The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-09 00:00:00

The Doke of Somerset, as First Lord of the Ad-
miralty, held a levee yesterday at the Admiralty,
Whitehall.

A considerable number of hands are employed
on the irn frigate Resistance, 18, 600 horse power,
fitting for the Chatham steam reserve. Her lower
ken rigging has been fixed, and her topmasts on
end, with her main and fore yards crossed. By di-
rection of the Controller of the Navy she is to be
fitted with sliding topgallantmasts on Gunter's
principle.

The Russian screw frigate Gronioboi, 50 guns,
arrived at Spithead yesterday from the Mediter-
3-snean, en route for Cronstadt.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Robert W. Beaufort, surgeon,
to the Jason ; A. M'Farlane, chief engineer, to the
Fisgard, for the Vesuvius; R. W. Hulford, first-
class assist.-engineer, to the Fisgard, as super-
numerary; John Ferguson (b), second-class assist.-
engineer, to the Forte;
.and W. B. Tren with
second-class assist.-engineer, to the Russell.

THE .A.R3IY,

Major-General Eyre, Commandant of Chatham
garrison, accompanied by Brigade-Major Goff, and
Major Gordon, aide. de-camp, made his half-yearly
inspection of the 17th, 22d, 26th, 36th, 37th, and
38th companies of the Royal Engineers stationed
at Chatham, on the 6th and 7th inst. On the 6th
he inspected the whole of the books of the respec-
tive companies, with Which he expressed much sa-
tisfaction. The companies having broken into open
column, the right being in front, marched past the
Major-Geneal in slow and quick time. The preci-
sion with which these movements were performed
elicited the warm approbation of the Major-General.
On the 7th inst. he dispensed with the usual march-
ing past, as he had been so well satisfied with pre-
vious performances. At noon the whole of the
officers assembled in their new mess room, and were
closely questioned by the Major-General upon va-
rious details of the management of their companies.
The corps subsequently paraded for drill, and Capt.
Frankland, R.E., having been called to the front,
wheeledothem into line, formed square upon the
leading company, formed them into a column at
quarter distance intervals, and then deployed them
into line on No. 3. The intricate muceuvre of
forming close column upon No. 5 company, facing
to the rear, was carried out with great success. At
this juncture a pelting shower of rain fell, and the
Major-General at once ended his inspection.
The Adriatic, No. 1 steam transport (Captain
G. C. Nicholson, Commander C. M. Buckle, R.N.,
Admiralty agent), the arrival of which, with the
left wing of the 96th Regiment on board, at Spit-
head, from St. John's, New Brunswick, was an-
nounced yesterday, is ordered into Portsmouth har-
bour to disembark her freight and clear out for
paying off from the Government service. The
troops will land at the dockyard this morning, and
proceed by rail to Shorncliffe to join head-quarters
there. The officers and troops on board comprise:
—Staff—Col. Fordyce, Lieut.-Col. Crealock, and
Assist.-Surg. Jessop ; 96th Regiment (left wing)—
Lient.•Col. Cathcart; Capts. Grant, Cumberland,
and Briggs; Lientv. Whitty, Gray, Johnston, Ay-
toun, Hogg, Castleton, and Gray; Ensigns Roche,
King, and Church ; Assist.-Surg. Mitchell ; 12
sergeants, 8 drummers, 14 corporals, and 290 pri-
vates. In addition to the above, there are also on
board 15 men of various corps and 7 military con-
victs. The 96th were, after their arrival out in
New Brunswick from England, stationed at Frede-
ricton, where they embarked, on the 25th of April,
on board the steamer Forest Queen, for St. John's.
Arriving there the same day, after a fine run of six
hours, they were transferred immediately to the
Adriatic for the voyage to England. The colonial
press states that no further change will take place
for some time to come of the troops stationed in the
provinces, and that the military head quarters for
the province will be at St. John's.
The Ist battalion sth Fusiliers will leave Ports-
mouth garrison for the camp at Aldershott on the
13th inst. The 2d battalion 18th Regiment and
the 49th Regiment are also under orders to leave
Portsmouth, the first-named for the Channel Islands
and the latter for Manchester. These regiments
will be replaced in Portsmouth garrison by the
53d, from Aldershott, the 513th, from the Channe

Islands, and the 6th, now on its way home from
India, with head-quarters, on board the clipper ship
Champion of the Seas.

