The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-24 00:00:00

, T fl
EXHIBITION OF ART TREASURES I R THE WHITWOTH AND ENFII:LD
OF TUE RIFLES.
UNITED KINGDOM,
OPEN AT MANCIIKS rEr, MAY 510,1857. For the last few days a very interesting and im-
SRASON TICKETS, 21. ss., may b+ 4 btained at the Offices of the portant series of experiments has been in progress
Exhibition, 100, Mosley-street, 2,1 a nchester ; als in, London, Mr.
'SAM'S, 'Royal Library, St. James-street ; air. MITCHKLLN, Royal at the Government School of Musketry, Hyt:le, in
Library, New Bond-street ; LETTS &CO , Royal Exchange; order to test the comparative merits of these two
SMITH & CO, 157, Strand; and at LIME & SON'S, Church- rifles. Tho trial, which was of the most searching
street, Liverpool. —By order,
THOMAS HAMILTON. Secretary. and impartial character, was conducted by Colonel
Inquiries as to ,‘PARTMENTS may be made from Mr. SAMUEL Hay, the able head of the school, and has termi-
11A.DRIC, Offices of the Exhibition, 100, 11:osley-street, 31 anchester nated in establishing beyond all doubt the great and
Jr
-- -A decided superiority of Mr. Whitworth's invention.
VMWJr r
, i%p:2'
~ ~ I, , The Enfield rifle, which was considered so much
;CM It, 111 77,1:-';‘,-.', A ,r 4,4 -40.,,,tu }o_, 2, bet'er than any other as to justify the f Lrmation of
'''' ' a vast Government establishment for its special
manufacture, has been completely beaten. In aneti-
SUN' OFEICE, Seven, o'Clock. racy of fire, in penetration, and iu range its rival
excels it to a degree which hardly leaves room for
comparison.
MALTON RACES.—(This Day.) The following table gives the best results that
have been obtained -froth ten shots of each arm re-
(BY ELECTRIC TELEURAPII.) spectively in the course of the experiments, which
have extended over a week in time, and were
LANGTON STAKES, brought to a close yesterday in the presence of
Sucony
Esperaucs
Captain Po wlett
Me. Range in Elevation. Figure of
Five ran. yards. merit.
_____. -
. WELHAM CUP. Deg. Feet.
Tharnthoro .
Fairy
Villikins
Five ran. Enfield
COVIVIAL HANDICAP. Whitworth }
1,100 3.45 2.41
Martlett .
Conrtenay
Minnie . Whitworth
o 1 1,400 5.0 4.62
Enfield 6.20 to 7.0 No hits.
Seven ran.
TALLY-HO HANDICAP. Whitworth }
1,800 6.40 11.62
1
Livepoul - _
v..:.... L. 4 Enfield
9 -

Livepoul ..
Fairy b f
Mischief

It would appear from these figures that at 500
yards in 10 shots the Manchester rifle has a supe-
rior accuracy of 1.87 of a foot ; at 800 yards 3.11 ;
at 1,100 yards 5.63 ; and that at 1,400 yards
and upwards the Enfield weapon ceases to af-
ford any data for a comparison. In penetration
the results obtained have been equally decisiVe ;
the Whitworth projectile with the regulation Charge
of powder going through 3ahallinch planks of elm,
and being brought up by a solid oak bulk beyond,
while the Enfield ball could not get past the 13th
plank.
The shooting on Tuesday was more to satisfy
L-'rd Panmure and the other strangers preient
upon the comparative merits of the two weapons
than to show the limit of what each could do under
favourable circumstances. Still the targets of every
10 shots on either side bore decisive evidence of the
i-,uperiorittr of the new rifle, as a glance at the fol-
lowing table will proyn

Sev©n ran.

NAVAL APPOINTIYIENT3.—(This Day,

-_..,.:4›.-.--.

The folio wing appointments were made at the Atha'
ralty this afternoon :
Commander—John IY. Dorville to the Princess Char•
lotte.

Lientenant3--Joha E. Doran, John G. C. Evered,
and It. C. BelPon, to the PrinoPeP Charlotte.

