The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 12, 1864.

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The City Bank Inquiry,—Examination of
Mr. Alderman Mechi,

- - -

This case, in which Joseph Wakefield Terry and Thos.
Butch, the manager and secretary of the late Unity Bank,
are charged with having knowingly prepared and published
a false statement of tho affairs of the Unity Bank, with in-
tent to deceive and defraud the members and shareholders
of that bank, was on Saturday again resumed at the Man-
sion-house before the Lord Mayor. The defendants having
surrendered to their bail, were accompanied by Detective
Sergeants Moss and Webb, by whom they were apprehended.
Mr Lewis, jun., again appeared to prosecute on the part
of the Committee of Liquidators of the Unity Bank—Mr
Sleigh, instructed by Mr Watson, of Cannon-street, ap-
peared for the defendant Terry—and Mr Metcalfe, in-
structed by Mr Wontner, sen., appeared for Burch. Mr
Humphreys appeared on the part of the directors who had
been sub ()mud to give any information and assistance that
might be required.
The first witness called was Julius Lowenthal!, who said
he was in no business at present, and lived at 15, Bishops-
g de-street, lie was a customer at the Unity Bank, and in
the years 1860 and 1861 his draftson that bank were returned
dishonoured. In k6l an arrangement was made between
him and Mr, Terry with reference to those drafts. 'I he
amount of his liabilities to the bank at that time was from
£6,000 to £7,000, which included contingent liabilities, The
arrangement made was, that the awouut of the dishonoured
bills should be set aside, and that he should continue to pay
10 per cent. on them, and that his bills should be renewed.
Half of the 10 per cent. was to go in reduction of the prin-
cipal, and any other bills that the bank discounted should
pay the s true rate, and be dealt with the same way. He told
Terry if he was pressed he would be obliged to stop. He
wee able to procure renewals from the acceptors, who were
paid only for a short time. Mr Terry told him ho must
have the amounts represented merely for regularity sake,
and that witness must draw on somebody else, and that the
bills would be readily discounted, it did not matter who it
was so that they had his name to them. He told 'ferry he
did not know anyone who ho could draw upon, but be
would ask Mr Irons des, who was not in business at that
time, and who might do so, as he was under obligation to
him but he told Terry it was only to represent the amount,
and for no other purpose. Nothing was said about Mr Iron-
sides' position. Mr Terry knew Ironsides' position. He and
Mr Terry had had conversations in respect to it, and it was
understood that Mr Ironsides was not to be considered liable.
Ironsides at that time was worth nothing. He got Ironsides'
acceptances for about 5,000, which represented the amount of
his dishonoured bills, and these bills were sent to the bank;
witness received back the old bills. He reduced his account
by the 10 per cent. £l,OOO. When the Unity business went
over to the London and Middlesex he had a discount account
with the latter bank. They closed a year after, and he owed
them about £l,OOO. ;It was not the same debt transferred.
He believed after he began to discount at the London and
Middlesex he reduced his debt to the Unity Bank about
£5OO. He paid the money to Mr Terry. He had nut yet paid
any dividend. He was making a proposal of 8d and Pd in the
pound. Ho had been bankrupt since October. The Unity
Bank had received 3s in the pound before ho was bankrupt.
By Mr Sleigh—At the time he paid in the first bills ho
was in a genuine way of business, and the bills were bills
ho had himself received from his customers in the ordinary
course of business. About £7,000 was remaining, and of
that £5,000, or about, was paid. If ho had been pressed at
that time he must have immediately stopped, and he could
not have made any better arrangement for the bank. He
thought it was better for the bank that he should go on
instead of stopping. The dividends paid by the acceptors,
together with his dividend, amounted to more than £1,700.
The dividend of 3s amounted to £7OO.

