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

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING. SEPTEMBER 9, 1861

or all iron ? Shall we have sloping plates with
a great " tumbling home," or retain the ordinary
shape of our vessels ? Shall our new large ships
be plated all over, or shall the bows and stern be of
wood only? All these are serious and practical,
and not mere amateur questions ; and there are
numerous minor, yet hardly less important ones,
relating to the quality of iron or steel for the
plates, and the manner of fastening them,
since it is found that the holes for
bolts are the weakest points of the plates,
and that the bolts are apt to break loose from the
impact of the shot.
Smaller vessels—gunboats, in fact—armed with
one or two guns of power sufficient to smash the
side of a warrior or La Gloire, were advocated by
Dr. EDDY. Granting superior speed, the smaller
vessels could do anything they pleased with the
larger and less manageable vessels ; and he thought
that they might, with a small but powerful arma-
ment, gain a speed of sixteen knots an hour.
But the speed, it seems, is not to be gained by
small vessels. Size and proportionate power are
essential to speed. And from what was said by
Sir E. BELCHER we fear there is no chance of any
small vessel contending in velocity with a large

one.

To build entirely with iron, we have a strong
conviction, is what must be ultimately come to. We
have expressed this opinion before, and what was
brought forward at the meeting quite confirms
us in our opinion. Not only is the
stowage of the ship immensely increased by
using the same . weight of iron plate,
alone, as would equal the weight of the wood and
iron combined, but we should be saved the enor-
mous expense of having to pull the ship every now
and then to pieces to repair the wooden part, which
has a strong tendency to rot in such close contact
with the iron and excluded from the air. We are,
therefore, glad to see that the Admiralty has not
even yet decided to reject the plan of exclusively
iron plates in building the ships just ordered,
but has the contracts prepared for them to be
built on either plan. They ought to resolve
that iron alone should be used, and then we are con-
fident that our Fairbairns and Scott Russells would
not be behind the demand made on them to settle
the best plan for fixing these massive plates. Give
us a real ship of iron, built with six-inch plates well
put together, and why should she not be as good
fifty or even a hundred years hence as she was when
new.
We must be prepared, however, to pay pretty
handsomely for our change of Navy. Suppose
eighteen of these ships to be get ready, then
the hulls of the eighteen ships will cost us
£4,681,600, and their engines £l,l43,ooo—to-
gether nearly £6,000,000. When masted, rigged,
armed, and fully equipped for sea, they will of course
represent a much larger sum, probably nearly
£8,000,000. These estimates will afford some faint
conception of the nature of that reconstruction of
the navy upon which we may now be said to have
fairly entered, in so far as the ships themselves are
concerned ; but this is not all, we must have docks
suitable to receive our monster invulnerables.
" Many considerations," said Mr. REED, " combine
to exalt the importance of this part of
the subject; but there is one which is
paramount—namely, that we dare not send
these ships against a French fleet unless
we have docks for them to run to in the event of a
disaster. We know not what may happen to these
altogether novel structures until they have been
exposed to successive broadsides or a heavy naval
battery, and it would be madness to send them out
to encounter a powerful fleet of vessels as strong as
themselves, unless we are prepared to open docks
to receive them in case of necessity. What is
required in each case is deep water up to the en-
trance of the dock, a depth of not less than 27 or
28 feet at the sill, and a length on the floor of
the dock of 400 feet. These things are not com-
bined in any dock in great Britain, and cer-
tainly not in any of her Majesty's dockyards.
The French have docks varying from 200 feet
to 720 feet in length, and some of them 90 feet
wide. In order to place ourselves on an equality
with the French navy, no less than to meet certain
emergencies, we must, with a reconstructed fleet,
found a colossal dock establishment on some favour-
able point on our southern shores, furnished with
the means of carrying on extensive repairs in time
of war. The most suitable of all positions is South-
ampton Water, and if we are wise enough to build
a set of decks there before the time of war arrives,
we shall have the satisfaction of knowing that the
largest iron-cased ships now in contemplation will
be able to run in and be docked with all their stores
on board, and everything standing; and with
nothing less than this should we be satisfied."

The Right Hon. Frederick Peel, M.P., was
attacked with severe illness shortly after the marriage cf
Sir George Wombwell, Bart., and Lady Julia Villiers, the
right hon. gentleman's niece. For some days he was ex-
trernely ill, but on inquiry on Saturday we are glad say
he was pronounced out of danger, and was progressing
favourably. .

Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston, accompa-
nied by the Right Hon. W. F. Cowper, M.P , and Mrs.
Cowper, arrived in town on Saturiay evening from Walmer
Castle.

ments.

