The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 14, 1866.

outfit in the reserves and in commission. Under
repair is the famous troop steamer Himalaya, and a
large number of hands are at work upon her, and
getting her well forward; the Scorpion, turret-ship,
with but few hands upon her ; the yacht-like iron
armoured frigate Warrior, very slowly progressing
after 21 months in reserve, and now requiring some
three or four months to place her in a condition equal
to when she was paid out of commission ; the

Ariadne and Tribune, wooden screw frigates " wait-
ing," and a few minor vessels. The most impor-
tant of the vessels receiving further comment is the

Bellerophon. This noble frigate, still waiting for

~. .
her guns (!), is ordered to make a trial of her speed

over the measured mile in Stoke's Bay during the

present week to satisfy the feeling of a " party"

against her builder. The ship would be more cor-

rectly tried with her armament on board, and the

weights, therefore, in their proper positions, and
for this reason we hope the Lords of the Admiralty

will have the courage to defer the trial until she has

received her guns. The Bellerophon, it must be
admitted by all who really know the vessel
thoroughly, possesses in a singular degree the

vital elements wanting in many of the ironclads
engaged in the Austro-Italian naval engagement
off Lissa, in her handiness under steam, the per-
fect protection of her steering apparatus, and
in her ramming powers. The chief vessels under-

going their outfits as ironclads are the Minotaur,
iron armoured frigate, and the Royal Alfred, wooden
armoured frigate. The first is 6,621 tons and 1,360-
horse-power. Her armament (when the War De-
partment can supply the guns and carriages) will
consist of four 121-ton 9in. and 18 6i-ton
muzzle-loading guns behind armour plating, with
four 6i-ton 7in. on her upper deck. The Royal
Alfred will carry ten 12k-ton 9in. and four 6i-ton
7in. muzzle-loading guns, under the same conditions
as the Minotaur, on her main deck, and four of the
6-ton 7in. guns on her upper deck. The Warrior's
armament will consist of four 9-ton Bin. and 28 of
the 6i-ton 7in. muzzle-loading rifled guns.
The ships in commission, excepting altogether
flagships, yachts, tenders, &c., consist of the Belle-
rophon, iron frigate, the Royal Sovereign, turret
ship, and that abominable burlesque of a man-of-
war, the unarmoured 60-horse powe r screw sloop,
the Cruiser. The only one of the three requiring
any " reserves " contain one very efficient ironclad
—the Valiant, 4,063 tons, and 800-horse power,
rigged, stored, and ready for commission, but wait-
ing her guns, the supply of which is in the hands
of the officers of Her Majesty's army, as with all
other ships in Her Majesty's navy, and rill pro-
bably be round for the ship at some future time,
when a superior kind of ordnance will then have
been found which will entirely supersede their use-
fulness. The remainder of the ships in these "re-
serves" may be briefly classified as follows :—The
Mersey and Glasgow, wooden unarmoured screw
frigates, and two or three smaller vessels in good
condition of hull and machinery, capable of
carrying heavy armaments of good speed, and
therefore to be counted as reliable ships for• ser-
vice of a certain character. The Marlborough and
Prince of Wales, two new screw three-deckers,
available for conversion as turret-ships on an im-
proved Royal Sovereign plan. The Cmsar, Colossus,
Edgar, Hannibal, Nelson, Neptune, Prince Regent,
Queen, Victor Emanuel, screw line-of-battle ships ;
the Arrogant, Bacchante, Diadem, Euryalus, Im-
mortalite, Melpomene, Shannon, and Termagant,
screw frigates ; and three or four paddle sloops, all
built of wood, unarmoured, and partially rotten in
their bulls. This fleet of vessels is only fit for dis-
posal in the speediest possible manner—by sale, by
breaking up, by appropriating as barrack or hospi-
tal ships, by giving away to the first comer, or re-
moving them from the Navy List by the readiest
means, so as to save the cost of " preserving" such
an obsolete lot. The Vulcan, iron troopship, is also
on the reserves, but she is capable of further service,
and the Erebus, iron armoured floating battery, would
make a very efficient gun-training ship and battery
in one of the many mud creeks on either banks of the
Thames. There remains a number of wooden screw
gunboats to notice, but none of these vessels carry
armour, their speed is below par, and, altogether, as
fighting vessels, against the gunboats of older na-