By Mr Lewis—The 3s in the pound was paid to the
liqudators. Ho considered the bank had received more by
the arrangement than if he had stopped. The Unity liqui-
dators did not make him bankrupt,
Mr Alderman Medhi was then called into the witness-
box, and said his name was John Joseph Mechi. In the
year 1856 he was the chairman of the Unity Bank. He was
governor, and the name was changed to chairman. The first
two years ho received £5OO a year as governor. Ho never
received anything as governor while he was director. He
thought he received something as director since that time,
but he could not say positively. The two defendants were
engaged from the commencement of the bank. Birch was,
he thought, cashier. Mr G, Chambers was at that time
manager to the bank. Testimonials of the very highest cha-
racter were received, and from the first the feeling of the
board towards the defendants was one of great confidence.
Mr Terry had been 17 years in Jones Loyd's, and
Burch for 12 years in the London and Westminster. Mr
Chambers retired in August, 1857. Mr Alderman
Mechi recommended Terry to the directors as manager,
because he thought he was a proper man and he had great
faith in his abilities, and he was appointed manager. The
bank had at that timersustained heavy losses, which were
known to the directors, and caused them to part with Mr
Chambers as an unsuccessful manager. Mr Chambers had
been 28 years with Barnett, Hoare, and Co. At that time
the bank certainly could not pay 205 and return the whole
of the capital, because it was lost, which the shareholders
were perfectly aware of. When it was found that losses
wore made that the directors were not aware of a meeting
was called to investigate the affairs, and the result was the
displacement of Mr Chambers as an inefficient manager.
The bank could pay its deposits, and was solvent as re-
garded its depositors.
Mr Lewis—And was it solvent as regarded its proprie-
tors ?

Mr Alderman Mochi said he considered that if the bank
could pay the depositors it was solvent.

Mr Lewis asked whether ho ever knew a bank that did
not pay its depositors.
Mr Alderman Mechi said he knew several; the Royal
British did not. When Mr Terry was appointed there were
rules made for the management of the bank, and entered in
the minute book. In December, 1860, a sum of £38,000 was
written off as totally lost, after taking counsel's opinion
whether it could be properly done together with the opinion
and consent of the shareholders. Nothing was ever concealed
from or misrepresented to the shareholders by the directors.
The writing off of the sum was approved and confirmed at
a general meeting, and the report of the meeting and what
had been done was taken by a shorthand writer, and sent to
all the shareholders, so that those not present might have
an opportunity of seeing what had been done. The next
balance sheet was on the 29th June, 1861, which showed a
profit of £4,066 2e id, and it was proposed to pay a diTidend

of 12s 64 per share, and the balance to be carried over to
the next half-year.
Mr Lewis asked what means was taken to know that it
was really made.
Mr Alderman Mechi said it was the duty of the manager
and secretary to make, as they were directed, a true valua-
tion of every asset without entering a misrepresentation, and
tho directors believed that was done when that balance-sheet
was presented. Tho directors instructed the defendants to
lay before the auditors who were appointed by the share-
holders the bills and accounts, and all they ought to see,
and keep nothing back, and thought their orders were im.
plicitly obeyed.
Mr Lewis—Did you take any means of obtaining.the list
of the past due bills and debts to the bank ?
. _ _

Mr Alderman Mechisaid there was a book containing the
amount, but that was left entirely to the manager. The di-
rectors know nothing of nine-tenths of the customers per-
sonally, and therefore had to trust entirely to the manager
and secretary as to the means of the customers. The balance
sheet was taken to the directors as a true transcript of the
state of affairs. The regular accounts on various subjects
were laid before the directors every week, but they had no
books laid before them to test the truth of the balance-rheet
It was the duty of the manager to see the accounts werecon-
reot. They took no other means to test the truth of the ba
lance•sheets beyond referring them to the auditors. The
directors did not interfere with the books in making out the
balance-sheet.

By the Lord Mayor—The balance-sheet was taken from
y without making any inquiry,
btheeliemvainngagitertoanbd a
be
correct.secret
Mr Lewis—Between the balance-sheet of June, 1861, and
thzt of June, 1862, did you believe the bank to have improved
in condition ?

Mr Alderman Mechi said be believed just what was stated
in the balance-sheet and report. The balance-sheet of June,
1862, showed a profit of. £3,215, He thought that was a cor-
rect statement of the iice.Zrautv, .4(1 hut no ickurittlhattima

tn. yaws. was m ail:acuities. The balance-sheet was handed
to the directors as it appeared in the minute book, which
was the same as the one which was published, and having
full confidence in the defendants, no steps whatever were
taken to ascertain its authenticity. The only balance-sheet
ho saw was a copy of the one circulated among the share-
holders. The manuscript balance-sheet in Burch's hand-
writing was the one produced to him.
Mr Lewis produced another balance-sheet in manuscript,
which had been before produced, and which contained the
items which were contained in the gross in the one in cit.-

