The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-15 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The screw frigate Chesapeake, 39, 400 horse power, was
undocked at Chatham yesterday, after having had her hull
below the water line coated over with a mixture for pre-
serving her bottom. During the time she was in dock she
underwent a survey at the hands of the master shipwright's
staff, but in consequence'of the hopelessly rotten and defec-
tive state in which she was found to be, any intention to re-
pair her for future scrviee was abandoned. The Chesapeake
was one of the last of the old class of b 0 gun steam frigates

—according to the former ratings of steamers—built at
Chatham, and although only launched a comparatively
short time since, she is now altogether unfitted for anything
but the shipbreaker's yard, her repairs, even supposing she
could be made available for service, involving too great an
outlay to justify the Admiralty in ordering them. Like the
other similarly useless ships whichnow encumber the chan-
nel of the Medway. the Chesapeake will take up her station
in what is termed A Rotten• row," until the Admiralty direct
a clean sweep to be made of the entire nureber of vessels,
the retension of the names of which in the official Navy
List is not likely to be attended in the most remote degree
with any future benefit.
The Scout, 21, 400 horse power, screw corvette, is ordered
to be ready for the pennant by the end of the present month
when she will be commissioned in the Medway, her desti-
nation being, it is understood, the West Coast of Africa.
The official inspection of the Marlborough, 121, Capt. C.
Fellowes, took place this morning at Spithead. At high
water the ship will go into Portsmouth harbour to dis-
mantle and prepare for paying out of commission. Twenty
two military invalids, in charge of Lieutenant Winter, 2d
Battalion 7th Foot, were disembarked from the ship yester-
day and forwarded to the great military hospital at Netley.
A company of Royal Artillery, under the command of
Lieut. Denny, R.A., were also disembarked from the ship,
and will be sent on this morning to Sheerness to join the
coast brigade there. Thirty-eight naval invalids were sent
from the ship to the Victory fiagehip in Portsmouth har-
bour, and 13 others were seat to the Royal Naval Hospital
at Hasler.
One of tho Turkish corvettes, under conversion for steam
power, in dock at Blackwall, is now nearly complete, and
preparations are being made for her speedy return to Con-
stantinople, The whole of the dockyard stores, ship's boats,
&0., kept in charge at Woolwich, were yesterday reclaimed
and transferred to the ship.
The whole of the continuous service seamen, 17 in nurn-

bar, berthed in reserve on board the flagship Fisgard, at
Woolwich, were yesterday cleared out and despatched to
Portsmouth to aid in manning her Majesty's ship Victoria
sometime in commission. The Niger, Oberon, and Land-
fall are now ready for the pennant at Woolwich, but the
difficulty of procuring seamen under the existing regulations
will prolong the period of their commission and departure
indefinitely, The number of second-class lads ordered to
be entered on the books of the Fisgard and limited to 60 per
week, seldom exceeds half that number; and frequently, on
account of tho severe medical attestation, out of 20 or Z.O
who present themselves some six or eight only are selected ;
the aggregate number is consequently extraordinarily small,
An epidemic has been raging for some time past at Wool-
wich. The most distressing cases have been among families
connected with the Government departments of the Royal
Arsenal and Dockyards. Mr Parkyn, Deputy Superinten-
dent of Military Stores, has bat four of his five children.
Mr Stone, a civil officer in the dockyard, has lost the whole
of his children, three in number. The cause is supposed to
be malaria, occasioned by the northern outfall of the sewage
at Barking-creek. At two-thirds flow the surface of the tide
is covered with a dark pestiferous matter, proved to be a
remnant of the outfall cast back before the ebb is sufficiently
swept away. After each receding tide, and when the flood
begins to make its appearance, the atmosphere along the
river becomes insupportable.
During the absence, on leave; of Brevet-Major W. B.
Gossett, Adjutant at the Royal Engineer establishment,
Chatham, the adjutancy of the corps is temporarily filled
by Captain R, G. Thorold,
The following appointments Were made yesterday at the
Admiralty :—Lieut. IV. S. Bailey to the Victoria ; John
Lambert, assist.-surg., to the Espoir ; Arthur B. Johnson,
assist.- surg., to the Implacable; Charles A. Lees, assist.-
surg., to Malta Hospital ; John Allen, acting assist.-surg.,
to the Magicienne ; Augustus A. Lyne, assist.-paymaster
to the Victoria ; T. Stead and C. A. Walmisley, assistant-
engineers, to the Victoria, as supernumeraries ; Robert
Spiers and G, H. Wicks, assistant-engineers to the Vic-
toria, as additional.

