The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-11 00:00:00

DEPUTATION TO THE BISHOP OF LONDON.

Yesterday afternoon a deputation of the inhabi-
tants of Camden-town waited upon the Bishop of
London at London-house, St. James's-square, for
the purpose of calling his lordship's attention to
the scandalous proceedings connected with the ex-
humation of human remains, and the desecration of
the dead, at St. Martin's Cemetery, Camden-town.
Mr. J. B. Lee, the bishop's secretary, and Mr. J.
Shepherd, registrar of the Consistorial Court, were
in attendance on his lordship to receive the depu-
tation, which was introduced by the Rev. R
Spooner, M.A., incumbent of Holy Trinity Church,
Haverstock-hill. _ _

Mr. STRETTON, on behalf of the deputation, laid
the circumstances of the complaint, with which our
readers are already familiar, before the bishop, and
in conclusion observed that for the sake of the peace
of the neighbourhood, as well as for the interests
of the church, it became necessary that something
should be done to put nn end to the scandal and
nuisance of which they complained.
The Bishop of LONDON said he could fully sym-
pathise in the disgust to which such proceedings
had given rise. To him it appeared that there were
two parties to be blamed. First, the parliament of the
country, over which neither of them had any control;
and secondly, those who, upon false representations,
had obtained the faculty in question: It was his
opinion that as that authority had been issued upon
certain representations, the moment those repre-
sentations were found to be false, the authority of
the faculty fell to the ground. He did not think
that, were a proper representation made to the
Consistorial Court, Dr. Travers Twiss would refuse
to revoke it. As far as he himself was concerned,
he would most gladly give them the whole ,of his
personal support, by strongly representing to Mr.
Humphrey, the vicar of St. Martin's, and Mr.
Dangerfield, the parochial solicitor, the danger both
to health and public peace of further proceeding
with the work until the Consistory Court had de-
cided the matter.

Mr. SHEPHERD confirmed his lorhship's view of
the case, and mentioned that although there was
no regular court day, the sittings of the judge
being regulated by the amount of business, yet
under such extraordinary circumstances, Dr. Twins
would, al order to allay public excitement, wil-
lingly fix a day for the early hearing of the case.

TILE NAVY.

The committee of investigation on dockyard eco-
nomy, consisting of Rear-Admiral R. Smart, K.H.,
Mr. R. Laws, Mr. H. Chatfield, and Mr. A. Murray
are still engaged in their examination of the system
pursued at Chatham dockyard. The committee sit
daily from 9 till 4 o clock, and examine the various
officers and heads of departments, occasionally visit-
ing the ropery, smithy, metal mills, and factories
for the purpose of making themselves thoroughly
acquainted with the practical working of the plans
in operation at that dockyard. The committee are
expected to be engaged at Chatham for several
days to come.
The Falmouth, Lott master, sailed yesterday
from Chatham dockyard with a cargo of war stores
or Devonport.
The Rochester, Heather master, having completed
her repairs at Chatham, has commenced shipping
naval stores at Pembroke-dockyard.
Her Majesty's screw store transport Industry,
Master Commander Hodges, laden with victualling
stores and clothing for Ascenaion and Rio Janeiro,
yesterday lay -to at Woolwich from Deptford, and
fastened alongside the Salsette in consequence of
the heavy fog on the river, and the danger of the
navigation.
The paddlewheel steamvesscl Harpy, 1, Com-
mander G. Brine, arrived in Plymouth Sound on
Tuesday from the Mediterranean.
The Admiralty yacht Banshee, Master Cant-
mander Williams, late in the service of the survey-
ing commissioners on th. Scotch coast, was yester-
day admitted into basin. at Woolwich, and placed in
reserve.

Mr. Gordon Jackson was yesterday appointed
assistant-surgeon to the Victory, and Mr. Chas. F.
Wise acting assistant-surgeon to the Imaum.

THE .1101 Y.

Orders have been issued from the War Depart-
ment to the officers commanding the East India de.
pot battalions, directing the following troops to be
held in readiness to embark at Gravesend to-mor-
row, on board the Gertrude, for Calcutta, for the
purpose of reinforcing the British regiments now
serving in Bengal, viz., 1 officer of the 19th Regi-
ment, 1 officer of the 23d Royal Welsh Fusiliers,
and 9 men of the 35th, from Chatham; 1 officer of
the 6th Dragoon Guards, and 1 officer of the 9th
Lancers, from Maidstone ; 1 officer and 65 melt of
the 7th Hussars, and 10 men of the 90th Light In-
ooffifficceerr andan 30 men of
20 men of
tfahnetzt,
bfartotmalioCnan6ttehrbßuergyt;.,
the 34th, 30 men
.of the 37th, 12 men of the 88th,
and 14 men of the 97th (Earl of Ulster's), from Col-
chester ; and 1 officer and 66 gunners of the Royal
Artillery, from Woolwich.
Yesterday 38 noncommissioned officers and men
belonging to the 3d (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon
Guards, 14th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers, 4th
(King's Own), 18th (Royal Irish), 33d; 56th, 72d,
78th, 83d, 86th, and 95th Regiments, who have re-
cently arrived at Chatham from India, where they
were wounded or disabled, proceeded from St.
Mary's Barracks to Fort Pitt Hospital for medical
inspection, in order to ascertain the 'limber of men
to be recommended to a Chelsea board for discharge
on account of their unfitness for further service. At
the conclusion of the inspection 20 men, who were
pronounced convalescent, received orders to hold
themselves in readiness to join theist respective regi-
ments.
The two battalions of Royal Marines stationed at
Woolwich, in command of Col. Stransham, recently
appointed commandant of that division, were yes-
terday brigaded on Woolwich-common, and were
subjected to a lengthened coarse of heavy battalion
movements, the whole of which were performed
with admirable precision.
Gabriel Bryans, a private of the Woolwich divi-
sion of the Royal Marine Light Infantry, recently
convicted-by garrison court martial of being absent
from duty, and of having made away with his kit,
was sentenced to undergo the punishment of 50
lashes, and to be further imprisoned in the gaol of
Fort Clarence for 84 days. The prisoner has been
many years in the corps, has suffered every kind of
punishment and disgrace, and is pronounced irre-
claimable. On the recommendation of the comman-
dant the punishment of the lash has been, however,
commuted to 42 days' imprisonment, making a total
of
.126 days' confinement in Fort Clarence.