culation.
Mr Alderman Mechi said that was also in Burch's
writing, but he had never seen it before. At the time the
balance-sheet was presented he had no knowledge that it
was not accurate. The direction to the defendants was
imperative to give a true statement. He had at that time
no knowledge of the state of the bank as it has since been
discovered. That was the last balance-sheet which was
presented. The bank shortly after amalgamated. He did
not know the real state of affairs until about 12 months after.
Mr Alderman Mechi volunteered the statement that he held
535 shares, which was more than one-sixth of the capital.
All his brother directors were very large holders, and his
loss was excessively heavy. A great portion of those shares
were purchased by him for the benefit of the bank at a criti •
cal period of its existence. At the time of the failure of the
Royal British Bank there was a run on tho Unity. He bought
his shares at the price they were worth by the books to give
the shareholders confidence. Ho stated that ho took a loan
from the bank to purchase the shares, and gave ample secua
rity, in addition to all the shares, and told the shareholders
at the next meeting all the circumstances, and received the
thanks of the directors, At that time he little know what
the bank would coma to. Ho had lost £lB,OOO by the bank.
In answer to Mr Lewis, Mr Alderman Mechi said he
never was aware that Terry had given Bunyard a discharge
of his debt in Dec., 1861.. On the 81st Dec., 1861, he was
present at a board meeting. There was no entry in the
minute book on that date of a loan to Bunyard. Ho was
present and signed the minutes, and he did not on that day
sanction a loan to Bunyard. There were two loans granted
on that day. He could not recollect what the custom was
with regard to a renewal of a loan. Ho thought if it were
the renewal of a loan it ought to have been placed before
them. Bunyard's account was one which he had cautioned
Mr Terry continually about, and he was always assured
there was ample security. Upon referring to the books Mr
Alderman Mechi said if it had been a renewal of a loan it
ought to have been brought before the directors. He had
knowledge of the assignment of JabEz H. Wood, or of the
assignment and release of Perle for £5OO. Perle's was an
account upon which they had cautioned the defendant Terry,
as it was au account which, with Bunyard and Lowenthal],
was a source of anxiety; and Terry continually assured them
they were good accounts, and with regard to Perle, Terry
assured him he was a good customer. He would say, how-
ever, in justice to Mr Terry, that he had told him that
Perle's stock had been sold off at a great sacrifice, and he
had become bankrupt, and he thought ho would pay 12s Gd
in the pound.
The Lord Mayor asked how much had been paid.
Mr Aldet man Mechi said he thought is.

By Mr Lewis—Low`enthairs was another account which
caused the bank much anxiety, and upon which the directors
ccntinually cautioned the defendants. He had no idea that
Ironsidcs' acceptances had been substituted for other bills
that were worthless. Ho had no knowledge that Ironsidcs'
bills were struck out of the books to avoid presentation.
The Lord Mayor (to Mr Alderman Mechi)—You appear
to have found capital for your customers, instead of them
supplying you. (Laughter.)
Examination continued—Hall's account was also one
upon which Terry was continually cautioned, and he spoke
to Terry from time to time about these bills.
Mr Lewis--Had you any knowledge that forged bills and
bits that had been dishonoured years and years before formed
£207,000, represented as the good
assetsofof
thean
Mr Alderman Mechi said he had not the slightest sus-
picion
of such a thing. There was a book called the cash
portions theb itkerr of
article book which ought to contain bills and cheques that
were in transit, or wero too late for clearing, and cheques
that were in suspense for a few days. It was the duty of
the secretary to read over the items each week to the direc-
tors at the board meeting.
_ _

--
Mr Lewis drew the Alderman's attention to a cheque of
Stevens for £1,095, which appeared daily in that book for
12 months.

