The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-20 00:00:00

.•••••••
Naval and Military Intelligence.

Capt. E. B. Pritchard, Lieut. E. A. Ford, and a
detachment of five non-commissioned officers, one
drummer, and 102 privates of the Chatham division
of Royal Marines have been placed under orders for
service on board the screw steamship Trafalgar,
Capt. E. K. Barnard.
Yesterday an order was issued by Sir Richard
Mayne, directing the members of the metropolitan
police doing duty at Chatham dockyard and at the
military stations to be in future armed with cutlasses
" until further orders." The order also directs that
the police " in lonely or exposed situations are to
patrol in sight of each other." For some time past
the police at Chatham dockyard have been instructed
in the sword drill, in which they have attained great
proficiency.
his Netherlands Majesty's twin sere A turret-ship
Prins Hendrik, 4 guns, 2,100 tons, 400-horse power,
Capt. Jansen, left Spithead yesterday under steam
for Plymouth Sound, Cherbourg, and Brest. On
Saturday last Capt. Jansen and his officers were
entertained at dinner by the Netherlands Consul,
the Chevalier Vandenbergb, at his residence,
Holland-house, Southsea. On Monday Admiral Sir
Thomas Pasley entertained a large party to dinner
at the Admiralty-house, Portsmouth Dockyard, to
meet Capt. Jansen and his officers. During the
stay of the Prins Hendrik at Spithead every facility
was afforded to her officers by the authorities of the
port for visiting the shipping and various matters
of interest in the.port and dockyard.
A naval court-martial assembled on board her
Majesty's ship Victory at Portsmouth on Monday
for the trial of prisoners. The court was composed
of Capt. F. B. P. Seymour, C. 8., Aide-de-Camp
to the Queen, President ; Capts. W. C. Chamber-
lain, G. Hancock, A. W. A. Hood, C. 8., and H.
Phelps, and Mr. E. Hoskins, officiating Judge-Ad-
vocate. Mr. B. D. Sanders, carpenter of the second
class, Royal Navy, serving on board her Majesty's
screw troopship Simoom, was arraigned on charges
of "drunkenness on the 31st of August last" and
"absence from the ship without leave on the sth of
September." The prisoner pleaded guilty to the
charges and was sentenced by the Court to be dis-
missed from her Majesty's ship Simoom, to be placed
at the bottom of the list of the second-class carpen-
ters of the navy, and to be severely reprimanded.
Mr. Thos. B. Kerr, a boatswain of the second class,
Royal Navy, serving on board the Simoom, was next
arraigned before the Court on charges of drunken-
ness on July 21, 1867, and on August 30 following
ordering bottles of spirits to be passed into his cabin
from the shore without the permission of the officer
commanding the Simoom at the time, and afterwards
denying the fact. The Court found the charges
proved, and sentenced tha prisoner to lose three
years' seniority, to be dismissed from the Simoom,
and to be severely reprimanded.
The Brazilian Minister for Foreign Affairs at Rio
Janeiro has conveyed the thanks of the Imperial
Government to Lieut.-Com. J. B. Michell, lately
commanding her Majesty's gun vessel Doterel, for
his conduct in saving the Brazilian steam transport
Larrego when on the point of sinking off the island
of St. Catherine's. The Larrego had a large number
of sick and wounded soldiers on board, and the ser-
vice was performed under circumstances of peculiar
difficulty and danger. The permission of her Ma-
jesty's Government has also been asked by the Bra-
zilian Government to present Lieut. Michell with a
magnificent chronometer in acknowledgment of his
services in saving the Larrego and her living freigh

