The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 13, 1864.

Naval and Military Intelligence,

THE NAVY.
VALETTA, May
frigate Mae7-'
rived

eler Majesty's paddlewheel
-,_,,,ante, 16, Capt. W. Armytage, ar-
aere from Tunis on the oth last., bi-inging
news from that place of the sth, ahil the latest ac-
counts from Nteßia, Makes, and Sun, towns on
the coact. The following foreign men-of-war were
at Tunis on the sth. French.-e-The Algesiras, 90,
screw liner (bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral
D'Herbingham ; the Redoubtable, 80, screw liner;
the Alexandre, 100, screw liner (this ship had just
returned from a visit to ports on the coast) ; and
the Meteor, paddle sloop ; the Cator, 4, screw
sloop, was also cruising on the coast. Italian.-
The Maria Adelaide, 51, screw frigate (bearing the
flag of Aanairal Albini); the Due de Genova, 34,
screw frigate ; the Magenta, 20, screw frigate ; the
Etna, 11, screw corvette; and the Sirene, 1, paddle
sloop ; the Garibaldi had gone to Susa. A Turkish
corvette had also arrived. Two other Turkish
vessels, the Feizi Bahri, 22, and the Peiki Cherif,
10, arrived at Malta yesterday, the former from
Constantinople and Gallipoli, and the latter from
Gallipoli and Athens, on their way to Tunis, on a
special mission from the Sultan, in charge of his
a r
The Effendi, who is accompanied by
three Excellencysecinfluence of the French is
known to be very great in Tunis, and report says
they have threatened to appoint Frenchmen to ad-
minister public affairs. The British Consul-General is no doubt very anxious to have the moral sup-
port afforded by the presence of a large naval force,
and it is considered here not unlikely that the
naval commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean
may receive instructions to proceed to Tunis with
the rest of his squadron. The Meanee, 60, Cap-
tain G. Wodehoase, was at Tunis, and the Pelican,
17, Commander H. T. Comber, was on a cruise
visiting the towns 02 the coast. The Firefly,
5, Lieutenant-Commander G. R. Wilkinson,
left Malta for Susa 02 the sth instant, and the
Royal Oak, 25, ironclad, Captain F. A. Campbell,
left yesterday, to assume the senior command. The
Magicienne is completing coals and provisions, and
will leave on return to Tunis as soon as ready. It is
said that on no accoett will any force be landed
from our ships, except in the case of the Consulate
or British subjects beitg in actual danger or of a
written requisition frog the Bey. There is no news
from Corfu. The Orlando, 46, Capt. G. G. Ran-
dolph, the Trident, 3, Commander P. J. Balfour, and
the steam tender Growler, were there on the 2d inst.
The Trident has this day arrived here. The Wan-
derer, 4, Commander M. P. Seymour, is at Patras.
The Cossack, 20, Capt.V. R. Rolland, is expected
here to-morrow from Zeite and Corfu, and will be
relieved by the Liffey,3s, Capt. G. Parker, which
will leave this on Wednesday. The Revenge, 73
(bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral H. R. Yeleerton,
C. 8.), Capt. the Hon. A. Foley ; the Gibraltar,
81, Capt. J. C, Prevost, and the Surprise, 4, Com-
mander W. H. Whyte, ti) at the Pirw as of Athens.
The transports for the removal of the troops from
the lonian Islands are expected there about the
beginning of June. Tte Himalaya was to leave
England on the 14th inst. for Malta and Corfu. The
Tamar was daily expected at Gibraltar from the
coast of Africa ; also en route for Malta and Corfu.
The Orontes will proceed direct from England and
Gibraltar without touching at Malta. The screw
storeship Supply, 2, Master Commander Bowden,
arrived at Gibraltar on the 2d inst., and has just
reached Malta. The Racoon, 22, Capt. Count
Gleiehee, was to leave the same day to embark
Prince Alfred at Marseilles, and return with him to
Spithead, The Procris, screw gunboat, Lieut. the
Hon, J. Vivian, was at Gibraltar. The Caradoc, 2,
paddle despatch boat, Lieut. Commander E. Wilkin-
left the Pirwas on the 2d inst. for Syra, Smyrna, and
Constantinople. She has on board the Bishop of
Gibraltar. At Syra his lordship will consecrate a
church which has recently been built there, and at
Smyrna and Constantinople he will hold Confirma-
tions. The Weser, 6, Cotnmenier Johnstone, and
the Cockatrice, 2, Lieut.-Commander Gillson, have
been ordered to Tenedos, where they will be met by
the Gibraltar lineeof-battle ship, in order that a
Court-martial may be held on Assist.-Engineer
First-class John Frazer, of the Cockatrice. Nothing
has been heard for some time of the Phcebe, 35,
Capt. T. D. A. Fortescue, and the Chanticleer, 17,
Commander Risk; but by the last accounts they
were on the Coast of Syria, all well. The Marl-
borough, 121, (bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral
Smart, K.H.), Capt. C. Feilowes, wilt go out to-
morrow for a cruise and target practice. The Fox-
hound, 4, Commander W. Anderson, will be ad-
mitted into the dry dock on Monday to have her
bottom cleaned. The Resistance, 16, ironclad,
Capt. IV. C. Chamberlain, and the Psyche, 2,
despatch vase], Lieut.-Commander R. Sterne, are
in port ready for sea. Lieut.-Col. Gubbins, who has
been appointed Assist.-AdjteGen. in this garrison,
in lieu of Col. Willis, arrived here last week, and
assumed the duties of his office. Col. Willis has
left for England.'
The Icarus, 11-gun screw sloop, Commander
Salmon, arrived yesterday at Spithead, from Malta
the 19th ult., and Gibraltar the 28th. She sailed
again for the eastward to pay out of commission.
The Hector, iron frigate, also arrived yesterday at
Spithead from the Downs.

