The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-16 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

Tho new barracks proposed to be erected at Col-
chester will provide accommodation for two batteries
of artillery, a regiment of cavalry, and a regiment
of infantry, or in all about 3,300 men.
The entire force of Chatham garrison wes on
Monday engaged in the second of the series of
extensive strategical operations in the district sur-
rounding the garrison, the plan and details of which
were laid down some time since by Major-Gen.
Eyre, in command of the troops at Chatham. The
whole of the details laid down were carried into
effect under the direction of the commanding officers
of the various divisions employed in the operations,
the troops returning to their quarters in the after-
noon. By special direction of Major-Gen. Eyre the
officers who took part in the strategical operations
effected are to draw up a report of the nature of the
details executed, as well as a military description
of the country occupied by the troops, which is to
be forwarded by them to the Major-General.

No. 1 battery of the Ist Brigade of Royal Artil-
lery, under orders for Gibraltar, was yesterday
supplied with Armstrong guns and wagons, ready
packed for embarkation.

NAVAL COURT MARTIAL.

THE COSSACK.

The Court reassembled on board H.M.S. Victory
yesterday morning, and immediately proceeded
with the examination of witnesses. After the
despatch of our parcel from Portsmouth on Monday
evening Mr. IL C. Russell, surgeon of the Cossack,
was examined by the Court, and deposed to having
seen Smith on the capstan, but did not see him
lashed. Smith had made no complaint to him of
any injury he had received in consequence of his
being placed on the capstan.
Yesterday morning the first witness called was
Mr. It. Jones, additional boatswain on board the
Cossack, who deposed to having kept the morning
watch when Smith was placed on the capstan.
Smith said he could not and would not stand. A
bowline was passed round his waist, but it was
merely to prevent him continually sitting down.
Heard nothing of the second charge; and, with
regard to the third charge, heard Smith ask the
captain to try him by a court-martial.
Thomas James deposed—l am captain of the
forecastle on board the Cossack. Saw Isaiah Smith
standing on the capstan, but knew nothing further
respecting it. Saw no lashing on him.
Thomas Power, seaman, deposed—One day at
sea, when about to hoist the topsails, I bad the
foretopsail halliards in my hand and was facing aft.
Saw Smith with his violin in his hand, and he com-
menced playing at the word given to hoist the top-
sails, when I heard Capt. Moorman sing out" Stop!
get on the capstan;" to which Smith replied, with
a shake of the head, " I can't, sir." Capt. Moorman
then said to the people on the quarterdeck, " Get
hold, of him and put him on." Several marines took
hold of Smith and put him on the capstan, where
he stood up. Went forward to my station to com-
plete making sail, and, on watch being called, went
below. Saw Smith afterwards in irons in the cock-
pit previous to his being disrated. Saw him in irons
not more than once. Knew of no reason for Smith
being ordered on the capstan by the captain when
about to play. His manner when ordered to get
on the capstan, and when he told Capt. Moorman
he could not, to me appeared to be nothing but
downhearted.' After this saw him in irons. After
Capt. Moorman read the warrant on the following
morning Smith spoke to the captain, but witness
did not hear the words. Heard the captain say,
" dozen, and then a Court-martial."
Samuel Surridge, captain of the afterguard, de-
posed—After divisions saw Smith standing on the
capstan with a bowline knot round bim and up to
the raizenstay. The whip was not taut.
George Laskey, captain of the mizen top, deposed
—Remembered the order being given by Captain
Moorman for Smith to stand up on the capstan.
He was lifted on by marines, but slipped off again.
An order Val then given to trice him up, and the
afterguard's watch-tackle was brought, and a tail-
block made fast to the mizenstay. A marine named
Manning passed the end of the fall under Smith's
arms to make a bowline of it, but he (Manning)
said " I am no sailor," and one
of the afterguard
took the end of the fall from him and completed
the bowline. Smith was " lighted" up on the cap-
stan by the marines, some of them taking in the
slack of the fall. Smith had his dinner on the cap-

