The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-09 00:00:00

Roam& Rt.

' formances are satisfactory enough at formal and
leisurely trials, when it is discharged only at mode-
rate intervals of time, carefully handled, and skil-
fully superintended. This, however, is not such
practice as,would take place in actual warfare. In
the heat of battle the firing would be quick and con-
stant; and under these conditions it is said the Arm-
strong g,un is found
to fail. The metal becomes
heated, and the delicate machinery at the breech of
the piece is deranged. The component parts no
longer fit'into each other, gas escapes at each dis-
charge, the vent-piece is presently blown out, and
the gun becomes utterly unserviceable until it has
been repaired. We are referred to the actual re-
sults of 'experiments as establishing these charges.
It is alleged that four vent-pieces were destroyed
befora:one gun could be fired 50 rounds, and that
any Armstrong gun tried by rapid firing would be
rendered useless before the thirtieth shot. Of the
shell, again, it is said that the leaden casing which
keeps the contents together has a tendency to ex-
foliate and detach itself, and that the projectiles
can neither be safely stored nor safely dis-
charged over any troops within range of their
flight. These are the assertions advanced. For
the solution of the question, then, we require first a
careful, fair, and fearless examination conducted
without prepossession or bias; next a certificate of
the remediable or irremediable character of the de-
fects which may be ascertained ; and finally, an
estimate of the extent to which the defects proved
to be irremediable would disqualify the gun for
service. Possibly the allegations advanced in the
Mechanics' Magazine cannot be entirely substan •
tiated ; possibly the faults can be remedied ; and
possibly, again, the gun may still be as good as any
other gun, or even better, notwithstanding its ad-
mitted imperfections.
We attach little weight to the argument based on
the numerous alterations to which the Armstrong
gun has already been subjected, When our contem-
porary remarks that Sir -William would hardly be
able to recognise his own invention after its nume-
rous improvements, the observation carries with it
but little disparagement. It has been the same with
all inventions. Nobody supposed that Sir William
Armstrong's gun was produced once for all in a con-
dition of absolute perfection. We can hardly pre-
tend to enter into an exact analysis of the modiA7
cations enumerated by our contemporary as having
been introduced into the original pattern, but they
certainly do not appear to us to trench upon the
essence of the discovery. We can imagine all these
changes being adopted without much impeachment
of the original Armstrong gun. The vent-piece
appears to be a weak point, undoubtedly, for if we
are to assume, as we suppose we must, that rapid
firing cannot be dispensed with even in Armstrong
batteries, it is clear that a gun which requires re-
pair after some ten minutes' use can never be a good
gun for service. But is it certain that, after the
difficulties of the machine itself have been sur-
mounted, a little more of the same skill and patience
which achieved the invention will not find out a
proper vent-piece ?

There is another point also to which it is best to
allude. Without casting any imputation upon the
spirit of the article which we transcribe, and which
we are bound, indeed, to receive as an impartial
expression of scientific opinion, we must remind the
reader that this question has been entangled with
animosities and recriminations innumerable. Engi-
neers are as irritable as poets, and as jealous as rival
beauties. When rifled ordnance first came into
favour a dozen competitors were fighting for pre-
ference, and two or three names became distin-
guished enough to divide the notice of the public
with that of Sir William Armstrong. At this mo-
ment more than one inventor is fully persuaded
that his gun, and not Sir William's, should be the
gun used in her Majesty's army, and every one of
these inventions has its own advocates and believers.
We make these remarks, not as depreciating the
criticism to which the Armstrong gun may be ex-
posed, but simply to remind the- reader that the
question must turn, after all, upon a comparison of
merits and demerits. For ourselves, we confess to
a suspicion that any other gun elevated, instead of
the Armstrong gun, to the place of honour, would
soon be attacked with as much vehemence as the
present favourite. No man likes to see his own
invention unnoticed while the invention of another
brings him office and renown. It is not in the least
degree probable that we shall ever get a gun which
every school of mechanics will acknowledge to be
superior to all other guns, and we must expect, in
any event, to have our faith occasionally assailed
by complaints and warnings. These considerations,
however, do not touch the essence of the question
now before us. We do not see how it can be de-
nied that the present dissentients have made out a
case for inquiry, and that inquiry ought to be
neither delayed nor stifled. It is of the utmost im-
portance to us that we should know the whole
troth about the Armstrong gun, and this truth we
shall never know until the gun has been subjected
to every necessary test without prejudice, favour,
or reserve.

