The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-20 00:00:00

TEE NEW srEAm BATTERY.

, The great iron war steamer, which is now in construe-
, tion at Hoboken for the Government, being an object of
much interest, we have been at considerable pains to
collect reliable information in regard to her, principally
through the medium of our Washington correspondents ;
and, as it differs very materially from the statemei.ts
recently made in various quarters, we give it to our
readers. In 1842 the late Mr. Robert L. Stevens first
broached to the Government the subject of harbour
defence by means of steam batteries of iron, which
should be shot and shell proof, and in 1843 Congress, by
a special act, directed that the Navy Department should
contract with him for such a vessel. In 1844 a contract
was accordingly made with him by Mr. Mason, then
Secretary of the Navy, under whicti Mr. Stevens com-
menced collecting materials and constructing the dry
dock in which the vessel is now building. Mr. Stevens
bound himself by this contract to construct a war steamer
suitable for use in the waters of New York, from Sandy
Hook upward. It was stipulated that she should be
built of iroc, that she should be shot and Ethell proof
against ordnance then in use on ships of war, that she
should have four engines, and be propelled by a sub-
merged propeller which should give great speed. Her
dimensions were to be not less than 250 feet iu length
and 40 feet beam, and her cost complete, including
au
armament of not less than 6 heavy guns, was not to ex-
ceed $587,000. For the faithful faffilmentof this contra
the Government required and received from Mr. 3tevenst ample security, as it was furtheretipulated that payments should be made to hirn as he proceeded with the
struction up t 05500,000, and that the remaining 3 ""
_rs 7,0e00
should be paid when theship was completed and
Mr. Stevens encountered many difficulties i eceiv d"
n making
his preliminary arrangements, and it viete not until July,
1854, that the actual con struction was
commenced.
Meantime he had decided, after more fully studying the
subject, to increase the dimensions of the vessel very
much. Instead of a length of 250 feet she nearly 420
dimensions are
feet long, and her other
increased in pro.
portion. Instead of 4 engines and 1 propeller, rp eller, she has 8
engines and 2 propellers. Her boilersaore 10 in number,
of large dimensions, and her power will be nearly equal
to 9,000 horses. The vessel is in a very advanced
state, and the machinery and boi•era, and dependencies,
are all complete and in place. Owing to her greatly
increased dimensions beyond those stipulated for in the
contract the cost will be much increased, but how much
we are not able to state. The payments by the Go-
vernment cannot exceed 500,000 dollars until the vessel
is delivered and received, unless Congress should make
further appropriations. Since the construction was
commenced the original projector, Mr. Robert L. Ste-
vens, has died, but it is stated that his brother, Mr. E,
A. Stevens, is determined to complete the vessel ; that
a good force is now at work, under the same general
supervision which has been employed from the com-
mencement. Mr. Stevens is prosecuting the work
from kis own resources, we are told, in the fullest con.
fidence that the ship will in all respects meet public
expectation, and that Congress will not suffer him to
sititain any loss.—American paper.

