The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-21 00:00:00

Lord Palmerston's Eightieth Birthday.

On the 20th of October. 1784, Henry John Temple,
Viscount Palmerston, now her Majesty's First Minister of
State, was born at Broadlands, in the county of Hants, Not
since the year 1710, when Sidney, Lord Godolphin, was
abruptly dismissed by Queen Anne, has a Prime Minister of
England conducted the national affairs at such an age as that
to which Lord Palmerston has attained. And on this his 80th
birthday, while a select circle of friends assembled at Broad-
lands drinks continued life and health to the Minister who
was born in the 24th year of the reign of George 111., it
will not be amiss to cast a retrospective glance over the prin-
cipal events in the history of the remarkable man who still
presides over the destinies of the country.
When Lord Palmerston was born, William Pitt, then in
the 25th year of his age, had holden the Premiership
about 12 months. Fox, his great political rival, was 10
years older, and had been in Parliament 15 years ; Sheri-
dan was 33, and had been four years in the house ; Burke
was 66, and had a Parliamentary experience of 18 years.
Wilberforce, who was of the same age as Pitt, had formed
one of the little band who, headed by Burke and Fox,
had 'not ceased to condemn the policy which had led to
the establishment of the American Republic, then in the
ninth year of its existence, William Cobbett, then just
22, with little idea of future notoriety in the Political
Register and in Parliament, was doing duty as a corporal in
the inhospitable region of New Brunswick. Louis XVI.
was barely 30, and had swayed the French sceptre for 10
comparatively peaceful years, scarcely dreaming of ap-
proaching bloodshed and revolution.
But Lord Palmerston's education, which was begun at
Harrow and continued at the universities of Edinburgh and
Cambridge, progressed amid events of more stirring into.
rest. The present Prime Minister was a very little boy when
the commencement of the trial of Warren Hastings com-
manded so much attention throughout the country. " Drag-
ging its slow length along" for seven weary years, it was far
from completed when the horrors of the French Revolution
burst like a thunderclap over Europe. It was during his
lordship's schooldays that the great State trials of Hardy,
England. It was during
Thelwall, and Horne Tooke created such universal excite-
n
ment—when Erskine's. famous d.efence exploded for ever the
period that the Prince of Wales married the un-
fortunate Prince Caroline. of . Brunswick; that a desperate
and that the maritime pride of England
doctrinet
the same ofconstructive treason.
war was carried on against. Tippoo Saib and his sons; that
time maintained by the intelligence of
the memorable Irish rebellion broke out, and the legislative
uvwinacistoonfrwesasbyteiffraHeecotwetdoe, Cornwallis, Bridport, Nelson, Camper-
down, and St. Vincent.
We now pass on to January, 1806. Barely three months
had elapsed since the battle of Trafalgar had annihilated
the naval forces of France and Spain; and, amid many
years laboured unsuccessfully in
tokens of national grief, the body of Nelson had just been
onl.Eearyle Burke, who retired from the poli"
deposited in St. Paul's Cathedral. At that time Sir
y, who entered Parliament
had been dead nine years. Canning
iCtt
ahi
cheaallr7claaBe
ru6s
ne
aho in (afterwards
ndnlf7ec9frolr,some
had enjoyed a Parliamentary experience of thirteen years,
and had given repeated proofs of those great oratorical
gifts which won for him the title of the Cicero of the
Senate. Lord Castlereagh had been in the House just
one
e theyea p year
leas, and held as firmly then as he did in after life
that le have nothing to do with the laws but toobey
them. The cumbrous proceedings in the Court of Chan-
cery, then presided over by that everlasting doubter, Lord
Jeremy Bentham Was busily agitating for law reform,while
Yimpoverished suitors.
his efforts for aweeping away
CsitohmoaraneiColeifylltohbr
eaEd sanguinary
snt m
, or e s
ns e
epdnehiciaeard l upon
penal
l
aws then in such great force
on the statute book. Wilberforce, who had been denounced
by the Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV.) as " a
meddling fanatic, who ought to be expelled from Parlia-
ment," had not ceased to demand the abolition of the slave
trade. Fox, with the leading men of the Opposition, had
long abandoned all hope of arresting Pitt in his policy with
respect to the war with Franco, when, on the 235 January,
1806, the lefty spirit of the brilliant commoner then at the
head of the Administration sank under the overthrow of
the continental coalition against Napoleon, of which he
had been the directing genius. The death of Pitt rendered
vacant his seat for the University of Cambridge, and this
was the first opportunity for the present Premier to step
into public life.
It was the second Parliament of the United K ingdom.

