The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-21 00:00:00

MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.

The annual meeting was held at Liverpool yes-
terday, Mr. W. Langton presiding.
The report, which was taken as read, stated that
the reserve fund had been increased to £10,653, and
a dividend at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum was
recommended. The company was now in possession
of 491 stations and 18,668 miles of wires. The
chairman said that since the discontinuance of the
uniform shilling rate charges had been raised and
were now fairly remunerative. The business of the
company was steadily increasing. The report was
adopted, and the retiring directors were reappointed.

[ADVERTISEMENT.]—Consumption, and all nervous, bilious,
stomach, and liver complaints, in every stage, are only ag-
gravated and accelerated by drugs of every description, but
perfecay curable by Du Barry's health restoring Revalenta
Arabica Food, as proved by thousands of cases which had
been considered hopeless ; such as indigestion (dyspepsia),
cough, asthma, consumption, habitual constipation, diarr-
hoea, all gastric derangements, haemorrhoids, liver com-
plaints, flatulency, nervousness, biliousness' fevers, sore
throats, diphtheria, catarrhs, colds, influenza, noises in the
head and ears, rheumatism, gout, impurities, eruptions,
hysteria, neuralgia, irritability, sleeplessness, acidity, pal-
pitation, heartburn, headache, debility, dropsy, cramps,
spasms, nausea and sickness even in pregnancy or at sea,
sinking fits, bronchitis, scrofula, tightness of the chest,
pains in the pit of the stomach and between the shoulders,
Sic. We quote a few.—Cure, No. 48,270. Mr. James Roberts,
timber merchant, of Frira ley Surrey, of thirty years' diseased
lungs, spitting* of blood, liver derangement, and partial deaf-
ness.—Cure, No. 47,121. Miss Elizabeth Jacobs, of extreme
nervousness, indigestion, gatherings, low spirits, and nervous
fancies.—Cure, No. 1,771. Lord Stuart de Decks, Lord-Lieu-
tenant of Waterford, of many years' dyspepsia.—No.49,B32
b'ifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness,
asthma, cough, const patiea, flatulency, spasms, sickness, and
vomiting—Maria Jolly.- Cure No. 54,816. The Rev. James I'.
Campbell, Fakenham, Norfolk, of indigestion and torpidity
of the liver. which had resisted all medical treatment.—
In tins, 11b, 2s 9d; 21b, 4s 61; 51b, Ils ; 121 b, 228; 241 b,
I 0 s.—Barry Du Barry and Co., No. 77, Regent-street, London;
also Phillips, tea dealers, 8, King William-street ; likewise
at 61, Gracechurch-street ; 4, Cheapside ; 49, Bishopsgate-
street Within ; 63, 150, and 298, Oxford-street ; 330, Strand ;
54, Upper Baker-street ; 103, Tottenham-court-road ; 06,
Upper-street, Islington, N.; Harvey, Notting-hill; Close
Brothers, 85, High-street ; and Stubbs, Queen's-terrace, St.
John's-wood, London; and all respectable grocers and che-
mists.—Beware of spurious imitations.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The question which Mr. Buxton judi-
ciously abstained from putting on Monday night is
one which must have occurred to every attentive
reader of the Jamaica Papers. It is stated more
than once in Mr. Eyre's earlier despatches after the
Morant Bay massacre that its origin had been clearly
traced to Gordon, and Colonel Hobbs, in one of
his reports, declared that he had conclusive proof of
this fact in his possession. No such proof, as far as
we know, was produced before the court-martial,
nor is any to be found in the published despatches
of Mr. Eyre. Indeed we have no reason to suppose
that any authorised minutes of the court-martial
have yet reached the Colonial-office--an apparent
omission which, until it be explained, cannot be re-
garded as otherwise than suspicious. On the other
hand, we must bear in mind that, however strange
it may appear, no one in Jamaica at first anticipated
that for all the measures taken in putting down the
insurrection a strict account would be required by
this country. It is possible, therefore, that the ne-
cessity of sending the minutes or other documents
to which he refers may not have occurred to Mr.
Eyre until the receipt of Mr. Cardwell's despatch of
Nov. 23, calling for explicit information as to the
