The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-29 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

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screw troopship Megrera, at Portsmouth, for convey-
ance to the Channel Islands. An attempt was made
to start the Megzera on her voyage as soon as the
embarkation was effected, but in swinging her from
the jetty, where she had been lying, the tide caught
her stern, and, from an inability to move the engines
ahead at the critical moment, drove it under the
bows of the Dune of Wellington and Caraeoa, lying
alongside each other in the stream. In thisposition
the troopship remained for some time. Beyond a
slight injury to the Duke's figurehead, the two ships
fouled by the Megfera received no damage, but the
latter crushed her port quarter-boat and carried
away the whole of her wizen and part of her main
lower rigging, besides breaking poop rails. The da-
mage is, however, much less than might have been
expected under the circumstances. The ship was in
charge of a Queen's pilot at the time, but we under-
stand no blame can be attached to him for what
occurred, owing to the inability to move the en-
gines ahead when the word was passed below to
that effect. The ship was got alongside the dock-
yard as early as possibleto repair damages and send
her on her voyage, which was effected at 6 p.m.
Yesterday Major-Gen. Eyre, commanding the
Chatham district, made an inspection of the Chat-
ham division of Royal Marine Light Infantry,
which is just now unusually strong. The officers
and men of the division assembled in front of their
quarters at 9 o'clock. Ten rounds of blank ammu-
nition having been served out to the men, they were
marched to the Great Lines, where they were
drawn up to await the arrival of Major-Gen. Eyre.
The battalion, which numbered 1000 bayonets, was
after his arrival put through a variety of light in-
fantry manoeuvres by Col. T. Lemon, C,8., com-
mandant of the division, and the steadiness of the
men under arms and the excellent manner in which
they went throagh the evolutions of the day elicited
the commendation of Major-Gen. Eyre on this his
first inspection of the division of Royal Marines.
The battalion returned to quarters shortly before 1
o'clock.

ADMISSION OF ATTORNEYS.—There are 101 new
applicants for admission this term as attorneys, besides a
goodly array of readmissions and renewed certificates.
ANCIENT COlNS.—Whilst a man named John
MTetridge was engaged in digging a trench on the farm of
David Muirhead, of Ballynacaird, near Slemish, he found,
only a few inches below the surface of the soil, seventeen
silver coins, nearly all in excellent preservation. The
greater number were of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and
bete dates front 1563 to 1602,-IMlymena Observfr.

This steamer, launched at Philadelphia on Satur-
day last, is thus described in the Philadelphia
papers :—" This vessel is the first iron-plated sea-
going war steamer of large size built by the United
States' Government. She is constructed from plans
and specifications presented to the Navy Depart-
ment last September by Messrs. Merrick and Sons,
of this city, who are sole contractors with the Go-
vernment. They in turn have contracted with
Messrs. Cramp and Sons, of Kensington, for the
hull, with the Bristol Forge, and Brown and Co.,
of Pittsburg, for the 41in. plating, and with Traver
and Mercer for the inch plating, reserving to them-
selves the construction of the machinery and the
general arrangements of the several parts. The
contract is dated October 15, 1861, and the vessel
is to be ready for steam July 15, 1862. Chief
Engineer W. W. Wood, of the Navy, superintends
the machinery and plating, and Naval-Constructor
Henry Hoover the hull. She is 240 ft. long, 58ft.
6in. wide, and 25ft. deep, being 3,250 tons, and
having a berth, gun and spardeck—the latter being
shotproof. Her frames are of white oak, filled in
solid and caulked, and the average thickness of her
sides is 20in. The iron-plating commences at a
point 4ft. below the water-line, and extends to her
spar deck; the lower course is 3in:, all the rest is
41- in. thick. All the plates are 15ft. long, the
width varying from 25in. to 30in.; each plate is
fastened to the vessel by 2011 in. screw bolts, 23in.
long, which secure the several thicknesses of tim-
ber to the plates, thus tying all together. The
machinerinsists of two horizontal direct action
steam, with cylinders of 50in. diameter and 30in.
stroke, intended to make 85 revolutions per minute,
and drive a brass four-bladed propeller of 13 feet
diameter and 18 feet pitch. The boilers are four in
number, horizontal tubular, each 17 feet front, 11
feet deep, and 11 feet high, of a collective force of
1,600 horses. The armament will consist of 16 11-
inch Dahlgren guns on the gun-deck, and two 200.
pound Parrott guns on the spar-deek. The port-
holes will be closed by iron shutters 5 inches thick,
worked from the inside. As this is a seagoing
steamer, intended to sail as well as steam, she will
have three masts, and be bark rigged, her topmasts
and yards being so arranged that in action they are
lowered, and leave simply the three lower masts in
view. When in action all the men on board are
protected from shot and shell, and are below the
spar-deck. The commander only is above that
deck, and he occupies a shot-proof iron look-out,
which rises above the spar-deck, and from which
he can see all surrounding objects, and by signals
communicate with the officers below. Unlike the
Monitor and Galena, this vessel can carry a large
crew, sufficient to board and capture any vessel.
Impenetrable to shot or shell, she will seek close
action, and by means of her iron prow sink, or her
heavy
yht of
guns
capture, her opponent; her light
water (15 feet) will enable her to enter
all our southern harbours. Even Moultrie and
Sumter can be visited by her, and she may be able
impression on those forts before they
the United States."
areto marepkoes s ane s e d
by

RAILWAY IN2ELLIGENCE

GREAT WESTERN.

An adjourned special meeting of this company
was held yesterday at the Paddington station ; the
Earl of Shelburne in the chair.

Mr. Saunders, the secretary, read the heads of
" A bill for transferring the Hereford, Ross, and
Glocester Railway, and for leasing the Ely Valley
Railway, to the Great Western Railway Company,
and for other purposes." The object of the bill was
to give the Great Western Company more complete
control over the Hereford, Ross, and Glocester Rail-
way, which had for several years formed part of
their system. The Ely Valley Railway formed a
feeder to the South Wales line, and it also pointed
towards the Great Western Colliery, which might
hereafter be placed in direct communication with
the Ely Valley line, and thus making the latter as
a feeder to the South Wales line more beneficial to
the Great Western Company.
On the motion of the CHAIRMAN a formal resolu-

tion approving the bill was carried unanimously,
and the meeting was further adjourned to the 14th

•f June for the consideration of other bills remain-
ing on the list.

WELLAND.

The general meeting of this company was ap-
pointed to be held yesterday at the offices, Token-
house-yard, but in consequence of the non-arrival
of financial and other advices from Canada the
meeting was adjourned to July 2.