The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-06 00:00:00

The New Colonels.

All the vacant regiments have been disposed of.
Lieut.-Gen. the Earl of Lucan becomes Colonel of
the Ist Life Guards, in the room of Lord Comber-
mere. The 19th Hussars, vacant by the death of
Gen. Pattle, will be filled by Lieut.-Gen. John Hall.
Major-Gen. Lawrence succeeds to the Bth Hussars,
vacant by Lord Lucan's removal ; and the 73d Re-
giment goes to Lieut.-Gen. Sir H. R. F. Davie. We
cannot say much for the happiness of the selections
on the whole. Lord Lucan's appointment to the
regarded as inevitable.
ThocHofiotoeuseheocpold Cavalry maybe m
on the ground
service.
iceevs ; of
wt hhGßaotouael
But on
office
neSgeteai n
inc
future
sat !breeofficers
filledvacancy associatedLb oyr
Lord
LwithpeermuaLucan
;nthesewellah iaas
the best cim ? of seniority and respon-
siblebe a question whether the choice of colonels for the
three Household Cavalry regiments should be re-
stricted to peers. They are in point of emoluments
and dignity almost the highest prizes of the service,
and as such they ought to be conferred on the
worthiest and most distinguished soldiers, irrespec-
tive of their social rank. We have now half a dozen
peers available for future vacanies—Lords Rosslyn,
Melville, Cardigan, de Ros, Rokeby, and Temple-
town ; and, with all respect for them, it cannot for
a moment be maintained that they are the men
who, above all others, should have a first
class prize, on the ground either of their stand-
ing in the army, or the importance and gal-
lantry of their services. Without indulging in an in-
vidious comparison, we may say that the warmest
admirers of any one of them would not deny that
there aro on the list of Generals several men whose
professional claims are far above theirs. The Foot
Guards' colonelcies are not restricted to peers or
even to Gardsmen ; and we hope that in future a
custom—for it is nothing more—will be departed from
which tends to shut out the most eminent members of
the profession from some of the highest professional
rewards. So long as these colonelcies were filled by men
like Combermere, Raglan, and Seaton there was no
room
maintained f or
noblemen o b st
he r vat a
fwt
ui
eollnh.
have
veß named
rewardsu But
min
he
have
vhe iet carencoa of t
tn bscarcelye
n he
already
half-
dozen b e
given to them. We are sure that during the un-
ennobled Generals of her army her Majesty can find
old soldiers of whose presence about her Court she
need feel no shame ; and we hope to hear that this
restriction will no longer be maintained. In the
present instance, as we have said, the appointment
of Lord Lucan was scarcely a matter of choice. To
the vacant colonelcy of the 19th Hussars, Lieu-
tenant-General Hall succeeds. He has never,
we believe, done a day's service out of England ; and
the selection of two Life Guardsmen (Lord Ros and
Hall) in succession for cavalry regiments is not just
to those from the Line, although they are few, who
have good service to show. Another appointment,
that of Sir H. F. Davie to the 73d, is equally open
to objection. If we do not err, that officer's ser-
vices have also been restricted to his native island ;
and men like Generals Eyre, Ridley, Braybrooke,
Straubenzee, and others who have done good and

