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Leader (1850-1860), 24th April 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 388

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      Untitled Article

      Island . These cases -will be discharged by means of galvanic batteries supplied to the expedition for service in the Arctic regions . The Ordnance department have also supplied 300 whale rockets , weighing one and a-half pounds each , and two superior-made rocket tubes for firing them by means of perciission locks and percussion quill tubes . One of Greener ' s harpoon guns , with percussion locks , has been mounted on the gunwale of the Assistance , and turns in any direction * being fitted with a swivel near the stern of the vessel . Photographic artists have been to { Jreenhithe for the purpose of taking portraits of the officers of Capt . Sir Edward Belcher ' s expedition , and they were taken under favou rable circumstances by the photographic process . The officers of the Resolute , tb . e North Star , the Intrepid , and the Pioneer , are also all to be taken by the photographic process previous to their departure . The Admiralty have ordered a Calotype apparatus for the Arctic ships . Dr .

      Bomviile , of the Resolute , takes charge of the instrument . Capt . Washington , U . N .. has visited the whole of the vessels of the squadron , having brought down a box for the commanding officer of each . The contents of the boxes were six dozens of dolls , dressed by the ladies of Woolwich , and intended as presents for the Esquimaux . Mr . and Mrs . Charles Kean have , with great liberality and kindness , sent to the Arctic ships a quantity of theatrical dresses for the use of the theatre , which haa always proved such a fertile and successful source of amusement in previous expeditions . The Basilisk steamer , under the command of Commander Gardiner , and the Desperate steamer , under the command of Lieutenant Stevens , have remained several days at the Nore waiting to tow the Assistance and Resolute sailing vessels to the edge of the ice . A number of ladies have presented Captain Sir Edward Belcher with 22 handsome Bilk flags , and a number of worked articles for the comfort of the officers when in the Arctic Regions . - ,

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      THE IRON SHIP QUESTION . The loss of the \ Birhenhead has occasioned a controversy as to the safety of iron ships . Last week a correspondent of the Times— *' Navigator" — asked whether the BirJcerihead , was provided with watertight bulkheads ? This week "A Captain in the Royal Navy * ' answers the questioner "I can answer that she was , and that , having been originally intended to carry a heavy armament ( as a ship of warY . her talented and well-known builders—Messrs .

      Laird—spared no trouble or expense in constructing her as strongly as iron could make her . . - " When she struck on the rock off Point Danger it appears that as soon as the foremostr compartment filled , all that part of the vessel broke from , the midship compartment j that on this filling it broke from the after one , and in 26 minutes , in a fine night , and the sea so smooth as not to endanger her "two overloaded cutters , did this large ship break into three pieces as if she had been built of card-paper , sending 438 human beings to a horrible and sudden death .

      " It appears from the loss of this ship and that of the JBasha in the China Sea , that the so-called water-tight compartments are useless ; that the destruction of these iron ships was so rapid as not to afford time for getting out their boats or resorting to many of the usual means of saving life ; and that sheet-iron is unable to bear the weight of the ship when one compartment is full of water , immediately tearing away , in the case of the JBirkenhead , and the ship sinking in throe separate pieces . " As iron ships are now much used as packets , their

      apparent insecurity , as compared with those built of wood , seems to demand on the part of tho public a serious inquiry as to some means of enabling the former to hold together for a longer period when wrecked . I consider their weaknoss to bo caused by the keel and frame being mode of iron , and that if these were of wood , and three courses of strong oak stringers used to bind all together , tho desired object would be obtained ; but probably at so increased a coat as to render tho difference in prico between iron and wood ships but little in favour of tho iron .

      " I boliovo that tho recent melancholy instances of tho rapid destruction of iron ships will , in tho event of any future accidents , cause bo immediato a rush to tho boats as to p roduce a foarful struggle—tho panic will bo universal , and all discipline at an end . I hopo , therefore , that out of tho free discu ssion of this important subioct somo moans may bo devised for improving tho strength of iron ships , and thereby giving the seagoing portion of tho public greater confidence in them . " * ' Ferrous" supplies a bit more information : —

      " Having lately laid down an iron steamer myself , I was greatly surprised to find , that notwithstanding she was specified by her builders to bo provided with wator tight bulkheads , yot that her hollow kppl was to furnish an uninterrupted bilgo way from stem , to atom . On my remonstrating with thorn on the subject , and allowing thorn that this trifling omission entirely destroyed tho valuo of tho bulkheads in tjiat very particular for which they are , it Booms , erroneously considered by tho gonoral public to bo provided , they assured mo that it wna tho gonornl cuntom , and that I should Hardly find any ships afloat in whioh tho bulkheads woro what tfioy purport to bo , wator-tighl ; . On tho . other hand , wo have testimony to this effect , given by Mr , A . F . B . Crouzo , Chief-Surveyor of Lloyd ' s , before the Committee on Army and Navy Estimates of 1848 : —