Lord Palmerston was then in the 22d year of his age, and
had succeeded to his tide about four years previously. He
had just taken his degree of M.A. at the university, the
representation of which he now contested with Lord Henry
Petty, afterwards the Marquis of Lansdowne. The prize
upon this occasion was borne off by Lord Henry Petty.
Lord Palmereton was, however, immediately afterwards
returned for the nomination borough of Bletchingly, a
village of Surrey. The death of Mr Fox, on the 13th of
Sept. in the same year, was the cause of numerous changes
in the Ministry of " All the Talents" which had succeeded
Pitt; and when, in the March following, Lord Gren-
ville resigned the reins of power into the hands of the
Duke of Portland, Lord Palmerston, who this year ex•
changed Bletchingly for Newport, Isle of Wight, com-
menced his official life by becoming a Lord of the Ad-
miralty. It was in this capacity that he made his first speech
in the house, the occasion being a defence of the bombard-
went of Copenhagen by the British fleet. The duel between
Lord Castlereagh and Mr Canning ou the 22d Sept., 1809,
led to the breaking up of this Administration, for which
was substituted one by Mr Spencer Perceval, in which Lord
Palmereton was appointed Secretary at War. In 1811 he
was returned for the University of Cambridge, and held the
post of Secretary at War without interruption for 19 years
under five successive Governments. In 1828 he, together
with Mr Huskisson and Mr Grant, representing what might
be termed'. the:,:Czpring party of the Duke of Wellington's
Ministry, seceded from that Administration. For two years
Lord Palmerston was without office, when, on the resigna-
tion of the Duke of Wellington and the accession of Earl
Grey to power in November, 1830, his lordship was ap-
pointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. In the fol-
lowing year his attachment to the reform policy of his col-
leagues lost him his seat for the University cf Cambridge,
and ho fell back on his old boiough of Bletchingly. This
was one of the 56 swept away by Schedule A of the Reform
Bill, and Lord Palmerston next found a seat for South
Hants. He retained the Foreign Secretaryship until Nov.,
1834, when Sir R. Peel came into office for a few months.
In December of the same year, defeated at South Hants,
the noble lord took refuge at Tiverton, which he has over
since represented. In April, 1835, Lord Melbourne came
into power, and Lord Palmerston resumed his functions at
the Foreign-office, continuing to hold the seals of that de-
partment until Sir R. Peel's return to the Treasury Bench
in Sept., 1841. Another five years of opposition now en-
sued, when, on the accession of Lord John Russell to the
Premiership in July, 1816, Lord Palmerston was reinstated
in his post of Foreign Secretary, where he remained until
Dec., 1851. In Dec., 1852, on the formation of the Aber-
deen Ministry, Lord Palmerston was appointed Home
Secretary, He filled this post until the breaking up of the
Govemment in 1855,when he was appointed Prime Minister.
In February, 1858, the adverse vote of the House of Com-
mons on the Conspiracy Bill obliged him to give place to
the Earl of Derby; but in June, 1859, he was again called
upon to construct an Administration, of which he still re-
mains the head.
It seems difficult to believe that the Prime Minister of
England in 1864 was living in the days when the young
Pretender, wearied of his intrigues, was quietly passing
away his existence at Rome; and that the Premier of to-
day was an active War Secretary ere Lord Wellington
baffled Massena before the lines of Torres Vedras. Yet
Lord Palmerston has served four Sovereigns, he has been
a member of the House of Commons 58 years, and has sat
in 16 Parliaments. During the long period of his political
life he has witnessed the construction of 17 Ministries,
in 13 of which he has holden office. Of his 58 years
of Parliamentary life no less than 46 have been
passed in the national service. Of the colleagues with
whom he acted on his entrance into public life not one now
survives, and from the death of the Duke of Portland, in
October, 1809, to that of the Duke of Newcastle, two days
ago, the names of the statesmen with whom Lord Palmer-
ston has taken counsel, and who from time to time have
passed away, constitute a long and formidable list. Of the
Premier's colleagues in the present Cabinet, Earl Russell
is the next in point of age, and he is 72. When Lord Pal-
merston entered Parliament, Lord Russell was doing his
continental tour, Sir George Grey was a little boy seven