ABRIDGED NOTES OF A CRUISE BY

HER MAJESTP S SHIP IRIS.

Her Majesty's ship Iris, Captain Loring, arrived
On the 6th inst. from her cruise to the South Sea
Islands, principally to inquire into the murder of
the crew of the Gazelle, by the natives of Wood-
lark Island ; and the death of Captain Outtrim, of
the Ann and Jane, who was killed while landing
at Tana. The following is an extract from her
report :
June 30.—Anchored of Black Beach, Tana ; the
Terror, Edwards ; New Forest, Mare, Hirondelle,
Rodd, were at anchor, trading with the natives.
Seized Wan-Attaway, chief of the Wagus tribe,
who murdered the captain and part of the crew of
the schooner Anne and Jane. _ _

July I.—Moved to Wagus, fired a few rounds of
shot and shell to clear the savages from the woods;
the small-arm party then landed under the com-
mand of Lieutenants Deane and Bell, R.N., the
marines under Lieut. Bent, R.M., accompanied by
the boats of the sandal-wood traders. The party
burnt several villages, and destroyed great quanti-
ties of cocoanut and bread-fruit trees, also bannana,
yams, &c. Unfortunately Mr. Edward M. Tupper,
mate, Capt. Barrack, and two men were separated
in the'dense underwood from the main party, sur-
rounded by great numbers of savages. Capt. Bar-
rack and one seaman made their way through them
and regained the party. Mr. Tupper and Mr. Ken-
nedy, captain of hold, were killed. Mr. Tupper's
body was immediately after recovered ; Kennedy's
we never saw. About two p.m. the party re-
embarked. _ _

July 2.—Landing party again proceeded on
shore, and, continued the work of destruction, the
savages not attempting to molest them. Made sail,
and buried Mr. Tupper's body. Anchored off Black
Beach. It is impossible to ascertain even the pro-
bable number of savages killed, their own reports
being the only authority ; but as the only object
was to destroy property, and not life, it is not
likely that many were killed. The effect on the
islanders, we hear, has been very good ; they now
dread the visit of 'a " fighting ship."
July B.—Anchored in Dillon's Bay, Erromango,
landed Wan-Attaway, chief of the Wagus tribe,
and placed him in custody of Capt. Edwards.
July 21.—Arrived at Woodlark Island ; going in
the ship struck upon a rock ; the harbour is dan-
gerous, being full of detached rock, and the passage
intricate ; for several days 'the strong trade wind
prevented our doing anything.
July 27.—The landing party, under the same
officers as at Tana, proceeded on shore, burnt the
villages, canoes, and other property of the Guasup
tribe, as a punishment for the murder of the crew
of the Gazelle, in 1855 ; the savages offered no
opposition. The canoes and houses of the Wood-
lark islanders were much superior to any of the
other islanders. It was clearly explained to two
of the natives, who understood a little English, the
reason this punishment was inflicted.

The Sydney Morning Herald remarks on the
above as follows _

Her Majesty's ship Iris has returned from a cruise
in that part of the island-world known as Melanesia,
undertaken for- the purpose of investigating and
punishing certain murderous attacks upon white
traders m that quarter. Only two places, however,
have been visited for this purpose Tana and
Woodlark Island. At Tana (one of the new He-
brides) a good many islanders have been killed,
the village and trees destroyed, and the chief
of the offending tribe carried away. At Woodlark
Island; a village and canoes, &e., have been de-
stroyed. The people of three villages at this island
were combined in the cold-blooded slaughter of the
Gazelle's crew, but only one has been visited with
punishment. Of the two white captives said to be
detained at this place we hear nothing. At Tana
two officers of the Iris were cut off by the natives
from the main body and were killed. The people
of Tana have long borne a very bad name. Like
the rest of the New Hebrideans, they are of the
Papuan (or Polynesian 'Negro) race ; their stature
is very low, both physically and socially. But we
have heard rumours of some terrible acts of cruelty
among these people by white visitors and traders,
in times not very remote, and it is hard to say how
far some of the worst acts of the islanders may not
have been of a retaliatory character, rather than
the outbreaking of sheer bloodthirstiness. The
visit of a man-of-war was necessary, and if these
visits were more frequent it would be better.
It is probable that ere long
there will be a
British consul resident at the new
Hebrides, where
ouch an officer is much needed.

