The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-26 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

PORTSMOUTH, JAN. 25.
I The celebrated stall-I-I
-packet Banshee, Lieut. Com-
, mander Hosken, who was the popular commander of the
Great Western and the Great Britain, has, arrived at
Portsmouth from the Mediterranean. Orders were
there awaiting her to the effect that she was not to be
put out of commission, but that her crew were to be paid
wages and to have leave, and the defects of the vessel to
be made good. She left Malta on the 11th inst ,at
which time there were her Majesty's ship Ceylon, *car-
rying the flag of Rear-Admiral Harvey, Superintendent
of Malta Dockyard ; the Tiger, 16, paddle steam-frigate,
Captain Giffard ; the Caradoc steam vessel, Lieutenant-
Commander Derriman ; and the Triton steam-vessel,
Lieutenant-Commander Lloyd. She arrived at Mar-
seilles on the 13th, and left on the 15th for Gibraltar,
where she arrived on the 18th, and left on the 19th,
when her Majesty's ship Britannia, 120, flag of Vice-
Admiral Dundas, C.B. ; the Trafalgar, 120, Captain
Greville ; the Albion, 90, Captain Lushington ; the
Arethusa 50, Captain Symonds ; the Retribution,
paddle-frigate, 22, Captain the Hon. J. R. Drummond ;
the Niger, 14, Commander Heath ; and the Antelope
packet, Lieutenant-Commander Young, were at anchor
there. The Bellerophon, 78, Captain Lord George
Paulet, and the Sampson paddle-frigate, Captain Jones,
were at Tetuan. The Banshee arrived at Vigo on the
22d, and left on the 23d, but brought no news. She
brouglit a mail from the squadron at Gibraltar.
The freight-ships Roman Emperor and Marion arrived
at Spithead last evening from the Thames, and came into
harbour to-day to embark the 85th Light Infantry for
the Mauritius. They embark on Thursday.
The Rhadamanthus steam-vessel, Master-Commander
Belam, arrived at Spithead this morning from Woolwich,
and came into harbour this afternoon to discharge stores.
The Pyrenees convict-ship sailed from Spithead on
Sunday evening with transports for Australia.
The Mercury cutter, Lieutenant-Commander Freeland,
sailed on Monday evening for the Channel Islands fish-
eries' waters.

The Rodney, 90, Captain Charles Graham, C. 8., has
been taken into No. 2 dock to-C.ay to have her defects
repaired.

Mr. Murray, superintending engineer of this dock-
yard, proceeded to London last night, being summoned
to attend the Lords of the Admiralty this day.

THE CAPE OP GOOD HOPE SQUADRON.

Simon's-bay, Dec. 20.
The Meander, 44, Commodore Charles Talbot, the
new Commander-in-Chief on this station, arrived on the
30th of November from England, last from Rio.
The Castor, 36, Commodore Wyvill, on being relieved
left this for England on the 7th inst.
The Styx, 6, paddle-sloop, Commander Hall, arrived
on the Ist inst. from East London, having on board,
as a prisoner under sentence of banishment, peyolo,
half-brother to Sandilli, the notorious rebel Hotten-
tot. The Styx left for Table Bay on the 2d, and is
still there.

The Torch, steam-tender to the Herald, arrived here
on the 2d inst.—last from Tristan da Cunha. Having re-
fitted she will proceed in a few days to Sydney.
The Bittern, 12, Commander Vansittart, arrived on
the 2d inst. in 50 days from England. She has been
constantly exercising at quarters during the passage out,
the Commander being desirous that his men should be
of use on their arrival at Burmah. She left for those
waters on the 9th inst. Dr. Wolfenden, who had been,
through some mismanagement, left behind from the
Spartan, took passage in her to India.
The Herald, Captain Denham, on surveying expedi-
tion to the South Seas, arrived on the 7th. She is re-
fitting, and proceeds in a few days to Sydney. Captain
Denham has been down to Cape Point in the Hydra for
the purpose of making some observations connected with
the lighthouse about to be erected there.
The following appointments have been made from the
flag-ship Meander to the Dart brigantine :—Lieutenant
Deane to command her; Mr. Smith, mate; Mr. M‘Lune,
second master ; Mr. Le Keux, assistant surgeon ; Mr.
Moore, clerk ; and Messrs. Wilson and Lacy, midship-
men. The Dart has been refitted, and will proceed in a
few days for a cruise in the Mozambique.

PLYMOUTH, JAN. 25.
Her Majesty's brig Swift, Commander Aldham, arrived
on Sunday evening at six o'clock, from Portsmouth, •and
was yesterday towed by the Confiance steamer into har-
bour, where she will be paid off.
The officers and crew of her Majesty's ship Queen, in
the Sound, will be paid wages on Thursday, the 3d of
February. _

By the Lady Jocelyn, Captain Stewart, which arrived
on Sunday night from the Cape, we learn that her Ma-
jesty's steam-vessel Hydra returned on the 17th of De-
cember from Danger Point, and was to proceed there
again on the 23d, by Admiralty order, to survey the
scene of the Birkenhead's disaster. Captain Denham,
F.R.S., in the surveying ship Herald, was at Simon's
Bay on passage to the South Sea. The brigantine Dart
was to leave in a few days for Quillimaine. Lieutenant
Hoskins baying joined his ship, the Castor, the Dart will
be commanded by Lieutenant Deane, of the Meander.
The steamer Styx will probably remain in Table Bay
until the arrival of the Amity-hall troop-ship, when she
will convey the draughts for the various regiments to

Ihave been brought alongside the vessel ready to be put
on board, and the engines of 350-horse power, by Messrs.
Maudslay, Sons, and Field, are also ready for being
fitted.

the crew of the Prometheus steam sloop, Henry

'oote,

re actively employed in stripping that vessel, in
the expectation that she will be paid off on Saturday
next, if they can get her ready. One of the Kroomen
who came to this country in her, showed to-day his ca-
pability in managing a canoe, and the great rapidity he
could attain in propelling it by a single paddle. The
canoe is remarkably light, and was cut out of a solid tree
of the mango species. It is about 16 feet long, and com-
paratively deep or high-sided out of the water.

