The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-14 00:00:00

MR. HALE'S ROCKETS.

Mr. OT WAY asked the Secretary of State for War
whether he had received a letter, dated Nov. 21, 1867,
from Mr. Hale, the inventor of the war rockets adopted in
her Majesty's service, in which, among certain other
charges, ho accused the Superintendent of the Royal
Laboratory at Woolwich of having made alterations in
the rockets, which render them less efficient and more
costly; and requesting the right hon. gentleman to give
him (Mr. Hale) an opportunity of substantiating these
charges in the presence of the Superintendent of theßoyal
Laboratory.
Sir J. PA.ICINGTON said a letter had been received
from Mr. Halm on the subject of his invention, but he did
not make the charges that the hon. gentleman had alluded
to, neither did ho ask for an opportunity of substantiating
his charges in the presence of the person against whom
they were made. He bad said he was quite ready to do
so should it be required. (Hear, hoar.) Mr. Halo had re-
ceived £B,OOO for his invention, and the superintendent
thought he was quite justified in making any alteration or
improvement on it.

Mr. OT WAY reminded the right hon. gentleman that
he had omitted altogether to answer one portion of h's
question, whether the alteration which was made was
more expensive and less efficient ?

Sir J. PAKINGTON said he had heard nothing of the
sort, and he did not believe that that had been done.

COURT OF SESSION (SCOTLAND) BILL.
This bill was read a third time and passed.
NEW ZEALAND BILL.
This bill was also read a third time and passed.
THE IRONCLADS.

On the motion for going into committee of supply,
Capt. MACKINNON called the attention of the house
to certain faults and defects in the construction of the
Invincible and 3linotaur class. The hon. and gallant
member referred at some length to the plan on which
the ships had been constructed, and contended it was
a reckless squandering of the public money in making
ships which wore altogether quite useless for warlike or
any other purposes, and were dangerous to the gallant men
by whom they were manned. Ile hoped the Government
would stop constructing such a class of vessels.
Mr. SEELY also condemned the class -of ships men-
tioned as altogether useless. He thought that Captain
Coles's turret ships were the most to be relied on for coast
defence, and he advised the Admiralty to increase the
number of these turret vessels in preference to spending
money upon such ships as those referred to by the hoe. and
gallant gentleman who had brought the matter forward.
He contended there was a prejudice against the turret
system which it would be well for the country if it were
rooted out of the Admiralty, for until that was done every.
thing that was effected would be sure to receive condem-
nation in official quarters. The hon. gentleman then
went on to refer to sailing properties of various vessels,
more particularly the Pallas, which had been built for
extreme speed alone; when the trial took place it was found
she could only do a little over 11 knots an hour. The
Bellerophon had also failed to carry out the intentions of
her constructor, because since the upper deck had been
added she now drew 13 inches more water than it was in-
tended she should do when she was being designed.
Lord H. LENNOX replied in detail to the criticisms of
llfr. Seely and his supporters on the ironclads, maintain-
ing that all or most of them were capable of doing good
ocean work. To the chief accusation Lord Henry an-
s wered that the Board was most anxious to build a sea-
going turret-ship, but up to the present moment they had
no model which they could conscientiously adopt, nor
would it be wise to come to a decision until the two ships
now building--the Monarch and the Captain—had beer
tried next spring, and in this course they had the support
of the admirals and most of the captains of the Channel
squadron. For the same reason the inquiry Mr. Seely
asked for would be premature until that trial had beef•
made. The turret system, he assured the house, was cer-
tain of fair play in the hands of the present Board ; and
as to the suggestion of stopping the construction ol
bro w, fiord dewy 6aid the two chips prokigoti is