The Royal Sovereign turret-ship has been
placed in the Warrior dock at Portsmouth, where
she will probably remain for about three weeks,
unless her services should be urgently required
in the north. Yesterday Itear-Admiral
George
Elliot, accompanied by Captain Sherard Osborn,
C.B. ; Mr. Andrew Murray, C.E., chief engineer
of the dockyard; Mr. Cradock, master ship-
wright, and other officials, went on board the
ship to examine the two after-boilers and their
broken connecting pipes and the main steampipe
in the endeavour to ascertain the exact cause
of the accident to the connecting pipes during the
preliminary trial of the ship on Tuesday
last, as re-
ported in The Sun of the following day. No posi-
tive decision was arrived at, but Admiral Elliot,
Capt. OL.born, and Mr. 3turray expressed their
opinions that the accident arose from causes con-
nected with the boilers alone, and totally irrespec-
tive of the ships's weakness or strength, and the
opinion was also expressed that the ship had not
altered the least in her form, nor had the boilers in
their position. As, however, no cause was assigned
for the breaking of the communications between
the boilers and the steam pipe, the opinions given
on Wednesday, although doubtless entitled to great
weight from the position and professional know-
ledge of the gentlemen named, is only at present
on a par with the opinion expressed in The Sun of
Wednesday, that the accident was owing to the
alteration of the form of the
by the concentration of the
gun, 113 tons, in a space of 8 ship's bottom caused
ship's bottonmo,ibit
a great
would have weight of the turret and
feet. Lying in dock
or at anchor in still water
underneath
the turret, and quite ac this concentrated weight
anent brought to bear
wnw:ird vibratory mov
the full Pone of
to account for the
uthrewioriuetshnefftieicetb I
3C 00
htati
op driven ahead by
a bottom
Ojnuvsetrted wooden
ti°".'lmn that part of the shgi
cent pin,ses there must be
dislocation of the connecting pipes between the
boiler and steam pipe when mechanical appliances
are not provided to meet the strain. The damage
to the pipes themselves can be repaired at little cost,
and if the form of the ship has not been disturbed,
there will be no occasion to interfere with the tur-
ret or boilers any further than restoring the coma
munications of the latter with the steam pipe in a
better form than before. The affair, however, must
be thoroughly investigated, and the ateident ac-
counted for, not, as we have already intimated,
from the actual amount of damage done, but from
the importance which is attached to the danger of
more serious results following upon any similar ac-
cident at any future time. In former tlotides of the
Royal Sovereign attention was called to the fact
that a wide band of small vitreous plates—i.e., thin
iron plates colted on their exterior surface with
fus3d glass had Lem applied round the ship at the
water-line, with the intention of cutting off any
connection between the Mutate metal of the ship's
bottom and the armour-plating on her top sides,
and thus preventing any repetition of such catas-
trophes as recently occ tarred to one of her Majesty's
ships at Davenport. This band of plating was sur-
veyed yesterday and An extraordinary emourt of

