The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDAESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 6, 1864.

WHERE CAN WE MEEr AF ;ER THE
PANTOMIMES ? My dear Fellow, Gentlemen sup
at EVANS', Covent-garden.

KINAHAN'S LL WHISKY v. COGNAC,
BRANDY.
This celebrated Old IRISH WHISKY rivals the finest
FRENCH BRANDY,
It i Pu e, Mild, Mellow, Delicious, and very Wholesome.
Sold in Bottles, 3s. Bd., at the Retail Houses in London; by
the Agents in the principal towns in England; or wholesale
at

8, GREAT WINDMILL-STREET. W.
Observe the Red Seal, Pink Label, and Cork branded
"Kinahan's LL Whisky."

MEW, WELLINGTON THREE SHILLING
JL DINNER, consisting ef Soup, Fish, Made Dish, Joint,
Sweet, Am. is served daily from 3 to 9 p.m., and on Sunday
from 5 to half-past 8 p.m.

JOHN CATES, Manager.
The Wellington, St. James's-street.
Entrance, 160, Piccadilly.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.
The iron steam floating factory ship Chasseur, 543 tans,
attached to the steam reserve squadron in the Medway, is
ordered to be removed to Chatham harbour, where its ser-
vices are required.
Instructions have been received at Chatham for the iron
frigate Achilles, 1,250 horse power, to be brought forward
with all despatch, and fitted for the first division of the
steam reserve, in readiness for immediate commission.
A. serious accident occurred on board the iron frigate
Achilles, at Chatham, on Monday evening, by which a me-
chanic employed on board that vessel named Simon Sher-
wood was killed, and another man seriously injured. Since
the Achilles has
~,heen removed from Chatham dockyard
down.the harbaniithits been 6amiiiiryr—f& the workmen
employed on board to be conveyed from the vessel to the
dockyard every evening in three vessels ampllyed exclu-
sively in that duty. On Monday evening at dusk the work-
men were preparing to leave the vessel, and were covering
over the openings from the upper deck into tho hold with
tarpaulin and planks, when from some cause which does
not appear easy of explanation one of the heavy planks was
improperly secured, and before the men had left the vessel
it fell trom the deck to the bottom of the frigate., striking in

its descent the deceased and a negro named Campbell, also
employed on board, both of whom were preparing to leave
work. The plank also slightly injured some of the other
workmen, who were crowding up from below, but the chiet
injuries were inflicted on Sherwood and Campbell. Both of
the sufferers were immediately placed on board a steamer
and conveyed to the dockyard, from which they were con-
veyed to Melville Hospital, but Sherwood died almost imme-
diately atter his admission, his head having been seriously
injured. The wounds sustained by Campbell were a com-
pound fracture of one of the legs, which yesterday rendered
an amputation of the limb necessary. A day or two previ
eusly a fatal accident occurred on board the same vessel to a
workmen named Monk, who overbalanced himself as he was
in the act of taking off his coat to commence work, and was
precipitated to the bottom of the vessel. A third accident
betel a lad named Caddy, working on board, on Monday,
who received concussion of the brain from a fall, and is not
exprcted to survive.
Capt. G. W. Preedy, C. 8., whose last commands were
her Majesty's ships Agamemnon and Liffey, is spoken of as
the officer selected by the Admiralty to command the iron
frigate Hector, at Portsmouth, ordered for immediate com-
mission. Commander Thompson, lately serving as senior
lieutenant on board the iron frigate Defence, is named as
her commander. Yesterday the shipwrights removed their
tool chests, &c., from the Hector to the dockyard jetty, in
order to clear the ship up for commission and enable the
officials to obtain her present exact draught of water, &c.
it is believed that on her final trial of speed, when commis-
sioned, the ship's ventilation below will be found of a less
unsatisfactory nature than was experienced on her two days'
trials on the 23d and 24th of December. On those days
there was a large number of shipwrights and other mecha-
nics employed on board, and some of the hatchways may
have been partially covered with their gratings and the
men's tools. If this was the case it must of course have
produced unfavourable results upon the ventilation of the
ship's compartments below. With the ship in commission
none of these drawbacks will be allowed to exist, and there-
fore during the forthcoming final trial of the ship at the

" mile" the temperature of the engine room and stokehole
will be taken under what must be considered the most fa-
vourable circumstances. The weight of the ship was un-
dergoing alteration,
The Lyra, 9 gun screw sloop, of 60 horse pOwer, Comman-
der Robert A. Parr, was swung yesterday in Portsmouth
harbour, preparatory to going out to Spithead and complet-
ing stores and ammunition for foreign service. Mr. Henry
J. Ray, from the office of the commander in-chief at Ports-
mouth, has joined the Lyra as paymaster.