years of age, the Earl of Clarendon was six, the Lord Chan-
cellor and Sir Charles Wood ono year less, Mr Villiers and
Lord Stanley of Alderley numbered four summers, the Duke
of Somerset was just two years old, while neither the names
nor the titles of the present Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Earl Granville, the Duke of Argyll, Earl do Grey, Mr
Milner Gibson, and Mr Cardwell had then been heard of.
The extent of Lord Palmerston's patronage has been
enormous, and never since the days of Sir Robert Walpole
has an English Prime Minister wielded the sword of State
with so much advantage to his party. Of the prelates who
Low constitute the hierarchy, no less than 17 owe their
positions to Lord Palmerston. They are the Archbiehops
of Canterbury, York, Armagh, and Dublin—the Bishops of
Carlisle, Cork, Durham, Ely, Gloucester, and Bristol,
Kiilaloe, Kilmore, London, Norwich, Peterborough,
Ripon, Rochester, and 'Worcester. He has besides nomi-
nated to several deaneries and canonries. He has added 17
names to the rolls of the peerage, including those of Wen-
sleydale, Aveland, Lyons, Belper, Evereley, Ebury, Ma-
caulay, Chesham, Llanover, Lyveden, Taunton, Westbury,
Russell, Fizhardinge, Seymour, Houghton, and Annaly.
He has created 18 baronets, namely, Sir D. Baxter, Sir W.
Browne, Sir J. F. Burgoyne, Sir D. Cooper, Sir F. Cros-
sley, Sir W. Dike, Sir H. Havelock, Sir W. G. Hayter, Sir
C. Lyell, Sir J, Jejeebhoy, Sir D. Lloyd, Sir C. Locock,
Sir F. G. Moon, Sir S. M. Peto, Sir H. Rich, Sir B.
Walker, Sir W. F. Williams, and Sir A. Wilson. In his
two Governments he has had the services of three Lord
Chancellors, four Attorney and six Solicitor-Generals—he
has appointed the chiefs in the Court of Queen's Bench and
Common Pleas—while of the 15 judges of her Majesty's
three courts of common law who administered justice on
Lord Palmerston's first accession to power, only four now
hold the same positions they occupied in February, 1855.
He has had the appointment of just one half of the 116
lord-lieutenants of the United Kingdom, and has disposed
of two-thirds of the 25 Garters. He has added more than
40 names to the Privy Council, and of the 216 members cf
that body as at present existing, the Premier himself is the
oldest member, having been sworn in 55 years ago. Of the
minor departments of patronage in the hands of the different
departments of the Government .we have no room to speak.
Including the clerical patronage of the Lord Chancellor,
the appointment of county court judges, bankruptcy com-
missioners, and magistrates, and the appointments to the
naval, military, and civil services, it embraces every office
and place of emolument in the country.
But it is not simply at home that the patronage of the
noble viscount's Administration has been conspicuous over
that of many of his predecessors united. Since he first took
the Premiership the governor of every British possession
both at home and abroad, numbering 51 in all, has been
reappointed. He has made three viceroys of India, two
lord-lieutenants of Ireland, and two governor, generals of
Canada ; while every colony and dependency, from the freez-
ing latitudes of New Brunswick to the scorching swamps of
the Gold Coast, has had a new ruler placed over its inhabi-
tants. In the colonial episcopate there is similarly extensive
evidence of the effects of Lord Palmerston's being in power.
And, finally, during his reign as Prime Minister, of the 38
British Ministers abroad, with five exceptions, the whole
have been reappointed, from the splendid dignity of the St
Petersburg embassy to the unpretending "agency" at the
Court of Tunis.
To follow Lord Palmerston through the many episodes of
his lengthened career would require little less than a history
of his times. The debates in which he has taken part, the
long story of his foreign policy, the measures he has assisted
to carry, together with the immense progress which the
country has made, and which are inseparably connected
with a record of the chief public events of the past half cen-
tury—all these things are written in other chronicles. But
whatever opinion his lordship's political opponents may en-
tertain respecting his statesmanship, there can be no ques-
tion that a genial and kindly old age makes him universally
popular amongst the masses of his countrymen. A week or
two after the close of a long and harassing session we find
him on a blazing hot day talking to the Northamptonshire
peasantry about the advantages of railway communication,
Then, leaving the black mould of the fens and the brown,

