The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-24 00:00:00

LONDON SATURDAY EVENING NOVEMBER
.24 1849.

THE lONIAN ISLANDS.
(From the Cos fu Extraordinary Gazette.)
NOVEMBER 10.—The following is the speech of his
Excellency the Lord high Commissioner of the
united states of the lonian Islands to the Legislative
Assembly, on the 10th of November, 1819 :
Mr President and Gentlemen,—l rejoice to see the
lonian Parliament resume its fur,ctions, after an
inte-val marked by events as painful as they were
unanticipated.
When last I met you here I looked forward, in
common with yourselves, to the peaceful consumma-
tion of those labours to which the first months of the
session had been devoted; and though I was not
empowered to signify the assent of my Itoyal Mistress
to the constitutional changes introduced by my pre-
decessor, and recently submitted for her considera-
tion, I knew enough of her Majesty's sentiments,

and those of her constitutional adviser, to assure you
that there was no unwillingness on their part to
entertain those changes in a large and liberal spirit,
and to assent to such modifications of the Chart of
1817 as would render it more conformable to the
pres&nt political condition of the lonian people. I in-
vited you to regard the alterations about to be made,
as "a new social coinvact between the protecting and
the protected pov, er ;' to repay them by good faith,
and by a cheerful recognition of that political order
of things whence are derived the rights that you now
exercise, and so far as the lonian Legislature and the
great majority of the lonian people are concerned, I
have had no reason to doubt their concurrence in

these principles.
Of my own desire to act in the spirit which I incul-
cated I can give no better proof than the fact, that my
first step upon my return from the islands, in July
last, was to recommend to the Senate an amnesty for
the prisoners then awaiting their trial for the attack
upon the towns of Argustoli and Lixuri in September,
1848 ; which attack has been pronounced to be an act
of high treason by a recent decision of the Supreme
Council of Justice. That amnesty was called incom-
plete by those whose object it is to misrepresent every
act of the Government, because it did not compre
head those persons who had taken refuge in Greece
in order to escape the inquiry to which their conduct
had exposed them. But, with the concurrence of the
Senate, I addressed at the same time a letter to her
Majesty's Minister at Athens, requesting him to in-
form the Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs that, with
the exception of one or two of the leaders of that con-
spiracy, the existence of which has been denied, but
which is now demonstrated by the condemnation of
nine of those who took part in it, the Government was
prepared to extend the amnesty to all such refugees as
might wish to take advantage of it upon a simple
engagement to lead a peaceable life upon their return
to Cephalonia. It is not my fault, or that of the
Senate, if subsequent events had made it impossible to
carry this offer into execution. I released at the same
time Messrs. Zervit and Livada, from PaxO, where
they had been ordered to reside under the powers of
the High Police Act, by Lord Seaton, in the hope that
this additional proof of the desire of the Government
to bury the past in oblivion, would not be without
effect upon the feelings of a generous people.
What was the return made for these conces-
sions ? The amnesty was published on the Ist of
August. On the 26th of the same month a fresh
insurrection broke out, which, notwithstanding the
most unremitting exertions on my own part, and on
that of the gallant officers in command of her Ma-
jesty's forces, was not finally suppressed until the 15th
of October.

Of this insurrection I shall speak without exagge-
ration and without reserve, and I speak now with
information that I did not possess when my first pro-
clamations were issued. It partook of a political and
of a local character. The words of liberty and na-
tionality were used to cloak designs of personal
vengeance and universal plunder. The Greek flag
was carried before the horde of assassins that deso-
lated the districts of Leo and Catoleo; and in places
where the influence of the Church had been abused,
as it was at Scala, by the Priest Nodaro, the Cross
and the Holy Trinity were invoked to stimulate the
peasantry to deeds at which humanity shudders.
That the conspirators were bound together by secret
oaths, and that there were many " sworn men" in
parts of the island apparently uncontaminated ; that
the movement had been long contemplated and pre-
pared for by the large importations of gunpowder
from Patras into Lixuri ; that it was, in fact, a con-
tinuation of the treasonable attempt of September,
1848, with the same objects and many of the same
actors, the refugees, who returned from Greece in
May, 1849, having been amongst its most active
promoters ; and that a few days, or even hours, of
impunity might have carried the flame into districts
which were most active in its suppression as soon as
the supremacy of the law was indicated by the de-
cisive measures of the Government, are facts for the
truth of•which I appeal to the depositions of the rebel
leaders themselves, which it is my intention to lay
before you, and to the testimony of the Cephalonian
members, who best know the misery endured by
every father of a family who was residing upon his
estates with his wife and children in the last days of
August and September, and the horrible threats to
which he wa, subjected.
The instant proclamation of martial law, and the
prompt action of the troops, whose conduct her Majesty
has justly characterised as " admirab!e," effectually
checked that coarse and brutal intimidation which, at
one time, threatened to be the only power remaining
in Cephalonia. The bright example of the heads of
the Church, the firmness of the local authorities,
and the exertions of many of the Signori, and of
the Contadini themselves, have since done much to
efface the stain inflicted upon the island by the
outrages perpetrated at the commencement of the
insurrection. But, if I should be accused hereafter,
as indeed I am already, of having punished with too
much severity the authors of those outrages, my jus-
tification will be very simple. I had to deal not with
an ordinary political insurrection, in which I should
have seen the wisdom, as I should have rejoiced in
the opportunity, of marking the first moment of suc-
cess by a large measure of grace, but the
congregated reflection of the community—robbers
murderers, outlaws—put forward by abler heads
to play a desperate game, and placing them-
selves by their own crimes beyond the
pale of pardon. Was I, the representative of the
Queen of England, to permit these men to lord it over
peaceful villages, and to force loyal and well-disposed
Contadini into rebellion, by threats to burn their
houses, to pour boiling oil upon fathers who withheld
their sons, and to perpetrate the most horrible atroci-
ties upon the wives and daughters of those who re-
fused to join them ? Was Ito allow the Signori of
Livato and Icosimia, to be exterminated as the Me-
taxa family had been at Valtes and Scala ? Was I
not bound to give protection to the peaceable and
well affected ? Could I give it with soft words ? And
when the ruffians who had brought these calamities
upon their country fell into the hands of the Govern-
ment which they had defied, and of which they had
refused to believe the power, could I, in justice to
society itself, extend to them a mercy which they had
never shown, during the short period of their own
impunity ?
The atrocious calumnies to which I have been sub-
jected in consequence of my conduct during these
unhappy disturbances force me to enter into details
that would otherwise be unsuitable to the present oz-
casion.

