The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-08 00:00:00

THE GUN OF THE PRINCETON STEAMER,

The followinz hist,ry of the large elm, which, by its
"ascurt nn, the cause o the dreadful catastr.phe on
bard the United States' steamer, Princeton, is given in-
to* report of the Naval Curt of Inquiry upp..inted to
investigate the causes of the accident

" Inthe year 1839 Captain Stockton, being in Eng-
land. his att-ration was attracted to the extraordinary
and imo,,rtant imp:ovements s hieh h:td recently been in-
trodu .e:.l into the manufacture of large masses of wrOty.tht
iron, as a substitute f _r cast iron, for otjccts which required
combnotion of s'rength an .1 adhesiveness, or tough
ness. Large shafts for steam-engines had been thus
fabricate'', uhich experience had demonstrated to be
illpt.,inr in those qualtries which were desirable, to the
same art les itmufactured of ca •t iron.

•• Th, :e circumstances appear to have led Captain
-ztockton to con,id.-r the q rest Lin how far the same ma-
:erisl might be emeltiyel in the cerstruction of cannon
of large calibre. lie appears to have been animated by
,notices the im st patriiitie, stimulated by the laudable
desire of being, himself instrumental in promoting the
te.iroar of his country. and of elevating that branch of the
.ervlce with which he was p.rsonally connected.
" After much deliberation and several consultations,
Ala) cilcalations furnished titan the• same quaver'
Captain St ckcori d ti.rmined upon the construction of
gun of the pro owed dimensions, fur the purpo-e of
testing the ()pinions of f.cientific men by the results of
xtierence. A catinon was accordingly made at the
'ders,•37 works, of Yorkshire iron, which, being approved
tf, was. shipped to the Hefted States. Having la:t:n pro-
p erly pr-pared for the pureose, this gun was carried to
sai-dy Hook and subjecte.d to what was deemed the
-.-Toper test. After the fist firi:Pg, preparations were
!wit-I.p to mount the gun. In doirEr this a crack was per-
ed opposite the ohimber, which induced Captain
stockton to have the breech strengthened by putting
around it. 't hese bands are represented as being
ree and-a-half ini•hes in thickness. With this addi-
ion a str,ngth given to the deliictive part of the gun, the
experiments wer:• renewed, and the result a decided
Pony fiction up n the minds of al connected with them,
hat, in general, the anticipations of Captain Stocktott
sere p'xf; -ctly realised ; and, ,econdly, that it a gun of
his construction should y;eld to the force of the trial, it.
s-ould he by a simple (letting!, and not, a., in cast iron, a
aiol-nt disruption and ,cattering• of time fragments.
" The success of thee' experiments was such as to.
!eei,le Captain S,oekton forthwith to direct the con-
Aructicn of another gun of a similar character, to be
'mule of American iron, which is usually regardod as
-uperiur in strength atid, ten..city to the English iron.
se.-2ond gun (the same which exploded on board
he Princeton) was constructed with a chamber similar
to that of the first gun, with an additional thickness of
twelve inches at the breech—a: difference, even if the
natal were only of equal goodness, far more than suffi-
lent to comp,nsate for the bands by which the first had
;)een fortified.

" Application was made to Colonel Bomford. of the
ordnance department of the army, who, it is well known,
has been processionally occupied in experimenting upon
suns of a large calibre, and his opinion requeted as to
the proper proof to which such a guit of c.:tit to be sub-
iected. The proof suggested by ColontlßomfUrd as a
suitable one, will be found in his letter of November 25,
1840, appended to the record. The new gun con-
structed by order of Captain Stockton exceeded in di-
mension and weight, consequently, should also have
4urras-ed in strength that contemplated by Colonel
Bomford, they being of the same calibre, and the proof
to which this cannon was subjected was much more
severe than what was proposed as sufficient by that ex-
perienced offic. r."

The Bi•hop of LONDON has lately addressed a
Pastoral Letter to the clergy of his diocese on the
subject of the erection of new churches, which he
states to be the one great want of the metrop(lis and
its suburbs. After mentioning that a. sum of, up-
wards of a hundred and fifty-eight thousand pounds
,as already been subscribed for this purpose, he de-
•lares it as his fixed opinion that the subscription
s not halt extensive enough, and that another must
.e got up without loss of t'me, inasmuch as his

netropolitan 11,,ck—poor, destitute, benighted crea-
,ures !—are absolutely famishing for lack of spiritual
" More Church !" is consequently the

