The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-31 00:00:00

troduced, and the lecturer read a very beautiful
and affecting little poem, marked by great origi-
nality, called " The Little Winter Grave" which,
said Mr. Hardwick, gave promise that Mr. Chad-
wick would produce something worthy of remem%
brance beyond his native county.
The last of the Lancashire poets mentioned
John Stanyaa Bigg, of Illverston .whose name the
lecturer had every reason-to believe would, if it,
did Rot already,.occnpy the first place amongst taut -
poets of this county. It was this" fhbof many -
young poets, such as Alex. Smith, Sidney
Yendy a,
or Dobell, allmen of extraordinary genius,
to cover
their poetic structure with profuse ornamentation'
and he felt bound to confess that the poetry of John
Stanyan Bigg was open to-this objection. Before any
edifice received its decoration, its general form
should be well studied and developed. Neverthe-
less, when Bigg-'s great work "Night and the Soul,"
was carefully examined, its originality, its exuber-
ance of image and metaphor, its freshness and
power, were most apparent. He had in him the
true life and enthusiasm of the poet. The lecturer
then read a portion of this poem, the soliloquy of
Alexis, beginning "Oh thought ! what are thou
but a fluttering life I" and a concluding minor
poem, from which it might be predicted that john -
Stanyan Bigg stood a fair chance of being one day
ranked among the honoured bards of the nation.
Mr. Hardwick was repeatedly applauded in the
course of his observations on the "different poets
whose writings and characteristics he reviewed ; and
at the close, through the chairman, a vote of thanks
was accorded to him with acclamation.
_

The lecturer briefly acknowledged it, and the
company separated, pronouncing the evening's en-
ttrtainment one of the pleasantest they had ever
enjoyed.

THE OVERLAND ROUTE.

ADEN, Mlateir 12.
Before this reaches London you will have doubt- .
less heard more than one account of the late dia-
-1 agreeable affair at Suez, connectedwith the despatch
of a detachment of her Majesty's 92d Highlanders, .
under Col. Mackenzie, to Bombay. That any such
"fracas" should have occurred on the overland
route is very much tobe regretted, and it is to be
hoped that a sitting inquiry will be instituted in
order to discover who are the culprits on either . ,
side i 4 this most savg,til, 1444..yik .: - - ~ -,i.-',,-4,,4,4-,:,,,;-,.-i;, 1'...- - ',+ i
, . Piolikh
•110'reaent-011' • . .., ..1.„ .e ,, :4,,i,, , es.,
thought that a plain statement_ of the fiefisrai '7- 71.4 ~, - ' '..-7.
..."'-' - 1
lated to me by three of the passengers who were ~7 - '---
on board the Pottinger at the tinie,. and who have '----
no connection whatever with either party, might •
be useful in enabling the piiblicat,home to forma'
correct judgment of what actually trimph-el
It appears, then, that the Pottinger, having been
ordered to convey a detachment of troops to Bom-
bay, took in at Suez sufficient provisions for 320
mem fbr 28'days. The detachment had not reached
Suez on the 27th, and the commander, it appears,
foreseeing that the men would not be comfortable
if permitted to come on board *bile the expeetei
cargo was being taken in; suggested to the authori-
ties at Suez the propriety of their being embarked
on board the hulk Zenobia (where ample acronamo-
, dation was provided) nail the steamer Wits quite
ready; to receive them. For some reason, however,
this prudent suggestion was overruled, and the
Men *ere embarked on board the Pottinger late '
that eVening. • Grog was immediately nerved out to,
them,. but the hen had no bedi, it hatring been re-
ported to the captain that the men'ibedding would
be sent with them. Some disagreeableness is said to
have arisen at this early stage between the purser
of the vessel and the colonel, the latter being very
muc Ichagrined that au entire cabin had not been
user ed for. him, instead of his being made to
()cell al:fob:in with Goland Andersen, one of the
passe gers. !Purina
,the eight the cargo arrived,
and e can *eiiily conceive` that the snow *ere not
1
_camf rtablp undek_ siach airbuxastanizell;. awittiottt ' :.
beds, as..Apy.were, and a cold wind blowing.
N t day it-complaint was -merle-Mend the -big-
cn it, mitt ettneted gut.that A Mac, yalich .kid bean -_
du b ard,fer„two •
or three months had been served
out. This was soun• .rectitie-d; • 'and- ma -further • -
corn amts made on that.llA44: _
t Sh rtly after noon the cAopel and several of
offic s; ate/tided-by elome—of the theft' eiriying a'' -
plate of pprk,,eemplained:to:theef.V*4:thatit was,
b'id, rotten, and unfit for use.' , Tlie eaf•tain, ire
hear, deelated'that it wit4piefftt6tli soinicl; but t,l -
colonel maintained the.'eenlrar,y,And further, that
he would not allow his men to go to sea'with the
pros eat' o 0 being fed !bit 'Bluth, eatiOrts.'' 41.11 (vain .. •`:
1
.was en.giyen by t the 3/1W- agenli t4-61,etaiu-the
ship util a comniittee was held on the stoles: -Fair
cask wore ieimediately hoisteank thtringrwhich' t
oper tion it appears that an ensign of the regiment', . i
aPpi d a most offensive epithet to the Older super-- . .
iute ding the Ofieratibui„rwho- lOs .6therivise srLbfl•-
jecte to the muttered ;,tbuse of,the soldiers. FrOm ,
all I can learn, the verdict of the officers forming '
the mmittee was not unanimous ; but the general ,„.7t
qpin on appears to have beep. ,thatt A40,0°10320 7014.3..-, ~,
sati,tied. My inforniants aia.not speak with `car-
tail* on this pafnti- and were themselves divided
in ooinion about the quality of the provisions. It
seems, however, that the conduct of the men dur-
ing the inquiry was familiar in the extreme towards
their own officers.

