The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-04 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Commander-in-Chief has approved the
annexed arrangements in connection with the camp
at Colchester :—Capt. Brown, 83d Regiment, to
embark with the draught at present under orders,
in the place of Capt. Whitlock, who is about to
retire from the service ; Lieut. Dillon to join the
depot, Oct. 10 ; Staff Surgeon Poulton, 1‘1.D., to
proceed to Colchester for the purpose of assuming
tne medical charge of the 4th depot battalion, vice
Dr. Morphew, who has embarked for Madras to
join the Ist Royal Regiment. Lieut. Cholmely, 16th
Regiment, Lieut. Johnstone, .100th Regiment,
Lieut. Gore, 84th Regiment, and Cornet Freeman,
sth Dragoon Guards, with four sergeants, four cor-
porals, and ten privates of various corps, are held in
readiness to proceed to the Hythe School of

usketry.
The Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief has
approved the lowest standard for gunners fur the
Royal Artillery, whether the recruits be men or
growing lads, being fixed at five feet six inches.
Capt. Gordon, C. 8., superintendent of the mili-
tary store department in Woolwich Arsenal, yester-
day issued, the final instructions for packing and
preparing the mountain batteries, pack saddles, and
equipments now complete for the Abyssinian expe-
dition under the orders of the Indian Board. It is
expected that the A. battery, in charge of Lieut.
Nolan, R.A., will embark on board the Indian
screw transport Serapis on Monday next at Ports-
mouth. The military store officials at Woolwich,
and those of the Royal gun factories and carriage
department, on whom the entire arrangements for
the preparation of the new batteries and equipments
solely depended, have carried out every portion of
their agreement with the Indian Council with
admirable promptitude and faith, having under-
taken that the stores, according to stipulation,
should be ready in six weeks. The contract has
been fulfilled to the day, in spite of the con-
stant recurrence of " some improved system,"
ordered to be adopted, and causing delay. Yes-
terday at 3 o'clock various members of the Indian
Board, and other officials connected with the Abys-
sinian campaign, went down to Woolwich and made a
minute and lengthened examination of the gun which
was fur some time under experimental practice at
Shoeburyness. The gun, notwithstanding the severe
test which it has undergone, appears to be in as
good condition as before it was fired, with the ex-
ception of an injury which it received yesterday on
its being brought to the practice ground in Wool-
wich Arsenal, when the packhorse on which it was
loaded became restive, threw it to the ground, and
broke off the foresight piece. Iu consequence of the
accident it was suggested that some drilling and
other tools, required in case of similar accidents,
should be added to the stores, which was ordered to
be complied with. The visitors composing the com-
mittee of inspection numbered about 30, among
whom were the following distinguished general offi-
cers and others:—Lieut.-Gen. Sir 11. K. Storks,
G.C.8., G.C.M.G.; Sir Wm. Codrington, G.C.8.,
late Commander-in-Chief in the Crimea; Major-
Gen. Pearce, C. 8., Indian army, secretary to the
Council of India; Lieut.-Gen. Sir E. Lugard,
K.C.8., permanent Under Secretary of State for
War; Lord Clinton, Under Secretary for India;
Col. Gambier, C. 8., Deputy Adjutant-Gen., Royal
Artillery ; Sir W. J. T. Power, K.C.8., Commis-
sary-Gen. in Chief ; Major Dyer, C. 8., Director of
Ordnance in the absence on leave of Major-Gen. St.
George, C. 8.; Assist.-Commissary-Gen. Bailey,
C. 8.; Col. North, M.P., and a host of others. They
arrived in the Royal Arsenal from London about 3
o'clock, and were met at the entrance gates by Lieut.
Nolan, Royal Artillery, in command of the detach-
ment of non-commissioned officers belonging to the
A battery of mountain guns, under order to take
their departure by the Serapis. Having inspected
the whole of the equipment, pack saddles, and mode
of transport, by diving the mules at various
paces over the parade, as required in the field, and
witnessing the process of dismounting and preparing
the guns for action, the visitors proceeded to the
gun mounting shed attached to the royal carriage
square, where they were accompanied by Colonel
Clerk, R.A., Superintendent; Colonel Boxer, Supe-
rintending Royal Laboratories; Captain Majendie,
Assistant Superintendent ; Major-General J. W.
Ormsby, Lieut.-Governor Royal Military Academy ;
Brigadier General J. 11. Lefroy, R.A., President
Ordnance Select Committee ; Col. D'Aguilar, C. 8.,
Royal Artillery; Capt. Gordon, C. 8., Col. Wray,
C. 8., Ordnance Select Committee ; Capt. Fenn,
and the principal officials of the establishment. Here
the method of transporting two of the mountain
guns when ready for action in the field was shown
to the visitors, a system introduced by Col. Clerk,
and available for ready movement to any distance
required by a single packhorse. The two guns were
attached at the limbers, and represented a double
carriage, having a light pair of ash shafts, to which
the animal was attached by a couple of rope traces,
without removing the saddle. The method is simple
and highly available, and was approved. A discus-
sion afterwards ensued as to a slight difficulty
experienced in securing the limber and gun carriage
to the pack saddle, as the committee ob3erved that,
on the quick movement of the pack animal, the
limber had not sufficient lashing to prevent an acci-
dent and to give that ease and free locomotion
desirable. The saddles are fitted with Commissary
General Bailey's iron cradles, which, it was stated,
are well adapted for the transport of the guns cross-
ways, but are raised too much off the saddle to carry
front and rear. This can be remedied without in-
convenience and delay for shipment, with the B
battery to follow shortly, in charge of Lieutenant
Chapman, Royal Horse Artillery, and a detachment
of non-commissioned officers, already stated in The
Sun, under orders to join the expedition as gunnery
instructors. After the inspection the photographing
apparatus was brought out and each portion of the
mountain equipment was sketched to accompany the
expedition, so as to give instruction in its various
uses and applications to those employed.
Sixty non-commissioned officers and gunners of
the Depot Brigade, Royal Artillery, have joined the
Ist Division, from Warley, previously to embarking
for foreign service.