,ued,..n of the episcopal song. The temporal welfare
,f the numerous flo,:k entrusted to his charge appears
o he wholly beneath the sublime consideration of
:heir ghostly shepherd; he has regard only to their
nrecious souls, whose lamentable condition he says,
Nith infinite pathos, wrings his pious boson with
tnguish. "I &sire," he tells his clergy, "to renew
ny appe4l to the members cf the Church, in my own
nocese, as well on the ground of the fearful extent of
lesfitution yet unsupplied, as of the success with
the Divine:blessing has crowned a former
ffort. It was not to be expected that the planting of
.;liurches and clergymen in the teidst of a poor, igno-
,;int, long-neglect,d poi,ulation, would at once produce
.11 the ben,- ficial eff. cts which; we doubt not, will
.iltimately result from that provision. To break down
tie mass of ignorance and vicious habits which has
eTn accumulating for a long series Of years, must
weds he a work of time. It may perhaps be doubted
hether any very striking as :ge will be wrought
ill a new generation -hall have grown up under the
iurture and discipline of the Church." It is mani-
'lst, fr:m this passage, that to "more Church," and
-‘ more Church" only, the good Bishop trusts for the
nnprovement of his flock. This is his great
:anacea for all their sufferings—the sole reme-
dial measure in which he appears to have the slightest
faith. It is with considcrable diffidence that we ven-
ture to differ from so august an authority, but we
cannot help thinking that the temporal interests of his
Hock stand far more in need of the Bishop's vigilant
attention that their spiritual ;interests. Hundreds,
possibly thousands of them—more especially those
who reside in the crowded neighbourhoods of Bethnal-
green and Spitalfields—are at this moment in the
most wretched state of destitution, and what will
" more Church do for them ? Will it furnish them
with clothes to appear in at Divine service—will it
put bread into their mouths—give them the means of
supporting their families—or pour the sunshine of
content and happiness into their homes, when the
ghastly fiend, Poverty, sits grinning, an "unbidden
:.;•uest," by their hearth ? Certes, more Church" is
In excellent thing in its way—particularly to the
food Bishop, whose power and patronage will be
thereby wondrously increased—but "more bread"
is, or should- be, the first consideration—
flore means of innocent enjoyment—more comfort
and peace of mind. Let the Rigt Rev. Prelate first
direct hia attention to these bufftaut natters, and

theii his flock will be in a fitter condition to reap the
spiritual benefits of " more Church." But a hungry
belly is in no mood to derive advantage from attend
ance at Divine service ; and rags—which are prover-
bially sensitive—are but, too apt to feel that they are
somewhat out of place among the Respectables in
the House of GOD. But why this demand for "more
Church," on the part of " CHARLES JAMES LONDON,"
when the metropolitan churches, with which we are
already blest, remain only half filled, and not a few
of them are in the worst state of dilapidation ? In
St. Stephen's, Walbrook, for instance—as was pub-
licly mentioned at the last parish meeting—the rain
actually comes through the roof, the matting is torn,
the pews are, many of them, broken, and the very
pulpit itself is in such a state •of decay,
that it would not surprise us, were Doctor
CROLY, one fine Sunday, in the midst of his sermon, to
fall through on the astonished head of the clerk be-
neath ! Now, would it not be as well to repair our
present churches, and see that they are well filled, be-
fore we proceed to build new ones ? The Bishop, it is
to be feared, will think otherwise; and we are at no
loss to understand his motives, which, though disin-
terested perhaps in the main, are not wholly unin-
flueNced by the pleasing consideration of increased
power and patronage.

We cannot allow the finding of the Coroner's jury
on the late "Extraordinary Suicide in Fleet street,"
to pass out of public notice, without expressing our
entire concurrence in the rebuke which that verdict
embodied. So far as we can collect the facts from a
perusal of the evidence, we certainly can arrive at no
other hut the appalling conclusion it so emphatically
records. " That the deceased (a young woman)
committed suicide whilst in a state of temporary in-
sanity, induced by the cruel and heartless conduct"
—of a person who was described as a 8.D., and a cu-
rate in holy orders in the Church of England—is
the declaration upon oath of twelve respectable jurors
resident in the immediate neighbourhood within
which this catastrophe has tu.ppened. An evil sign
of evil times—unhappily not an isolated one, but of a
class of recent cases whose name is "Legion." The
young man thus disgracefully reflected upon—having
very coolly and circumstantially admitted a former
guilty intimacy with the deceased—so deported him-
self in the course of his examination and testimony
that the "finding" we have already quoted proceeded
in these words :—" and we are compelled to express
our strong disapprobation of the flippant and unfeel-
ing manner in which that gentleman's evidence was
given on Monday last" The Coroner, too, in sum-
ming up, said that " he could not but find fault with
this person's conduct towards the deceased, as ad-
mitted by hirneron Monday last, who, on her ap-
pealing to him I, r his infrreession, said, 'lf you
confess that you have robbed my brother, I will see
what I can do for you.'" No evidence was adduced
to lay any ground of probability for the cruel charge
involved in this insidious offer. The counsel for the
Divinity Bachelor affirmed that his conduct to the
unhappy woman had been all that was generous and
considerate. The evidence of a party who overheard
the dispute between him and her on the night
preceding the morning of the suicide, by reason
of the thinness of the partition which separated
the room of the listener from that of the liti-
gants, was direct as to language addressed to the de
ceased by the rung clergyman (!) of the most
brutal and callous character. The whole story, as
given by the young man himself, confirms the im-
pression avowed by the jury of the utter heartlessness
and cruelty wi'h which he had conducted himself in
this affair ; and one feels that a more awful responsi-
bility attaches to him on account of the premature
fate upon which the deceased_precipitated herself, than
even of the nature of the connexion which he had
formed with her.