Mr Alderman Mechi said that item had not been read to
the directors. It might have escaped the notice of the di-
rectors as a cheque, but Lot for a twelvemonth; it was
against all the rules of the bank. The first time he saw the
entry was when Mr Howell pointed it out to him. When
he saw the item in the balance-sheet of £38,000 as cash in
hand, ho had no knowledge that it contained other than
cash articles. lie had no idea that it contained 416,000
thus made up of past due bills. He could never have ima-
gined or suspected such a thing. An order to make a state-
inn t
f
bad, and doubtful was given, but ho
not
esbayts,togowo,
hdomit
Was
given. He remembered such
a book was prepared. lair Alderman Meehi hero observed
that had he known the true state of affairs he should have
wound up the bank or dismissed the manager before. In
conclusion of his evidence, the alderman said the book pro-
duced was one that was prepared. It was from no authority
couldstate-
mento debts,
from him that the dobt of 13unyard did not appear in it in
the fist of debts, nor did he give any authority to omit the
debt of Sterne or that of Lowenthall. They ought all to
have been entered in the book. Debts of Harris and J. B.
Wood wore also omitted without the authority of him or the
other directors. Ho was present at a meeting of liquidators
at which the resolution to prosecute the defendants was
passed, and he and all the directors who were present re-
frained from voting.

By Mr Sleigh—The directors gave it to be understood
that they took no part in it. With regard to bad debts, he
believed that Terry was really in some cases deceived. He
believed, with regard to Bunyard's and some of the 'other
debts, he had been deceived in the value of the security and
had made an error of judgment. The directors knew of the
existence of the debts, and when the business of the bank
went over the directors believed the amounts were paid.
They knew Perle had failed. He did not know at the time
that Lowenthal' and the others who had been mentioned
had failed. The cash books and other books were laid on
the table at the meetings. The loan book was always pro-
duced before the committee. A weekly report was made to
the directors of the state of the bank. All the letters that
came in and all that went out were examined. The makiag
loans, the security to be taken, the discounting of the bills,
were all discussed by the board. The bills for discount
were brought before them. The past due bills ought to
have been brought before the board, but there were some
that were not. If the past due bills had been brought be-
fore them they would not have continued to sanction the
discount of fresh bills of the same persons.
The case was then again adjourned, and the defendants
were again admitted to bail.

An important ease was tried in the Court of Ex-
chequer on Friday. An attorney, named James,
sued the Oriental Financial Corporation for £loo. under the
following circumstances :—The prospectus of the company
stated that the capital would be a million, divided into
20,000 shares of £5O each. Applicants for shares were to
pay £1 per share in sending in their application, and £1 per
share on allotment. Mr James applied for 100 shares, and
deposited with the company's bankers £lOO. He had
65 shares allotted to him, making the balance due from
him £225. He was advised of the allotment, and informed
that if he did not pay the £225 by a certain day the £lOO
he had deposited would be forfeited. He took no notice of
this letter, nor of several others Which followed. At last
he was informed that the £lOO was forfeited. He then sued
the company for the £lOO, contending that in the form of
his application there was no stipulation as to forfeiture. At
the suggestion of the judge yesterday the case went to the
jury, who found a verdict for the company, thus deigning
that the £lOO was forfeited,

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)

When, nearly a month ago,Alr Seward announced
to his astonished countrymen the existence of a plot
concocted by Southern refugees in Canada to burn
to the ground the principal cities of the North on the
night of the Presidential election, the revelation was
received with a burst of derision. One-half of the
public considered the Secretary either to be in dis.
creet in making such a statement, or foolishly cre-
dulous in believing it—while the other half, more
complimentary to his savoir faire was of opinion
t hat he had either invented the report or given it au-
thoritative currency, as a pretext for the appoint-
ment of General Butler to the military command of
New York. It appears that on Friday rooms were
taken in 16 of the New York hotels by 16 mysterious
strangers, none of whom had more luggage than was
contained in a small bag carried in the hand—that
the 16 strangers, having obtained possession, piled
the bedding en chairs and tables, placed a bottle of
phosphorus, and in some cases of turpentine under-
neath, ignited a match, set fire to the clothes,which
were previously saturated with the turpentine, or
some other liquid; locked the doors, and then with-
drew, to be seen no more. Some of these persons
are said to have been dressed in the uniform of offi-
cers in the Federal army, the better to avoid sus•
picion. A very singular part of the business is, that
not one of these 16 attempts was successful; that
the fire so kindled created much smoke, but no flame,
and that it was in every instance extinguished wish

