The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-23 00:00:00

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Kam, met had eve me with. (Applause.) He had been
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in all quarters of the globe, but he had never septi
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other evening were simply unequillle4,4^.4o66o
The ladies there collected together were.
the prettiest women—(loud and continte'd, c
ing)—and he had had a pretty long experfNnee-J S
he had ever met with. (Applause.) He had been.
in all quarters of the globe, but he had never seem
such a number of pretty women as those assembled
at the Town-hail on Friday night. (Loud cheers.)
His worthy friend on his left had just hinted to
him that " it was a very pretty story to talk in
that way," and no doubt it was, and one upon
which he should like to enter upon rather
more fully. (Cheers and laughter.) But he had
to talk of a graver suhject—and that was the
Mayor and Corporation of Liverpool. (Cheers and
laughter.
without being struck with the cleanliness of the
proved place and the excellent sanitary arrangements
which prevailed. No ono
one
Statistics co
ditshLeailvtehripnocol
sa
payprisit to
—the registrar's returns showed how carefully and
well the causes of death and disease had been re-
moved from its midst. Now, these things could
not be looked after unless there were working men ;
and that those intrusted with the government of the
place did work, and that in the right direction, was
proved by the high sanitary condition of the town
(Hear, hear.) There was another matter which to
him bad the greatest interest as the Admiral of a
fleet, from which there were necessarily a good many
sailors always on shore. Of all the places at which
the Channel Fleet had yet been, there had been
fewer reports of misconduct on the part of the
sailors at Liverpool than at any other place. He
believed that was owing, not to the fact that Liver-
pool had a better police, but because the sailors had
been better treated. " Jack" was a knowing fel-
low: he knew when he was well off, and wonldnot
kick up a row. (Laughter.) With respect to the
entertainment to the sailors on the morrow, he
would take the opportunity of expressing the feel-
ing of pleasure which himself and his brother offi-
cers felt at this display of kindness. At the same
time, he did not conceal from himself that the thing
was an experiment, but it was an experiment which
it would have been unworthy of his position to have
forbidden. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) It was now
for the men to show their appreciation of the kind-
ness exhibited towards them by not abusing it. He
valued the men who formed the British navy as
much as man could do, and though they had their
faults, yet they had a hundred good qualities. (Loud
cheers.) But he would beg of them not to be too
kind in their hospitality. Those connected with
the Channel Fleet had been eating cake all round
the coast, and he expected some of them would be
getting sick of it. (Laugher.)
The MAYOR (Mr. R. C. Gardner) responded.
Lord STANLEY then proposed " The Town and
Trade of Liverpool," for which Mr. RANKIN, Chair-
man of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, re-
turned thanks.

Captain HORNET, RN., of her Majesty's ship
Edgar, proposed " Tne Ladies," on whose behalf
Mr. R. HUTCHISON, ex-Mayor, responded.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

A naval court, martial was held on board the
flagship Victory at Portsmouth yesterday for the
trial of James Petly Symes, assistant-paymaster of
her Majesty's ship Pioneer, on the charge of being
on or about the 17th of September, 1863, fraudu-
lently deficient in the public moneys in his charge
to the amount of £44 125., and for making or caus-
ing to be made erasures or alterations for the pur-
pose of showing a balance of £276 15s. 11d., instead
of the true balance of £314 Bs., certified by the ex-
amining officers on the 31st of March, 1863. The
Court was composed of Capte. Scott and Seccombe,
and Commanders Curme, Lowther, and Simpson.
The prisoner was found guilty, and ho was sen-
tenced to bo dismissed from her Majesty's service
with disgrace.
The Pioneer, 6, screw gunvessel, Commander
Robinson (acting), was paid out of commission yes-
terday afternoon alongside Portsmouth dockyard.
Of the squadron of screw gunboats and mortar
vessels attached to the three divisions of the Chat-
ham steam reserve in the Medway, nearly tho
whole, constructed for the Government during the
excitement of the Russian war, chiefly by private
builders, those which upon survey have been found
unfit to be retained in the service are to he for-
warded from Chatham to Deptford dockyard to be
broken up. Provided it be practicable the engines
and machinery of the condemned gunboats are to bo
taken out before their remoN al to Deptford. A his-
tory of these gunboats and the vast sums lavished
on their construction would contain some singular
disclosures. Scarcely one of the gunboats now be-
longing to the navy has been built more than nine
years, and yet of the 190 which figure in the Nary
List fully one-half would, upon survey, prove to be
unfitted for active naval operations. With regard to
the fleet of mortar vessels lying at Chatham no orders
have yet been received, but directions have been
given to the dockyard officials to adapt them for
dockyard lighters and transports, as they may be
required. For this service their size and great
strength render them well adapted. There is still et
fleet of iron mortar vessels of large size lying high
and dry at Chatham dockyard. These are all housed
over, and each boat is carefully covered with a thick
coating of red lead. Notwithstanding the care taken
to protect them, it is believed that several of these
would upon examination be found unfit for the ser-
vice for which they were originally intended.

While the Medusa, 4, 312-horse power, paddle-
wheel steamer, was being removed from Chatham
harbour into No. 3 dock at Sheerness, a day or two
since, an accident occurred to the vessel, resulting in
rather considerable damage to the hull and machi-
nery. The ship was shored up before she had pro-
perly settled down on the blocks, so that on the
water being pumped out she came down with a sud-
den crash on to the blocks. A survey was yester-
day made to ascertain the extent of the damage
done, which is estimated at from £5OO to £l,OOO.
The screw gun-vessels Alacrity, 4, 200-horse
power, and the Reynard, 4, 200-horse power, both
just paid off into the Chatham steam reserve, ale to
have the defects to their engines and boilers made
good, but previous to their being taken in hand
both vessels are to be surveyed by the dockyard
officials in order to ascertain the state of their hulls.