The Earl Granville has left town on a visit to
the Dowager Countess Granville and Mr. and Lady
Georgiana Fullerton, at Littlehampton, Sussex.
We are happy to learn that the Earl Fortescue
is so far recovered from his recent serious illness, that the
noble earl will be able to leave Grosvenor-square in the
course of the week for Castle Hill, his seat in Devon.
The Bishop of London is expected to return to
England about the middle of October, and will immediately
afterwards enter upon his diocesan duties.
THE KINGSTON MURDER.—Martha Bradish, the
woman who was tried at the last Surrey Assizes at Croydon
for murdering her step-sister in Kingston barracks, and who
was acquitted on the plea of insanity, has bean removed
from Horsemonger-lane Gaol to the Fisherton-house Asy-
lum, near Salisbury, pursuant to an order from the Home-
office.
BLONDIN.—It was announced some days since
that this popular performer had departed for the north to
accept an invitation from the Scotch to cross the border and
prove his abilities at Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dundee, and
Edinburgh. At all these towns his reception has been most
enthusiastic, not only at his places of performance, but
whenever he appeared in pub ic. On his visiting the
theatre at Glasgow the whole audience rose and greeted his
entrance with cheers. He has been compelled to decline a
pressing invitation to prolong his stay owing to an engage-
ment to appear at the Crystal Palace to-day, where his per-
formances have always ensured a numerous attendance.
AN AQUATIC BLONDlN.—Considerable excite-
ment was created on Saturday in and about Hampton on
its being given out that John Snell, the celebrated water-
man and boat builder there, was going to walk across the
river on a tight rope, and consequently hundreds of spec-
tators flocked to the spot towards the time announced—six
o'clock—the spirited supporter of aquatics, the Right Hon.
Lord Kilmorey, and a large numbs of ladies and gentle-
men being present. After the regatta, in which S nell had
been engaged, he had the rope chalked, and commenced
walking it from the Middlesex side, balancing himself with
a large ballast polo. The rope was a common line used in
towing barges, only one inch in diameter, and having bcen
broken in one of the trials, and the guys besides being in a
very insecure state (as the whole of the expense of prepar-
ing the rope had been defrayed by Snell himself), it swayed
up and down is a very dangerous manner, and was in
effect a slack rope. Notwithotanding the disadvantages
under which Snell, a perfect amateur in the art, laboured,
he walked the rope with the utmost coolness and courage,
and accomplished his task amidst the cheers of those as-
sembled. It had been Snell's intention to wheel a man
over the rope in a hand barrow, but Lord Kilmorey, who
made him a handsome present, was decidedly against his
attempting the feat until he obtained a better rope. We
understand he will ere long attempt this more dangerous
task, and from the coolness he displayed in walking the
rope on Saturday there is very little doubt that he will suc-
ceed. The betting at Hampton was as much as 4 and sto
1 against his accomplishing his task.

-114 . •

ROME, SEPT. 8.

The official Giornale di Roma of to-day says :

" The Pope has visited the Terne of St. Maria.
An immense crowd cheered him on his passage.
The return of his Holiness took place amid the
waving of flags and still more enthusiastic ovations."

VIENNA, SEPT. 8.

To day the Emperor received the deputation
bearing the address of the Lower House of the
Reichsrath.

His Majesty said in his reply :
" The address to which I have just listened
strengthens my glad conviction that you place
confidence in me, who myself am faithful to the

constitution.
4, The Lower House, in entirely adopting my prin-
ciple that the provinces should possess legal auto-
nomy, but that they should be bound together in a
natural unity, has likewise conceived that such an
autonomy sbali only be limited by a conscientious
fulfilment of the common duties towards a power-

ful integral monarchy.
"To carry out these principles against those who
do not respect them is certainly a necessity which
I hope, however, to confine within the narrowest
possible limits.
" The result will prove the overpowering might
of the truth and justice of the principle which I
have stated."

In conclusion, the Emperor thanked the deputa
on for the loyal manifestation of their ser.ti

TRIESTE, SEFT. 8.

The elections to the Diet, which took place yes-
terday iu the communes of the district of Istria,
have resulted favourably to the Government.

state, and former prices are no longer obtained.
Notwithstanding the increasing value of goods in
Manchester, the accumulation of stocks here, the
heavy shipments on the way, and the want of de-
mand from the interior have induced the dealers to
draw back, and the importers to be less firm. To
effect sales holders have been obliged to submit to
easier rates.
The export-market is firmer ; with the exception
of cotton, in which the business is active, there is
little doing for other produce in consequence of
scanty supplies,