The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-17 00:00:00

THE EXHIBITION BUILDING.

Lord ENFIELD gave notice of his intention to ask the
noble lord at the head of the Government whether he had
not received a report from the Treasury to the effect that the
value of the Exhibition building was only £30,000 less the
cost of pulling it down ; and, if so, whether there was any
objection to lay the report upon the tabls before the discus-
sion was taken on the proposal to purchase the building.
Mr. AY RTON gave notice that when the vote for the
purchase of the building was brought forward he should
move a resoh:cion to the effect that, in the opinion of the
House, the sum of £67,000 voted for the purchase of the
land at Kensington should be applied to the discharge of
the li`Abilities of the commissioners of 1851, and that the
preperty of the commissioners, subject to any charges upon
it, should be vested in the Commissioners of Works. (Hear,
hear.)
THE COURT-MARTIAL ON CHARLES THOMAS•

Mr. HADFIELD asked the Secretary to the Admiralty
whether his intention had been called to the proceedings of
a court-martial held on board her Majesty's ship Victory,
at Portsmouth, on Charles Thomas, a seaman, charged
with insubordination and using offensive language to a
boatswain, who had ordered the liberty-boat to leave before
its appointed time, when the prisoner was returning to his
ship, after the expiration of his leave at absence to get mar-
ried ; and if so, whether it was true that, under the circum-
stances of that case the prisoner was adjudged to be reduced
to the second class, to receive forty-eight lashes, lo be im-
prisoned in Winchester Gaol for two years, and then to be
discharged with disgrace from her Majesty's navy ; and
whether he would lay the proceedings of the court upon
he table of the house.

Lord C. PAGET said the hon. member was misinformed
with respect to some of the particulars of the case. In the
first place, the hon. member was mistaken in his assump-
tion that the sailor Charles Thomas was prevented merely
by accident from returning to his ship ; that was not so, for
according to the evidence of the other sailors in the boat,
they did not quit the shore until the appointed time, and
Thomas was not down in time to go on board. However,
he afterwards found his way to the ship, and then he showed
himaeLt very indignant towards the boatswain in charge of
the boat, and used most violent, offensive, disgusting, and
insubordinate language towards that officer, and towards
the captain of the ship. His offence was so grave that it
waft naturally thought requisite he should be tried by court-
inertial, and accordingly he was so tried. The second in-
accuracy of the hon, member was in statingthat the prisoner
I'M been on leave of absence to get married. Now, the vi-
tae: himself set up no such defence ; he stated that he had
shore to see his brother, and had got intoxicated.
But the e
vhert
made
of the other sailors was that he was sober
u'
him Aii
to
the use of the very gross language charged
correctly to
b sentence of the court-martial, it had been
4. Hear, hear: ,1 by hon. member. (Ironical cries of
like individuals - e was bound to say that courts-martial,

cries of It Rear:Ze? Occasionally liable to err— •
leniency, and semetL;elealetimea erring on the"'
(Hear, hear.) At the a erring on the side of side of
courts-martial came under %%time', the proceedinseaveorfity.
and it not unfrequently happy revielen of the Adgmiraltall
dmiralt
able to exercise the blessed privii that the A
tigate the sentences upon
have no doubt that in
PrieZiesofwvnercyl and were
mrie
them sentences were too harsh; and when it appeared to
the present case the Admiralty would
of exercising their mitigatory privilege. (R:3:l7.ZPPartunity
he believed the house would agree with him that, whatever
But
arrangement the Admiralty might make, what'e,;:atever
miti-
gation of the sentence might be enforced, it
Should be
clearly understood that that mitigation was not the result
of the interference of that house. For it certainly would
not conduce to the discipline of the navy if that house were
turned into a court of appeal from decision.s of courts-mar-
tial. (Hear, hear.) Such being the circumstances of the
case, he hoped the hon. member would not press for a pro-
duction of the proceedings; and the more especially as,
under the Naval Discipline Act, the prisoner would be en-
titled, after an interval of three months, to a copy
of the
sentence and the proceedings of the court.
Mr. HADFIELD expressed a hope that some means
would be devised for preventing the publication of such in-
accurate statements.
Lord C. PAGET said he sincerely wished he could pre-
vent misrepresentations of the kind appearing in news-
papers ; and, as he was on the subject, he might observe,
in
as reply to a question put to him by the right hon. member
for Kilmarnock (Mr. Bouverie), that there w not the
slightest foundation for a statement which had d the
other day in the papers relative to a sailor havainT beenare or-
adueircedid:oin
prison
for three years, and as having committed
consequence. The only suggestion he had to offer

was, that when such statements reaehed hon. members they
should bring them forward in that house, in order to afford
him the opportunity. of correcting them. (near.)

THE HIGHWAYS ACT.
Sir W. MILES asked the Attorney-General whether, in
the construction of the following sentence in the schedule
of the Highways Act, viz.. "All question, shall be decided
by a majority of votes of the members present," it was ne-
cessary that there should be a majority of the persons pre-
sent, or whether it was sufficient that there should be a
majority of those who being present gave their votes.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said the question had
not as yet been submitted to, nor had it obtained, judicial
interpretation, but it appeared to him that tha matter
was not open to any for doubt. In his opinion, it was
not sufficient that there should be a majority of those who
being present gave their votes, but there ought to be a ma-
jority of persons present voting one way or another.
PUBLIC WORKS (MANUFACTURING DIS-
TRICTS) BILL.
In reply to Mr. FERRAND,

Mr. VILLIERS said that the second reading of this
bill was fixed for Thursday, and that it would be taken
early, but he could not decide upon fixing the committee on
the bill for a morning sitting, as the bill had not been as
yet read a second time, nor indeed did the matter rest with
him at all.

THE ENGLISH AT ZANZIBAR.
Mr. STIRLING asked the Under Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs whether he had any information respecting
an outrage said to have been perpetrated by Arabs on an
English subject at Zanzibar, in February last, and respect-
ing reports lately published in the French newspapers of
hostile feeling against the European residents, excited in
the minds of the native population of Zanzibar by certain
alleged operations of British cruisers engaged in the repres-
sion of the slave trade?

Mr. LAYARD said that, in consequence of the question
of his hon. friend, he had referred to the French papers,
and he found in the Journal des Debats an account of a
state of things as represented by his hon. friend. It ap.
peared that a meeting had been held at Zanzibar of some
European residents, relative to the feeling of the Arab popu-
lation towards the English. But it appeared also that the
meeting was presided over by a French gentleman, and,
considering the sources of our information on the subject,
that circumstance was somewhat suspicious. If hon. mem-
bers would refer to the slave-trade papers laid upon the
table during the present session, they would see that while
the slave trade was repressed on the west coast of Africa,
it was obtaining an unhappy development on the east
coast, where it was carried on not only by French
agents, but under the French flag. The British cruisers,
however, under treaty with the Sultan of Zanzibar, were
endeavouring to put an end to the traffic, which had depo-
pulated whole districts, and was working an amount of
misery almost impossible to describe.
Mr. STIRLING asked whether any official information
had been received at the Foreign-office corroborating the
statements in the French papers.
Mr. LAYARD said that none such had been received ;
and he desired also to °state that he ought to have de-
scribed the trade which the French were carrying on OR
the east of Africa as being nominally carried on for the
obtaining of free labourers.
CAPTAIN FISHBOURNE AND THE PATRIOTIC