alleged connection of Gordon with the outbreak.
That despatch was not received till the night of
December 21, and was acknowledged by Governor
Eyre on December 23-4. In his reply (being the
last communication from the colony in Part 11. of
the Jamaica Papers) Mr. Eyre encloses the letters
which had just passed between himself and General
O'Connor on the subject of Gordon's trial, and
other transactions of the same date. It seems that
no copy of the proceedings in Gordon's case had
ever been furnished to the Governor, who returned
the original to the general. The latter reported, on
Dec. 24, that he had taken steps to procure the
requisite particulars (without, however, specifying
Gordon's case), but that it would be impossible to
forward them in time for the mail closing December
24. Explanatorystatementswere, however, obtained
from Sir Leopold M'Clintock and Col. Fyfe. Before
the next mail left Jamaica Sir H. Storks had already
arrived with instructions to " relieve Governor
Eyre from the necessity of replying" to former des-
patches, and authority to inquire fully into all the
questions raised by them. The third series
of Jamaica Papers, which has just been pub-
lished, throws no fresh light on this matter, but
it possesses some interest of its own, as contain-
ing the last despatches of Mr. Eyre and the first of
Sir Henry Storks'. The new Governor reached Ja-
maica on Saturday, the 6th of January, and on
Monday, the Bth, the supreme command was formally
handed over to him by his predecessor. The letter
addressed by Mr. Eyre to Mr. Cardwell on the
morning of that day is not deficient either in dignity
or in generosity. " I shall transfer," he says, "to Sir
Henry Storks all the documents which were being
prepared in reply to your despatches relative to the
rebellion, and I shall be happy to afford him any
information or assistance in my power to facilitate
his administration. In giving up to another a Go-
vernment which I have had the honour of adminis-
tering for four years, under circumstances of great
difficulty and trial, I would respectfully request you
to convey to her most gracious Majesty my humble
assurance that in the discharge of the onerous and
responsible duties which have devolved upon me I
have ever been actuated by the single desire to do
my duty faithfully to my Sovereign, to uphold the
honour of the Crown, and to insure as far as prac-
ticable the safety and welfare of the colony and
people intrusted to my care." He concludes by
expressing his confident belief that the inquiry then
about to be instituted would show the justice and
necessity of the severe measures to which he had re-
sorted, upon his own responsibility, and with a
knowledge of the risk which they entailed. When
we consider the circumstances under which this de-
spatch was written, and the trying position of a
Governor thus superseded, yet compelled to remain
in the colony of which he was so lately the ruler, we
cannot but respect the feeling which dictated such
language at such a time. Mr. Eyre may, or may
not, have been guilty of great errors, and great
errors on the part of a Governor affecting the lives
of others may or may not amount to crimes ; but
surely a man conscious of having acted rightly and
looking forward to an honourable acquittal could
hardly have written in a more becoming spirit.
It is, indeed, by actions, and not by words, that
Mr. Eyre's policy must ultimately be judged. How
far he was justified in delivering over so large a
district for so long a period to martial law ; how far
he was cognisant of, and responsible for, any ex-
cesses that may have been committed by military
tribunals or individual officers ; and how far the
supreme law of public necessity may be invoked to
excuse the arrest and execution of Gordon, are ques-
tions which the Commission alone can determine,
after solemnly reviewing the whole history of the
crisis. There are those, however, who have not only
condemned the Governor in the meantime, out of
his own mouth, but have founded that condemna-
tion on the general tone of his despatches, as dis-
tinct from particular admissions that are said to be
contained in them. This is a point upon which any
intelligent reader is as competent to form an opi-
nion as a Commissioner or a Colonial Secretary,
and we shall not scruple to avow the impression
