The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-13 00:00:00

IRON CASED SHIPS.
In the matter of ironcased ships the French Ad-
miralty has taken one line, and our Admiralty has
taken the other. The French have convinced
themselves that ironcased frigates will supersede
all other vessels as fighting ships, and they are
building a new navy, therefore, as fast as they can
do it. The Duke of Somerset did not pretend to
deny that what was recently stated in the House
of Commons was true. France has so many iron-
sides in hand, and is making such exertions to
complete them, that in a year's time or so she will
have a fleet of some six-and-twenty armour-
plated vessels--a force equal even in mere num-
bers to our Mediterranean and Channel squadrons
together. The Italians, too, and the Spaniards are
each preparing their ironcased vessels, and it is,
of course, possible that Spain and Italy may
be in alliance with France. All this while we
have only seven ironplated frigates in hand ; so that
for the moment, if these vessels are really such
im-
pregnable fabrics as they are said to be, we are
clearly behindhand, and might be taken at a dis-
advantage. That, in fact, was the argument of sir
John Pekington's speech the other day. lle looked
at the case from this point of view, and urged our
Admiralty
to protect the country by immediate
exertions of some kind or other. That there wee
something in the matter, thus considered, is plaits
from the intentions which Lord Clarence Paget an-
nounced ; but there is also a really strong case OR
the other side, and the Duke of Somerset's state-
ment brought it out very forcibly.
The French, it is true, are building all these ves-
sels, but they are building them very indifferently.
Our Admiralty can see all their mistakes as they
go on. It seems as certain as possible that in.
twelve months time their models Will be utterly
superseded. The Achilles, for instance, will pro..
bably be as far in advance of the Gloire as the
Gloire was in advance of an old sailing frigate.
Even with our present experience, we are a long
way ahead of the French—not indeed in results,.but in ideas. For example, the Duke observed,,
that if it should be advisable to make defensive pre-
parations of some sort without loss of time, we co'ald
do so very easily by finishing off as ironsides some
fabrics which have been commenced as wooden two-
deckers. "I do not think," continued his Grace,
" that they will be very efficient; but these ships
will be at least as good as the French." In other;
words, our very makeshifts will be as effective 'as
the best productions of our neighbours ; and this, we
dare say, is true enough. Not that the French, are
incapable of turning out good vessels ; they are
among the lest shipbuilders in the world, but
they are in such a hurry to " reconstruct" their
fleet, and the true theory of these new weasels is
as yet so imperfectly apprehended, that the results
must from the very nature of things be imperfect,
too. All this is so very clear, and in this respect we
are so completely on the safe side, that the only
question is as to the security of the country
during the " infancy" of the new science. What
should we do, for instance, in the event of war, if are
enemy should meet our half-dozen ironsides with is
fleet three times as strong ? To this it is briefly replied
that orders have actually been given for the imme-
diate completion of five of the makeshift vessels
described above, and if these are at least as good.
as any others afloat, while our six or seven originals.
are far better, we could not be taken at any great
disadvantage. Moreover, we could push that system
of conversion to almost any extent. If there was
any " pressure," we could cut down our three-
dsckers, plate them with iron, and send them out
to keep the seas till we had got better vessels built..
But the Duke had another argument also, and a.'
most important one it was.
We have assumed throughout that these iron-
cased frigates are really or practically invulner-
able ; at any rate, that they are so much less vul-
nerable than other ships as to possess an incon-
testable superiority. But it happens that within
the last few days this supposed impregnability-
has been brought seriously into question. "I now
find," said the Duke, alluding to very recent
experiments, " that Sir William Armstrong's guns
have fired through eight-inch iron with the greatest
facility." In point of fact, an Armstrong bolt of
about 110Ib. weight was sent through and through.
a target not only stronger than the sides of any-
French ship, but stronger than those of the Warrior
herself. We should like to know all the conditions
of the experiment before founding a conclusion
upon it, but, if all is true that is reported, the
science of attack has once more become superior to
the science of defence, and ironsides are compara-
tively worthless. Our fleet of gunboats, if each.
vessel carried a 1001 b. Armstrong gun,- would be a.
match for all the iron navies of Europe. Govern-
ment, indeed, has been proceeding upon this caleu-
tion, and has been serving out these tremendous
engines to the ships of our fleet, so that if for the
moment they should be inferior in powers of defence
they might be superior in powers of attack.
All this, however, does really show the extreme
difficulty of the problem, and goes far to justify the
hesitazion which our Admiralty has shown. The
Duke of Somerset admitted with perfect. candour
that Government got perplexed by its own experi-
ments. The more they try the more they are puz-
zled. First it is found that armour plates, if strong
enough to resist a shot, are too heavy for the vessel
to carry. Then, when a new ship has been laid.
down with 'flotation enough to carry thicker plates,
it is found that plates of the new thickness can
be pierced by a new projectile, and so are no
longer to be relied upon. In fact, one of our
departments is working against another, and
each gets the upperhand in turn. In the Victoria
Dock lies the redoubtable Warrior, on which all
the resources of the Admiralty are concentrated,
so that she may take the water proof against at-
tack. Just across the river stands the Royal Gun
Factory, where all the science and organisation of
master-minds are employed in manufacturing
engines for the destruction of such- vessels as the
Warrior and her kind. As soon as we have suc-
ceeded in one place, we succeed again in the
other, and the second success destroys the first.
The French are only carrying out one idea;
we are elaborating two. They are building iron-
sides as fast as they can ; we are experimenting
upon ironsides, and at the same time developing
new powers of artillery. It is because we learn so
clearly what a gun can do that we are puzzled over
the armour by which a gun can be opposed, and at
length, just now, instead of precipitately building
ironsides, we are supplying our old ships with new
100-pounders. The Duke of Somerset's explana-
tion was not only very interesting, but exceedingly
frank, and it is impossible to deny, after what has
now been said, that the problem before our autho-
rities is enough to perplex them. We can only
trust that during this period of transition they will
never allow our actual means of protection to sink
below a safe standard.-7imes.

