The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-23 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The 'Warrior, iron frigate, Capt. the Hon, A. A.
Cochrane, C. 8., was yesterday paid out of commis.
sion at Portsmouth, under the superintendence of
Rear-Admiral S. C. Dacres, C,8., the flag officer in
command of the Channel squadron. The arrange-
ments were most admirable, and the whole process
of paying the ship's company occupied but one hour
and ten minutes. William Percival, chief captain
of the forecastle, received the medal awarded by the
Admiralty for good service with a gratuity of £l5.
Robert Bone, coxswain of the launch, received
the good service medal and a gratuity of £7,
and was awarded a pension of £24 per annum on
the completion of full sea time. John Tozer, guars
termaster, was also awarded a pension of £24 per
annum on his completion of full sea time. It is a
credit to the paymaster's department of the Warrior
that her pay-books were returned from the Admi-
ralty with only an error of 25., the accounts ex-
tending over the whole period of the ship's commis-
sion, and including the accounts of discharged men,
stoppages, &c. During the term of the ship's com-
mission, something like the average number of
accidents have occurred on board. One seamen fell
from the maintop and broke both his thighs ; an-
other was knocked down in coaling ship and broke
his leg and collar bone, and another fell from the
topgallant yard, All these men have been thrown,
by these accidents in the service of their country,
from vigorous manhood into crippled helplessness
for all their future life; but their country provides
no adequate remedy for such a change, and the poor
fellows have only a prospect of ending their days in
dependence upon the charities of their fellowmen,
a burden to themselves and to all around them.
With true generosity which, however, can only meet
present necessities, the crew of the 'Warrior yester-
day, on receiving their pay, deposited each a trifle
for their three unfortunate shipmates, and in this
way the sum of £5O 63. lid. was unostentatiously
subscribed. With regard to the condition of the
ship and her engines, so far as relates to their care
and charge by the ship's officers, the dockyard
officials report that no ship that has yet been handed
over to them by her officers on being put out of
commission has yet reached the perfection in cleanli-
ness and general condition of the Warrior in her
hull internally and in her engines. The progress of
the dockyard officials in their inspection of the ship
led them into some of the secluded cellular com-
partments below, which had never been previously
seen thoroughly since they were riveted in their
present form. This not only gave the officials an
opportunity of observing the ship's cleanliness in
these out-of-the-way nooks, as well as in the more
frequented parts below, but it also gave them an op-
portunity of fully inspecting the ship in her weakest
parts, and the result was entirely favourable.

The Victoria, wooden three decker; 121 guns,
Capt. James J. Goodenough, made her official trial
of speed at the measured mile in Stokes Bay, near
Portsmouth, on Monday. Her draught of water was
24ft 7in forward, and 27ft 10in aft. With four runs
at the mile, with full boiler-power, she averaged a
speed of 12.271 knots, and with two runs at half-
boiler power she averaged a speed of 9 688 knots.
This rate of speed is no great accomplishment, con-
sidering that the ship is driven by engines of I,GOO
horse-power nominal on the most approved and
modern patterns, from the eminent firm of Mandalay
and Field. The crew of the ship is on the Maude
lay-Griffiths principle, with a pitch of 20ft and a
diameter of 261 t Bin. The machinery and boilers
gave the greatest satisfaction. The Victoria was
inspected yesterday morning by Admiral Sir M. Sey-
mour, G,C.8., and is expected to sail from Spithead
at daylight this morning for the Mediterranean, to
enter upon her duties as fl,gship on that station.
The Geyser, 6, paddle, Commander Thrupp, sailed
from Portsmouth last evening for Plymouth and
Queenstown, with men from her Majesty's ships
Warrior and Himalaya. The crow of the latter ship
ate being granted one month's leave, in watches.
Two months will be re quired to complete the ship's
company's leave, and it may therefore be presumed,
three months to complete the ship's repair.
