The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 11, 1867.

The Condition of Jamaica.
On Wednesday a party of gentlemen, residing in
Leeds and the vicinity, met, at breakfast, Mr. Thos.
llarvey, a resident of the town, who visited Jamaica
last year on a philanthropic mission. Mr. Harvey,
having given a long description of the past and pre-
sent condition of the island, a vote of thanks to him
was proposed in recognition of the motives which
hal induced him toprosecute his voyage, and for the
information which he had imparted to the meeting.
Mr. FO :STEP., M.P. (who was loudly cheered),
afterwards addressed the meeting. lie trusted that
all those who h to take part in Parliament, or in
the Governmsnt, in the management Of Jamaica
under the new system, would be able to rely upon
the intelligent support and interest of the friendsof
the West Indies throughout England. Not that
he would look forward for a moment to much direct
interference on the part of the Colonial-office. He
thought that the duty of that office in regard to
the Crown colonies was not to attempt the de-
tails of the government from London, which would
certainly not answer, but to find the very best ad-
ministrators that they could possibly procure, and
to send them out with a good deal of power, and
support them in those measures which they could
initiate. He dared say that some gentlemen pre-
sent would feel that that change of government,
although they looked forward to it with hope, was
one that could not but in some respects be regretted.
It appeared to be a backward step that a commu-
nity that had been governed by representative in-
stitutions should lose those institutions, and be
governed by what, after all, was more or less of
despotic authority from the central Government at
home. But he must confess that in the case of
Jamaica he thought that that was a step which was
only backward in appearance and not in reality,
because those who attached the most value to re-
presentative institutions would still believe that
they were valuable only if they could represent all
classes of the community-. They had in Jamaica—
and he did not know that it was possible to help it
—a representative government, which necessarily
represented only one portion of the community, or,
at least they might say, in broad terms, only one
portion, and that portion divided from the others
by marked differences of race, of colour, and of
position. The negroes generally could hardly be
expected to act the part of intelligent constituents,
and consequently the elections fell inevitably into
the hands of the white portion of the community, with
the assistance of some of the coloured men, and it
was impossible to help the House of Assembly being
more or less a representative of the planting and em-
ployiug interest. That in itself was an evil. It
always was an evil that the government of any com-
munity should be conducted by a caste or a class, and
he did not know but what class government under re-
presentative institutions was about as bad a govern:
ment as they could have. But when, in addition to
that, they had that class government obtaining its
power by force which was given to it from without,
and therefore not being compelled to face the diffi-
culties of its ownlegislation, they then had a govern-
ment which was intrinsically and necessarily bad.
The planters of Jamaica had governed the island
through the Representative Assembly, but if they
made mistakes in their government they had the
whole force of the British islands, and of the army
and navy, to support them, and we had in conse-
quence the results that might have been expected.
Mr. Harvey had entered into the question of why
Jamaica had been so much less prosperous than the
other islands of the West Indies—why, in fact, it
was the only one of the West Indian islands of any
importance which had not been prosperous. He be-
lieved, as Mr. Harvey did, that that had been in a
very great measure owing to too much power having
been given to the Representative Assembly of that
island. lie believed that if they were to mark the
differences between Jamaica and the Crown colonies,
almost every one would acknowledge that they had
been prosperous because they had not the represen-
tative power Jamaica possessed. But it might be said
that Barbadoeis had pr)spered, and that it was a co-
lony with a Representative Assembly. There was this
great difference in the case, however, that when
emancipation was passed it found Barbadoes i❑ a
position in which the labour question had not any-
thing approaching to the difficulties surrounding it
in Jamaica. In Barbadoes there was a dente popu-
lation, and consequently a great number of labourers
wanting employment. In Jamaica there was a very
scanty population, and therefore the labourers had
-what was understood in these districts very well
—the advantage in the market. Mr. Harvey had
stated how slavery must leave its legacy in the de-
gradation of those who had been slaves; but slavery
also left its legacy to the masters. It was very dif-
ficult for them—and he was sure he did not blame
them, he believed it would have happened to himself
if he had been one of them—to get rid of the feel-
ings which were implanted in them by slavery,
and it was a bitter task, a task which was too
hard for Jamaica planters to perform, not only to
