The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-24 00:00:00

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eyt.a.naned. on the
Dobson was aga.
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aAvitd
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charge of writing and publishing defamtory and
malicious libels against Sir lames Fergusson, ma).
for Ayrshire.
After the examination of a warder at the House
of Detention to prove the delivery of some verses
addressed to Lady Fergusson, Sir James was
examined.
Mr. Humphreys—Did you, while in Scotland,
receive the envelopetand enclosure marked ABC
from your wife, Lady Edith Fergusson ?
Sir James—l did; on the 20th of last June.

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JU

LY 24, 1860.

TICEPt 41). STAMPED, 5D

ME NA FY.

a naval station, which they consider to be so mate-
rial to the command of the British Channel, as to
form an important element in any general system
of defence for the United Kingdom.
They would further urge the absolute necessity
for the establishment of one or more central depots,
as allude cl to in paragraph 157, page 52, of the re-
port, which are, in their opinion, essential for the
security of the vast amount of military stores and
material now concentrated at Woolwich.
GEORGE.
R. S. DUNDAS, Vice-Admiral.
,1111)a.Ajo.IG•-G.
Renoeyraall.
RICTIARD AIREY, Q.M. General.
(j.rfßA sL.°B"TNFGIETILADIi Artillery.
J. W. GORDON, Col. D.A.G., R.E.

A letter dated Bantry Bay, Bearhaven, July 17,
received at Plymouth from an officer of the screw
steamship Trafalgar, 90, Capt. E. G. Fanshawe,
states that the fleet was to leave in a few days for
Dublin, whence it would probably proceed to the
Clyde. It is supposed that Sir Charles Fremantle
will winter in Plymouth Sound.
Yesterday three of the vessels chartered by the
Hon. Council for India for the conveyance of rein-
forcements to India were inspected at Gravesend
by Major-Gen. Eyre, who was accompanied by
Lieut.-Col. Gordon, the Brigade-Major at Chatham
--the inspection being made for the purpose of
ascertaining that every arrangement had been made
for the health, comfort, and convenience of the
officers and troops who embark in them. The ships
inspected were the Canning, 1,021 tons, Capt. J.
Robertson, which embarks 400 men at Gravesend,-
the Tyburnia, 961 tons, Capt. F. Coote, to embark
400 men at Gravesend and Portsmouth, for Cal-
cutta; and the Kate, 786 tons, Captain S. T. Lon-
tet, to embark 350 men, for Bengal.
The Torch, 5, screw gun vessei, Commander F.
Smith, has returned to Chatham from the Nore,
having gone on a trial trip of her machinery, in
which her ermines were fouad to work very satis-
factorily. She is completing fitting for the coast of
Africa,

Mr. Humphreys—Now, I ask you, is there the
slightest atom of truth in the statement that you
ran away from the trenches before Sebastopol ; ix
the statement that you have robbed defendant of
his patrimony ; is there, in fact, any truth in any
statement that he has made concerning you ?
Sir James—There is not the slightest ground
whatever for anything, he has alleged agait:st Inc.
There is only this amount of truth in the whole;
he says in his letter to Mr. Disraeli, " There was

I not the slightest pretext for the imputation, inas-
much as no one acquainted with the circumstances
under which Sir James left the Crimea (zeal for
the discharge of his Parliamentary duties) so soon
as fighting became serious, Sc.," and the only truth
in that is I left the Crimea because I had a few
months before been elected a member of Parliament.
Mr. Humphreys—And you left, I believe, not
only with the consent but by the advice of your
commanding officer?
Sir James—Yes; and not only by his advice, but
also by that of General Simpson and Lord Raglan.
This closing the examination in chief. defendant
put the following questions to the witness :
Defendant—Do you persist in your statement
that I was not Mrs. Nasmythe's brother ?
Sir James—l have since been informed you are;
but was not aware of it till lately.
Defendant—When did you ascertain that ?
Sir James—Since the last time I charged you
here ; while you were in the House of Detention.
Defendant—Tour uncle was married to Mrs.
Nasmythe's daughter, my niece, was he not ?
Sir James—He was.
Defendant—You say you were in the Guards in
the Crimea; what regiment did you belong to ?
Sir James—The Grenadier Guards.
Defendant—Were you present at the battle of the
Alma?