BANQUET TO THE LORD MAYOR BY
Tap WARD OF LANGBO URN.

The ward of Langbourn yesterday entertained
the Lord Mayor, who is the alderman of the ward,
at a splendid banquet at the London Tavern, in tes-
timony of the high satisfaction felt by the ward
and the citizens of London at the manner in which
he has fulfilled the duties of his important office,
and in recognition of his services generally during
the period he has filled his present position, and
which has resulted in his election a second time to
the office of Lord Mayor of London. The company
comprised most of the bankers, merchants, and
other notables of the City ; Charles White, Esq.,
took the chair. The loving cup having passed
round, the chairman proposed " The Health of
the Queen," and the other usual toasts, and then
gave " The Health of the Right Hon, Wm. Cubitt,
the Lord Mayor of the City of London, and the
Alderman of the Ward of Langbourn." The event
they had met to celebrate was altogether apart
from political considerations ; they bad assembled
to pay a tribute to the alderman their ward, who
by the manner in which he had performed his
public duty had entitled himself to a repetition of
the distinguished honour of being elected a second
time Lord Mayor of the City of London. The toast
was received N 5 ith three time three cheers and the
utmost enthusiasm. The Loyd Mayor acknowledged
the toast in a gracefnl speech, observing that the
greatest possible reward that could be given to a
public man was to find that the humble efforts he
had made to perform his duty, were appreciated by
those who had an opportunity of observing his con-
duct. (Hear, hear.) He could not help expressing
his opinion that he and his family ought to be proud
of the present meeting. To be twice Lord Mayor
of the City of London was in itselt a great honour;
but to have such a meeting as that to commemorate
that honour made it more emphatic. (Cheers.)
" The Lady Mayosess" and several toasts in con-
nection with the ward were subsequently proposed,
and the meeting then broke up.

DESTIMCIIVE HAILSTORM IN T-al?

IVES r RID ZNG.

One of the v.-
most extraordinary and destructive
hailstorms which have occurred for many years
visited Leeds and other places in the West Riding
on Wednesday, producing considerable damage to
property landless of life. The weather for the last
few days has been extremely variable, but in the
early part of Wednesday it was a beautiful genial
spring day.
sin About seven o'clock, however,
a somewhat gular 'Phenomenon was observed.
The horizon became suddenly obscured with a
dense mass of cloud, which was evidently being
driven in a direction centra.ry to=that in which the
were passing, and for a little time
ordinary clouds
as tha
t of midnight.
an extraorAinary shower of hail
Simultaneously,
fell, accompanied with vivid flashes of lightning,
which, reflected in the gloom, produced a strikin
and beautiful effect. The hailstones were something marvellous in sin at Bromley, Morley, and else.
where, one of which actually exceeded five inches
in circumference and four OUTICCS in weight. The
storm, however, rapidly passed over the town, and
was succeeded by rain, which continued at intervals
during the evening.
The river Airo was swollen to a great height.
Early in the morning, two men in the service of Mr.
E. Dibb, of Idle, were attempting to cross the
stream with a waggon and three horses at the Buck
Mill Ford, near Idle, when one of the men was
drowned, and carried the stream. The other
man, as well as the horses, were with difficulty
rescued.

The storm raged with unprecedented violence in
Nottingham and its vicinity. The workmen at the
sewer
lives in Wheeler
tho Gate had. a Ilarro* escape with
their bursting in
of an immense
volume of water; and the safety ai,
the houses at
both sides of the street was greatly endangered.
The destrnotion of glass was very great.

