The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-26 00:00:00

THE CALCUTTA AND CHINA MAILS,

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation
Company have received the following telegram:—
" MARSEILLES, Nov. 25.—The Valetta, with the
above mails, arrived this day at 5.20 p.m. The
mails leave for London by the 10.30 p.m. train."

EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE AGAINST A

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MINISTER.

For some time the Presbytery of Dornoch have
been engaged in prosecuting the Rev. Mr. Mackel-
lar, of Clyne, for various acts unbecoming a minister.
The Northern Ensign says :—The libel is of great
length, and its head and front are as follows :—lt
charges Mr. Mackellar with singing or repeating
a lewd or indecent song, or part thereof, and with
telling or repeating a lewd end indecent story
in the hearing of some servant girls in Hill's Hotel,
Golspie, on the evening of 11th April last (the song
and story being quite unfit for publication), and
also with conducting himself, on the evening of
Saturday, the 3d of May last, in a riotous and
disorderly manner, by shouting, bawling, and
making a great noise, and furiously and violently
ringing the door bell of the hotel, and with vio-
lently and furiously kicking and striking against
the door with his feet, and with breaking
several panes of glass and part of the wood-
work of a window in the hotel, to the
great terror and alarm of the inmates ; and also
with threatening to knock down a policeman, and
o knock his head into jelly; of using certain pro-
'ane and blasphemous language to the said police-

man, to the effect that he would yet be roasting on
the branders of hell ; with making certain allusions
of an indecent kind, not fit for publication, and of
saying to the policeman and some other persons
there at the time, that as for himself his salvation
was secured, and that if at the day of judgment
they would take hold of his coat tails he would
smuggle them into the kingdom of glory.
Mr. Mackellar was cited to appear before the
Presbytery on Tuesday, the 4th curt. He appeared
accordingly, along with Mr. Robert Ross, writer in
Dornoch, and the libel having been found relevant,
Mr. Mackellar requested leave to give in a written
statement or explanation, which he did on the fol-
lowing day; but the Presbytery having found the
statement unsatisfactory, after dealing with him
with a view to confession, they resolved to pro.
teed to proof, and appointed the same to take
place on Monday, the 10th current. One witness,
whose evidence was considered important, did not
attend, and the Presbytery adjourned till a future
day in order to take his deposition. It is under-
stood that the Presbytery have no further evi-
dence, excepting that of this witness, to lead
against him.

The specie to be taken by the Bombay mail
steamer Massilia, on the 27th, amounts to £459,248,
of which £1,500 in gold is for Alesane.ria, and the
remainder, £48,198 in gold and £409,550 in silver,

is for Bombay.
MAKING MONEY.—In some " Gossip from Rich-
mond," a transatlantic paper states that the dollar and two -
dollar notes of the Confederate States are all signed by
young ladies, of whom many are beautiful and accomplished
girls—ornaments of the society of capital. Several are
young widows or orphans of those who have lost their lives
in battle, and a preference is given to these in all appoint-
ments. They are engaged by the Treasury Department at
600 dots. a year, but the salary is about to be raised 60 per
cent. Each clerk has to sign 2,000 notes a day.

A serious fire, involving destruction of property
to the abount of about £lO,OOO, occurred on Saturday night,
at Messrs. Brown and Co.'s distillery, at Dundalk. One of
the soldiers called out to assist in extinguishing the fire has
died, while three others are seriously ill, from having drank
fusel oil, mistaking it for whisky.
AN OLD TRAFALGAR MAN.—There is now serving
on board the Peninsular and Oriental steamer Ceylon, a
fine old sailor named Cracker, who entered the Royal Navy
in 1800. He fought under Nelson at Copenhagen, in the
frigate Ariadne and on board the Mars, 74, at Trafalgar,
where he was wounded in the leg. Ninety-seven of his
comrades were killed outright in this action, besides those
who died afterwards of their wounds. He subsequently
served at Genoa, Flushing, and Gaeta, and was present at
the taking of many prizes and minor engagements on the
sea. On board his present ship he bears an excellent cha-
racter, and what is remarkable is that, though 77 years of
age, he is one of the best look-out men in the ship. Our
captain, Evans, has some time since kindly given directions
which exempt him from going aloft. The old man left
the Royal Navy in 1835 and has since enjoyed a pension of
ls. a-day. He has a wife who is 63 years old, and four
children living out of 12. I believe he is the only existing
instance of a first-class powder boy of Trafalgar (October
21, 1805) still serving as an able seaman in 1862.
Cracker states that he distinctly recollects Lard Nelson,
paying ti equent visits to the Mars, then commanded by his
old friend Captain Duff, and that he often praised the crow
for their discipline and efficiency. He adds that the French
began the action with great pluck, but says that after three
quarters of an hour they did not appear to keep to their
work. Cracker's gun was No. 13.
STEEL 3130.T.--*The 3a .et Cuurniittee of Or

