The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-02 00:00:00

HAY MARKETS.

SMITHFIELD.--11142ALI0W hay, £2 Os to £5 5s Od ; clover
do., £3 lOs to £5 15s ; and straw, £1 103 to £1 18s per load. '
Both hay and straw were in slow request, at our quotations.
CUMBERLAND. -- Meadow hay, £2 Os to £5 103 ;
clover, £3 10s to £ss 15s Od ; and straw, £1 lOs to £llBs
per load. A dull trade.
WHITECHAPEL. Meadow hay, £2 Os to f 6 5s Od ;
cloves, £3 lOs to £5 17s 6d ; and straw, 10s to £llB
per load. A moderate demand.

COURSE OF EXCHANGE.—YESTERDAY.
Amsterdam
Ditte
Rotterdam —l. 11 181 11 19
Antwerp
Brussels — 25 45 25 50
Hamturgh
Paris
Ditto
Marseilles — 25 55 25 60
Frankfort on Maine — 118 1181
Vienna
Trieste
Petersburgh —34 i
Berlin
Madrid
Cadiz
Leghorn
Milan
Genoa
Naples
Palermo
Messina
Lisbon
Oporto
Rio Janeiro
New York — •• ••
Foreign Gold in Bars (Standard)....per oz. £3 17 9
Mexican Dollars
Silver in Bars (Standard) lt 0 5 1?
South American Doublons

48a
48/
25 85
25 70
25 70

481
49
26 90
25 75
25 75
39
118
118
53
531

39i
1181
1181
52/
63

THIS DAY'S SHIPPING.

LONDON, Feb. 2.—Wind this day at noon—North.
Westerly ; rather fresh breeze, with fine weather.

- .
QUEENSTOWN, Feb. I.—Wind S.—Arrived—Pettigrew,
from Mobile.

GLOUCESTER. Feb. I.—Wind S.—Arrived—Amazone,
from Now York.
SWANSEA, Feb. I.—Wind S.W.—Sailed—James Ken-
nedy, for Gibraltar.

CARDIFF, Feb. I.—Wind S.E.—Sailed—Jacoba Helena,
for Hong Kong; 'Woodstock, for Callao; Walter Scott,
ditto.

DEAL, Feb. I.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Sarah, from
Callao ; E. D. T., from Shields for Havannah ; Manger-
ton, from Callao.
NEWPORT, Feb. I.—Wind S.W.—Sailed—Henrich
Swensen, for St. Thomas.
LIMERICK, Jan. 31.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Columbus,
from New York.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
SOUTHAMPTON, Saturday Morning.
Arrived—Anemone, from Newcastle; Duke of Cornwall,
steamer, from London; Anne, from Newport; Reckless,
from Seaham ; Laura, from Shields ; Wonder, steamer,
from Jersey ; Branch, Valiant, John, and Falcon, from
Sunderland.
Sailed—Leader, for Britonferry; Courier,. steamer, for
Jersey ; Havre, steamer, for Havre; Firefly„ for Cardiff;
Jane, for Poole ; Lechlie, for Carentan; Lady Eglinton,
steamer for Cardiff.

(BY SUBMARINE AND MAGNETIC TELEORA2II.)
GRAVESEND, Saturday Morning.
Arrived, Feb. 1— Somas, from Vancouver's Island;
Majestic, from Bombay; Florabelle, from Alexandria;
,Leopold, from Cavella ; Testimonial, from Tuticorin ;
Bombay, from Akyab.
Arrived, Feb. 2—Belinda, and Envoy, from Guernsey ;
Belgian, steamer, from Ostend ; Dolphin, s teamer, from
Antwerp ; Young America, from Callao Walkington,
from Havannah.
Sailed—Freedom, for Jersey; Caroline A gees, for Bom-
bay ; Acas, for St. Michael's.
DEAL, Sati ird ay Morning.
Passed—Planet; for Demerara ; Acis fri nn St. Michael s:;
Ferdinand, from Pernambuco—all from Ler Ldon.

It is said that the agricultural accc• unts from all
parts of the United Kingdom have beconatc ucuch more en-
couraging, owing to the recent frost having been followed
by the present dry weather.
DEATH OF A VOCALIST.—We have to record the
death of Mr. Alexander McGregor Simpson, we U known and
esteemed in the north as a singer of Jacobite songs. He
died at Glasgow on the 29th ult., where he h ad been ful-
filling an engagement at the Britannia Music t Hall. He
was only in his 39th year, and a widow and itwo young
children are left to mourn his premature dee eat if I,—,6'ra.

