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Leader (1850-1860), 12th November 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 5

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      Brougham And Stanley On Mechanics' Insti...

      may be explained with apparatus almost as cheap and simple . To take one instance—the fundamental property of the lever ( and , I may say , of the whole science of mechanics ) may be demonstrated by a foot rule , a knife , and a few leaden balls of equal size . The other mechanical powers which are resolvable into the lever may be explained with almost equal ease , for , after all , the principles of practical men must require to be unfolded by figures and instruments . " ¦ Lord Stauxey , after referring to the prizes which resulted from the competitive examinations , said : " These honours are a sample and foretaste only for the more substantial distinctions which later life affords to those who are competent to obtain them . You whom I address are Lancashire men ; you

      know the conditions of life in swarming regions of the north , where every man , rich or poor , is a worker , where fortunes are made with hardly less rapidity than they are in America or Australia . You know how false is that belief—sometimes entertained in ignorance , sometimes it may be professed to be entertained with a noble purpose- —the belief that England affords no scope for the social improvement ofthe working man . I believe , that one of the most important volumes that gould possibly be writt e , and when it is written ought to find a place in every hamlet , almost in every cottage , would be selected instances of

      a biographical record of a few those eminent and illustrious persons , who in various occupations and departments of ; life have raised themselves from the ranks . Many a story might be told in such a volume which would cheer the courage and buoy up the heart of the struggling operative in his most distressed hours . But you need no such volume to recall to your recollection the fortunes and fame of the elder Stephenson ; you do not require to be told of the rise and the wealth of Arkwright ; and , above all , in these districts , and meeting here , you know well what was the origin of the family of Peel . "

      Kav*Fl3. My. 12. 1859.1 The Leader 1211

      KAv * fl 3 . my . 12 . 1859 . 1 THE LEADER 1211

      The Great Eastern. The Great Ship Arrive...

      THE GREAT EASTERN . The great ship arrived safely at her moorings at Southampton , on Saturday , where she is to remain for some time as an exhibition . There was a procession of the mayor and corporation of that town to present an address to somebody or other on board the ship , and , after much speech making from different persons , Captain Harrison briefly spoke . He was loo hai »(> y to say tiisit lie v . as ddw in a place where he coufld lay down his head in safety . With the assistance of Mr . Bow . yer , whom ho considered a very clever pilot , he had brought the ship into port ; but now he had been once here , he should have no hesitation in brineing the ship in alone .

      though the Great Eastern will make fair weather of seas that would materially derange the equilibrium of smaller craft , she will in a heavy swell roll considerably , and will pitch not a little . We think it most probable that she will be easier than any vessel now afloat , but we cannot regttrd this conclusion as certainly established . These are , however , subordinate questions compared with that on which , after all , the success of the experiment principally turns—the speed which she Will be able to attain and keep up during a long ¦ voyage over a stormy , sea . It appears to be easy for the Great Eastern , without putting forth any great amount of power , to run about ten miles an hour ;

      but it would also seem that with lier paddles and screw pushed to the utmost which they can at present realize , and with a light breeze permitting fore and aft sails to be set , the Great Eastern cannot exceed fifteen and a-half knots , or less than eighteen miles , in a narrow sea like the entrance into the British Channel . We fear that this will reduce the speed of the vessel to a point which will render it very dimcult for her to carry coal with anything like a certainty ofbdlng able to reach India without calling to take in fliel . In fact , the speed of the Great Eastern does not appear to be greater than that attained by several vessels now afloatand her advantages over othe *; vessels ,

      there-, fore , mainly consist in her being aliie to maintain the speed for a much longer distance , and , from the diminished relation of power to burden , being able to carry goods at a lower freight . The-vessel" seems to be defective in propelling power . A light wind , we . are informed , has very little effect upon her , and it is pretty obvious that neither her screw nor her paddles can at present be driven at the rate required . Of course , we are well aware that every increase of speed beyond so considerable a _ velocity as that which the Great Eastern has already attained can only be gained by an immense sacrifice of fuel , and follows that because three

      that it by no means hundred tons a day are sufficient for her present speed another hundred tons of coals a day would increase that speed by one-fourth , one-sixth , or oneeighth . This is the problem which the managers of the vessel have to solve . Will they increase their speed , and by so doing diminish their capacity for making long voyages without coaling , or will they content themselves with their present speed , and the possession of a vessel which can undoubtedly coyer without stopping at least thrice the distance which cau . b-j run by any st . amer now in ( exist 3 : ic ^ ?