crumbling loam of the uplands, he is next laying the
foundation-stone of a new exchange amid the smoking
chimney-stacks of Bradford. Again, he is whirling
down by the Great Western express Co Tiverton, and
there, surrounded by the jolly yeomen of humid Devon,
at length defends the policy of his Government, and con-
vulses his hearers with laughter by drawing amusing
parallels between the racec-airse and the House of Com-
mons. Once more he is on the rail, and this time he is in
North Wales, inspecting his new slate quarry near the top
of the Moelwyn mountain. Then, passing on to the city of
Hereford, he inaugurates the statue of a departed colleague
who was born in the year he himself entered Parliament.
Yet again, and he is down amid the chalky plains of Wilt-
shire, where, at the former residence of another lamented
colleague, who was an infant when Lord Palmerston was
vigorously carrying on the war against the first Napoleon,
he gives sound advice to a portion of our great volunteer
army. Thus occupied in the recess, and at SO years of age
still the key-stone in the arch of his Administration, what-
ever he may be likened unto by the fu'ure historian, it cer-
tainly never can be said that Lord Palmerston has stood
idle in the market-place of life ; it never can be said that
when called upon to serve his Sovereign in the political
crisis and exigencies of his country he has been weighed in
the balances and found wanting.— IVestern Morning News,
of Oct. 20.