nance, as well as the Iron Plate Committee, have now
under consideration the advisability of adopting " steel
shot alloyed with silver (the 1-300th part). This alloy pro-
duces the very hardest description of steel, which it is said
will penetrate any amount of iron or backing a ship can be
made to carry with vire viva. The inventor states that
steel shot, alloyed with this portion of silver, will not be
more expense, as a much lighter shot will be used.—

ffechanles' Magazine.
ALARMING FIRE IN EASTCHEAP, CITY (THIS
DAY).—This morning, between the hours of five and six
o'clock, a very alarming fire happened in the premises be.
longing to Mr. Wm. Leask, a fruit dealer, No. 14, East-
cheap. The fire commenced in one of the upper rooms, but
the cause is unknown. The inmates happily succeeded
in effecting a safe retreat. A good supply of water having
been obtained for the engines, the flames were speedily
extinguished.
BYGONE BOYS AT THE PLAY.-1 am rather
sorry—remembering ' myself the fag-end of this state of
theatrical affairs—for the youth of the present day ; being
convinced that they have no enjoyment, and certainly no
excitement equal to the joys of the Legitimate Drama, as
seen from the pit. A well-conditioned boy living in the
days of legitimacy, and going early to the pit, was the boy
for my money, and could decline the verb " to enjoy" in
all its moods and tenses. You knew where you were in
those days, and what you had to expect. As you sat
and listened to the first act, and took in the introductory
dialogue between Ist Gent. and 2d Gent., what rapture you
got, independent of that which you derived from the resem-
blance of the " Gents." in question to the character-figures
you had been painting and spangling under the lid of your
desk at school—what a distinct rapture you got, from the
thought that every word of their dialogue was bringing the
moment nearer when the hero of the night would appear,
responsive to the cue, " But who comes here ?" How you
criticised—if admiring may be called criticising—all the
hero's appointments, and his glorious stage costume. It
was much more exciting, that same costume, and certainly
better adapted to subsequent tinselling, than after it became
so confoundedly correct. To this day I prefer a short cloak
and stage boots to any other dress, and would not give two
pence for Richard the Third without his ringlets. •
miserable that these things are over, and sometimes one
gets quite indignant about it, and inclined to cry out to this
detestably enlightened age, " Doest thou think that because
thou art" well informed "there shall be no more "tights
and spangles ? Oh I Ist and 2d Gents. I—oh, Ist, 2d, ay,
and even 3d Murderers I—oh, Citizens of the Forum, obtuse
Countrymen, uncorrupted Peasants, simple Shepherdesses
—I loved y all I Shall I see you then no more 2—All the
Year Round,
INTELLIGIBLE DEEDS.—But what is the new re-
gistration ? How far is it to replace the old machinery,
which it is not designed wholly to supersede ? When in the
registry one map shows the length and breadth of a piece of
land, while another exhibits the family-tree of persons
owning shares in and drawing incomes from it, and a third
shows the names of those who must be bought off before
incumbrauces are cleared ; then, when the squire wishes
to mortgage, or the peer to buy—lands, owners, creditors
and all, are set forth at once at the land office. There is
no more need of inquiries or of costly searches. The
death of the right Mr. Smith, in Labrador, was proved
to the registrar before Mr. Smith's successor was set down
as owner in his book. The deeds that carelessness might
lose, or accident destroy, were perishable; the land certifi-
cate has now taken their place, and printed copies may prove
their contents. For the registry does not abolish deeds, it
only shortens them. The general reader, being omnivor-
ous, may perhaps have attempted the perusal of some dusty
e
titled deed. The names of parties at the outset haveti m
cipates
interest for him. He remembers the names, and a
the story of their dealings with each other. But
he forthwith enters upon a long,dreary this passed
desert of
wide,
and and
among which he
written lines, interminable, dazzling, az z 1
the end of every yard
cannot fail to lose hie way a
es in the desert are the mystic
words, And Whereas, at which the 11
least
long sentence. The only ca.-.
ade
traveller may rest on his
way, until his fate
overtaking him at l ast he is swallowed
up alive in a great dust-storm. This will be at the recitals,
hateful to
the profane, joy and solace of the legal soul. In
them is set forth the history of what has been done with the
paternal acres of the last half century. The births, mar-
riagee, and deaths; the mortgages, settlements, and wills;
all the de capo of life is there repeated and recorded. Hence-
forth, says our registrar, I will save men out of this. The
recitals shall be my book, your deeds shall contain but the
names of parties, and the mystic words of contract. Your
deeds shall be intelligible, I will give you printed copies of
them. Landowners henceforth, on rai •ny days, reclining in
their arm chairs in their libraries, shall reach down from
their shelves their bound and printed deeds, and, with an ex-
tract from my, book, and printed plan frem my estate, master
what hitherto they could not learn-:--the history, liability,
414 CitltillY Qf 04 And they qcopy,-.-AU ohs ivar