The motion of Mr. Seely in the House of Commons
on Thursday evening on " Dockyard Accounts,"
and " the apparent excessive cost of fitting out, re-
fitting, and repairing certain of her Majesty's ships,"
would have obtained greatly increased weight had
he included the cost of " conversion" or " recon-
struction" of certain of her Majesty's ships. No
case selected from her Majesty's navy could have
given greater weight to Mr. Seely's motion than
that of the Royal Alfred. First laid down on the
stocks as a screw liner, she was afterwards, in one
stage of reconstruction, cut down and altered to an
iron-cased 34-gun frigate (with 4iin. plates extend-
ing round stem and stern, but with an inclined tim-
ber planking onhsgun:deck), to carry Bin. smooth-
bore gunsT-and-110-potinder rified-Armstrongs. In
the meantime, the gun and plate experiments at
Shoeburyness, and American experience, were teach-
ing us that the Royal Alfred class of ship as then de-
signed was in any future contest with an enemy's iron-
cased forts or ships, utterly useless for offence or de-
fence, and that she must therefore again be "recon-
structed." On the condemnation by the Admiralty
of armoured ships carrying only 4f in. armour-plat-
ing upon a timber side of some 18in. in thickness,
without any inner skin of iron, the Royal Alfred,
as the only vessel of that class yet under the hands
of the shipwrights, was fixed on to be altered in
some way so as to fulfil the idea of a more perfect
armoured ship. Rear-Admiral G. Elliot, Superin-
tendent of Portsmouth yard, sent in to the Admi-
ralty a plan for the ship, on which she would have
carried a 9in. iron belt at the water-line, a square
6in. iron box amidships, capped by a turret mount-
ing two rifled " Big Wills," or 600-pounders, and
other guns for shot or shell in the unprotected por-
tion of the ship's gun deck fore and aft. This, how-
ever, was rejected by the Admiralty on " advice,'
and it was announced in the House of Commons on
Thursday evening by Lord C. Paget that the Royal
Alfred was one of the ships selected to carry, as part
of her armament, a certain number of the new 12-
ton guns. To enable her to do this, she is there-
fore being reconverted at Portsmouth on a plan sent
down from the Admiralty. When launched some
few months since she had the ordinary number of
15 or 16 ports on each side of her main deck, which
gave sufficient space .to work 68 or 100-pounders.
As, however, the ship is now to carry 300-pounders
in a square 6in. iron box amidships on her main
deck, all previous arrangements and deck fittings
have to be altered. As a 34-gun frigate of the ordi-
nary converted iron-cased type, the main or gun
deck of the ship presented a fine appearance, pierced
with ports or embrasures for the guns throughout its
entire length on either side, with evident space for
the proper working of the guns. Now the alternate
gun ports are being blocked up with short tim-
bers, and others opened to receive the monster
300-pounders, of 12 tons weight each, while
the planking of the deck has been torn up to
allow of the fixing of the machinery which is to
"train" the guns. In examining the Royal Alfred's
main deck line of gun ports it will be seen that the
ports being stopped up are only being closed with
short pieces of timber that have no assisting strength
from the framing proper of the ship, and can give
no support to the external armour plating when
struck by an enemy's shot. In cutting the new
ports for the larger guns, however, the ship's frame
is weakened in a much greater awl very serious de-
gree. Many of the arms from the upper deck, which
are bolted on the inner side of the ship on the main-
deck, between the guns are cut through. Even the
iron diagonal bands which brace and hold the ship's
frame together from her keel to her topsides are re-
morselessly cut away in every instance where they
cross the line of a port. It must be evident, there-
fore, that but slight " backing" power will be given
by the sides of the Royal Alfred to her armour-
plating with the short unsupported pieces of timber
in the filled in ports, the destruction of the iron
diagonal frame fastenings by the opening of the new
ports for the 12-ton guns, and the absence of any
iron inner skin to the ship's side on the gun-deck.
In fact, if finished on her present plan, she will be,
when ready for hoisting her pennant of commission,
a monstrous burlesque upon what will then be con-
sidered a first-class ironclad, and if ever sent to the
Channel she will be in constant danger of breaking
in two amidships and sinking from sheer weakness
of body and overweight of armour and armament.
The following appointments were made on Satur-
day at the Admiralty :—Commander E. A. Porcher,
to the Sparrowhawk, commissioned ; Commander
C. J. Bullock, to the Formidable, additional, for
service with the Serpent ; Lieut. Francis T. Hamil-
ton, to the Pembroke ; George Christie, master, to
the Sparrowhawk ; Arthur M'Kenna, surg., to the
Pelorus Alfred Boys, paymaster, to the Sparrow-
hawk ; Hugh A. llaswell, assist.-paymaster, to the
Meander ; Fredei ick W. Lanes, clerk, to the Royal
Adelaide ; H. C. W. Gibson, clerk, to the Sparrow-
hawk ; and George B. Collier, assist.-clerk, to the
Victory.