Having signed the minute of the defence com-
mittee on the general acceptance of the report of
the Royal Commissioners on National Defences, we
feel it our duty, with the consent of his Royal
Highness the President, and the other members of
the committee, to record our dissent from the
opinion expressed in paragraph 38 of that report,
that previously untrained men can be taught the
ordinary duties required for the service of heavy
artillery in about a month.
J. BLOOMFIED, Major• General,
Inspector General of Artillery.
CHARLES BINGHAM,
D.A.G., Royal Artillery.

The Atlas, 91, screw line-of-battle ship, launched
at Chatham on Saturday, will proceed to Sheerness
this day, to be fitted with her engines, which are to
be of 800-horse power. She will afterwards return
to Chatham to be fitted for the second-class steam
reserve at that port.
The sudden death of Mr. James Rusden, Master
of the screw steam frigate Mersey, 40, Captain
Henry Caldwell, C. 8., has created a feeling of great
regret among the officers and crews of the Channel
Fleet, now in Bantry Bay.
The paddlewheel steam vessel Rhadamanthus, 4,
Master Commander Frederick R. Sturdee, from
Woolwich and Portsmouth, which arrived at
Plymouth on Saturday, brought some supernume-
rary boys, and went into Hamoaze on Sunday.
The paddlewheel steam sloop Argus, Commander
G. T. Winthrop, called at Plymouth, and left again
on Sunday evening.

Sir James—l was.
Defendant—Did you order your regiment to
leave the field ?

Sir James—l did not.
Defendant—When the order was given to the
23d Fusiliers, " Fusiliers retire," in consequence
of their being cut up; did you not tell your
regiment the order was meant for them, and tell
them to leave the field ?
Sir James—l did not.
Defendant—Did you not try to make them re-
treat ?
Sir James—l did not.
Defendant—Do I understand you to swear
positively to that ?
Sir James—At so distant a period it is hard to
say what orders were given. I remember various
orders coming down the line; but do not remember
giving any such order. I was not in a position to
do so. I was commanding no one. I was merely
a subaltern in my own company. All I can say is
undoubtedly the Guards never did retire a single
foot on that day, either by my command or any
one else's.

Defendant—Do you mean to say your men did
not prevent you retreating, and refuse to quit the
field ?

Sir James—Nothing of the sort took place. I
do not know why I should answer all these ques-
tions. Ido not see why the Alma need be brought
up.

Mr. Humphreys also objecting,
Mr. Arnold said he could not now put a stop to
such questions, as Mr. Humphreys had himself
thrown open such a large field for cross-examina-
tion. He (Mr. Arnold) would have stopped such
questions long ago, as being irrelevant to the charge,.
had not Mr. Humphreys opened the door for them
by his examination in chief.
Mr. Humphreys said he had done so because he
considered every man prosecuting in a case of libel
was upon his trial as it were. He had, therefore,
put such questions to his client in order that he
might answer anything asked of him, and himself
show that there was no truth in what the defendant
had alleged, and that he wished to court every
inquiry.

Mr." Arnold suggested that Mr. Jobson should
reserve his questions till the trial.

Defendant said he had only a few more to put,
which he preferred asking the prosecutor now.
The cross-examination was then resumed as fol-
lows :

Defendant—Then you did not leave the field of
battle ?
Sir James—No.
Defendant—lf the privates of your regiment say
you did, is that true or false ?
_ _ .

Mr. Arnold—You cannot ask that ; it is not evi-
dence.

Sir James—The only circumstance I can call to
mind which could have given rise to such an asper-
sion upon my character was—my company was
what was termed the light company, and the order
was given them to wheel back to oppose some
of the Russians who had outflanked us. I remem-
ber giving the word" Front turn, in order that
my company should not go too far, and should
turn upon the enemy, but I don't think such a
trivial thing would have been remembered.
Defendant—Did you not quit the trenches under
the circumstances mentioned in the verses (one of
the libels I am charged with) ?
Sir James—l don't know which of the -verses you
refer to.

