The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-13 00:00:00

This statement of facts has been collected with great
pains and care, and in the main we believe it is such as
will be given in evidence before any military tribunal by
which the matter may be investigated. Much of it is ne-
cessarily and unavoidably, under the circumstances, of an
ex parte character, and it must be road with that qualifi-
cation ; but it is substantially that on which the advice of
counsel has been taken, before whom it was laid by an
eminent solicitor, acting as the professional adviser of Mr.
Ames and his father. To do Lord Ernest Vane justice, we
lderstand he denies using the language imputed to him
by Mr. Ames. Tho other officers implicated may also,
possibly, disclaim having taken the part in the transac-
tions in question with which they are charged. These
are all questions to be investigated by the proper legal
tribunal. In the meantime, with no wish whatever
to prejudice the case in the slightest degree, we publieh
this statement of the circumstances, having previously
used all the means at our command to insure the greatest
approach to accuracy. It remains to be stated that
Cornet Ames has felt it right to take the course he
has done in the matter on public grounds alone, feeling,
with his friends and professional advisers, that if he over-
looked such an outrage he would have rendered himself
amenable to the censure implied in a memorandum in tho
hands of every officer in the army, and written on the
sth of July, 1853, by Lord Hardinge, the late Commander-
io-Chiof, in roferenco to nn indignity offered to an ensign
in the 50th Regiment, at Preston, in that year. " If,"
said Lord Hardinge on that occasion, " Ensign -- had
tamely submitted to the gross and insulting language
applied to him or to the personal indignity of pumping
upon him, and if the facts had ensue to the General Com.
Indingein-Chief's knowledge, he would have consider( d
Ensign -- as unworthy to hold a commission in her Ma-
jesty's service.' " Every officer," he continued, " what-
ever be his rank, is the guardia❑ of his own honour, his
conduct being governed and controlled by the articles of
war. It is clearly laid down in the Judge-Advocate's
letter to the Secretary at War of the 17th of April, t 8
and circulated by the Secretary at War, in transmitting
the Mutiny Act and the articles of war of that year to
every regiment, that if an officer passes over without no-
tice an insult offered to him he is liable to be brought to a
court-martial, not because he declines to fight a duel, but
because he shrinks from availing himself of those means
which the articles of war and the justice of his brother
officers place at his disposal when redress for an insult i 3
not prevented by his own misconduct."—Mornbuj paper•.

GREAT FIRE AT TURA'ILIM-GREEN-FIVE
HOUSES BURNED.

Early on Saturday morning a fire broke out in the
private residence belonging to Mrs. G. Chabot, situate
at No. 5, Poplar-cottages, Turnhatn-green. The disco-
, very was made ay a police- ;fficar who was passing along
his beat, perceiving smoke in dense bodies pour-
Met forth from the ground floor windows. The officer at
once gave the alar,r, and with as little delay as possible
the engines of the parish were sent for, and they yr trnptly
attended, and at the same time a messenger was des-
patched to town for the aesistance of the Leaden Bri-
gade. The mains of the West Middlesex Company were
drawn, but, unfortunately, only a scanty supply of water
could be procured, from which the parish engines were
set to work as well as the supply of water would allow ;
but, in spite of the exertions of all present, the flame 3
continued to spread with the greatest impetuosity, and
it was feared that the whole clump, consisting of five
houses, would be levelled with the ground. The Lendon
fieeme 1 upon their arrival went to the aid of tde local
men, and by the most strenuous exertions the fire was
eventually prevented from extending further ; but, rice-
withstandin, a great body of fire remained is the different
rooms, which required the most strenuous exerting s o!
the firemen to subdue; and whilst thus engaged, and
without any previous warning, one of the walls toppled
over, and fell with a fearful crash upon four of the brig-
ade firemen, named respectively Goddard, Martin, Pryer,
and Langett. The helmet on Goddard's; head was com-
pletely doubled up, and his head much injured, more
especially Goddard. They were quickly removed to
their stations, and having received surgical attendance
the men, with theexception of Goddard, were pronounced
seriously
o r
di
n injured.g t h aAt
the
h lengthe fire
wasth the
nfiremenentirelyo tto
hadbe f
extinguished,thea ta
satisfaction o
and the loss is thus officially r
re-
ported by Mr. Braid wood, the superintendent of the
London Fire Engine Dtablisbment :
"No. 5, Poplar-cottages, Turnhain-green, Mrs. G.
Shabot (private).—Building burned down, and contents
consumed. Contents insured in the Norwich Union
Fire-of fie t, and the building was insured in the Law-
office. The cause of fire unknown.
"No. 4, ditto, Mrs. Ellen Bull.—About two-thirds
of roof burnt off, and the rest of the house and contents,
severely damaged by fire and removal. The building
was insured in the Law Fire-office, but the contents
were uninsured.