THE VICEREGAL HOUSEHOLD.—The public will
be glad to learn that Capt. Robert William has been ap-
pointed comptroller of the household of the new Lord Lieu-
tenant. Nr Wodehouse, a cousin of his Excellency, is pri •
vato secretary, and Colonel Wodehouse, who is already well
known among us, becomes Master of the Horse.—publin
Evening ltad.

On Wednesday evening Mr W. E. Forster, M,P., pre-
sided at a meeting held at the Mechanics' lastitution,Brad-
ford, under the auspices of the Western Freed Men's Aid
Commission. He said that the address of that Commission
showed that in the progress of the fearful contest waging in
the United States the slaves had flecked within the Federal
lines in multitudes. Coming from a country impoverished
by the protracted operations of two vast opposing armies,
they reached a place of security within the Federal lines in
a condition of wretchedness and want, clothed i❑ rags, toil-
worn by marches, depressed and effiicted by privations and
exposure. In the freed men's camp of the Mississippi valley
alone there were more than 50,000 dependent persons ; and
as these would be dependent on the Government, and on
the donations of the humane and benevolent for food,
clothing, and other supplies, the work of charity had given
rise to the Western Freed Men's Aid Commission. It was
organised at Cincinnati in January, 1E63, and the slaves
had proved themselves worthy of every benevolent exertion
in their behalf. Thousands who at first were dependent on
the Government were now supporting themselves by com-
pensated labour. Whether old or young, they studied with
eagerness and learned rapidly. Knowing that there were
thousands in Great Britain who sympathised with this long
oppressed people, the commission had instructed Mr Levi
Coffin to proceed to England to lay the cause before its
friends, and to solicit co-operation and contributions. He
(the chairman) considered that, apart from their actual dis-
tress, the slaves of America had strong claims on the sym-
pathy of England. He could not forget that when the
starving people of Ireland were in great distress, the Ame-
ricans most generously came forward and relieved them.
He could not forget that a few months ago, when the 'sad
and terrible war caused great misery in Lancashire, notwith-
standing the claims that the Americans had at home, they
came forward most nobly to the assistance of the Lancashire
poor, It was therefore now the turn of England to pay back
to the suffeting Americans, for thcugh black these negroes
wore Americans, what they had done for us. Besides the
claims of distress and gratitude, they had also the special
claim that we were friends of the coloured man and haters
of slavery. They had also this claim upon us, that the exist-
ing state of things followed the emancipation of slaves in Bri-
tish dominions- It followed the efforts which had been made
to bring the people of America to the same standard as our-
selves, and to consider slavery a sin. No one could deny the
stand that was made in this country against American slavery
and the protests that were being constantly dinned into the
ears of Americans who came amongst us, how incon-
sistent slavery was with their institutions, and that those
remonstrances had had a greater effect in raising that feel-
ing in America which induced the people of that country to
take such a position against the extension of slavery that the
slaveholder felt the insinuation threatened ; therefore he re-
belled, and the war began. Ho was not going to speak of
the merits or demerits of that war, but should confine his
remarks to the condition of the negro in consequence of it.
They had heard that Mt Jefferson Davis had eslimated the
number of emancipated slaves at two millions. Whether
there was that number or whether there was only one half,
was a set-off against the evils of the war, but such a change
could not be brought about without immense suffering.
They must expect it to be severe, and, this country baying
been instrumental in bringing it about, we were especially
bound to do what we could to relieve it. He did not regret
that we had been thus instrumental in bringing the existing
state of things to their present condition, for we had only
taken the position which we would have taken the more
strongly and the more earnestly years ago, if we had known
how, It was certainly not our fault that we had raised
the standard of freedom, and done all that we could to
excite our fellow-Christians in America who felt as
they ought for their enslaved fellow-citizens. It was
not because we did our duty in this respect that
therefore we were to blame ; blame, of course, fell upon
those who were now reaping the terrible punishment ;
upon those who preferred to continue slavemasters rather
than listen to the protests against it. Though the suffer-
ings of the .negroes were great, ho must not allow those
whom he addressed to go away with the idea :that they
were no better than before their present condition was
brought about. They had most delightful and encouraging
proufs of the improvement in the condition of the negro—
there were encouraging instances of the noble manner in
which, generally speaking, the negro race had responded to
the call that had been made upon them by the cum-
stances of the war. Gen. Banks, who was sent to be Go-
♦ernor of Louisiana after the Federal army had taken pos-
session of it, had under his protection many thousands of
emancipated negroes. In March last he wrote stating that
he had no doubt whatever that the emancipated coloured
people could discharge all the duties incident to the great
change in their condition. He had seen them in all situa-
tions within the last year and a half, and they seemed
to have a clearer comprehension of their. position and
duties than many other classes. Among other things
they demanded that they should not be flogged, that they
should only labour when they were well treated, and
that their children should be educated. The touching
earnestness with which these poor people asked fur the
education of their children was one of the most encourag-
ing facts in connection with their condition. Though
when General Banks assumed the command of that de-
partment there were many thousands of coloured people
without employment, and many of them suffering from dis-
ease, there were not, in March, 500 who were not self-sup-
porting, Col. Hanks, the superintendent of negro slavery
in the Gulf department, said in February last, that he had
had 6,500 coloured men at work on the alTandoned planta-
tions and fortifications, and he had no difficulty with them,
although it was true that some of them had a dislike to re-
turn to their old masters. lie (Mr Forster) considered that
among all the different and extraordinary statements that
had been published in the English press there had been no
more common statement than that, however abstractedly
slavery might be an evil, yet there was a great difficulty in
getting rid of it ; and that emancipation would practically
end in failure, because negroes would never have the cour-
age to fight for their freedom, and such was their degraded
condition that they would not work without being com-
pelled. Both these assertions had been contradicted by facts.
The slaves had earned respect in America a.ven from those
whose prejudices were against him. Mr Fellbrigg, a Boston
merchant, had grown large quantities of cotton in the Sea
Islands, and by holding out the hope to the negroes of good
payment eventually, he had proved that, with all the
peculiar difficulties under which the experiment was
labouring, the cost of cultivation was very little more,
if not less, than when it was grown by the negroes dur-

ing their slavery. Such a fact should make England
hopeful with regard to the negro, and it should also be
considered as a commercial value for themselves. Even if

the South succeeded, which was not so certain even in the
eyes of their friends, slavery was disorganised to that extent
that it would not do for England any longer to rely upon
it, not merely as friends of the negro, not merely as men
who wished that a great industry should no longer depend
on the sinful system of slavery for its support, but also as
men who had a commercial interest in the supply of the
most important article of English industry teing placed on
the soundest foundation. They must look to these experi-
month with the greatest interest, and hope for their success.
The claims of the society were afterwards advocated by
Mr L. Coffin, the Rev. Dr. Massie, and other speakers.
Resolutions were carried in favour of the formation of an
auxiliary at Bradford. A vote of thanks was given to Mr
Forster for presiding, and for his efforts on the American
question in Parliament. This concluded the proceedings.

