The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-22 00:00:00

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.
The Times says :—" We have received from Mr. E. J.
Reed, the late Chief Constructor of the Navy, a letter
upon the loss of the turret-ship, captain which, if it had
but been written with a little more consideration for the
exigencies of our space, we would willingly have published.
We really, however, cannot afford five columns for the dis-
cussion'even of so important a question ; but, as we think
Mr. Reed's views should be made known to the public, we
compress their substance and purport into the subjoined re-
marks. Little preface, fortunately, is here required. The
Captain was designed and built in direct defiance of official
opinion by an enthusiastic projector and a private firm,
in order to shew that the Admiralty authorities were in
the wrong, and the advocates of the new system in
the right. That system consisted in the com-
bination of a low freeboard with good sailing
power, so that a vessel might have her sides
only a few feet above the water, carry her guns
in turrets, and yet be a seaworthyi cruiser. The
Controller's Department denied the possibility of com-
bining these qualities in a successful specimen of naval
architecture. Captain Coles, the inventor, declared the
thing could be done if he were but allowed fair play in
doing it, mid so, in deference' to outside opinion, the
Captain was at length constructed, not in a Government
yard, but in a private yard ; not under official superinten-
dence, but under that of the designer and builders alone.
When built, she was sent to sea, and on the night of the
6th of September a summer squall sent her. to the bottom.
Since then it has been alleged that the official authorities
must be held responsible for the loss, inasmuch as it was
their duty, on receiving the ship from the contractors'
hands, to ascertain her stability by experiments of their
own, and instruct her commander accordingly. It is
further alleged that these experiments were actually made,
though after much delay, but that the result
was not communicated, 'as it might have :.been,
to the captain of the unfortunate vessel. These
are the points to which Mr. Reed addresses himself.
In refuting the chief of these allegations, Mr. Reed, with
a not unnatural decision, declares that the Captain, to be
built as she was built, never ought to have been built at
all, nor can we deny that up to a certain point his argu-
ment is substantially sound. The authorities responsible
to the nation were placed in a position virtually depriving
them of responsibility and authority together. They had
refused distinctly to undertake any such experiment as was
advocated by Captain Coles. They declared, more and
more distinctly as the principle was considered and the plan
advanced, that success was impossible, and, indeed, it was
on account of their invincible `prejudices' on this point
that the entire work was removed from their control.
They were answerable for nothing but the mere confor-
mity of the work and materials with the sti-
pulations of the contract. The very object
and intent of the arrangement was to produce
a ship in avoidance of, not to say in opposi-
tion to, the control which the professional advisers of the
Admiralty were accustomed to exercise.' All this is quite
true, and it does result in substance that the authorities
could scarcely have interfered at any point of the experi-
ment without exposing themselves to misconstruction and
probable distrust. But, on the other hand, how was the
'value of the turret principle to be otherwise ascertained?
Rightly or wrongly, this principle is stiticoneidered by some
of our best seamen as giving the true type of the fighting
ship,
.and if -the 'Admiralty would not take it up what
were its advocates to do? These, however, are the •views
put foith by Mr. Reed. We omit--as we must omit
. something—his retorts on his personal opponents, but we
have not; we . think, excluded from this abgtract of his
statements any allegation or opinion bearing upon the.
subject itself.'
The Trafalgar, naval cadet training screw line-of-battle
ship, Captain Thomas Bridgman Lethbridge, has com-
pleted the required alterations at Portsmouth Dockyard
for the improvement of the ventilation between decks, and
will sail about Wednesday next on her first seagoing in-
struction cruise. Her course during the cruise will include
; Teneriffe, Gibraltar, and Lisbon.
The Thistle, 4 guns; double screw composite gun-vessel
(the vessel on board of which an awful explosion occurred
L about twelve months since, whereby 11 persons lost their
lives), was commissioned at Sheerness on Wednesday.
3 last, by Commander IL K. Lect, for service in the Per-
sian Gulf, as a surveying vessel.
The Magdala, 4 guns, double screw armour-plated
turret-ship, 2,107 tons, `250-horse power, built at Black-
I wall for the defence of Boinbay, is so far completed as to
2 leave for Sheerness, which port she reached on Monday
S last. She is under orders to be taken out to the Nore for
an official trial over the measured mile.
Lieutenant-General the Hon. Sir James Yorke Scarlett
I. reviewed the troops at Aldershot on Thursday. The
2 2nd Middlesex Militia, under Lord Enfield, took part
3. in the evolutions, and their excellent marching past, and
the steadiness and precision of their evolutions, drew forth
expressions of approbation from Sir James Scarlett and
1 all the officers of the staff.
2 In consequence of the large number of gentlemen, who
have passed for direct commissions, now waiting for their
appointments, there will he no examinations for admission
to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, until further
1 notice.
2. On October 6th, the corner stone of the Memorial-hall
at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, was
laid. This hall is to be built in memory of the students
and graduates who fell in the late Civil War, and the
1 fund subscribed for the purpose amounts to $262,000.
2 Governor Claffin, of Massachusetts, Senators Sumner and.
3 Wilson, General Meade, and other distinguished gentle-
men, were present at the corner-stone laying.