TilE ADULTERATION OP FLOUR AND BREAD.
-, -
The Lancet has just commenced a new series of re-
ports under the old title of the " Analytical Sanitary
Commission on the Adulteration of Food and medicine:,
That. contained in the Lancet of the 17th inn. is u on
the adulteration of flour and bread. It appears that there
is an article in common and daily use by bakers deno-
minated " Cones," or " Cones' flour ;" this when genuine
consi.ts entirely of the flour of a particular kind of
wheat, denominated " Rivit wheat." It is used by
roftvitoheceags well
as
bakers to dust the boards upon which the dough is made
into bread, as well as the dough itself, the oi,ject being
to prevent the dough from adh€ring to the boards, or the
loaves to each other ; hut, as will appear immediately,
it is likewise employed for other purposes. Of 22 earn'
plea of Cones' flour subjected to examination five only
were genuine, and the other 17 adulterated, consisting
n
of mixture
s of rice, bean, barley, rye flour, and Indian
' i
corn meal. together with, in one alum. Cones' flour is, therefore, eubj-ct
various adds -
We.s.., a Kent-street niendi- amount of adulteration, the objectoenormous
l
LAMBETH.—Jarnes 1 h
d before Mr. Elliott with attempting to linos made to it being to cheapen the articleflonr is fro-
cant, was charge.
on the Queen's highway, to adapt it for adulteration. That Cones'
rob Harriet Christmasto an sa
. of bread is shown,
trix a young woman, deposed that on quently employed in th i adulteration
The prosecu ,
the adulterations
' ht she bad been out for some things, and in some CA3033 by the character of some of
with bean
Saturday night '
to the ad been her master, 3, Albion-place, to which it is subject, as those by
admixturefi,ur is actually of a
whenreturning
Peckham, sue had to pass a dead wall, and flour, alum, and salt.
Now beanu wheat flour of good
H gh-street, .
met the Prisoner. He asked her for alms, and she more glutinous nature than I" in Cones' flour tends
there
ld h
im
she bad noth'ng to give, upon which he placed quality, and therefore its presencefor
which it is alleged
ton
hand round her neck and the other towards her to unfit it for the very purpose
I have even aeknow-
o e in her hand- By a sudden jerk she got away that it is designed.
Someof Cones' flour for the purpose
purse
and
home and told her master, from him ran
lodged to the
.
employmentthe article Cones' flour, prepared by
Mr. Robert Coulson said that, oa his servant coming of adulteration.
1-In t then," states the report, " are
home and telling him of the outrage that had been the millers, 11, bakers,
material avowedly wheat flour, but
attempted he went in pursuit of the prisoner, and en furnished with
a of mixtures of different and cheaper
coming up with him he charged him with the offence, . which, conHistingr
y way suited for the adulteration of
but ho stoutly denied it. liming no doubt, however, flours, is in
evteit is extensively used for this purpose
that he was the person, as he had asked charity from bread,
and that
The public know nothing of this
himself but a short time before, he gave him into the cannot be doubted.
master bakers themselves are ignorant of
custody of a constable.
article ;
tnntopesition, while the journeyman, in most
Policeman 44 P deposed that the pri=oner had admit- its
1.2111
when, he adds, by his master's directions, ahuskel
ted that he had been begging, and he found is, lid. on cases, ,
to a sack of flour, has no idea that he i$ *WI-
of Cones 0
- __. __ _
him.
testing the bread,
The prisoner denied the charge of attempting robbery, t

Mr. Paynter inquired of the superintendent of the
Norwich Police what course he intended to pursue re-
specting the prisoners 3
The Sunerintentlent replied that, with the magistrate's
authority, he would immediately convey them to Nor-
wich.
They were accordingly sent there.

- -
THE WAR WITH PERSIA AND CHINA.

BIRMINGHAM-, MONDAY NISEIT.
A. public meeting of the inhabitants of this town was
held in the New Music-hall, Broad-street, this evening,
on the subject of the present wars with Persia and
China. There was only a moderate attendance, the re-
served seats in the stalls being only thinly occupied.
Mr. Alderman BALDWIN, in the unavoidable absence
of the Mayor, presided ; and among the gentlemen pre-
sent we observed Mr. W. Morgan, Mr. Joseph Sturge,
the Rev. C. Vince, Mr. C. Sturge, Mr. J. S. Wright,
the Rev. A. O'Neil, and numerous other influential gen-
tlemen. A letter from Lord Lyttelton, apologising for
his absence, but partly agreeing with the objects of the
meeting, was real at the commencement of the proceed-
ings.

Mr. W. MORGAN, in a long address, referred to the
history of the opium trade in China, the differences which
had long existed between Great Britain and that country,
the manner in which we had occasionally acceded to Chi-
nese demands, and ultimately urged the inexpediency of
proceeding by force against China. He concluded by mov-
ing a resolution to the effect that the bombardment of
Canton was unjustifiable, and was repugnant to Chris-
tianity, and calculated to dishonour the British name.
(Cheers.)

The rim C. VINCE seconded the resolution, wbich
was carded unanimously.
Other resolutions, together with petitions to Parliament
were then adopted, and the meeting separated.