Mr. Glaisher's Third Winter Balloon Ascent.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—The results of the balloon experiments of different
times of the year having been found to be different, it is
with regret I have been able to make so few during the
winter. On both those I have made, our course was to the
sea, so limiting the period of observation, that I resolved I
would not go again in that direction. For a whole month
Mr. Coxwell and myself have been waiting for a wind that
would take us inland. So far as I have been unable to de-
termine, there has been in the higher regions of the atmo-
sphere a general prevalence of W. and S.W. winds all this
year. On this day (Feb. 27) the direction of the wind was
nearly N., and apparently steadily there ; and the balloon
began to be filled. When completed, the wind was south,
and pilot balloons went towards the N., and I still looked
forward to experiments of four or five hours' duration.
At lh. 58m. we left ; at 2h. 2m. we passed over the river,
and were near Barking Reach. At an elevation of I,oooft.
the direction changed to S.W., and at 2h. 5m., at 3,000 ft.
high, to west. We then passed over Barking level, Dagen-
ham Marsh, Rainham Marshes, which were remarkable for
innumerable dykes, and moved due west, or directly to-
ward the sea, as before, All this time Mr. Coxwell watched
carefully the lower clouds; their motion was at right angles
to our own. Before we reached the sea ho opened the valve.
The sun was shining brightly on the balloon, expanding
the gas rapidly, so that he had to part with many thousand
feet of gas before the balloon took a downward motion.rr ,
descending to 3,000 ft. we fell in with the S.W.dcuentinland
and at 1,500 ft. we met with the S. currentl p
nearly over Langdon Hill, near Great Bursted, passed
the wood known as Forty Acres. Being at this
ttoimweLs,ooothfte.
high, we turned to move westward, or
oagainr
sea, and descended at South Hanningelduast. Within the
4h. lm., hav-
ing travelled about 40 miles in the t:v
same interval, at the Royal Observatory,o fi
h Greenwich, the
horizontal movement of the airt vas 15 miles.
earefore remarkable ; up to
The currents of air `mere h
1,500 feet it was nearly sou between this and 3,000 feet
it was and due W. at heights exceeding this, and for
clouds, which were fully three or
four miles higher, as the.
miles high, moved towards the east.
The temperature of the air on leaving was 52 deg. ; was
35 deg. from 3,500 feet to 4,500 feet, chiefly in cloud, and
rose to 39 deg. above the clouds at the height of ono mile.
These variations were beautifully followed. by an exceed-
ingly sensitive thermometer, with a corkscrew-like bulb,
made by Mr. John Browning, of 179, Stiand.

We passed through several clouds; some were approach-
ing saturation, the temperature of the air and that of the
dew-point being nearly alike, others were less damp. When
out of cloild the air was dry, and to the senses much warmer
than the difference between the thermometer readings in-

On SaturB dUalye
iImDmE e
nOs Fe e
xTc
eEm
eMn it a lw Da
sEeRr
eEa St
eSd.
through-
out the neighbourhood of Hackney and Dalston in conse-
quence
of a rumour that a dreadful tragedy had taken place
in a villa in the Nightingale-road, Hackney. Upon insti-
tuting inquiries the following were ascertained to be the
facts. For some time past a gas-fitter and bell-hanger, of
the name of Henry Carmichael, has been engaged in fitting
up a row of newly-built houses, called Nightingale-villas,
situated in the Nightingale-road, Hackney. The man and
his family, consisting of his wife and nephew, were allowed
to live in No. 3of the villas. The villa in question was a
large empty house. It is stated that for some time past the
wretched woman, Elizabeth Cat-Michael, who murdered
her unfortunate nephew, has been subject to fits of religious
fanaticism. She was very desponding, and, as her husband
expressed it, "often sulked." On Friday morning at half_
past eight o'clock the husband got up and left his wife
Elizabeth Carmichael, aged 41 years, and her nephew, a
boy named Henry Smith, aged 10 years, lying on a bed,
which had been laid in the corner of the first-floor back
room. He went downstairs, lit the fire, and prepared
breakfast. He then brought his wife and her nephew their
breakfast upstairs. Much to his surprise he found the door
locked. He knocked, but received no answer. He thought,
he stated, that his wife was sulking. The husband then
went to attend to his bell-hanging in the other houses until
dinner time, and he then brought his wife up her dinner,
but, upon knocking, he again received no answer. At tea
time he again brought her up her tea, but his knocking
elicited no remark from his wife. At half-past seven
o'clock in the evening he, for the fourth time, went to his
wife's room, and no notice being taken of his knocks, he
said, "I tell you what it is, I'll have no more
of your sulking. If you do not open the door
or answer, I shall send for the police, and have
the door burst in." He then burst open the door
with his shoulder, and was horrified in discovering the
dead body of the boy lying across the bed with his head
thrown back, and a fearful gash in his throat. He then
turned to his wife, and said, " Aunt, aunt, what have you
done ?" She gave a moan, and pointed to the dead body of
her nephew. There was a dreadful cut across her throat,
severing the windpipe. Dr. Charles Welsh was instantly
sent for. Upon the arrival of the police, Inspector Morris,
of the N division, had her removed to the German Hospital.
On Saturday afternoon, at one, she was partly sensible, but
unable to speak. When asked if she wished to make any
statement she wrote the word "No."

