The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-25 00:00:00

TETE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 25, 1867.

SPECLI L CONSTABLES.

It is now estimated that upwards of 30,000 spe-
cial constables have been sworn in throughout the
metropolis. In Marylebone the numbers exceed
3,000, in St. Pancras they are nearly 4,000, and in
Paddington close upon 2,000 have enrolled them-
selves. An aggregate meeting of the special con-
stables enrolled for St. Pancras took place on Mon-
day evening at St. Pancras Vestry-hall, for the
purpose of selecting officers and organisation. Mr.
Francis Ilealey, J.P., chairman of the bench, and
many of the local magi:strzites were present, and
the spacious vestry -hall, calculated to accommo-
date 2,000 people, was densely crowded. Mr.
Healey, J.P., was called to the chair, and Mr.
Jonathan Salter, the chairman of. the Committee of
Works, having been appointed chief superinten-
dent for the whole parish, it was resolved to divide

it into five districts, each having a police station
as its centre—viz., for Kentish-town, the police
station in Kentish-town-road ; fur Highgate, the
police station at Highgate ; Regent's Park district,
police station, Albany- street; Brunswick-square
district, police station, Hunter-street ; Somers-
town, police station, Platt-street. A neat white
riband and buckle, with the initial letters " St. P.
P. M." (St. Pancras parish, Middlesex), in old
English capitals, were then served out together
with the staves. Mr. Salter and Mr. Wyatt,
J.P., addressed the meeting, and a resolution
was unanimously adopted, amid loud and voci-
ferous cheering, denouncing the attempt of the
aider and abettor of Fenianism, Finial), and his
accomplices, to hold a meeting on Sunday at
Clerkenwell-green, lauding the Government for
preventing the meeting, and pledging all present to
support them in a determination to uphold the law
and put down with a strong arm the sedition which
such gatherings were calculated to produce. As a
conclusion of the proceedings, the whole assembly,
as if by one sudden impulse, after giving three
cheers for the Queen, simultaneously sang in ex-
cellent time and emphasis " God Save the Queen,"
and at its conclusion again gave three ringing
cheers for her Majesty. Sir James Hamilton, J.P.,
yesterday swore in at the Stafford-street School-
rooms 400 specials for the district of Christ Church,
Marylebone, and strongly denounced Fenianism,
for which he was much applauded. Mr. Wgeleson,
of St. Pancras, also swore in the whole of the
employes of the Imperial Gasworks at King's-cross.
Up to last evening about 2,700 persons in all had
been sworn in at Guildhall to act as special con-
stables for the city of London, the oath having been
administered to upwards of 1,000 during yesterday
alone. At 9 o'clock in the morning Alderman Sir
Robert Carden and Alderman Causton, accom-
panied by Mr. Oke, the Chief Clerk at the Mansion
House, attended by appointment at the General
Post-office, St. Martin's-le-Grand, and swore in
upwards of 300 men employed in the establishment
in addition to between 400 and 500 to whom the
oath had been previously administered. All the
available staff of the Peninsular and Oriental Com-
pany at their city office were also sworn in during
the day, as also the officers and clerks in the London
a ud County Bank, and the men employed iu many
of the large wholesale warehouses, including those of
Leaf and Sons, Old 'Change; Brown, Davis, and Co.
Pawson and Co., St. Paul's-churchyard ; Taplin
and Co., Gresham-street; Ellis, Howell, and Co.,
St. Paul's-churchyard ; Northcote and Co., Ever-
ington and Co., Cook and Co., and others. Besides
Sir Robert Carden and Alderman Causton, Sir
William Rose, Sir Benjamin Phillips, Alderman
Gibbons, and Alderman Lawrence attended as ma-
gistrates at Guildhall and assisted in the swearing
in. Yesterday more of the general public presented
themselves at Guildhall for appointment than on
any previous day. It has been a subject of remark
there that comparatively few persons connected with
the Bank of England or with the great banking
houses have as yet tendered their services. The
magistrates will again sit at Guildhall to-morrow
(Thursday), and also on Friday and Saturday, be
tween the hours of 12 and 3 each day, for the pur-
pose of administering the oath to such of the citizens
as may present themselves. It may save inconve-
nience to state that all persons under the age of 21
are inadmissible.
At a numerous meeting of special constables held
to elect their officers at the vestry hall, Piccadilly,
on Monday evening, the following appointments
and arrangements were made :—General superin-
tendent, Lieutenant-General Frederick Johnston,
