The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-05 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Mullet, 5, screw gun vessel, 430 tons, 80-
horse power, has been commissioned by Commander
C. A. P. T. Robinson, for the West Coast of Africa.
The vessel has been taken into No. 3 dock of Sheer-
ness dockyard for the purpose of having her bottom
scraped. When this operation is complete she will
shortly leave for her destination.
The Griffin, 5, screw gun vessel, 425 tons, 80-
horse power, after having been thoroughly over-
hauled and refitted in Sheerness dockyard, has been
taken into the large basin, where she is being
brought forward for sea. It is rumoured she will
be shortly commissioned for the West Indies Sta-
tion. She was last employed on the West Coast of
Africa.

The Endymion, 21, unarmoured screw frigate,
2,486 tons, 500-horse power, built at Woolwich, is
being very rapidly completed in Sheerness dockyard.
The vessel is of very handsome design, and in every
respect commodiously fitted up. It is expected she
will shortly be commissioned, as a number of men
are already engaged in drawing her naval stores.
Her Majesty's screw troopship Orontes, Capt. H.
W. Hire, whose arrival at Spithead from China was
briefly announced in The Sun of yesterday, went
into Portsmouth harbour yesterday morning, and
disembarked the officers, seamen, marines, she
brought home from China at the transport jetty of
the dockyard. Her list of officers and passengers
comprised :—Commanders—H. P. Knevitt and R.
Adams. Lieuts.—A. W. Warry, C. A. Watts, E.
M. Dayrell, D. K. Grant, S. J. Pitt, G. F. Morrell,
R. H. W. Cornwall, E. Echlin, J. R. Butt. Masters
—II. W. Burnett, J. H. Thomas, F. Piper, W. F.
Clifton, S. Darbyshire, H. B. Hunt, B. H. Speer.
Surgeons—R. Eustace, Dr. Adams. Paymasters—
T. Seccombe, D. W. Wise, W. T. Grieve, C. Barrs.
Chief Engineers—H. Cooper, H. Cook, R. Hodge,
'J. Sneil, M. Forman. Assistant-Surgeons—S.
M'Bean, W. M'Mahon, R. R. M'Curdy, J. V. N.
Blake, G. IV. Sutherland, James J. Parr. Sub-
Lieuts.—W. Cotton, D. G. Proby, E. Wingfield, J.
R. Aylen, H. P. Smith, T. James, A. F. Gardner,
A. C. M. Coulsen, L. F. Wells. Second Masters.
—T. C. Forte, H. W. Champion, W. Spriven, J.
M. Lloyd. Assist.-Paymasters.—Alfred Clements,
J. J. Wilcocks, George M. Snell, 11. 11. Grant.
Midshipmen.—C. G. Michalson, F. B. Lacy, L. F.
Wells (sub-lieut.) ; six master-assistants, three
clerks, five engineers, nine assist.-engineers, 18 as-
sistant-engineers, first-class; 14 assist.-engineers,
second class; 13 gunners, six boatswains, four car-
penters, 502 seamen, 92 marines, and eight boys,
returned to England on relief from the China and
Japan squadrons ; and 59 seamen and marines in-
valided. The passengers on board include Colonel
Jenner, 11th Regiment, on leave from Honkong,
Mrs. Jenner, and son ; Mrs. Mayne and three
children, from Singapore ; Mrs. Rock and servant,
and Mrs. Mynhennick, from the Cape of Good
Hope ; Lieut. G. F. Morrell, R.N., and Mr. H. H.
Grant, R.N., invalids, from Ascension.
The Orontes left Hongkong on the 17th of Feb-
ruary, and has performed the passage home iu 74
days, including stoppages, 60 being the number of
days the ship has been under steam. On arriving
off Madeira a strong wind and rough sea on the
island prevented communication with the shore,
and the ship was steered for Brest to obtain coal.
On arrival there the French authorities placed her
in quarantine for twenty-four hours, although
there was no sickness on board. She arrived at
Brest April 30, and sailed again on the 2d instant.
On 29th of April a screw steamship was psssed,
outward bound. Three deaths occurred during the
voyage home, and one man fell overboard and was
drowned off the Mauritius. Piracy was exceedingly
rife in China when the Orontes left for England. The
English gunboats out there are all described as being
perfectly rotten. Most of them are unable to steam
more than four knots per hour. Great dissatisfac-
tion existed with the Itzebooe exchange in Japan.
It speaks well for the discipline of the ship and the
good understanding existing between the officers
and crew that there has not been a case of corporal
punishment on board since the Orontes left Eng-
land. The ship requires docking and the usual
course of refit, without serious repairs being neces-
sary, before she will again be ready for sea.
