The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-26 00:00:00

Military Pastimes at Malta.

(From the _Yalta Times, Dec. 14.)
Yesterday morning Lieutenant and Adjutant
Hammersley and Lieutenant Swinny, of the Ist
battalion 22d. Regiment, were brought before the
magistrate, Dr. Vella, for assaulting, striking, and
causing bodily injuries to several police-officers, in
the night between the 7th and Bth inst., at half-past
1 o'clock, at Senglea, after having sent for the said
constables under false pretences.

Several witnesses, policemen and civilians, were
produced, from whose evidence it appeared that a
Maltese porter, who was passing the officers' quarters,
was requested by the above two gentlemen to fetch
them six policemen, without saying for what purpose
they were required, offering him at the same time a
dollar for his trouble, and keeping his cap as n
pledge. On four constables appearing at the corner
of the mess-house, they found Lieut. Swinny waiting
for them, attired in his trousers and shirt, who in-
quired of them why six policemen had not come. lie
then whistled, and Lieutenant Hammersley came
out, dressed in the same light attire. Lieutenant
S Ninny asked his companion if he was ready, and
received an affirmative reply. Both officers then
assumed a threatening attitude and clenched their
fists. The constables, now perceiving what was
intended, avoided a contest, two moving off in one
direction and two in another. The two who took the
direction towards Isola-gate were pursued, and one
of them was overtaken and knocked down by Lieut.
Swinny. The other continued his way to the station
at Cospicua to obtain assistance. Of the other two,
one returned to assist the constable who had been
struck, but was prevented from giving him assistance
by Lieutenant Hammersley. The fourth policeman
went to the Marina of Senglea for fresh constables.
In the meantime, the two policemen, who remained
on the spot, were knocked down several times by the
two officers and severely bruised. All this occurred
in the vicinity of the barrack-gate at Isola, where
there is a sentry posted, but who took no notice of
the shouts of the constables for the guard. A rein-
forcement of the police having arrived, Lieutenant
Swinny was seized and taken, after some resistance,
to the Marina of Senglea police station. Lieutenant
Hammersley was also seized, but on his shouting,
" Guard, turn out," several soldiers issued from the
barracks and rescued them. Early in the morning
Lieut. Swinny was temporarily released by the
orders of the adjutant of police, and summonses
were issued for the two officers to appear on Mon-
day, the 11th inst., at the magistrates' court, on the
above charges.

The magistrate patiently examined the whole
case, and remanded the prisoners, who were released
on parole till the following Wednesday, when they
again appeared at the bar and were sentenced to 3
months' imprisonment, and bound over to keep the
peace in a sum of £5O each, to be guaranteed by two
sureties each.

Railway Traffic Returns for the Week.

Miles Opened. Receipts.

Railways.

1865. 1861.
Belfast and N. Counties . 931
Belfast and County Down.... 44
Blyth and Tyne
Brecon and Merthyr
Bristol and Exeter l2ll
Caledonian, Scottish Central lOB
Cambrian l3O
Cockermouth K & Penrlth
Cockermouth and Workin
Cork and Bandon 2O
Cork, Blackrock, & Passage 6l
Cork and Youghal
Cornwall 65!
Deeside l7
Do Extension
Dublin & Deltas t J unction ... . 63
Dublin and Drogheda 75
Dublin and Meath
Dub. & Wicklow and Wextd lO6
Forth and Clyde Junction
Furness, &c 5O
Glasgow & South-Western
Gt. Eastern,Nrfk.,&E. Union
Great Northern 404
Great North of Scotland 5B
Do Branches 42
Gt. Norton. & Westn. (lrel.) 7ll
lt.Southn. & Westn.(lrlnd.) 3871
Great Western l2BO

1865 1864
2,( 31 1,669
563 549
2,559 1,951
1,251 821
6,419 6,386
27 286 24,891
2,124 1,745
298
419 262
396 326
147 1 6
44k 404
1,470 1,431
287 298
96 89
1,423 1.329
1,835 1.570
300 275
2,314 2,155
250 241
3,291 2,933
9,954 8,603
33.781 31,364
37,989 34,037
1,62) 1.609
1,186 1,135
5 g 416
8,767 7 53J
7.,4.29 67,614

121 k
408
121

Hull & Hornsea
Highland
Irish North-Western 145 145
Lancashire & Yorkshire la 403
Limerick and Ennis... 241 24,
Limerick and Foynes 26} 26}
t.laneliy 463 461
__. __

