The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-14 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Edina steam-transport, No. 1.99,
;arrived at t Spit-
heade yesterday from the East, bringing the body of the
late Capt. Pechell, of the 77th (son of Admiral Sir Geo.
Pechell, M.P.), who died in the camp before Sebastopol
invalids.
The the sth of September. She brought no
The Hamburg steam-transport also arrived at Spit-
head yesterday from the East with condemned stores.
The Sampson, 6, paddle steam-frigate, Capt. Hun d, ,
went out of Portsmouth harbour yesterday and anchored
at Spithea
The Tr d.
ansit, naval steam-transport, Commander C.
R. Johnson, was taken out of clock at Portsmouth yes-
terday afternoon after refit ; she will take is her troops
next Tuesday,
The Salamander, 6, paddle-sloop, Commander Me-
cham, will go to Spithead to-day, and leave for the coast
of Africa about Sunday, taking a mail, &c.
The Russian schooner Aline and Fanny has arrived at
Sheerness, laden with a general cargo, consisting princi-
pally of tea, coffee, sugar, &c., Lieut. W. R. Boulton,-of
the Tartar, in charge as prize-master. The Aline and
Fanny was taken by the crew of the Tartar attempting
to break the blockade by going into Gamla-Carleby.
The Royal George, 102 guns, screw steam-ship, Capt.
Henry J. Codrington, C. 8., has been put into No. 1
dry dock, Sheerness, to have her defects repaired.
The floating batteries Trusty and Thunder are ordered
to be taken into the fitting basin, Sheerness, to improve
their steerage and to make them more ( ffisients
The Lightning, 3, paddle-wheel steam-vessel (tender
to the Duke of Wellington), Lieut.-Commander James
C. Campbell, has been taken into the fitting basin,
Sheerness, to have defects repaired ; her crew having
been paid, and leave of absence granted them.
There are now in Sheerness harbour, from the Baltic,
besides the Royal George, the Majestic, the Cressy, the
Firefly, and the Lightning.
The screw steam-ship James Watt, 91, Capt. George
Elliott, went from Plymouth Sound into Hamoaze on
Wednesday, where she was moored off Keyham yard.
The paddle-wheel steam troop-ship, IDee, 4, Com-
mander L. Pullen, was placed in the new basin at the
Devonport dockyard on Wednesday, to have her boilers
taken out for the steam block-ship Forth, 44, which is
to be commissioned by Captain Lord John Hay, with a
csmplement of 400 men.
The sere x, steam-ship Orion, 21, Captain John E.
Erskine, went from Plymouth Sound into Hamoaze yes-
terday morning.
To facilitate the progress in the Enfield rifle practice
210 small targets have been painted on the wall of the
parade-ground, Chatham, so that, in the event of the
usual practice-ground being wet or the weather incle-
ment, no impediment will be offered to the daily practice.
The arrangements on board the gun-boats Plover and
Sandfly, in Woolwich dockyard, are being completed
with the greatest activity. A working party of Marines
has been engaged for the last two days in shipping the
heavy guns with which they are to be manned. The
Plover is commissioned by Lieut. Stewart • Lieut. B G.
W. Nicolas is appointed to the command of the Sandfly,
and Lieut. C. H. Simpson to the Sheldrake. No. 2 iron
mortar-boat has taken in her ammunition, &c., and will
go down to Shoeburyness to-day for experiments. The
cylinders which compose the pontoon float of the experi-
mental mortar raft have been forwarded to Messrs. Sea-
ward's for repairs, so as to undergo some further trials.
The lockgate of No. 1 dock in Woolwich dockyard hav-
ing been repaired, the basin is again ready for the ordi
nary service. The Inflexible was yesterday moruieg
admitted for the reception of a cargo of machinery for
the western yards.
Lancaster's elliptically-bored carbines having been
subjected to various proofs in the Arsenal marshes at
Woolwich ; her Majesty's Corps of Sappers and Miners
are now being armed with them. These muskets hare
many qualities which have been pronounced superior