Paymaster--George R. Deighton to the Princess
Royal.
Surgeons—David 2. Morgan to the Assistance ;
Daniel Carter to the Adventure.
Clerk—John L. Page to the Princess Charlotte.
AssiQtact Payneast,Ts—Jobe S. Moore to the Vic-
tory ; Frederick Penfold to the Princess Charlotte.
A-mistant Clerk—Edward H. 'byte to the Princess
Charlotte.

1 Figcre of
Rifle. Range. klevation. merit.
- - _
Deg. Feet.
•
Whitworth
Erifitld
Whitworth 1 500 / 1 127
Enfield
Whitworth c 1.33
Enfield

MEMBERS RETURNED TO THE
NEW PARLIAMINT.

L( Front t!Le London Gazette of this evening.)
CUOWN-OFFICE, APItIL 21.
Member?, returnel to serve in the Parliainent summoned
to be bcdflen at Westminster, tbe,3ots April,
Clunty of Warwick, Nortlif rn Division—Chaile3
N?wdtgate Newdegate, F.eq. ; Itchard Spooner, Eqi.
Southern Division—Evelyn Philip Shirley, Eq. ;
Edv.a,rd Bolton King, Eq.

The last entry in the table records the meat] ra-
dial distance from a central point of 10 shots tired
from a table-rest by Col. flay and Mr. Gamer, the
manager of the Enfield factory. Both are firstlrate
marksmen, yet at 500 yards the Manchester rifle in
the hands of the former gives three times as geed
shooting as the latter can get out of the Gove.n-
ment arm. All the other trials were made by 'ivi,es?
from a beautifully-con:structtel machine reit, which
placed both weapons on a footing of perfect equa
iity as to the conditions under which they were
tested. In addition to the feregeing experiment.),
i here was one for sboweig, that with cylindro-con-.
voidal balls on the expansion principle of those
used for the Enfield rifle, very superior shoot'ng
(lout! be obtained from Whitworth's heXagonal
bore. This was most satisfactorily established, the
mean deviation on the target from the cent-e of the
group of 10 hits being only .85 of a foot at 500
yards' range. It will be observed that at 800 yards'
range, at which the practice commenced, the shoot-
ing of Whitworth's rifle was so much better than
the other that no greater distance was attempted.
A reference to the first table of experiments will
demon Es t rat 9 that. the target made by the former
weapon at 1,100 yards is nearly as good as
that made by the latter at 500. These ore great
results to have achieved, and amply justify
the forethought of the late Lord Hardinge
in seciiiintr too services of so eminent a mechanic
as Mr. Whitworth for the improvement of the
rifle. Until he took the subject in band the prep( r
principles for guidance in the' construction of the
weapon had not been accurately determined. The
manufacture was still conducted by rule of thumb,
and in asvery hap-hazard way on the most import-
ant points. The li,c of grooves and an expansive
projectile made it impossible to secure the rsqui-
site amount of pitch in the rifling arid the indispen-
sable hardness of metal in the bullet for peeetra-
tion. . Moreover, float the small amount of bear-
ing, the wear and tear both in the bat ref and in the
' projectile were enormous, and the length of t!:e
latter could not be increased witlictiet causing it to
capsize in its flight. By the polygonal bora and
rapid pitch to which the form of the bullet accu-
rately conforms Mr. Wh:twor h has rendered strip-1
pine impossible, and, his rifle when fired acting
exactly like a male and female I•crew, the prejectile
must rotate with perfect steadiness and pre4sion,
on its axis. He can increase its length so c nsidsr-
ably as to secure space for converting it into a shell
if necessary, and, being able to use metal of any'
degree of hardness, he can adapt its form and
strength exactly to the work which it has to par
form. Thug, with a rifle 39 inches long and bait....
inch bore, having a turn in 20 'inches, or two turns
in its length,Vhe finds no difficulty in pene'rating a
wrought iron plate 0-10ths of ae inch th'ek or
cutting a core out of a piece of solid timber half a
foot thick ; and some idea may be formed of the
extraordinary power of his arm when we mention
that his projectile; in their flight rotate at the rate
of 15,000 revolutions per minute. The question of
driving holes its the 4-inch breastpletss of floating
batteries is at once solved by the application of
these principles to artillery, the construction of
which this new rifle proves must he completely re-
volutionised. A weapon which in expert hands will
make good practice at 1,400 yards, and the range
of which can be very easily helped by a telescope if
necessary, gives the coup de grace to our present
system of field batteries. At the Alma it would
have silenced the Russian guns, or driven them
from their position, tendering the rush of the Light
Divieion, -with the heavy less of life consequent
thereon,. unnecessary. Nor during the siege of Se-
bastopol would the rope mantlets of the Redan and
Malaithoff have given much protection to the men
working behind the embrasures.
It affords some consolation in the midst of those
difficulties with which the question of a-my reform
is still surrounded, that at ,Hythe an institution
exists, under zealous and efficient control, where
the training of the soldier in the knowledge of his
weapon will in a short time be well provided for.
Supplied with the best rifle that can be made,
and stimulated to its dexterous and accurate
Ilse by'some such judicious system of rewards as
that we understand Colonel Hay is anxious to see
E stablished, our military force, small as it is should,
in real strength and fighting power, be quite on h
par with the largest continental armies. And no
`less result than this ought .to satisfy a nation
like this, so full of those resources by which
the individual Englishman is made the equi-
valent of even hundreds of Men placed under
less favourable circntnstances for action. The prin-
ciples of rifling developed in the Manchester small
arm are even still mere applicable to artillery, and
their applicability fortunately coincides with the
absolute necessity for great and decisive changes in
that branch of the service. It can no longer be
doubted that rifled cannon can be made at a rea-
sonable cost, and that out of the ordinary size of
field-piece, if necessary, can be obtained, with an
accuracy of fire hitherto undreamt of, the range,
weight of projectile, and penetration of the heavie-t
ordnance. The means of demonstrating these facts
were, at the late Lord Hardinge's suggestion, put
by Mr. Whitworth within reach of the Woolwich
authorities months ago, but they have taken no
steps in this most important matter. Here is just
the invention which the peculiarities of Chinese
campaigning demand, yet no one thinks of turning
it to account. In those vast manufacturing estab-
lishments which the war was taken advantage of to
, form at 'the public expense machinery had been put
1 up for the product on of given implements of war-
fare, and the tremendous 'cis inertice of Govern-
ment is now committed to these models. Witl the
new rifle be adopted in preference to the Eefield ?
Will it even have a recognised place beside it ?
Whatever practical answer time may give to these
questions, the British soldier is clearly entitled to
the best Weapon that can be procured for him, and
the recent experiments at Hythe satisfactorily show
that the best weapon is not that which the State has
Eeen running up such huge workshops to provide
him with.