MAJOR BERESFORD AND LORD
D.RUMLANRIG.

The following correspondence has passed between
;he Noble Lord and the Gallant Major :

(Copy.)

January 15, 1853.
My Lord,—l have this morning read your lordship's
speech, 'delivered at Dumfries, on Wednesday last. You
have chosen on that occasion, in a most unprovoked manner,
to go out of your way to make a personal and an unfounded
attack upon me, in language most uncourteous, and at a
moment most inappropriate, You were bound, as a gen-
tleman, to have duly ascertained whether either now or for
some time past I have had any hand in conducting the
election business of the party to which I belong, before
you insinuated, if you did not positively assert, such an
unfounded calumny as you then uttered. Except for three
days, during the absence of Mr. Forbes Mackenzie and Col.
Forester from London, in July last, I have not interfered
in such election matters since I accepted the office of Secre-
tary at War, in February last. Such fact was proved in
evidence before the Derby committee, and, therefore, you
were bound to have known it. I, therefore, call upon your
lordship to state upon what grounds and upon what autho-
rity you wantonly coupled my name with any meditated
or intended opposition to your re-election for Dumfries-
shire. I remain your obdient servant, _

Wld: BERSSFORD.

(Copy.)
Glen Stewart, Jan. 16, 1853.
Sir,—l have this morning received your letter of the
15th. I hardly know to what expressions of mine you
refer ; I have spoken so much and so often within the last
few days. Several reports of my speeches have appeared in
different local papers, and some of them have been copied
into London journals, but many of these reports were very
incorrect; and till I have before me the actual report which
you allude to, it is clearly impossible for me to answer or
to explain the expression you complain of, but which you
do not repeat. If you refer to a speech of mine delivered
in Dumfries on Wednesday, the sth instant, and which
speech was correctly reported in the Courier newspaper
of that town (a copy I now send you), I can have no
hesitation in saying that after the explanation made in
your letter, I feel at once bound to apologise for having
said " The Carlton Club was a place where Tory elections
were managed under Major Beresford." I ought to have
said the Carlton Club was a place where Tory elections
USED t. be managed by Major Beresford." I had over-
looked the fact, that, except for three days in July last,
when Mr. Mackenzie and Colonel Forester were absent
from London, you had not interfered in election matters
since you accepted office in February last. I offer every
apology for this inadvertence. Should these remarks,
however, not be those to which you have referred, I shall
feel obliged by your forwarding me whatever report you
may have read, and I shall then be quite prepared to
explain or to answer for whatever I may have spoken in
Dumfries or elsewhere. In the meantime, allow me
to say, that having been purposely most cautious, I never
insinuated that either you or any other particular indi-
vidual was concerned with any meditated opposition to my
re-election in Dr-: erieshire. I confined myself to two
simple statements—to two remarkable but mysterious facts.
The first was, that I heard of this opposition to my re-
election in the Carlton Club three days before any one had
heard of it in this county. The second statement was,
that I knew a member of the club had made several com-
munications into Dumfriesshire for a good and safe Der-
byite to oppose me. These facts I stated openly and fre-
quently, and I entreated my constituents to ponder them
over, and to reflect whether it were not just possible
that their independence might not be in danger of being
compromised in a very different manner from what
others were anxious to make them, which was the case.
I never mentioned or thought of your name in connec-
tion with my immediate re-election for Dumfriesshire,
but, in explaining to the uninitiated what the meaning of
interference by the Carlton Club meant, in its general sense,
I certainly did, on more occasions than one, make use of
your name ; and, by your own admission, it appears I was
only incorrect in my dates.
I again tender every apology for this inadvertence ; but,
after all, in speaking of matters of history, one generally
is understood to speak of the past ; still I am bound to say
I ought to have said " used to be managed." I distinctly
deny that I ever coupled your name with any meditated
opposition to me in Dumfriesshire. I had no right what-
ever to do so, and I did not do it.

I am, your obedient servant,

DRUMLANRIG.

Hampton Court, Jan. 18.
My Lord.—lf you will take the trouble to read carefully
my letter of the 15th, you will find that I distinctly men-
tioned the place where, and the time when, your lordship
delivered the speech of which I expressed my opinion in that
letter, and of a part of which I particularly asked an ex-
planation from your lordship.
I have this day received your answer, and I beg to say
that I am bound to accept the apology which you there
offer for your inadvertence in having said that the elections
were managed at the Carlton Club by me. At the same
time, I must beg to point out to your lordship, that if I
have no hand in managing such election matters, it is a
most unintelligible line of argument, when you are speak-
ing of an opposition to your re-election, to drag in my
name ajropos de bottes ; and, unless I am in some way con-
cerned in that opposition, I consider it also an impertinent
act.