Yesterday Major-General F. Murray, command-
ing the Chatham district, commenced his half-yearly
inspection of the corps of Royal Engineers at head-
quarters, Brompton, under the command of Colonel
J. L. Simmons, C. 8., at 11 a.m. General Murray
went over the barrack-rooms and quarters, and sub-
sequently saw the non-commissioned officers and
men at dinner. In the afternoon the whole of the
companies were drawn up on the parade ground in
drill order and inspected ; after which Gen. Murray
visited the stables and quarters in the north square,
occupied by the Royal Engineer Train. The in-
spection will be resumed to-day.
Yesterday (Thursday) Port-Admiral Sir NV. F.
Marty n, K.C.8., paid a friendly visit to the Prussian
screw steam frigate Hertha, Capt. Heltha, which,
with her corvette Medusa, Capt. Struben, arrived in
Plymouth Sound on Wednesday morning, bound to
the Mediterranean.
Her Majesty's Indian troop ship Serapis will not
leave Portsmouth with the 4th Hussars and three
batteries of the sth brigade Royal Artillery until
the 16th, instead of the 9th October, as formerly
stated in Me San.
The Jumna is appointed to leave Calcutta on the
3d of October, and may be expected to arrive at
Suez about the 25th October.
The Avon, 2, double screw composite-built gun-
boat, 464 tons, 120 horse-power, was launched from
Portsmouth dockyard on Wednesday, and wiil be at
once brought forward for the first-class Steam Re-
serve and commission. The machinery of the Avon
will be furnished from two sets of 60 horse-power
engines, taken from two of the single screw gun-
boats of the Haslar Yard collection recently broken
up. As a composite-built gunboat, the Avon, with
all her sister vessels built and building, will possess
sufficient vertical strength of hull, but they appear
to be unaccountably weak longitudinally, neither
of their outer skin timber plankings being worked on
diagonally, nor are there diagonal arrangements in
the iron framework that can a-Id materially to the
longitudinal strength of the ship. The latter, in-
deed, must depend upon the decks and the outer
timber planking. There is nothing in the form of the