Mr. Arnold—You must read the verses you want
to draw the witness's attention to.
Defendant then read as follows :
" This place is'nt safe, the balls fly about,
Perhaps I shall catch a flea in my ear;
He trembled on hearing a Russian shout,
And added 'Young Fergusson shall not lodge) here.
With that he led home some bold fighting men,

As gallant as England ever sent fO'rth ; -
Men who would fight again and again,
Unless led by this vile cur of the North.

The gallant old Guards of England were thus
Constrained to retire when on conquest they reckoned ;
And what has been often the cause of a muss,'
Abandon their grog to the brave Forty-secoml."
Sir James-1 can answer that I never left the
trenches under any such circumstances.
Defendant—Did not your soldiers, as I have said
in the verses, abandon their grog to the 42d ?
Sir James—They never did; they nevecr retreated
at all during the whole of the time I was in the
Crimea.

Mr. Arnold, addressing Mr. Humpbcreys, said
that he still entertained a great doubt wh ether any
proceeding could be sustained against the defen-
dant for the letter he had sent to Mr. Horsman. If
a bona fide letter of complaint of something which
a person wished a member of Parliament to take up
were sent to him, and it merely contained the state-
ment of grievance complained of, he thought it
would be a privileged communication ; bu.t if in that
statement he travelled out of the record then the
privilege ceased. Although in defendant's letter
to Mr. Horsman he complained of some wrongs he
had received from Sir James Fergusson, be spoke in
much stronger language of complaint against Mr.
Paynter and the Secretary of State ; but in the
letter to Mr. Disraeli, written by defendant for the
same apparent purpose as that addressed to Mr.
Horsman, he went out of the question of his alleged
wrong, and brought charges of cowardice against
Sir James, which was clearly an offence. It must
be borne in mind that with respect to communica-
tions sent to members of Parliament it would
always be a question whether it was a bona fide
complaint, as it never could be tolerated that under
pretence of making one it was to be made the means
of publishing libel. He repeated that he thought
a superior court would hold the letter to Mr. Hors-
man to be a privileged communication, and recom-
mended that that charge should not be proceeded
with, although the letter might be given in evi-
dence, without making it the subject of a substan-
tive charge, to prove the animus.
he ousuthsoleodmui
tnl
should
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but if
Humphreys said that, after what 'had fallen
from the magistrate,
tahfteercicaoagueitfinorgwtchioteuhnlsie_tet,ltoeirrt
saidnd anht animus, he
ellwotoiuld ext. snd the ce of his intention.
oArnold
he
edthdeenfe
swaormuylrdt.
defen-
dant's recognisances till Friday, by which time the
depositions were to be prepared.

VERY HIGH TIDES. Yesterday, the river
Thames tides, both morning and evenini; , reached to an
unusual height, and those persons having premises on the
south side of the Thames bank experienc 3d much incon-
venience. The continuation of wet weal her throughout
the whole day had a severe effect on the at eamboat traffic ;
and also great disappointment to several IN )ats' crews made
up to witness the contest for the Old Barg( :-house Regatta.
GRIMSTONE'S EYE SNUFF.—A certifi4 ;ate proving the
virtues of this snuff, from Dr. Ure, M .D., F.R.S., 25,
Keppel-street, Russell-square :—" I herel: y certify th_at.t_h°
eye snuff invented and manufactured by- Win.
0(!_11.70
stone, of the Herbary, Highgate, is quite :free from tobacco
Da'
the pitui-
and composed of herbs, capable of excitir madlyYt
narcotic
tary glands, without exercising
action on the optical organs. This sige
brain and the
adapted to relieve congestions affects lig
r of vision.—Andrew Ure, M.D., F.R.S. p
the result of au
any
s itu3sejuiens therefore
chemis-
try and analyticsd chemist." The ar e
xvv.
I id by the Spanish
analysis of Grimstene's eye snuff,
tc.),. to free this
Consul-General (Marquis of Barta,
snuff from tobacco duty is the Sratuat d° Plizinuss