EAST INDIA COMI;ANI'.

A general court of proprietors was held yester-
, in the chair.cesl
da
rry,
heamtintuhtees
Colonel SYKES Moorgate-street.
'col‘oflin.rpha.enYla'sst court having been read,
The CHAIRMAN announced thtt the dividend on
the ordinary stock of the company would become
payable on the 6th of July.
The SECRETARY then read the statement of the
capital fund and investments of the company.
A copy of the petition to the Crown, praying for
anincreased allowance from the Government, with
the reply of Sir Charles Wood declining to enter-
tain the proposition, were then read to the meet-
ing, the chairman expressing his opinion that as
nothing was to be expected from the Government
the proprietors must arrange to supply the neces-
sary funds from their own resources. Dr. Finch
gave notice of a motion on this subject for the next
court, to the effect that the amount of the =claimed
dividends, being £14,000, and the interest thereon,
dtiehnterimental to the
being about £4OO per annum, such interest be
appropriated for the pusrepehrovisgaehnsltoysf
bill just introduced into parliament by Sir C. Wood,
Mr. SHAW called the attention of telhlemdel:oaau:rYta.ntao aa
would
interestsuchsand
heof said,
the wpublic
b
breach of faith with those who were studying for
the Indian civil service. He moved a resolution to
the effect that the court were strongly of
opinion
ecarorfe
faithwas tonftaltlhyenpnrcoavlliesdionfor, and
s of the Act
The resolution Victoria.
was seconded by M
ported by Mr. Jones, Mr. Hel r- Cooke, sup-
and agreed to. ps, and Mr. Austell,
resolution condemnatory of
Mr. JONES moved a
the conduct of the autho •T 1
*tie
in acting contrary to Bat the Horse Guards
government declarin the proclamation of the
for qualifying. for g all natives of India eligible
service, as evinced. situations in the military medical
otherwise in their late rejection of a gen-
tleman,se qualified, on the ground of his
being a Pars
by Dr. Finch, and The resolution was seconded
d carried.
Some routinean
business having been transacted,
Lite court broke up with a vote of tha.aks to the
chairman.
P

RI E STLY IM MORALIT Y.—An interdicted priest,
named Cohas, residing at Passy, was tried at the Tribunal
of Correctional Police on Saturday, on several charges of
indecent assaults on children, as well as of robbery, com-
mitted at Passy. It appeared from the evide32 ce, that he
had officiated as priest in the diocese of Lyons an d Moulins,
but was obliged to leave through dishonesty- in money'
matters. He then came to Paris, and was attl to hed to the
Church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, but, hay in g repeated
his dishonest practices, was interdicted by the. archbishop
of Paris. The trial was conducted with closed doors, and
the Court sentenced the prisoner to 18 month:
went and a fine of 600 f.