have to give up the power of being slaveholders and
slave-masters, but to have to adapt themselves to a
Position of the labour question in which, naturally,
and by all the laws of free labour, the labourer had
the advantage of the employer. They tried to
escape from that, and they tried to do so by
making use of their power through the Government,
and he thought a great number of the difficulties
of Jamaica had arisen from that cause. One great
evil was that it had resulted in a weak government,
and for this reason, that many of the measures
which they tried to enforce—he would not enter
int 3 them now, for it was best that they should be
buried in oblivion—were of such a nature that the
home Government could not think of allowing
them; consequently they were disallowed. But
the Assembly of Jamaica had still sufficient power
to prevent the home Government initiating the
measures that were necessary. Consequently they
had a weak government, and he did not know that
there was a more striking illustration of that than
the state of the magistracy in Jamaica. He
thought it was equally acknowledged now by all
persons, either in the island or out of it, who tsok
an interest in the future of Jamaica, that a sstern
of Wipendiary magistrates must be resorted to. But
if it was so plain, they might ask why it was not
done before. The reason was that the hone
Government, acting through its governors, found it
quite impossible to get it done. For a time after
the etuancipaton stipendiary magistrates were
appointed in Jamaica, but England undertook the
payment of them. After a time it was felt to be
unreasonable to ask the British house of Commons
to tax the British people for justice in Jamaica,
and the grant was withdrawn. It was hoped that
the Jamaica House of Assembly would pay
them instead, but it refused to do so,
and from time to time the governors had
tried to get it to pass measures for sti-
pendiary magistrates, but had failed. He trusted that,
now we had taken upon ourselves the responsibility
of the govsrnment, the system of stipendiary magi-
strates would be again resorted to. The chairman,
in his excellent introductory remarks, had said that
that was a meeting which was not called upon to
express an opinion with regard to the conduct of
the late authorities in Jamaica. Ile was very glad
of that for two reasons, first, that although lie could
hardly say a word upon the question without re-
peating that he was still unable to agree with some
of his friends in thinking that a prosecution ought
to have been instituted against Governor Eyre—and
• he would not for a moment blame those who thought
it their duty to join in such a prosecution—yet he
thought that, w hether they were in favour of that
prosecution or against it, they must feel that as it
appeared likely that a court of law would have to
decide that question, the time had gone past for
much public opinion to be expressed until the ver-
dict Lad been heard. Ile was also glad that a meet-
ing of those interested on behalf of the negro should
be held without much allusion to that question, be-
cause he had feared lest the immediate good govern-
ment of Jamaica wont] 1,0 somewhat lost sight of in
that most interesting question of what blame should
attach to the late Executive, and the most import-
ant constitutional questions thereby brought before
us. Ile was therefore very glad to find that so many
gentlemen had met together to consider how they
could best advocate the future interests of the island.
But looking solely at that question there was one

point which would oblige him in some little degree '
to allude to what had happened. He thought that
more than one lesson ought to be learnt from the
late events in Jamaica, but certainly this lesson—
that whoever is responsible for the government of
the island should carefully look through its statute-
book and see that there are no statutes left that are
the remnant of the old slave legislation ; and espe-
cially he thought that attention ought to be directed
to that act under which Governor Eyre had de-
clared martial law. He thought he could make
a remark or two upon that point without enter-
ing into the question of blame or not on the
part of Governor Eyre, and he wanted to explain
to them the great difference between Jamaica
and England up to this time as regarded the pro-
tection of the liberty of the person. In Jamaica
there was that act which provided fur the declaration
of martial law, which thereby appeared to acknow-
ledge the supeusion of law, and to look upon it as a
course that might be taken in the government of the
island. It was with that opinion that martial law
was declared, and the words used by Governor Eyre
in his proclamation were these :—" We do hereby,
by the authority committed to us by the laws of this
our island, declare that martial law shall prevail,"
&c. That was the position of Jamaica. But what
was the position of England ? The position of Eng-
land was that, ever since the Petition of Right, the
declaration of martial law was in itself illegal, quite
independent of any acts that might be committed
under it. Taking into account that difference
between England and Jamaica, he believed in
the English principle. He believed that it was far
better that the declaration of martial law should be
illegal, and that our ancestors had left us one of
their very best legacies in leaving upon our English