Mr. JOHN BRIGHT, M.P., next addressed the
meeting, and said—l feel as if in great danger of
marring the effect of this remarkable meeting, and
of the impressive speech to which we have just
listened, by any observation I can offer to you.
(Hear, hear.) But apart from that I have great
pleasure in being permitted to say a few words on
an occasion when I have derived a pleasure not
exceeded by any other public meeting I ever
attended. Mr. Miall and I have not met for the
first time to-night, nor is this the first time that we
have stood on the same platform. (Hear, hear.) In
September next, on the 10th day of that month,
it will be 22 years since he was in my house in
Rochdale, when he was visiting some of the neigh-
bouring towns and some of the friends of the cause
of religious freedom, with a view to ascertain how
far it was likely that a journal like the Noncon-
formist would succeed. I had then the pleasure of
discussing this very question with him, and calling
with bim on several of my friends, and got a num-
ber of them to contribute to the fund on which the
Nonconformist was started. From that time to
the present I have enjoyed the friendship of Mr.
Miall. In 1852 he became the parliamentary re-
presentative of the borough of Rochdale, of which
I am an elector; and I will undertake to say it was
a misfortune, and a great misfortune, when, from
local differences and accidental circumstances, the
connexion between my friend Mr. Miall and the
electors of Rochdale became severed. Only this
night, five minutes before I left the House of Com-
mons, I was speaking to a gentleman in no way
identified with the views held by us, and when I
told him where I was coming, " Ah," said he,
" Miall was the only man who argued that great
question as it ought to be argued in the House of
Commons." (Cheers.) I believe that to be per-
fectly true, and I therefore regret that I cannot
speak of my friend as I could have spoken of him
some few years since, and call him my parliamen-
tary representative. In 1860 he was appointed one
of the royal commissioners to inquire into national
education. The Duke of Newcastle made, I believe,
the best selection it was possible to make, when he
asked for Mr. Miall, a man of intellect, a man of
great inforMation, a man of sound judgment, and
one honoured with the confidence of those through-
out the country who understand the voluntary
principle as we understand it. But I had the oppor-
tunity of hearing from the lips of the Duke of New-
castle not onlywhat be thought of Mr. Miall when he
appointed him one of the commissioners, but also
what he thought of him after the work on which they
were both engaged was over, and his Grace bore
testimony to his courtesy, to his moderation, his
sound judgment, and bis liberality, during the
work on which they were engaged, and that, too,
in language as eulogistic as anything we have heard
to-night. (Cheers.) But, going back to 1840, his
life has been since then dedicated to one great pur-
pose—(hear, hear)—to the freedom of religion. We
all know he has been a teacher of dissent to dis-
senters, and of protestantism to professed protes-
;tants ; and I agree with him that the great grin-
ciple of voluntaryism had of late years been making
great progreea-e-a slow progress, some people may
think, but one not the less sure—a principle which
I used to think would never be adopted except by
one great revolution. It is one which has been
assented to by only one great State—the people of
the United States of America. If you will read the
work of the Rev. Baptist Noel, or the magnificent
speeches of Dr. Duff, the Indian missionary, in
which he describes what has been done by the
voluntary principle, you can only emu to the con-
elusion that there is nothing piety or zeal has
offered on the face of the earth equal to that which
has been done on the voluntary principle.
In
Canada, too, it has been in some measure adopted.
In the Australian colonies, too, it has been adopted
to a large extent; and in this country, notwith-
standing the fierce swing to and fro of the wave of
intolerance, it yearly, daily, and he might say
hourly progresses. In Ireland only one-tenth of
the population acknowledge a connexion with the
Established Church. (Hear, hear.) In Scotland
two-thirds of the population have no connexion with
the establishment. In Wales, again, eight-tenths
of the people do not attend or value the ministra-
tions of the Established Church— (beer, hear)—and
in England it has
been proved that rather more
prefer to
people go to chapel than to the Este-
) With this fact before us
blished Church. (Cheers,
cannot slumber. I never hoped
the church would
and thatt h e growing
ehureh ri et
itself,
igious feeling which we wit-
nesse in Yeo may rely upon it the
voluntary principle
be brought to feel the value of it
except by a revolution, until I saw a
strong and
growing zeal spring up within the church itself; for
belieTe me, when once a feeling of zeal hut come