hull of these vessels which can give a promise of high
speed, yet they may answer for the special purpose
they are intended for on the coasts and rivers of
China, if never called upon to chase any swift-
moving piratical craft.
The Danish corvette Dagmar, 16, Capt. Kreiger,
left Spithead yesterday under steam for Cadiz
The hired screw steam transport Golden Fleece,
Capt. Smyth, under the charge of Lieut. Scudda-
more as Admiralty agent, and intended as a hospital
ship for the Abyssinian expedition, left Portsmouth
yesterday, having first shipped a steam launch ani
other boats and filled up with coals.
The hired screw steam transport Queen of the
South, from the Thames, arrived on Wednesday
afternoon in Plymouth sound. Yesterday morning
she was taken up Hamorae, where the dockyard
artisans are strengthening her decks for the reception
of a steam launch. She is also receiving medical and
other stores suitable for the expedition to Abyssinia.
The following appointments have been made at
thelAdmiralty :—Lieut. Ross, to the Aboukir ; T.
Seccombe, paymaster, to the Rosario ; C. J. John-
stone, clerk, to the Rosario ; J. Walsh and T. F.
Hight, engineers, to the Rosario; T. Wite, engi-
neer, to the Rattlesnake ; H. Thomson, first class
assist. engineer, to the Rosario ; Commander G.
Palmer, to the Rosario, vice Vesturme, superseded
at his own request; Lieut. F. J. Pitt, to the Duke
of Wellington ; and Lieut. H. Veitch, to the Plover.

WE FENIAN OUTRAGE.

MANCHESTER, Thursday.