stan that day, and steadied his basin between his
Lieut. Edward Barkley, senior lieutenant of the
Cossack. was next examined—On the 27th of April
last Captain Moorman, in going his daily rounds
found some bananas in a store-room, contrary to
his orders, and he sent the yeoman, Isiiah- Smith,
with orders to me to place him on the capstan.
The captain himself came on deek shortly after-
wards, and the man not being on the capstan, he
ordered him to get up there, but the man refused.
I was directed by the captain to call the marines.to
place him there. When there he would not
stand, and to compel him to do so a whip was
got on the mizenstay, with a bowline in it,
placed round him tinder his arms, and when he
\-vps lifted up in a standing position a turn
was taken with it, leaving sufficient slack
to move about, and not sit down. The
were hung round his neck, and orders
forb bananas a hi:'
'i
were given out by Capt. Moorman to keep the man
there sitting on
hour and standing the next, until
he stood of his o ls accord, when he was to be
allowed to come down.
About 4 in the afternoon
ho was released, on conciYing with the orders.
Capt. Moorman then gave ms.., orders that when the
hands were on the deck the fithiler should be sta-
tioned on the capstan. The fiddler' (Isaiah Smith)
was not placed in irons that night, vier on any
occasion on bread and water. With rehe'rence to
the second charge, on or about the 30th or April
the hands were on deck making sail, and with,'"
was carrying on the duty on the bridge. Sent for
the fiddler, and ordered him to play on the capstan.
He said he could not, but seeing no reason why he
should not, the order was repeated, when he replied
he would not in so mutinous and insubordinate a
manner that witness went to Capt. 'Moorman and
reported to him the circumstances. The captain
then came on deck, and -ordered the man up on the
capstan himself, and on his again refusing ordered
him to be put in irons, which was done with one leg.
After some further evidence for the prosecution
the Court closed for half an hour. On its being
reopened the Judge Advocate notified to theprisoner
that the Court would allow him to give his defence
as he had requested.
Capt. Moorman, in addressing the Court, said he
was placed under the peculiar circumstances of
being tried under such serious charges as cruelty,
oppression, and unofficerlike conduct, with their
consequent heavy penalties, if proved. The captains
of her Majesty's vessels were always liable to similar
charges. He must support his officers. He found
orders disregarded by the man Smith and set at
nought on the subject of cleanliness at a time when
a disease (ulcers) was raging in the ship and no cause
could be assigned for it. Admiralty instructions
directed that musicians and others of that class
should not take first-class petty officers' m ilitary rank.
He treated this case with ridicule, and believed it
to be the best course to pursue under the circum-
stances. It had been proved by the evidence that
Smith had been cautioned not to place decaying
matter in the storeroom. It had also been proved
that while on the capstan he could stand in an easy
manner, and that the rope could be no restraint
upon him, nor was the ship rolling in a manner to
make his position at all uncomfortable, much less
dangerous. It had also been clearly proved that
his forbearance to the plaintiff was such that he
was told to comply with the first order and he would
be forgiven. The man's laughing conduct when on
the capstan proved he was in no pain or danger.
Mr. Rassell, the surgeon of the ship, had told the
Court that he never knew Smith had been lashed
up, neither did Smith ever come to him and make
any complaint of the injury he had stated to the
Court he had received by being suspended. All the
witnesses who had been called had spoken to the
man Smith not having been swinging about. With
regard to the expressions " dozen, and then a court-
martial," spoken to by the witness, the evidence of
the senior lieutenant of the ship quite sufficiently
disposed of them. He was net disposed to be
bearded by a character like the man Smith, and,
had he committed himself again, he would have
punished him after so well-meant a caution. The
man Smith, as proved by Lieutenant Barkley's evi-
dence, was not systematically persecuted from the
27th of April to the lit of May. The capstan
affair was over by 4 o'clock on the first day. The
standing bowline placed round smith's body was
only placed there to make him stand where ordered,
and had perfect play from his loins to his armpits.
On the occasion of the man Smith's desertion he
might have said, " Thank God! the fellow is gone ;"
but he took a different course, and his duty to his
profession compelled him to endeavour to capture
the deserter and hand him over to punishment,
which he succeeded in doing. This was all that had
subjected him (the prisoner) to the degrading in-
dignity of being sent home from a foreign station
for trial by a court-martial on such false and un-
founded charges. Captain Moorman, after expres-
sing in strong and indignant terms his feelings at
being placed before the Court on such malignant
charges, concluded by leaving his case in the hands
of the ourt, and expressing his confidence in their
full acquittal and exoneration.

Witnesses were then called for the defence.

Lieut; Keppell corroborated Lieut. Barkley's
evidence in most of its points, and stated that the
conduct and bearing of Capt. Moorman (the pri-
soner) towards Isaiah Smith was during the time
to which the present charge referred of a most for-
bearing and lenient character.
Lieut. Shaw was called, and gave similar evi-
dence to Lieut. Keppell's, end to the same effect, as
to Capt. Moorman's forbearance to the man Smith.
Mr. Freeman, gunner of the ship, gave similar
evidence.

