The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-23 00:00:00

another delay in consequence of some adventurous persons
in a small cutter, in spite of the presence of the Tees, and of
two armed revenue cutters besides, to keep off intruders,
going close alongside the ship. Captain Warner hauled the
Union Jack half-way down only until the cutter and its fool-
hardy occupants were out of danger. The Union Jack was
then hauled down entirely. Every one now felt that the
grand crisis had arrived. Every eye was directed towards
the scene otoperations, and in less than five minutes after-
wards the explosion took place. The instrument of destruc-
tion, whatever It was, seemed to strike the vessel midships,
for, from that point a huge column of water, in which was
intermingled some of the shingle of which her ballast was
composed, shot up perpendicularly into the air higher than
her highest topmast; her miaen went by the board, her main-
mast, a new one, was shot clean out of her like a rocket ; she
heeled over to port to an angle of 45 degrees, and her main
hatchway Wog open, daylight was visible through her bot-
tom timbers on her starboard side, and probably her loarboard
also, having been blown away, and she seemed to part asun-
der as she went down, leaving nothing perceptible but the
top oilier foremast. The time which passed from her being
struck and her sinking could not have exceeded two mi-
nutes and a half. some few of the more enthusiastic spec-
tators, chiefly professional men, raised a cheer, but with the
mass all was mute astonishment. The eyes were rivetted on
the last observable fragment of the large object that but the
moment before floated gallantly on the waters ",like a thing of
life." The expression on the countenances of the multitude
generally seemed td ssty--What was it? An illusion? A
dream ? A magical trick ? A work of destruction so sudden,
so frightful, so stupendous, aopeaftd inipossible for a moment
even to the thousand and tens of thousands that witnessed it.
It was like an awful mystery. There were none of the ordi-
nary circumstances which accompany similar catastrophes.
There was no smoke, there was no fire, there was no noise,
save the low groan of the rending timbers, and the sucig'.9d-
ing hush of the waters as they rolled over the instantaneous
wreck, and then arose a melancholy feeling, for it was im-
possible to prevent the imagination depicting the terrific
effects of such an explosion on a peopled ship, thus silently
and suddenly perishing. To convey the effect in words is
difficult—extremely difficult. Language is inadequate for
the description ; it cannot flow fast enough, and a single sen-
tence is too long to tell the tale. It was like a dissolving
view. At one instant you see the tall ship riding proudly on
the waves ; at the next she is enveloped in the elements of
her perdition ; another moment only, and her shattered limbs
are engulfed in the deep I
Many a one loitered on the shore pondering over; a sight
more wonderful than any they had beheld before, however
strange. It was the only topic of conversation with high and
low, gentle and rude. Several persons went off in boats, to
have a closer inspection of the grave of the luckless vessel.
The boatmen picked up fragments of the debris, which they
hawked about the town, and sold as relics to the curious.
During the night the greater portion of the wreck was car-
ried away, and on the following morning nothing could be
seen but the foremast standing a little above the water, the
only monument of the lost ship. The depth of the water
where she sunk was about 35 feet.
So far then as the destruction of the vessel is concerned,

the experiment was completely successful. The object of
Capt. Warner was to show that, if chased by another ship,
he had it in his power at any time he chose to annihilate his
enemy, suddenly, at once, and without any warning. But
the question was asked, and will be asked oft every hand,
" How was it done ?" A very natural question, but not alto-
gether a very just one, for if Capt. Warner disclose his secret
h ewill go profitless. But still the question to a certain ex-
tent might be answered. • Of course the nature of the compo-
sition is not expected to be revealed without a competent
reward ; but is it necessary that no one should see the ex-
ternal form of this "infernal machine," nor the mode of put-
ting it into operation ? Where there is much mystery there
is generally_ a proportionate degree of mistrust ; and this feel-

in 1 has already operated to the prejudice of Capt. Warner.
The answer, however, which he gives to all such questions is,
"That is part of my secret, and therefore I. cannot tell you
anything at all about it." No doubt he has confided his
secret to some of those friends who so zealously encourage
and assist him ; if so, that is a fact in his favour. But after
the surprise produced by his experiment of Saturday last has
subsided there will be many suspicions and conjectures afloat.
Even on the same day and on the spot they were pretty rife.
Some persons wished to go on board the John o'Gaunt
previous to her destruction to inspect her, in order to satisfy
themselves and others that there was no magazine concealed
in her. They .were not permitted ; the answer was, that if
one were permitted ten would desire the same favour; and if
ten, a thousand ; that would be most inconvenient. Again,
It was said, " Were you to go, you might come away as wise
as you Went; •for, Wattle agent of destruction 'Zile hidden in
the ship, it might be finder the ballast, or in M.fty places, of
which• you and a hundred other persons would never dream."
But the experiment itself is esteemed by the Captain's friends
as thebest answer, for say they, the agent of destruction was
palpablyNiplied.e4ternally ; had there been a magazine on
board or within her, the effects would have been very different,
and het deck Would have been blown up, which was not the
case ; her deck did not burst until she was sinking, and then
in the usual manner when ships are suddenly aubmerifed.
* Some persons conjectured that the instrument of adstruc-
_