tions they may be set down as nil in the item of our
national defences, but with the cost of their main-
tenance as of a very serious character. We may ob-
serve here for the information of the Lords of the
British Board of Admiralty that Brazil at the pre-
sent moment possesses 32 iron-plated iron built gun-
boats, the smallest weight of armament on board
any one being four Whitworth rifled 150-pounder
guns, the greatest draught of water of any one 10ft.,
the average draught of the whole 8 feet, and
the minimum speed of the whole ten knots !
The majority of this formidable mosquito fleet
are constructed, on the ‘4 box and water-line
belt plan"—as it is termed, perhaps somewhat
incorrectly—of our Chief Constructor, and the most
perfect specimens for carrying capacity, ventilation,
'pee d, manceutring power, and general fighting

qualifications are two twin-screw vessels built and
engined by Messrs. Dudgeon, of Millwall.
The Tamar, iron screw troopship, is lying along-
side the jetty ready for any further service, and the
Urgent, iron screw troopship, just returned to Eng-

land from a long run in the tropics, is lying in No.
7 dock for examination and repair. Some really
magnificent specimens of barnacles from off the
bottom of this ship await their lordships' inspection.
After the ships in the harbour and dockyard natu-
rally come the various workshops, the steam fac-
tory, with its splendid machinery, the foundries,
the smithery, the unrivalled engineering pattern
shop, &c., nothing of which, however, their Lord-
ships are supposed to understand, and which pro-
bably may receive little or no notice on the present
occasion.

4‘ Extensions of her Majesty's dockyards" is such
a high-sounding phrase that it always attracts at-
tention, and, therefore, we may be sure that mach
valuable time will be spent, and possibly wasted, in
a very laudable endeavour to master by personal in-
spection the details of the scheme adopted for the
extension of Portsmouth yard. The extent of work
in the adopted plan is understood only to embrace

part of what was originally proposed, and it cer-
tainly appears to possess the usual fault of all Go-
vernment works of the kind—it is only calculated
to meet emergencies likely to arise in the present,
and most certainly not in the future. Its principal
features consist of two entrance locks, five docks, one
repairing basin, one rigging basin, and one fitting-out
basin. The two locks are designed for 438 ft. each
long between the inverts, 100 ft. wide at the coping,
88ft. wide at the broad altar, 40ft. Gin. wide
on
the floor, and 47ft. Bin. deep. The outer deep dock
in line with the two locks will be 4101 t. long from
invert to the edge of the broad altar, 100 ft. wide at
the
6i
and 47ft. Bin. deep. The invert en-
trancesw4
df te. 8 oil
and. deep.3Bt
willing be, at tidal basin, outer, 82ft. wide, and
At repairing basin, inner, 80ft.
Gin. deep. The docks will be 414 ft.
long between the invertste coping, Nf
and thetot. at
toe ofthsetebprsoaadt
head, 100 ft. wide at the
aGiirni
n.
gat
basin
owourl, acnodve4r2aftn.
oGrinw.
ino derkinpgtha.ltaTr,he42rfetp.
h from coping. The rigging
areawide ofa n2d2
4aocfrte.si,nadnedpwt be 1,350 ft. long, 720 ft.
and fitting-out basins will be
copings are to be 6ft. above
high
c-hwoaftelr4oafcrordinary
spring tides.
Of all this great work—no
part of which,
way, will receive the Great Eastern—the Lordsbthe
of
y
the Admiralty will only see a great waste `of uneven
land on the north-cast shore of the harbour and ad-
joining the dockyard, on which stand a number of
brickmaking machines and kilns (the excavations
giving capital clay for the purpose), a lofty
wall
and massive gateway on the right, and on the left
the foreshore and waters or mud, according to tide-
time of the harbour, dotted with red, blue, and
yellow flags, with a thick wood of piling running
off from the shore into the water and in among the
flags. The waste ground is the site of four of the
intended new docks,
the machines and kilns for
atrheencoown sbttritsticlytioenmpolfoywehdicihn
making the bricks from the clay of the excavations.
The wall and gateway on .the
right is the prepared
enclosure on the land side of the new dockyard, the
whole being executed apparently with solidity and
good taste. The wood piling which runs out into
the mud and water of the harbour from the fore-