statute-book a clear declaration to that effect. And
why ? Because martial law really meant the sus-
pension of all law whatever ; it meant the abolition
for the time of all the safeguards of life and property
which have been the accumulation of the fruits of
the labours for centuries of men who cared for their
freedom, and it meant that these should be re-
placed by the belief of the chief magistrate or
chief governor, whoever he might be, that what he
did was necessary for good government. Conse-
quently it was a replacement of law by the arbitrary
power of the Executive. Ile would not say that
under any Government possibilities might not
occur in which, for the preservation of order, such
a suspension might be necessary, but he believed
that it never ought to be provided for, or acknow-
ledged, or anticipated by the law ; that it ought, if
it were done, to be done as a matter of extreme ne-
cessity, so extreme that it would carry its own j usti-
fication with it, and would in itself require no in-
demnity. Ile did not think martial law ought ever
to be used as a mode of government, or for pun-
ishment, but only in extreme cases for purposes of
absolute necessity. But if they had it upon the
statute-book as it was in Jamaica, then it was almost
inevitably looked upon by governors and the govern-
ing powers as a mode of government, and 33 it had
been acted upon in Jamaica, and in the West India
islands. That was by no means the first time in
which martial law had been declared there, and it
had been declared in the other islands recently. In
St. Vincent's, for example, it had been declared not
long ago. In fact, a late governor of one of the
West India islands had told him in private conver-
sation that he believed that in former days, during
the existence of slavery, martial law used to be de-
clared generally at Christmas—(laughter)—because
at that time the negroes had a holiday, and it was
thought better to do away with law, and have the
will of the Executive for a time. He was well aware
that there were several gentlemen, for whose opinions
he had the highest respect, who thought that there
was not very much necessity to get rid of that
statute in Jamaica, because they did not think it
had in itself any validity. They thought that it
was impossible for a colonial statute, even when
sent out by the home Government, and acknow-
ledged by the home Government and the autho-
rities in the island to be the law of the island, to
be valid and have legal effect when it was contrary
to English law and the principles of that law. lie
would not enter into the question, as he did not
think it affected his argument that it was most de-
sirable that the law Should be taken out of the sta-
tute-book, because, whether or not they were right
in thinking so, there could be no question
that Governor Eyre and his council considered
that Jamaica statute had power and validity,
and that they were acting legally in declar-
ing martial law in accordance with its provisions.
What he said was that whatever might be their
opinion as to Governor Eyre's conduct, if they re-
gretted late events, if they regretted the mode in
which that insurrection was suppressed—and he did
not suppose there was any one present who did not
regret it—whatever amount of blame, or whether
any blame at all might attach to the governor—
they must all be of opinion that it was most neces-
sary, not only for the good government of the island
in future, but even from common justice to the go-
vernors themselves, that no future governor should
be placed in such a false position as that of having
such an act uponthestatute-book. Let them observe
the difference between the position of a governor
with that act,which, he believed,rightly or wrongly,
to have the force of law, and his position without it.
With such an act upon the statute-book of the law
of the land which be was sent out to administer, he
felt that, under certain circumstances, he was en-
trusted with arbitrary power. 'Whenever an insur-
rection or a disturbance of the peace occurred, there
were sure to be many persons pressing upon him the
necessity of making useof that power, and lie would
feel that if he did not make use of it, and if the in-
surrection were not quickly suppressed, he should be
blamed, not only by public opinion in the island,
but very likely by the authorities at home, for not
having made useof those powers which he had within
his reach. But if there were no such act upon the
statute book he would feel that in taking that step
there was an awful responsibility ; that iu doing that
he was doing what was in itself an illegal thing, and
not only would he naturally require a more extreme
necessity—and he thought he ought to have a very
extreme necessity before he resorted to such a mea-
sure—but while it was enforced he would feel all the
difference between making use of a discretion which
he had himself seized at his own responsibility, and
making use of a discretion with which he was en-
trusted; he would feel all the difference between mak-
ing use of arbitrary power given to him by the law,
and making use of arbitrary power which he had
seized at his own risk. He thought, therefore, that
what was to his mind the greatest excuse for Go-
vernor Eyre was the greatest argument against the
existence of that act. The greatest excuse for Mr.
