The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-25 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 25, 1854.

THE WAR.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.
The Colossus, 81, screw-steam ship, Captain Robinson,
has completed her rigging, and has nearly all her guns on
board. She is fast settling down to her water line, which
diminishes her short appearance.
The Malacca screw steam-ship leaves Sheerness to-day
for Portsmouth. On her arrival there, should it be found
necessary, she will take in 100 tons snore ballast. The
Malacca is to form part of the squadron ordered to accom-
pany her Majesty to the Channel Islands previous to her
departure on particular service.
The Holywood transport is ordered from Deptford to
Woolwich to embark horses at the latter port for foreign
service.

The Spy brigantine sailed from Sheerness on the 23d, for
the westward, where she is to receive her final orders.

APPOINTMENTS.

Surgeons—James Atchison, M.D. (1843), and Thomas
Crawford (1846), have been appointed surgeons for service
in the prison ships in the Medway; Joseph Caldwell (1842)
to the Waterloo, 120, flag-ship, at Sheerness.

Lieutenant Walter W. Morris, late commander of the
revenue cutter Cameleon, yesterday took up his commis-
sion and joined the Waterloo, flag-ship, at Sheerness, vice
Lieutenant Hugh T. Burgoyne, of the Boscawen, his ap-
pointment having been cancelled at his own request.
Mr. George Henry L. Wise, paymaster, has taken up
his commission and joined the Cossack, 21 guns, at Chat-
ham. This corvette will carry all 68-pounders on her gun-
deck, including her swivel gun, which is to be one of Lan-
caster's long range.

Mr. J. J. Crocker took up his appointment yesterday as
an established clerk in the storekeeper's office. This
is Mr. Crocker's first appointment.. Some considerable
surprise has been expressed that an established clerk
should receive a permanent appointment when extra
clerks of some 3 or 4 years' standing are passed by.

THE ROYAL VISIT TO THE SCREW DESPATCH-
VESSEL ARROW.
PORTSMO unr, THURSDAY.
This vessel was honoured with her Majesty's presence on
Wednesday morning, off Osborne, for upwards of two
hours. The Prince Consort also accompanied her Maje.ty,
with Gholab Singh, the Affghan Fiance. The Prince, with
the illustlions visitor, went over every part of the Arrow,
narrowly inspecting the berthing places fur the crew, the
engine•room, and officers' cabins. •

The Lancaster's guns were the great objects of attention.
The principle of the bore is altogether a secret. The effect
of the discharges we described in yesterday's Sun. The
firing of so heavy a charge of powder and shell has severely
tried the seams of so comparatively small a vessel, and
s,)me re-caulking and other defects have had to be made
good. There has been some grumbling about the vessel
having been sent from Woolwich in an unfinished state.
There is, however, scarcely so much time to finißh work at
Woolwich now as there was in the piping times of peace;
and when it is considered that not an inch of timber was
sawn for the construction of the Arrow only four months
since, the world must say it is wonderfully " go ahead" to
have six such ships afloat at this time, and one of them
'actually trying experiments with the largest and heaviest
gun that is used for ships' armaments.

The Beagle, screw steam despatch gun-boat, Lieutenant-
Commander lore, the second of the gun-boats fitted with
engines of 160-horse power, by Humphrys, Tennant, and
Dykes, had her steam up to-day for the first time in the
basin at Woolwich, and they worked very satisfactorily un-
der the superintendence of Mr. Dykes, one of the partners of
that firm. She has her two 68-pounder oval guns, mounted
on traversing platforms, on board, and a large supply of
spherical shot and shells for serving them, the latter adapted
for Moorsom's fusees, for the firing of which these oval
guns appear to be well adapted when the practice is car-
ried on at long ranges.

The Wrangler, ;crew steam despatch gun-boat, Lieut.-
Commander Risk, is progressing fast towards completion
in the basin at Woolwich, and her engines, by Meadslay,
Sons, and Field, fitting under the superintendence of Mr.
Joseph Maudslay, are in so forward a state that the
Wrangler has been placed under orders to leave Woolwich
for Greenbithe on Saturday, the 26th instant, to have her
compasses adjusted, and will then proceed to Portsmouth,
to have her guns tested in the presence of the officers of
the Excellent, gunnery-ship at that port. The difficulty
which was at first experienced to meet the requirements
of the new high and low placed boilers in these gun-boats
has been obviated, and they are now said to work well.
A court-martial was held yesterday on board the flag-
ship Victory, in Portsmouth harbour, to try Mr. William
John Webster Yelland, Second-Master of the steam gun-
boat Arrow, on charges of disreepeot and contempt towards
his commander (Lieutenant Jolliffe), and for disobedience
of orders. The charges were proved. The prisoner made
no defence, and was sentenced to be dismissed from her
Majesty's service.