      •• Are there any points in winch , in your opinion , iron has an advantage ovor wood as a material tor building ships P—It has , from tho before mentioned reasoning , tho advantage of greater lightness combinod with tho samo quantity of ' strength , or more strength combinod with equal hghtnosa ; you may consequently build a bettor f OTxued fliip of iron ; you may take advantage of its

      comparative lightness to build a ship of a better form . The expenses of the repair of iron is exceedingly trifling compaired with the expense of the repair of wood , and the facilities for repair extraordinary . There are two or three remarkable instances of this on record . Thsre is the Nemesis , one of the vessels of which I spoke , which went out to China . When she was passing round the Cape she encountered a gale of wind , and she literally split down ; she was run on shore andL repaired by her crew in a very short space of time , and went to sea again , and they went

      with her straight to the China war . The ifMegethon ran on a rock ; she knocked a hole in her bottom that was 12 feet in length . I saw a letter from the cbntmander to say he could walk in and out of it . In ten days she was repaired and fit for all purposes by the crew alone . That would have been perfectly impossible with a timber-built ship . The Nemesis ran upon a rock off the Scilly Islands in going from . Liverpool to Odessa ; she put into Portsmouth ; she had knocked a hole in her stem ; she was repaired at an expense of 30 Z ., though Mr . Laird had to send for the workmen from Liverpool to do so . " If a wooden , vessel had struck in the same way , do you think she would have gone down ?—Decidedly so . "

      Untitled Article

      The New York Truth-Teller quotes the following from one of its contemporaries : — " As we are going to press , we learn that orders have been issued for the release of the Irish state prisoners , Smith O'Brien , John Mitchell , and their companions ; subject , however , to the condition that they are not to set foot in the United Kingdom . " By advices received from Erzeroom , it appears that cho ? lera has again broken out with severity in Persia , where the pestilence commenced bef ore its recent visit to this country and the rest of Europe . It has appeared at Spouk Boolck , near Suleimanich ; and it is also reported that typhus was raging at Tehran , as well as Tabreez . The local government , in a state of alarm , are takmgimeasures to cleanse the city , in the hope of preventing ifc'frbnvyisiting Erzeroom . There call be no assurance that it will not spread and take its former course .

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      IRELAND-A 3 tD ^ ER GHRONIC f SYMPTOMS / Repobts from all parts of Ireland all agree " that there is not the least symptom of abatement in the outrushing human tide ; on the contrary , the vessels clearing out direct for America , from Cork , Limerick , Waterfprd , and other ports , are more numerous than at this time last spring ; numbers proceed by steam to Liverpool , to take shipping there . The remittances by the American mails , to families of the humbler classes , are very hxrge in the aggregate , accompanied by encouraging representations of the prospects for the emigrants in the United States . The Galvoay Mercwry gives the following account of a lottery , adopted by the labourers on the drainage works in that district , to afford the means of emigrating : <— - " They are paid fortnightly , and when the pay night arrives , about three hundred of them assemble and pay . sixpence each into a general fund . A number of tickets , corresponding "with the number of persons present , are then placed in a hat , and on one of these the word' America ' is written—all tho rest being blank . A ballot then takes place , and the lucky drawer of the prize ticket has his passage to America paid for him , and receives a small sum to subsist him for some time after his landing there . " The inexplicable mountain fires continue to blaze up in special districts : —

      " Tho mountains in the neighbourhood of Traleo , from Glounskeheen on to the old Killarney road , have again presented quite a volcanic appearance . Over a space of several miles towards the sum mit of that mountain chain the heather was in ablaze , presenting a beautiful spectacle . Tho Paps , in tho county of Cork , and Drung pill , in Iveragh , woro also in a blazo , and tho ensemble from that portion of tho Atlantic whoro tho oye could take in a portion of each ( for tho blazo on tho Traleo mountains was visible at its southern side also ) must have boon very imposing . AH the mountains from Caatlomain to Inch havo boon on firo during the past weok . "

      Untitled Article

      LETTERS FROM PARIS . [ Fjhom ounowN Correspondent . ] Letter XVII . Paris , Tuesday Evening , 20 th April , 1852 . The Review for tho grand ceremony of tho distribution of eagles is to take place on tho 10 th of May , and not on tho 5 th , as 1 had previously announced . Tho 5 th of May , however , had originally been fixed upon , as

      being the anniversary of tho death of Napoleon . Hut it whs afterwards thought rnoro piquant , nt tho Elyse ' p . to have it on tho 10 th of May , that being precisely tho day on which , by tho torins of tho Constitution of 1848 , tho Presidont of tho Republic woh to hnvo rerotirod into private life . L . Bonaparte , who becomes Emperor , will cease on that day to bo President . What more could the Republicans dosiro P