Eyre was that he thought that under certain cir-
cumstances he was ordered to do what he thought
best irrespective of law, so that unless they supposed
he acted with a wrong personal motive, they were
almost driven to the supposition that be had done
what was thought to be best, and therefore it was
difficult for some of them to know how they could
punish him for doing what he had been ordered to
do. But how had that best resulted? It had re-
sulted in facts of which they were all ashamed, and
it had resulted in what had been called in the house
of Commons, and what he could scarcely speak of
without again calling; a legal massacre, or at least
a massacre under the form of law, batches of 15 or
2() men being hung day after day, after such a trial
as made it impossible to ascertain whether they were
guilty or not, for weeks after the peace of the island
had been restored. It was absolutely necessary
therefore that they should have no laws left on the
statute-book of that colony that should tempt gover-
nors to the exercise of such a power. Some of them
might wonder why he dwelt so much upon that
when the case seemed so plain. But lie was not at all
clear that it would be a very easy thing to get rid
of those acts. Two reasons might be alleged why
they should not do so, neither of which, however,
had any force to him. It would be said, in the first
place—" We lament these occurrences, but better
than the preservation of individual life, or even the
prevention of injustice or cruelty, is the prevention
of absolute anarchy," and there were persons who
wouldsay, " Martial law saved the island of Jamaica,
therefore do not make it difficult for martial law to
be declared." lie did not believe martial law did
save the island of Jamaica. Ile thought the de-
claration of martial law, and what was done

under martial law, in Jamaica, taught them
two things—first, that martial law did not put down
that insurrection ; and, secondly, that whatever
might be the wish to administer martial law well, it
could not be administered well ; in fact, they let the
devil loose when they declared martial law, and they
could not help it. Some gentlemen might be sur-
prised at his saying that martial law did not put the
insurrection down, but he believed he was right in
saying that the efforts of the troops had put it down
and restored peace before martial law was put into
operation. The hangings under martial law did not
really begin until peace was restored. What was the
lesson he drew from that? Ile did not blame Go-
vernor Eyre for declaring martial law, because he
thought, with that act staring him in the face, not
one governor out of 100 would have declined to do
it. The lesson it taught him was that martial law
never ought to be declared as an easy mode of go-
vernment, or as an easy mode even of restoring peace ;
it never ought to be declared unless it was absolutely
necessary for the restoration of peace and the preser-
vation of order. And how would they judge whether
it was absolutely necessary ? He should say the
governor must have reason to believe that the troops
could not act with effect without the declaration of
martial law. The troops must be able to act with
effect—they must restore peace at any sacrifice of
life, otherwise they would have a state of anarchy;
but he thought there was no justification for the sus-
pension of all law, except the fact driven upon the
minds of the authorities that the troops could not act
effectually without the declaration of martial law,
and he did not believe that was the case in Jamaica.