ANOTHER SCREW MAN-OF-WAR.
The Mars, 80 guns, sister•ship to the Colossus, is ordered
into dock at Chatham, to be fitted with a screw-propeller
and 400-horse power engines.

TRIAL OF THE HARRIER.
The new screw sloop Harrier, 16, Commander H. A. Story,
was taken out of Portsmouth harbour yesterday morning to
try the working of her engines, which are by Humphrys,
Tennant, and Dykes, for the first time after being fitted.
She proceeded to Spithead, thence to Cowes roads, thence
to the Nab-light, and afterwards to Portsmouth har-
bour. She was very much out of trim for a fair trial of
the powers of the engines, being at least four feet six inches
by the stern. Notwithstanding, her speed, with this dis-
advantage, was nine knots and upwards per hour; her en-
gines made 103 revolutions per minute, at which she kept
steam easily at 201 b. Tho engines are of 100-horse power ;
the indicated power was 392, and the vessel is a very beau-
tiful model of 810 tons.

ARRIVAL OF ADMIRAL COCHRANE AT COWES.
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane, K.C.B. (Comman-
der-in.chief), Lady Cochrane, and flag Lieutenant Hanky,
in the Fanny yacht, with the naval exercising brigs Sca-
lark and Rolla, arrived at Cowes on Wednesday from the
Channel Islands, and went into Portsmouth harbour
yesterday, when Sir Thomas's flag was re-hoisted on board
the Victory on his leaving the yacht.

COURT MARTIAL ON LIEU. PERRY.