galv— •

.ale action action was found to have been at

work. This result could not be well surprising to
any one, for on and through the lower row of
vitreous plates is nailed the upper edge of the metal
sheathing, and both being sbtilerged below the
water line, a galvanicbattery has been formed round
the ship, and, as a matter of course, has produced
the usual results. An official present pointed out
that the action which had been at work upon the
vitreous plates was not galvanic, but electric, but
he omitted to state the difference between the two
definitions as relating to the platea under survey.
These plates are made under a patented process, but
it would be unfair to condemn the principle because
the hull of the Royal Sovereign at the water line
has been accidentally converted inP,o a galvanic bat-
tery.

Her Majesty's paddle-yacht Victoria and Albert,
Capt. the Prince Leiningen, K.C.8., was taken out
of Portsmouth harbour yesterday, and tested her
engines and her new boilers. She is expected to
proceed to Antwerp to bring over to England the
Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse on a visit to her
Majesty.
The screw steamship Bombay, 67, Capt. Colin
A. Campbell, flag of Admiral the Hon. Geo. grey,
left Plymouth Sound on Tuesday evening for her
station in South America,
It has been annnounced at Chatham that the
ironcased frigate Enterprise, 4, 160 horse power, is
to be despatched, as soon as she can be got ready
for that service, to join the Channel squadron in the
German Ocean, and orders have been issued for the
officers and men belonging to that vessel, and now
absent on leave, to join her forthwith.
The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty :—Robert G. Webber, paymaster, to
the Dauntless; Beaver Van Homrigh, master's
assist., to the Duncan ; E. J. T. Behenna and C. F.
Barnard, master's assist., to the Wolverene; Lient.
Sir Lambton Loraine to be flag lieut. to Rear Ad-
miral Hon. Josh. Denman ; W. E. L. Veale, pay-
master, to be secretary to Rear Admiral J. Den-
man; Thos. F. Hall, chief engineer, to the Wol-
verene; G. L. D. P. Keeling, engineer, to the Wol-
verene; John Smethers, first class assist. engineer,
to the Wolverene; Edward Holmes and Nicholas
IL Rowe, acting second class assist. engineers, to
the Cumberland ; Richard Irwin, acting second
class assist. engineer, to the Wolverene ; and Lient.
D. T. J. Macnamara to her Majesty's ship As.
surance, fitting out at Devonport.

The Rhine Bridge at Coblenz,

COBLENZ, May 10.

There have been grand doings here this last week
on the occasion of the opening the new bridge across
the Rhine, connecting the Cologne and Mayence
with the Nassau State line. The bridge itself is a
light and elegant structure of three iron arches
resting on stone piers, highly creditable to the taste
of the joint designers, Geheim-Rath Hartwig and
Bau-Rath Schwarz. In England, where the open.
ing of a railway bridge is of such common occur-
rence that the very mention of it is probably con-
fined to the columns of a local paper, it is difficult
to understand how such an event can be made
the occasion of a fete of such magnitude, to be
graced by such august presence ;—but they do things
differently in Prussia. The Queen arrived a week
ago. Coblenz is her favourite residence, and is
deeply indebted to her for varied acts of considerate
munificence. The beautiful gardens, extending
more than a mile along the banks of the Rhine,
and with which no other Rhenish town can com-
pete, originated in her liberality and taste. The
king arrived on Sunday night. Coblenz was illu-
minated in honour of the august arrival. To say
it was a spontaneous ebullition of loyalty would be
simply ridiculous. The good citizens were " in•
vited" by circular to light up their houses, and
everybody knows what an " invitation" means nu-
der a despotism. Many houses, however, owners
of which had nothing to dread from official
frowns, were conspicuous by their darkness. Of
course, in a town where every other inhabitant
is a functionary of some kind or other, and where
the illuminating power is a small tin saucer of fat
with a wick stuck into it, such a demonstration is
to be got up at any time at a few hours notice,
especially where the Burgomaster is subservient to
the powers that be. On Monday the day's proceed-
ings were, of course, inaugurated by a grand parade,
in which every available soldier in the garrison
took part. The rain which had fallen all night
subsided at the right moment, and the whole affair
was very effective.
The Queen was present in an open carriage with
her daughter, the Grand Duchess of Baden, the
consort of the most liberal and therefore the most
popular of the smaller German sovereigns.
After the parade the event of the day was ac-
ccomplished in the usual way by the King and
Queen in person, accompanied by the Duke of
Nassau, who, as the proprietor of one of the lines
now united, had a kind of vested interest in the
proceedings, but between whom and his powerful
neighbours there seemed to be no sort of cordiality
whatsoever.