Large crowds of persons yesterday proceeded to the
locality in question to view the scene of the murder. The
house which the Carmichael family had temporarily charge
of is a genteel, newly-built villa residence, at a rental of
£4O or £5O a year. A respectable family, it is stated, were
to have occupied it as tenants within a few hours after the
time at which the murder was discovered.

The murdered boy, Henry Joseph Smith, was the son of
parents who reside in the country, and he was adopted by
Henry Carmichael and his wife, who had no children of
their own. The family are said to have been for some time
past in considerable poverty. The only furniture in the
room which they occupied in Np. 3, Nightingale-villas,
consisted of an old press bedstead, apparently too ricketty
for use, as it was stowed away in a corner, and a flock bed
laid on the floor, and upon which the three persons slept.
There were neither chairs, tables, nor other furniture in
the room. Under theie circumstances the despondency
and religious monomania of the miserable woman, Eliza-
beth Carmichael, naturally increased, and it is said that
she more than once threatened to destroy her husband's
life as well as her own, but unfortunately due heed was
not given to the indication of the growth of a homicidal
tendency, her husband attributing everything to sulks and
ill-temper.

It appears from the statements of the medical gentlemen
who have been called in that the unfortunate boy must
have been murdered for same hours before his murderess
atteinpted to commit suicide. Dr. Charles Welch, who was
called to see the boy immediately after the discovery, was
of opinion that death must have taken place at least two
hours previously. At the German Hospital Dr. Beaumber
examined the woman, and found her windpipe cut through.
There appears to be every reason to believe that if the
wound had been inflicted two or three hours before, death
must have inevitably taken place before her husband burst
into the room.

When the police entered the room where the occurrence
took place they found the floor stained with marks of bloody
feet in every direction; the woman was undressed and partly
reclining against the wall. She was sensible, but was too
weak from loss of blood to do more than to point to the
body of the murdered child that lay beside her. Next the
corpse, on the bed, was found a large brown handled table-
knife, covered with blood. It presented indications of
haying been recently sharpened, no doubt for the perpetra-
tion of the horrible deed. The sharpened edge appeared
to have been turned by the use to which it was put. It is
supposed that the wretched woman had concealed the knife
on the previous night, and that she had it in her possession
in the bed in readiness for the accomplishment of her dread-
ful purpose. It is certain that the knife was not found by
her accidentally in the room.
Last evening (Sunday) our reporter was informed by Dr.
Beaumber that the wretched murderess was in no immediate
danger of death.

The late Fatal Catastrophe in Erith Reach.

On Saturday afternoon Mr. Carttar, the coroner for Kent
opened an inquiry at the Pier Hotel, Erith, on view of the
body of John Newman Harrison, aged 13, one of the ten
naval cadets who were drowned by the upsetting of a boat
belonging to the Worcester training ship.
Mr. Bullivant, the hon. secretary, and Captain Whether
the master of the school, attended to watch the proceed-
ings.
The Coroner, in Opening the inquiry, briefly adverted to
the melancholy occurrence. The school on board the Wor-
cester was established for the education of youths to serve
as officers in the mercantile marine, and it was necessary
for their education in the profession that they should be
exercised both in the sailing and rowing of boats, and
which was attended more or less with a certain amount of
risk. He was informed that they also were instructed in
the art of swimming. The institution was managed by a
committee of gentlemen whom he understood took every
care to ensure the safety of the youths placed at a
thet school.theend
He trusted that would be found to bethe case
of the inquiry. On the present occasion he did not pro-
the identity of the lad they had sen,
pose to go further into the matter than
tnodtaktheenetveidnednjecenronf
e
hi ach time some of the
the proceedings for seven days, y
other.
Btil
bodies of
t, hethtelandsen. niisgehertebetabryre:vcsoaviderietdw.as the desire
Mr
son. joined He
o f
Thetheßev.committee John
rtihs
ee rne,
the shouldv ie
abre
et
fh e
rt
ef
gl
ne
ts
et i
tnhqeunir .
e -
posed
the
vd tohr ae
et
ste ther
tn deceasedjsn n
aryl a 41,
IwB6a4s. his second
he did not wish to press any poit re
in respect to the melan-
In answer to the coroner, then v. gentleman stated that
choly event. It was beyond the power of man to avert.
He believed every care was taken with the boys.
A Juryman inquired whether in the event of any of the
bodies being found in another part of the river there would
be any difficulty in bringing them to Erith.
The Coroner thought not, unless they were really
landed.
The investigation was then adjourned for a week.
A visiting committee of the school instituted an inquiry
on Friday on board the ship, but nothing conclusive could
be elicited as to the upsetting of the boat. It is stated that
the boys were quietly seated in the boat, and the sail was
lowered, when she went over. It is alleged that there
were two or three fearful gusts of wind from the north-
west ; but considering the size of the boat, it is difficult to
imagine how they could have had such effect upon the
craft as to capsize it.
Amongst other things it is conjectured that she might
have struck some hidden obstruction, and it has been sup-
posed that the boat might in some way have fouled the
piles which have been driven in the river in forming the
wall of the pumping station, at the southern outfall of the
main drainage works at Crossness. The catastrophe, how-
ever, is stated to have happened in mid-stream, more to-
wards the Essex shore, and the boat does not bear any
mark of being stove or coming in contact with any obstruc•
tion of this kind.