----
If we may form a judgment from the number of com-
munications we receive upon the subject, the case of Lieut.
Perry is likely to remain as one of the chief " topics" of
the recess. It would be needless for us to say that our
own sentiments are perfectly in accordance with those of
our correspondents upon the treatment which this young
gentleman has received at the hands of his brother officers.
The prosecutions have been a disgrace to the British army,
discreditable in their origin, and from the spirit in which
they have been conducted. The report is rife in Windsor
that if this second prosecution should break down—as
break down it certainly will, if there be one spark of jus-
tice left in the breasts of the military judges—a third is in
contemplation. Deloula est Carthago;—" We'll smash
Perry yet," are the precise words attributed to the most
malevolent of his persecutors. The. idea seems to be that
he can be put upon his defence a third—we may say a
fourth—time, for having charged the witnesses upon the
late trial with " combination," and some of them with
perjury. There would not, indeed, be much subject for
regret if these points could be fairly triad by a competent
tribunal, and no longer before one of these courts-martial,
which appear intended as practical proof of how ridiculous
the forms of justice can be made. Were it possible to
consign the Fyffes, and Campbellee and Nicholases, and
Curtises, and Wahlys —and, above all, the venerable
Garrett himself—to the persuasive finger and thumb of
the Attorney-General or of Sir Frederick Thesiger, with
such a judge as Mr. Justice Erle or Mr. Justice Cresswell
to see fair play on all sides, we might end by knowing
something of the proceedings of the gallant 46th. It
might be instructive if information were elicited
from the witnesses as to the exploits which some
of their number are said to have performed in
Ireland—ay, and even in Windsor the other day, while
this inquiry was in progress, We should like to know a
little about the general habits of the regiment. If it could
be shown that the officers, of this corgi are pure and un-
spotted in their lives and conversation, and If they could
prove that young Perry was the reverse, wa should find it
quite natural that they should have dropped his acquaint-
ance. If, on the other hand, it should appear that many
of the officers of the 46th are pre-eminently loose in their
habits, and that they are unable to fix a similar stain upon
the conduct of Lieut. Perry, it is evident that we have not
t
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Court-martial conducted as those at Windsor have recent been. liave any of our readers ever assisted at an invest
gation before a military tribunal of this kind? We will
endeavour to give thom an idea of the same, and of the
form of proceeding.
At one end of the Infantry Barracks at Windsor, in
which the 46th Regiment is at present quartered, and upon
the ground floor, looking into the barrack-yard, there is a
somewhat long low room, papered with an excessively
"seedy" green striped paper—if we remember right—well
bedaubed with stains and spotted with flyblows. This room
is the mess-room of the barrack. On the floor is a dining-
table capable of dining 16 persons with comfort, at one end
of which sits the President, and down the sides the
other members of the Court, seven on a side, in full uni-
form. There are three windows to the President's right,
looking, as wo before said, into the barrack-yard, and in
one of these, close to the President's right, sits a jocular
kind of redfaced man. This is Major Dalgetty, the
Deputy-Judge-Advocate. He has before him a little table
with writing materials, and a red book—some work on
Court-martial law. At a dark corner of the room opposite
to him, and close beside the President's left hand, at a
little round table, all by himself, as though waiting for a
glass of brandy-and-water before starting by the train, the
official prosecutor is to be found. At the end of the long
table, opposite to the President, and divided from it by a
few feet, is another small table, at which are seated poor
young Perry in uniform, and Mr. Darvill, his legal ad-
viser. At the window furthest from that at which Major
Dalgetty is placed there is yet another table for a couple of
reporters, who are taking notes and growling into each
other's ears, as well they may, constant complaints of the
atrocity of the whole proceeding. There are two orderly
sergeants with their caps on, who are constantly employed
in carrying bits of paper about the court, for purposes
which we shall presently describe. The room has two
doors, one at each end, which way be said practically to
open ouh into the barrack-yard, and in this barrack-yard
are lounging a number of the officers of the 46:11, who have
been called in, or who are about to be called in, or who
h ve been turned out iu the midst of their examination,
because the Court was cleared,--and there they are all
gossipping, with Colonel Garrett in the midst of them.
The method in which the etnmination is conducted is
this :—Let us suppose that the prisoner wishes to put a
questi n in cross-examination. The witness is standing
between the President and the Deputy-Judge-Advocate—
so close that he could with the utmost facility read any paper
that might be in the hands of either of them. The prisoner
then svriteshis question on a slip of paper, and delivers it to the
orderly sergeant near his own table, who delivers it to the
other orderly sergeant, who carries it to the President.
The President looks at it, and may or may not raise a little
friendly discussion upon it, in which all persons officially
present seem inclined enough to join, But let us presume
that ho hands it at once to the Deputy-Judge-Advocate.
This functionary reads it aloud—but it must not therefore
be supposed that the witness is to be incommoded as yet
with any necessity for reply. After reading out the ques-
tion the Deputy-Judge-Advocate quietly takes up his pen,
and transcribes it into the minutes with all due circum-
spection and attention to calligraphy, and then, and not
till then, does he rise from his seat and read the question
out to the witness, much in the same tone he would use if
he were asking him to take a glass of wine. We leave it
to the experience of all persons who have been connected
with the administration of justice to decide what chance
there is of eliciting truth upon a system of this kind. The
theory which Lieutenant Perry set up in his defence was,
that the bulk of the officers of the 46th were in combina-
tion against him, and that many of them had been guilty
of perjury in the evidence they delivered against him—
either the perjury of assertion or the perjury of forgetful-
ness. It was with the weapons, and under the circum-
stances we have described, that he was to trip them into
contradiction with themselves, to confound them with the
consciousness of their guilt, and to drag the truth from
their white and trembling lips.
Even then we have not quite exhausted the -absurdities
of a Court-martial. It must not be supposed that the
Deputy-Judge-Advocate records the answer actually given ;
he throws in pronouns and prepositions according to
his own fancy. He allows the witnesses for the prosecu-
tion to alterand amend their evidence a dozen times before it
is recorded. He helps a lame dog, so the dog limps on the
prosecutor's side, over any awlcward stile. The functions
discharged by the official prosecutor are perhaps the most.
qinuehaitsio:wni forpe trsheoncrtohsos-seexcaommi:
anomalous of all ; ho frames the questions for the exami-
nationnation ; he makes and enforces his own. statutes of limita-
ainndc,hiineff,attant,dpsetorpfosrtmhes
, are discharged by the
judge, the jury, the counsel for tho defence, and the coma-
tiooinin;d duties which, in civil courts
sel for the prosecution,;
and winds up with an encomium
upon the impartiality he has displayed throughout. So
far of the official personages in the inquiry ; but let us ask
any person of reasonable naiad what chance there is of a
ment, of which the
He enjoys fairun-
limited eal trialpris inee ther is
them e s
es
0- rmo omma
nodf thatieg e e
ffiegei r ?
Moments Garrett and
power of communication with the witnesses when-
ever the court is cleared. lie or the other officers whose
conduct is challenged can at any time send in a hint to a
friendly member of the court to put a particular question,
or stop the mouth of a troublesome witness, as paymaster
courtesies
with the members of the court. Garrett takes excellent
care to have sandwiches and sherry in readiness whenever
NicholasCorcoran waraes.hatiaengwhile,
about,a tazdldexchanging
the court is adjourned or cleared. The Deputy-judge-
verily believe
Advocate throughout the whole inquiry takes up his guar-
ters with the Queen's Horse Guards Blue, and is hail fellow
well met with the officers of that exemplary corps—in
which practices are said to have prevailed much of the
those
e
prevail ; but
samepthuar that, despite o
scechl eaasrnpa t t(eicertoeaf:
determination
fs
tetohn drawbacks,a4k6othti.
lo Nrright
high In inded
man—such as Colonel Kelly appears to be—may
blunder into a right decision by sheer honesty ota
wase edi htlere s ofer
v a Court-martialsuch plan for arriving at truth as the
pro-
cbl. • 8 hot. 1,1 be made acquainted with these particulars,
for, monstrous as are the disclosures in the evidence, ordi-
narytee a ?It is well that the En glish
public
readers may not be aware of
.the difficulty under
which the prisoner laboured in extracting even these few
shreds of truth from the lips of his brother-officers. Under
the circumstances of the case, we cannot wonder at the in-
dignation which the proceedings have roused iu the minds
of a nation pre-eminently lovers cf fair play. In
°llrilis afloat
nPr
of dischargingessi°no of yesterday
co it
may
be seen that ail inten-
tionst of Lieutenant Perry's
defence by public subscription, and that the Mayor of
of Windsor has consented to receive donations for the pur-
pose. It it is not once in twenty years that we should
take
r n
butot'
w suche cannot a proceedingetbtat in the leading columns of
the heartily wish success to the
ee
cause—so disgraceful has been the persecution to which
Lieutenant Perry has been exposed.—Times.