We cannot avoid the conclusion, that this last case
of clerical delinquency—like the scandal (with which
the public has been made, within these few weeks, so
familiar) of the Re v. Mr. MARSH'S incontinency, and
the Rev. Mr. DAY'S detestable propensity for cutting
and maiming his neighbours' sheep—calls impera-
tively upon the hierarchy of the Established Church
really to " set their house in order," at least to the
extent of better regulating the moral and private con-
duct of inferior functionarir's. It is all very well for
Primates and Bishops to deplore the inaufficiency of any
effective powers in the heads of the Church to enforce
moral discipline and decorous, pious, and orderly
living among their clergy; but the Church labours
under ore liability common to all other institutions
connected with the State ;—if she he not speedily
reformed from within, she will he rudely, but exten-
sively reformed from without. Instead of attempting
to juggle the public by such a Bill as that now before
Parliament, professing to regulate and remodel the
Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, Sir ROBERT PEEL should
originate some bona-fide measure maturely adapted to
such a purpose; and entrust its conduct (if he cannot
retain its management himself) to hands beyond the
reach of suspicion or the imputation of interested mo-
tives. This question must again be brought before
Parliament and subjected to the most earnest and
searching discussion. In like manner, if the Primates
and Bishops of the Church be not in the meantime
able to devise some better tests of moral competency
and personal conduct prior to the ordination of clerks,
or some surer guarantees for the due maintenance of
these qualifications afterwards, the Church itself
will speedily lose much of its hold on the
affections and respect of a vast proportion
of its present flock. The cases of delin-
quency to which we more particularly allude
are, we freely admit, disgraceful exceptions to
the general rule by which the demeanour of the
"order" is governed. But the truth is, that these ex-
ceptions have become so numerous as to weary, to
disgust and resentment, the outraged patience of the
public. It is not in these times—in this country, at
least—that such offensive exhibitions of immorality
and misconduct, among a class to whom we are ac-
customed habitually to look for our examples of
"piety and holiness of living," can be thus repeated
with impunity. Society has little toleration to spare
for vices or follies which are so injurious to its own
best interests and private respectability. I3ut.when
they who indulge in them, under circumstances, too,
that must necessarily bring the details of their cases
before the public, are found in the ranks of our
clerical pastors, they must be classed among the most
inexcusable and most mischievous offenders against
public morals.

Madrid journals of the 29th ult. have been re-
ceived, but they furnish no additi,,nal intelligence
from Carthagena. The country from all accounts
r. mains perfectly quiet, with the exception of some
slight disturbances at Tafalla and Zalamea, which
were speedily suppressed by the military.
According to advlces from Portugal, Almeida still
held out. The be'iegers, as stated in a letter received
from that place, have been reinforced by 600 infantry,
150 cavalry, and some artillery. Though the blockade
is a little closer, one can still enter and quit the fort-
ress very easily, so that the insurgents are not in
%ant of provisions, and are not deprived of all com-
munications. They made a sortie five or six days
ago, and seized upon a quantity of bread and money
destined for the blockading troops. The brigade of
observation is still in the same position, and the
arti'lery has not yet played.
On the Madrid Bourse the Three per Cents. were
done at 351 for cash, and 36 11-16 at 60 days ; and
the Five per Cents. at 234.

In the French Chamber of Deputies on Thursday
a lengthened discussion took place, on a motion for
the abolition of the stamp duty on newspapers. It
was brought forward by M. DE MoNTLAviLLE, said
to be one of the proprietors of the Siec/e, who con-
tended that the principle had been recognised by
some of the leading men of the age, and among
others by M. GulzoT and M. BARTHE. Though the
prce of journals had, in many instances, been dimi-
nished still they were out of the reach of the lower
classes, while among these the press might be of the
greatest service, in making them acquainted with
their moral and political duty. The motion was op-
posed lay the Minister of Finance, and supported by
result
M. DE LartARTINE, when the Chamber divided, but
the numberst.
The
were
so
equalw athats riot knownrecourse
twashe hourhad t o
the
halleo f
post, but it was supposed the motion would be lost by
a small majority.

The subscriptions which have been made in some
regiments, fora sword to Admiral DUPETIT TMOUARS,
have attracted the•notice of the Government, and the
following order has, in consequence, been issued by
the Minister of War
Soult, la Minister of War, has signified to