The Gibraltar Chronicle of June 30 contains the
following :—" We hear that the bull-fights on Sun-
day last at Cadiz were so excessively bad that an
emeute of rather terrifying dimensions occurred in
the Bull Ring. As far as the caudrilla was con-
cerned, the audience had no cause for complaint.
Gordito and Lagartijo were both there, and the
toreros were all above the average. Unfortunately
the bulls were considerably below par. The first
two were indifferent, and the third was so chicken-
hearted that he was driven out of the ring by the
execrations of the spectators, the Autoridad being
compelled to give way before the vehement cries of
fuera' which resounded from every bench. Al-
though the fourth bull required ' fuego,' it was even-
tually killed, but on the entrance of the fifth
bull almost instantaneously the whole of the vast
mass rose as one man, and, shouting 'fuera, fuera,'
with stentorian lungs, tore in ribbons the whole of the
woodwork of the Plaza. Everything gave way be-
fore their rage. Seats, barricades, and pillars were
rent asunder to supply the infuriated populace with
weapons. Armed with these logs and planks, and
splinters, they descended into the ring, and for
the space of ten minutes or more proceeded them-
selves to bait the bull in amateur fashion, raining'
on him a torrent of blows, and stupifying him with
their repeated assaults. Not that he surrended at
discretion. Several times he charged, but always
without effect, and at last stood at bay, cowed and
terrified. It was now high time for the inter-
vention of the authorities. The assembly sounded,
and a large body of Guardia Civil marching into
the arena resolutely proceeded to clear it. Although
brave enough before El Toro, the rioters did not
dare to face the guardians of the peace. They
turned and fled without striking a blow, leaving the
ring empty and the bull to be despatched to the new
comers ; for it is almost needless to state that the
toreros—espadas, picadores, banderilleros, one and
all---had disappeared at the first symptoms of dis-
turbance. The media luna was produced, and seve-
ral unskilled and futile efforts were made to ham-
string the enemy by this most barbarous of
weapons. It was eventually necessary to call
in the assistance of some of the mozos of the
company, who disabled the hull ; yet, with
tendons cut and limping painfully, he managed
to hobble out of the ring. Long before this
the house itself had been deserted by the most re-
spectable of the audience, who bad feared the most
serious consequences. A further order was issued
to complete the clearance of the Plaza, which was
effected vi et armis. Outside the doors a strong
force of infantry was formed in readiness to take an
active part in quelling the disturbance. Nor had
the fire-engines, as coercive weapons, been forgotten
by the authorities, who seemed to be well aware of
the potency of cold water to allay the effervescence
of rioters. However, the affair passed off quietly
enough, and without further breach of the peace.
It is generally expected that the events of Sunday
would lead to a prohibition of the second day's bull
fight, which had been announced for Monday."

THE WORKING REPRESENTATIVES.—The Wash-
ington correspondent of the Chicago Trihune thus sketches
Messrs. Schenck and E. B. Washburne, and their work
and worth at the capital : —There are two men most pro-
minent in the House in these days of late sessions and
hard work—Schenck and Elihu B. Washburne. General
Schenck is at the head of the Committee of Ways and
Means; Washburne takes chary, in Stevens's constant
absence, of the Committee on Approptiations. Neither of
these places are velvet ones. To be at the head of the
taxing machinery and refuse relief to people are far
from enviable places. But both these men stand fast
and hard, content to be unamiable in order to be useful.
Schenck is a heavy thick-set, auburn-haired man, with a
great dented chin, a shuddering manner of speech, curt-
ness, vehemence, the " scorn of scorn." He is a hard, faith-
ful worker, a bull mastiff in his determination not to be
wheedled out of the public taxes. The whisky ring stands
afar when he is positive; all the manifold interests of
mankind shake when he distributes his percentages. He
is armour proof to demagoguery—all interests come to him,
saying—" Send the tithe man, I pray you, everywhere but
to my house !" Mr. Schenck, with a grin, replies—" I sent
him to your house this morning !" What would become
of the land if all public men were negative ? These prac-
tical committees are places for watch-hounds and not for
cure. Your citizens will, many of them, gnash their teeth
at the name of Schenck, but his post is the stern one of the
exactor. His client is the Government. He wants his per
capita on your head. Washburne's place is even more
unpopular. It is not the people whom he offends, but the
sordid, avaricious, revengeful jobbers, placemen, and
lobbyists. A dozen pseudo newspaper men are here, bent
upon assisting the common rat of the capitol. Chose are
willing to spit Washburne every day by mail and telegraph;
for he has no client but the public purse. He will not
have its purse-strings pulled by any cunning finger, who
ever may represent it. He is a broad-shouldered, tall,
grey-haired, self-reliant man, plain in his life and attire,
with a warm heart for any private merit, but an inflexible
contempt and hate for the citizen who neglects his private
enterprise to come here and live upon the blindness of the
Government. Every square mile of the country is repre-
sented here by some jobber or another. A man invents a
saw-horse. Straightway be wants an appropriation of
five millions of dollars to civilize the Blackfoot Indians
with the saw-horse. The saw-horse is well made ; it is
a useful thing; Congressmen Starch, Judge B]astfurnace,
Senator Simony indorse it. All seems well. Suddenly
E. B. Washburne arises in his place and condemns the
saw-horse. Who can imagine the fury of the inventor.
Washburne is a man without soul! Washburne is a sordid
piece of persecution ! And from the ends of the earth
come all descriptions of people who can neither support
themselves, nor get support from their neighbours, falling
back upon the common victim of us all, the United States.
Washburne is the flaming cherubim to all such. He sweeps
clean. The party thieves hate him. But he is one of the
few men in the service of the United States who incor-
ruptibly earns his money."
The trustees of the Howard School Fund at West
Bridgewater, Eastern Massachusetts, have purchased a 10
acre field in the centre of the town, and are improving the
grounds with hedges and shade trees, with a view of
erecting soon the buildings of the Howard school, accord-
ing to the bequest of pox() from the late Capt. Benjamin
B. Howard of that town. _ .

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