After the ceremony there was a banquet. A very
unsightly pavilion had been erected on three enor-
mous barges moored together on the river immedi-
ately contiguous to the blidge, 600 guests were
invited, who did justice to the fare as only Germans
can. The landlord of the Giant Hotel was the pur-
veyor on the occasion, so nothing more new be said
in praise of the repast. Uniforms largely predomi-
nated, but not all military. To the inquiry, "Who
is that General with cocked hat and epaulettes ? "
the answer was, "He is an assessor." "That
Field Marshal ? "He is a Regierungsrath." " That
stout functionary resplendent in green and gold ?"
"He is Ober-Forstmeister," " And he, above all,
i❑ enormous cocked hats trimmed with feathers and
gold; with rows of decorations on his breast, with
a coat bedizened with lace that it must be irksome
to carry ?" " He, good honest man, is 0 ber-Prasi-
dent of the Rhine province, who though dressed
like a generalissimo, is a civilian and a man of
peace."
At 4 o'clock there was a dinner at the Palace to
the creme de la creme ; at 7 a reception to those not
creme de la creme ; and in order that the reception
might be as comprehensive as possible, the invita-
tions were issued by the Ober-Prasident. At 9
there was a display of fireworks, better than which
may be seen nightly at Cremorne, but Cremorne
lacks the background of Ehrenbreitstein, which
was lit up for the occasion with blue and red fire,
while a fiery shower fell from the entire length of
the new bridge. _ _ _

Amid the general profusion the town, either nig-
gardly or forgetful, omitted to make the bridge of
boats, from which the spectacle was witnessed by a
great crowd, free to the public, the consequence of
which was some severe injuries in the crush inevi-
table at the toll-gates. This morning the King
leaves for Berlin ; the crowded hotels will soon dis-
gorge themselves, and Coblenz will be left to its
garrison and the English tourists, who generally
make their appearance with the cuckoo.

PRESENTATION TO A CAPTAIN.—At the Sailors'
Home, Liverpool, yesterday, the chairman of the Local
Marine Board presented, on behalf the Portuguese Govern-
ment, an elegant tray of solid silver, bearing a suitable
engraved inscription, to Capt. F. Williams, of the screw
steamer Charente, for services rendered about IS months
ago in towing a disabled Portuguese man-of-war to a place
of safety, and reporting the same at Lisbon.
THE HOP CROP IN SUSSEX.—Throughout the
various hop-growing districts in Sussex the mild rains that
have fallen during the past week, followed as they have
been by genial sunshine, have had a very beneficial influence
upon the hop plantations. In a few places the flea had made
its appearance, but the rain has served to clear the plant in
those places where it had been attacked. The bine shoots
out vigorously, and has a very healthy look. The work of
tying is now being actively pushed forward, and it may be
said that everywhere the hop-gardens have a most promis-
ing appearancd.
LAUvr,wr,si,tExTl—Holloway's Ointment.—soundness
renewed.—Any indolent ulcer or chronic Bore should im-
mediately have this excellent unguent applied to it in the
manner pointed out in its accompanying directions. For
thoroughly cleansing a diseased or broken skin, and for
rousing its poisoned vessels or depressed nerves to healthy
' action, nothing can surpass Holloway's • well-known
Ointment. It strikingly shows its power when applied to
the " old man's ulcer" which settles on the leg and often
becomes most intractable under the ordinary treatment,
though no case has yet withstood this cooling and healing
salve. The troublesome swellings preparatory to.
.most
ulcerations of the legs are likewise reduced by the diligent
applications of Holloway's unguent, by gi.vin strength to
the weakened circulation through the capillaries.