_The total number of capital punishments inflicted
inCephalonia between the 26th of August and the
proclamation of the amnesty on the 26th of October,
was 21, in which are included Theodore Vlacco, the
priest Nodaro, and the other leaders and sub-leaders 9
of the conspiracy who have taken part in every crime
committed between the 26th of September, 1848, and
the massacre of the Cavaliere Nicole Metaxa, with
his four unoffending servants, in August, 1849, at
Scala. Which of these men was I to pardon ? Vlacco,
who killed with his own hand, and in cold blood
—not in battle—Captain Parker, in May, 1849 ; the
Cavaliere Metaxa, and Baldo, the Primate of Troja-
nata ?—or Nodaro, named by his own countrymen,
Papa 'Asti, the apostle of assassination ?—or Cara-
lambo Dracato, and Panagin Siliverdi, two of the
men who murdered Signor Constantino Metaxa, by
firing a musket ball through each allele, and leaving
him to die in lingering tortures ?—er Anastasio
Dracato, who pursued the wife (now the widow) of
that unfortunate gentleman into a vineyard, and
brutally outraged her, after threatening to kill her
child in case of resistance ? Yet these are the offences
to which I am told that I ought to have extended a
generous clemency. These are the crimes, for punish-
ing which I arn denounced as the enemy of the Hel-
lenic race, and of the Greek religion.
But were these twenty-one criminals condemned
without proper opportunities of defending them-
selves? I have directed a full report of the trial of
Theodore Vlacco to be laid before you, and I affirm
here, in the face of Europe, that, in every other case,
the same forms were observed, and the same oppor-
tunities of defence afforded. Vlacco called no wit
nesses, but in some cases eight and ten witnesses for
the defence were examined. Most of the trials lasted
a whole day ; many were adjourned becalm the pri-
soner wished to produce further evidence. Each
cDurt was attended by a sworn interpreter, and pre-
sided over by an officer of known experience. As an
additional precaution, Dr. Rivelli, the A lvocate
Fiscal of Cephalonia, was present, by my directions,
during the whole of the proceedings at Si..,i and St.
Gerasimo, and Dr. Tornmasi at &ale, in order that
the officers presiding might be enabled to consult
them, if necessary. Not a doubt has been raised by
either of these gentlemen as to the perfect equity of
the sentences passed. I have myself read the whole
of the evidence in every case of capital punishment,
as well as in those in which the sentence of death was
commuted into imprisonment, with or without other
penalties ; and I can vouch, not only for the earnest
desire evinced to spare life, where a reasonable
ground for clemency could be found, but for the fact
that not one man suffered for the single offence of

