shot-proof parts
sp,hoeumldan bei force
eheotf‘ hvoer eanrdtlley shouldsiaard not in. teh
seo cpelnatereed.
that when she attacks by collision her fire will act
in the same direction as the blow, and with this
the manifest advantage that her enemy's shot can
only hit her obliquely. The opinions of some of
the most eminent scientific and practical
men in
our country concur as to the perfect feasibility of
the above plan. It is self-evident that no number
of line-of-battle ships could be a match for even
one vessel so constructed. With half a dozen such
vessels an invasion of our shores is
impossible.—
Believe me, sir, your obedient servant,
G. R. SArrourtis, Vice-Admiral.
London, June 30.
P.S.—I forgot to mention that the false bow or
cutwater will be crushed in
it will then hang on in a cross direction, and most
seriously embarrass all the subsequent movements
of the ship, by the first collision ;