STEALING TIMBER IN KENSINGTON-GARDENS. THE
DANGER OF KNOWING TOO MUCH.—TWO boys, named
Dominick Sweeney and James Macarthy, were charged
at the Marlborough-street Police-court, before Mr. Knox,
with stealing some timber in Kensington-gardens, the
property of Her Majesty's First Commissioner of Works.
Police-constable 463 A said that about nine o'clock that
morning he saw several lads running away with pieces of
timber cut off the trees in Kensington-gardens ; and on
going after them he met the prisoners with piece of
timber about six feet long on their shoulders. As soon as
the prisoners saw him they dropped the timber and ran
away, and he went after them and took them into
custody. Macarthy : The constable asked us questions
coming along, for the purpose of making us criminate
ourselves. Mr. Knox : Criminate yourselves I Why, you
are evidently a young thief from your language, and I
shall remand you both, that we may see who and what
you are. Elisha Butler, of Caroline-street, Bayswater,
was also charged with stealing, timber. in Kensington
Gardens. In this case Sergt. -Martin, A Division, saw
the prisoner in possession of about a cart load of timber
off the trees in Kensington Gardens, and on telling him
that he should take him into custody for stealing it, he
coolly replied, " Oh, then I'll take it back again." The
prisoner knew that he had no right to take the timber,
as one of the park superintendents told him it was nut
permitted. Committed for a month, with hard labour.
A BRUTAL IRISHMAN.—John Carney, an Irishman,
aged 62 years, of No. 45, Star-street, St. George-in-the-
East, was charged before Mr. Paget, at the Thames
Police-court, with assaulting and wounding Sarah Flynn,
of the same place. The parties met in a beer shop
on Wednesday night, and quarrelled about their
hop experiences in the county of Kent. The
quarrel. came to a termination in the beer
house without bloodshed, but on reaching home
it was renewed with great force and fury, and the
prisoner swore by the " holy poker" lie would extinguish
her if she did not hold her tongue. She continued to
abuse him, and he took hold of a kitchen poker and
struck her a tremendous blow on the head, inflicting a
severe wound, from which she bled profusely. He 'fled,
and was subsequently arrested by the police. Dr. John
Kiermap, a physician and assistant to Mr. Daniel Ross,
divisional surgeon of police, 175, High-street, Shadwell
said the complainantllad received a contused and lacerated
wound, extending to the bone. The iron poker pro-
duced would have inflicted such a wound. It was not
dangerous. The prisoner howled for mercy, and said lie
was a very old and infirm man. Mr. Paget—You are a
very wicked and brutal old man. It is very fortunate
you are not here on a charge affecting your life. You
might have killed her. The doctor says the wound is not
dangerous, and I convict you of an assault, and sentence
you to six months' imprisonment, and hard labour.
THE ASSIGNMENT OF MILITARY PENSIONS.— A cause
involving an important public question was brought be-
fore Mr. Bloxham, chief clerk in Vice-Chancellor Bacon's
Chambers, it being instituted by the Gresham Life Assu-
rance Company against a retired military officer, named
Crossman, for the purpose of deciding the question
whether an Assurance Company, as the assignees of a
military pension, can enforce the payment of the
pension against the Secretary of State, and whether
in fact, a Government pension can be legally assigned at
all. The defendant's solicitor stated that the question
was of such public importance that it had been determined
to entrust the preparation of the answer to the suit to Sir
Roundell Palmer, from whom it would be submitted to
the Council for India for approval.—The Chief Clerk said
he did not think it advisable to push with undue haste a
case involving a question of such broad public importance.
To facilitate its preparation, therefore, he would enlarge
the time for the answer to the 15th November.
THE HALFPENNY POSTAL CARDS.—At Bow-street, a
gentleman applied to Sir Thomas Henry (who has
resumed his magisterial duties after a vacation of
.several weeks) complaining of two indecent postal-cards
received by his sister and another lady. The person
who had sent them sheaved the cards previously to post-
ing them to a gentleman, who advised that they should
not be forwarded. Upon each card was written some
poetry, and.on reading the first word on every line down-
wards a question of a very indecent character was formed.
The cards had been delivered by• a regular letter-carrier,
but there was no obliteration of the Queen's head to shew
that they had pasSed through the Post Office. On ques-
tioning the authorities it was alleged that the cards were
so numerous, and the pressure of time so great, that it was
very probable they had been despatched without the
usual office seal. The ladies objected strongly to the
circumstances being made public, and consequently did
not wish to attend to prosecute. Sir Thomas Henry ob-
serVed that it was a very important matter, and he could
grant a summons for indecent libel, but in that case the
ladies' presence would most certainly be required in sup-
port of the charge. The applicant said he was quite sure
the ladies would never consent to this course, and he had
therefore, no other alternative than to refuse to take out
the summons.
MANSLAUGHTER.—The man Slater, who attempted to
murder his father-in-law in Newcastle, has been tried at
the quarter Sessions for that town. Mr. Tulip, the pro-
secutor, was going home one evening, and while passing
the back of Slater's house he was stabbed by some one on
the side of the head, behind the right ear. He turned
round on his assailant, caught him by the collar, and then
discovered that it was Slater, his son-in-law. The jury
found him guilty of unlawfully wounding—the charge
on which he had been committed—and the Recorder
passed the highest possible sentence, viz.,five years' penal
servitude.