The armoured corvette Pallas, 6, Capt. M. Con-
nolly, under orders to ennvow the gunboats Cherub
and Minstrel as far as Madeira, on their way to
Halifax, remained at anchor at Spithead up to sun-
set yesterday. She was expected to sail early this
morning. The Pallas and the gunboats will call
in at Plymouth Sound on their way down Channel.
We very much regret to leern that Captain A. C.
Key, C. 8., is suffering from an attack of ophthal-
mia, so severe that at his request a committee of
naval officers has been appointed to conclude the
competitive trials of the broadside gun carriages on
board the ironclad frigate Bellerophon.
Yesterday two squadrons of the 15th llussars,
consisting of about 100 troopers, under the com-
mand of Capt. Penfold, arrived at Windsor from
Sheffield. They were billeted in the town, and leave
early this morning for Aldershot.
The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty : —Captain Gerard J. Napier, to the
Canopus, vice Mason, promoted; Capt. J. E. Come-
rell, V.C., to the Terrible, vice Capt. Napier; Capt.
J. F. Ross, to the Pearl, commissioned ; Capt. C.
M. Aynsley, to the Jason, commissioned ; Comman-
der G. R. Wilkinson, to the Curagoa, additional,
for surveying service; Sub.-Lieut. Alfred C. Love-
ridge, to the Amazon ; Dr. William B. Dalby, sur-
geon, to the Implacable ; Charles IV. Last and
Francis IV. Sanders, midshipmen, to the Amazon ;
John C. Ilibbert and James R. Maguire, naval
cadets, nominated ; Reginald C. Prothero, midship-
men, to the Victoria ; and Henry IV. Badger, mas-
ter's assistant, to the Amazon.

QUEEN'S THEATRE, HULL.—The Hull Advertiser
says that Mr. and Mrs. Clarance Holt have received even a
more flattering welcome than when last they were at the
Queen's Theatre. On Monday evening the house was
crowded with an enthusiastic audience. Boucicault's
drama, "The Octoroon," was performed. Mrs.: .Clarance
Holt as Zoe, the Octoroon, performed her part with great
success, and was repeatedly and deservedly applauded.
Mr. Holt acquits himself better than any other person we
have seen in the piece, and his style of acting is evidently
appreciated here.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT' BlLL.—This Bill extends
to England and Ireland, but not to Scotland. It is to be
murder of the first degree, (1,) where a person murders
another with express malice aforethought against the per-
son murdered, or any other person, such malice being found
by the jury as matter of fact; (2,) whore a person murders
another with a view to and in or immediately before-or
aftey the commission by such person of any of the following
felonies, or for the purpose of thereby enabling himself-or
any other person to commit any of the following felonies,
viz., rape, burglary, robbery, piracy, or unlawfully or ma-
liciously setting fire to any dwelling-house, a person being
therein ; (3,) where a person murders another in the act of
escape, or for the purpose of thereby enabling himself or any
other person to escape from or avoid lawful arrest or de-
tainer, immediately after committing or attempting to com-
mit murder or any of these felonies ; (4,) where a person
murders a constable or any other peace officer acting in the
discharge of his duty. Clauses 6 to 8 provide that on con-
viction for murder of the first degree, judgment of death
may be pronounced in open court, and the offender shall
suffer death as a felon ; or the Court may order judgment
of death to be entered of record, and this shall have the like
effect as if judgment of death had been pronounced in open
court, but execution thereof had been respited. All murders
not of the first degree are of the second degree, the punish-
ment of the latter to be penal servitude for life, or for not
less than seven years. The indictment is to charge murder
of the first degree, or to charge murder of the second de-
gree. It is made felony unlawfully or maliciously to wound
a child or inflict upon it grievious bodily harm during its
birth, or within seven days thereafter; and it is not to bo
necessary to prove that the child we s completely born alive.
On an indictment for child murder the accused cannot be
found guilty of concealment of birth. Executions are to be
within the walls of the prison. The sheriff or his deputy,
the governor or chief officer of the prison or his deputy,
the chaplain or an officiating minister attached to the pri-
son, the surgeon or chief medical officer of the prison, and
such other officers of the prison as the sheriff requires,
shall be present at the execution ; and any justice of the
peace having jurisdiction, and such persons as it seems to
the sheriff or visiting justices proper to admit, may also be
present at the execution. The surgeon's certificate of the
death, a certificate from the other above-named officials,
and a duplicate of the coroner's inquisition on the body are
to be sent to the Secretary of State, and copies are to be
exhibited at the prison entrance for a certain number of
hours. The body is to be buried within the walls of the
prison.