"No. 3, unoccupied.—Roof and window-frames broken
and damaged by cutting away. Insured in the Law
Fire-office.

"No. 2, Mr. Arthur White.—Similar damage to the
premises by fire, and contents by hasty removal. Build-
ing insured in the Law Fire-office. The contents unin-
sured.

"No. 1, Mr. H. Snell—Similar damage to premises
and their contents. Buildings insured in the Law Fire-
office, and the contents in the County." _

- -
The police rendered great assistance to the firemen,
by guarding the property removed belonging to the dif-
ferent sufferers, and keeping a great crowd out of danger.

THE A3IERICAN MAIL.—LIVERPOOL, Saturday.—Ti:e
British and North American Royal Mail steanishid
Arabia, Captain James Stone, sailed from the Mersey at
four o'clock this afternoon for Boston and Halifa.7,
with the umal mails for the United States and 13ritis..
possessions in North America, 150 passengers, and a
full cargo of tneraandise on freight.
THE MISSING STE-131ER TAT.—Litters have been re•
ceived in England from Havannah, dated September 13,
mentioning the arrival of her Majesty's ship Tartar
there, with a Vera Cruz mail. The Tartar reported the
departure of the Royal Mail steamer Tay from Vera
Cruz, bound for Tampico, towards the latter end of
August. She also reported that the Tay bad not ar-
rived at Vera 0; uz on the sth of September, when she
v.as due there, and, in cow, quence of her non-arrival,
the Tartar left on that day with a Mexican mail for
England, and conveyed it to Harannah. The state-
ment, therefore, from New Yolk by the steam-pao et
Atlantic, last week, that the Tartar repotted the Tay ; t
Tampico, on the sth September, must be erroneous. It
is remarkable that the Tartar, on finding the non arrival
of the Tay at Vera Cruz from Tampico, did not pro-
wed along the coast in search of her, as it must hare
been conjectured that some accident had befallen her.
Such a search is very usual on the part of her Majesty's
ships, when practicable.

Considering the entire number of steamers afloat, dis-
asters have Not been remarkably fr.?quen t ; but fortune's
similes 1 ave been bestowed most freely on our competitors,
not withstanding the acknowledged superiority of many
of our shipe and the excellence of their personal equip.
meet. Even in our domestic lines this fact holds true,
as we have lost seven fine &tearners, mostly on tho Pacific
coast, viz., the Independence, which sunk in the Pacific,
with 120 lives, and the Tennessee and St. Louis—total
wrecks. The San Francisco, valued at $3u0,000, was
lost in the Atlantic in the sa:ne year, with many valuable
lives, the Yankee Blade in the year following, besides
the ill-fated Rhode Island, and the Nerth Carolina in the
year 1855. It is estimated that 1,420 lives cal 7,930,000
dots. in property have bean lost in steamships since the
year 1853.

Steamships, as a whold, have not been a dividend-
paying property to such as have invested in them. The
Ocean Steam Navigation Company, which was the
fioneer Avne'lean line, has been running nine years
without any serious accident, and though at one tune
threatened with extinction under a heavy load of debt,
has been paying regular • semi-annual dividends of 5 per
cent. for the last three years. Their boats are not cal-
culated for great speed, but are good 12-day steamers.
Toe Havre line, next established, paid a dividend of 7
per cent, about two years ago, but disaster early checked
its promised career of prosperity. These comprise all
the pecuniary SUCC3SSOS we have as yet to chronicle, out
of the domestic trade. Some of the Chagres and Cali-
fornia lines have paid very handsomely. The Collins'
established in 1850, has not paid even simple in-
terest to the stockholders. The original estimated cost
of this line was („t:2,500,000, but a renewed effeat on the
part of their tiegllsh antagonists made it necessary to en-
large the size of their proposed steamers from 2,000 tons,
as stipulated in the contract, to 3,000 tons. Tee sum of
i',,1,130,000 was subscribed for their construction, and
after the increased. pay allowed by Congress an effort was
mule to fill up the stock to the required amount, but
without success, and the line has since been maintained
by private enterprise, aided by Government patronage.
When Mr. Collin; and hi:. associates proposed to build
a line of steamships the Canard line was regarded as the
first in the world, having run 11 years and reduced the
passage between Liverpool and Boston to about 121
days—equal to say 131 to New York. In undertaking
the new enterprise in competition with the resources of
established British capitalists there were great obstacles
to be surmounted,the chiefof which was inadequate finan-
cial ability; but a naturalised citizen of more than 50
years' reeidence volunteered alone to furnish more than
$2,000,000, and thus assured the suec3ss of an enterprise
in which the character and commercial power of the
country were largely involved. It was then said to Nfr.
Collins, " You may sink the whole of the capital in.
vested, but must not make a failure." What has since
been achieved is matter of history. The first year the Col-
lins line was started the passage to Now York was made
in less than 10 days. The Cunarders have since made 8
ships, all designed to beat that time, and one ship (the
Persia) has succeeded, on the eastern passage only. On
western passages the performances of the Collins' hue
are still unequalled.