The Orontes, screw troopship, of 500 horse power, Capt.
H. W. Hire, refuting at Portsmouth, is ordered to be ready
for sea by the 19th inst. Her first service will, it is said, be
in the Mediterranean and West Indies.

The Adventure, screw troopship, of 400-horse power,
Commander C. T. Curme, is nearly complete in her repairs
in the Warrior dock at Portsmouth. When ready for sea
she will be despatched to the Mediterranean.
Her Majesty's screw yacht Fairy was uudocked from No.
1 duck at Portsmouth yesterday, after making good some
defects in one of her bottom plates.
The Octavia, screw frigate, one of three converted sailing
trigatee fitted with machinery built by three different makers
to fulfil certain peculiar conditions, is rapidly proceeding in
her outfit by the master shipwright's department in No. 4
dock at Portsmouth, and will be shortly taken in hand by
the other departments of the yard to carry out their share of
the work.
The Sparrowhawk, screw gun vessel,of 676 tons and 200-

horse power, is lying in the adjoining dock waiting similar
preparations for commission, and the Bulldog, 6, paddle, of
1,124 tons and 500-horse, is all but completed by the re-
spective departments in the steam basin. She is still,how-
ever, in the hands of the shipwright department, owing to
an oversight (to use a mild term) on the part of some depart-
ment at Portsmouth or at the Admiralty. During the past
tw,) or three yeare a good deal has bean said and written
relative to national and private dockyards. It is admitted
that evils do exist in our public yards, as, indeed, is certain
to be the case in a greater or less degree in all such large
establishments whether they be public or private—but the
apologists of our present public establishments maintain
that the evils existing in them have been unjustly exagge-
rated, and that private yards do not possess that degree of
superiority either in system or workmanship over our pub-
lie yard that it is to the interest of many persons to lead the
public to suppose really exists. For any one to assert that
the work done in private yards is superior in finish and
value to that turned out of hand in publie yards would be
simply putting forward a statement that probably very few
impartial persons would agree with. When it is stated,
however, that the " system" of one is very much supe-
rior to the other, then it will be met with general
[ belief, and the three vessels named—the Octavia,
the Sparrowhawk, and Bulldog are instances in point. The
repairs of the two first named are taken in hand by the
shipwright department, which has a certain amount of
work to perform, bat this work is not done conjointly with
the other "departments," each working independently of
the other. The result is that the " gunnery," or any other
department which may follow the shipwrights'. undoes a
portion of the work already done, so that in fact the work
on board each ship is done over and over again at increased
cost and waste each time. The Bulldog exhibits a fault in
the system for which most probably the Admiralty are
responsible. In the early part of November last application
was made for an official order to alter her forecastle gun-
ports for the Armstrong pivot gun, with which she was
ordered to be fitted. No order was received for some time,
and the shipwrights therefore completed the ports on the
old-fashioned enlarged style. An order has now been re-
ceived, and the ports are now being "contracted" to
the Armstrong size. When these three vessels are com-
pleted and commissioned their captains will then have the
power to commence any alterations their fancies may create,
and more money will be expended. The most simple remedy
for such a state of things would be to centralize the power
over each of these dockyard " departments" in the Admiral
or Captain-Superintendent of the yard, giving him a second
superintendent, for one must devote his time to the desk
alone. This would be investing the Superintendent with a
power in his own dockyard nearly similar to that possessed
in general by the French Minister of Marine ; but to effect
such an improvementin our dockyards a Minister of Marine
must preside at the Admiralty. The Admiral and Captain-
Superintendents in charge of our dockyards have no power
whatever invested in them to restore or create order out of
the existing chaos.
A letter received at Plymouth from the iron screw steam-
ship Black Prince, 41, Capt. James F. B. Wainwright,
states that she left the Sound at '4
p.m. on the 15th of
December, and after a splendid run out under squared
yards, using steam only on departure and arrival, they
anchored at Funchal roads about 4 p.m. on the Tuesday
following—the 22d. Having at that time scarlatina on
board, the Buick Prince was sent again to sea, and went 20
miles south of the island, and there remained. The two
slight cases they had soon became convalescent, and the
ship returned on the 26[1]. to Funchal, but did not receive
pratique immediately. The Edgar, Warrior, Black Prince,
and other ships attached to the Channel squadron ex-
pected to leave Madeira on Wednesday, the 30th, for
eneriffe.
The paddlewheel steam surveying sloop Hecate, 6, Capt.
Richards, just returned from the Pacific station, left Ply-
mouth yesterday morning for Woolwich, where her crew
will be paid off.
The screw steamship Royal George, 78, was removed y es-
;.•,e,y free; the .;,:eeLej, Oiyiejk.!l ot the ft.`o.4u.zllecrie irk 111,-