Another reason whichmight be urged why weshould
keep such acts as that in force was that, after all,
' English precedents did not apply to such an island
as Jamaica, where they had to deal with difference
of race and colour. England, it would be said,
only held her power over subject races by using it,
and being able to use it, and its being known that
she could use it in a manner in which English
power would not be used over Englishmen. In the
special case of Jamaica, at any rate, he did not be-
lieve that argument. If applied at all, it told
the other way—it told in this way ; that such
was the feeling of race amongst us, the prejudice
which almost irresistibly attached to those who from
circumstances were a superior race to others, that
he believed what they wanted was a safeguard
against misusing power, rather than a temptation to
misuse it, and he believed it was utterly impossible
for a man of good character like Governor Eyre to
allow such things to be done in Jamaica as were
done, if he had not been unconsciously affected by
the race feeling. But men might say, " After all,
the necessity of government is that it should be
strong and should keep order, and you cannot rule
such a population as that in Jamaica without that
power." There he again differed from them. He
believed that those negroes were as easily go-
verned as any of the inhabitants of these islands,
and he thought that the late events had tended
to confirm that. No one for a moment would
dispute that atrocities were committed in those
murders, but really if they read their own police
reports pretty attentively it was not for them, con-
sidering what came constantly before the assizes and
their magistrates, to condemn the whole of the negro
population of the West Indies because of those
atrocities. And again ho must say, that if Eng-
land had been governed in the way in which Ja-
maica was now acknowledged to be governed, if
it had been possible for any high official in England
to have made such a speech about the administra-
tion of justice as Sir John Grant bad made a few
weeks ago, he did not mean to say that we should
have had outrageous murders, such as happened in
Jamaica, but we should have had a resistance
to Government which would have been more or-
ganised and more difficult to deal with than was
the resistance in Jamaica. And if there had been,
though it was imtossible there ever should be,
such acts exercised in the suppression of disturbances
in these islands as took place in Jamaica, we should
have had a greater feeling of revenge against the
authorities than he was happy to believe existed
amongst the negroes of the West Indies. He did
not think, therefore, that it was more difficult to
govern Jamaica upon the principles of English jus-
tice and the protection of life agAinst the arbitrary
power of the Executive than any other of those
islands. He had only further to say that he had
been grieved of late to sec it stated very often in the
public press, and sometimes by men of influence and
position, that we must not be too particular with
regard to these things ; that the condition upon
which we held the enormous power we exercised over
200,000,000 of people was that we must show every
now and then that fierceness which we got from our
northern ancestors, in our dealings with those people,
and that in fact we did hold our rule over them by
showing them every now and then the ferocity
which laid under the surface of the English charac-
ter. He believed there never was a greater mis-
take. We did not bold or keep our power over sub-
ject races by the exercise of that ferocity, but by the
exercise of the strength which was in us. He did
not dispute--for they could not dispute—that that
ferocity was the temptation of our strength ; it was
the temptation which always attached to those who
were stronger than their neighbours, but they must
struggle with it and resist it. And it was not be-
cause we had shown, every now and then, a per
fectly reckless fury, when we had been drawn into
difficulties, in dealing with subject peoples, that
we held our power over them ; but it was
because we had, and were responsible to God
for having, those great qualities of strength
and endurance, that we hold our power
over these races. Mr. Forster, in his concluding
remarks, recommended clemency in our dealings
with the black population of Jamaica, and con-
, eluded with a word of praise to Mr. Harvey.
After a short address from Mr. C. S. Roundell,
secretary to the late Jamaica Commission, the re-
solution was carried unanimously.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

A Va -aorffi c circular,euard
Sir lEdwrd Lg K.C.B. Under-SecretaryGe
for War, was yesterday issued, in which atten-
tion is called by the Secretary for War to the cir-
cumstance that in many cases the pocket-ledgers of
deceased soldiers have not been forwarded to the
War Department along with their non-effective
accounts. Lieut.-Gen. Peel, therefore, directs that
in every case, whether the man's non-effective
account was in credit or not, care be taken that his
pocket-ledger is transmitted to the War Depart-
ment, together with all other documents or papers
connected with deceased's estate, in order that the
fullest information respecting his affairs may be
given to his relatives. If the man should have made
any disposition of his property by will, which every
soldier should be encouraged as much as possible to
do, that document should be transmitted iu a sepa-
rate cover, addressed to the Under-Secretary of
State for War, the words "Soldier's Will" being
written on the left-hand corner of the envelope.
The Barrosa, 20, screw corvette, Capt. Henry
Boys, arrived at Spithead yesterday morning, on her
return to England from service in the China seas,
and on anchoring exchanged salutes with the flag-
ship of the Naval Commander-in-Chief and Port-
Admiral, the Victory. The Barrosa brought home
a number of naval invalids, who were landed from
her yesterday afternoon by the Port-Admiral's
steam tender Sprightly, Commander Allen. Orders
were received by Capt. Boys soon after arrival to
proceed with his ship round to Sheerness, where
she will be dismantled and paid out of commission.
