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The controversy on the merit of the Armstrong gun continues

to rage. It is said to be too delicate a machine for the rough work of a campaign. If the vent pegs are left loose they blow out, and if fixed they shatter in pieces. At some recent trials, too, the muzzles blew off, and there is a general tendency to rapid fracture. The lead with which the projectiles are covered also strips off, and is danger- ous, a fact which diminishes the value of the gun when firing at enemies over friends. Sir W. Armstrong has still to answer these attacks, but alarmists may find consolation in the fact that the mechanical skill of the best mechanics on earth is now directed un- ceasingly to the improvement of English artillery.

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