10!• 96
3,005 2,680
1,912 1,601
39,846 31,240
84 155
190 163
605 502

_..,wetly
Llynvi Valley
London & North-Western
London and Blackwall 5l 5% 1,821 1,709
London & South- Wostern
Lond. Brighton, &S. Coast 2931 2674 , 7,6.59 111,531
London, Chatham, & Dover; f 134 121 1 7,861 6.1,2
all Metropolitan Extension %12 116 ) 2,000 1,209
Do. Kent t oast
Lon., Tilbury, & Southend
Ilan.,Sheffield, & Lincolnsh
Manch. S.J un. & Altrineham 9l 9% 1,498 1,297
liaryport and Carlisle 2B 28 1,451 1,382
Metropolitan
Midland (incl. N.-Western) 6776 6514 49,674 46,420
Midland GL Westn. of Irind 2601 260% 4,751 4.56 2 '
Monmouthsh. Rail. & Canal 44 44 3,017 2,9661
North British, Edin., Perth
and Dundee
N-Eastern and Stock. & DarL 12061
North London ll
North Staffordshire 258
Pembroke and Tenby ll6
Rhymney ..
Scottish North-Eastern l3B
Somerset and Dorset 66
South Devon
South-Eastern 315
Taff Vale 6l

656}
11601

Ulster
Vale of Clwyd. . lO
Waterford and Kilkenny 3l
Waterford and Limerick 77
W'haven,Cleator,& Egrmnt lO
Whitehaven Junction l3
Whitehaven & Furness Jun 35
FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.
Austrian B2B
Bahia and San Francisco
Belgian Eastern ../ unction 263
Bombay, Baroda, & Cen. India 306
Detroit and Milwaukie lB9
Dutch Rhenish loB}
Eastern of France
_._

828
762
264
185 k

23,225 21,202
69,176 63 695
4,423 3,147
8,51 9.197
101 55
1, 54 g 66
3,518 6,096
1,060 828
3.741 3,593
20,831 19,932
5,624 5,310
2,927 2,513
322 147
470 453
1,297 1,193
643 565

Eastern Beng,al
East Indian
Grand Trunk of Canada 1377
Great Central of Belgium 285
Great Indian _Peninsula 590
Great Luxembourg 134
Great Southeen of India
Great Western of Canada 341.i
Madras
Madrid, Saragossa &Alicant
Northern of Canada ..... •• • 91
Northern of France 724
Norwegian Trunk
Ottoman
Paris, Lyons. & Mediterrn 2006
Paris and Orleans lB2l
Recife and San Francisco, &c 77}
Sande IGS
Do. Punjab, &c 253
South Austrian, &c 1658
Southern of France 663
Victoria
Welland. 25
West & Li- Wn. of France

108 f

47,839 37,648

_
348 314
7,4C8 2,836
7,698 6,364
5,7:. 0 5,236
74,723 66,0471

1483
110
1105 41,701 25,625
1335 31,832 25,466
261 6,108 5,728
553 24,8t6 14,472
134 6,101 1,561
79 739 512
315 14,718 12,367
533 10, lt 3 6,392
713 18,947 17,290
91 1,,,93 1,144
724 6 ,455 58,018
44 893 1,059
1 771 637
19748147,164 131,667
1618 77,349 63,411
774 996 699
105 1,828 2,298
45 1,391 323
1527 61,838 56,463
823 32,233 29,166
196 11,828 8.237

25
1016

1,430 240:
5 ,906 10,0724

Letter from Mrs. Lincoln.

Mr. Carpenter, the artist, who has been publishing in
the Independent his personal recollections of President
Lincoln, gives in his last contribution the following extract
of a letter from Mrs. Lincoln :

"Truly," writes Mrs. Lincoln, "no sorrow has been
like unto mine. lam as broken-hearted over this over-
whelming affliction as when the terrible tragedy first oc-
curred, and, of course, realise it far more. I have lost the
most loving and devoted of husbands, and my dear boys
the bast father that sons were ever blessed with. ' Until
God's love shall place me by his side again,' I shall know
no peace, or alleviation of my grief. Knowing him as you
did, I am sure you can pardon and appreciate a wife's great
sorrow over so untimely a loss.
* *

