The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-30 00:00:00

THE AMERICAN ARMY AND NAVY

The New Nork Tribune, after a minute summary of the
naval and military forces at the disposal of the United
States, thus sums up :—" To resume ; we have no army,
except a small, scattered force, which could not be spared
from its present duty ; we have no breech-loading guns
to arm new troops with ; we have no navy worth men-
tioning; our forts cannot resist the passage of iron-clads,
and our heavy cannon are liable to kill more men behind
them than in front."

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.
The Orontes, troopship, from Bermuda, with the Ist
battalion of the 15th Regiment, arrived at Kingstown on
Tuesday.
The severe weather and the great fall of snow have
stopped nearly all work on the Chatham Dockyard ex-
tension at St. Mary's Island. In some places the snow
lies three or four feet deep, and everywhere snow and
frost impede or stop the operations of the workmen. In
the dockyard, too, the biting weather greatly retards the
work of the artisans employed on the various ships now
building, but none of the men have been compelled to
cease working. All the drills of the military have been
stopped in consequence of the snow lying deep on the
parade-grounds.
The military authorities have decided up .m forthwith
preparing a large numins of
_torpedoes. Messrs. Spence-
layh and Archer,ironfounders and engineers at Chatham,
have received orders from the War Office to„prepare the
cases for nearly 1,500 torpedoes; among the competitors
for this contract were Sir W. Armstrong anu Co. Messrs.
Spencelayh and Archer have for a long time supplied
such cases for torpedoes as were required for the purposes
of experiment by the Royal Engineers at Chatham ;
and their success in obtaining this contract will be a boon
to Chatham, as it will give employment to a considerable
►umber of extra hands.

A most successful trial was made at Portsmouth on
Tuesday by a system of steam condensation recently ap-
plied to the engines of steam pinnaces and other boats at-
tached to her Majesty's ships of war, which will most
probably lead to important results in the future ad-
ministration of the boat service of the Royal Navy.
With the 'excellent lifeboat system of steam cutters, pin-
naces, and launches on the plans of Mr. J. S. "White, of
East Cowes, adopted by the Admiralty for general naval
service, the engine power has been on the high-preSsure
principle. This arrangement was, of course, at the
loss of some power unless some simple means
of condensing could be applied ; and this means
appears to have been at length found in the " Crighton "
condenser, fitted to the
.machinery of No. 25 lLoyal
Navy steam lifeboat pinnace, tested by the Admiralty
officials of Portsmouth Steam Factory and Reserve on
Tuesday. The " Crighton" condenser may be described
as a 2iin. copper pipe, which receives the exhaust steam
from the engines. This pipe passes outside the boat's
bottom by the port quarter, running alongside the port
keel from aft to forward, and, by a bend in its direc-
tion, passing through the keel, and returning aft, on
the starboard side of the keel. Through the starboard
quarter of the boat the pipe re-enters and joins the air-
PlnP, the latter now pumping the condensed steam as
fresh water into the hot-well. The feed-pumps next come
into work, and now supply the boilers with this condensed
steam as water worked over and over again, and therefore,
act as a means of preventing saline deposits upon the
interior surfaces of steam boilers, as also a multiplication
of indicated. power by the engines.
The committee appointed to inquire into the designs
of our ships of war will hold their preliminary meeting
at the Admiralty, Whitehall, about the middle of
January. _

Forty 12-pounder and a similar number of 40-pounder
breech-loading guns have been got ready for service at the
Woolwich Arsenal.

Sir. J. Heron Maxwell presided on Wednesday over a
meeting of the London City Committee of the Captain
Relief Fund. It was stated that between £41,000 and
£42,000 had been received at Portsmouth, and about
£4,300 at the Mansion House. Between £17,000 and
£lB,OOO are still required. The tardiness with which the
subscriptions had come in, was the theme of much co►n-
ment, andU strong opinion was expressed that Govern-
ment ought to aid the fund.
Fifty troop horses which took part on the French side
at the battle of Sedan have been joined to the Royal
Artillery at Woolwich. They formed part of MacMaho►►'s
army which escaped the surrender, and, being afterwarls.
shipped to England, were purchased at Grimsby, in
Lincolnshire, of a contractor, by a►► officer who is con-
stantly engaged in such traffic on behalf of the Royal
Artillery. They arrived at Woolwich on Wednesday,
and will help to make up the complement in some
of the batteries which are at present short of their
number.

It is said that Figuerola is to be the fir,t Minister
of the new King of Spain. The Epoca declares no ap-
pointment could be more unpopular.
THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.—The London
correspondent of the Manchester Courier says :—" As no
one contradicted the Morning Post, it is taken for settled
now that Parliament does not meet till February 7th.
This is unusually late—later than ever Lord Palmerston
ventured to delay meeting his friends. Of course it is
hoped that the war will be over before the House of Com-
mons can have its say upon it. One of the first things
Mr. Gladstone will hear will be an accusation of delibe•
rately conniving at the destruction of France ; and I am
not sure whether public opinion will not confess that
there is a spice of truth in it."
-

HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN.—The Victoria
Hospital for Sick Children at Chelsea has just celebrated
its Christmas treat for its juvenile inmates. This insti-
tution, which has only been in existence a short time, has
been very successful in fulfilling the objects for which it
was intended—to treat very young children as in-patients
and those under sixteen as out-patients, besides promoting
the training of nurses. The number of in-patients has
risen from forty to over three hundred, and of out-
patients from five thousand to over twelve thou-
sand. The Victoria Hospital does not confine its
operations to Chelsea, but the western and
southern districts of London have a share of its
benefits, while patients are constantly brought from the
remotest districts of the metropolis, and from all parts of
the country. Efforts are made for the purpose of
increasing the funds of this useful institution ; but much
yet remains to be done in this respect. It is thought
likely that the present building of the Hospital will have
to give way to the Thames Embankment before long, so
that the Institution will be obliged to look out for new
quarters.
DEATH OF MR. ALDERMAN HARVEY, OF MAN-
CHESTER.--The Manchester papers record the decease of
Mr. Alderman Wm. Harvey, at the advanced age of 'B4.
This sad event, which had been expected for several weeks,
occurred on the evening of Christmas Day, at the family
residence, Acton-square, Salford. Mr. Harvey was
one of the founders, and next to the late Nathaniel
Card, was perhaps the foremost promoter of the Alliance,
and was chairman of the executive committee. For many
years Mr. Harvey had been the president of the Man-
chester and Salford Temperance Union, and had been a
total abstainer from all intoxicating liquors for upwards
of sixty-one years. He always took the liveliest inte-
rest in every department of the temperance cause. He
was also an earnest and decided advocate of the principles
of universal peace, and he had for upwards of 60 years
been an abstainer from the flesh of animals, believing
that a vegetarian regimen was best adapted to promote
health, prolong life, and aid all efforts of social reformers
to bring in a purer and nobler condition of human
existence and of true Christian civilisation. He was for many
years one of the vice-presidents of the Anti-Tobacco
Society. As a politician Mr. Harvey was well known as an
advanced Liberal, and had, in his early days been equally
so. He was present at the Peterloo massacre ; was an
ardent advocate for the repeal of the Corn Laws ; and was
one of the earliest to join Mr. Cobden in the promotion of
the Anti-Corn Law League. In 1832 on Salford becoming
a parliamentary borough, Mr. Harvey took a leading and
active part in the return of his brother-in-law, Mr.
Joseph Bretherton, who gained and held the seat till his
death in 1867. Mr. Harvey was born in April, 1787, at
Whittington, in Derbyshire. His father was a re-
tired yeoman, from Gresly, Nottinghamshire. The son,
Mr. William Harvey, came to Manchester in 1804,
in his seventeenth year, to be apprenticed to Mr.
ltailton, to learn the Manchester trade of spinning
weaving, and printing cotton. He took up his abode
with Mr. Joseph Brotherton, who resided in Salford,
and some years afterwards entered into partnership with
him, in the firm of Brotherton, Harvey and Company,
cotton spinners. When Mr. Brotherton retired from
business, Mr. Tysoe joined the firm, which for some years
was known as Harvey, Tysoe and Company, and more
latterly as Harvey and Sons. Some five or six years ago
Mr. Harvey retired from active business, leaving the mill
in the hands of some of the sons. In the year 1834, Mr.
Harvey was appointed the borough constab'e, and in 1852
the borough reeve of Salford. He was appointed police
commissioner in Salford in 1843; and on the incorporation
of the borough, in 1844, he was elected one of- the first
aldermen, which position he held until his death. Twice
he was elected mayor of the borough (1857 and 1858), and
was immediately afterwards appointed on the commission
of the peace. Mr. Harvey was one of the founders of the
Bible Christian Church in Salford in 1809, and was a
deacon and active supporter of that church until his
death,

MR. lIOItAOE GREELEY ON PROTECTIOg,
In the American papers just received there is a speech
of Mr. Horace Greeley in favour of protection. In the
course of his remarks Mr. Greeley said :—While I deny
that there is any danger, that there is anythin ; in the
nature of war in the policy I have advocated, I do iusi,t
that it is a reasonable and proper looking-out for ourselves
which every nation should cherish and its statesmen
respect. Mr. Munella, the British member of
Parliament, held up to our admiration and acceptance the
saying of a British friend of his who was speaking to :1
neighbour going off to California, and left him with this
injunction, "Be good to yourself, John." I think it was
a wise injunction. I think the man of the nation who
wisely takes a right good care of himself will not
be a bad neighbour, nor a bad friend. , I
think that was good sound British advice, and
I hope that American statesmen are prepared to respect
and profit by it. There is a very old ditty of British origin
whereof the refrain runs like this—

Vor she is the darling of my heart,
And she lives in our alley.
I have no hostile feeling to the people who live in other
alleys, but I have a more kindly regard for those who live
in our alley. Was it not the providence of God to divide
men into nations for wise and good purposes ? Has it
not been given us this good old maxim, that "blood is
thicker than water F' Was it not one that appealed to
the universal experience ? No. I feel it more my duty
to labour for the advancement and well-being of my oivn
country than of other countries, although I desire• also
the welfare of all; and I say if each nation will act on
the maxim of Mr. Mundella's friend, and be careful to
be good to itself, we shall work out the best results for
each and for every nation.