The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-21 00:00:00

too successfully endeavoured to convert them
into an irresponsible tyranny would find their
ill-gotten wealth and influence curtailed. The
Staveley non-unionists have shown how much can
be done in this way by connected action, and we
hail as a favourable sign of the times the establish-
ment of a Free-Labour Society, whose object is the
registration and assistance of men not shackled by
the fetters of the trades' despots, who, like the
Fenian leaders, find their positions too pleasant and
too profitable not to coster disputes and differences
between employers and employed, so that they may
" ride on a whirlwind and direct the storm." Within
two months from the establishment of this Free Labour
Society two thousand names have been enrolled as
its members, and no doubt the numbers will be
largely increased. The revelations of the Sheffield
inquiry will, we trust, be productive of much good
by giving men an excuse for throwing off the
shackles so long imposed upon them, and to refuse
to subscribe any longer to rules and regulations
whose spirit has been abundantly proved to be not
only subversive of civil liberty and individual free-
dom, but directly antagonistic to the first principles
of common morality which are adopted by every
civilised nation.

made from young pine trees, which, being very
resinous, are bad conductors of electricity. The
wires attracted the lightning, which pursued its
course in two opposite directions—that is to say, in
the direction of Marseilles and Paris at the same

time, breaking many of the posts. It reached a
station where six persons were sitting, the lightning
being like a flame of fire. The chair of one of
them was overturned, but no personal injury was
sustained by any of them. They, however, felt a
strong indication of being suffocated.

Gallery No. 3 in the French department is
certainly the most gorgeous in appearance of any
portion of the Exhibition. Near the Baccarat
section is that of the manufacture of St. Louis,
comprising the most magnificent chandeliers and
other articles of glass ever seen. In this gallery
are included the tapestry of the Gobelins,
Aubasson, Turcuing, and Beauvais. Such a
mass of splendid tapestry was never before
collected together. The designs are so varied and
glittering that the eye can hardly support the
dazzling colours. Is is objected that French carpets
are dearer than those made in England, but dear-
ness is a necessity where such luxurious articles are
employed, and so much time and skill is necessary
for the design and fabrics. In the same gallery are
marvellously beautiful Turkey, Persian, and Indian
carpets. These, however, are still dearer than the
French tapestry. The Gobelins tapestry well main-
tains or exceeds its fame. As to the Sevres china,
no eulogium could go beyond its beauty and excel-
lence. It is now almost two centuries since the
Gobelins manufacture was commenced, and there
seems to have been continual improvement in its
products. Visitors must be more struck with these
articles than with anything to be seen at the Exhi-
bition. At all events their beauty dazzles and
excites admiration. The number of persons who
paid for admission on Sunday was 78,300. It seems
to increase iu popularity.
The experiments with the Ch, assepot gun at the
camp at Chalons give the following remarkable re-
sults. The gun was fired twelve times in a minute,
without aim ; with time to aim, eight times. The

target represents the size of a man, and on the
average was hit 32 times out of a hundred. In
every respect this gun has proved to be superior to
the Prussian needle gun.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