THE NEWCASTLE MURDER.

EXAMINATION OF THE PRISONER.
NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, Oct. 8.
George Clark, the man. who so barbarously mur-
dered Mr. Prater, in Blackett-street, in this town,
last Tuesday morning, was this mooning brought
up at the police-court, on remand, charged with
that crime. Very little additional evidence has
been obtained since the coroner's inquest was held
on Mr. Frater's body on Weamesday evening. The
facts of the case are indeed so conclusive and so pal-
pable that the only question now to be decided is
the sanity of the prisoner at the time he com-
mitted the deed. When first apprehended his
demeanour betokened an imperturbable coolness
rather than anything else, and there seemed at that
time to be no reason whatever for suspecting his
perfect sanity. Since his apprehension, however,
he has conducted himself in such a manner as to
prove that he is either a madman, or desires to be
supposed so. His conduct during the whole of
Tuesday was characterised by an excessive levity,
and he seemed quite unable to realise the position
in which he was placed. At the inquest, on Wed-
nesday evening, as has been already reported, he
became exceedingly impertinent. His manner was
quite calm, and he listened to everything that went
on with great attention, but he uttered the most
absurd remarks during the course of the in-
quiry, and at the very moment that a former
fellow-shopman was was giving most impor-
tant evidence, in reference to the sharpening of
the knife, and his previous threats on Mr. Fra-
ter's life, he took occasion to remark that the
coroner was " nothing but an old wife,"
and to tell his old mate, in the kindest possible
tone, to sit down, and not trouble himself any
more about the matter, being evidently unconscious
that the man was at the time offering fatal evidence
against him. With regard to his previous habits
it appears that he has often threatened the lives of
persons before, far fancied wrongs, aud some of
those who were thus threatened have no hesitation
in expressing their decided convictian that the pri-
soner is insane, and in corrobore.don of this, that
he is always worse when the moon changes—this
proving him to be a lunatic in the literal sense of
the word. With reference to his threats on Mr.
Frater's life, it seems that whenever he alluded to
that gentleman, in the presence of his fellow-work-
men, he informed them that the Queen had been
communicated with on the subject, and that she
had said that he would be quite right to kill his
victim. They, however, paid no attention to this
talk, as they considered him nothing more than a
harmless imbecile. There] are other circumstances
which will be brought forward at his trial, and
which show, to say the least, a diseased state of
mind in the prisoner.
This morning the police-court at the Manors was
crammed to excess, and all the leading thorough-
fares were crowded by persons anxious to catch a
glimpse of the prisoner's appearance.
The sitting magistrates were the Mayor, I.
Blackwell, It. Dodds, J. L. Bell, G. C. Atkinson,
and C. F. Hamond, F.sqrs.
The prisoner was brought up as soon as the
business of the court commenced.
Mr. Frater's remains were interred on Friday at
Jesmond Cemetery, Newcastle. A considerable
number of the friends of the deceased attended, to
pay a last tribute of respect to his memory. Many
of the spectators appeared to be deeply affected by
the impressive scene. The Rev. J. A. Charlton,
M.A., curate of Gosforth, was the officiating clergy-
man, and the corpse was interred on the south side
of the cemetery, adjoining the grave of Mrs. Frater,
the first wife of the deceasted.
At the meeting of the local board of guardians
the same afternoon, the following resolution was
unanimously adopted :—" This board, deeply sYra-
pathising with the family and relatives of the late
Mr. Mark Frater in the irreparable loss they have
uprightnesssustaindes
andire merlin
recordrlin wotrhthe.i,rbohtihghasense
roifrahties
citizen and as a member of this board. They ea'a-
not refrain, also, from expressing. their dere,p
Whilst horrid crime W/diejii pre-
heartfelt sorrow at the
razion with
and
doted his death.
the entire body of the inhalbeTt'anitns 'this town,
pray that the consolations of Divine isdom may
of desolation,
be given the family •in this sad Inaid;
r‘u ordeal through
sustained by them under pisar
examined be=fore the Coroner were
which they are called to
The witnesses
recalled, and gave exactly similar testimony.
Mr. Main, solicitor, attended to prosecute.
At the conclusion of Mrz Dalrymple's (the first
quired if the Mayor
an answer in the witness) evidence the prisonter in
was present, and receiving
affir-
mative, he proceeded in a 'wild and rambling man-
ner to imigt PrOdUCtia of two MCA with