In addition to the above, Vice-Admiral Sir James
Hope has been instructed to name the most eligible
officers in the undernamed ranks for advancement :
—Three second masters to be promoted to master,
three assistant-surgeons to be promoted to surgeon,
three warrant officers of second class to be pro-
moted to first class, three warrant officers of third
class to be promoted to second class, and three
carper.ters' mates and six petty officers to be
Iccomtnended for warrants.

The three undernamed engineers have also been
promoted to he first-class assistants :—NIr. William
H. Elliott, Mr. James A. Wilson, and Mr. Edward
Ingledew ; and several engineers of different classes
will receive a step in rank on their passing the
required examinations.

UNITED B'l TER PROP PR ri-
FISCATED BY THE SOUTH:

CO-
-

Fort Barrancas and the Pensacola Navy-yard
were seized on Saturday by the Alabama and
Florida troops. Thirteen military posts, five
United States arsenals, one navy-yard, and one
revenue cutter are now in possession of the rebels.
We append a chronological table of the dates of
these seizures, together with the attack upon the
Star of the West, end the theft of.the Marion, the
whole forming a list of the treasonable acts of the
Secessionists :

Dec. 27—Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney, at Charles-
ton, seized.
Dec. 27—Revenue cutter William Aiken, surrendered
by her commander, and taken possession of by South
Carolina.
Dec. 30—United States Arsenal at Charleston, seized.
Jan. 2—Forts Pulaski and Jackson and the United
States Arsenal at Savannah seized by Georgia troops.
Jan. 2—Fort Macon and the United States Arsenal at
Fayetteville seized by North Carolina.
Jan 4—Fort Morgan and the United States Arsenal at
Mobile seized by Alabama.
Jan. B—Forts Johnson and Caswell, at Smithville,
seized by North Carolina.
Jan. 9—The Star of the West, being reinforcements for
Major Anderson, fired at in Charleston harbour.
Jan. 10—Fort M`Rae, at Pensacola, seized by Florida.
Jan. 10—The stesmer Marion seized by South Carolina ;
restored on the 11th.
Jan. 11—The Urttted States Arsenal at Baton Rouge,
and Forts Pike, St. Philip, and Jackson, seized by Loui-
siana.
Jan. 12—Fort Barrancas and the Navy-yard at Pensa-
cola seized by Florida.
According to the Army List, the 13 forts thus seized are
pierced for an aggregate of 1,099 guns. The following table
shows their location, cost (in dollars), war garrison, atd the
number of guns in each :

