The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-20 00:00:00

THE sum LOND]►ON, MONDAY Fivtl**,T, OCTOBER 20, 1862.

all those nervous gentlemen (!) in our midst who
have aspired to win the highest distinction as ske-
daddiers. These names were obtained by General
Anthon with no little trouble, but his mode of
operations in procuring them worked so well and
thoroughly that he is confident no man in the city
has escaped the notice of the enrolment officer.
Among the curiosities of the war this list of ske-
daddlers must rank among the greatest.

" The enforcement of the draft was commenced
at Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday 'last, by filling up
the quota of the 6th ward of that city by conscrip-
tion. Some 680 names were placed in a ballot-box
and 64 drawn therefrom. Nine persons were
arrested for riotous conduct during the progress of
the draft, and locked up in the city gaol."

The New York Stock Market on the Bth con-
tinued active, and prices generally showed a further
advance. The latest prices were :—United States
Sixes, 841 ; Panama Shares, 146 ; Erie Shares, 581 ;
Reading Shares, 79 ; Michigan Central, 87,1 ; New
York Central, 1042 ; ditto, Sixes, 108; Illinois
Central Bonds, 106.

Money was active, but abundant,at 4 to 5 per cent.
Sterling exchange sold at 137 to 1371 but at the
close was held for 138.

Gold 241 prem.

WE NAVY.

The Agamemnon, 86, screw, Capt. Thos. Hope,
was paid out of commission at Portsmouth on Satur-
day, and hauled down her pennant at sunset.

The Royal Sovereign shield ship, at Portsmouth,
has had the number of hands employed upon her
conversion increased,and consequently a correspond-
ing advance in the work is daily visible. All her
short beams,which give the form to her sloping upper
deck from the crowns of the towers, are now in
their places, and several of the iron knees, which
hold them internally to the ship's side, are also fixed.
The massive timber beds on which her revolving
towers will work are nearly complete in the adjoin-
ing mast shed, and will shortly be removed and fixed
to the ship's deck in readiness to receive the towers,
gun carriages, and shield armour. The delay at pre-
sent existing is owing entirely to the non-comple-
tion of the erection of the workshops and machinery
for preparing the side armour-plates, and the non-
delivery of the iron plating for the sloping deck
and other iron work which is being supplied by
contract from private firms. No delay of this kind
has, however, occurred in the deliver y of the side
armour-plates from the Atlas Works, Sheffield,
plenty of which are waiting to be prepared for affix-
ing to the ship's side. This armour will be 5-4-in. in
thickness, and will have a backing of 2ft. llin. of
timber. The armour-plating here will be about 12ft.
in depth, being four rows of plates fixed longitudi-
nally, and the ship is estimated to carry them sft.
below and 7ft. above the water line. From the upper
edge of this plating the sloping upper deck extends
to the crowns of her towers, with a rise of abort 2ft
in 20ft. The contract for the plates for her shield
armour has been given by the Admiralty to Mr.
Cheney, at the rate of £5O per ton. The shields in
rear of the guns will be protected by single plates,
but in front of the shields—i.e. in the vicinity of the
port-holes—the thickness of the protecting •plates
will be 10in. This armour all round the shields will
be supported by 19in. of timber and 10-inch I-
shaped iron ribs. Armstrong 150-pounders, such as
the one tested against the famous Warrior target,
will, according to existing arrangements, form the
ship's armament. Her four towers are not of equal
dimensions. The Admiralty had decided upon giving
her four towers of a less diameter than was thought
by Capt. Coles to be advisable when consideration is
taken of the steady and continuous increase being
made in the weight and calibre of artillery, and he ac-
cordingly laid his views on the subject before their
Lordships, who so far acquiesced in them as to order
the construction of one tower of the dimensions sug-
gested by Capt. Coles, but retaining the original
dimensions of the remaining three. The Royal
Sovereign is a complete innovation upon our hither-
to conceived notions of what a war steamship really
should be.‘-She has been constructedwith the special
purpose of carrying and working ordnance at sea
such as could not be carried or worked under any
circumstance by any other form of vessel. The ob-
ject is so important that no time should be lost in
getting her afloat, so as to fully ascertain what her
capabilities really are on every possible point con-
nected with her efficiency as a man-of-war.
The repairs of the iron troopship Adventure, at
Woolwich, were on Saturday ordered to be com-
pleted by working overtime, in order to her being
taken out of dock by the high tide this morning.
The workmen engaged in recoating the interior, now
thoroughly repaired with Day's cement, were ac-
cordingly employed throughout the whole of Satur-
day night. Upon examining the bottom plates and
rivet heads the cement was found as good as when
first laid on, notwithstanding the force with which
the Adventure had struck on the rocks, carrying
away no less than six tons of metal from her stem.
As stated in the official report to the Board of Ad-
miralty, " not a single crack was seen, and, conse-
quently, no rust or corrosion was found in any part
of the vessel." The Adventure is again ready for
sea, and will go down to Greenhithe in a few days,
to be swung for deviation of her compasses, prepa-
ratory to her departure on the Ist proximo for the
West Indies with Royal Artillery troops.
The Megmra, screw troopship, Commander Hen-
derson, arrived at Spithead on Saturday morning
from Q uebec, with the sth battery 7th brigade of
Royal Artillery on board, under the command of
Lieut.-Col. D. W. Paynter,C.B., and about 40 time-
expired men and invalids, and 70 women and chil-
dren belonging to various regiments serving in
Canada. The Megmra arrived at St. John's, New-
foundland, on the sth inst. from Quebec, and sailed
again for England on the 7th. She had strong but
generally fair winds throughout the remainder of
the voyage home. After communicating with the
office of Vice-Admiral Sir H. W. Bruce, the Port-
Admiral at Portsmouth, the Megsera proceeded
from Spithead for Woolwich to disembark the
troops, and afterwards will, most probably, return
to Portsmouth to refit for further service.