      M . Bonaparte lias completely thrown off tho mask ; ho now advances openly towards the long-coveted object of his ambition . At tho reception of tho ofneors of tho National Guard , recently named by tho government , M . Vioyra , ono of Louis Bonaparte ' s familiars , and Chief of tho Staff , of tho National Guard , motto a speech

      fitted for the Occasion ; in which ,, after haying said he relied upon their devotion to the Prince , he added that he hpped the 1 National Gimr 4 | n future would never cry Vive la BS / qrme , or Vive la A ^ ubligue as the Republic was quite dead . ' ; During the review on Easter Monday / General Si Arnandj the Minister at War , called out several times Vivo FJEmpereur , as though he had partaken of the extra allowance of brandy given to the soi ( iiers . The General Magnan hearing him thus cryout , approached L . Bonaparte , and asked him "if there was anythimr new on foot . "Why ? " said M . Bonaparte . " Bet

      cause , " added the General , " I have just heard St Arnaud calling out ' Vive VJSnvpereur . ' " " Jt may proibahiy be that » his tpnglie has been turned ^ —la langue lui aura towrne , ' ** drily rejoined the President Here are some further symptoms of tho Empire There is to be ^ "Sisplay of fireworks on . the night of the 10 th of May , on the ijeights of Chaiilotij opposite the Champ de Mars , and . I have been assured by wellinformed personl , that orders have been given to -preparea design for a transparency , in which wijl be read ,

      in letters of fire , Vive VEmpereur * Officers' schakos , to the number of 10 , 000 , Iteye been 6 , rdered for the 10 th of May , At first , it had been arranged that mi eagle oiily , was jfco $ gure upon then ) | but since then , M . Bigal , the manufacturer inifa rue dtp Temple , has received orders to place an Imperial crown above each eagle . A committee has been formed to organize and spread the petition movement , as mentioned iii a previous letter ^ which is to be niadeto ^ ^ appear to represent the will of the French people , ^ h ^ committee is neither more nor less than the late committee for

      revising the Constitution , at the head of-which figured M . de Tiirgot , now a , minister . ;¦ Eo 3 nigs > varser , now a deputy ; De Montour , now eX ^ du Cqbineiottlie Minister of the Interior , &C . / &C . To give you an idea of the means by which the Bohapartists hare come into power ; Wearing and casting aside first ; one disguise , aiid then ^ riotheryobserve , this same . committee for the revision of the Constitution cpnsiste )! of the ifien writ ) formed the committee for procuring petitions for the

      dissolution of the Constituent Assembly , Qrganized a few days after the election of L . Bonaparte to the presidency . The committee for procuring these petitions was but a new phase of jbhe Bonapartist Electoral Committee of the 10 th of December , which was itself but a transformation of the celebrated jSocietd de JDer cemhristes , organized under some other name , so far back as the month of April , 1848 ; and whose members instigated the fatal barricades of June . Vishnu h ^ 4 ten incarnations . This is nothing to Bonapartisin ; f t has had at least a hundred .

      The Committee of the Empire , for some days past , has been doing its work with fabulous activity . Millions of blank petition-forms are daily expedited to the provinces . The Committee are in direct correspondence with the prefects , who have become the mere instruments by which this job is to be accomplished . The petitions by this channel reach the villages , with orders to be presented for the signatures of the peasants . Would it not be surprising if , under such coercion , tho petitions were not speedily filled up ? " The expectation of the Empire has brought out the vultures ; they are casting lots for the plunder . Old Jerome is to have four millions , JLucien Murat two millions , the Princess Camerata one million , and an equal proportion for each of the other members of tho

      Bonaparte family . Preparations aro already on foot for the J&te of tho 10 th of May . Tho workmex % are erecting platforms in the Champ de Mars , in frpnf ; of the Mcple MilH ^ ' There will be five principal piatfVn ) 8- The pnp in thp centre will contain Louis Bonaparte , his ministers and staff . The two adjoining arp intended for the great Bodies of tho State ; the Council of State , the Senate and tho Legislative Chamber . Tho two outsides aro for tho magistracy of Paris , and tho corps dipk > - raatiquo . Thoro will bo a number of other platforms * destined for tho poreons who aro to ho invited ;

      including the distinguished foreigners in Paris . Three thousand English are spoken of as having solicited that favour . Tho entire army of Paris will bo masspd into the Champ de Mars . In cluding tho 2 < t , 00 Q of tho now Rational Guard , there will n bo loss than 75 , 000 men under arnifl * Besides tho army of Paris , oach regiment will he represented by a deputation , consisting of tljtp colonel , two officers ; two sergeants , f-wo corporals , and two private soldiers . Detachments from tho Cavalry School of Saumur , tno Zpuayos , tho Foreign Logion , tlje battalions of Afncn , the Chasseurs d'Afriquo , and tho Spahis , arp to ho

      present . Tho Arab chiefs have also fypen invited fa assist » v the ccrompny . T ) ioffye will bo a mjlft / ary voreion of tno G » ran 4 Civil Federation pf 1790 . As on that occasion , II ¦ ¦ ' I ¦ —~— - ^^ ' ' _ .

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      * It is JmpoBsfbJp . fro give a » Engl w hcquivalMit tor »' Bonaparto' 8 pun , — " la langw Hi aura wwr / w .

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      M 8 ' - ^ : K ^; -t ;^

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 24, 1852, page 388, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1932/page/8/