"How I wish you could have been with my dear hus-
band the last three weeks of his life. Having a realising
sense that the unnatural rebellion was near its close, and
beity, most of the time away from Washington, where he
had passed through such conflicts of mind during the last
four years —feeling so encouraged, he freely gave vent to
his cheerfulness. Down the Potomac, he was almost
boyish in his mirth, and reminded me of his original
nature, as I remembered him in our own home, free from
care, surrounded by those he loved.
" That, terrible Friday, I never saw him so supre-
mely cheerful. His manner was even playful. At three
o'clock he drove cut with me in the open carriage. In
starting, I asked him if any one should accompany us ?
He immediately replied No, I prefer to ride by our-
selves to-day.' During the drive he was so gay that I
said to him, laughingly, 'Dear husband, you almost startle
me by your great cheerfulness.' He replied, ' And well
may I feel so, Mary, for I consider this day the war has
come to a close,' and then added, We must both be more
cheerful in the future. Between the war and the loss of
our darling Willie we have been very miserable.' Every
word he then uttered is deeply engraved on my poor,
broken heart. In the evening his mind was fixed upon
having some relaxation.

" I firmly believe that if he had remained in the White
'louse on that night of darkness, when the fiends pre-
vailed, he would have been horribly cut to pieces. Those
fiends had too long contemplated this inhuman murder to
have allowed hint to escape."

SUICIDE OF A SEA CAPTAIN.—On Saturday an
inquest was held in High-street, Whitechapel, on
the body of Captain William Sandey, aged 50 years. On
Tuesday deceased was found lying on the floor of his
bedroom, in a coffee-house in High-street, his throat dread-
fully cut, and quite dead. For some days previously he
had manifested signs of insanity, consequent, it was
thought, on heavy losses in speculation. The jury returned
a verdict of suicide while of unsound mind.

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

The Metropolitan Board of Works have just issued
a report of their annual proceedings, which is com-
prised in two elaborate folio volumes, containing
respectively 20 and 142 pages of rather closely-
printed matter, tabular statements of receipts and
expenditure, descriptions of work finished and pro-
jected, and an appendix of the numerous acts of
Parliament which they have obtained, and are on
the eve of obtaining for the improvement of the me-
tropolis. Some of these works are of a stupendous
character, and the sums expended upon them are of
a corresponding magnitude, amounting to several
millions of money. We have, however, only space
to notice one or two of the leading undertakings of
the board, which, to its credit be it said, works
energetically to carry out the various projects it has
resolutely taken in hand.
The great feature of the report is the statement
relative to the Thames Embankment and the pro-

press made towards the completion of that noble

and gigantic work. The work comprises the for-

mation of a solid embankment from the Middlesex

side of Westminster-bridge to the eastern boundary

of the Inner Temple, and from thence on a viaduct
to the western side of Blackfriar's-bridge. The

works from Westminster-bridge to the boundary of
the Inner Temple have been let in two contracts.
The first contract comprises the formation of a gra-
nite-faced river wall, about 3,740 ft. in length, with

a portion of the low-level sewer and subway in con- '
nection therewith ; the extension of several of the
main outlets to discharge into that sewer ; the con-
struction of about 3,200 ft. of brick sewer for the
interception of the smaller sewers and drains hither-
to discharging in the foreshore, ands he formation of
new and commodious steamboat pers and landing
places, in lieu of those interfered with by the em-
bankment. Up to this date about 263,000 cubic yards
of material have been supplied for filling-in pur-
poses. The works were undertaken by Mr. G. Fur-
ness for the sum of £520,000, and the approximate
value of the materials and plant supplied and of the
work done to the present time is £1.70,584 ; of this

amount about £133,000 is due to the progressmade
since the last annual report.