shore on the left is where a specimen wall has been
erected to enable a correct judgment to be formed
of its suitability. It is a composite wall, 40ft. in
height from the floor of the basins, with a baiter of
1 and 8, and in this form very much resembles the
form at the Admiralty Pier at Dover. It has a
granite coping stone succeeded by a Portland stone
facing down to high water neap tides. Below this
the facing is of brickwork, with brick through ties
of Ift. 9in. thickness, having in the intervals as the
" heart" of the work beds of concrete sft. 6in. and
6in. in thickness. The through ties of brick have
necessarily hoop iron bondings. The work is of
far too extensive a nature in all its parts of basins,
locks, docks, &c., to enter further upon here, and
we therefore reserve any more detailed notice of it
until a future occasion. The entire estimated cost
of the work is £1,500,000 of which £195,000, is re-
quired for this year. Lithographed plans and a
schedule of prices have been prepared by the Admi-
ralty for the guidance of contractors tendering for
the works, at a very great cost, the whole being
almost bewildering by the multiplicity of details.
The works are not to be executed for any specific
sum apparently, but according to a schedule of
prices.

There now remains but to notice the Royal
Clarendon Victualling Yard, the Royal Naval Hos-
pital at Haslar, the Royal Marine Light Infantry at
Forton, the Royal Marine Artillery at Fort Cum-
berland, with their new barracks at Eastney, all of
which their Lordships will visit and " inspect,"
according to the usual official phraseology. Last,
but not least important, of the Board's duties at
Portsmouth will be their patronage and presence at
the ball to be given, as usual, at the King's Rooms,
Southsea, in aid of the funds of the Seamen's and
Marines' Orphan Schools and the Female Orphan
Home ; the official dinner to the chiefs of the ser-
vice at Portsmouth given by their Lordships on
board the Enchantress ; the dinner given by the
Port Admiral at the Admiralty-house in the dock-
yard, and the levee of the First Lord at the Royal
Naval College.

Railway and other Companies.

LONDON, CHATHAM, AND DOVER.

The following circular has been issued to the share
and debenture holders of this company, signed by
Lord Sondes, the chairman, and Lord Harris, deputy
chairman :—" We deeply regret to be under the ne-
cessity of explaining to you that in' consequence of
the state of the money-market, and their yet unde-
veloped revenue, the company were unable to obtain
new loans to replace the debentures (about £400,000)
falling due last month, or even to pay the half-year's
interest which then became payable on the whole of
the company's debentures. Under such circumstances
we thought it right to communicate with some of the
principal creditors of the company, and also to ap-
ply to Parliament for powers which would enable
the various classes of shareholders, in conjunction
with the debenture holders, to raise money and deal
with the difficulties of the company in such a man-
ner as they might deem best. Some of the creditors
meanwhile applied to the Court of Chancery to ap-
point a receiver and manager of the undertaking,
upon the plea that it was necessary in order to secure
the due application of the funds of the company, and
the Court complied with their request, constituting
the general manager, Mr. Forbes, and the secretary,
Mr. Johnson, the officers of the Court, and em-
powering them to receive the income of the com-
pany, and, after payment of working expenses, to
hold the residue at the order of the Court. Other
creditors pressed upon the Board the propriety of
assigning to them all the rolling stock, plant, and
moveable chattels of the company for the general
benefit of the debenture holders and other creditors
of the company, pari passu, in order to prevent their
appropriation by any special creditors, and was ac-
cordingly done. The Board were unsuccessful in their
efforts to procure special Parliamentary powers to
the debenture and share holders in consequence of
the lateness of the session, and the intervention of
Parliament cannot now be obtained till next year.
Meanwhile the company have to appeal to the for-
bearance not only of the debenture holders, but of
the claimants on the company, including about
£700,000 due in respect of land, which comprises a
very large quantity of surplus land of great value.
The general half-yearly meeting of the company
will be held at the Westminster Palace Hotel on
Friday, the 31st inst., at 1 o'clock in the afternoon,
when the directors would request the attendance not
only of the shareholders, but of the debenture
holders, desiring to lay before them the fullest in-
formation in their power ; and at that meeting the
directors will suggest that the shareholders and de-
benture holders should appoint a committee of in-
quiry, who will be able fully to investigate the
affairs of the company, and to give their• opinion
upon the course to be hereafter pursued. It is the
unanimous desire of the Board to invite the fullest
investigation, and when such committee is prepared
to make their report the directors will place their
appointments in the hands of the shareholders, so as
to enable them to reconstruct the Board in such a
manner as they may think proper, being ready,
nevertheless, to give any assistance the shareholders
may desire under the difficulties in which the com-
pany is placed. Although the Board think it right
thus to invite investigation, and to place every
power in the hands of the shareholders and deben-
ture holders, they wish to add the expression of
their confidence that by the united action of all par-