But now there comes another extraordinary
announcement. if all tales are true, the Allies might
have brought the Russian War to a close in a very
short time, and at a very small cost, by the aid of
these two iron frigates alone. The Gloire might
have steamed into the harbour of Sebastopol in the
teeth of its batteries,and bombarded the Arsenal at
leisure ; the Warrior might have gone into Cronstadt
with equal impunity, and worked its will with the
fortifications around. To bring the theory home to
us,we are told that an iron-cased frigate might laugh
at the future fortifications of Portsmouth ; steam in
contemptuous silence by the sea batteries at Spit-
head, run into the middle of the harbour, anchor
there, and set our dockyards in flames before an hour
was over. Of course, what could be done at Ports-
mouth could be done any where else ; so that, if the
Gloire is really and truly in invention, stone walls
have been superseded as fairly as wooden walls—the
theory, we suppose, being this, that, considering the
size of the vessel, the speed of its motion, and the
efficacy of its defensive armour, no stationary bat-
teries, however formidable, could be relied upon for
doing much injury to such a target. It is only
under very special conditions, and after repeated
shots, that strong iron plates can be pierced by can-
non, whereas an iron• cased frigate steaming at full
speed would give no such opportunity to an enemy's
cannoneers. Mr. Fergusson, indeed, said long ago
that steam alone, apart from armour, would almost
suffice to give a vessel this impunity. Now, how-
ever; we have the iron plating too, and how, then,
can shore batteries be expected to damage an object
which, besides being so hard to hit, is harder still
to injure ? Could not a Gloire or a Warrior run
the gauntlet through a mile or two of forts? She
would only be ten minutes about it.
These speoulations not only appear plausible, but
to some extent are probably sound. There are two
arguments, however, to be heard in reply. When
it is said that a good iron-cased frigate will steam
at the rate of twelve miles an hour, this not only
presumes moderate weather, but a fair course and.
an open channel. Such channels are not often
found in the approaches to shore fortifications.
Rarely does a fleet engage in shoal waters without
getting a vessel or two aground, and a frigate
aground would be a frigate lost. The only casualty
of our navy in the whole Crimean War occurred in
this very manner, and the same thing happened to
our gunboats in the Peiho. In short, it is the com-
monest of all accidents in such operations; and the
greater the speed and tonnage of the vessel the
more fatal would be the risk. If an iron cased
frigate were threading a narrow and unknown
channel she would hardly go at twelve miles an
hour, or, if she did, would soon be hard and fast on
a shoal. Moreover, if she is to do any mischief
herself she must become stationary somewhere, and
then she would be a fair mark for guns. It will be
asked, however, what harm this would do her,
assuming her armour to be proof. The answer is,
that she has a weak point in her decks. Sir
Howard Douglas has remarked that the fire of a
shore battery upon a vessel within short range
would be equivalent to a vertical fire, would strike
the ship's decks, pierce them, and either silence her
or send her to the bottom. Similarly, it is alleged
that a heavy shell falling from a great height at a
1 long range would sink almost anything afloat. The
argument, in fact, comes to this—that a vessel
armed only at the sides must be attacked from
above, and that, though she might be invulnerable
to cannon, she could be destroyed by mortars.
Either the channels along which an attacking vessel.
must necessarily move might be covered by eights
of shells, or shells might be dropped upon her decks
as soon as she took up her position.
We will not inquire at present whether it would
be impossible to make the decks as well as the sides
of a vessel shot-proof, but it is clear that the danger
here indicated could be met by providing a recep-
tion for an enemy in the centre of a harbour as
well as in its approaches. If a vessel is to
steam right into a port, she will, of course, be safe
so long as the guns of the port bear outwards, but
if such a contingency is provided against by
turning some of the guns inwards, she would,
i unless she were impregnable, be caught in a trap.
There is always the chance, too, of her never
reaching the scene of action at all. When we
argue that an iron-cased frigate might have gone
into Sebastopol or Cronstadt, it may be replied that
an iron-cased frigate would stand a very poor
chance of ever getting to the Black Sea or Baltic.
Such craft are rather batteries than cruisers—
moveable on the water under certain conditions
of weather, but not to be handled like a ship.
They are not always to be trusted even in the
narrow seas ' . what if they were sent on distant
voyages, and into perilous waters ? How would
they be likely to fare where even light corvettes
and nimble gunboats get aground ? There is
something in all this, but be it remembered that
iron sides are "in their infancy." Twelve months
ago we should not have believed in a Gloire; in
another year we may see the Gloire surpassed-4
is to be hoped in our own dockyards—by a vessel
no less seaworthy than strong. Depend
tupoonneitv,
we are only feeling the first effects
which, h ,
if we do
invention, but it is an invention
but look to our own interests, can
our harm.-2inzes. never operate to

ties tothe
merchant, with amount
G. Armand, silk mere
Advices from Lyons mention. th.e. stoppage of Mr;
of about 560,000. This
failure, which will not affect
houses here, has occured through heavy losses, principally
in Italian silk, in which a considerable fall has taken place
lately.
The Lords Justices yesterday reversed the de-
cision of the Commissioner in Bankruptcy, in the case of
Mr. Mortimore, tanner, of Andover. The winding up will
therefore take place under the Private Arrangement Act,
inetead.of in the open court. Although the former course
had met with the concurrence of nine-tenths of the credi-
tors, who signified their acceptance of a composition of 10s.
in the pound, the commissioner had ruled that it could not
be permitted, his belief being that Mr. Mortimore wah
aware of his own insolvency as far back as 1857.

Why do the pipes burst ? Simply in conformity
with a law of nature, whereby water frozen occupies a
larger bulk than water in the state of liquid, and if con-
fined in the liquid state and then frozen, it will burst the
vessel which contains it. It is this process that bursts
rocks, and breaks down mountains, and pulverises the clap
soil of the farmer, and bursts metallic pipes. Take an En-
field rifle barrel, stop up the vent or touch-hole, place it verti-
cally, and fill it with water on a frosty night. As the water
freezes it will flow over at the top and cover the outside
with ice, and the barrel will remain uninjured. But if,
after filling with water, a metallic plug be screwed fast
into the muzzle, the result will be that the barrel will burst,
and most probably along the curve of the grooves or thinnest
section. If an old "Brown Bess" be treated in the same
mode, it also will burst, and probably along the course of
the weld or junction, commonly the weakest part. The
cause of bursting is, that the water is confined and has no
room for expansion. If the lead pipes commonly used for
water be made of pure soft lead they may possibly.strheeretch
and yield to the expansion without bursting, but if t
m.
be an ordinary solder joint made of brittle metal; there p
bably the burst will, take place,—(Mcc a par.