bearing arms against the Queen or firing upon the
1 Queen's troops, though these are acts which are dealt
with as high treason by the laws of' every civilized
leo =unity. All were proved upon the clearest evi-
dence to have bsen guilty of assassinations, robberies
of money, plate, or bonds, incendiarisro, attacks upon
female honour—crimes for which they might have
been made amenable to the ordinary courts of justice,
had not the restoration of order depended upon the
promptitude of their punishment.
I state these facts for the vindication of my own
character and the satisfaction of my own conscience,
not because I am responsible to the Legislative
Assembly for the exercise of powers confided to me
by the constitution, as her Majesty's representative,
in cases where the public safety is endangered.
For my conduct in the administration of those
powers, so far as it was known to her
Majesty at the time when Earl Grey's dispatch was
written, I have been honoured with the approbation
of' my Sovereign. I received the unanimous thanks
of the lonian Senate upon my last return from Ar-
gostoli, with the expression of its entire concurrence
in the policy which I had adopted, and in which I
have had the comfort of its cordial co-operation. I
have received the thanks of the Municipal Council
of Cephalonia, which, as the legitimate repress ntative
of that island, has demanded and obtained permissi ,n
from the Senate to mark its sense of my conduct, and
of that of the gallant officer in command of her
Majesty's troops, and of the Resident, by a public
testimonial. I have been honoured with addresses
from various districts of Cephalonia, signed, withjut
distinction of party, by the most influential citizens;
and I have received throughout the most frank and
valuable support from the archbishop, the head of
that Greek Church which I am accused of per-
secuting.
I have now directed papers to be laid before you
that will put you in possession of all that is or can
be known of the causes and character of the late
insurrection. It has been said that martial law was
proclaimed unnecessarily and administered with
wanton severity, that the agriculture and commerce
of the island were crippled by an embargo for which
there was no sufficient reason, and which the result
failed to justify. I, on the contrary, am convinced
that the measures taken were just because they were
necessary, that they averted great calamities, and that,
in the opinion of those who know Cephalonia best, life
could not have been protected, the rights of property
maintained, and order ultimately restored by a policy
less stringent than that which I adoptod.
I have also directed certain papers respecting secret
societies to be laid before you which were alluded to
in my message to the Senate of the 9th of October.
I am aware of the difficulty of legislating noon this
subject, but I feel sure that you will agree with me
as to the danger of allowing societies to be formed in
these islands, placed as they are under the safeguard
of Great Britain, composed of natives and foreigners
bound together by secret oaths, having secret funds,
secret agents, and a secret correspondence, and openly
justifying this mysterious organization upon the plea
that it is not intended to disturb the tranquillity of
these states, but to work political changes amongst
their neighbours, with which the Queen of England
cannot interfere, because, as a Christian Princess, she
has no right to throw her shield over infidels.
These foolish rhapsodies disturb the minds of the
young and inexperienced. Turkey is just as much
under the protection of European treaties as Christian
Greece, which owes to treaties her own political
existence; and the lonians, who claimed the privi-
leges of British subjects in every port with which
they have commercial relations, are bound to respect
the engagements contracted by the Sovereign whose
flag affords them protection. As to those foreigners
who abuse the hospitality which has been accorded
to them here, to the utmost of your limited powers, by
taking part in such associations, I need hardly re-
mind them again that the condition on which they
obtain the right of residence, is an abstinence from
all interferende in lonian affairs, whether foreign or
domestic. So long as they abide by this rule they
have nothing to fear from the Government. When
they violate it, they must not complain of the conse-
quences.
I have learnt with regret from her Majesty's Mi-
nister at Athens that a passage in my message to the
Senate of October 9th has been regarded as personally
offensive, by a neighbouring Sovereign. I deeply
lament it; as it has always been my wish to pay his
Majesty the King of Greece the respect due to his
exalted situation ; nor do I think that the words
used warrant the inference drawn from them. The
fact that a letter making a personal allusion to his
Majesty, in connexion with the " Grand Fratellanza,"
was found amongst the papers of Signor Valiano, and
is now in my possession, is unquestionable ; but I
adverted to it simply as a proof of the boldness of
these men, " who presumed to hint that their designs
had royal countenance, and that plans which good
faith and common sense alike repudiated, were not unfa-
vourably viewed by a neighbouring sovereign." I
entirely disclaim in this any personal imputation,
and I am happy to have so early an opportunity of
expressing my regret that the passage should have
been so interpreted.
I turn now from subjects which I ought not to
have been called upon to discuss at a moment when
the protecting Sovereign was endeavouring to secure
the affections of the lonian people by a large measure
of constitutional change, and I will advert at once to
those questions which are the cause of the present
extraordinary session.
Two difficulties have arisen in dealing with the're-
solutions of the lonian Legislature transmitted to
England on the 10,h of May last by Lord Seaton—
the one technical, the other substantial. For the
technical difficulties you are yourselves in some mea-
sure responsible. The responsibility of the substantial
difficulties rests with my predecessor; but it is not
extraordinary that in so large and complicated a task
as that of endeavouring to engraft a new constitution
upon an old one, and amidst the frequent changes
suggested in the course of a somewhat hurried nego-
tiation, Lord Seaton should not have been fortunate
enough at once and upon every point to satisfy the
just scruples of her Majesty's responsible advisers.
To him must always belong the merit of having traced
out the scheme that will form the basis of the future
charter of these islands. To you is, I trust, reserved
the honour of perfecting it, by that calm revision of
all doubtful points which the importance of the sub-
ject requires.
The technical difficulties that have rendered it im-
possible for her Majesty's Ministers to submit the
resolutions of the B,h of May for her Majesty's rati-
fication, were communicated to me by Earl Grey in
a dispatch which reached me on the 6th of August.
By this it appears that the change made by the
Ist article of the resolution of May 8, in article 2,
sec. 2, chap. 2, of the chart of 1817, which deter-
mines the mode of electing the Senate, being unac-
companied by any provision for re-enacting the
forms in which the powers of the Lord High Com-
missioner are to be exercised in cases where a veto is
reserved to him, it has virtually annulled other arti-
cles of the constitution which there was no intention of
altering. The law officers of the Crown in England
are of opinion that, as the chart now stands, the ap-
pointment of the Regents, like that of the Senators,
must be made from the body of the Legislative As-
sembly itself, by the direct nomination of her Ma-
jesty's representative. Other articles, which ought
to have been expunged, because at variance with the
new provisions proposed fur increasing the number of
members, throwing open the elections, and doing away
with the intervention of the Primary Council, have
been retained; and Earl Grey accordingly found
himself compelled to acquaint me that, with such
proofs before him " that a measure involving most
difficult constitutional questions could hardly be said
to have received such deliberate consideration on
behalf of the Crown, and in the interest of the
lonian people at large, as to permit her Majesty's
advisers to recommend it for the Royal assent, with
the confidence which is requisite on an occasion of
such great importance, her Majesty's Government
found itself under the necessity of referring the
resolutions to me for a further opinion, and report
before they could proceed to advise her Majesty
further."