The gun that burst in one of the turrets ofthe
Wivern, at Birkenhead, was a 10-in. 121-ton smooth
bore. Practice was being made with. a spherical shot
and 301 b. powder charges at a target 1,500 yards
distant, when the breech of the left-hand gun in the
after turret was blown clean away from the tube,
struck the buffer on the side of the turret, and fell

on the floor between the rears of the two guns. The
breech just grazed the legs of the man acting as cap-
tain of the turret, but no one was really hurt, the ex-
plosion, although happening at the wrong end of the
gun, occurring above the level of the men's heads in
the turret with the exception of the " captain." The
Lords havo taken fright at the accident, and give❑
orders that no firingshall be made at present from the
Wivern's smoothbores. .The Dutch are exhibiting to
us in the Channel a turret-ship perfectly armed with
rifled 12i-ton guns, mounted on magnificent iron
carriages and slides. We have spent thousands upon
thousands of pounds sterling on " committees" and
their interminable experiments, but the British navy
has no turret-ship with an armament equal to that
of the Prins Hendrik, nor her equal in turrep equip-
ment, from the carriages and slides dow'n to the
minutest portion of the gear and fittings. The
" battle of the guns," about which so much has
been written, has been of no advantage as yet to
the few turret-ships of our navy.
The Blonde, screw steamer, commanded by Capt.
IL Catmur, left the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, yes-
terday morning for Alexandria, with stores, for the
English hospital at Suez. This is the second voyage
the Blonde has made to Port Said.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Tuesday.

Under the heading of " The Issue," the Evening
Mail prints the following remarks in its leading
columns :—" The prisoners sentenced at Green-
street stoutly maintained their belligerent position
to the last. They denied in terms that their con-
duct involved guilt. They were, they said, Ameri-
can citizens, devoted to Ireland as the place of their
birth, but owing no allegiance to England, and
therefore guilty of no crime in making war upon
her. The issue, in fact, lay between America and
England. ' They looked to another place and
another people to see justice done.' If America
did not resent England's conduct, then 13 millions
of Irishmen in America became slaves.' If the Go-
vernment do not now understand the situation
they cannot blame the Fenians for want of frankness
in explaining it. The generals, colonels, and cap-
tains they have been prosecuting are avowedly the
staff of a foreign army, claiming the rights of war.
If these rights be not granted to them, Warren,
Halpin, and Costello tell them plainly enough that
13 millions of Irishmen in America will know the
reason why. To this defiance from the dock we
find added a like defiance from the press, on the
part of at least four millions of Irishmen living in
Ireland, unanimous,' says the Cork Examiner, •in
sympathy with the Fenians.' We shall see whether
the British Government will join in the issue thus
boldly and plainly put. The blow is aimed at the
heart ; if it be not stoutly met it will do its work.
To yield before threats of force is to acknowledge
its power and to invite its exercise."
On Sunday the detective police made two arrests
in this city which they regard as important. In
Blackhall-place they captured a young man named
Feely, and is Lurgan-street a man named M'Garry.
Both the prisoners were transmitted under the
Lord Lieutenant's warrant to Kilmainham Gaol.
Two men were brought before the magistrates in
this city yesterday and charged with making use of
seditious language. They had been shouting,
" Hurrah for the Manchester Fenians," and, when
arrested, kicked the police. The magistrates re-
manded thorn, that inquiries might be instituted re-
garding their antecedents.
in the Court of Queen's Bench yesterday counsel
moved, on the part of " Colonel" Nagle, who is
confined in Kilmainham Gaol on a charge of trea-
son-felony, that the information and depositions
sworn in the case, and also an affidavit sworn
by the prisoner himself, should be returned into
Court by the Clerk of the Crown, to enable an
application to be made for admitting the prisoner to
bail pending his trial at the Sligo Assizes. Counsel
moved on an affidavit made by Mr. J, T. Scallan,
the prisoner's attorney. Mr. Justice George granted
the application.
Au action for slander of a most important cha-
racter is, it is stated, pending, in which a Roman
Catholic clergyman in Belfast is plaintiff, and the
editor of a Belfast newspaper defendant. Damages
are laid at £5,000. _ _ _

Sergeant Kelly, from NI hose body the bullet has
been at last extracted, is now progressing very
favourably, and great hopes are entertained of his
speedy recovery.

