ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 859, 5 November 1870, Page 2

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.

IMPBOVED ASMS. Jtjs quite trtie that every bullet has its but that billet is, generally speaking, the ground, Jn other words, there are hundreds of shots fired for one man killed. We constantly hear nowadays that war will be Meeting—one great battle, and all will be over. Some people appear to jump to the conclusion that the engines of destruction -r-the Chassepots, needle guns, and mitraileuses —are so deadly that the loss of life will be so fearful that a few battles would suffice to depopulate a country. This certainly does not follow when one side is better armed than the other, as was the case during the war of 1866. The needle gun told fearfully for the short time it was brought to bear; yet the losses of the campaign throughout were small as compared with that of 1859, or the bloody battles between the Federals and Confederates. The loss at Borodino amounted to one-third of the men engaged ; at Marengo to one fourth ; Water*100, one-fourth ; Talavera, one-eighth; Magenta and Solt'erina one-eleventh ; and Koniggratz, one twenty-third.. The English lost one-third at Inkermann, yet there was not a rifled cannon or a breech-loader on the field. Losses in battle have rarely influenced contending nations.

BRITISH IRONCLADS. The following is from the Pall Mall Gazette :- The launch or floating out of the Sultan a short time ago will bring the numbers of our ironclads up to 47. No other country in the world possesses a fleet nearly so formidable, eiither for size and speed or strength and armament. We subjoin a complete list of all the ironclads we now possess, giviug them in the order of their tonnage, with their horsepower, number of guns, and nature of armament. It is the first time, we believe, such a list has ever been published. Opposite each ship's name is a number, and the corresponding number under the head of armament gives the calibre of the guns which each ship carries. It is curious to look at the list of the tremendous guns when we recollect that at Tra* falgar Nelson went into action with some vessels having only 12-pounder carronades on their main decks. A pounder was then thought a monster; uow a 120pounder is thought a trifle. The list of our iron navy and its. armament is as follows :

The armament is as follows, corresponding to the numbers given in the table <■— 1. Four of these are 30a,pqunders, ajid the remainder 120-paunders. 2. Ditto. 3. Four of these are 300-pounders, and most of the remainder 200-ppunders. 4. Tour of these are 200-pouuders, and. the remainder ISO-pounders. 5. Ditto. ' 6. Ditto. 7. Eight of these are 600-ppunders, tv?o 3.00pounders, and the others 30-pounders.

* This vessel has, since the original publication of the above list, foundered in the English Channel—only 18 lives, out pj ft of 2QQ being saved l

8. Eight pf these are 600-pouoders, two 300 r pounders, and two 200-pounders. 9. Four of these are 660-pouuders, and three 12Q* pounders. 10. All 650-pounderß. 11. Ditto, r 12. Four of these are 600-pounders, and two 120, pounders. 13. Ten of these are 300-pounders, and the remainder 120-pounders. 14. Four of these are 200-pounders, and the remainder 120-pounders. 15. Two of these 1 are 200*pounders, and the rer mainder 120-pounders. 16. Two pf these are 300-pounders, fourteen 200pounders, and two 120-pounders. 17. Ten of these are 300-pounders, and eight 120ponnders. 18. Same as No. 16. 19. Same as No. 15. 20. Same as Nq. 14. 21. Ditto. 22. Ditto. 23. Ten of these are 30Q-pounders, and the rar mainder 64-pounders. 24. Ditto. 25. Ditto. 26. Ditto. 27. Ditto. 28. Ditto. 29. All 300 ponnders. 30. All 200 or 220-pounders. 31. Two of these are 200-pounders, and the remainder 120rpounders. 32. All 120-pounders. 33. Same as No. 31. 34. Two of these are 600-pounders, and the other a 64-pounder. 35. Eight of these are 200-pounders, and the re-r mainder 40-pounders. 36. Each 650-pounders. 87. One 650-ponnder, aud one 64-pounder. 38. All 300-pounders. 39. Four of these are 200-pounders, and the re* mainder 40 and 60-pounders. 40. Eisht of these are 120-pounders, the others 64-pounderß. 41. All 300-pounders. 42. Ditto. 43. All 100-pounders. 44. All 120-pounders. 45. Both 120-pounders, 46. Ditto. 47. Ditto.