She will sail from Spithead for the Nore at daylight
this morning. The Barrosa sailed from Yokohama
on the Bth of September, 1866, arrived at Nagasaki
on the 10th, sailed from Nagasaki on the 11th, and
arrived at Hongkong on the 17th, sailed from Hong-
kong on the 23d, and arrived at Singapore on the 3d
of October ; sailed from Singapore on the 6th, and
arrived at the Mauritius on the 27th ; sailed thence
on the same day, and arrived at the Cape of Good
Hope on the 16th of November; sailed from the Cape
on the 17th, arrived at St. Helena on the 26th ;
sailed from St. Helena on the 27th, and called
in at Ascension on the :id of December. She ex-
perienced fine weather generally, until she arrived
off the Western Islands. She then fell in with heavy
north-easterly gales, which continued until is the

Channel she met with strong south-westerly winds.
On Wednesday night the Barrosa was hove off the
Isle of Wight, to wait for daylight to make her
entrance into Spithead.
The Valiant, ironclad frigate, in dock at Ports-
mouth, was yesterday surveyed by the officials of
the yard to enable them to prepare the requisite
official reports on the state of the several experi-
mental compositions with which her hull below the
water-line has been coated to preserve the iron of
the ship's bottom, and to prevent fouling. The
primary requisite qualifications for all paints or
patented compositions paid over the bottoms of iron
ships is necessarily the " preservation" of the iron.
The secondary and inuch less important considera-
tion is the efficient action of the paint as an anti-
fouler. The Valiant was docked at Portsmouth on
the 9th of August, 1865, and retrained in dock until
the 11th of September, thus giving ample time to
the various compositions which had in the meantime
been paid over her bottom to become dry before
she was again placed in the water. The entire star-
board side of the ship was coated with Gisborne's
anti-fouling mercurial composition, laid on in four
coats upon red lead. The port bow to nearly amid-
chips was paid over with the " Hay" anti-fouling
composition, laid on upon a coating of the Hay pre-
servative varnish. Amidships, from the keel upwards
was enamel, and the remainder
ofthe
a ter-line aft was coated with
a vessel
patchms el o f
below Jenk
the Jenkins
w'
Rowett's anti-fouling paint, both the Jenkins and
Rowett being laid upon the Hay preservative varnish.
The vessel having been afloat, but in still water, at
harbour moorings, for 16 months afforded a very
ftahier
variousopportunity
eo m p
competitive
tri
vje compositions;
judging the relative merits of
but this cannot
be completed before the bottom of the vessel has
been scrubbed, and the exact effects of the damage
from the anti-fouling mixtures upon the iron of
the ship's bottom, if there be any, has been fully
ascertained. At present the Hewett patch of compo-
sition is closely covered with an average depth of six
inches of polypi and sea-grass near the water-line of
as many feet in length. The Jenkins patch was
nearly as bad, and both give strong evidence of cor-
rosion, the real nature and extent of which will only
be ascertained when the ship's bottom has been
scrubbed. The Gisborne composition has kept the
starboard side of the ship moderately clean, but the
red lead undercoating is deeJmposed, and the rivet-
heads give evident signs of corrosion. Electric cur-
rents have been at their dangerous work, but this
Mr. Gisborne ascribes to the fact of red lead having
been applied to the bottom of the ship by Admi-
ralty order, instead of the peculiar varnish recom-
mended for the purpose by Mr. Gisborne. Mercu-
rial paints may possibly be perfect as anti-foulers if
laid on a proper underlying protectral varnish, such
as is used by the Admiralty chemist, but mercurial
paints laid on red lead might also possibly destroy
the bottoms of the iron ships of her Majesty's navy.
The Hay composition on the ship's port bow only
remains to be noticed, and this can be done very
shortly. The fouling is very slight, although a trifle
in excess of that on the Gisborne paint. The com-
position appears perfectly sound in every part, and
there is no corrosion excepting where abrasion has
taken place from the chain-cables or from the dock
shores. As, however, we have already observed, the
ship's bottom must be thoroughly cleaned of the
polypi, sea grass, and other adhesive substances
before any correct estimate can be formed of the
peculiar qualities, favourable or otherwise, of the
respective compositions. Connected with this dock-
ing of the Valiant has been the trial of a patent
, scraper and revolving brush, the invention of Mr.