(finslat

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Nov. 19.
The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon,
accompanied by Princess Beatrice.
Her Majesty, accompanied by Princess Louise
and the Countess of Flanders, drove out this morn-
ing in a carriage and pour.

ROYAL OPERA, COVENT GARDES.

The production of Offenbach's celebrated operatic
extravaganza, the " Grand Duchess of Gerolstein,"
has resulted in a complete success, a circumstance
that was fully to be expected, when the light yet
highly effective music, the humour of the plot, the
brilliant dresses, the splendid scenery, and the
reputation of each of the artists selected to sus-
tam the prominent parts, were for one moment
taken into consideration. Another matter that
made success almost certain was the fact that the
opera had been performed at many theatres abroad,
at each of which its reception was most
enthusiastic. The plot of the extravaganza,
though somewhat complicated, is told as follows :
The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein is a young poten-
tate, with a strong will. The government of ber
duchy has been in the hands of Baron Puck, her
preceptor, and General Boom, her commander-in-
chief, but since she has completed her 19th year she
has shown a restlessness of disposition which leads
those gentlemen to believe that their power is draw-
ing to its close. A Prince named Paul is therefore
selected for her husband, as a harmless diversion for
her mind ; but he fails to make an impression, and
the Countess declares war with a neighbouring
state as a form of amusement. The Duchess, in
reviewing her troops, is arrested by the sight of
Fritz, a strapping young private, to whose sweet-
heart, Wanda, General Boom has taken a fan*
Urged by a feeling for which she cannot ac-
count, the Duchess promctes Fritz to the suc-
cessive grades of corporal, sergeant, lieutenant,
and captain in the space of a few minutes,
and when in the last capacity he condemns as ab-
surd the plans of General Boom, and is put down
with the remark that no ono save a commanding
officer and a noble is entitled to a voice in the Conn'
•ctl, the Grand Duchess at once promotes him to
a generalship, makes him a baron, and declares him
her commander-in-chief, the portentous plume being
removed from the head of the enraged and
astounded General Boom to adorn the bat of
the ex-private Fritz. General Fritz returns
victorious from the field, and is graciously re-
ceived by the Grand Duchess, who then makes love
to him, but the young warrior's affections aro ire-
movably fixed upon Wanda. Boom, Puck, and,
Paul conspire against his life, and they are joined
by the Grand Duchess herself, whom his love for
\Vauda has infuriated with jealousy. The strange
story ends with the marriage of Wanda and
Fritz, who is precipitated downwards through the
whole series of military grades till he once more
finds himself a private, while the Duchess declares
her readiness to accept Prince Paul for a husband.
The part of the Grand Duchess introduces M'
Julia Mathews to the metropolitan stage, and we
cannot refrain from at once congratulating the
young lady on her arrival in London. She possesses
a pleasing voice, of good compass, appears a good
musician, is fully up to stage business, and
altogether a young lady who will be found 3
great acquisition to the operatic talent of Louden'
Her singing is full of life and interest, and we Mal
point to her execution of the song of the regiment
and the SaLre Song as good specimens of her talent'
\lr. Harrison as Fritz has a part that just suits
him, and makes a capital rustic commander-in-
chief. The music allotted to the character is
not of a very taxing nature, so he gets
through it evenly and well. Mr. Anesley Cooke
makes a good pompous General Boom, and Mr'
Szoyle infuses humour and spirit into the part of
Prince Paul. The translation of the original into
English has been effected by Mr. Charles Kennel
very well indeed, but it would not have detracted
at all from the work had he discarded some of the
original words, which done into English become
vulgarisms. The opera has been beautifully
put upon the stage, and doubtless will attract fall
houses until Mr. Russell, the spirited lessee, pro-
duces his Christmas pantomine.