The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-24 00:00:00

THE MILITIA.

The sth Northumberland Fusiliers, a new regi-
ment, is in course of formation. Liberal terms
have been offered to recruits.

It is understood that the Royal North Lincoln-
shire Militia will be called upon to undertake gar-
rison duty in the Mediterranean.
The Royal Glatnorganshire Militia has been in
training at Swansea. The regioiont will not at
present be ordered for embodiment.
The Cardiganshire Militia has j oat completed its
ordinary period of trainiNg. The regiment is said
t.) be in a high state of efficiency.
The Royal North Gloceetershire Militia are or-
dered to reassemble at Cirencester on Tuesday, the
3d of November.

I RUSSIAN CANNON FIRED UPON AN ENGLISH
TOWN.--Tile generosity of the Government in the dis-
tribution of the guns taken from the enemy in the late
war seems likely to iead to some inconvenience to the
grateful recipients. A few days since c msiderable
alarm• was excited at midnight in the borough of Wad-
ing by a tremendous explosion, the cause of which at
tint could not be divined. It appears that the patriotic
inhabitants of the borough some time since petitioned
Lord Pantnure that one of the large guns captured
from the Russians in the Crimea mieht be presented to
the town, elan enduring trophy of British prowess. A
lengthy correspondence took place between the inhabit-
ants and the War-office, and at length the joyful news
was offichay communicated that a piece of artillery of
the largest calibre was ab6ut to be forwarded to the
borough. The inhabitants, grateful for this signal mark
of favour, had a costly and elaborate piece of machinery
constructed on which to mount the formidable weapon.
In doe time it arrived at the station, and was carried
amidst the demonstrations of the loyal to the site selected
for its reception on Fosbury-bill—an eminence which, it
may he observed, dom►nates the town. Here it was
placed in what was hoped to be a state of repose ; but its
isolated position offered too great a temptation to some
of the amateur artillerymen of the borough. One night
last week, about "the witching hour," some ardent
students of the art of gunnery stormed the hill, captured
the gun, and actually had the hardihood to load it with
a heavy charge of gunpowder and grave', awl turn it
upon the devoted town and its slumbering inhabitants.
A fearful report announced that some terrible catastrophe
had occurred. The windows i❑ the neighbouring houses
were shattered, the gaslights were extinguished, a
terrible gloom overshadowed the town, and two police.
men on duty at the Great Western station were nearly
ki.led (with fright) by the concussion of the atmosphere.
The alarm which this joke created was so great that it
was at fist supposed some of the locomotives at one of
the three termini which Reading possesses had exploded,
spreading death and desolation around. The gun, the
immediate cause of this commotion, has already cost the
inhabitants about 501. for conveyance and mounting, and
that expenditure will probably have to be increased by
the weekly stipend of a retired Crimean warrior to be
I stationed on the bill to prevent future experiments by
tits amateur gunner!, of the neighbourhood,

" 18, Duke-street, We imin-ti r, Oct. 23.
" Gen lemen,—The difficulty of replyihg to the
uumerou inquiries made respecting the eried at
which the ship will b- lattice stems to tender it
destrable that some means should be taken of giv-
ing the information generally that it m .y be nivel.-
tam up„to the end of n it week whether the ship
will he launched on the 311 proxime or the 2d of De-
cember, and also of correcting erroneous im-
pressions which exist as t the nature of the opera-
ti in, which can only lead to the disappeiutmi.nt of
those who anticipate a display oe an uetivally
Irge scale of that whieli is a beautiful spectacle
with ships of ordinary dimensions.
"As regards the period of the launch, I have for
tome time past calculated upon b,ing ree.t3y by the
first tides of next month ; and, ley the unwearied
exertions of those ou whose assistance I hatee.de-
pended, with the advantage of unusually fine wea-
ther, the principal works required are si far ad-
vance l that the e seems every prospect of success;
but a change in the weather is hre4tening, tke
time rtunainwg is sht-Tr, and c,ropsrativAY
causes naay delay as to render it more
prudent, if not unavoidable, to pop )ne the opera-
tion until the flioreing available tide—Liam-Iy.
that.of D.ceinb.r 2, ae no mere d ieire to launch on
the day supposed to have been fixed wiil induce me
to hurry tin operation of such ininortanct, or to
omit the precsutiori iif a careful and delilierate ex-
amination of all the parts of the arrangements,
after all the principal works of preparation
have b-en completed. Should such po4tponement
prove ni ceitsary, or be adoptel fit:n prudence,
ev,rythng hiving been now prepared, the launch
would he on the 2d of December. As regards the
nature of the operation, it has frequently been
stared, but it seems necessary to repeat it, that the
ship will not be "launched" in the ordinary sense
of the term, but merely lowered or drawn down to
low water waik, to be thtnce floated off by a slow
and laborious operation, requiring two and pos
sibly three tides, and very pied:Ably tfiticted
partly in the night, and at no one time offer-
ieg any particularly in eresting spectacle, cr
even the excitement risk, as- -I
am happy to
feel that, even assuming accidents to °calm, or
miscalculations to have been made renderinet
the operation unsuccessful, the ship. may
stop half-way down, or not move at all, more power
or ether remedies may have to be atiplied, bet no
injury te the ship can r,sult from any fat Aire iu the
ammo of proceeding iu this mode of launching.
" [ rant, Gentlemen, your obedient syrvent,
"I. K. BRUNEL.
"To the Directors of the Eastern Steam

Navigation Company."