The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-12 00:00:00

EXPERIMENTS AT SHOEBURYNESS.

The experiments commenced on the 2nd inst., to test
Captain Moncrieff's wrought-iron carriage and platform,
for 17-inch, 17-ton, 115-pounder, rifled muzzle-loading gun,
are still going on. The ammunition used at the last trial
was Palliser cored shot of 1151 b. weight, having
a windage of C.oBin. ; the powder, large-grained
rifle. The gun detachment consisted of one sergeant
and ten gunners. The ground in front of the
gun was marked off by pickets, placed in line from left to
right, and numbered from 1 to 11, corresponding num-
bers being marked off on the edge of the outer or flat racer
upon which the gun traversed. By this means, the ranges
and elevation having been previously noted, the gun can be
laid, elevated, and fired at the order of a single officer on
the watch (and partially but pretty safely screened by the
parapet from an enemy's fire if in action) at any moving object
approaching the points thus indicated, without being seen
at all by the artillerymen, who work the gun entirely
under cover in the pit in which the carriage is placed. In
the first ten rounds, which occupied ISmin. 55sec., the gun
fired 221 b. (battery) charges, at 1,800 and 2,000 yards.
Five rounds followed with 141 b. (service) charges,
from 500 to 2,000 yards, and the firing was
so excellent that every shot would have struck a vessel of
a small class. Practice was then commenced with the
raving target of the dimensions of Oft. by Gft., drawn
by four horses with a rope. Nine rounds were fired
with 141 b. charges, the horses moving at a walk,
or about 3i miles an hour, and the course varying
from 1,200 to 1,000 yards in direct line, as the successive
points 200 yards apart were fired at. The practice was
very good ; the time occupied in firing was twenty minutes.
This experiment was then repeated, the horses returning
in the opposite direction at the trot, or, say, seven miles
an hour. Six rounds were fired with 141 b. charges, the
practice being excellent. Time occupied in firing, 9 min.
13sec. The third practice was intended to ascertain what
would be the effects and delay which might arise from a
shot striking near and covering the carriage and elevating
gear with earth and stones. The following rounds were
fired with 221 b. charges at targets varying in distance
from 1,200 to 2,000 yards ;—Four, after earth and gravel
had been freely shovelled over with the gun in the loading
position ; and six, after similar treatment with the gun
in the firing position. The firing of the ten rounds only
occupied twenty-nine minutes, the twice brushing and
clearing away the dirt being included in that period. The
experiments were conducted in the presence of several
members of the Ordnance Select Committee.

EXTRAORDINARY SPEECH AT AN
EXECUTION.

The New York papers contain accounts of the execution
of two brothers, who had been sentenced to death for a
most brutal murder. A description is given of the pre-
liminaries of the execution, and then follows the report of
f% singular speech delivered by one of the culprits, when
under the drop, on the subject of capital punishment.
His reason for making the speech was that " people
always like to hear what persons who are hung
have to say as their last words." "In regard to
the execution of myself," observed the younger
prisoner, Charles James, " I would say--and of
course it would be natural for me to say it under
these circumstances—that I do not believe in capital
punishment under any circumstances." And then he pro-
ceeds deliberately to argue the question with as much
coolness as if he were addressing a Social Science meeting
instead of standing under a gibbet. It is of course (he
says) in accordance with the laws of Massachusetts that
we are to be executed ; but I don't know whether it
will be justified in the eyes of God or not.
The State of Massachusetts might make laws to execute
every man who stole four dollars' worth, but that
would not prove that they would be justified in the eyes
of God. But I will not pretend to linger upon these points,
as I know that it is useless to talk about it now. But I
would say, as we are to be executed, that we are suffering
the same ignominious death that Mr. Clark suffered, and
our death is in the same circle of ideas as the death of
Mr. Clark, and therefore I say that I think the, execution
is not really justified in the eyes of God. You know God
says "Thou shalt not kill.' I know that I have net
done his bidding, but, of course, when we have clone
wrong all we can do is to repent of our sins, and He Las
promised that He will receive repentant sinners. For lle
says, He that believes in me, and cloth truly repent,
shall have everlasting life.' But Ido not pretend to
quote Scripture. But I wish to say that, although I die
in accordance with the laws of Massachusetts, I have a
kind word for the officers of the prison, who have my
sincere thanks for their attention." The culprit, curiously
enough, wound up as if he thought that he should have
other opportunities of reviving the subject. " I don't
know that I can say anything more to you to-day, so I
bid you farewell." And he and his comrade were hanged
a few minutes afterwards.