      The great expectations that had been formed of the performances of the vessel are , it seems , likely to prove unfounded . A contemporary remarks : — i' We have undoubtedly a right to expect that the advantages' which the' Great Eastern holds out should be exceedingly great , for thosci advantages are bought with very considerable sacrifices . First , there is the difficulty about harbours ; the size of the vessel excludes' her from New Yorlc , Boston , and the St . . Lawrence , and sends her tol ' urtland , a small town upwards of a hundred miles from Boston , 340 from New York , and more than 200 from Quebec . The celebrated harbour of Sydney , in Australia , would be unable to receive her , and she would not

      be able to approach Calcutta . Not only does this interfere witli her choice of a port for permanent traffic ; it also exposes her to danger , by rendering it impossible , in case , of injury , tp" ihitl refuge in ports in which smaller vessels could lio securely . Another sacrifice must be the grout consumption of coal , and the very largo number of the crew , which impose a very heavy expense before profit can be realised , or lo $ g avoided . Such a vessel , if she m ' akes a few voyages without being filled up , would severely drain the rosburccs of h-dr proprietors , and must , Indeed , muko every trip more or less a gambling enterprise , All thesj drawbacks were , no doubt , carefully considered by tlio projectors , and they believed that the vessel possessed advantages quite sufficient to counterbalii'nao them . They believed that they

      had constructed a vessel which would bo able to carry fuel for a voyago however long , would attain a speed never before dreamt of , and would pass over a stormy oeouu with nu case and a steadiness which would aboliyli the difference between sea and land travelling , and effectually dylivor tho fortunate inhabitants of tUla floating island from tho inexpressible miseries of sen--sickness . The minor nolut of total hmnuuity from sea-sickness must , \ v <) fear , bo given against tho Great Eastern . Tliy recent experiment was jumdo with tho ship comparatively light , but thon it was also mado in soaa very d lift rent , at least , as Tar us the size of tho waves and tlio amount of motion are concerned , from the stormy latitudes of tho South Atlantic and tine Southern Indian Ocean . Butting tho one against tho other , wo tUlnlt wo may fairly conclude that ,

      Naval And Military. At Colchester A Priv...

      NAVAL AND MILITARY . At Colchester a private of the 3 ! Tth regiment named Drake , was caught in the act of pilfering from a comrade , and when placed in the guard-room he committed a second felony . For these offences he was sentenced by court-martial to receive fifty lashes , which were inflicted in the presence of the men of the 10 th Depot Battalion . The prisoner , 'although * young soldier , bears a very bud character , lie sustained the punishment , without the utterance of a word , and was afterwards removed to the hospital . The French preparations for the Chinese expedition are actively going on . About 8 000 men are expected to be sent off in the first , fortnight at next month . .....

      _ The Lucftnow Herald says that Goolab Singh , brother of the Ataree rajah , is so well pleased with tlio consideration shown to him by Lord Canning , that he expresses his readiness to proceed to China in command of a regiment of Sikhs , if allowed to take part with the avenging arrriy now on the way to punish our treacherous foes . We ftro perfectly satisfied 10 , 000 Sikhs would readily volunteer for this service if the son of one of their oldest sirdars was so honoured . It is , perhaps , not generally known that . the father- of Goolab Singh sacrificed his all to screen some Sikh-soldiers from punishment , which , .. according- to ciir laws , he considered they deserved , but according to their timo-lionourcd

      customs lie could not permit them to suffer . These soldiers had by some accident killed a French officer in tlio ' service , and this fact was concealed by the old sirdar , and ultimately led to that Jllnal issue on the buttle field when tho KltaUa army was almost annihilated . It was in thoso terrible struggles that tlio high caste native soldiers of our own army fought so bravely and showed so many instances of devotion to their officers , and it was tlie recollection of those acts of dovotion that mado those officer * unwilling to suppose such nion capable of treachery . Tho Grenadiers of one regiment deliberately sprang forward and roccivod the sword cuts aimod at their ollioers , thus sacrificing themselves with a devotion which would have done honour to tho soldiers of any

      sisting of a pole , surmounted by a little flag , was scarcely visible to the naked eye , and yet to the utter surprise of the oldest artillerymen amongst them all , in spite of the high wind , every shot told I The ceremony ended by the departure-of the two batteries , which had executed the manoeuvres , at full gallop , amid the loud shouts of triumph from the soldiers and the tremendous cheers of the