The large iron floating fire engine kept moored
in Chatham harbour, in readiness for use on the oce
currence of fires either at the dockyard or in the
town, has been towed down to one of the vacant
slips near the boathouse at the dockyard, for
the purpose of having the bottom cleaned and exe
amined. On being hauled up on the slip the condi-
tion of the bottom of the vessel afforded another
proof of the worthlessness of all the so-called" anti.
fouling " compositions hitherto in use in the Royal
Navy for preserving the iron plating, and at the
same time preventing animal and vegetable accu-
mulations on the bottoms of iron vessels. Perhaps
in no other river or harbour in this country do the
bottoms of iron ships foul so rapidly as in Chatham
harbour, and consequently every precaution is taken
by the officials for the preservation of the hulls of
iron ships by means of the best anti-fouling mix-
tures which science has:yet discovered. Only a few
months ago the submarine portion of the plates of
the floating fire-engine was carefully paid over with
the most approved of the many mixtures hitherto
brought under the notice of the Admiralty—but,
so far from the composition having the desired
effect, the bottom, when examined, was found com-
pletely covered with a field of grass and seaweed,
the latter from a few inches to upwards of a foot in
length, while there was an unusually large accu-
mulation of barnacles and other molluscs, the
greater portion of the composition being eaten
away, leaving the iron plates completely exposed.
A number of workmen have been busily employed
in scraping and cleaning the bottom preparatory
to a coating of the new mercurial anti-fouling com-
position, the invention of Mr Gisborne, being ap-
plied to the bottom, the Admiralty officials having
directed this new mixture to be used in consequence
of the highly favourable results which have followed
its adoption in all those iron vessels to the bottoms
of which it has been applied.
The screw corvette Cadmus, 21, 400-horse power,
fitting for the first division of the Chatham steam
reserve, hes been supplied with new tubes to her
boilers, and will be out of the hands of the en.
gineer department this week.
The screw:. steam frigate Liverpool, 39, Captain
Rowley Lambert, arrived in Plymouth Sound yes-
terday morning. She left Rio Grande on the 10th
of October, arrived at Havannah on the 24th, and
sailed therefrom on the 27th. She experienced a
succession of westerly gales during the passage
home; her head la carried away, and part of the
cutwater. She spoke on the 20th Nov. the ship
Agamemnon, 103 days from Calcutta for London.
The• Liverpool left behind 150 men who volunteered
for general service on the station. She was relieved
by the screw steam frigate Phaeton 39, Capt. G. Le
G. Bowyear. Although this frigate was only placed
in commission in April last year, she is in a gene-
rally defective condition, and leaks from all her
seams; The caulking is in an unsatisfactory state.
She makes 34 inches of water in 24 hours, and no
part appears free from leakage. She was under
orders yesterday to discharge her powder and pro-
ceed into Hamoaze to be inspected and overhauled.
A special report is to be sent to the Lords of the
Admiralty. On the contents of that report will
depend whether she is to be repaired or put at once
out of commission.

The ships of war on the Australian station atthe
date of the last advices were the Harrier, 17, Act•
ing Commander Swan, at Sydney (ordered home) ;
the Miranda, 14, Capt. Jenkins, at New Zaaland ;
th 3 Eclipse, 4, Commander Freemantle, at New
Zealand ; the Caragoa, 23, Commodore Sir W.
Wiseman, at Sydney ; the Esk, 21, Acting Captain

Phillimore, at Sydney; the Falcon, 17, Commander
Parkin, at New Zealand ; and the Salamander, 4,
Commander the Hon. J. Carnegie, at Cape York.

Sir Robert Peel, M.P., on the Irish
Drainage Question.

The first scientific meeting for the session of :the mem•
here of the Royal Dublin Society was held on Monday
evening, when a paper was read by Mr W. L. Joynt, :sug-
gestive of improvements in the Irish arterial drainage laws.
Sir ROBERT PEEL, who was amongst those present, spoke
at some length on the subject. In the course of his address
he said—This question of the drainage of Ireland is at the
root of the agricultural interests of this country—(hear,
hear)—and has a direct and important practical bearing
not only upon the state of the occupying tenantry of the
country, and upon the labouring classes, but upon the land-
lords of the country. I have been, lam happy to say, a
good deal through different parts of Ireland, and what is it
that strikes an observing traveller or visitor to any particu-
lar district ? It is the great trials to which the farmer is
subjected from the vast amount of undrained land which is
everywhere to be found. (Hear, hear.) We have to con-
tend in this country, not only with a very humid climate,
but with vast districts which might, I venture to say, be
perfectly well drained, but which unhappily have remained
to the present day chilled and blighted by the stagnant
waters which for a long period of years covered them.