Of the Philadelphia and Liverpool line it is stated that
a loss of $15,000 was incurred on the first voyage of the
City of Baltimore, on the second about $lO,OOO, and that
the last voyage barely paid expenses ; so that the enter-
prise has thus far not proved remunerative.
Passi❑g now from a financial view of the subject to
observe what progress has been made in this depart-
ment of naval architecture, we have strongly marked re-
sults. Fulton's steamer Claremont left New York for
Albany on the 7th day of August, 1807, dispelling all
rational doubt as to the successful application of steam
• o navigation. It is instructive to notice subsequent
conquests of science and art in this direction, giving
fleeter wings to commerce, contracting the space of
oceans, and accelerating the strides of communication
bitween distant continents. The following table,
giving the relative sizes of the largest steam ships
that has been built, affords some idea of what has been
accomplished :

Length. Carp. Mess.
Atlantic (Collins') 2BO 3,000
Great Britain - 322 3,500
Vanderbilt 335 5,100
Niagara, U. S. steam-frigate 345 5,200
Himalaya
Adriatic (Collins')
Persia
Great Eastern

The completion of the Adriatic and Great Eastern will
be looked to as events of great interest. A gentleman
just returned from Europe, and who visited the great
steamer building near London, says the hull is as yet
mot more than Calf built, and acne of the machinery is y et
put into her. The number of men at work on her is now
reduced to 300, so that the work is not proceeding so
fast as formerly. April is spoken of as the time when
the launeb will probably take place. The gentleman above
referred to, who is a president of one of our steam-ship
companies and a connoisseur in naval architecture, says
the ship is of a beautiful model, and there appears se be
little doubt of her success, particularly as regardsspeedis;
but how ehe will pay her enormous running expenses
a problem which yet remains to be solved. The bull is
o either
strongest side
700 feat in length by 60 in breadth, made of a double
thickness of iron plates, whichatnrebiolainidg
then
of a longitudinal framework, co
method of construction with the least weight of material.
The vessel is divided into 10 water-tight compartments
with sub.compartments, so that each portion would be
self-sustaining in case of wreck. Both screw and side
wheels will be used. The latter will have six boilers,
and the former four engines and tishouPaon number of
boilers. the shaft of the screw
weighs 60 tons. The diameter of the strew feet long and
•;3s
expected
ef
ce
te
et
d;
to
of
the wheels, 50 feet. The speed of the shpTi
average 16 knots per hour under steam.
he seven in namber, spreading he masts will
6,stohOesquare yards. A
semaphore, coloured lights, and
will be employed in conveyin orders
electric telegraph
between the
officers, according as their use may be found necessary.
probably oto Portland, Maine.
The Adriatic, from our own workslops, is very near completion, and, frometxhceeiir,proved machinery with which
she is fitted and the nee ,•fl her model, many are
iliipo,ed to etitertain almost incredible calculations as to
the speed of which she will be susceptible. She will no
doubt beactel, notriumithf or our mechanics, and will in all pro-
bability ex
only in workreauship, but in all the
qualities which constitute a first•class steam ship. She is
without exception, the largest ship in the world yet
launched, whether of timber or iron. The Persia(- (iron) is
longer, tr but she has 5 feet less beam,.. and 14 itches less
depth of hold; so that her actual size is not equal to that
of the Adriatic bysonaethiuilllke 300 toes C pared withil
the Great Eastern she is a
pigmy, but she is Luc
be requited to meet the demands of trade for sofegyeeaasrswtol
come, and quite as large as can be run with any advantage
to her owners, The principaldiinen,iene of the Adriatic