The Court then closed to consider the evidence
and their finding.
After a short time the Court reopened, and their
finding was read by the Deputy-Judge-Advocate,
to the effect that, the Court found the three charges
not proved, and honourably Acquitted the pri-
soner. The Court could not separate without pro-
perly noticing the gross disregard for truth shown
by the witness Isaiah Smith.

The President, addressing Capt. Moorman, said—
Capt. Moorman, I have much pleasure in handing
you your sword.

Tice proceedings then terminated.

LOSS OF THE PRINCE ALFRED, LON-
DON AND LEITH STEAMER.

The Prince Alfred, London and Leith screw steam-
ship has been totally lost a few miles to the north-
ward of Flamborough Head, and, fortunately, the
whole of her passengers and crew were saved.
The illfated steamer left Leith in the early part
of Saturday for the Thames, having on board
some thirty passengers and a general cargo of
merchandise. She was pursuing her voyage
early on Sunday morning off Flamborough, when
thick weather was encountered, and the unfortunate
vessel went ashore some three or four miles to the
northward of that prominent headland. Most for-
tunately there was not much wind or sea on, and the
boats being lowered the passengers were all safely
landed. The most prompt measures were then taken
to savo as much as possible of her cargo. A large
quantity of dead meat was got ashore, but the ship
having bilged, she gradually filled. In the course
of Monday night the wind and sea got up very
high, making right over the wreck, and yesterday
(Tuesday) morning she was telegraphed to have
broken up and disappeared. The Prince Alfred was
nearly a new steamer, and was a favourite on the
station. The coast in the vicinity of the wreck is
reported to be strewn with her cargo, which has
been taken charge of by the coast guard of the
district.

SIX MINIMS SUFFOCATED.—The Birmingham
Post reports a serious mining catastrophe. It appears that
on Tuesday night the men engaged at the Blue Pit, Wyr -
ley-common, in the parish of Ogley Hay, went down to
work, and amongst the number were four, named James
Cooper, aged 26 ; Thomas Craddiek, 37 ; John Cooper, 30
and Charles Coledrake, 41; together with two boys, named
Emmanuel Millington, 11 ; and Levi Craddiek, 11. From
some eausect present unexplained a quantity of smoke from
an adjoining pit found its way into that part of the pit in
which the poor fellows were working, and on the butties
going down the pit at five o'clock on Wednesday morning,
they found the whole of the miners quite dead, death evi-
dently having been caused by suffocation in consequence
of the smoke from the adjoining pit.
[ADVERTISEMENT.] Pills and, medicine invariably ag-
gravate and perpetuate diseases; their annoyance, dis-
appointment, and expense may be avoided by persons
in indifferent health sending only their. address to E.
S. Barry, Esq., 77, Regent-street, W., London, and they
will receive gratis and free by post the "ThvAnios' Own
GUIDE," or Natural Restorer, without medicine or ex-
rnse, of perfect digestion, strong nerve's, sound lungs, and
refreshing sleep, to the most enfeebled, insuring the removal
of indigestion (dyspepsia), constipation, liver complaints.
nausea, epilepsy, paralysis, debility, nervousness, palpitation,
cough, asthma, consumption, dropsy, flatulency, diarrhoea,
dysentery, biliousness, fevers, sore throats, catarrhs, colds,
noises in the ears. rheumatism, gout, impurities, eruptions,
hysteria, neuralgia, irritability, sleeplessness, acidity, palpi-
tation, heartburn, headache, despondency, cramps, spasms,
sinking, fits, bronchitis —"Unouestionably the safest Guide
to h alth."

[ADvEnTisßmENT.]—Holloway's Pills and Ointment—
Assurance against Disease.—Who would barter health for
wealth ? Yet strange is it that while men pay immensely
for the assurance of their property, they grudge a few
shillings for the preservation of their health I By their
policy they are freed from fear of loss by fire, by the pos.
session of Holloway's remedies they may be secured
against sufferings by disease. Let all avail themselves of
these unfailing and inexpensive safeguards. They cannot
hurt ; they must be salutary in any disease and under any
circumstances. Holloway's Pills strengthen-the stomach,
prevent flatulency, purify the blood, and invigorate the
nerves ; Holloway's:Ointment soothes and heals external
ailments. This valuable policy of assurance against disease
should be promptly purcuasea.