I
x

~ • .~...

-~+

Matters being so far settled, the order was given
to prepare for sea, when the hitherto muttered dis-
content of the men broke out into open insubordi-
nation. The Laselra who attempted to weigh the
anchor were thrown off the forecastle, and tts 0f6.-
cars on duty abused and threatened by the men,
who armed themselves with bars, bolts, and what-
ever they could lay hands on, swearing that they
would take the clbins, and burn the ship, &c. The
colonel went forward, but it does not appear that
his visit effected any good. What was next to be
done ? I hear that it was proposed for 100 of the
men to be left behind in the hulk, and to come on
by the next steamer, but the colonel would not
assent to that arrangement. Finally, during the
night the men were taken from the Pottinger, and
embarked on board the Columbian, bound first for
Alen and Galls. Immediately after the mail agent
ordered the captain of the Pottinger to start with
the mails, when a requisition was brought off by
the Transit steamer for the provisions to be sent on
beard the Columbian (the provisions which had
been condemned previously), but the captain was
not authorised to wait, and, knowing that store*
of the same kind were procurable in abundance at
Suez, the Pottinger sailed at once for Aden.
The foregoing is a brief outline of this sad affair,
and it is sincerely to be hoped that such measures
will be taken in this case as will effectually prevent
a recurrence of anything so disgraceful. A great
' errer was made at the outset by those who disre-
garded the advice of Captain Stead of the Pottin-
ger, that the men should be lodged for the night in
the Hulk. If lam not mistaken, the'Pottinger,
under Capt. Stead, was considered a pattern
trooper and was quite a favourite with the Euro-
peans during the Persian war, when she must have
carried many more men than there were in the de-
tachment of the 92d. Of course, it is impracticable
that on board a mail and passenger boat men can
have the same accommodation as on board a troop-
ship ; but whatever accommodation there was must
have appeared less, and have been far less available
at night-time, and while the ship's decks were being
encumbered with cargo, &a. Hitherto, indeed,
nothing could have gone en more smoothly than
the trooping to India by this route, even in vessels
of less tonnage than the Pottinger ; and it is very
much to be dplored that any such contretemps as
this should have taken place. Of course, if it is
found, after due inquiry, that the provisions were
bad, the Peninsular and Oriental Company should
be severely dealt with ; Lut even if that at present
debateable point is proved against them, such a
result will in no way exculpate the insubordinate
conduct of the men, and the reported insouciane,e
of their officers in repressing it. On these latter
points the evidence appears concurrent and unani-
mous—so much so, indeed, that when the Pottin-
ger reached Aden several of the passengers had de-
cided to remain hero should the Columbian reach
before she left, and the troops be ordered to re-em-
bark in her.