tion was conveyed from the steamer to the ship by means of
a rope. We used a strong telescope, but saw no rope but
the tow .line, which 14/hen let go hung loosely over her lar-
board bow. Others thought that the agent being attached
to a line was suffered to float with the tide against the ship,
and that then the line being pulled let off a trigger and pro-
duced the explosion. More scientific individuals imagine
an electrical battery to have been used ; others, an air-gun ;
others, that d substance is put to float without any guide on
the water ; others, that a submarine shell is sent in the
direction of the ship's bottom. But though every body was
watching, -and watching narrowly, with all the aid that
optical instruments could afford them, the mode of operation
is, we believe, still as profound a secret to the world as before
this public experiment. We believe Captain Caflin. was in
one of the reyenue cutters, yet he was unsatisfied.
Captain Warner was asked to permit a few gentlemen to
be-with him on board the steam-boat ; but, for the reason
before stated, he declined. Even the crew of the steamer
were all sent below before he began to operate, and kept there
until the explosion took place.
It is useless, therefore, to attempt to tell what we do not
kttot, nue thing is clear—Captain Warner is in pos-
session of a marvellous efigin of destruction ; and though it
may be regarded by some persons it! a horrible invention,
if it become known it may be taken as a harbinger of uni-
versal peace. • A war carried on. with such agency would be
intiged a war. of extermination—a war of extermination to
both parties, and therefore useless. Of necessity, then, men
would appeal to reason and not to violence. •
Captain Warner received the congratulations, personally,
on Saturday evening of Lord Brougham, gild the other no-
blemen and officers who remained in Brighton ; and Mr.
&titles, who says he fully expected that Captain Warner
vrtrtild destroy his ship when he gave it to him, has ex-
pressed his willingness to give him another for the further
proof of the Captain's powes, if the Government are not
now satisfied, or will not provide one to satisfy themselves.

ROBBERY AT WINDSOR CASTLE.-WINDSOR, SUN.'
DAY.--The Hon. Charles Augustus Murray, the Master of
the Household, having on the part of the Crown, in order to
prevent a lengthened imprisonment of the accused before trial,
consented to the prisoner charged with stealing a solid silver
scroll (part of a table which was presented to William 111. by
the corporation of the City of London) taking her trial at the
Borough Quarter Sessions, the prisoner, Elizabeth Blandy,
whose examination appeared in our paper of Saturday, was
yesterday tried for the offence before the Honourable John
C. Talbot, the Recorder of the -Borough. It will be recol-
lected it was stated in our report of the examination of the
prisoner hefore the Windsor Magistrates, that Mr. Ironies,
the. Crown solicitor, prayed that the prisoner might be re-
manded over the sessions, in order that the person who tied
up the property stolen in the paper parcel, and affixed it to
theleg of the table to which it belonged, might be ascer-
tained and produced. The evidence to fix the offence upon the
prisoner was of a precisely similar character to that which
was adduced before the Magistrates upon her committal for
trial, and which we gave on Saturday. Upon the conclusion
of the evidence a powerful address was made to the jury on
behalf of the prisoner by her counsel, dwelling principally
on the fact of her previous good character, and that no evi-
dence had been produced to prove that the paper parcel which
was affixed to the silver table in the stores at the time the
prisoner was engaged in March last in scouring out the room
contained the identical piece of silver found in the prisoner's
possession, and which she still maintained she had found in
the streets of Windsor. Mr. Williams, after alluding
to the circumstance that while she was employed in scrub-
bing the room, from which the piece of silver had been ab-
stracted, several persons were in and out, concluded by
earnestly praying the jury to give his client the benefit of
any doubt -which might remain upon their minds as to her
guilt or innocence ; for, notwithstanding there might appear
to be a clear case of strong suspicion, yet there was not a
tittle of evidence to show that she had become guiltily pos-
sessed of the p.roperty. The Recorder, who summed up at
great length, dwelt particularly upon the absence of any evi-
dence to prove that the parcel which was affixed to the silver
table in the stores in March last (at the time the prisoner
was employed in scouring out the room) contained the same
piece of silver named in the indictment. If, said the Learned
Recorder, the, person who tied up the piece of silver in the
paper could be produced, to prove that it was the same piece
the prisoner N charged with stealing, and also prove that it
was safe in the room on the day the prisoner was employed
at the stores, then it would clearly contradict the statement
made by the accused that she had found it in Thames-street
as long since as December or January last. The jury, after
having consulted together for several minutes, returned a
verdict of Acquittal, and the prisoner was discharged. The
Court was extremely crowded during the trial. The Hon.
Mr. Murray sat on the bench on the right of the Recorder.

SINGULAR DETECTION OF A DESERTER.—On Friday
morning, a deserter from the Ist Dragoon Guards, quartered in
Canterbury, was brought before the magistrates at Rochester,
by Sergeant Johnson, of the 94th Foot, stationed on the look-
out service, between Chatham and Gravesend, by whom he
was apprehended in the following singular manner :—The
sergeant met the prisoner at Shorne, about four miles from
Chatham this morning, dressed in plain clothes, but suspected
from his walk that he was a soldier. Johnson stopped him,
but he denied he was a soldier, and submitted to be searched.
Nothing was found upon him to strengthen the impression,
when the sergeant caught sight of his boots, and in examin-
ing them closely, found that they had recently had new heels
on, but a hole where a spur had been worn was partially
open. Johnson then took the prisoner into custody, who
confessed that he was a deserter from the Ist Dragoon Guards.
He was in trouble for some offence, and broke out of the
barracks at two o'clock on the morning of Wednesday; he
had cut off the heels of his military boots, but not quite high
enough, and having got fresh ones put on at Ashford, was
making the best of his way to London. The prisoner was
committed to Maidstone gaol until claimed by his regiment.
BERLIN, JULY 17.—Intelligence has been received
here from Kissingen, that his Serene Highness Prince Albert,
who has gone there for the benefit of the waters, has been
suddenly taken ' 1, and some apprehensions were felt that
the disorder wou ',r,,oye to be an inflammatory fever.
Th
are eCentlomamaviosusrtiv:,4 of Metropolitan Improve-
meatsis said, to effect arrangements with
the proprietors of the ri --er frontage between Vauxhall and
Battersea bridges, for the construction of an embankment and
roadway which shall connect the two, and afford the public
an uninterrupted road by the river side of about two miles in
extent.