and breakage. The circumstances are certainly re-
markable, and now that the first alarm has begun
to subside, the invention of the people has gone
busily to work to account for them. Some believe,
and these form by far the largest number, that the
16 conspirators, if there were so many, were
Southern agents. Others contend that they were
thieves, who intended to create such confusion, by
the simultaneous outbreak of so many conflagrations,
as to leave ampler scope for professional plunder
than was ever enjoyed by the fraternity in any city
of the world. A third section of observers—so
cynical is the spirit of the time and people—assert
that it was never intended to set fire to the city, or
to the hotels ; that the beds and bedding were
saturated with a solution of sulphate of soda, which
rendered them uninflammable, though not incom-
bustible; that the object was to alarm the people
for the safety of their lives and property, and to
take advantage of the public terror to reinstate
General Butler, as military Dictator, if not to
" fire the Northern heart" to such a pitch of fury
against the South as to render a conscription nee
necessary. There are others, again, who know
not what to believe, who have formed no theory to
explain the mystery, but who, in default of any
other okject on which to veht their ill will, fall
foul of Mr Seward, and declare that his announce.
wont first pat the idea into the heads of the con-
spirators, whoever they may have been, and that if
it had rot been for his over-zealous babbling, no
such wicked act would have recommended itself to
any one out of Bedlam. But these latter critics do
Mr Seward injustice. The idea did not originate
with him, but in a Richmond newspaper, edited by
John Mitchell, the Irish exile, which, before Mr
Seward said a word upon the subject, openly advo-
cated the incendiarism of New York and Boston, in
retaliation for the devastation of the Shenandoah
Valley by General Sheridan. Several arrests ofsus-
pected persons have been made, but as yet there
seems, in spite of the mysteriously suggestive an-
nouncements of the police that they are on the right
treck, to be little reason to believe that there is bet-
ter foundation for these captures than the indiscreet
expression of sympathy with the Southern cause on
the part of the supposed culprits. It is urged by
many, who do not believe that the Confederate Go..
vernment would disgrace itself by employing its sol-
diers in the commission of acts so horrible, that the
suggestion of the Richmond journal, in conscquence
of the additional publicity given to it by Mr Seward,
may have fallen upon minds but too well "prepared
•tu receive it, and been readily caught at by natives
or citizens of the Southern and Border States who
have been driven from their homes and reduced to
poverty and desperation by the merciless tyranny of
such men as Generals Payne, Burbridge, and M'Neil.
Many of these have taken refuge, under assumed
names, in the Northern cities. The Canadian fron•
tier, north of the Great Lakes and the St. Law-
rence, is filled with the exiles and victims of the
war—men who make no secret of their wish to
bring home to the Northern people in their own per.
sons the miseries which they inflict upon the South ;
men who are goaded into violence by a sense of
wrong. who sot little value upon their own lives,
who think the end justifies the means, and who do
not see why Northern women and children, who
may be personally innocent of all blame for the
war which their husbands and fathers are waging
against the South, should not be made to suffer as
much as the equally innocent women and children
of the Southern and Border States. The 24 raiders
who, under Lieutenant Bennett Young, of the Con-
federate Service, invaded Vermont and plundered
the Banks of St. Albans, openly justified their reek-.
lessness before the courts of judicature at Montreal,
and showed by their whole behaviour of what
daring material the Southern armies are composed.
The same sort of men may have been engaged in
the attempt to burn down this city, and may
attempt the same flagitious mode of warfare in
Boston, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, if the civil
authorities do not exercise unusual caution ; but it
is not likely that they were or will be employed by
the Confederate Government, which has everything
to lose in character and nothing to gain in mate.
rial advantage by a resort to agencies so odious,
for purposes so abominable. It is also contended by
those who reject the idea that the conspiracy was
abetted by the Southern authorities that the burn•
ing of all the hotels in New York, or even of half
the public and private buildings of the city, would
have inflicted little or no damage upon the Federal
Government ; and that supposing a scheme of
wholesale incendiarism to have been for the interest
of the South, the public arsenals, the bonded ware-
house, and the navy yards of Brooklyn or Wash-
ington would not only have been more easily fired
than those private establishments, but that their
loss would have been a far more serious calamity to
the Northern people than the destruction of a city.