LONDON GP V;TAE—(This Evening.)

BOARD OF TRADE,.WHIrEuALL, APRIL 20.

Tho Eight Ifenourablothe Lnr Is of the Committee of
Privy Council for Trsde and Pls.ntationi have received,
throngh the Secret%ry of State for Foreign AfUrs, a copy
of a Despatch from for M,jostv's Minister at St. Peters-
burgh, incle,ing copy of a lactic° which appeared tha
Journal de Saint PelerBbourg, of th. 3 Ist of April, and of
which the fol!owin is a trans!ati,n.

Vessels arriving in RussiAu Baltic port; will no longer
be. required to produce acqt-Att.nces of Sound duties or
certificates of Danish quarantine previously to being
allowed to enter.

Masters of vessels will be a,?quainted hp notices, thrit
henceforth they will be required to fumigh themselves in
the ports of lading with certificatep athsting the sanitary
state of the country from which they come, which certi-
ficates must be attested by the Russian Consular Agent ;
or to procure certificates of quarantine in the English,
French, Dutch, or Norwe,, "iun ports which they may have
' put into, those eel tilicatesbeirp, also required to be legally
attested by a Russian Consular Agent.

[AnvEratsromrr).—Kidneys, Bladder, and Prostrate Glands
—their complications, Diabetes Albuminuria, or Brights
Disease, &C.—their connexion with the Stomach, Liver, &e.,
and intimate association with the Ganglionic, or great cen-
tral or solar plexus of nerves, by Dr, Denis Cronin, price 2s
" To a sound theoretical knowledge of the painful and dis.
tressing diseases on which he writes, Dr. Cronin adds the ex-
perience derived from a large and successful practice."—
"Iliews,'' Smith and son, 52, Long Acre,