THE ARGYLL ROOMS AND THE
SOCIAL EVIL.

The following letter has been addressed to a
contemporary :
Sir,—As an inhabitant of St. James's for some
years, perhaps you will allow me an equal right,
with " An Inhabitant of Old Bond-street," to say a
word about. the Argyll Rooms, about which so
much twaddle has been written and spoken. I will
say at once that never did I read so weak and so
unphilosophical an argument as that contained in
the letter of the above-named correspondent, who
speaks with such a plentiful show of gravity of the
" social evil within gilded walls." Perhaps one
man's opinion is as valuable as any other's upon
any subject that involves the public interest. I am
myself of opinion that there is just reason to scout
the Argyll Rooms as stimulant in the propagation
and encouragement of vice and harlotry. Of course,
I am not so mad-brained as to assert that vice doer,'
not enter there; but as I am continually in the ,
immediate neighbourhoodnf Great Windmill-street,
it may be conceded that I have as good, if not a bet •
ter, opportunity to judge of what is going on in
that locality as any "Inhabitant of Old Bond-street"
—were he as big as Goliath, or as wise as the
man of Gotham.
I most emphatically aver that the closing of the
Argyll Rooms was no improvement to the neigh-
bourhood of St. James's, as it was so strongly as-
serted it would be. The neighbourhood of the
Haymarket and Piccadilly did not throw off its
spangle suit and put on one of sable ; on the con-
trary, the orgies of this second Memphis, this re-
vival of another Pandemonium, increased in lewd-
ness to the very perfection of publie disgust. This
is a fact that will be testified to by every resident
in Windmill-street. _ _ _ _

Surely, Mr. Editor, if the wayward lasses of this
fecundating metropolis never perpetrate anything
worse than a dance, they will not do much harm;
and the fact is indisputable, that Mr. Bignell has
ever conducted his establishment with all due de-
corum and a necessary observance of public morality.
Nothing that would shock any one possessing a
grain of common sense is ever permitted to take place
there ; and if the fact requires any substantiation,
that a respectable and virtuous woman has ever
entered within these " gilded walls," I am pre-
pared to assert that this has occurred—ay, with an
affidavit, if needs be. The immortal Shakspere has
well said (and the sentence is peculiarly fitted as
an illustration of the bitterness with which Mr.
Bignell has been assailed),—

" Take physic, pomp;
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
So that thou may'st cast the superfluous to them

And show the heavens more just."

With your good leave, Mr. Editor, I would fur.
ther counsel your correspondent never again to
speak of persons and circumstances, without first
possessing himself of the correct facts, as the neglect
of this in a writer is a most serious fault. Had
he known the " baker opposite the casino" (who he
singles out individually for his strictures, notwith-
standing the fact that he had no more to do in the
business than the rest of his neighbours, and that
extended simply to a conscientious opinion), he
would not have offered such an insult to him as
he has done in the impression of your widely-
circulated paper of the 24th ult. The "baker's"
name (for nature has endowed him with one),
I must inform your correspondent, is Alexander;
and I have not the least doubt but that the situa-
tion "in which it has pleased God to place
him" is quite as honest as that of the " Inha-
bitant of Old Bond-street," whatever his profession
may be. Allow me to state, moreover, Mr. Editor,
simply as a matter of justice, that I have known
Mr. Alexander ever since I came out of my swad-
dling clothes ; and as the son of a tradesman, and a
housekeeper, who has been a parishoner of St.
James's for sixteen years, and St. Anne's for twenty-
five, assert that there is not a more straightforward
or religious man to be found in any of the Pares of
St. James's than he is. If there were the least fear
of contradiction in this regard, Mr. Editor, I should
not be bold enough to make this assertion thus
openly to you, and in the face of his neighbours.
With regard to the " keeping open" his shop late
at night, every one of common understanding is
aware that the unhappy journeyman baker com-
mences his labours when most other good-ordered
persons are safely locked in the arms of Somnus, and
that, as a consequence, it is absolutely necessary-
that the master-baker, or somebody else, should sit
up to admit his men to their nightly labour. Mr.
Alexander, however, does not keep his shop open
till this hour ; he closes shortly after ten, and merely
opens his door at the requisite time, simply that
his men may walk through space, and not through
beech. Will the purists deny him this liberty and
right ?
Let me beg to observe, in conclusion, Mr. Editor,
that I do not for one moment doubt the honesty—
so far as principle goes—of your correspondent,
and, therefore, acquit him of any malignant intent.
I believe, with others, he has made a great mistake
in this questio vexata ; and, upon the principle of
audi alterant partem, beg you will favour an old
subscriber to your paper with the insertion of this
statement—Your obedient servant, B. W. W.
Great Crown-court, Windmill-street.