The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-04 00:00:00

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domestic history ; cruelties and foil t - s.. : -„, .ifi'4gr.-4
answer for. But in all her annals, ArcgiAtia 1 ";'''''' k:';',4
ning of what may deserve to be cal:44i.
course with foreign nations, from the day slathad I
foreign policy and a national character to support,
she has never been so degraded and disgraced, in ,
the opinion of all civilised nations, as at this moment
she is, by the steps by which as a titled member of
her Majesty's Government, you have, to say the
least, so imprudently involved your colicagues in
general—the Queen's Admiralty in particular, and
the House of Commons, the guardian and defender
of the honour of the nation—in an apparent cam-
p!icity with the detestable principles and prsetice
of "The assassin Mczzini."

Totally unconnected with any political party in
England, but mourning nver the tragedy of errors
you have created, I have the honour to be, sir, your
obedient servant, F. B. HEAD.
Croydon, April, 1864.

The following letter has been addressed to our
chief contemporary :

Sir,—Not for my sake, but for Mr. Stansfeld's sake and
in indignation at his name being dragged in again by the
French Advocate-General in his speech of March 31, quoted
in your columns, I feel bound to trespass with a few lines
on your space, and to once more declare that never was any
money handed over or sent by me to Mr. Stansfeld for the
purpose of helping Greco, Tibaldi, Donati, or any other
in an attempt against the Emperor's life; that never had
he the slightest contact with Greco, Tibaldi, Donati.or any
other known to me, implicating him possibly, directly, or
indirectly, to my knowledge, in any political schemes of
theirs.

No new fact is alleged in the speech concerning the
Greco affair.

Concerning Donati, I remember that an Italian of that
name was arrested on suspicion in Paris towards the end
of 1858; that he was harassed as usual by questions
about me ; that he persistently denied my having any
share in any scheme of his own; that he was, during
the inquiry, found dead in the prison; which mys-
terious fact the Avocat-General astoundingly declares
a sad guarantee for the sincerity of his revelatione.
No trial took place, no revelations were ever produced, not
a shadow of evidence against him or others ever appeared.
The things were merely known through vague reports
scattered in correspondences.
Concerning Tibaldi, the existence of a Tibaldi fund I
have already in a former letter distinctly denied. The
alleged documents are unknown to me. The quotations in
the speech, at all events, mean nothing; they would not, if
genuine, in the slightest way implicate Mr. Stansfeld in a
supposed knowledge of that hypothetical plot or fund. The
first simply shows that 1 have friends whom calumny does
not estrange. If the second—" I have received the money,
and James will, of course, carry out your instructions"—
could ever be construed into a proof of an assassination
scheme, or of a knowledge of it, I should not know what to
pity most, human wickedness or human credulity.
Mr.. Stansfeld has been to me a friend of 18 years' stand-
ing. He has been deeply and earnestly sympathising with
all my, Utopian once, now almost fulfilled, aspirations to-
wards Italian unity and independence. He has been, in
honesty and morality, helping, before his official capacity
traced out for him a new line of duties, the fulfilment of
those aspirations. Hs has often, at my request, contri-
buted hie own share of money to subscriptions for poor
Italian exiles. He has sometimes paid, at my request,
money of mine for similar purposes, when I have been away
from England. He has tried to find employment for men
in need, whom I was recommending to him as to other
English friends. All that is known, avowed, honourable.
I have been using, accordingly, in the past his name and
address. Italians knew them, and were cowing to him, in
my absence, for relief or advice. What of all this ? Where
is the slightest link between the affirmations of the Avo-
cat-General and the aim denounced P Where the slightest
indication bearing on Mr. Stansfeld's connexion with or
knowledge of any unlawful designs?
That / am carelessly and unconscientiously made a target
for the practising of the moral dagger men is no wonder to
me. I belong, and am rather proud of it, to a class of men
who must be persecuted by any despotic, conservative, or
French Imperialist party, in England or elsewhere, until
success crowns their efforts and wins applause. But if men
of Mr. Stansfeld's cast, avocations, and tendencies are, on
the faith of garbled foreign police reports and claptrap
melodramatic speeches of despotic Avocats-Generaux, to
meet with the same treatment in the country which they
usefully serve, then there is an end of British lucid sense
and fair-play habits. A French Statesman once said,--
"Give me any ten words in any man's handwriting; I
shall manage to have him hung." You had better write
those words on the threshold of your house, only stating
that they include the man's friends as am, sir,
yours faithfully,
April 2.

JOSEPH MIZZINI.

Naval and Military Intelligence

THE NAVY.