The quotation of gold at Paris is about 1 per mile pm., and
the short exchange on London is 25.15 per £1 sterling. On
comparing these rates with the English Mint price of £3
17s. Nil per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is
about 2-10ths per cent. dearer in Paris than in London.

LIFEBOAT SERVICES.—During the storms
of the past year 1864 the boats of the National Lifeboat
Institution have saved 432 persons from different wrecks on
our coasts, The Institution also expended £19,551 14s. sd.
in the same periud on lifeboat establishments, in addition to
granting £1,569 as rewards for saving 693 shipwrecked per-
sdns by its lifeboats, and other means.
The Committee of the Institution earnestly A PPEAL to
the public for ASSISTANCE to enable them to meet the
continued heavy demands on the Institution's 110 lifeboat
establishments.
Contributions are received by Messrs Willis and Co..
Berries and Co., Coutts and Co., and by all the L' ndon and
country bankers ; and by the Secretary, Richard Lewis, Esq.
at the Institution, 14, John-street, Adelphi.

ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA, COVENT-
GARDEN.
(Opera Company, Limited.)
PRODUCTION OF GOUNOD'S MOCK DOCTOR.
THIS EVENIN4 the Opera of TUE nocK DOCTOR
(the Englishb'y Char.es ennr. Principal characters
by Mesdames Poole, Thirlwall, and r army litiddart; Messrs.
henry Haigh, A. Cook, C. Ly.til, Dut±s,it, and U
Corri.

Condurtor,Mr. A. MELLON.
Alter which, the Grand and highly successful rantomiTT
acces ,
Clv DERELLA. Magnificent Scenery and gorgeous
sories.

Commence at Seven•

THEATR E-R 0 Y AL, DRURY-LANE,
Managers, Messrs. E. Falconer and F. B. Chatterton.
THIS EVENING, a New Farce, GOING TO THE DOGS.
Atier which, CYABH:LINrstE.
on Messrs.
Walter Lacy, E. neve
es Anderson,
Walter Montgomery, H. Ma, ;
Miss Atkinson and Miss Helen Fancit.
Concluding with the Opening of the Pantomime, HOP 0'
MY THUMBAND HIS EL n.VEN BROTHERS ; or, the
bliss Lydia Thompson, dm. Ogre of the Seven-League Boots ; terminating with the
Grand Transformation Scene :

THEATR E-R YA L, HAYMARKET.
Lessee. Mr. Buckstone.
THIS EVENING, THREE WEEKS AFTER MAR-
RIAGE. Mr. W. Farren ; Miss Nelly Moore, &c.
To be followe i by DAVID GARRICK. Messrs.
Chippendale, Sothern, Bnckstone, Rogers, Clark, Coe, Wea-
thersby, &a ; Mesdames Moore, Snowdon, Fitzwilliam, &c.
After which, LORD DUNDREARY MARRIED AND
DONE FOR. Messrs. Sothern, Backstone, Braid, Gordon,
Clark, White, Coe, Weathersby, &c. ; Mesdames Snowdon,
Hill, &c
With PRINCESS SPRINGTIME. Mr. Compton, Miss L.
Keeley.