which a careful perusal of the whole correspondence
leaves upon our own minds. Had we no other evi-
dence before us than his own letters, with their en-
closures, we should conclude that Mr. Eyre was a
brave and conscientious man of no ordinary ability,
but without that judicial calmness which can alone
enable any man to estimate the true proportions of
a sudden emergency. The generalship and resources,
as well as nerve, which he displayed in confining
the original outbreak to the eastern part of the
island are facts beyond dispute, and though not
absolutely inconsistent with a deliberate cruelty, of
which he has never been suspected, they are at least
inconsistent with that kind of weakness which has
been so freely imputed to him. It is impossible to
read Mr. Eyre's letters and to believe that he was
so prostrated by panic as to be insensible to consi-
derations of humanity. On the contrary, if we duly
take into account the extraordinary demands made
upon him in addition to the every-day duties of ad-
ministration, and the mere literary effort involved
in corresponding at once on an infinite variety of
topics, some of principle and some of detail,
with the civil and military authorities of the
colony, the Colonial Legislature, the Colonial-
office, and the Governors of several other colonies,
m e shall find reason to wonder that his despatches
betray so little excitement or distraction. At all
events, his own apology for any shortcomings or
omissions in his correspondence deserves to be re-
corded. Writing to Mr. Cardwell on December 24,
he pleads that he had literally no time to examine
critically the hurried reports from military officers
which have been the subject of so much just animad-
version. " For the last ten weeks," he continues, " I
have had an overwhelming pressure of work, arising
from the rebellion, and from the arrangements hav-
ing to be made for the safety and tranquillity of the
island; .from the labours incidental to a most im-
portant Session of the Legislature, under which a
total alteration of the Constitution has been effected;
from all the ordinary current business of the island,
and from the correspondence connected with the
subordinate Governments of British Honduras and
Turk's Island. There has scarcely been a day, Sun-
days even not excepted, that I have not laboured
from ten to sixteen hours, and often have been
called up in the middle of the night to do so also.
This pressure, and the anxiety attending my posi-
tion, has seriously affected my health, and I am
sure that you will therefore view favourably any
deficiencies which may have occurred in my corre-
spondence relative to late occurrences." No one who
has felt or is capable of imagining the effect of such
a strain as is here described will fail to be touched
by this appeal, but our sympathy must not blind us
to vulnerable points in Mr. Eyre's despatches, for
which overwork will not account. An impatience of
opposition, and a tendency to exaggerate the mis-
chievous designs of his opponents, may be traced in
many of them, nor are they free from the peculiar
weaknesses an littleness of colonial statesmanship.
He had, in fact, been far too long from home, and
had lived among colonial prejudices till he had lost
the power of judging men and things by an Im-
perial standard. There are two things which must
strike an impartial critic of this correspondence with
almost equal force. The one is, that an almost
universal belief in the reality of a widespread, if not
highly organised, conspiracy united all classes of
the white community, was shared by the officers of
both services, and rallied for the time round the
Governor his bitterest enemies and detractors. The
other is, that no evidence on which a lawyer would
place much reliance has yet been adduced to sup-
port this universal belief, or to justify the continu-
ance of martial law for more than a few days after
the outbreak. The line between smouldering dis-
affection and a premeditated jacquerie, between en-
couraging the former and instigating the latter,
may, doubtless, be difficult to draw, especially in
the case of a black population, but it is of essential
importance, and until this problem .be solved the
Commission will have no satisfactory basis of in-
quiry.