(Hear, hear,) That being the case, any of us who desire in
this agricultural country to see the connection between the
landlords and tenantry of Ireland, the occupying tenantry
and others, strengthened, should cheerfully co-operate in
whatever may tend to the strengthening of those relations,
and anything which will tend to strengthen those relations
is entitled to the best attention, and 1 cannot say more to
this most distinguished and patriotic society. (Hear, hear.)
I hope the imperial government will give that assistance
which may be required ; and of this I feel certain, that that
government will be entitled to the beat thanks of the com-
munity in Ireland—that government will be esteemed in
this country as one of the most magnificent—it will be one
that, at all events,whether in office or out of office, to which
I shall give my support,if it will deal boldly with this ques-
tion—if it will not hesitate to grant money for work which, I
am fully convinced, will have the indisputable effect of
raising a very great and important class of Irish people
from a depression under which they labour, and ofi
making them an intelligent and self-relying agriculture
class. (Applause,) 'We have had aniimmense emigration
going on for the last few years. I think that since the year
1861 nearly a quarter of a million of people have left the
shores of Ireland, perhaps never to return. I have heard
people say that this emigration is the safety-valve of Ire-
land. Well, now, although it may bo perfectly true that
nearly a quarter of a million of persons have left since April
1861, such has been the excess of births over deaths, that
really that number is very considerably diminished ; and
the total number up to the present time, as I learn, does
not exceed 130,000 persons who have left this country. But
it is an important item with respect to the civilisation of
Ireland. However, Ido not admit that emigration ought
to be considered as the safety valve of Ireland. 'What we
want to see is that steady, that useful employment of the
agricultural labourers which will do away with all this talk
about emigration being considered as a safety valve for
Ireland ; and how can we best set about it but by under-
taking works such as has been pointed out? We all of us,
I venture to say, very many at least in this room who take
an interest in the question of drainage, have read the vs.
rious reports which have been made on the subject since
1811 to the present time. These reports are full of informa-
tion. We find, I believe lam not overstating the mark
when I say that I think there are nearly at this moment
4,600,000 acres of land waste, or bog, and uncultivated,
That is an enormous mass in an area of about 20,000,000
acres—very neaey a quarter of the whole area of the coun-
try. It would, I think, take eight or ten million of pounds
sterling to drain that. We don't ask that. I will toll you
what I would like to see, and I believe there is in this
country adequate security for such a work. I should like to
see three-quarters of a million sterling well laid out in
drainage works—not for the purposes of arterial drainage,
but for thorough drainage. :Hear.) With that sum of money
you might drain 150,000 acres of arable land, which very
much require it, at the cost, at the very highest, of £5 an
acre—and I venture to say that there is not an agricultu-
rist in this room who will not admit that the application
of that money would render the letting value of the land
at least 10 per cent. higher than it was before that expe-
riment was made. (Hear.) Well, is not that in itself a
sufficient guarantee for the security that would be forth-
coming from an action of that kind Unfortunately, in
this country, there are so many smaller bidders that there
is an immense competition for land of any kind; and, in the
county cf Cork and elsewhere, I have seen land which I
have been told was let at frem 18s to 22s an acre, but which
was so cold and chill, and rank from the water standing
upon it, and from the want of drainage, that I venture to
say it was not worth 5s an acre. I ask you, as reasonable
men, how can the tenant be expected to pay his rent under
those circumstances ? It is impossible. And then comes
that much more difficult question—if he cant pay the rent,
oven though he may bo willing—if ho dont like, with a cer-
tain insecurity of tenure in some places, to make an outlay
out of his own pocket, which he is not certain will be con-
sidered to him in due proportion, and without a heavier rent
to pay—(applause)—now, the great difficulty that we have
to struggle against in this country is undoubtedly—l dont
think there is a man in this room that will contradia me—
that we are encumbered in our operations for drainage pur-
poses on a large scale by an enormous number of small
holders. Will any one credit that, in this country, out of
600,000 holders of land, at least 480,000 of them are holders
of less than 30 acres. That is a state of things which all of
us, in the best interests of the country, in the hest interests
of the people who hold that land, wish to deprecate. It
would be it finitely better for these small holders of half an
acre, or two acres, or five acres, to become intelligent la-
bourers, rather than to be wasting their time and their sub-
stance—substance they have none, bat to be wasting their
time upon those small holdings from which they never can
acquire a position, and which certainly are one of the
black spots, I think, in the agricultural interests of the
country. Although much has been done, and although
much is required to be done, yet still I am happy to say
there is a vast improvement in agriculture going
on in the country, which only wants a little stimulus
to go through its whole extent, I cannot bear—going
through this country as a common traveller—to hear it
eternally dinned in my ears that the country is going to ruin
and decay. I see nothing of the kind. I see improvements
going on of every kind that represents the prosperity of a
country—railways, savings banks, and so forth; and I must
say, for one,that I see no reason to'despond for the country.