Albany, Piccadilly ; deputy general superintendent
Captain George Blanc, R.N., Army and Navy Club
Pall-mall; superintendent of the constables in Pall-
mall ward, Captain M'Neill, R.N., 43, Pall-mall—
rallying point, Waterloo-place ; superintendent of
the constables in Church ward, klr. Robert Ruth-
ven Pym, Bank of England, Burlington-gardens
rallying point, St. James's-churchyard, Piccadilly ;
superintendent of the constables in Golden-square
ward, Captain J. T. Wirnperis, St. George's Rifle
Volunteers, 25, Sackville-street—rallying point,
Golden-square ; superintendent of constables
in Great Marlborough ward, Colour Sergeant
George Griffiths, Queen's (Westminster) Rifle
Volunteers, 28, King-street, Golden-square—rally-
ing point, Broad-street, Golden-square ; secretary,
J. Oldfeld Phippard, orderly sergeant of the St.
James's company of the Queen's (Westminster)
Rifle Volunteers, Vestry-hall, Piccadilly. On the
call of General Johnston, three hearty cheers were
given for the Queen.
At the Vestry-offices, St. Paul's, Covent-garden
(late Old Hummums Hotel), the swearing-in of
special constables was continued throughout yester-
day, from 10 to 4. Mr. Henry White was in the
chair the whole time, Mr. J. G. Stilwell, Mr. E.
Antrobus, and Sir John Thwaites also attended.
591 have been sworn in up to the present time, and
arrangements have been made for the same magis-
trates to sit at the above place from 11 to 4 on
Friday. The whole have been subdivided into divi
sions and sections ; deputy superintendents an
assistant superintendents have been appointed to
each ; and their names and addresses, as also those
of the special constables in their respective divisions,
have been returned to Lieut.-Colonel Ewart, the
Government officer appointed to organise the special
constables.
Yesterday Mr. Henry Pownall and Mr. J. F. W.
de Salis, two of the magistrates for the county of
Middlesex, attended, by request of the authorities,
at the British Museum, and administered the oath
to between 300 and 400 of the members of the
establishment, workmen, bookbinderS, and labourers,
who will be fully prepared to act in the event of
any emergency requiring their services.
Yesterday a Bench of magistrates, Mr. R
Tubbs, chairman, met at the Vestry-hall, Ken-
sington, and with the assistance of Mr. R. Green,
the vestry clerk, swore in, during the day, about
150 persons as special constables, many of them
being the more influential inhabitants of the pa-
rish. It has been arranged for two magistrates
to meet in the National Schools at Brompton, on
Tuesday afternoon next, and also in the evening,
at the Vestry-hall, for the purpose of swearing
in other persons. After the swearing in on Tues-
day evening, a general meeting of the special con-
stables will be held for the purpose of appointing
the officers. It has also been arranged that two
magistrates shall meet at Broadway House, Ham-
mersmith, on Friday an I Saturday next, for the
purpose of swearing in all well-disposed persons
who may wish to serve as special constables. During
the last three days the magistrates at the Hammer-
smith Police Court have sworn in a number of
persons in batches during the sittings, Mr. Roberts,
the a estry clerk of Hammersmith, rendering valu-
able assistance in the filling up of the forms. Yes-
terday and on Monday Mr. Dayman sat at the
National Schools, Chiswick, and swore in a number
of the inhabitants of Acton and Chiswick as special
constables. All through the district the movement
is met with favour, and the various officials have
shown every desire to carry out the recommenda-
tions of the Home Secretary of State.
Yesterday an official intimation was received at
the Greenwich Police-court from Mr. C. A. Smith,
clerk to the county justices for the division of Black-
heath, that in order to suit the convenience of per-
sons residing at a distance who are unable to attend
during the usual hours of the sitting at the Green-
wich and Woolwich Police-courts, the county magis-

trates will attend at the following times and places
for the purpose of swearing in such special con-

stables, viz::—At the Magistrates'-room, Crooms-
hill, Greenwich, on Friday and Saturday next, from
5 to 7 p.m. ; at the Sydenham Police-station on
Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. ; at the District Board of
Works, Lewisham, on Saturday, from 5 to 7 p.m. ;
at the Police-station, High-road, Lee, on Friday
and Saturday, from 5 to 7 p.m. ; and on Saturday,
Monday, and Tue.iday next, at the Town-hall,
Woolwich, from 7to 8.30 p.m. Yesterday after-
noon 100 artisans from D,ptford dock and victual-
ling yards attended at the Greenwich Police-court
and were sworn, this being the first portion of some

