The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-22 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

VALETTA, Dec. IG.—The inhabitants of Malta
are making preparations to give Sir 11. Storks a
warm welcome on his return to the island. Nume-
rous addresses from the elected members, the Cham-
ber of Commerce, the nobility, the clergy, the bar,
the notarial professions, and the learned societies are
in course of preparation. The town will be bril-
liantly illuminated on the evening of his arrival, and
a great concourse of people are expected to be pre-
sent to greet him on landing. his Excellency has
been again delayed on public business by Govern-
ment, but he writes that he has every reason to hope
that it will not be beyond the period of a few days.
He at the same time desired it to be publicly known
how much gratified he felt at the marks of confidence
and sympathy which it was proposed to display on
this occasion, and that he is deeply sensible of the
kind feeling which the inhabitants of Malta are
anxious to show on his return among them. He in-
timated his intention of telegraphing the date of his
departure from Marseilles in the Psyche. Tho En-
terprise, 4, screw steam ironclad sloop, Commander
G. S. Bosanquet, left port on the 10th inst. for Pa-
tras. She will there relieve the Tyrian, 2, screw
steam gunboat, Lieut.-Commander the lion. V.
Montague, and send her to Malta. The Wizard, 2,
screw steam gunboat, Lieut.-Commauder P. J.
Murray, left the same day for Cauca, to replace the
Assurance, 4, screw steam gun vessel, Commander
W. 11. Pym, which will on being relieved return to
this island. The Caradoc, 2, paddlewheel steam de-
spatch vessel, Lieut.-Commander E. 11. Wilkinson,
has been admitted to pratique, after undergoing five
days' quarantine, and is now in the hands of the
dockyard, where she is likely to remain for a month
or six weeks, to be thoroughly repaired. The Prince
Consort, 35, screw steam ironclad frigate, Capt. E.
A. Inglefield, is also in the hands of the dockyard,
, having a forecastle built like that which has been
found to answer so well on board the Royal Oak, in
order to afford better accommodation for the sick.
Tho Pninntandor-in-Chiof hrig infoly incilonharl enlrrs_
r,tl ships of the fleet. The last two inspections were
of the Enterprise and the Cruiser, 5, screw steam
sloop, Commander Morgan Singer. Both ships
were found to be in excellent condition as regards
order and discipline, and the crew of the Cruiser
were particularly complimented on the state of the
gun drill on board. The Cockatrice, 2, screw steam
gunboat, Commander A. G. Bogle, having been
frozen out of the Danube, was to leave the station
on the 20th of Nov., and is daily looked for at Malta.
The Prussian screw corvette Gazelle, 28 guns, Capt.
Henk, arrived on the 11th inst. from Portsmouth
and Cadiz. There is at present another Prussian
vessel of war in port, the Blitz, 4, screw gunboat.
Both vessels are awaiting orders from Berlin. Be-
sides Sir H. Storks, Rear-Admiral Kellett (who has
been on a visit to the south of France) is expected to
return to Malta in the Psyche. The following ap-
pointments have made by the Commander-in-Chief
during the past month : —Mr. P. Bosanquet, mid-
shipman, from the Resistance to the Gibraltar, and
Mr. Wm. Tottenham, engineer, from the Royal Oak
to the Gibraltar. Assist.-Sorg. Jas. W. Arnott, of
her Majesty's ship Wizard, died on the Ist of Dee.
at the Royal Naval Hospital, where he had been ad-
mitted the previous day, suffering from an attack
of apoplexy. Mr. Charles Herring, midshipman of
the Endymion, passed his examination on the sth
inst., qualifying him for promotion as lieutenant.
The announcement that the Malta and Alexandria
Submarine Telegraph had resumed working had
scarcely been made public when a new rupture of
the cable took place, and telegraphic communica-
tion is again suspended. The interval between the
reopening of the lino for messages and the last
rupture was about only 50 hours, and as the tele-
graph steamer hawk and her Majesty's ship Cos-
sack have not yet returned to Malta, it is inferred
that a suspicion must have prevailed in the minds
of the operators that their services might be required
again very shortly, as, in fact, has proved to be the
case. These frequent interruptions cause great pub-
lic inconvenience, and induce the belief that the
cable is far from sound, if it is not altogether worn
out. The time has arrived for immediate steps to be
taken for replacing it by a new one which will com-
mand the confidence of the public. After recent
Atlantic experience this desirable object would be
best attained by a deep-sea line direct to Alexan-
dria. All the numerous interruptions with the pre-
sent cable have occurred on the Benghazi-Alexan-
dria section, where the coast is much exposed to the
influence of the prevalent gales. It appears that a
requisition was made through a letter from the
United States' Consul to the then Acting-Chief
Secretary to Government, between 9 and 10 a.m. of
the 19th Nov., stating that he had received a tele-
gram from the United States' Consul at Naples, to
the effect that Surratt, a conspirator against the life
of Mr. Lincoln, was on board the steamer Tripoli
(then in quarantine, bound to Alexandria), dressed
as a papal Zouave, and passing either by the name
of 'Walters or Watson. The application was re-
ferred to the Government legal adviser, who was
engaged in court in a Crown case, and, not having
there the Act of Parliament respecting the Extradi-
tion Treaty, deferred his opinion till he went to his
office. At about 1 o'elock of the same day lie stated
that, unless some evidence could be produced to
show that Surratt was one of the conspirators—that
the man described by the Consul was Surratt, and
that he so acted as to make himself responsible for
a murder, or assault with intent to commit murder
—he, if arrested, would shortly afterwards be dis-
charged, and he would have against those who
arrested him the tight of an action for damages.
At the same time the head of the police was in-
structed to inquire whether there was indeed on
board the Tripoli any man answering the descrip-
tion given in the Consul's letter, and in the course of
the afternoon of the same day he reported that there
was a man on board the Tripoli dressed in the uni-
form of a Papal Zouave, that his name, or the name
he was passing by, was John Agostcna, and that
there was no man on board named IValters or Wat-
son, or anything like those names. The consul
offered no evidence whatever. The whole case
rented on his letter or the telegram he had received,