ties, and the exercise of reasonable forbearance, the
difficulties of the company's affairs may be met and
overcome, and that the progress of the company in
the solidity and expansion of its traffic will not be
interfered with, but, by a due arrangement of all
interests, the embarrassments may be removed, and

the company placed upon a satisfactory and per.
manent basis."

LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST.

The South London line of this company was
opened for public traffic yesterday. Through trains
ran to and from the company's station at London-
bridge to Loughborough-park, calling at the fol-
lowing intermediate stations—viz., Rotherhithe,
Old Kent-road, Peckham, Peckham Rye, and Den-
mark-hill. The length of the line is 5 miles 40
chains. The Peckham and Denmark-hill stations
are on the Crystal Palace line of the London, Chat-
ham, and Dover hallway, but the Brighton Com-
pany's trains run through, the South London line
being on one side, and the London, Chatham, and
Dover line on the other side of those stations. The
time occupied in travelling the whole distance was
20 minutes, while the fares are the same as those
charged by the omnibuses. There are 51 trains for
first, second, and third-class passengers from Lon-
don-bridge to Loughborough-park, and the same
number of trains from Loughborough-park to Lon-
don-bridge daily, while on• Sundays there are to be
38 trains from London-bridge to Loughborough-
park, and the same number from Loughborough-
park to London-bridge. Arrangements are being
made for the ultimate working of the South London
Railway trains to and from the Victoria station.

MID-KENT.
The last ordinary general meeting of this company
was held yesterday at the offices, Westminster-
dSimpson
e inm atnhye
acnhdaisre.rious ques-
chTamhbeerresp;erAtlert.aLte.
tions which had arisen between this company and
the South-Eastern Company had at length been
settled. The negotiations led to an agreement for
a final reference of all matters in difference to Mr.
John Bullar, whose award had just been received.
Under its provisions the South-Eastern Company
were to hand to the shareholders in the Mid-Kent

Company, and the shareholders were to accept in
discharge of the purchase-money of the line,
£116,800 of South-Eastern 5 per cent. preference
stock of 1865, being at the rate of £36 10s. of that
stock for every £25 Aare in the Mid-Kent Company,
and giving the shareholders in perpetuity 7s. 6d. per
cent. upon their original investment. The stock
would be issued to the shareholders by the South-
Eastern Company. The award provided for the
transfer of all the rights, powers, obligations, and
liabilities of the Mid-Kent Railway Company to the
South-Eastern Railway Company ; and was ren-
dered valid and legally binding by an act passed in
the session of 1866. In fact, under its provisions the
Mid-Kent Company would cease to exist on and

after the 14th inst. As the dividendsupon the South
Eastern stock were not due until Aug. 1 and Feb.
1 in each year (being payable within 15 days from
these dates), the South-Eastern Company had paid
the interest on the purchase-money of the line, at
the usual rate, to July 31; and the final accounts
of the company, made up and audited to the 14th
inst., would be forwarded to the shareholders. The
directors had only to add that they considered the
settlement to be, under allthe circumstances, an ad-
vantageous one for both companies ; and, in taking
leave of the shareholders, congratulated them upon
the satisfactory issue to which their undertaking had
been brought. The capital account showed that
£179,869 had been expended, leaving a balance of
£l3l. The revenue account for the seven months
ending July 31 authorised a final distribution of £1
per share on 3,200 shares, leaving £74 in the hands
of the secretary to meet contingencies.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, congratulated the shareholders upon the be-
nefit likely to accrue from the arrangement with
the South-Eastern Company.