even to the Minis rifle, and hays a range of upwards of
1,000 yards.
Orders have been received at the head-quarters of the
Royal Engineers at 'Woolwich to have a company ready
to proceed to Aldershott, to be employed under the com-
mand of Gen. Sir F. Smith, K.H. The 26th company
of the same corps, under the command of Capt. Walker,
will proceed to Chatham on Monday, to be instructed
in field-works, &c.
The following appointments were made yesterday at
the Admiralty :—Commander Charles Fellowes t ) the
Conqueror ; Lieut. R. G. Douglas to the Excellent ;
Lieut. J. C. Patterson to the Orion ; John M. Foster,
assistant paymaster in charge, to the Intrepid ; J. F.
Browning, assistant clerk, to the Tartar ; Charles S.
Pettis and 11. W. P. Kooyster, assistant clerks, to the
Boscawen.
At the monthly examination held at the Royal Naval
College, Portsmouth, yesterday, the following passed:—
For Naval Cadets—Messrs. Larcom, Macnamara, Hill,
Pearson, Reads, and Dalben. For Clerk's Assistant—
Mr. Shield. For Masters' Assistants—Messrs. Mere-
wether, Paddon, Westaway, and Boniface. For Marine
Cadet—Mr. Ellis. Four of the above were from the
preparatory naval establishment of Mr. Eastman, R.N.,
Southsea.
Contracts were entered into on Wednesday at the
Royal William Victualling-yard, Plymouth, for the sup-
ply of 3,000 quarters of wheat, viz.:—Messrs. Collisr
Brothers, 1,000 qrs.,:at 803. per qr. ; Messrs. Fream,
Dawe, and Serpell, 1,000 qrs., at 795. 93., and 500 qrs.
at 795. per qr. ; Messrs. Fox, Sons, and Co., 200 qrs.,
at 80s. per qr. ; and Messrs. John Bowden and Cu., 300
qrs., at 795. 9d. per qr.
A detachment of the Land Transport Corps emb irlsed
on Wednesday on board the hired steam transport Ell-
rya, Commander Leitch, which loft Plymouth on
Thursday for the Crimea.
The order arrived at the infantry barracks, Windsor,
on Wednesday morning for the 221 Regiment, which
has been doing duty at the Cantle during the last three
months, to march to Portsmouth, and today this regi-
ment, consisting of 23 officers and 760 rank and file, will
leave Windsor under the command of Colonel Boileau.
This regiment will remain at Portsmouth until early in
the spring, and then proceed to the East.
The Ist battalion of Grenadier Guards, from the camp
at Aldershott, will arrive at Windsor to-day to replace
the 22d.
At the request of Lieut.-Colonel C. P. B. Walker, we
contradict the statement in The Sun of Tuesday thas he
is about to exchange for the unattached half-pay with
Col. the Hon. Cecil Forester, of the Royal Horse Guards
Blue.
ql On Tuesday night the following soldiers arrived from
Fort Pitt at the Crimean Hotel, Dublin, where they re-
mained at Lord Carlisle's expense, after having been
discharged from the service :—Corporal Skallv,9th Foot,
shot threugh both hips and stomach ; Michael Monag-
han, 9th, right hand shattered; John Madden, 4th Dra-
goon Guards ; Patrick Corner, 49th, left hand shattered ;
Owen M'Donnell, 88th, wounded in left cheek ; James
M'Reilly, 34th, left arm shattered ; P. Young, 34th,
do. ; John Hurley, 17th Foot ; Thomas Bailey, 18th,
left foot fractured ; John Brady, 95th, loss of left leg by
a shell; Martin Garnee, Wrn. Decamp, 33d, loss of left
leg by grapeshot ; John Cook, 28th, loss of right leg—
underwent amputation twice. Corporal Skelly exhibited
a pair of handsome crutches presented to him by the Queen
last month ; they cost three guineas, and were mounted
with crimson velvet, springs, and rich brass mountings.
His wound was of a very severenatur, as was the wound
of Private Owen M`Donnell, .88th ; a Minn) bill
struck him on the left side of the head under the eye,
whence it traversed beneath the flesh past the ear, round
the neck, and came out over the right shoulder, shortly
after which another ball went through the shoulder kde
This man, as well as his comrades, was in the highest
spirits ; they only regretted that the nature of their
wounds prevented them serving her Majesty again. rr