Two hundred artisans and labourers, who had re-
ceived a week's notice of dismissal, were on Satur-
day discharged from the gun factories at Wool-
wich, and about the same number from the Royal
laboratories ; and a similar number, it is stated, will
be dismissed next Saturday.
An important and what promises to be a most
valuable invention for economising both time and
labour in the plating iron and armour-cased vessels,
the invention of Mr. Matherson, of Devonport dock-
yard,tme
di t tnepd to
n At
ihre. AdmiraltyHutchens, and
most one
of hhfeaavvoiunrg assistant-master-shipbuilders eyenr epsuorb
at Chatham
dockyard, who superintended the construction of the
Warrior, has been ordered to proceed to Devonport
for the purpose of examining it, in order to ascertain
whether it should be generally adopted in the Royal
dockyards. The machine, when screwed up to the
ship's bottom or side, takes an exact impress of the
mould for the armour plate. Another machine, also
invented by Mr. Matherson, bends the plates to
exact shape of the mould, within the fraction of an
inch—a degree of accuracy impossible to be obtained
under the present plan of shaping and bending the
armour plates.
The Leander, 51, 500-horse power, fitting for sea,
is ordered, when completed, to be place in the first
division of the Chatham steam reserve on the Med-
way. Several hundred shipwrights and other me-
chanics are employed on her in order that she may
be completed by the earliest possible date. Her
topmasts are on end, and she will be out of the
hands of the riggers during the present week.
A complete squadron of line-of-battle and other
steamers are now being brought forward at Chat-
ham and Sheerness for the steam reserve on the
Medway. The ships include the Conqueror (late
the Waterloo), 101, 800-horse power; the Anson,
89, 800-horse power ; the Leander, 51, 500-horse
power; the Terrible, 21, 800-horse power, paddle-
wheel steamer ; the Pylades, 21, 350-horse power ;
the Jaseur, 5, 250-horse power; and the Carnation,
2, 80-horse power. The whole of the above will be
fully equipped for sea, and placed in the first.elass
steam reserve, in readiness to proceed to sea within
a few days after receiving their respective crews.
The following appointments were made on Satur-
day at the Admiralty :—Gordon Jackson, assist.- ,