The Bulldog, 6, paddle sloop, of 1,121 tons and 500 horse
power, Capt. Charles Wake, sailed from Spithead on Sa-
turday for the West Indies.

The Dasher, 2, paddle, Commander Philip de Saumarcz,
arrived at Portsmouth on Saturday from her station at the
Channel Islandp.

The Geyser, 6, paddle, Commander Arthur T. Thrupp,
sailed from Spithead on Saturday for the westward.

The iron ship Hector, 34, Capt. George W. Preedy, left
Plymouth on Saturday to join the Channel Squadron at
Portland.

The screw steam gun vessel Ranger, 5, Commander W.
E. Gordon, left Plymouth on Saturday for the West Coast
of Africa.

The iron paddlewheel steamvessel Jackal, 4, Lieut. and
Commander Hugh Mc. N. Dyer, was appointed to leave
Plymouth yesterday for the coast of Scotland to protect the
fishery interest.

The iron troopship Adventure, Capt. Charles L. Waddi-
love, from Portsmouth, is expected at Plymouth to-day or
to-morrow to embark detachments for China.
The iron screw steamer Gazelle has been ordered to be
surveyed by the dockyard authorities at Chatham, pre-
viously to being purchased by the Admiralty to supply the
place of the Adder, paddlewheel steamer.
Rear Admiral Frederick's 7-inch gun has been received
and mounted for practice on board the gunnery ship Ex-.
cellent at Portsmouth. It is anticipated that data having
a very important bearing upon the future arming of the
navy will be obtained in the competitive trials which will be
carried out between this gun and the 9 22 inch smooth-bore
(coil-built 100-pounder), their projectiles approximating in
weight.

The Lords of the Admiralty have given directions for
Gisborn's electric engine-room telegraph to be fitted on
board the iron frigate Achilles, at Chatham, the report of
the working of the apparatus on board the Royal Oak, in
which vessel it was fitted, having been exceedingly satisfac-
tory. The inventcr is also to fix a mechanical telegraph
from the engine-room platform to each of the stoke-holes.

The operation of slotting and boring the armour-plates
which are destined to form the exterior portion of the Lord
Warden target, about to be tested at Shoeburyness, was
completed in the factory at Chatham Dockyard on Saturday,
and in a few days the plates will be fixed in their place, and
the target ready to be despatched to Shoeburyness. The
framing of the target has been constructed on a new
its
designers prin-
ciple,and, should the experiments bear out the theory of
the
Lorddesign strengthNevrasrasdent,oniotswunder
eo nasntdruschtiootn-restin
at
ischag wethpaoraDr,ock
Dock-
yard, will be built on exactly the fame principle. In the
targets previously built the iron slabs have been simply
bolted to so many inches' thickness of teak timber, which
it is obvious would offer little resistance to the passage of
either the shot or shell after it had succeeded in penetrating
the outer plates. Acting on the now understood fact that
a slight thickness of iron inserted in the centre of the teak
backing will almost effectually bar the passage of shot, the
Lord Warden
placedinand on this is laid the
which Sin. of teak timber to the armour-plates are bolted.
oettiron-plating
are target,
then targetre of hap
theg in thickness,
The total thickness of iron and teak forming the target is
llin. The plates which form the exterior of the target
are two of those sent in by Messrs. Brown and Co., of the
Atlas Works, Sheffield, who are under contract to supply
the whole of those required for the Lord Warden. They
are of the best rolled iron, 30ft. in length by 4f. 6in. in
breadth, and each weighs between 7 and eight tons. As
soon as completed the target will be taken to pieces and
shipped for Shoeburyness, where it will be re-erected by a
number of mechanics to be sent from the dockyard.
The following naval engineer officers passed their exami-
nations before the Rev. Dr. Woolley, Her Majesty's
Inspector of Schools, on the occasion of his recent official
visit to Portsmouth Dockyard, and have received second-
class certificates in accordance with the regulations laid
down in the Admiralty Circular No. GO, dated Oct. 12, 1863
—George Wynhall, engineer—J. H. H. Smale, acting chief
engineer—. John Murdoch, 2d class assist engineer, and E.
E. Lewis, acting do.
The following appointments were made on Saturday at
the Admiralty :—Commander T. C. Bruce, to the Formid-
able, additional for packet service at Dover, vice Triscott,
whose period of service has expired—J. W. Reed, master,
additional to the Fisgard—Dr W. L. Gorden, surgeon, ad-
ditional to the Victory—F. Ilyndman, assist paymaster,
additional to the Formidable--and J. Prebble, assist pay-
master, to the Hector.