The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-02 00:00:00

and none of them, he thought, would grudge him
that repose. Another most important point was our
relations with America. It had been kept out of
their sight that there was a very great danger of
their friendly intercourse with the United States
being seriously interrupted. Our friends on the
other side of the Atlantic were not the less deter-
mined than we were. They had shown in a remark-
able degree their resoluion in carrying out their
ends, and one of their purposes, which they had
never renounced, though it had for a time been
kept in abeyance, was to obtain from us some re-
dress—he would not say what amount of redress—
for the outrages of the Alabama. To his mind the
question at issue was not very doubtful, though it
had been perplexed and complicated by the discus-
sions of the lawyers. But he wished to remind them
that that question was still hanging over them, and
that while it continued to do so England would
have but half her rightful weight in the councils of
Europe. So long as it was known that the United
States of America had the power and the disposition
to let loose upon us that hostile nation which Irish
emigration had created on the other side of the
Atlantic (for the Irish on the other side of the
Atlantic amounted almost to a nation), so long as
it was known that the United States could at any
moment let loose that hostile nation either upon
Ireland or upon Canada, England would remain a
nobody in Europe, or at best but a third-rate
Power, because all the world would believe that as
soon as we had any difficulty in Europe we should
have America on our backs. Ile did not think
that any nation ever felt such an enmity towards
its rulers as the Irish had conceived against us
without some just cause. (Murmurs of dissent.)
But, be that as it may, he desired earnestly to im-
press on them, and through them on our statesmen
and the public, the vital importance of having this
controversy with America about the Alabama claims
speedily and amicably closed. He did not believe
there was any settled animosity in the mind of the
American nation towards England, and he thought
it might all be made right if we would but meet
them fairly—(cheers)—and if we had been in the
wrong in our dealings on this particular question it
was not too late, and not beneath the dignity of
this country, to admit it. (Hear, hear.) The present
Government had a particular advantage in treating
that question, and he hoped they would improvethat
advantage. He could only say that, if they could
settle it in any honourable way, they would deserve,
as he believed they would receive, the grateful
thanks of the nation. (Hear.) There were various
other topics on which he could have wished to offer
a few words, but he was anxious not to trespass too
far on their kind indulgence. At the present mo-
ment the relations between master and workman
were not altogether in a satisfactory condition ; and
indeed, whether they looked at home or abroad, the
time was especially one in which they should not
seek to revive or exasperate differences of opinion,
but rather look to those points in which they all
agreed. He did not mean to say the Liberal party
were to acquiesce in the retention of power by the
present Government, but he did venture to assert
that there were now very grave questions, both
foreign and domestic, which they ought to approach
with a desire to settle them in an amicable manner
--questions of far more importance than any of a
merely party character. (Cheers.) Mr. Neate
concluded by thanking the company, in his own
name and that of his absent colleague, for the com-
pliment which had been paid them.
Several other toasts were drank and the proceed-
ings terminated.
Naval and Military Intelligence.

✓ ALETTA, Dec. 26, 1866 : —There is very little
naval news to report since writing on the 24ch inst.
The Cockatrice, 2, screw gunboat, Commander
Bogle, has come in from the Danube, Constanti-
nople, and Syria; and the Cossack, 20, Capt. White,
has returned from the north coast of Africa, where
she was employed assisting the telegraphic steamer
Hawk in repairing the Malta and Alexandria cable.
The Cossack is under orders to proceed to Spithead
to be paid off, and will probably leave soon after the
beginning of the new year. The Caradoc, 2, de-
spatch vessel, Lieut.-Commander E. 11. Wilkinson,
which has been undergoing repairs, will leave port
to-morrow to try her machinery. The Endymion,
21, screw steam frigate, Capt. C. Wake, will also
leave port to-morrow for target practice, prior to
sailing on the 2d of January for the coast of Syria,
to provision the Racer, 11, Commander L. Brine.
The Ocean, 23, ironclad, Capt. Chandos Stanhope,
has not yet arrived here, although news has been
received of her having passed through the Straits of
Gibraltar on the 16th inst. Tho Resistance, 16.
ironclad, Capt. 11. S. Hillyar, C. 8., which it was at
one time expected would be relieved by the Ocean,
will not leave the station for the present, and the
Gibraltar, 81, screw line-of-battle ship, Capt. R.
Coote, has been sent home in her stead. Commander
Nicholson, of the Endymion, has proceeded to Eng-
land for appointment to the Royal Alfred, flagship
for the West Indies. Sub-Lieut. Charles Atkinson,
rof the Resistance, has been allowed to resign his
commission.
Yesterday being the first of the year 1867, the
formal commencement of the great works for the
extension of Portsmouth Dockyard was made by
the contractors, Messrs. George Smith and Leather,
Mr. W. Scamp, C.E., Deputy Director of Engi-
neering and Architectural Works to the Admiralty,
the designer of the plan, with its docks, basins,
workshops, &c., for the extension of the dockyard,
inspected the ground yesterday, in company with
the contractors.
An order received at Chatham directs the new
corvette Blanche, 4, 1,268 tons, 350-horse power,
towards the completion of which great progress has
been made at that dockyard, to be furnished with
an armament of two wrought-iron muzzle-loading
rifled 6f-ton 7-inch revolving guns, and two 61-
pounder side guns, together with two 12-pounder
and 9-pounder Armstrong rifled guns for field and
boat service. Accommodation is to be provided in
her magazines and racks for 100 common and 20
double 7-inch shells, empty, and 110 common 64-
pounder, and 240 12-pounder and 9-pounder
common empty shells. Of filled shells she is to be
furnished with 100 common, 20 double, and 20
shrapnel 7-inch shells ;40 common and 10 shrapnel
64-pounders, and 140 12-inch and 9-inch for the
Armstrong guns. The solid shot to bo supplied her
are 100 chilled Pallisser 7-inch and 20 common
7-inch ;10 64-pounder, and 100 12-pounder and 9
pounder shot.
During the last few weeks considerable quantities
of the plate iron sent into Chatham Dockyard by
the contractors supplying that establishment have
been rejected by the officials, on the ground of its
alleged inferior quality and its failing to reach the
standard of excellence insisted upon. The con-
tractors have appealed to the Admiralty on the
subject, and, after a long correspondence and
numerous official reports, their Lordships have up-
held the decision of their officers. The standard
of excellence insisted upon by the Admiralty is that
the plate iron shall stand a pressure of from 20 to
22 tons to the square inch with the grain, and 18
tons to 20 tons against the grain—a degree of
excellence which, under the trials with the
apparatus in use at Chatham, the iron rejected
has failed to attain. The contractors, however,
assert that the iron thus rejected is superior
to the standard laid down, and refuse to
submit to the dockyard tests, which, they contend,
are not to be relied on, inasmuch as the testing ap-
paratus is imperfect. In proof of this they have
placed in the hands of the Admiralty reports from
two of the most eminent iron testers, in which the
samples of iron rejected by the dockyard officials
were, on being tested by them, found to be of even
better quality than the standard required by the
Board. Private and perfectly independent tests have
likewise been made, and again the results have been
adverse to the ruling of the Admiralty officials.
Under these circumstances the firm more particu-
larly concerned has intimated the intention of com-
mencing legal proceedings against the Admiralty for
the heavy loss they have sustained.
Her Majesty's iron hydraulic gunboat Water-
witch, armour-plated 777 tons, and 167-horse
power, went down the river from Woolwich on
Monday, on a further trial of speed, after going
through a course of alterations and improvements,