The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-09 00:00:00

THE WARRIOR.

This noble frigate is now jointly in the hands of
the builders and the workmen of the Admiralty,
both of whom are doing their best to push her for-
ward so as to have her ready for commission by the
end of July. Since her launch a great deal has been
done, and from the present date almost as much re-
mains to be done before she will be ready to receive
the pennant. All the armour plates, except the up-
per row on the starboard side, have been bolted on,
and this partial completion of her sea-going equip-
ment has made a most material difference in her
appearance. She is considerably deeper in the water
and has rather a marked list to port, in consequence
of more of the plates being in their places on that
side than on the starboard. Quiet as are the waters
of the Victoria-dock, the Warrior has, nevertheless,
already given several unmistakable indications of
being rather topheavy in her present trim, and an
armour plate more or less affixed to either side
makes an important alteration in her seat on the
water. Of course, when ballasted, with all her coals,
stores, and water in, her crankness will be reduced
to the minimum for a ship of her class. But, on the
other hand, if ever the Warrior burns all her coals
out, and has to return to port in heavy weather,
she is likely to be, to say the least, almost danger-
ously topheavy. Captain Ford, of the Thames
Ironworks, when building the vessel, proposed a
plan to the Admiralty to diminish this tendency
to rolling, by filling in between the hollow skins of
the ship with water as the coals were consumed.
The plan was rejected for the Warrior, but has
since been adopted by the new Surveyor of the
Navy for the mythical Achilles, which rumour
says is always about to be built at Chatham, but
with which as yet no manner of progress has been
made. The lower masts, topmasts, and topgallant-
masts of the Warrior are already up. Viewed from
outside the vessel, where the eye can take in the
whole of her colossal though fine proportions, those
spars appears ridiculously disproportioned to the
vast, bulk of the ship. They are the manta of a 00-
gun vessel notwithstanding, though it is difficult to
credit it till the visitor stands close alongside them.
The traditional three masts, however, will never do
much for this vessel under sail, and, if it is contem-
plated that she will ever have to depend on her
sailing qualities, she should have been given four.
most of the lower deck arrangements, as far as the
hull is concerned, are now nearly completed, and
one can form a pretty fair idea of what sort of a
ship she will be for internal accommodation when
at sea. She is, of course, of the most roomy dimen-
sions, though we doubt that in times of peace she
will ever be a popular vessel with either officers or
men as compared with frigates like the Ariadne or
Galatea. In the Warrior, even the little scuttles
through which in fair weather officers on the lower
deck receive their small modicum of fresh air and
hazy daylight are omitted. An armour plate admits
of no scuttle or aperture of any kind, so that all
within the iron casing below the main deck is as
dark as pitch, In times of peace living always by
candlelight in a ship that will surely roll awfully
will, not unnaturally, be regarded as uncomfortable,
though in war time the reflection that all on board
are quite sheltered from shot and shell will more
than counterbalance these little drawbacks. Even
the main deck of the Warrior is now very dim,
since the Admiralty have wisely determined to
narrow the width of the portholes to 30 inches, in-
stead of 50. The armament of the vessel has at last
been definitely fixed, and we think cur naval
readers will hear with surprise that it has been
determined to give her only six Armstrong guns—
viz., two 100-pounder pivot guns and four light 40-
pounders, two for each broadside. The rest of the
armament will consist of 36 common 68-pounder
guns of 95 cwt. each. Strange to say, also, all the
Armstrong ordnance are on the spar deck, and
therefore entirely unprotected by armour plating of
any kind, while the common guns are under cover.
If the whole vessel was armed with breech-loading
100-pounders, the armament would then be lighter
than the present comparatively inefficient guns by
nearly 50 tons. The fore and aft bulkheads which
are to shut off the stem and stern, not coated with
armour, are now also finished. An examination of
them will give the visitor the best idea of the im-
mense solidity of the vessel's sides, of which they
they are the exact counterparts, except in having
only 10 inches of teak backing, instead of 20. They
shut in the whole extent of the midships portion of
the ship, from the keerto the upper deck. Both on
the main and lower deck small doors of communica-
tion are cut through these bulkheads on the port and
starboard sides.
closed by doors covTehreedsew, iwthh47.inn
ce
hc e s s
armourary, cpaln be
a t
es,
turning on the most massive hinges, and filling in
the doorway so as to be perfectly watertight. In the
engine-room everything is
order. All that now remains completetto
b e
d oannedd nwperfect
is the erection of a cupola furnace for melting iron
and filling the hollow shells with the liquid metal.
Three or four such shells sent against a wooden ad-
versary would set her in a blaze from stem to stern
in ten minutes; whereas supposing such &projectile
to get down a hatchway on to the main deck of the
Warrior, it would be as harmless as on a stone pave-
ment, for the decks are of wrought iron. With all
the haste that may be made by the Admiralty (and
the long delay in completing this vessel is due only
to the Admiralty, and not to the contractors), it is
likely to be well on to the end of the year before
the Warrior can rank among our available defences.
By that time the Emperor of the French will have
at least 10, if not 12, iron frigates afloat, of which
five, it is
mis4itn. The
therefore expected,
a p
in
p will be actually in com-
arenntot buildingsu
pine
es
seems inexplicable, and their
apathy becomes almost a subject for alarm when
we recollect tha's France is n
ms
oreof
shipsthe
of the Warrior class
Admiralty,
such a long way ahead,
and that, even with
re-
sources, it is almost impossible al l our
tmanufacturing
build
oeo
f
iron frigates in less than 18 months. With the
most lavish expenditure, and with all the aids our
the s
private yards could give the Government, it would
be impossible, even supposing them to build no