A New Orleans Planter's Experiences.

The New Orleans Til
from a planter, from whichnsweu3taaki nes the
;au twe ri
ne sgt i
enxgt r la ect
tts
e r:
"I will begin by statingthat
I have
been
planting cane and
cotton on the estate where nfol i
I now reside for 37 years on the
let of January next. Before the war began my plantation
and its working
material were worth and would readily have
sold (for cash) for, at least, 350,000 dole. Its products were
of superior quality of
sugar,
from 600 to 1,000 hogsheads,
and from 1,200 to 2,200 barrels of molasses per year, with
sufficient corn for the use
of the plantation. The improve-
!Dents necessary for keeping the plantation in first-rate
working order were made, such as buildings, machinery,
fences, ditches, opening new land, &c , and all this was per-
formed by the labour that made the crop and was attached
with to the plantation, the exception of some outside
labourers—as engineer
sionally. The numbers' carpenters, and bricklayers, occa.
of labourers, old and young, were
something over 100 —making, say, 75 or 80 good field hands
of men and women. Another item was indispensable in
keeping a sugar plantation in a condition to Le profitable—
viz., the securing seed caneOnplace in matlasses for the following
. cane to plant 250
to e it was necessary to save enough
seed
always done, Such Was 300 acres each year, and this was
the result of working my place on
the labour system existing before war changed its coal-
tion. Now, I will try to
perience since we have begive you a fair statement of my ex-
military orders and en working our plantations a
regulations. under
On the 26th of
October, 1862, the army . . .
under General Weitzel passed
down the Lafourche. It produced great disturbance among
the labourers on plantations
his order for the regulation, bofult General Butler soon issued
to work to try and save the eroabour,ps. I started to save mine
and the planters went
with all but six of the usual hands
with a voluntary agreement on
that cultivated it, and
t
my part to pay to each
labouring man one dollar per day (and found them in food
and clothing as usual, of course), to the women hands
in proportion—two items that ought
greatly in my favour. I had Wood to have
_operated
enough already, with
good fair labour, to have boiled at least
sugar. The result was that with the BOO hogsheads of
incentives in the way
of money and moral suasion in every screy, together with the
assistance of the military to keep order, I at last, after burn-
ing up nearly all the wood above mentioned, finished the
hogsheads crop w;th something less than 100 esheads of sugar. The
crop was made, or rather cultivatedunder the old system of
labour, and the above is the result of
saving it under the
new system. The crop of 1863 Was begun under the most
promising agencies in everything but
the quality of the
labour by which it was to be worked, to wit—The rattoon
or stubble cane kept through the evinte
and although there was but little oanoseedr very well indee.d,
saved and planted,
yet with good cultivation a very fair crop of sugar could
have been made. Tho result is know
less than 40,000
hogsheads in the State. With the losall—
a of but few hands at
that time, and with fresh land andlarge breadth in cane,
I gave it the best cultivation I could under the circum-
stances, and at th© commencement
good of
utcgar-m eking tho
standing crop of cane was considered r BGO hogsheads
of sugar. Well, with all the energy and
perseverance I am
capable of, and hiring nearly 41
white men, and buying
nearly 2,000 dols worth of wood (for it was out my power
to get wood enougb cut by the hand attached to et
o the planta-
tion), I was at last fortunate in saving about 400 hogsheads
of sugar. This crop was the product of cane,becxuerept about
50 acres, planted before the change in the la
The above result was the first year's workine• under Gsyesnteem.
Banks's regulations, and under which I was greatl en rid
raged by the assurance to myself that in three ye:re' etre
the free labour system would yield three times the amountm
of products that was produced under the former system.
This year of 1864 we began es orking our crops under new
regulations, by order of General Banks, which were calcu-
lated to stimulate the labourers to increased exertion, but I
am sorry to say not with a particle of effect in bringing
forth more faithful labour. I had faithfully tried to get
fair labour by money reward, as I mentioned above in 1862,
and failed, sad I lave found Gene al J34113Q10 plat equally