Harrison, of Liverpool, for scraping and cleaning
the bottoms of iron ships at times when it may be
advisable to save the expense and delay of dock-
ing, or when docks may not be available. The
scraper and the brush were both passed over two
strips of the Valiant's starboard side previous to
her being placed in deck, the operation being ex-
ceedingly simple, and the action of the scraper or
brush on the ship's bottom certain. On examining
theValiant's bottom in dock yesterday those parts
morf.
over which the scraper or the brush passed were
perfectly clean, and the results of the trial of the
smalltolNviirheailc\kvhooennrrl
work
was
ooe machine—for
itic,
tnohrdenee—opd
feruisferco—s,
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:di
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II satisfactory.consideration
Vtemaelakonennr,etrahnebdytCrtioah.le,,
dockyard.
The Urgent screw steamship, Capt. S. H. Hen-
or further foreign
officialsderson o ,
ref amfiPttoiritlgsotul Portsmouth
ti
troop service, was yesterday taken out of Ports-
mouth harbour to Spithead under steam, where she
made a preliminary and satisfactory trial of her ma-
chinery, returning to the harbour again on the con-
clusion of the trial.
Information has been received in Woolwich
Arsenal from Queenstown,,Cork, stating that the
War Department steam transport Earl de Grey and
Ripon, Commander 11. T. Moore, was driven into
Cork harbour on Sunday last at noon from the
severityhdeisavbylegd
a,
loeaf
ndtl
duringi
se h storm,e iFiardidsanyffh
ea
suffered
ei
dn g weathered a very
night.
a loss of head-gear ;
ller engines were
wereotosship-
ment despatched
fm Woolwich
and
sails, hadand sustainedbo ats .She
il a d damage
entered
Cork dockyard
to make the necessary repairs, and fill in her coal
bunkers, with the intention of sailing thence to-day
on
roh
Theerretu following
voyage • oy
Arsenal
teei
notsao Il
to r
h l ye wei
dockyard,
krdyaay r
d ,
for
on board her Majesty's 17-gun sloop, Chanti-
cleer, 950 tons, and 200 horse Power ;—Eight es.
pounders, one 7-inch 62-ton gun, four 6-pounder
brass guns, &c., together with their carriages, slides,
&c., and the remainder will shortly follow.
Sixty tons weight of samples of wrought iron slab
facing for gun batteries, manufacturedat the Thames
Iron Works, was yesterday despatched from Wool-
wich Arsenal to Shoeburyness for experimental
testing, in the presence of the Ordnance Select
Committee. One of the largest slabs weighs 35
tons, is 25 feet by 14 feet, and 12 inches thick. In
consequence of the augmentation which has taken
place in the manufacturing branches of the Royal
Arsenal at Woolwich, and the number of inexpe-
rienced hands necessarily employed in connection
with the machinery, accidents are of much more fre-
quent occurrence than formerly, and the limited
accommodation of the medical department and in-
firmary causes the greatest inconvenience and danger
to the invalids. Men suffering from fractured limbs
and otherwise injured have to be hurried out of the
infirmary to their own homes almost daily, some-
times two and three are removed in one day before
their recovery is complete to make room for new
cases, in consequence of the small number of berths
which the restricted space affords. Dr. Briscoe,
Surgeon-Major of the establishment, has urged
upon the War Secretary the necessity of increased
accommodation on that score. It is hoped that the
exigency of the matter may sufficiently be known,
and that the requisition will soon be complied with.
The cost, it is stated, will not exceed £5OO.
The first instalment of the measures taken by the
present Board of Admiralty by the advice of their
officers, Rear-Admiral R. S. Robinson, the Con.
troller of the Navy, and Mr. E. J. Reed, the Chief
Constructor, for increasing the efficiency of the navy
in the smaller and fast, but unarmoured, class of
vessels was received at Portsmouth dockyard on
Tuesday in an order from the office of the Controller.