POST.—The navy estimates for the ensuing
financial year are substantially the same as those
submitted to Parliament a twelvemonth since. A
net decrease of about £4,000 is practically inappre-
ciable, and it may not incorrectly be assumed that
our navy and its appurtenances will cost us in 1866-7
as much as they did in 1865-6. Close on ten millions
and a half is, doubtless, a considerable sum to pay
yearly for maintaining a naval force which is to
all appearances unemployed ; but we fear we must
abandon all hopes of seeing this navy expenditure
sensibly reduced, even though this country should

be fortunate enough to continue in the enjoyment
_of profound peace. What might be the results if
that utopian dream, a general disarmament, were
realised it is impossible to say ; but so long, as
nations continue to adopt the maxim that the best
means of securing peace is to be prepared for war,
so long will it be necessary for even the most pacific
of nations to expend large sums of money on arma-
ments which, at the same time, it is feryentlY
hoped may never be employed. France and Eng-
land are by common consent the most powerful
maritime States in Europe, and it would be men
affectation to pretend that no small portion of
the naval expenditure of each during the past five
years has been occasioned by what, for want of a
better term, we may designate as a spirit of
rivalry. France was the first to recognise the
necessity of converting wooden ships into ironclade,
and England was compelled to follow suit. Both
Powers have kept pace with each other ; and, ac-
cording to returns published last midsummer, it
appeared that the English armour-clad fleet then
consisted of 31 ships (of which 4 were in course of
construction) and 5 floating batteries, whilst that
of France was composed of 33 vessels, including
floating batteries, of which 9 were on the stocks;
It must, however, be said that even if France ban
not exhibited any anxiety to create a powerful iron-
clad fleet, the extraordinary growth of the naval
power of the United States during the past fey;
years would have compelled England to reconstruct
her navy. There is no reason to suppose that the
peace which subsists between America and Europe
will be disturbed, but it is evident that the maritime
Powers on this side of the Atlantic could not be
content to exist on the sufferance of the great Re-
public of the West. It may be a matter for regret
that civilised nations should be compelled to spend
immense sums on engines of war which may never,
be turned to account ; but, nevertheless, it is an evil
which under one form or another it will be found
impossible to evade until the advent of that period
when " the lion will lie down with the lamb.'
The total amount of the estimates for the forth-
coming year is £10,388,153, whilst that for 1865-6
was £10,392,224, leaving on the present estimates
a net decrease of £4,071. The total expenditure
as thus calculated is, however, invariably dimi-
nished by what are termed extra receipts and re-
payments, and these are calculated to amount
the ensuing year to £150,000, being about £B,OOO
less than they reached in the past twelve months-
There is, therefore, on the whole but a trifling
difference in the total estimates for the two years;
On looking, however, to the several votes 41
which they are composed we observe points 01
distinction, for the explanation of some of which
we must wait until the estimates are formally brought
under the notice of the House of Commons by the
Secretary to the Admiralty. We find, for instance,
on the vote of wages to seamen and marines that
there is a decrease of upwards of £82,000, and on
the vote for victualling and clothing them a reduc-
tion of £90,500. The explanation of this is found
in the fact that her Majesty's Government intend
to reduce the number of seamen and marines, but "
does not appear on the face of the votes, for this
reason : in the army estimates the first vote sane;
tions the number of men to be maintained, the second
for their pay and support. In the navy estimates,
on the other hand, no vote is taken for the number
of men, the first vote being for their maintenance'
Unlike in the army, where the services of the soldiers
are voluntary, the Crown may impress seamen
or
the service in the navy ; and although the system o_,
impressment has been of late years modified by a°
of Parliament, the right remains, and may be exer-
cised in cases of emergency. Hence it has arisen
that whilst the number of troops is accurately de-
fined each year in the estimates submitted to Parlia-
ment, that of the seamen and marines serving in the
Royal Navy is not stated. A decrease in the nom'
ber of seamen employed will not, however, iral4
diminished efficiency. One of the results of the
introduction of armour-plated frigates has been to
reduce the number of seamen and marines necessary
for the efficient management of a powerful fleet.
An ironclad frigate, like the Achilles, for example/
carrying 26 guns, requires a far smaller co mple
ment of men than an old-fashioned ship of the
line with an armament of 120 guns, whilst the
former would prove more than a match for a whole
fleet of the latter. We dwell upon this importan_
distinction between the two classes of ships, became;
otherwise persons might be inclined to suppose th,e,i
a reduction in the number of our seamen woulu
entail a proportionate sacrifice of efficiency in ner,..
fleets. The most important item of decrease is.if
the vote for naval stores, for the building, reporl
and outfit of the fleet, which amounts to £1,321,5U00
as against £1,700,000 last year. This gives a re-
duction of about £380,000 ; and, independently
the decrease being considerable, it is otherwise de-
serving of notice as indicating that at length we
may congratulate ourselves on approaching the ter-
mination of that most costly task, the reconstruc-
tion of our navy. But on turning to the items
increase, we confess that we observe that we 51.13
about to enter on a much larger expenditure 111
some branches of our naval administration which .t
does not seem easy to account for, on the supposi-
tion that we are about to rest for a time from the
labours in which we have been so long engageu,i
Thus in the vote for dockyards, both at home o_7
abroad, we notice an augmentation to the exteitt "'"
about £65,000 ; whilst the vote for new wall
building, machinery, and repairs, which in last
year's estimates stood at £527,985, appears in those
for the present year as £892,865, showing an ine
crease of nearly £365,000. No doubt, however, 10
Secretary of the Admiralty will be in a position _
satisfy the House of Commons that these votes',
large as they are, must be considered indispensah'e'
As regards dockyards more especially, the constrecci
tion of a different class of vessels has necessitate
the provision of extraordinary accommodation on
foreign stations. In a few days the navy estitner
will be submitted to Parliament, and ample jus,
cation will then be offered for framing the estituw"
on their present scale.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

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BRIS T OL—TUESDAY.
At our market to-day there was a better attendance'
We write best qualities :—Wheat is dearer, at which 6d
vance fair sales were effected. Barley very scarce, a'
per qr. dearer. Maize dull. Oats firm.