I see prospects of a better future certainly before us. But I
cannot bear to see, by men who know nothing of the matter,
a grievance chalked upon every milestone along the road,
just as if it was put there in order to tell th,, travellers and
visitors—and they come here in vast numbers during the
Beeson—that whilst they admire the beauties of our scenery
and observe the resources of our country, they are by no
means whatever to contribute their capital for the develop-
ment of thosa resources. Let us put a good face on the mat-
ter. (Hear, hear.) I have been four years in the country,
and I have had some opportunity of observing them, and I
say that the people of this country are a most intelligent,
aye, and a self-denying people—(applause) ; and I believe
that what we require is not to be told constantly that we
have grievances to complain Of, but boldly to put shoulder
to shoulder, and that one class should support another; and
then we should see that the resources of the country and
the intellectual capacities of the people are not surpassed by
those of any other people in the world. I must apologise to
this company for having detained them so long—(cries of
"No")—.but there is one remark I should like to make be-
fore I sit down. 'We have a strong body in Parliament.
Every county, as the hon. gentleman has said, has its re-
presentative to advocate its interests. What I should like to
see would be a measure pressed upon Government and upon
Parliament by that legitimate parliamentary
influence, that
fair and honourable co-operation and pressure, which would
result in the carrying of such a measure—a measure which
would have the effect, in my mind, of greatly relieving the
agricultural interests by the fair and just granting of public
money for the purpose of draining this country. (Hear.)

PEACE AND SOUTHERN INDEPENDENCE.—At a
meeting held in the Church Schoolroom, Whit.
worth, on Friday evening, Mr. S. Mills, Rochdale, in the
chair, it was resolved, on the motion of Mr. Grimshaw,
Manchester, seconded by Mr R. Smith, Oldham :—" That
this meeting wishes to make known the sufferings which
the working men in the cotton trade, and their wives and
families, have long had to bear, owing to the stoppage in
the supply of cotton, which article affords them the only
means to earn their daily bread ; and this meeting also
wishes to make known their fears that if this war goes on
the sufferings of the cotton operatives will grow worse and
wo►se ; that the poor law relief was never intended to meet a
case of this kind, and cannot do so effectually; and that
this meeting cannot see why tens of thousands of British
working men should be brought to pauperism, or how it
can bo reasonable for any Government in time of peace
to act in such a way as to bring them to that state." It
was moved by Mr A. Stott, Tunnicliffa, seconded by Mr
R. Fletcher, Whitworth, and resolved :—" That, in con•.
sequence of the wide-spread distress that now prevails
in the cotton districts, by the continuan.:e of the war in
America, this meeting is desirous that her Majesty's Go-
vernment should use their influence, together with France
and other European powers, to bring both belligerents
together, in order to put a stop to the vast destruction of
life and property that is now going on in that unhappy
country."— -Mr T. Matthew, Manchester, moved, Mr J.
Hoyle, Whitworth, seconded, and it was resolved—" That
this meeting of factory and othe., operatives memoralise the
Right Hon. Viscount Pahnerston, l. 3r Majesty's First
Lord of the Treasury, for the immediate and total repeal of
all duties now levied on cotton goods and yarns when im-
ported into British India, and that such memorial be signed
by the chairman on behalf of this meeting; and further,
that a deputation be appointed to present the memorial to
his lordship, and that Mr mr. J. Legh, M.P., for South
Lancashire, be requested to accompany the aforesaid depu-
tation, and support its prayer."—The chairman was ap-
pointed ono of the deputation to Lord Palmerston.—After
a vote of thanks to the chairman, the meeting separated.