The Rev. W. R. Macrorie, Bishop (designate) of
Maritzburg, did not accompany Bishop Gray on Friday, but
will leave this country by the steamer of the 9th of December
for Capetown. It is said that, in all probability, ho will be
consecrated in January.

A. London correspondent writes :—" The con-
certs at the Agricultural Hall are attracting enormous
crowds. lam told, though I can scarcely credit the fact,
that Sims Reeves gets a hundred guineas a night for sing-
ing two songs. As some 15,000 persons go to hear him,
there may be room for a profit."

A PLEASANT SENSATION. —A young man who
recently fell in love with a beautiful young lady says that
when he ascertained last evening that she reciprocated his
passion, he felt as though he was sitting on the roof of a
meeting-house, and every shingle was a Jew's-harp.—
ilmerkan Paper.

It is not generally understood how the all-alive full-
sized train passes along the stage in the new sensational scene.
The other night, at the Surrey Theatre, the audience
-were enlightened. The engine met with an obstruction
in the middle of the stage, stopped dead, and the follow-
ing carriages and tender rushed on with the momentum,
and shot one after the other into the engine, and closed up
like a telescope. It was very effective, and, as a railway
accident, was quite as remarkable as the running-over
business.

Among the books recently presented to the
library of the Hartley Institution in Southampton is a
copy of Milton's " Paradise Lost," published by subscrip-
tion by Jacob Tonson in 1720. It is a large volume of
upwards of GOO pages, and contains, besides the great
poem, a list of subscribers, Barrow's Latin and Andrew
Marvel's English lines and Addison's essays on it, Mil-
ton's short preface justifying blank verse, and an index
to the poem. Among the subscribers' names are Alex-
ander Pope, Sir Isaac Newton, Matthew Prior, Dr.
John Arbuthnot, and Thomas Tickell. In 1720 the
poem had been written upwards of fifty years, and had
been previously published, and yet it had to be published
by subscription.

I curious discussion took place at the last meet-
ing of the Belfast Presbytery. A " call" was handed in
from a congregation near Granard, which pledged itself to
give the munificent salary of £45 per annum to the
minister named in it—a Mr. William Moore. The Rev.
Mr. Johnston said he was exceedingly sorry to see a con-
gregation that numbered some of the most wealthy and
respectable persons in the Presbyterian Church amongst
"ts members coming forward and offering the petty sum of
£45 a year. One of the gentlemen in connexion with that
congregation had an annual revenue of £9,000, while
another, who was high sheriff of the county, was able to
receive the representative of their church in a carriage and
four. How these gentlemen could expect their pastor
to be a gentleman and a Christian on £45 a year was more
than he could make out. After a long discussion it was
resolved to hand the " call " to Mr. Moore.

THE EXPLOSION AT BARNSLEY.—Barnsley was
thronged on Sunday with a large influx of visitors who
seemed anxious to view the site where the disastrous
works once stood, as well as to witness the funerals of
Bywater, the foreman ; Evans, an assistant to Mr. Norris;
and Harriet Ann Hinclicliffe, which took place at the
cemetery in the afternoon. It now appears that the con-
dition of the sheds in which the work was done was far
from what it ought to have been. It is alleged that in well-
organised manufactories not more than two lives could be
lost at a time unless under very extraordinary circum-
stances, in consequence of separate huts spread over a
great area being adopted. It is also a rule not to have
more than a small quantity of composition at a time in the
huts, and means are adopted for a ready removal of all
goods to the magazine as soon as they are finished. These
precautions seem to have been forgotten or neglected at
Barnsley, and explains the second explosion, which blew
the foreman into the field.