It gives instructions to prepare at once for the
building of two new vessels of the same dimensions
and design as the Dande, now building in that yard,
of two more gun vessels from the drawings of the
Ringdove, just commenced in the yard, and of thre
gunboats to be driven, like the Ringdove, with twin
screws. The last are to be on the plan which has
been so successfully followed for some time on the
Thames by the Messrs. J. and W. Dudgeon, the
constructors of the machinery of the hydraulic gun
vessel Waterwitch. The two vessels to be built on
the lines of the Daniie will be named the Sirius and
the Dido. The Sirius will be prepared for launch-
ing during 1867-68, and one-third of the Dido
will be built during the same period. Of ccursc,
in the event of any unforeseen emergency, both
vessels could be completed at a much earlier date
than is now contemplated. Their tonnage will
be each 1,208, and the nominal power of their
engines 350-hurse. They will be timber-built, with
iron deck beams and stringer plates, and their
speed will be considerably over 14 knots. The two

vessels to be built on the Ringdove's design will be
named the Magpie and Swallow, and will be of 663
tons each, propelled by twin screw engines of 160
nominal and collective horse power. The three
gunboats, the Cracker, Elk, and Avon, will have
each a tonnage of 463 tons and engine power of
160 horse nominal, driving, as we have said, twin
screws. The great features in the design and fit-
ting 'of these three gunboats are that they will be
built with iron frames covered with an outer skin of
two thicknesses of teak, and that they will be fitted
I with the engines of the old 60 horse power gunboats
of Crimean date, which have been laid up in the
Admiralty stores at Haslar and elsewhere since the
breaking up of the rotten hulls of the vessels. As
the new gunboats are to be propelled with engines
of 120 horse power, driving twin screws, each of
them will be fitted with two sets of engines from the
old vessels. The smallest of these vessels ordered to
be built at Portsmouth will carry, at the least, one
of the new 6i ' ton rifled muzzle-loading guns.
Whether we look at the description of vessels here
ordered to be built at Portsmouth, their estimated
speed, the weight of their armament, or the wise
utilisation of the machinery of broken-up vessels
out of store, we must confess that both the Control-
ler of the Navy and the Chief Constructor appear
to deserve every praise for the steps they have so
far taken for the maintenance and improvement of
the naval power of the country.
The Valiant, ironclad frigate, in the reserves at
Portsmouth, and waiting her armament on the new
scale fixed by the late Admiralty by minute dated
June 8, 1855, was yesterday docked at Portsmouth
to clean her hull below the water-line, and examine
experimental compositions with which she has been
coated, as " preservatives" and " anti-foulers," in
compazison with the standard composition adopted
by the Admiralty by the advice of their chemical
adviser, Mr. Hay.
The naval pension of £BO a year, vacant by the
death of Capt. R. Douglas, has been awarded to
Capt. Julian F. Slight.
The colonelcy of the 30th Regt. is vacant by the
death of Lieut.-General Wright, C. 8., on Saturday
last, aged 72. He entered the army in 1812, and
served in the campaign against the Rajah of Coorg
in 1834, and led the advanced attack at the taking
of the stockade of Peripatam, the frontier stockade
of the Coorg territory. In 1839 Le was employed
in the operations against Kurnool, and was danger-
ously wounded at Zorapore on Oct. 18. He com-
manded a brigade in the battle of Maharajpoor on
Dec. 29, 1843, and had his horse shot under him in
taking the battery at Chounda. In recognition of
his services he was made a C.B. in 1844. His com-
missions bore date as follows :--Ensign, Dec. 18,
1812 ; Lieut., April 22, 1814 ; Captain, July 14,
1825 ; Major, March 12, 1837 ; Lieut.-Col., April
24, 1839 ; Col., Nov. 11, 1851 ; Major-General,
Sept. 8, 1857 ; and Lieut.-General, Aug. 10, 1864.
He was appointed Colonel of the 30th (Cambridge-
shire) Regt., March 7, 1862.
The Commander-in-Chief has approved the fol-
owing arrangements :—Ensign Gaynor, 49 th Regt.,
to join the depot ; Capt. W. Black, 26th Regt., to
be Brigade-Major in Nova Scotia ; Lieut. Gore and
Ensign Sir C. Waller, 81th Regt., to join the de-
pot. It has been notified from the Horse Guards
that a draught of the 84th •Regt., consisting of
Capt. Wilson, Lieut. Crockett, one sergeant, and
39 men, are to embark on the 29th inst. for Malta,
and from thence the regiment will proceed to Ja-
maica.

FIRES AND NO WATER, !