Desiring to obviate the grave inconvenience that
must result from any long delay in her Majesty's
decision at the present advanced period of the
quinquennium, I lost no time, upon the receipt of
Earl Grey's dispatch, in putting myself into
communication with his Highness the President of
the Senate, the President of the Legislative Assembly,
and the Attorney- General, and I invited these
gentlemen to undertake with me a revision of the
resolutions of the Bth of May, and of the chart of
1817, in order to correct the errors pointed out, and
to ascertain whether there were any discrepancies
still remaining that might give rise to further
discussion. The result of our joint labours will be
laid before you by your President in the shape of a
revised copy of your own resolutions, and I shall
leave to him the task of explaining the character and
causes of the changes made in them.
The Legislative Assembly will understand that,
in undertaking this revision there has been no inten-
tion of encroaching upon its functions-, my sole
object, and that of the gentlemen who have co-
operated with me, having been to remove clerical
and technical errors" that might delay indefinitely
her Majesty's decision upon matters of graver im
portanee. The revised resolutions have no legal
existence until they receive your sanction, but they
are a necessary preliminary to the next communica-
tions that I shall have to make to you, and, as such,
invite you to consider and adopt them.
The Assembly will then find itself in a position to
deal with those substantial questions respecting which
I expect to receive the final decision of her Majesty in
a week or ten days at latest. Respecting these, I
shall only say at present, that when the ratifica-
tion of the original resolutions was delayed, for the
reasons which I have stated, I was commanded by
Earl Grey to assure the lonian Parliament and

people, "that her Majesty's Government entirely
adheres to the desire and intention to give a more
popular form to the lonian Legislature, and to abandon
the system of nomination to seats in the Assembly,
through the medium of the Primary Council."
I have since received a dispatch from his Lordship,
stating that he has laid before the Queen the address
of the Assembly, praying for her Majesty's assent to
the establishment of vote by ballot as a part of the
constitution of the lonian states; and that her
Majesty is graciously pleased to command me to
acquaint you that, inclusive of the question respecting
the ballot, the entire subject of the comprehensive
reform in the constitutional system of the states, for
which it was the object of the resolutions of May last
to provide, is at this moment engaging the anxious
consideration of her Majesty's advisers; and that the
Assembly may rest assured, that in regard to the
ballot, as well as every "other particular, her Majesty's
decision will be determined solely by her solicitude
fur the welfare of the lonian people, and that she will
freely give her assent to every measure which she
may be satisfied will prove conducive to that great
object."
Perhaps the most important of the reforms now in
progress is that which has excited least notice,
probably because it has not yet been brought into
full (operation—l mean the control vested in the
Legislative Assembly by the resolutions of the 22d
of May, 1848, over the ordinary and extraordinary
expenditure of the country. Differences have existed
upon this subject between the Senate and the Legis-
lative Assembly which I am anxious to see
terminated, and I believe that the best mode of
terminating them, considering the advanced period of
the financial year and the important business to be
transacted during the present session, will be
for me to state publicly thht it was the intention of
her Majesty's Government, in assenting to this
change, to place the control over the national finances
as fully and unreservedly in the hands of the Legis-
lative Assembly as it would be in England or in
France; and that if in this respect the little expe-
rience that I have acquired in her Majesty's service
at home can be of any use I will pledge myself to
prepare, before the close of the quinquennium, such a
statement of the expenditure fur the next two years
as will enable the Senate to present to you a budget,
upon every item of which a vote may be taken.
There is one other subject to which I wish to call
your attention, because a Bill providing for it
might be advantageously introduced during the pre-
sent session.

The trade of Corfu has been for some years rapidly
increasing. Its geographical position renders this
island peculiarly suitable as an entrepot for manufac-
tured goods and colonial produce intended for the
neighbouring continent. Some branches of trade have
already taken this direction, as is proved by the in-
crease in the value of the goods deposited in the Go-
vernment stores from 56,689/. in 1834 to 160,8961. in
1848 ; and I have little doubt that many others will fol-
low, if, to its natural advantages—a port easy of
access—within two days' sail of Prevess, Patras, the
Morea, Brindisi, and Ancona, and possessing a regu-
lar steam communication with Trieste, Malta, and
Marseilles—were added such financial regulations
as would encourage capitalists to avail themselves of
them. I propose, therefore, the removal of the ad
valorem duty of one per cent. on transhipment, and
on the exportation of goods from the Porto-Franco,
which is at once impolitic and unproductive. It im-
pedes the operations of the merchant, and yields little
to the revenue, the largest amount produced by this
duty being 1,3961., for which a full equivalent will
be found in the increase of port dues and store rent,
should merchants be induced by this judicious
sacrifice to avail themselves of those facilities and that
security which the vicinity of the continent and the
presence of the British flag will give here to com
mercial enterprise.
Gentlemen, I leave you now to begin the labours
of a session, which, for good or for evil, will be a
memorable one in the history of these islands.
Great changes are about to be consummated. An
old constitution, which, whatever be its/defects, has
given peace and security for thirty years to those who
lived under it, is destined to assume a more popular
form by the modification of some of its fundamental
principles. Time must show whether the provisions
of the new system can be made to assimilate with
those of the old, and to produce harmony amidst the
component parts of the Government. Much will
depend upon your own prudence. On the part of my
Royal mistress, I can assure you that nothing will be
wanting to give the new system a fair trial.
The Queen of England has no wish to throw her
shield over anything that can be shown to be an
abuse. She stands exempt from local and personal
passions. She has no interest here but the common
interest—no desire but to see you a contented and
prosperous people, demonstrating by your example the
possibility of combining a large increase of popular
power with a respect for order and law. With those
who mean to use that power fur its legitimate end, I
foresee no difficulties, because I know no object of
internal amelioration or social improvement in which,
as her Majesty's representative, it would not be my
duty to co operate with the most liberal men that
the system of free elections can produce. The
sole condition of that co-operation is the recog-
nition of rights on the part of her Majesty, derived
from treaties, and from your own consent, which are
not to be violated with impunity. Those who dispute
these rights openly or insidiously, need expect from
me no encouragement and no concessions. All who
admit them frankly and loyally as the keystone of the
institutions under which they live, are, in my mind,
equally entitled to the countenance and favour of the
Crown. What depends upon me I will do with strict
impartiality, looking to the future rather than the
past, and taking care, so far as my powers extend,
that the Government be composed of the most emi-
nent men that these islands can produce. But it is
little that I can do without your assistance, for it is
upon your own moderation and good sense in the
Synclite of your respective islands, as subsequently in
the Legislature and the Senate, that the result of this
great experiment must depend.
By authority, J. FIZ ASE
Secretary to the Lord High Commissioner.
At the termination of the Lord High Commissioner's
speech the most illustrious the President arose, and
addressed his Excellency as follows :
My Lord,—lnterpreter of the sentiments of the
Legislative Assembly, I feel it a duty to express the
great eatisfaction with which the Chamber finds itself
occe again in official relations with your Excellency
before the termination of the Parliament.
Your Excellency's speech presents for the consider-
ation of the Assembly matters of the highest interest,
more particularly as regards public tranquillity, with-
out which it has ever been my opinion, as I have on
various oceasions stated, that no species of liberty can
be usefully or permanently acquired.
The Assembly, I am certain, will give its most
serious attention to all the points alluded to in your
Excellency's speech, and you will be requested, my
Lord, to appoint a day on which it may please you
to listen to its address.

Reserving to the Legislative Assembly the rights
belonging to it, I limit myself to attesting the entire
devotion of the lonian people to her Most Gracious
Majesty the goeen, our protector, and the sentiments
of our profound respect for your Excellency.
Vivat Regina.

COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS'
SCHOOLS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sllt,—l am glad to find the suggestions contained
in my letter of the 12th inst., inserted in your
valuable paper, have been acted on, and that a very
liberal subscription was made in many commer-
cial rooms, on Thanksgiving day, to the funds
of our Orphan School. Let me now suggest,
through the same medium, that the subscription be
continued until every traveller has added his name to
the list. The " Cholera Thanksgiving Fund" will
,then be of no trifling amount when presented in one
sum at our anniversary dinner, and every traveller
will have had an opportunity of expressing publicly
his thanks for preservation from that disease that has
made so many desolate.
I am, Sir, &c.,
AN OLD COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER.

THE SABBATH.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—Three letters have recently appeared in your
columns from, I suppose, the same correspondent who
" believes sabbatical observances prohibited to Chris-
tians ;" and he therein refers four times to Colossians,
chap. 2, verse 16, for his opinion ; and he has also
translated that verse from the original Greek. Now,
the sabbaths mentioned there are the sabbaths which
were appointed by the Jewish ceremonial law, as may
be evidently seen by a perusal of the verse referred
to and the context. He may read Leviticus, chapter
23. The ceremonial law was abolished by Christ and
the moral law established; and I deem it a strong
argument for the observance of the moral law, by
which the original institution of the Sabbath is re-
cognised, that the words referred to by your corre-
9pcmdent speak of ordinances only, and not at all of the
moral law, leaving untouched, the Sabbath, which
was instituted when creation was finished.
I am, Sir, &c.,
Chelsea, Nov. 23; 1849. G. H.

Po aTSMOUTII SAILORS' IiOM E.--The following
donations have been presented to the committee ap-
pointed for the management of the Portsmouth Sailors'
Home, for the advancement of that institution:—Ad-
miral Lord Colville, 51.; Rear-Admiral Sir Francis
Beaufort, 5 guineas; Commander Otter, 101.; John Per-
cival, Esq., 101; the Hon. Captain and Mrs. Best, 10
guineas; Lieut.-Colonel Colquhoun, R. A., 5 guineas;
Lieut. Maynard. R.N., 1 guinea; Dr. Anderson, Elaslar
Hospital, IL; Vice-Admiral the Hon. D. Bouverie, Si.;
John Watson, Esq., 5 guineas; Snooks, Esq., 101.,
besides a host of minor subscriptions.
Dispatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-
Ace from the Governor of Sierra Leone.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
Vice Admiral Sir John Louis, Bart., has not yet
given up the superintendentship of Devonport Dock-
yard, as reported, no successor to him having yet
been officially appointed, although it is well understood
that Lord John Hay, C.B , M.P., will have the
vacancy.
Lieutenant Richard Studdert (1837), who, since
his first entry into the navy in 1824, has been twenty-
two years in actual service afloat, and whose last em-
ployment was as first lieutenant of the Daring, 12,
under Captain Matson, in the experimental brig trials
and in the West Indies under that gallant officer, and
also under Captain Peel, has been promoted to the
rank of commander.
The promotions for the Arctic searching expedition
of Sir James Ross and Captain Bird have not yet
keen made, but will most likely be announced on
Monday, when the ships are paid off. The more
speedily they are bestowed, the more graciously will
be the appreciation of the hard service performed ;
and the more liberal in number they are, we are
quite sure the more satisfaction will the public feel
that a public debt has been duly and faithfully
discharged.
IRON VESSELS.—The Admiralty have issued orders
to all the dockyards that, in future, iron vessels
alongside or in proximity to vcssels that are coppered,
shall be removed, in consequence of the galvanic
action likely to arise.
Commander Thomas Smith, on the retired list of
1816, died on the 14th instant at Brighton' aged 70.
He entered the navy in Jan , 1724, as first-class
volunteer, on board the Brunswick, 74, Captain Juhn
Harvey. After sharing as midshipman in Lord
Howe 's action, he removed, in the following July, to
the Robust, 74, Captain Edward Thoraborough,
stationed in the Channel, where he next, in the course
of 1797.8, joined the Intrepid, 64, Captain Robert
Parker, and Royal Sovereign, 100, flag-ship of Sir
Allan Gardner and Sir Henry Harvey, to the latter
of whom he became flag-lieutenant sth Sept., 1800,
the date of his first commission. In 1802-3 he served
with Captain George Wolfe in the Galatea and Aigle
frigates ; in August of the latter year he was nomi-
nated flag-lieutenant to Sir Thomas Graves in the
Foudroyant, 80 ; and in 1804-5 he was appointed to
the Atlas, 98, Captain William Johnstone Hope, and
Orpheus, 32, Captains Henry Hill and Thomas Briggs.
In the Orpheus he visited the West Indies. He was
subsequently employed at Spithead in the Royal
William, Captain Hon. Courtenay Boyle. He was
placed on the junior list of retired commanders 26th
Nov., 1830; and on the senior 8:h March, 1845.
The Indefatigable, 50, Captain Smart, K.H., en-
tered 32 men on Wednesday. She is progressing in
her fittings, and has more than 300 of her full com-
plement already.
The Contest, 12, is having her anchors and chains
put on board, booms stowed, &c., at Portsmouth, and
will no doubt be commissioned early next week.
The Rochester, lighter (Sudwicks master), arrived
at Devonport on Thursday with stores from Chatham ;
and the Sinbad, lighter (Follett master), arrived with
stores from Woolwich.

The Victoria and Albert, Royal yacht, had her
masts taken out at Portsmouth on Thursday, in the
new steam basin. A party of engineers are at work
on board, preparatory to having her boilers taken out.
She is to be supplied with new, being the third set
since she was launched.

The Sidon, steam frigate, is progressing at Ports-
mouth with all dispatch; her topmasts are fitted. Her
two after boilers were tried on Thursday and appeared
to answer; and it is supposed they will produce a
sufficient supply of steam to work the engine at its
maximum speed.

The Fearless, surveying steam-tender, arrived at
Portsmouth, from Sheerness, on Thursday, and having
coaled, proceeded on to Plymouth, yesterday evening,
with some men from the Indefatigable.
The Desperate, screw-sloop, at Woolwich, will be
taken out of dock this day.
The apprentices of the Deptford Dockyard gave a
concert, on Tuesday last, to the officers of that esta-
blishment and the victualling department. Sir Juhn
Hill was so much gratified with the entertainment
and the progress the young men had made in their
singing class, that he gave them a holiday on
Thursday-
PORTSMOUH, FRIDAY.—The Royal yacht Fairy,
Captain the Right Hon. Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence,
embarked the Court at the Royal Clarence-yard,
Gosport, to-day, at half-past twelve, for Cowes. Her
Majesty not having been expected before one, some
derangement of the ceremonies of reception occurred.
The royal salutes, &c., by the fleet were fired,
and the royal standard (denoting the arrival at the
place) was hoisted on the turret at Osborne at forty..
two minutes past one P.M.

PLYMOUTH, Nov. 22 —The Pandora, 6, Lieute-
nant-Commander James Wood, after arrival from
Portsmouth, went into Barnpool on Tuesday to dis-
charge her powder, and up Hamoaze yesterday to be
paid ofT.

The Scourge, from Portimouth, arrived on Tues-
day with seamen for the Indefatigable, and sailed the
sAme day for Lisbon.

The Serp, nt sailed on Sunday for the East Indies,
touching at Rio Janeiro.

The Hound is manned. She will take in her guns
to-day, preparatory to sailing For the coast of Africa,
touching at Madeira.

The Express packet, from Falmouth, went up har-
bour yesterday to refit.
The masts of the Albion, 90, were sent to the dock-
yard on Tuesday to be examined and stored.
Dockyard.—Superannuations on Monday :—Mr.
J. Clark, leading man of painters, 341. per annum;
Cies Popham, station man, 30/. ; Charles Sel.len,
shipwright, 241.; Benjamin Radcliffe, blacksmith, 221.
Within the last week orders have been receivtd
from the Lords of the Admiralty that all riggers here-
after admitted into the dockyard are to produce cer-
tificates of ten years' service in her Majesty's Royal
navy, to hold the rank of petty officers, and to possess
the good conduct badge. This new order, taken in
conjunction with a former order, not annulled, will,
it is supposed, have the effect of almost entirely shut-
ting such seamen out of the dockyard service. The
previous order rules that no rigger is to be admitted
into the yard who is above 35 years of age.
Wind, south east ; light.
PLymouTll, FRIDAY.—Her Majesty's frigate Con-
stance, 50, Captain W. G. Courtenay, forty days
from Rio, was boarded at eleven o'clock yesterday
morning, thirty miles off the land between Plymouth
and the Start, by Hyde's pilot-boat Jane and Eliza-
beth, which received dispatches for Port-Admiral Sir
William Hall Gage. Before boarding the frigate she
was under top gallant sails and flying jib; she after-
wards hoisted her three royals and steered east to east
by north bound to Spithead. The wind was south-
east and so light that the pilot-boat did not return here
until six o'clock last evening.
A collision occurred off this port on
_Wednesday
morning between an English schooner and a foreign
brig. Robert Menzies, aged 18, of Tunbridge-street,
New• road, London, son of the superintending engineer
of Lloyd's Austrian steamers at Trieste, passenger in
the latter vessel, has furnished the following particu-
lars :—The brig Concordia, of 250 tons, Captain
Duminico Passette, belonging to Ancona, and sailing
under the colours of the Roman states, left London
with a cargo of saltpetre, skins, herrings, &c., on
Saturday last, the 18th inst., bound to 'Trieste. At
half-past twelve o'clock on Wednesday morning, night
rather dark, wind easterly, brig 30 miles south-west
of the Start lighthouse, under topgallant sails, steer-
ing fair way down Channel at the rate of eight knots,
mate's watch on deck, and a crowd of vessels near, she
was run into by the schooner Queen of the West,
of Salcombe, 119 tons register, Captain Edward
Quick, from St. Michael's, with oranges for
London, first voyage. The schooner was
coming up Channel, under topgallant sails, and
striking the brig on her starboard-bow, damaged her
bulwarks and ad forward. Menzies, who was below,
hearing the noise, came suddenly on deck, jumped on
the starboard bulwarks, which giving way under his
feet, he sprang to the larboard rigging of the schooner
and remained on board. Luigi Maroni, an Italian
schooner, left the brig's helm and followed Menzies.
The two vessels separated. The schooner, which had
lost her jibboom and cutwater, reached Salcombe at
9 o'clock the same morning, got supplied with a tem-
porary boom, and on Thursday resumed her voyage
to London. The brig, considerably damaged, has
got into Falmouth. Menzies and the Italian sailor,
who arrived here last evening in a Salcombe smack,
will be forwarded to Falmouth to-day, by Messrs. Fox,
Sons, and Co., Vice-Consuls for Rome. This is the
second misadventure of young Menzies in his efforts
to reach the Mediterranean. In August last, when
passenger in the ship Hero, of London, bound to
Trieste, she grounded on the Goodwin Sands, and
he was thrice washed off the deck ; twice he reco-
vered the vessel ; the third time he swam to a buoy,
on which he remained alone four hours, when he was
picked off by a Ramsgate boat.
Wind S.W.; thick weather.
APPOINTMENT.