But if there be one thing more than another
that tends to direct suspicion from reckless
and unauthorised Confederates, as well as from
the professional plunderers of the city, and direct it
towards the party which desires to find or make a
pretext for declaring martial law in New York, it
may be found in the indecent eagerness with which
the Republican journals urge upon the Government
the duty of re-appointing General Butler to com-
mand, not in obedience to, but in suppression of
General Dir. " Does any one suppose," asks the
Tribune of yesterday, that if General Butler had re-
mained here these rebels would have remained ?
Or does any one now fail to see that Butler's
presence for a time frustrated for a time this
scheme, which on his departure these rebels at.
tempted to carry through ? And although the
attempt miscarried—though no real mischief wes
done—though the ordinary police and fire agencies
were more than sufficient to meet the emergency—
the Tribune clamours fir martial law. "The power
of the police," it adds, "is limited ; that of martial
law is unrestrained. In our judgment the activity
of each ought to be commensurate with its power;
and New York ought to be in the future not the
easy refuge and unmolested home of traitor emi.
grants from the South, or traitor sympathisers from
the North, but ought to be secure as the home of
loyalists and the metropolis of the country. It can
be neither if the present state of things is suffered
to continue." In other words, although the results
of the attempted ineendiarism—if the attempt were
L real, and not, as the Americans would soy—bogus,

PRICE ..ld
STAMPED ....5d

were that the police and fire departments were
wholly adequate to the extraordinary work so
unexpectedly thrown upon them, nothing will
satisfy the " loyal" men for whom the Tribune
undertakes to speak but Butler and marti 11
law to punish people for the crime of sym-
pathy, and to exercise "unrestrained power"
with an activity commensurate alike with
its unrestraint and its enormity.

New York has been so wholly engrossed with this
new sensation as almost to have forgotten that Gao.
Sherman, whom it is the present fashion to place
above Grant and all the other Generals whom merit or
favour has brought to the Surface, is engaged i❑ one
of the most daring as well as most perilous move*
ments that a General can make, The mystery that
has attended his progress is removed. Foiled
by General Hood, and unable to retain his hold
upon Atlanta, he has made a virtue of necessity,
and commenced a rapid march through the enemy's
country, burning and destroying all before him,
in hopes to reach the sea, either at Savannah or
Charleston, or some such other point on the Geor-
gian or South 'Carolinian coast as circumstances
may recommend, and whither a large Federal fleet
may easily proceed to receive him with supplies
and reinforcements. The march will be of 350
miles, if successfully accomplished; and if he make
a new base for himself on the sea-board, in exchange
for his abandoned inland base at Chattanooga, he
will have achieved a work that will entitle him to
rank as the boldest, the -ablest, and most fortunate
commander whom the war has produced. It
ltaael-crty)Mtra that the. a bau don meat ofathe -grturd
attack which was to have been made upon Wil-
mington, prior to the day of election, was caused by
the necessities of General Sherman—that, having
made up his mind to retreat through Georgia, as
his only chance of escape from annihilation or forced
surrender, he communicated his plans to Wash-
ington, and requested the co-operation of Admiral
Porter's fleet, to be within easy distance of such
place or city on the coast as he might succeed
in reaching. Sherman is now completely out off
from the North and from communication with his
own Government, consequently the only news of
his movements is derived from Southern sources.
But, as the Southern journals have been requested or
forbidden to give information through their columns
that may be of advantage to the Northern Generals
and Government, it is probable that little or nothing
will be heard of Sherman—until the North has to
announce his triumph or the South his defeat. A
levee en masse or landsturnt of the Georgians has
been ordered to impede his progress, to harass him
in front,rear, and either flank,while General Beauree
gard is preparing to contest his advance by more
soientifie and perhaps more successful means.
General Thomas, whom he left behind either to
guard Chattanooga, or to assume such other position
as would most assuredly hold General Hood in
check, has, it would appear, found himself out.
numbered—if not out-generalled—and will either
have to give or accept battle for the possession of
the city of Nashville and of Western Tennessee.
Thus the whole interest of the war settles for the
time in the armies of Sherman and Thomas; while
Grant and Sheridan remain inactive—too much
dependent upon the results else where to risk any
independent movement of their own.
I think I ventured a fortnight ago to predict that,
come what might, the Confederate war ship Florida,
piratically sized in the harbour of Bahia, would
never be surrendered to the demands of Brazil, or
any other Power ; and that if the Federal Govern-
ment were compelled to apologise to Brazil, and
otherwise to make reparation and the antende hon-
orable, means would be inventid to render it
im-
possible to give up the ship. Toe prediction bus
been verifi.d. The E geney I supposed was that of
accidental fire. In this reap! et I was wrong. Tee
Florida has been accidentally run into by a Federal
transport, under heavy pressure of steam, and
sunk in nine fathoms of water. The accident wnl
impose upon no one. Whether it will tend to
exalt the character of the At people or that
of their Government in thns.';estimt ion of the, world
is a matter in which the majority of the Amer icons
will give themselves no concern. It is a " smart
Yankee trick," and in a country where smartness
ranks among the virtues the captain of the clumsy
but effective transport which did the grateful miss
chief will doubtless expect to share the applause
which has already been bestowed upon Capt. Collins
of the Wachusetts, and to be entertained at a public
dinner by the solid men of Boston and the solider
men of New York. There is but small likelihood
that ho R i.l be disappointed.

