The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-08 00:00:00

RIFLED CANNON.

The difference between the action of the Amtri-
can and English governments in similar circum-
stances is strikingly evinced in their dealings with
military matters. Both nations are naturally in-
clined rather to agriculture, commerce, and manu-
factures, than to war, and in America efpecially
the army and navy are generally avoided by native
Americans.

Evcn the splendid vessels recently sent to our
shores, as much, perhaps, for the purpose of dis-
play as from any particular necessity; and in which,
it any where, American citizens would be likely to
he found, contain a very large proportion of fc-

reigners.

The American army is stated to be still more de-
pendent on extraneous aid.

The abundance of employment suited to every
.ppears, a sufficient reason for
the avoidance of professions in wnitth the rewards
can never equal the risks even in a country which
contains a large proportion of men more familiar
with the use of arms than other civilised Com-
munity. _ _

Yet, in face of these difficulties, or possibly in
consequence of them, the American navy is con-
tinually advancing, the "Constitution" is super-
seded by the "Niagara," heavy guns are taken out
of these vessels, to be replaced by others of still
more unwieldy strength, and this goes on whoever
occupies the White !louse and whether the ad-
ministration is composed Of whigs or democrats,
while we in England are -content to follow
humbly behind, not daring to initiate, too
happy to exhibit an abject and monkey-like imita-
tion of others. For example, the steam-engine,
as applied to navigation, is emphatically the work of
English brain and science, but no argument or
consideration could induce the English Achn;ralty
to apply it to the purposes of the navy until Louis
Philippe brought the Gomer to Portsmouth. Again,
rifled muskets wore offered to the Ordnance-office,
as they hive since admitted, twenty years ago, but
only to be spurned ; and no notice was taken of

them until 'Ong aftcr the French had adopted them
in their army, and their introduction had been
strenuously advocated by the British press. Yet
to their use we aro indebted for the brilliant victory
of the Alma, "Alma c fclicc," and to them we owo
the fact that the surprise of Inkermann was not
followed by a fatal issue, and the glorious struggle
of the "soldier's battle" did not end in annihila-
tion and defeat. The order that no soldier shall be
sent to India unless armed with and practised in the
use of the Enfield rifle is, perhaps, due to the
circumstance that the Commander-in-Chief is
one of the survivors of Inkermann—if so, that ono
resolution will go far to redeem the losses of that
dreadful day, and possibly in time lead to the con-
clusion that it might be well to have a practical
man at the head of some other departments of the
state. The odds against the British soldier in India
are in the eyes of reflecting persons sufficiently
great. Some of these disadvantages are the dis-
tance from home, the climate, the possession of for-
tified cities by a mutinous army, trained and in-
structed in our own methods of fighting, supplied
with cannon and ammunition in more than Eastern
profusion, and supported by the latent if not open
sympathy of 100 millions of their countrymen. But
these odds are increased when men4n power can
be found to assert, in the face of the country,
and act on the assertion, that reinforcements
sent in sailing vessels will make the voyage to
India as quick, or quicker, than steamvesselsi
when, but for their opposition, both field and horse
artillery would now have cannon as superior in
range and power to those in use at present as the
Enfield rifle is to the old musket. Take one in-
stance only : the so-called siege of Delhi makes no
progress because, according to the artillery officer
in command, the guns are useless at 1,500 yards—
the range of a rifled gun would be 4,000.
If noble lords and right hon. gentlemen were to
go out to battle themselves, they would be entitled
so carry what weapons they pleased, but when they
send others they are morally hound to see that
every chance is given to those others for the pre-
ervation of their lives. To wilfully withhold any
weapon, offensive or defensive, is to take part with
the enemy, and even on economical grounds is
tuhtete
present
e sent indefensible,timor for
is no
likely
mu
ti tin o
be
of
ei warn
fut i
u rse , at
so
valuable as the life of a British soldier.--From a
Correspondent.

ACCIDENT.—A melancholy accident took place at the
tphahvoinrgs
cart,t uosfedC
h
foa
rl
o
tnhs
e a
conveyancef ew days
since.of notr o
A gravel, o
well broken in to draught work, became restive and ran
el'. M
glle. Bode, a young chop woman of Chalon, who
happened to be near the spot, not baying time .to get
horse in
a ~u t of the way, was knocked down by the shaft of the
cart and mortally injured. Another girl and a young
man, who were with her, both threw themselves into a
ditch by the roadside and escaped with only a few
bruises. On hearing of the accident, the Emperor,
accompanied by one of his physicians, went to the-arn:
hulance to which the sufferers had bean conveyed, !d
TT!!
ordered that every attention should be paid them.
.s u
fortunately, in the case of Mlle. Bode, all the efforts of
On e
the
art were useless, as she died in a few hours,e..of
the
'33t
following day a person belonging to the botlse h
Emperor came on the pert of his Met Y
to acquire in.
formation as to the position of the fam
ilyf the eceased.
L IVERe
EMIGRATION TJ THE WFsTEEN CONTINENT.—LIVER-
POOL, POOL, Wednesday.—Two fret class screw steamships
take their departure for the Western Contipent this fore-
noon, the Montreal ocean steam ship North American,
Captain Grange, with the Canadian Mails for Quebec ;
and the Kangaroo, Captain Jeffrey, belonging to the
Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Company, for
New York. The Kangaroo carries a sealed mail. Both
easels are filled with passengers and cargo.