The report was adopted, and the dividend of 21
per share was declared. The proceedings concluded
with thanks to the chairman and directors, and to
the secretary and other officers for past exertions in
promoting the interests of the company.

to murder Barton ?" We had some ale together in
the day, and during the day he asked me if I would
go out a-poaching with him. We met Joseph Sed-
don the same night near the Castle Inn, Chorley.
Seddon and me refused to go with Thompson that
night to Bawkhouse-pit in Haig. Seddon, Thomp-
son, and me met together again about half-past 9
at night near Richard Hammill's factory, Chorley.
We then came forward to Cowley-lane and then up
up the canal bank to Red Rock-bridge. We then
went over Red Rock-bridge through one of the
Lord's farmyards, and came up to the tram-road
which goes to the Bawkhouse pit. On getting to
_ _

the pit Thompson said he would do the old -.
Barton had denied him of taking game and
ordered him off the premises, and told him if
ever he came again he would do him. Thomp-
son went in the cabin, and at this time the engine
was running, pumping water. I was on the pit
brow, close to the cabin, and Seddon a few yards
further off. Barton was laid down on the form
in the cabin. Thompson took a crowbar, hold of it
with both hands, and raised it to his shoulders,
and said, ' Now, you old -. I'll do you.' At
the same time he struck him on the forehead with
the crowbar and I heard Barton groan. Thompson
said, He is not dead.' He then gave him another
blow with the bar. After he struck the second blow

e never moved. Thompson then got hold of him
by the legs and dragged him out of the cabin and
chucked him down the slackhole. I moved about
six yards further back. Thompson shouted, Is there
anybody coming ?' Thompson said to Seddon,

What should we do with him ?' Seddon never
spoke. Thompson then said, We will put him in
the firehole.' Thompson then said to me, He will
never be seen no more.' Thompson said, ' I'll chuck
about ten shovels of slack on him.' He threw the
slack in and closed the doors. I was all of a tremble.
We all three, Thompson, Seddon, and me, crossed
the field and went on the high road that goes up to
Tupper's-hill, and goes on Blackrod-road. Then we
came up an old lane. Then we came into the turn-
pike road and through Adlington to Chorley, and
got there about 5 o'clock in the morning. My father
asked me where I had been. I did not tell him. My
father said to me at night when he came home
(Saturday), Keep out of that Thompson's com-
pany.' He said Thompson was a blackguard. Thomp-
son had several times been in our house, and my father
ordered him out. After Thompson had killed Bar-
ton he took Barton's watch and chain and put it in
his pocket. I had a verge watch of my own. Thomp-
son said if I would give him my watch and 10s. we
could divide Barton's watch between Seddon and
me. I refused to do so then. Thompson kept Bar-
ton's watch a week. He then gave it to Joseph
Seddon to pawn. Seddon pawned Barton's watch
in the name of John Walworth,' and got a sove-
reign on it. Thompson got 10s. of the money, and
myself and Seddon got ss. each. We then all three
went and had a quart or two of ale apiece. Seddon
said to me, "The murder will be found out before
long." Thompson then said, ' It will never be found
out except some of us splits.' "
Two days later the prisoner again applied to
Peters, and said, " I want to speak to you Mr.
Peters. Where is Stepper, because he was with us
when the murder was committed ? Thompson and
me about three or four days before the murder was
committed was poaching beside the paper-mill.
Stepper, sometimes called Hopper, was with us.
Some calls him Patten. He has an iron patten
under his foot. Stepper was in the cabin when
Thompson knocked him down. Stepper helped to
drag him across the pit brow to the fire-hole.
Seddon said, ' What must we do with him ?' and
Stepper and Thompson shoved him in the fire-hole."
When before the magistrate the prisoner made a
statement for the most part repeating the above, and
saying, " Thompson was the very first man that
ever mentioned murdering anybody. Well, I was
present when he murdered Mr. Barton, and no
other person murdered him but him."
Walton, or " Stepper," implicated in this state-
ment, was charged with this murder jointly with the
prisoner, but in accordance with a suggestion made
by his Lordship, it was determined that he should
take his trial separately to-morrow, in order that he
should not be prejudiced by the reading of these
statements, which are not, of course, legal evidence
against him. Seddon was in custody, but died in
gaol, and Thompson, against whom no corrobora-
tion of these charges could be found, is at large.
For the defence, Mr. Pope said it was impossible
to fathom the motives of the human mind leading
to the confession of crimes which, in some instances,
had never even been committed. Possibly there