The second contract embraces the formation of
1,970 feet of granite-faced river wall, with a portion
of the low level sewer and subway, in continuation
of the -works included in the first contract, the ex-
tension of sewer outlets to discharge into the low
level sewer ; the construction of about 2,440 feet of
brick sewer for the interception of the smaller sewers
and drains discharging on the foreshore, and the
foundation of a new steambeat pier and landing
stairs, in lieu of the Temple-pier, interfered with by
the embankment. About 200,000 cubic yards of
material have been supplied for filling in under the
contract up to the present time. The contract was
let to Mr. A. W. Ritson for the sum of £229,000,
and up to this date the approximate value of the
materials and plant supplied and work executed is
£126,726, £lOO,OOO being in respect of the progress
made during the past year. The contract for the
remaining length, about 900 ft., of the embankment,
from the Inner Temple to Blackfriars-bridge, has
not yet been let, in consequence of the imperfect
nature of the information which the Board have
been able to obtain as to the intentions of the
Metropolitan District (inner circle) Railway
Company, relative to the construction of the por-
tion of their line between those points, it being
proposed by the company's act of 1864 to carry
a line of railway along the entire length of
the embankment (for which compensation is
to be paid to the board of a minimum sum of
£200,000) at such a level as would require a solid
embankment in front of the City Gas Company's
premises for the protection of the railway works,
and to authorise the board to continue the road-
way on the embankment from the Temple Gardens
to Blackfriars-bridge, of a width of 100 ft. instead
of 70ft., as provided by the Thames Embankment
Aet, 1862. The board have communicated with
the company, urging them to carry out this
portion of their undertaking ; but the matter still
remains in abeyance. They have, however, re-
cently, at the request of the company, placed
their engineer in communication with the
company's engineer, which may result in a settle-
ment of the question, and enable the works for the
remaining part of the embankment to be shortly
submitted to competition ; but should much further
delay occur in settling the details on the part of the
company, the board have reason to fear that this
part of the embankinent will not be completed for
the use of the public simultaneously with the other
portion. The board have had to acquire various
properties to enable them to carry out the works.
The freehold and leasehold clairnsreceived amounted
in the aggregate to £252,573 lls. ld., and they
have been settled at £176,320 15s.
The act authorises the board to form street ap-
proaches to the embankment—one to communicate
with Surrey, Norfolk, and Arundel streets, and
another with Wellington-street, Waterloo-bridge ;
also several short streets communicating with
Villiers-street, Buckingham-street, and Cecil-street,
and a new street from near George-street, Adeiphi,
to terminate by a junction with the east end of White-
hall-place, and another from the embankment at
Whitehall stairs to Whitehall, opposite the Horse
Guards. These approaches were recommended by.
the Royal Commission of 1861 ; but from the con-
sideration which the board have already given to the
subject it is quite apparent to them that, to enable
the public to participate to the fullest extent in the
advantages of the embankment roadway, increased
facilities of access thereto beyond those alluded to
must be provided, and that it will'be necessary
to deviate very considerably from the plans above
described. The board entertain the hope that the
matter will be sufficiently advanced to enable them
to apply to Parliament early next session for the
requisite powers to construct approaches.
THAMES EMBANKMENT, SOUTH.

The works for the embankment of the southern
side of the Thames consist of the formation of a
solid embankment from Westminster-bridge to
Gun Ilouse-alley, near Vauxhall-bridge, the re-
moval of a number of low-class dilapidated build-
ings ; the formation of a roadway along the em- ,
bankment, of an average width of 60ft'7 between
Gun-hoase-alley and Lambeth Suspension-bridge ;
the improvement of the river opposite Millbank
Penitentiary, and the formation of new streets in
connection with the same. In addition to these
works it is proposed to improve the approaches to
Palace New-road, to widen and improve a portion
of Stangate and Palace New-road, from Stangate
to Crozier-street, and to stop up portions of the
latter thoroughfares, appropriating to the general
improvement the portions of such streets stopped
up. The contract for the embankment and works
has recently been let to Mr. William Webster, for
the sum of £309,000, and the works will be rapidly
pushed forward.

NEW STREET FROM BLACKFRIARS TO THE MANSION

110 USE.

The board state that in the line of Garrick-street

In continuation of the roadway on the northern
embankment the board are proceeding with the con-
struction of this new line of thoroughfare, which
will commence at the termination of the embank-
ment at Blackfriars-bridge, and pass through Earl-
street, across St. Andrew's-hill, Addle-hill, Ben-
nett's-hill, and Peter's-hill to Cannon-street, and
thence to the Mansion-house. The street will be
3,450 feet long, and of an average width of 70 feet,
and a subway for the reception of gas and water
pipes, Bcc., similar to that in the embankment, will
constructed threughout its entire length. During
the past year the board have been actively engaged
in acquiring the various properties needed for this
improvement, and they have dealt with claims,
amounting in the aggregate to £327,590 Bs. 11d.,
for a bum of £288,991 10s. 6d. Arrangements have
also been effected by some of the parties interested
in property in the line of the street for the sale to
them of buildings sites, as a set-off against their
claims. The funds for defraying the cost of the
northern and souihern embankments of the river
and the new street are to be provided by means of
the coal and wine duties. The sums received and
expended by the board on account of these works,
up to the 25th of March last, are as follows :
Receipts £714,554 2 4
Expenditure ...
Balance in hand