FIRE AT SIIEFFIFLD.—The pumping engine house
of the Dronfield Silkstone Coal Company, Dronfield, near
Sheffield, together. with a quantity of very valuable machi-
nery, was destroyed by fire on Thursday. Besides the
damage done by fire, great loss will ensue indirectly from
the accumulation of water in the pit. _

AUTHENTIC RECORDS OF THE \VAR.—We have
received from the central directory at Berlin the folloWing
statistical account of the sick and wounded received into
the hospitals from the beginning of the war up to the
evening of • September 28. At this time the number of
sick and wounded had reached 54,450. Reports had been
received from 1,188 lazareths, of which 48 were
field and war hospitals, the remainder being
reserve lazareths and private hospitals. Out
of the total number, 4,597 had become capable of
removal as convalescents, or had been removed to hospi-
tals at a distance or by their friends. The number of
those who remained in the field or were left at the stations
as cured, was 3.808 ; of these, a small portion appear to
have been invalided. There were 518 deaths in the laza-
reths. The percentages were, according to the numbers
above given, as follows ; convalescents, 8.44 ; cured 6.90 ;
invalided, 0.08 ; died, 0.95.—British Medical Journal.
It is rumoured that the Prince and Princess of
SCHOOLS IN PARIS.— M.Jule3 Simon, the Minister
of Public Instruction, has addressed a letter to the Mayor Wales will pay a visit to the Empress of the French, at
of Paris on the establishment of normal schools in Paris. Chislehurst, in the course of a few days.
Ten of the eighty-nine departments in France have no
schools of this description. M. Simon observes that they THE FINE A.RTS IN PARIS.—We are informed by
will not waste millions, as their predecessors have done, a foreign correspondent that as far back as August 29 last
in luxury and pleasure, but they will spare no expense for the most precious ctures of the Salon Came, of the
the instruction of the children. A. holm is to bondesab- Galeries des Sept Mdtres et du Bord de l'Eau, and of the
lished which will regulate the others, and fou a ex Salle des Etats in the Louvre, were packed up and re-
course of instruction which will be solid and severe. moved from Paris to a safe place. All the curiosities
The education of girls will also receive attention, and care contained in the cases of the Galerie d'Apollon and other
will be taken to provide them with an education which rooms of the Louvre were also packed and removed. The
may fit them for different Pursuits. As surprise has been whole contents of the Hotel de Cluny were storedii)nootfie
expreesed that these schools should be thought of at a vaults of the Pantheon. The principal MSS.,.
.ks,
time when all minds are occupied with the war, bronzes, and medals of the Bibliotheque, Rue dehßeiAcheheu,
M. Jules Simon explains that the question is an were also stowed away, as well as those of the Arsenal
important one, and they had fully made up their
minds as to the manner in which it should buildings or in other safe places.— Archttec,. and Mazarine Libraries, either Thehe cellatrs of h
be dealt with. The present war was made with THE MANUFACTURE OF CIIASSEPOTS.—The Go-
out the consent of the people, but they were so far re- vernment of the National Defence has adopted a method
sponsible for it that they submitted to the rule of the for manufacturing Chassepots. The material which re-
Government who occasioned it. The character of the places the steel will be simply aluminum bronze. Gandin,
nation has been injured, and its intellect affected by the an eminent chemist, will furnish this material in eon-
Imperial rule. These schools will be founded. in a time
of trouble, and hereafter they will revive the corrttetness Greenland, but Gamily will dispense -. with it, he will
'siderable quantities. The ordinary aluminiun comes from
of morals without which no people can really be extract aluminium from the soil of Paris. The laboratory
great: is on a gigantic scale, and ready for service. It is one of
[ADAERTisEmENT-]-1-101loway's Ointment and Pills.- the seven gas works of the town. When once the metal
Have been used freely by millions of human beings of has been fabricated. a sufficient number of Chassepots can
both sexes and all ages, in every part of the world, and be made in a month to equip the National Guard.
while the public press has teemed with authenticated The Minister of Public Works has undertaken to
cases of extraordinary cures of a vast variety of diseases bring the resources of private industry to bear on
cast iron,
such as indigestion, scorbutic eruptions, and liver corn- the service of the war, He has requested the
plaints), there is not on record a single case in which their ( grseneadtlruarigleweaayncnoomnspaoieueass, workers to
use has - been attended with a bad effect. None, when dinAcohfanthicealse
using Holloway's Ointment and Pills, need suffer the pieces will be furnished in the course of a month. The
hope of cure to be 'counterbalanced by the fear of injury. workers in brass are called upon to send breech-loading
They cannot do harm, they must do good. They may be guns, and, in a short tiine the industry of private citizens
taken by the weakest Persons as beneficially as by the will have, put at the disposition of the Government a
They never fail to expel impurities and to I
most robust. i set of artillery most formidable in its quantity and
induce perfect regularity of action. I quality. •