300 or 400 who will be sworn in from the same

establishments during the next few days.
Mr. Paget has been engaged for the last two days
in swearing in special constables for the metropoli-
tan police district. Large numbers of respectable

;radesmen and others from Ratcliff, Mile-cud Old-

:own, Limehouse, Bromley by Bow, Shadwell,
Ala ;ate, St. George's-in-the-East have

- -
been enrolled. The Rev. Mr. Kingsford, rector of
Shadwell, who was accompanied by many of his
parishioners and by Mr. Mellish, the vestry clerk,
was sworn in on Monday. Yesterday evening a
tradesman named Cox and all his workmen pre-

rented themselves before Mr. Benson, and requested
his worship to swear them in as special constables.

Mr. Benson saidihe would do so immediately, and
complimented both master and men on their patrio-

c spirit.

On Monday evening the 7th Tower

Hamlets Rifles, under the command of Captain
Donald Munro, marched to the court, preceded by
their band, to be sworn in, and while the names
and addresses of the men were being taken down

the baud played several patriotic tunes, terminat-
ing with " God Save the Queen," which was fol-
lowed by the most enthusiastic cheers from the
populace, mixed with cries of " Down with the
Fenians !" Silence having been restored, the swear-

ing in of the men, who were in their ordinary dress
was proceeded with in court, and each Volunteer
was provided with a warrant and a staff. Upwards
of 300 well-disciplined men were sworn in. Capt.
Munro then addressed the magistrate, and said he
had to tender an apology for detaining him to so
late an hour. Many of the Volunteers were me-

chanics, whose work did not terminate until 7 and
8 o'clock, and they could not attend at an earlier
hour. All the men belonging to his corps wished
to show their loyalty and desired to preserve the
peace of the country, and would attend to their
duties as special constables at any time their ser-
vices were required. Mr. Paget said it would ill
become him to complain of any amount of time
and labour which he could give to the assistance of
her Majesty's Government at this critical juncture,
while tradesmen, mechanics, and others were com-
ing forward iu such overwhelming numbers to pre-
serve the peace of the country. The Volunteers
must recollect that the duties of special constables
were purely civil, and not to be confounded with
the military duties of the Volunteers. The habits
of regularity, discipline, and self-reliance formed by
the Volunteer discipline would make them useful
auxiliarie,s; if their services were required as special
constables. He thanked Capt. Mouro for his attend-
ance, and he was sure the country would hear with
great satisfaction of the loyalty and patriotism of
the corps under his command. The Volunteers, each
armed with a truncheon, were again formed in
marching order, and proceeded with their comman-
der through Stepney and Limehouse to their
head-quarters. The people on the line of march,
believing the 7th Tower Hamlets Rifles were actually
on their way to meet the Fenians, cheered them
loudly, and there were cries from all quarters of
" Down with the Fenians ; don't spare them ; drive
them into the river." Yesterday evening two
county magistrates attended at the Town-hall,
Limehouse, to sw ear in special constables.
A large and enthusiastic meeting of special con-
stables was held on Monday evening at the Red Lion
Hotel; Putney, for the purpose of electing a supe-
rintendent and deputy superintendents for that
parish. Mr. A. F. Jackson, churchwarden, and a
loyal Irishman, was in the chair. Mr. Jackson,
who is a lieutenant in the 7th Surrey Rifles, was
unanimously:- elected superintendent ; Mr. Aubrey
Paul, deputy superintendent at head-quarters;
and eight other gentlemen, deputy superintendents,
for rallying points. The interest of the meeting
was greatly enhanced by the arrival of Mr. Digby
Seymour, Q.C., who was elected, amid loud cheers,
one of the deputy superintendents; and he, in
moving a vote of thanks to the chairman, took; the
opportunity of stating his deep abhorrence and de-
testation of Fenianism, and the means by which it
is attempted to make it successful. Mr. Seymour
stated that that morning he had received two letters
threatening his life for the appeal which he had re-
cently made to all loyal Irishmen in the daily
newspapers. At the close of the meeting three ring-
ing cheers were given for Mr. Seymour and all
loyal Irishmen.
The expenses incurred in providing staves and
other necessary articles—for example, armlets—for
special constables will be defrayed out of the county
rate, in pursuance of an order of justices in special
sessions (Ist and 2d of William IV., c. 41, sec-
tion 13).
It may be as well to add that the justices'
clerks within any part of the metropolitan police
district for which a police-court has been ...esta-
blished are prohibited from taking fees for swearing
in constables or otherwise by 2d and 3d of Victoria,
cap. 71, and it does not appear that any remunera-
tion has been made by the Treasury to them for
performing their duty in that respect.
The organisation of special constables is proceed-
ing most satisfactorily, and the public will be glad
to hear that general officers have come forward and
undertaken the duties of superintendents in the
important parishes of St. George's (Hanover-
. square), St. James's (Westminster), and St. Mar-
, garet and St.. John's (Westminster.)