An elementary course of experiments was com-
menced last week in the factory department of 'Wool-
wich dockyard, with a view of testing the capacity of
petroleum to supersede coal and other fuel on ship
board, also in propelling steam machinery in the fac-
tories. The method adopted is totally distinct from
that attempted some time ago in the United States of
America, and is the patented invention of Mr C.
Y. Richardson, an engineer resicEng at Kensington.
He has submitted his plans to the Lords of the
Admiralty, and has obtained permission to carry
out his suggestion for the benefit of her Majesty's
service. The method is exceedingly simple, and, as
stated by Mr Richardson during the trials it origi•
nated mainly from some comments on the subject
contained in an article which appeared in the limes
on the 7th of April last. If the experiments
should prove successful there is no doubt a recon-
struction of the navy will be the result, as an enor-
mous economy will be obtained both in the cost of
fuel and in the saving of the immense space now
occupied by the coal bunkers to be applied to other
purposes. The plan under trial is simply to burn
the petroleum through a porous material, which is
placed in an iron chamber, dipped into a water
vessel also of iron. The oil admitted into the
chamber soddens the porous material, and rises by
a sort of capillary attraction. The surface then
catches fire and burns rapidly as long as the oil is
supplied. The affect of the flame is so great that
with the small apparatus, which is only two feet
superficial, and affixed to a boiler, the oil on Satur-
day was utilised so as to be equal for steam pur-
poses to five tons of coals. A third advantage is ob-
tained by the employment of the petroleum,viz., that
no stokers are needed, and the boilers can be supplied
with several fires one above another. The small
grate used in the experiments was placed under a
boiler on 17-horse power, and in two hours it raised
the steam to 101 b pressure. The only objection
seems to be the fear of explosive qualities, but
these Mr Richardson states he is prepared to guard
against effectually.
ABSURD PoRTRAITs.—There are as much indivi-
duality and character in the human figure, as in the
human face. Every one has some slight peculiarity of ges-
ture and carriage of body, as lie has idiosynoracy of mind.
Assuming this to be so, with how much more character is
a portrait in some accustomed position endowed than if re-
presented in one to which he was unaccustomed. A right
rev. prelate, engaged iu the manipulation of three little
thimbles and a small pea, or a blind man looking through a
stereoscope. would scarcely be in harmony; yet photographs
are frequently pet petrated in which ladies and gentlemen
are represented it.: positions, and engaged in c.thPl°Yffient't
equally as foreign to those in which their friends usually
see them. The conventional pillar and curtain are becoming
intolerable. The conventional Smith or rPprcsentetive
Jones, attired in his habit as lie lives (say the guinea
paletot and the 16s. trousers), seldom has the opportunity
of testing his elbow on the base of a fluted column ; ithe:r
is he often interrupted in the study of his favourite author
(one finger between the leaves of the book) seated in a lady's
boudoir, radiant with bouquets and toilet bottles, nor with
a mass of unmeaning drapery mixed up with his hair, like
the hood of an excited cobra, When two or more persons
are token in one picture, it is no uncommon thing to see
them standing without any connection whatever with each
other, as isolated and independent as the statuettes on
the board of an Italian image-man; cr else, as if desir-
ous of emulating the silver bells and cockle-shells of per-
verse Mary, celebrated in the nursery ballad—all in a row.
—Dickens's All the Year ,INolq."