The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-18 00:00:00

General PEEL." All this recalls irresistibly to 1
one's recollection of one of the happiest political
caricatures that ever appeared in Punch,
a picture that made us all laugh so heartily years
ago, entitled—(PEEL, with maternal:anguish in his
face, being the interlocutor)—" Drat that Boy !
He's always in a mess !" Sir JAMES, even in his
doings as an Old Boy, is consistent with his ante-
cedents.

It cannot be doubted that we are on the eve of
an entire revolution in our artillery. Not long ago
we had General PEEL'S statement on his minis-
terial responsibility in the House of Commons re-
specting the efficacy of Sir WM. ARMSTRONG'S
guns ; when, notwithstanding what had leaked out
before, most persons were somewhat startled. Last
week we had the very interesting statements made
by Sir WILLIAM himself, in his speech at a New-
Jastle dinner, by which his fellow-citizens desired
to add their honours to those conferred by the
hands of her MAJESTY. It appears from the speech
that Sir WM. ARMSTRONG has not merely lighted
on a lucky conception, or made an accidental dis-
covery; he has been for long years devoting him-
self ent:insiastically to his object; and, on the sea-
shore, " before people began to move about, and be
in the way,"—in the way, be it remembered, miles
off—and on barren heaths, where grouse and lean
sheep were the only things he could injure, Sir
WILLIAM was giving his mornings, not indeed to
the muses, but to the music of his terrific artillery.
Nor his mornings only. Pitch dark nights served
him also for practice, for he brought his gun to that
perfection that he could hit his mark in the darkest
night as well as in broad daylight.
It is gratifying to have his assurance that, to the
best of his knowledge, none of his workmen have
entered the service of a foreign government, and
carried to those who might become our foes the
knowledge which it is so desirable we should keep
for our own defence. But it seems, indeed, that this
knowledge is not so easily gained. The general
peculiarities of his gun are, he says, well known,
and cannot be concealed. He speaks, indeed, as if
he regarded them as hardly novel ; it is the com-
binations and the details in which its merit con-
sists ; and these appeared to be such that if foreign
Governments could get the drawings and plans on
paper, their men could make the gun itself. We
have most of us heard how exceedingly difficult it
is for any manufacture to change its locality. The
skill acquired by the workmen, the selection of
right materials, and a hundred incidentals needful
to perfection, are not to be transferred in a day to
hands which have had no long preparatory train-
ing, and this is, not least of all, the case with our
mechanical productions. Sir WILLIAM ARMSTRONG
himself would find it no easy task to produce his
weapon in the workshops of LOUIS NAPOLEON,
I even if he had some of his own workmen with him.
The details given by Sir WILLIAM impart full
confidence as to the real merits of his invention.
He naturally enough contrasts with the proposals
of " paper schemers" the laborious and conscien-
tious exertions by which he attained his end, and
by which he was enabled, after they had tried and
tested the thing in every way, to satisfy even the
prosy old military men themselves, and con-
vert them to zealous promoters of his
object. The nation may well be pleased
to know that for once routine has declared itself
vanquished, and a non-military inventor has beim
taken into the entire confidence of the 'War-office.
It was indeed time to do it. Here was a gun
made on the well known principle by which ex-
extraordinary strength and lightness have long
been combined in our fowling-pieces, and which,
therefore, with all its tremendous powers could be
worked by much fewer men, and transported from
place to place with the greatest ease. The gun
itself a weapon requiring the best skill of English
forges, and not likely soon to be successfully
imitated abroad. But the missiles, it seems, are
the greatest marvel. Wrought iron and rifled
artillery are, as we know, not novelties, but the
ARMSTRONG shells are so. They are made in:pieces—a
shell divides into 49 regular, and about 100 irre-
gular pieces ; yet so perfectly are they bound toge-
ther that, when combined in one shot, it has been
fired through nine feet of solid oak without sus-
taining fracture. It may be made to explode at
pleasure, either as it approaches the object or as it
strikes it. It is so safe among friends that it may
be thrown from the top of the house without dan-
ger, yet so sensitive among enemies that it has
burst on being fired into a bag of shavings. In
fact, by being discharged from the gun, it is put, Sir
WILLIAM says, " from half cock to full cock."
It may be made to explode at long or at short dis-
tances, and even as soon as it. leaves the gun to
burst and spread out its contents like a fan, mow-
ing down a whole regiment who might have the
temerity to attempt the capture of the guns.
The combined effect of the certainty of aim and
the destructive explosion are terrific. It would
seem as if nothing could live before it. Our
readers know already that a ball hardly ever misses,
that at 600 yards the muzzle of another gun
could be hit every time, and targets nine
feet square without fail at 1,500, and even 3,000
yards off; but not only that, seven of these sensi-
tive shells bursting on the targets actually hit them
in 596 places. It is almost terrible to contemplate
the fire of such shells at a body of men advancing,
say from the coast to one of these batteries ; Sir
WILLIAM may well say that he does not see how
they are to effect a landing or to advance without
being awfully cut up. Shells bursting on hitting
a single man, and seven of them capable of hitting
almost 600 others besides the first one struck—no
soldiers could live under such an infernal fire; and
yet the effects can be produced to a certainty. For
ships the shell is so destructive, that it would
shatter its timbers completely ; two wooden ships
must " destroy each other like cats." Vast plates
of iron alone could resist the impact of the shell;
and happily no country could arm" its ships as
England could with that defence. The iron walls
of England will soon be the burden of the song.
What can be done to protect ports and arsenals,
it is not easy to say. They can be hit at almost
any distance, while the vessel so far off would be
but a speck. On the other hand, at smaller dis-
tances the land battery would have the advantage of
steadiness. Cherbourg will be indefensible, but
there is Portsmouth to think of too. With a few
scientifically trained corps of field artillery, we
might, however, on our Channel coast defy any
enemy to effect a landing by boats.

THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET.—The, benefit of
Mr. George Turpin, one of the most obliging officials of the
theatre, takes place to-morrow (Thursday) evening, on
which occasion will be performed the last new and success-
ful comedy, "The World and the Stage," Talfourd's clever
extravaganza, "Electra," and a variety of other attractive
entertainments. The very courteous and assiduous manner
in which Mr. Turpin. fulfils the duties of his office (box
book -keeper) deserves substantial recognition by those
whose comfort he is ever ready to promote. We trust he
will receive that which he richly deserves, a bumper on the
occasion of his annual benefit.
Mr. W. S. Woodin, we observefrom a newspaper
published north of the Tweed, is now delighting her
Majesty's lieges at Glasgow by his humorous delineations
of character in his famous "Olio of Oddities." When are
we to have this favourite of the London public back again
amongst us, with his long-looked-for new entertainment ?
He must surely by this time (accompanied by his Olio, as
formerly in a more appropriate fashion by his well-known
Carpet Bag) have run, from A to Z, through the whole
1112160 of tin " UltgreQr!"