The defence of the prisoners charged with murder,
now 23 in number, commenced this morning at 10
o'clock. Mr. Fowler presided, and there was a
rather full attendance of magistrates. The prisoners
were in handcuffs, and guarded from the prison to
the court by a company of infantry.
Mr. Cottingham addressed the Court for the de-
fence. He said—The case for the prosecution having
closed—and I am sure I congratulate the Court that
one branch of this lengthened inquiry has come to
its end—it is my duty now to offer some remarks
upon the case as closed by the prosecution, and also
with reference to the witnesses that I am instructed
to call. With regard to calling witnesses for those
clients whom I represent, undoubtedly if I had been
left entirely to my own unfettered discretion, I
think I should have adopted the course of not calling
witnesses at all, especially after the Court declined
yesterday to give us the time we thought was neces-
sary for preparing our defence for those prisoners.
But, Sir, inasmuch as those persons who have com-
mitted their interests to my charge have the
strongest faith and belief that they can call such a
host of witnesses before you as shall compel you to
dispose of their case without sending them for trial,
Ido not feel justified in putting my discretion
against their wishes. I regard their pertinacity in
that respect as a strong indication of their inno-
cence ; and I believe, Sir, from what I have heard,
that those witnesses will commend themselves to
you, not only by their numbers, but by the credit
which the evidence that they will give will inspire.
I therefore shall call witnesses to show you that the
two Martins, that Kelly, and that Brennan were
not there. With regard to Bacon, the case against
him assumes a somewhat different form, because,
as you will recollect, he is indisputably shown to
have been at the publichouse, though he has not
been shown, with the exception of the evidence
of one witness, to have taken any part in this
transaction. Therefore, Sir, it would be impos-
sible to call witnesses for him to prove that which
is admitted by him—that he was in the publichouse
and in that particular neighbourhood. I shall deal
with his case by comment, and not by witnesses.
Now, Sir, having indicated to you the course
which I shall pursue, allow me to draw your atten-
tion as shortly as I can to the case made by the pro-
secution. This is not the place, Sir, to discuss the
question of law submitted to you by my learned
friend, Mr. Higgin, as to the culpability of the
whole of these persons who may have been shown
to have been at or about the spot or taking certain
parts in the disturbance. That question of lega
culpability and constructive guilt will be fully dis-
cussed
at the proper time and place. But, Sir, there
is an aspect of this case which appears to me to have
been carefully avoided by the prosecution and by
the Bench, and the prosecution has presented this
case to the Bench and to the public in an aspect
that I do not think is calculated to do justice to the
unfortunate men who are accused. The case has
been treated, Sir, as an ordinary atrocious riot and
a bloodthirsty murder. The real case, Sir—though,
unfortunately, life was lost and blood was
.shed—
the real confederacy by these persons, whoever they
are, was to effect a rescue; neither murder nor riot
was in contemplation by any of them. I say "in
contemplation." I say that that was not what
brought them together ; and therefore it ought not
to be passed over ;—that the rescue that was at-
tempted was not a rescue of an ordinary criminal,
but of two persons who were not convicted of any
offence at all, and who were only accused of a poli-
tical crime. Ido not wish, Sir, to go into the
politics of this question ; but it is of importance
that the mind of the public, that appears to be so
much excited upon this occasion, and so cruelly
vindictive towards these unfortunate men, should
be led to regard this case in its proper aspect, and
divest it of some circumstances at least in its atrocity.
I say " unfortunately," for life was lost, a man was
killed. And here allow me to say that no one regrets
more than I do—and I believe in that regard I am
joined by every one of these unfortunate persons—
that the life sacrificed was that of a valuable and
meritorious and respected officer--poor Sorg t. Brett.
Sir, he died at the post of duty, which is always the
post of honour. Long may his memory be pre-
served with respect by his surviving comrades, and
long may the force to which he belonged follow his
meritorious example ! With the exception of that
one life, no human life was sacrificed. It is idle to
say that men armed with dangerous weapons—same
30 or 40 revolvers, with five or seven chambers each,
and all of them loaded—if they came together for
the purpose of sacrificing human life that they
would not have done so. Some 30 or 40 shots were
fired, many of them at point-blank distance, and,
with the exception of one man wounded in the foct
and another wounded in the thigh, no human being
has been injured. The very police who were called
in this prosecution admit that the shots were ran-
dom shots, and fired for the purpose of keeping the
officers at bay, and keeping the multitude who were
assembled there from the van. The whole of this
attempt resolves itself into this—it was the rescue of
two prisoners —a daring outrage, no doubt ; au act
of violation of the law that must be punished when
the perpetrators are discovered; an outrage which
the Government of this country is justified in pun-
ishing with promptitude and with vigour ; but I say,
sir, that before you set out upon your mission of
prosecution and of punishment let the facts stand
before the public as they really are, and let there be
no misrepresentation of the quality of the case, and
of the real nature of the circumstances. These two
men who were said to be rescued, and who were
successfully rescued, were men who had not yet been
proved guilty of any crime at all. They were ac-
cused of a political offence ; and, sir, you well know
that political offenders do not rank in the category
of ordinary criminals. A political offender is only a
criminal within a certain sense ; whereas he may be
exceedingly guilty in one country as a criminal, in
another he is looked upon as a martyr and as a hero.
Sir, I have no sympathy in this insane movement by
the Fenians. Ido not believe that the so-called

Fenian movement can ever result in anything but
misfortune and injury to the country in whose be-
half it is organised. Ido not believe that Ireland
can ever rec:ive aught but injury from it, still less
do I think that her regeneration and disenthralment
can be effected by it ; and I still more deeply deplore
that it should have manifested itself in England,
because it has had the effect of exciting a vindictive
spirit, not only against the perpetrators of this out-
rage, but in the ignorant feeling of the English mob
there is an excited spirit, almost of vengeance, called
forth against almost every one of the lower class of
Irishmen. I only trust that the fair spirit of Eng-
lishmen will at length revive, and that they will re-
gard this outrage merely as confined to a few, and
that they will not involve in one sweeping accusation
of guilt an entire section of the community. The