moaze to the sheer-hulk to be fitted for coast service. It
is reported at Plymouth that all the coast ships are to be
relieved this year. The screw steamships Lion, 68, and
Brunswick, 68, are to be brought forward with all despatch.
A number of artisans were entered Ur limited service at
the Devonport dockyard on Saturday, anet further entries
are to be made,
In accordance with directions received yesterday at the
head-quarters of the Chatham division of Royal Marines
Light Infantry from the Admiralty the members of the
general court-martial which assembled some time since at
Chatham for the trial of Mr. M. M. Magrath, 8.A., assist.-
surg., Royal Marines, on a charge of having, between the
Ist of October and on the 20th of November, 1863, drunk
intoxicating liquors to such an extent as to incapacitate
him for the performance of his duties, reassembled in the
mess-room at the Royal Marine barracks, under the presi-
dency of Col. W. H. March, for the purpose of revising
their proceedings, the decision of the Court not being
deemed satisfactory to the Lords of the Admiralty.
The following appointments were made yesterday at
the Admiralty :—Captain. G. W. Preedy, C. 8., to the
Victory, additional, for service with the Hector; Robert
L. Cleveland, master, to the Wellesley, for the Achilles ;
G. F. Banks, surgeon, to the Rattlesnake; Dr. E. Dunn,
assist.-surgeon, to the Indus; Charles Morton, assist.-
surgeon, to the Dasher ; Charles J Martin, supernumerary
in the Asia, confirmed as engineer; Alexander F. M Intyre,
supernumerary in the Cumberland, confirmed as first-class
assist.-engineer; and James M`Glashan assist.-engineer to
the Royal Oak.
•

cious burglary, and the proof of his having committed
another burglary in the same neighbourhood was foun3
upon him; nevertheless, the judge thougb.t it unnecessary
to continue the prosecution for the second offence, and sen-
tenced him for the first to nine months' imprisonment, if
this was the sort of sentence to be passed, it seemed to him
that it mattered very little what sort of labour they gave in
the gaol. Cases of arson were reported to be very rife in
Yorkshire, and the judges awaried three years' penal ser-
vitude for a crime which a few years ago was a capital one.
In one remarkable case that had been tried during the last
winter assize, the judge in passing sentence said he believed
the punishment was inadequate to the crime, bur, as he had
begun the circuit by passing the same sentence for arson he
could not alter it. He did not think anything could be done
in the way of prison discipline as long as this encourage-
ment was given by the judges to crime. (Hear, hear.)
Earl DUDLEY said he could not hold out any hope that
the Government would do anything in the matter. He be-
lieved that Government would not touch the matter at all ;
and that if anything was to be done it must be done by in-
dividual zeal. Taking it for granted that he was right in
assuming that Government would leave legislation on the
subject to individual members of Parliament, then it came
to this—What was the opinion of that Court? He did not
think that any one would profess to discontinue the system
of industrial occupation of prisoners altogether in the gaols;
but he must say that they had gone from the one extreme
—the treadmill—to the opposite. They had got the plan
of introducing industrial employment in the gaols, by
which they afforded the prisoners the means of earning
their bread when they left the prison. But mat-making,
as described by Sir J. Pakington, was not hard labour ; and
as to the hardship of the treadwheel, he would remark that
that depended a good deal upon the previous lives of the
convicts. If a man were strong of limb, and used to the
open air, he would-prefer the treadmill to the solitary mat-
making in a cell; but if they had a prisoner from the Kid-
derminster looms, or from other indoor occupations, they
made the treadmills most punitive. There was this to be
said in favour of industrial employment, that if there was a
spark of a chance of reform in the criminal they gave him
the chance of going out of prison a better man than he en-
tered it ; but in doing this they lost sight of the terms of his
sentence—" hard labour." They then must remember they
could not get hard labour out of an unwilling prisoner in a
cell ; they could only stop his supper. But on the tread-
wheel they got it out of them by force ; and then they got,
what Leicester Gaol had the repute of being, a " hell upon
earth" for the prisoners. To meet the objection against
ten hours' bed for the prisoners they must introduce gas
into the cells, and continue work two hours longer. This
would do away with the great irksomeness of solitary con-
finement, which was a very great punishment to a great
many prisoners,
Sir J. PAKINGTON desired to explain that he had no wish
to abandon the reformatory or industrial system, but wished
that they should not fly into the opposite extreme, which
rendered imprisonment no punishment at all. He thanked
Mr. Curtler for speaking out so boldly in regard to the sen-
tences passed by the judges. He believed one of the most
important points in connection with the great question of
the administration of the criminal law was the injudicious
leniency of the judges. (Hear.) He would not shrink from
adding to what had been said by Mr. Curtler, that it was
the general opinion of the Royal Commission on Penal
Servitude, of which he (Sir John) was a member, that the
injudicious leniency of the judges of late years had produced
a great increase of crime. (Hear, hear.)
The subject then dropped.