might have been some motive of this description
(such as a desire to be a criminal of a very noto-

rious kind) working upon the mind of the prisoner,
and that his statement in this case was altogether
false. It was a curious fact that three men had
made confessions, and the prisoner's was the only
one which had been acted upon, the others being
obviously false. It might be, therefore, that the
prisoner's story was also false, especially remember-
ing the offer of the reward and pardon. But even
if taken to be true, it ,yid not implicate him to the

extent of making him an accomplice; and if he took
no part in the deed, but merely stood by, dastard
though they might think him not to have interfered
to protect the deceased, and-criminal not to give in-
formation, it did not amount to making him an ac-
complice. If the jury were not satisfied by the con-
fession that the prisoner was actually a partaker in
the murder, they would not, in acquitting, be
delivering a weak verdict for the purpose of saving
him, but they would be maintaining those principles
of law which are so valuable to the Constitution.
His Lordship, in summing up, said that he had
heard, in the last day of the assizes, some very start-
ling statements with respect to the regard to be paid
to confessions. There might have been one or two
extraordinary cases, but they were exceptional.
Supposing the jury believed the prisoner's state-
ment, although it was true that a person merely
standing by and taking no part was not an accom-
plice, if the statement led them to believe that he
went out with the actual perpetrators with a com-
mon design, and afterwards shared the spoil, ne was
just as guilty as the others.
The jury almost immediately turned round with
a verdict of guilty, and his lordship pronounced
sentence of death, with hut little preface, saying
that he had no desire to inflict unnecessary pain on
the prisoner or on himself by dwelling on the details
of the crime. It was as satisfactorily proved to his
mind as if he had seen it committed by the prisoner
with his own eyes, and if punishment of death was
ever to be inflicted never had there occurred a case
more worthy of it than the present. He, therefore,
held out no hope of a respite, and warned the pri-
soner to do his best to make his peace speedily with
God.

Later in the afternoon the counsel for the Crown
stated that they had determined to abandon the
prosecution against Walton, on the ground of an
insufficiency of evidence to implicate him in the
murder, his own confession being one of a very
dubious kind, made when he was drunk, and con-
tradicted by himself as soon as he became sober.
A verdict of Acquittal was, therefore, taken.

" TEN PER CENT.," which a few weeks ago was
only a nuisance, is becoming a calamity, checking not only
speculation, but ordinary trade. No ono will do anything
he can help while he has 10 per cent. to deduct from his
receipts and to pay for his loans, the country bankers
think it necessary to hoard, and the Continent refuses to
believe that England has not suspended cash payments.
Exchange was on Friday a little less unfavourable to Great
Britain, but the Bank still considers it unsafe to reduce its
rate, and the Government is still unwilling to sanction a
suspension of the act without the restriction fixed by Mr.
Gladstone. It is probable, therefore, that until confidence
has been somewhat restored on the Continent, that is pos-
sibly for some weeks, the exceptional rate will still be re-
tained.—Spectator.

LADVERTISEMENT.]-110110 Way'S Ointment and Pills.—
Counsel and Help.—When diarrhoea, dysentery, or cholera
prevails in any district it behoves every ono to be watchful
and to have at hand the means of checking those symptoms
of general uneasiness, nausea, and vertigo which foretell
the threatening malady. This well known ointment
rubbed diligently and repeatedly upon the pit of the sto-
mach and over the abdomen exercises the most powerful
and salutary effects in arresting these morbid indications
of the coming evil, and aided by appropriate doses of the
pills, which will secure safety to their employers, whilst
the heedless aro falling thickly around them. Every per-
so,2 at this critical time should subdue the first traces of
disora'jod action by Holloway's regulating and purifying
prepat atioh:*