more, to be on km equality with our neighbours in
this matter in less than two years. The excuse of
the Admiralty is that they must wait till they have
tried the Warrior and Black Prince. But how can
the real efficiency of these ships ever be tested, ex-
cept by actual warfare ? In all else they are known,
as far as our present knowledge of such matters
goes, to be as near perfection as they well can be.
No doubt future vessels will be built a thousand
tons larger, to enable them to carry armour plates
from end to end, and 500 tons more coal. Beyond
this slight development of principle, even the pri-
vate builders can suggest no improvement, yet the
Admiralty still wait and wait, and lose their pre-
sent and only opportunity day by day. Our navy
,may really be said to possess only two efficient iron
frigates, for the Resistance and the Defence were a
compromise. The expense of vessels like the War-
rior was thought too great, and. so, as the Admi-
ralty wanted to have more to show for their money,
they determined on building two cheap and ineffi-
cient vessels instead of one good and dear one. Then
the Warrior and Black Prince are never to be used
as steam rams, though they will have great speed,
while the two steam rams are so deficient on this
vital point that it is said they will not be able to
run down a sand barge if they have first to over-
take her. In all we have actually four iron ships
launched, two frigates and two steam rams, with
two more building, which are neither one thing nor
the other. So completely does the prestige of
success in this class of shipbuilding now attach
to France, that the Russians are having
two large iron frigates built there. So also
are two building for the King of Italy and
two for Spain. The latter Power is also having a
sister ship to the Ariadne built in England, and like-
wise a sister vessel to our Orlando. The Achilles,
which it is always said is about to be commenced at
Chatham, has been put off so often that even the
two new vessels just ordered at Glasgow and Mill-
wall are likely to be afloat before she is well begun.

.rlllt.b/..1zu.1.

TURIN, MAT 4.

At the opening of yesterday's sitting the House
of Deputies discussed and voted a bill for very con-
siderable improvements to the port of Ancona, a
commercial and naval establishment long neglected
by the Pontifical Government, and which Count
Cavour intends to raise to a harbour of the very
first magnitude. The Minister of Public Works,
Peruzzi, next proceeded to give a plan of the great
railway enterprises which are now in contemplation
for the whole kingdom of Italy and entered into
some important statements which cannot, I should
think, be destitute of interest for English readers.
That portion of Italy which already acknowledges
the sway of King Victor Emmanuel 11., the Minis-
ter stated, will, in the event of the bills now in
preparation meeting the approval of the Chamber,
have 1,779 kilometres of railway lines in operation
(the kilometre to be computed two-thirds of an
English mile), 1,704 kilometres in progress of con-
struction, and 2,650 to be given out for private
speculation. By adding to this the lines either in
operation or in progress of construction in the
Venetian and Roman, or present Pontifical, pro-
vinces, the whole of the Italian railway lines will
rise to 6,800 kilometres.
Of these the old State of Sardinia has already 850
kilometres in operation, and 382 in progress of con-
straction ; Lombardy, 247 in operation, and 209 in
progress; the YEmilia, the Marches, and Umbria,
145 in operation, and 561 in construction ; with
plans for 313 kilometres open for competition ;
Tuscany has lines in work to the amount of 375
kilometres, and is at work for 436 more, besides 39
kilometres in contemplation. At Naples the lines
in work are only 142 kilometres those in progress
96, and the projected lines 1,900 kilometres. The
lines projected for Sicily, where as yet no railway
exists, amount to 400 kilometres.
If we recollect that the first 41 miles of railway
in the old State of Piedmont were only opened in
August, 1848, when Lombardy and Tuscany
already boasted considerable achievements, and
when even Naples had its Royal line from the
capital to Castellamare, we shall have good reason
to congratulate the Subalpine people on the good
uses to which they have already put the twelve
years' freedom they had the good fortune to enjoy,
and to anticipate no less splendid results for the
future in behalf of their brethren of the east
and south, whom recent events have, it is to
be hoped, for ever associated to their destinies.
Thanks to the good effects of free institutions that
Piodionont, GM= IUtCZt in -the raer, ue i zt,
wonderfully been enabled to outstrip all its neigh-
bours. The works under immediate contemplation,
the Miulsters cuutinued, will give as a result the
opening of 550 kilometres new railway lines within
the present year, and 1,530 more within another
year, altogether 2,000 kilometres within the space
of two years, leaving 4,300 kilometres for the com-
pletion of all the contemplated lines. The shortest
line between Turin and Rome, along shore by
Genoa, Leghorn, and Civita Vecchia, would be 666
kilometres; a journey of 18 or 20 hours. Between
Turin and Naples the shortest route is through
Bologna and Ancona, across the Abruzzi, a distance
of about 800 kilometres, to be achieved in about 24
hours' journey. From Turin to. Brindisi• the line
would extend to 900 kilometres ; to Taranto, 863 ;
to Otranto, 972 ; to Reggio, the extreme point of
the peninsula, about 1,300 kilometres ; to which
may be added the 50 kilometres between Suit and
Turin, already long since in operation.
The shortest lines, however, will not in every in-
stance be the first brought to a termination, owing
to natural difficulties, which must needs retard their
construction. The line from Turin to Naples, through
Bologna, Ancona, Foggio, and Bari, will be about
950 kilometres in length, exceeding by 50 kilometres
the other line, which is to go through the Abruzzi;
but with the exception of the hills surrounding An-
cona and the pass of the Apennines, it runs along
shore, and mostly on level ground, so that the
Minister thinks it will be greatly advanced within
the present year, and brought to a full termination
within 1863.