      specta-. It is proposed to give the Cuirassiers of the French Garde Imperiale breastplates made of aluminium ( says a Paris correspondent } , which would certainly be very light , but I am not aware how the new metal compares in strength with steel . An alumininrn cuirass has rather a holiday sound . A court-martial assembled on Monday on board Her Majesty ' s ship Impregnable at Plymouth for the trial of Lieutenant Marcus Patrick Costello , of the Diadem , 32 , screw steamvessel , for having been drunk on the 28 th of October , and incapable of

      performing his duty . The prisoner pleaded " Guilty " to the charge , and in extenuation said he attended a ball on shore on the night of the 27 th of October , and attributed his being intoxicated to this circumstance , and not having had rest for the night . He had drunk but very little , but , having received a sunstroke some time back , a small quantity of liquor took effect on hini . In reply to the Court , the prosecutor said the prisoner was not offensive , but , on the contrary , his demeanour was quite respectful . The Court sentenced the prisoner to be dismissed Her Majesty ' s service . the reat

      At a time when the performance of G Eastern , especially as regards speed and consumption of fuel ; is watched with so much interest , the following statement of the result of several trials of anew screw steamship , the Thunder , cannot- fail to command attention . Apart from the high rate of speed attained ( 17 statute miles per hour ) , the extraordinary saving in coal marks an immense step in the science of steam navigation . Messrs : Dudgeon and Lang-ley , of Millwall and Deptford , have just completed the screw steamship Thunder , for Messrs . Apcar and Co . and Captain Durham , of Calcutta , and under the directions of the latter gentleman , for the navigation of the China seas against the

      northeast monsoons . Her dimensions are as follows : — length between perpendiculars , 240 feet ; beam , thirty feet ; 1 , 062 tons ; her engines are of 210 nominal horse power ; diameter of cylinders , fifty-five inches , stroke , three feet . She is fitted with all the best improvements , such as belted cylinder , expansion gear , separate thrust , boilers that consume the fuel and heat in furnaces and tubes to the point that the remainder escapes up the chimney , and heats the superheater to the temperature of 300 degrees without regulation . A trial trip was made with her

      on the 3 rd inst ., when she ran the distance between the Nore and Mouse lights in thirty , minutes , against tide , being at the rate of at least seventeen statute miles per hour . The Messrs . Dudgeon on the following day had her under weigh for several hours to test her consumption of coal . When working with steam at 19 lbs pressure , and using full expansion and superheaters , the engines made fifty-four revolutions per minute regularly , vessel steamed over fourteen knots per liouiy and the consumption of DuflVvn steam coal was 820 lbs . per hour , or , as near

      as possible , one lb . per indicated horse power per hour , being the greatest result yet obtained from the steuni engine . The vessel was designed by Mr . John Dudgeon , under the instructions of Captain Durham . The engines mado by J . nnd W . Dudgeon , and the ship built by Mr . Langley . She has the most airy accommodation of any vessel of her class . Government , we believe , have taken hor as a ship lor tho conveyance of invalids to tho hospitals m the Chinese expedition , for which her easy motion and airy decks eminently fit her . The establishment composing the gun factories m Woolwich Arsenal lifts this woulc been handed over to the direction of Sir William Armstrong , 0 . 13 ., of John

      and thu resident superintendence Mr . Anderson , late inspector of machinery , Great preparations are made fur manufacturing rifled ordnance on Sir William ' principle , calculated , according to present arrangements , to bring out , at tho lowest computation , 1 , 000 guns a-year , witli the prospect of a considerable addition to that number , in easei oi actual doiniind . A number of cast-iron guns will bo made in the factories and by tho trade for experimental uso , to Uo encased in a kind of network , . termed a " uliomlse , " composed of wrought-iron , which it is suflffoated will add to the ondurnnco ot the innor motal of which tho gun 1 b cast , and render it sufUciontly strong for tho purpose 1 lie now department has received instructions to bring r ,.. k us sncedilv as possible a batch of 40

      0-poundur rilled guns to curry tlio elongated shot for field service in China , to bo transported overland . It ia stated that , as a necessary consequence in tho whole of tho gun factories boing employed for the manufacture of Sir William ' s guns , tho shot and shell foundries will bo ultimately handed over to tho

      iii'ni v The trial of tho now French flohl-piocos . *<> which the grooved principle has boon applied , went off to tho groat satisfaction of all panics . Tlio distance allowed for trial was 2 , 000 metres & the target con-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 12, 1859, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12111859/page/5/