WOOING BY THE AUSTRALIAN BLACKS.—Court-
ship, as a precursor to marriage, is unknown
amongst them. When a young warrior is desirous of pro-
curing a wife he generally obtains one by giving in exchange
for her a sister or some other female relative of his own ;
but, if there should happen to be no eligible damsel disen-
gaged in the tribe to which he belongs, thou he hovers
round the encampment of some ether blacks until he gets
an opportunity of seizing one of their leubras,whom perhaps
he has seen and admired when attending one of the grand
corroborries. His mode of paying his addresses is simple
and efficacious. With a blow of his nulls-nulls (war club)
he stuns the object of his affections, and drags her insen-
sible body away to some retired spot, whence, as seen as
she recovers her senses, ho brings her home to his own
gunyah in triumph. Sometimes two join in an expedition
for the same purpose, and then for several days they watch
the movements of their intended victims, using their utmost
skill in concealing their presence. When they have obtained
the knowledge they require, they wait for a dark, windy
night : then, quite naked, and Carrying only the long jag
spears, they crawl stealthily through the bush until they
reach the immediate vicinity of the camp fires, in front of
which the girls they are in search of are sleeping. Slowly
and silently they creep close enough to distinguish the
figure of one of those leubras; then one of the intruders
stretches out his spear, and inserts its barb point amongst
her thick flowing locks ; turning the spear slowly round,
some of her hair speedily becomes entangled with it; then,
with a sudden jerk, she is aroused from her slumber, and as
her eyes open she feels the sharp point of another weapon
pressed against her throat. She neither faints nor screams ;
she knows well that the slightest attempt at escape or
alarm will cause her instant death, so, like a sensible wo-
man, she makes a virtue of necessity, and, rising silently,
she follows her captors. They lead her away to a consi-
derable distance, tie her to a tree, and return to ensnare
their other victim in like manner. Then, when they have
accomplished their design, they hurry off to their own
camp, where they aro received with universal applause, and
highly honoured for their chivalrous exploit,—Chambers's
Jo 141 rial •

Major-Gen. A. B. Stransham, Inspector-General
of Royal Marines, accompanied by his aide-decamp
Captain Travers, arrived yesterday morning at
Pearce's Royal Hotel, Plymouth. During the fore-
noon he inspected the barracks and the infirmary
at Stonehouse,and examined the men's necessaries.
In the afternoon ten companies of 36 rank and file
each, under the command of Col.-Commandant J.
H. Gascoigne, C. 8., were drilled on the Hoe, and
went through several marecuvres, firing blank
cartridge, &c.
In consequence of the termination of hostilities
in New Zealand no additional reinforcements will
be despatched from Chatham to augment the regi-
ments serving in that colony, several of which will
be at once ordered to return home. The regiments
now in New Zealand are the Ist battalion of the
12th Regiment, the 2d battalion of the 14'h ItegiA
ment, the 2d battalion of the 18th Rlyal Irish, the
40th Regiment, 43rd Light Infantry, 50th Queen's
Own, 57th Regiment, 65. h Reginu-nt, 68'h Light
Infantry, 70Ih Regiment, and the 4th battalion of
the Military Train, besides the tuna_ force of Royal.
Artillery Roy al Engineers, and the Commissariat
Corps. The regiments which have been longest
abroad, and may therefore shortly be expected to
return home are the 65th, which embarked foi New
Zealand in May, 1846—the 70th, which left Eng-
land for Bengal in January, 1849, and was subsee
quently ordered to New Zealand—the 43rd Light
Infantry, which was despatched from New Zealand.
from the Cape of Good Hope, for which place it
left England in October, 1851—and the 40th Regis
went, which embarked in July, 1852. Of the other
regiments enumerated which are now serving in
New Zealand, the 57th embarked for Corfu in 1853,
and was afterwards despatched to New Zealand,
and the Ist battalion of the 12th left England in
July, 1854.
Yesterday Mr E. J. Reed, the chief constructor of
the navy, accompanied by Mr Barnaby, assistant-
constructor, and other officials, visited Chatham
dockyard for the purpose of inspecting the Belleroe
phon, 14, 1,000-horse power, iron, frigate, and the
armour-plated frigate Lord Warden, 24, 1,000-horse
power, under construction at that establishment.
Both vessels are now being pushed forward as rte•
pidly as the resources of the dockyard will permit,
about 2,000 mechanics and other hands being em-
ployed on them:in order to hasten their completion.
The Lord Warden has the whole of her planking
completed, and is ready for the reception of her
armour plates, the moulds for which are now being
prepared. The Bellerophon has the greater part
of her inner skin of iron plates fixed, in readiness
for the teak planking to which the 6.inch armour-
plates will be bolted. Both frigates are getting so
well advanced as to leave no doubt that they will
be afloat next year, and ready for sea in little more
than 12 months from this date.