In the same manner the road to Rome through
Genoa and Leghorn will meet serious obstacles on
the Riviera of Genoa, while the other, somewhat
longer (715 kilometres), through Bologna, Pistoia,
Florence, Chiusi, and Orte (the junction with the
line between Rome and Ancona), will be finished
first. The Apennine pass of La Porretta, between
Bologna and Florence, will, agreeably to the
Minister's statement, be ready within two years,
and so will the whole line, which is rapidly pro-
gressing throughout, with the exception of the
trunk between Orte and Rome (150 kilometres), for
which Italy must await the Pope's or the French
Emperor's good pleasure.
Most of these lines, as I said at the outset, are of
the greatest importance, not only for the Italians
and strangers travelling in Italy, but also as a
means of rapid communication between distant
countries. From London to Alexandria in Egypt,
the Minister stated, the distance now, either through
Marseilles or Genoa, is 188 hours' journey. It will
Ibe reduced to 155 hours, with an economy of 30
hours' time as scon as the line to Ancona is opened,
as it will be before the end of the present year. This
advantage will be greatly increased when the lines
shall be extended as far as Brindisi and Otranto, as
it can easily be done within two years.
Such are the first fruits Europe will reap from
the resolution it has now almost unanimously ar-
rived at to admit Italy into the sisterhood of free,
independent, united, and civilised nations, and to
allow and sanction the downfall of those narrow..
minded Governments which were as dead an ob-
struction to the material well-being and progress
of the country as to the intellectual and moral im-
provement of the people.
In to-day's sitting the Lower House discussed the
bill for appointing the first Sunday in June for the
celebration throughout the kingdom of a national
fete, to supersede the festa dello statato, the cele-
bration cf which, as you know, occurred in the old
State of Sardinia on the second Sunday in May.
This bill met with rather a formidable opposi-
tion from the Deputy Chiaves, who argued that it
was inexpedient to celebrate the rise of Italian
nationality, a fact as yet incomplete, since the
emancipation of Venice and Rome was indefinitely
put off; that it was absurd to appoint a day
to which no national association was attached—
a moveable feast in the early days in June,
which brought round no important anniversary.
He observed that at the period of the year
chosen for the solemnity some parts of Italy were
already exceedingly hot, and Rome, the chosen
capital, unhealthy; that the objection raised to
early May as a rainy season, which had often in-
terfered with the pastimes of the old Piedmontese
aCitoinlistatiinmtuee of
Constitution-day, might equally militate against
n
climate
ee
couldyear ,
be
es
pronouncedn o day in the s year in
altogetherthe
sat
taken
ereaeinnr,e a any more
surethnhn
than all f
ol
the.
thepr famousecautions
t
tEhgelinfiteoknlenTeosusrnoaf a North British
Tournament were of any avail
atmosphere.against
Finally, he objected that, with the devout tenden-
cies of the Italian people, a solemnity in which the
clergy were free to take part or not as they listed
(agreeably to the tenonr of the law, which neither
solicits nor demands the co-operation of the clergy),
regarded as a real fete by the
iwgonuolrdant
nlasse bse.
The discussion gave rise to several witty passes
never