VALETTA, August IG.—No news has been received
of the squadron since the date of my last letter, and
we have at present no English ships of war in har-
bour, except the old flagship Hibernia and the store-
ship Supply. The surveying vessel Hydra left to-
day to fix the exact latitude and longitude of the
Demetri Light, on the north-western extremity of
Gozo. The Simoom screw steam troopship, Capt.
Lethbridge, with the first division of the 10th Bri-
gade Royal Artillery, is expected here from Halifax
about Sunday next, the 18th inst. After disem-
barking these troops she will take on board the
head-quarters of the 3d Brigade, and proceed with
them to Canada, returning with the head-quarters
of the 10th Brigade, and will then proceed home
with condemned stores, invalids, and time-expired
men. The Supply screw steam storeship, Staff-
Commander C. Bawden, will sail for England in a
day or two. The Austrian screw steam frigate
Schwartzeuberg (bearing the broad pendant of
Commodore Pokorny), which, together with the
ironclad Archduke Ferdinand Max, has been under-
going repairs in the Royal Naval Dockyard at this
island, took her departure on the evening of the 9th
inst. for Smyrna, where she is to be stationed for the
prssrat. While here she had her mainmast taken
out for repair, and on its being replaced it was
completely rigged, and everything made taut
and shipshape by her own crew in a couple of
days, showing a smartness which would have done
credit to an English man-of-war. The Archduke
Ferdinand Max left our port a few days before
the Schwartzenburg, on return to Pola, to refit and
take in her guns, munitions, and stores. Another
Austrian war vessel arrived here on the 14th inst
—the screw gunboat Norenta, from Fiume and
Lissa, on her way to the Levant. Being from the
coast of Dalmatia she was not admitted to pratique.
The American screw steam corvette Sawatara, Capt.
W. N. Jeffers, arrived here on the 13th inst. from
Lisbon. She forms part of Admiral Farragut's
squadron now at Cherbourg, of which the Franklin,
one of the heaviest and finest vessels in the Ameri-
can navy, is the flagship. Admiral Farragut is ex-
pected in the Mediterranean in the fall of the year.
The Sawatara left to-day for.Canea,Athens,Sinyrna,
Beyrout, Alexandria, Rhodes, and probably back to
Malta. She is the only American man-of-war now
in the Mediterranean. It was this vessel which con-
veyed Surratt, accused of complicity in the assassina-
tion of President Lincoln, from Alexandria to Wash-
ington. Considerable works have been going on for
some time past for the purpose of strengthening cer-
tain points of the fortifications of Valetta com-
manding the sea front, and constructing suitable
platforms to receive the enormous guns with which
the fortress is to be armed. It was stated not long
ago in 'lke San that Malta did not possess a single
an ordinary ironclad of
soon be impossible to re-
gthu: presentcapable
dof penetrating
Itwill
n
re-
peat this reproach. Some 14 12--ton guns ar-
rived from IVoolwich last week in the Sea Queen.
Others will be sent out as soon as they can be got
ready ; and I hear that the military authorities in-
tend to include iu the armament of Malta ordnance
of still heavier metal.
Private letters received at Chatham from her
Majesty's screw sloop Reindeer, 7,953 tons, 200-
horse power, Commander E. Nares, announce the
departure of that vessel from Mazatlan on the 21st
of June for San Blas. She will afterwards proceed
to Guaymas and the intermediate ports. She was
under orders to cruise afterwards across the Gulf
of California to La Pays. Smallpox had entirely
disappeared from on board, and the health of the
officers and crew was stated to be very good. The
Reindeer was to rendezvous with certain of the
other ships of the squadron at Mazatlan.

The following are the details of the troops under
orders to embark on board the chartered troopship
Coldstream, Capt. G. G. Ponsonby, for Singapore,
at Gravesend, on Friday next :—" Four officers and
101 non-commissioned officers and men of the Royal
Field Artillery, five men of the Army Hospital
Corps, one Staff-Assist.-Surg., 10 soldiers' wives,
and 15 children. The Coldstream, which is now in
the West India Docks, will be inspected by Major-
Freeman Murray prior to receiving her troops on
board.

The following officers have proceeded from Cha
ham garrison to Hythe, for the purpose of going
through an extended 'course of instruction at the
School of Musketry in the use of the Snider rifle,
previously to embarking for foreign service—Capt.
F. Falkner and Lieut.• C. R. King,
50th Queen's
Own Regiment ; Lieut. W. IL Nicholson, 82d Re-
giment ; Lieut. W. Mills, 2d battalion 14th Regi-
ment ; Lieut. R. F. W. Rynd, Ist battalion 22d
Regt. ; and Ensign A. T. Fisher, Ist battalion 2d
Royals. Detachments of non-commissioned officers
and men from the several depots attached to the
three battalions of infantry have also proceeded
from the garrison to Hythe for a course of instruc-
tion in the use of the new breech-loading rifle.
On Monday morning H.M.S. Tamar, commanded
by Capt. Sullivan, arrived at Greenock, from Canada,
with the Ist battalion of the 25th (King's Own
Borderers) on board. The headquarters and five
companies will proceed this morning to Glasgow,
two companies to Ayr, two to Stirling, and one to
Paisley. The 63d (West Suffolk) Regiment, pre-
sently stationed in Glasgow, Paisley, and Ayr, have
received orders to proceed this morning by railway
to Greenock, and embark on board her Majesty's
ship Tamar, for conveyance to Kingston, Ireland.
After disembarking the 63d the Regiment-Tamar
will sail for Portsmouth, and land men of various
corps from Canada.
In the Royal Naval Reserve Thomas Donkin has
been appointed Sub.-Lieut.
The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty :—Lieut. John E. Grcenhow to the
Jaseur, Lieut. Bernard Moore to the Mersey, Navi-
gating Sub-Lieut. W. F. A. Grant to the Jaseur,
Navigating Sub-Lieut. henry G. Hatch to the Im-
placable, aditional for the Sea Lark ; Dr. John R.
Burker astist.-surg.i-to the Jaseur; and Dr. George
W. Wright, assist,-surg., to the Medusa.

THE SUN. LOA ON, WEDNESJA y E v ENING, AUGUST 21, 1867.