A court-martial assembled yesterday morning on
board her Majesty's ship Formidable, 84, flagship
of Vice. Admiral Sir Charles Talbot, K.C.8., Com-
mander.in-Chief at Sheerness, for the trial of
Henry Knight, additional engineer of her Majesty's
ship Fisgard, for service in her Majesty's gunvessel
Landrail. The Court consisted of Capt. J. Fulford,
R.N., of her Majesty's ship Formidable, president ;
Capt. W. K. Hall, C,8., of her Majesty's ship Cum-
beiland, guardship of the steam reserve ; Capt. the
Hon. G. D. Keane, additional, to the Cumberland;
Commander R. Studdert, of her Majesty's ship
Wellesley ; and Commander T. L. Gaussen, of her
Majesty's ship Formidable; Mr G. H. Knight, of
Essell, Knight, and Arnold, Admiralty solicitors,
Rochester, acting as Deputy Judge Advocate.
The prisoner was charged, first, with neglect
ing his duty and absenting himself without
leave on the 7th of October instant; secondly,
with being drunk and unfit for duty on the same
day at 230 p.m. Hugh Dunlop, Commodore,
and Superintendent of Woolwich dockyard, prose-
cuted, and Mr M'Cartty Stephenson, of Rochester,
defended the prisoner. Commander W. C. Luke, of
her Majesty's ship Fisgard, Fred. Wm. Ponsonby,
secretary to Commodore Dunlop, Thomas Leaman
Bcckford, assist.-surg. of her Majesty's ship Fiegard,
and ltabt. Spears, assist..engincer of the Fisgard,
gave evidence in support of the charge. The prisoner
denied the charge, and called two or three witnesses
who spoke as to his being in liquor, but not so as
to render him incapable of attending to his duty.
The Court found him guilty on both charges, and.
ordered him to be placed at the bottom of the list in
his present rank, and to be severely reprimanded.

The iron screw steam troopship Urgent, 4, Capt.
James H. Henderson, from Portsmouth and Wey-
mouth, arrived on Wednesday morning at Plymouth
with a detachment of Sappers, and with several in-
valids from the Channel squadron. The sappers
were landed at Devonport dockyard, and the invalids
were sent on board the flagship. The Urgent wan
appointed to leave Plymouth on Wednesday after•
noon for Ireland to land sappers. She was then to
return to Plymouth to embark a detachment for
Portsmouth.

The screw steamship Donegal, 81, at Davenport,
preparing for coastguard duty at Liverpool, will
probably be taken outside Plymouth breakwater on
Saturday to try her machinery.
Vice-Admiral Lord Somerville expired on Wed-
nesday morning at Newbold Comyn, Leamington,
where he had resided for many years. He was the
17th Baron Somerville in the peerage of Scotland.
The peerage to which the deceased succeeded in 1842
was created in 1430. His lordship was a vice-admi■
ral of the Royal Navy, the data of his commission
being May 20, 1862, but ho retired from active
service when holding the rank of captain. He mar•
ried in September, 1833, the only daughter of Mr.
John Hayman, by whom he leaves issue two sons
and five daughters, and is succeeded in the title by
his eldest son Hugh, born October 11, 1839. His
lordship had attained the age of 77, and had for a,
considerable time been in a critical state of health.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

GREAT EASTERN.

The surveyors of this company are now engaged in set-
ting out the extension of this line from Shoreditch to Liver-
pool-street, in the neighbourhood of Bishopsgate-street, and
all the necessary notices to owners and occupiers of house
property intended to be taken are now being served, soma
of the property having already been agreed for. Operations
for clearing the route of the line will shortly be commenced: