The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-25 00:00:00

APPOINTMENTS.

Lieutenants—W. C. Harris (1811) to be agent tc
the Princess Royal transport ; R. H. Wharton (1841)
to the Agincourt depot ship of Devonport ordinary.
Clerk—Albert Lea (1847) to the Spiteful steam-
sloop, at Devonport.
Assistant Surgeon—William F. M'Clinton, acting,
to the Scourge, steam•sloop at Portsmouth.
Gunner—Henry Burgess to be acting.
COAST-GUARD SEIZURE AT PORTSMOUTH.—Lieut.
Joseph Brown, of the Coast-Guard, stationed at
Portsmouth, made a seizure of smuggled spirits of
some importance on Monday night. Mr. Brown was
out that night in the Solent, with his galley and four
men ; a number of boats had collected on the middle
shoal in the Solent, fishing. The revenue galley,
pulled amongst them, and boarded a wherry, appa-
rently very deep in the water, and found in her no
less than 49 tubs of spirits. There were four men on
board, but no resistance was effered. The wherry
belonged to Gosport, as did also several of the smug-
glers. The wherry and spirits were deposited at the
Custom House on Tuesday, and the four men were
committed to the new gaol at Winchester.
PORTSMOUTH, WEDNESDAY, 5 P.M.--Wind westerly,
moderate and cloudy.
The Ganges, 84, Captain Smith, C. 8., v► ill not be
ready to leave Devonport for Plymouth Sound until
the 28th instant. She has entered about a hundred
men since her arrival at Devonport.
The Superb, 80, Captain Purcell, has commenced
entering men at Queenstown,: to fill up her comple-
ment to 720.

The Leander, 50, Captain S. C. Dacres, has been
removed from the basin at Portsmouth, and taken
alongside the dockyard jetty. She has not yet re-
ceived her armament, and is about 80 petty officers
and seamen short of her full complement. The time
for being ready for sea has been postponed to the 6th
of next month.

The Oetavia, 50, new frigate, at Devonport, has
been ordered to he fitted for ordinary at that port.
_

The Serpent, 12, Commander Barker, now ready,
and manned at Portsmouth, is ordered to sail OA the
30th for the East Indies, touching at Rio, on her
way to Singapore.
The Wolverine, 12, Commander Falcon, is to leave
Devonport on the Ist proximo, with the mails for the
coast of Africa.

The Contest has been masted, and will be forthwith
brought forward for immediate commission. It is
likely that she will take the December mail to the
coast of Africa.

The Hogue, GO, screw-ship, Captain Macdougall,
as we stated, left Queenstown on the 21st for a cruise.
She was ordered to
.return to Queenstown after
twenty-four hours' exercise of her engines and ship's
company.
The Terrible, steam-frigate, will be out of the
hands of the shipwright department by the 12th of
November.

The Firebrand, 6, steam-frigate, Captain Knox,
is reported ready for sea, at Woolwich, this day. She
is about a dozen bluejackets short, which she will
complete at Portsmouth, on her way to the Medi-
terranean.

The Spiteful, 6, steam•slonp, Commander Carmi-
chael, has removed from Devonport Dockyard to
Barnpool, and is ready for sea, manned within two
or three. She goes to the Mediterranean to relieve
the Rosamond.

The Scourge steam-sloop, Commander Lord F.
Kerr, has been shifted from the basin to the jetty, at
Portsmouth, alongside the dockyard. She has com-
pleted coaling, but has not received her guns ; her
destination is said to be Lisbon. The Ordnance de-
partment, as usual, is all behind.
The Black Eagle, Admiralty steam-yacht, Master-
Commander Cook, has some engineer defects to be
made good at Woolwich.
The Rattler, screw-sloop, Commander Cumming,
arrived off Benin, July 11 ; she had taken a large
Braailian schooner slaver, American built, after a
shase of several hours, and only succeeded in captur-
ing her by the breesse subsiding.
The Sprightly, steam-vessel, Master-Commander
Allen, is progressing slowly, at Portsmouth, in her
equipment; her defects are not yet completed by the
dockyard.
The Confiance, steam-tender, Master-Commander
Marsin, arrived at Portsmouth, on Tuesday, from
Devonport, with some seamen supernumeraries for
the ships fitting ; and also a detachment of the Royal
Marines, lately serving in Ireland.
ARMAMENT OF OUR STEAM VESSELS.—WO under-
stand that within the last fortnight the Admiralty
have been working up the Ordnance Department to
the completion of the armament of the steam-vessel.*
(screw and paddle wheel) now being brought forward
in reserve. This week their Lordships have ordered
the armament of the Amphion to be prepared, which
is to consist of the following powerful ordnance :
Main deck fourteen 32-pounders, 50 cwt , and sh. 8-
inch guns, G 5 cwt.; weather deck, eight 32-pound-
ers, 25 cwt. ; quarter-deck and forecastle, each 1
pivot-gun, 10-inch, 87 cwt. Total 30 guns.

CHANGES AND REDUCTIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT
DEPARTMENTS is strongly reported, and, although
we have no official ectifirmation, we believe there is sub-
stantial foundation for the rumour, that the steam do.
pertinent of the Admiralty at Somerset House is to be
absorbed in the department of the Surveyor of the
Navy. The office of comptroller of machinery is to bo
abolished, and Captain Elliott, who now holds the ap-
pointment, is to be transferred to the Coast Guard Ser-
vice, as Comptroller• General, Captain Houston Stewart,
C. 8., who now holds that office, being transferred to
the Board of Admiralty, in the room of Captain Lord
John Hay, C. 8., ffho succeeds Sir John Louis, Bart.,
as Superintendent of Devonport Dockyard. It is also
confidently reported that the very expensive, very slow,
and over-officered establishment, the Board of Ordnance,
is no longer to be maintained in its separate and irre-
sponsible existence, but that it is to be attached to the
Horse Guards and Admiralty, as mere branch depart-
ments, with one naval and one military officer, subordi-
nate to the heads of the army and navy authorities con-
ducting the branches, just as the other branches of the
navy are established and controlled.—Herald.

DING'S COLLEGE, LONDON.— The prizes which
were founded by the Rev. Dr. Warneford for the encou-
ragement of the study of theology amongst the matri-
culated medical students of this college, have just been
awarded to Mr. G. May and Mr. A. D. Smith. The
prizes founded by the late P. IL Leathes, Esq., for me-
dical students who are found most worthy for their pro-
ficiency in religious knowledge, have been awarded to
Mr. J. K. Spender and Mr. E. A. H. Head. The Divinity
scholarship for the present year has been awarded to Mr
Frederic William Farrar.
Poets view nature as a book in which they read a
language unknown to common minds, as astronomers
regard the heavens and therein discover objects that
escape the yulger km:h.—Visa Cook's Journal.