armour-plated bulkhead on the extreme after-part
of the upper deck. This latter arrangement will
enable two 62-ton 7-inch rifled guns to be fought
over the ship's stern behind an iron-plated battery,
and firing in a line with her keel. - The ship basin
of the-yard contains at present but_ three vessels—
the Waterwitch, armoured, iron, hydraulic propelled
gunvessel, 777 tons, 167-horse power, Commander
Philip R. Sharpe; the Bee, paddle steamer, 42
tons, 10-horse power ; and the Laurel, hulk. The
Waterwitch is undergoinga course of alterations and
repairs, including the shifting of her coalboxes fur-
ther aft, &c., and will be finished and ready again for

sea i❑ about six weeks' time. The little Bee is a tender

of the Excellent, as an instruction vessel for officers

studying steam, and a very small amount of instruc-
tion she must be capable of giving. The Laurel
is a hulk, well known to the seamen of her

Majesty's ships in dock at Portsmouth as a vessel
where they- can wash their clothes, and where they
are also very often made the victims of experi-
mental cooking schemes. It is a remarkable fact
that no sooner does one of her Majesty's ships find
itself in dock, or alongside the dock, or alongside
the dockyard, at Portsmouth than down is sure to
come an order from the Admiralty for the trial of

some new scheme of cooking, to carry out which it
is necessary to take the dinners of a certain number

of men from the ship. In nine cases out of ten
the invention utterly fails, and the men lose

,heir dinners or eat them half cooked.

The

steam basin, which since its construction, now
some years since, has been the principal working
basin of the yard, contains in it afloat the
Resistance, armoured, iron screw frigate, 3,710
tons, 600 horse power, the Royal paddle yacht

Osborne, 1,034 tons, 430 horse power ; the Pan-

dura, 3, unarmoured, screw gunvessel, 426 tons, 80
horse power ; the Avon, unarmoured, composite-
built, screw gunvessel, 464 tons, 120 horse power
the Cracker, unarmoured, composite-built, screw
gunvessel, 461 tons, 120 horse power ; and two old
and dismantled gunboats that are not worth notice

The Resistance is about to be taken in hand for re-

pairs to hull and machinery, and to refit for

another terra of commission. We have before alluded

to the thinness of this ship's skin and the weakness
of her teeth. She will prove a very unsatisfactory
kind of vessel to lay out much money upon ; but
we do not know what is the sum approved (if
there is a sum yet fixed) on her estimates. The

Royal Yacht Osborne is to be paid out of comniis-

siou, as her defects of hull are of a very extensive
character under her boilers and midshipi generally,
and they will take soma time for their repairs.
The machinery of the Osborne is being taken out
preparatory to her being placed in dock. To keep
her crew together, for it must be evident to every-
one that the crew of a Royal yacht is composed of a
special class of men, and are subject to a rather dif-
ferent training than is experienced on board an
ordinary man-of-war, the Admiralty might turn

the officers and crew over from the Osborne to the
Rua Sovereign, and send the famous turret ship
on guard duty in the Solent during the stay of the
Queen and the Royal family at the Isle of Wight.