CRYSTAL PALACE, THURSDAY.—SHILLING DAY.----Ad.
misson at the doors, 9,949 ; admission by season ticktts,
764. Total, 10,715.

RAILWAY INTELZIGENCE

BRISTOL AND EXETER.
The 38th half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at Bristol. Mr. J. W. Buller, the chairman
of the company, presided.
The CHAIRMAN said that on the present occasion the
increase of their receipts was considerable • but that in-
crease was principally attributable to the opening of the
Yeovil branch, and the consequent extension of the mile-
age of the company's lines. There were on this occasion
no particular circumstances which would account for
a more than ordinary increase of revenue. The country
was not in any state of particular prosperity : there had
been no great impulse given to trade which would in-
crease the tolls on the goods traffic ; there had been no
inducement held out to passenger traffic ; they had no
Great Exhibition and no camp at Chobbani. He felt,
therefore, they might safely attribute the large increase
which had taken place on the main line and on the
branches previously opened to the resources of the line
itself, as the progress of time allowed them to be gra-
dually developed. With respect to a portion of the
capital account—the construction account he believed--
there were many railway authorities who thought the
construction account of a railway could not be close 1.
On this he would not venture to offer any opinion. He
concluded by moving that the report be received and
adopted.
Mr. HILL seconded the motion.
The report having been unanimously adopted,
A dividend of 21 per cant, was declared to the 80th
June, 1854, payable on the 15th September.
A resolution was moved, and adopted atter some dis-
cussion, to the effect that the directors be authorised to
apply to Parliament for the purpose of raising addi-
tional capital, and for other purposes, and that a special
meeting be called to decide on the amount.
A resolution was carried, authorising the company to
subscribe for 1,440 shares in the Crediton and Exeter
line.

The entering into a lease for the working the Central
Somerset Railway Company was confirmed.
Thanks having been voted to the chairman the meet-
ing separated.


STAINES, WOKINGHAM, AND WOKING
JUNCTION.
The half•yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at the London Tavern ; Mr. J. Garrard in
the chair.

The report stated that since the last meeting of
shareholders the works on the main line had been com-
menced and were now in progress. The accounts
showed that 27,3241. had been received during the half
year, including 1,4201. from the last account, and
26,1871. expended, leaving a balance on the 30th of
June last of 1,1371. in hand.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the re-
port, said they were getting ou satisfactorily with the
works. The bridge they were constructing across the
Thames would be such a bridge ao he thought would
Please the proprietors when it was completed. The
span of the bridge would be 210 feet, and would be quite
on the level.

The report and statement of accounts were then
•
adopted.
The CIIAIIPIAN said the directors would not retire
from the board in rotation until the line was completed
and opened for traffic.

A rote of thanks to the chairman and directors ter.
minated the proceedings.