oolchicfm; piiiKk w Suicide while in a state of temporary insanity," is the stereotyped verdict by which coroners' juries *' find it Christian burial;" but undoubted insanity, clearly traceable to gout pills, is perhaps less common than we might reasonably ex» pect. James Fayer, aged 26, suffered from rheumatic gout, and his father, an optician, gave him some gout pills. He went mad and cut his throat. Dr Hard-* wicke, the coroner, expressed a strong objection to gout pills. *' They contained laudanum, and did more harm than good. 0 * Pills cannot well contain laudanum t though they may contain opium, of which laudanum is the tincture. But gout pills' more often contain colchicura, a cumula* tive poison, and directly productive of in* sanity. Such things should be most cau* tionsly administered, and amateur doctors should beware of meddling with them, If people will be their own doctors, they cannot do better than try homoeopathy.— * Echo.

A WASXEP MFE. An inquest (says the Echo, August 4) has just been held on the body of a cu-* rious outcome of our Christian civiliza* tion. James Sanderson died at Millbank Prison at the age of 35 years. He wa9 imprisoned in 1864 under a sentence of ten years' penal servitude for robbery, He was then twenty-nine years old, and bad previously suffered fifteen years' penal servitude, and been several times be* fore summarily convicted and imprisoned for various terms. His speciality during his short intervals of liberty was the consumption of ardent spirits, of which he could drink as much as six; ordinary spirit-drinkers. Having been ill for some years, he died of of the lungs, all his internal organs being extensively diseased. The contemplation of such a wasted life suggests many curious thoughts, but one which may have some weight with a commercial age is that from first to last James Sanderson must be a fair proof that a criminal costs his country more than the price of a good education and training.

1. Agipcourt Tons. 6621 HTsePow’r. Guns. 1350 28 3, Minotaur 6631 1350 36 3. Northumberland 6621 1350 28 4. Achilles 6131 1250 36 5. Black Prince 6109 1250 28 ti. Warriqr 0109 1250 33 7. Hercules 5334 1300 14 3. Sultan 5336 1300 14 9. Monarch 5103 nou 7 10. Devastation 4406 800 4 It. Thunderer 4106 800 4 1$. Captain * 4372 900 S 13. Belierophon 4270 1000 15 14. Caledonia 4125 1000 34 15. Hector 4089 800 ■18 13. Lord Warden 4080 10,00 18 17. Koval Allred 4068 800 18 IS. Lord Clyde 4067 1000 18 19. Valiant 4063 800 18 30. Koyal Oak 4056 800 24 31, Ocean 4047 1000 34 33. Prince Consort 4045 1000 34 33. Swiftsnre 8893 800 14 34. Triumph 3893 800 14 35. Audacious 3774 800 14 26. Invincible 3774 800 14 37. Iron Duke 3774 809 14 28. Vanguard 3774 800 14 29. Koyal Sovereign 3765 800 5 30. llepuise 31. Defence 3749 8qo 13 372o Coo 16 33. Zealous 3716 800 3o 33. Resistance 371Q 600 16 34, Kupert 3159 7°Q 3 35. Penelope 3o96 600 11 36. Glattou 37o9 5oo 3 37. Hotspur 2637 6oq 3 38. Prince Albert 3529 5qo 4 39. Pallas 3373 600 8 4o. Favorite 2o94 4oo IP 41. Wivern 1899 35o 4 43. Scorpion 1833 36o 4 43. Research 1343 3oo 4 0. Enterprise 993, 16o 4 45. Waterwitch 778 16o 2 46. Vixen - 754 16o 3 47. Viper 737 }6q 3