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—Dec. 13.

ROLLS COURT.
(Before the Master of the Rolls.)
THOMPSON V. ARMITAGE.-JUDGMENT.

The Master of the Rolls gave judgment in this case.
The answer put forth to-day on behalf of the defendants
amounted merely to a general denial of any intention
fraudulently to administer their trust, and of having re-
ceived any particular benefit by acting in the way they
were accused of doing. The case had reference to a dis-
pute between the plaintiffs as the present directors and
the defendants as the former directors of the South Aus-
tralian Copper Mining Company, and the particular accu-
sations made against the defendants were that they had
wrongfully appropriated to themselves some thousands
of shares in the company; had charged the company
20,0011. for the purchase of mines for which only 12,0001.
had been really paid ; and generally that they had been
deceiving the shareholders of the company and the pub-
lic as to the real nature of the company's condition and
affairs. His Honour, at the conclusion of the defen-
dants' case, without calling upon the plaintiffs to reply,
said that there was no doubt that the plaintiffs, the
present directors of the company, had a right to call
upon the defendants, as the late directors, to render a
more satisfactory account of their stewardship than they
had done. It was the invariable rule in this court to
look upon the directors of a company as merely
trustees for the general body of shareholders, for
whose benefit they were appointed to act, and over
whose interest it was their duty and privilege to pre-
side. In the present case, it could not be denied
that a large number of shares had been distributed
among the former directors, to which, however, there
cculd have been no objection if such shares Intel been
duly taken up, and formally entered in the company's
books. There was no objection to a director bolding a
large number of shares in the company over which he
presided, but there were a great many reasons why it
would not be correct that a director should have a large
number of shares allotted him, with the option of paying
upon them if he found it profitable so to do, or repudiat-
ing them if they turned out profitless. The former di-
rectors of the South Australian Copper Mining Com-
pany had, beyond question, somewhat indifferently dis-
charged their trust in the allotment and distribution of
the shares of the company, and any loss arising to the
company from their having done so they must be held
liable to make good. Again, with respect to the differ-
ence between the 12,0001., alleged by the plaintiffs to
have been paid for the mines, and the 20,0001. stated by
the defendants to have been given for the purchase of
them, all the evidence, at the best meagre on this point,
went to show that the sum really was only 12,0001., and
not 20,0001.; so that the defendants would have to prove
how the difference between the two sums could be ac-
counted for, and produce all the documents in their pos-
session relative to that transaction. The general account
asked for and the general relief prayed by the bill must,
therefore, be granted. It appeared to the Court that the
c'ecendants ought to be made to pay the costs of the suit
—but, inasmuch as there was no pressing necessity to
make a decree as to costs now, that question would be
deferred for future consideration.

Mr. R. Palmer, Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Roupell, Mr. Web-
ster, Mr. Hetherington, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Welford, and
Mr. Webb appeared for the different parties ; Messrs.
Valiance and Valiance were solicitors for the plaintiffs.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.—DEc. 13.
(Before Mr. Commissioner Evans.)
IN RE GOODEIND.-" YE HOUSE OF LUD."

This ;;;;—tleexaMination meeting in the case of
Richard Goodhind, described as a draper, hosier, and
hawker, of Ludgate•hill, Crown court, Cheapside, Tioh
borne street, and Back Mosley-street, Manchester, he
having had establishments in all those places.
Mr, A. Turner, for the assignee, stated that this was
the day appointed for the last examination of the bank-
rupt, but he had not yet filed any accounts.
The Commissioner—Why has not his balance-3heet
been filed ?

The bankrupt said he had been obliged to go down to
Manchester with the accountant, as all his books were
kept at that place.

Air. Turne'r said it appeared that the only accounts of
the bankrupt's transactions had been kept in the books
of Mr. Caldecott, of Manchester, who had supplied him
with goods. As this was a very irregular proceeding,
the assignees objected t• the expense of the adjournment
coming out of the estate.

Mr. Lowrance said that at the last meeting be had
submitted a large proof on behalf of Mr. Caldecott,
against the bankrupt's estate. The bankrupt had been
a travelling hawker, Mr. Gaidecott supplying him with
goods, and keeping his accounts.
An adjournment was ordered for two months.
The bankrupt asked for an allowance out of the estate,
stating that he had to support his wife and family in
Manch ester.
The Commissioner—What assets are there ?

Bankrupt—About 2501.
Mr. Turner objected to the allowance ; the bankrupt
had made a settlement upon his wife. He also stated
that when the bankrupt surrendered, he was asked what
money ha had in his possession, and admitted, in the
presence of Mr. Dubois, the messenger, that he had
from 201. to 251.

The Commissioner—Where is that money ?
The bankrupt said he had spent it.
His Honour said, under these circumstaaces, he did
not think it was a case in which any allowance ought to
be made.