Woor.wictr, Nov. 23.—Cgptain—James Hope,
C.B. (1838), to the Terrible, steam frigate, at
Woolwich.

PIInMOTION.

Lieutenant--Richard Studdert (1837) to the rank
of Commander.

The Terrible steam-frigate was inspected and
reported ready for the pendant in the early pat t of the
week. This fine vessel was commissioned to-day by
Captain James Hope, CB., and it is expected the
gallant officer will twist his pendant to-morrow
(Saturday). A very great anxiety has for some time
existed for the commissioning of the Terrible, and
many fine able seamen held back from other offers
when they understood that Captain Hope was to
command her. She will have a crew of 300 men,
and will soon complete that number and
be ready for sea the moment her services are
required. This gallant officer is the son of the late
distinguished Rear-Admiral Sir George Hope, &C.D.,

and is well known to the service as one of its bolt
officers. His last service, it will be remembered, was
in command of the Firebrand, steam frigate, on the
south-east cost of America, where he obtained the
decoration of C.B. for his gallantry at the affair at
Point Oblegado, in forcing the passage of the Parana,
Captain Hope having, under a heavy fire, proceeded
in his gig and cut the chain which moored a large
number of vessels across the river, and forced the
barrier. With so good a ship, and with so popular a
captain, no doubt she will be well, if not expeditiously
manned.

The Minx steam-vessel, fitted with a disc engine of
ten-horse power, is to be tried down the river to-
morrow, and received 3 cwt. of coke on board this
afternoon preparatory for the trial.
The Hermes steam-sloop, 6 guns, and 220-horse
power, had her steam up to-day in the basin to try
her engines.

An organ has been put up in the chapel over the
saw-mills at Woolwich Dockyard, and that place of
worship is well attended every Sunday. The whole
of the Woolwich division of Royal Marines attend
the Dockyard Chapel regularly. The organ is a very
excellent one although it only cost 601.
CHATHAM, Nov. 23.—The Horatio screw steam
guardship will not be put out of dock until the 30th
instant, at which time the Tiger steamship will also
be ready to be put out of the first dock, where she has
been built; both ships will then be navigated to the
river Thames, to have their engines, &e., put on board
by the contractors ; and the Magicienne steam-sloop
will, about that time, be out of the hands of the con-
tractors, and be ready to be navigated to this port to
be brought forward for service at sea.
The Aid naval lighter has arrived from Portsmouth
with stores for this yard, leaving the Master (Small-
man) sick in Hasler Hospital. Yesterday afternoon
a serious accident, which is likely to prove fatal,
occurred to a sailor named George Medhurst, who,
with others of the crew, was engaged in the hold of
the vessel, bringing the stores to hand for unloading,
while the labourers of the yard were heaving up iron
by the crane on to the wharf. A pig of iron being
hoisted up came in contact with the combings of the
hatchway, by which means the pig-iron slipped, and
it fell upon the head of Medhurst, who was below,
inflicting very serious injury; the poor fellow was
removed upon a stretcher to Melville Hospital in a
most woeful condition.

The Cressy, 80 guns, building, is fast progressing
towards completion. Her figure-head, carved by
Mr. Hellier, of Portsmouth, has arrived, and it will
shortly be put up in its place.
Detachments, consisting of 14 men of the sth
Regiment of Foot, and four men of the 12th Foot, in
charge of Lieutenant H. A. Norris, of the 12th, and
Mr. Robert Allan, second-class staff surgeon, arrived
at Fort Pitt yesterday, from the Mauritius. Captain
Shaw, of the Royal Artillery, also came home with
the above. Upon medical inspection of the detach-
ments 9 men of the sth and 1 man of the 12th Regi-
ment were taken into hospital. On the passage home
Private John Keine' of the sth, was drowned. A
detachment of the 97th Regiment, 2d battalion, con•
sisting of 3 sergeants and 12 rank and file, also
arrived from Jamaica, in charge of Captain V. An-
gelo, of the 3d West India Regiment, as invalids,
with Staff Assistant-Surgeon Jenkins. One man of
the name of Murphy, 97th, died on the passage; 8 men
of the 97th, on being medically inspected, were
ordered into hospital, and Staff Assistant-Surgeori
Kingdom, from St. Helena, also joined the same day
the medical establishment', at Fort Pitt. A detach-
ment of the 7th Foot, from Newport, also arrived as
invalids, to be pen4ioned off for length of service.