NEWCASTLE—TUESDAY.
old,
New wheat sells slowly at Saturday's quotationS; f'
o
both English and foreign, supports late rates. No 011833 P
in barley, beans, or peas. Oats in better supply, but 11-
altered in value. Flour quiet.

LEEDS—TUESDAY.
A fair sale for fine old wheats, at full rates of Fri too.
new in poor condition, and sells slowly at previous rstur
Barley quite as dear. Beans, oats, and other articles
altered.
The average prices for the week endingtFeb.l9
Wheat, 45s 41-d per qr.; barley, 40s 2id; and 49-
25s 10d.

MELTON MOWBRAY.—TIIESDAY. CIS '
About the usual supply of wheat ; best dry samples
vanced nearly is per qr., other sorts sold at top pric stone.
White wheat, 52s to 56s ; red, 45s to 52s per 36 r
Barley for malting, 33s to 37s per qr ; feed, 28s to 300 Peevf
30 stone. Oats, 220 to 89s. Beans, old, 48s to 520; 11
40s to 44s per qr.

LIVERPOOL—TUESDAY. fbor°
To-day's market was fairly attended, and for whont,„-Thur
was a moderately good demand at Friday's rates. -v '"ar.
steady, and unchanged in value. Indian corn, 3d. Per -0a
dearer. Malt, beans, and peas all unchanged. Oats in g°
demand at late rates. Oatmeal steady.

MARKET HARBOROUGH.—TUESDAY. •
A middling supply of wheat, which met with ,"fadquiry e.
at rather more money for best sorts. r
Old white wheat, 50s to 55s ; new red. 44s to 50s pot.
stone. Barley, fine, 38s ; other kinds, 29s to 32s per Sold,
Oats, new, 22s to 275; old, 28s to 34s per qr. Befall'''
49s to 525; new, 42s to 45s per qr.

GAINSBOROUGH—TunDAy. at
A fair supply of wheat, and the demand was healtb9/490
full rates ; white changed hands at 518 to 53s i d gag
to 52s per 36 stone. Not much barley ; the denlall: asta
steady, at advancing prices. Oats a meagre sh°"' 40
fully maintained their value. Beans made ()strew° 4. •
tations.

Births. the
MAUND.—On the 18th inst., at Weston-super-gar-
A
wife of John Maund, Esq., of a son.
e-
bt
TONGUE.—On the 18th inst., at Aldridge, Staffordsbiter'
wife of Captain V. Tongue, 6th Rifles, of a dallglitiA
WARREN.—On the 19th inst., at Cliff Lodge, SoutharaP
the wife of Vice-Admiral Warren, of a son. by
WATKINS.—On the 17th inst., at 11, Chandos-street, still'
the wife of C. S. Watkins, JkI.R.C.S. Eng., of a sop,
born.

Marriages.
CHIPPENDALE —SNOWDON.—On the 11th inst., at the P dale,
church of Ruislip, near Uxbridge, W. IL ChiPPeu tro"
Esq., to Miss M. J. F. Snowdon, both of the Then
royal Haymarket.
TWYFORD—SARGENT.—On the 19th inst., at Banjo stirs,
Church, near Dover, A. W. Twyf tg
ord,
jiaa
fourth son of the late Samuel Twyford, Esq., ,rg 41t1
Margaret, only child of the late Lieut.-Gen.
of the Madras
Army. Esq., 21st P

Deaths. spside,
BEVANS.—On the 15th inst., at 3, Bread-street, C-e
Miss Bovans, aged 67. Samuel
BLUNT.—On the 16th inst., at Balham, SurreY,
Jasper Blunt, Esq., of the Colonial-office, aged 68.
pence
BRIMONT.—On the 12th inst., at his residence, 19t,, °
rim-
de la ReMe Hortense, Paris, Anthony, Baron de
aged 73.
SPOTTISWOODE.—On the 20th inst., at 12, James-adst:
Buckingham-gate, Andrew Spottiswoode, Esq. age

-
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London : Printed and Published by WILLIAM Aril; 112;
of No. 112, Strand, Painter, at Titz SUN 0111(1°,' „anti C"
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy. In the Cy
Middlesex—Wednesday, February 21, 1866.

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