The Pandora is an unarinoured, single-screw
gunvessel of 426 tons, 80 horse power, and
three guns. She has been completed in a
thorough repair to hull and engines, after serv-
ing a term of foreign service, and is now complet-
ing her outfit and rig for a fresh commission. With
her 80-horse power engines she is, of course, any-
thing hut a fast vessel under steam. The Avon is
a composite-built, twin-screw gunvessel, of 464
tons, 120-horse power, and two guns ; the Cracker
is a twin-screw gunvessel of similar tonnage and
engine-power to the Avon, but is built entirely of
wood, as is the Ringdove, in No. 7 dock. All three
vessels have been very handsomely and efficiently
rigged as three-masted schooners, and all three
will be 11-knot vessels under steam on their trials.
They have been constructed from the designs of the
prerent Chief Constructor of the Navy. On the
building-slips of the yard there are only
small vessels, wood and composite unar-
moured vessels —the Sirius, the Magpie, the
elk, and another small gun-vessel. The Sirius is
a sister vessel to the Danae, put through her trials
over the measured mile at Portsmouth last week.
She has a tonnage of 1,268, and will be fitted with
single-screw engines of a nominal power of 3c30-
horse. She will make a mean speed over the mea-
sured mile, at her load line draught of water, of 131
knots with full- boiler power, and of 114 knots with
half-boiler power. She is like all the other vessels
on the slips, building from designs by the Chief
Constructor, Mr. E. J. Reed. The Magpie is a
single screw gunvessel of 663 tons and 160-horse
power, wood-built throughout. The Elk is a twin-
screw gunvessel, composite built, of 464 tons and
120-horse power. Both will have good speed. The
work going on in the various workshops of the yard,
the steam factory, iron and brass foundries,
smitheries, joiners and pattern shops, wood and
saw mills, stores, &c., is, of course, of a very ex-
tensive character, more especially in the steam fac-
tory, where the machinery taken out of the different
ships is all taken in hand for repairs, but any at-
tempted description of this portion of the work
going on in the various shops and stores of the yard
would be much too lengthy, nor indeed would it be
necessary, for our present brief notice of the doings
inside the walls of Portsmouth Dockyard.
The measures taken to guard Portsmouth dock-
yard and the shipping afloat in its harbour, toge-
ther with the several public establishments in the
part and garrison, are of fully as stringent a cha-
racter as those referred to in The Sun of Monday
last as having been adopted at Devonport. Indeed,
similar regulations are understood to have been
adopted by order in every seaport, garrison, and
other national establishments throughout the United
Kingdom.
The Fox, screw storeship, Staff Commander
Luke, is alongside Portsmouth dockyard shipping
the stores and fittings returned from the Buffalo,
steamship, No. 17, of the Abyssinian mule transport
flotilla. The Simoom, screw transport, Capt. J. B.
Lethbridge, is lying off in the harbour, alongside
her hulk, and is again ready for sea.
A naval court-martial assembled yesterday on
board her Majesty's ship Victory at Portsmouth
for the trial of prisoners. The court was under the
presidency of Captain F. B. Seymour, C.8.,A.D.C.,
to the Queen, of her Majesty's ship Victory. Mr.
James McMaster, engineer, serving on board her
Majesty's ship Warrior, was placed on hiS trial on
charges of having absented himself from the War-
rior at Lisbon on one occasion, and of having been
drunk and incapable of performing his duty on
another occasion. The Court found both charges
proved, and sentenced the prisoner only, out of con-
sideration of his previous good character, to be
severely reprimanded, and to lose all his former
services. James Granton, seaman, serving on board
the Minotaur, was next placed on his trial on a
charge of striking a corporal of the police of the
same ship. The prisoner pleaded guilty, but said
that he did it under great provocation. The
Court sentenced the prisoner to receive 48 lashes
and to be afterwards imprisoned for two years in
Lewes gaol.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Sub-Lieut. Hon. F. C. Las-
celles, to the Research, as supernumerary ; C. J.
Barlow, 11. H. Barnard, and F. 11. Barnett, mid-
shipmen, to the Pylades ; Thomas Hockings, pay-
master, to the St. Vincent ; Henry Wm. Arlidge,
paymaster, to the Dasher; J. W. Ozzard, paymaster,
to the Irresistible ; W. J. R. Hall, paymaster, to
the Excellent ; James Towel', paymaster, to the
Cumberland ; C. M. B. Whyte, assistant-clerk, to
the Zealous, additional, for disposal ; 0 wen Douglas
and William Green, first-class assist.-engineers, to
the Rattlesnake, for disposal ; and W. C. Amos,
first-class assist.-engineer, to the Fisgard, additional,
for service in the Vivid.

TIIE DUNKELD MURDER.—On Monday the Lord
Provost of Edinburgh received fro►n the Home-
office a respite for Charles IPDonald, the tinker, who was
convicted the previous week at Edinburgh of the murder
of his wife, on the public road near Dunkeld, on the 27th
of September. By a majority of one in the jury of 15
McDonald was convicted of murder, the minorityipropos-
ing to return a verdict of culpable homicide. He was
unanimously recommended to the mercy of the Crown on
the ground of want of premeditation, or "malice afore-
thought." The respite was immediately forwarded to the
Lord Provost of Forth.