The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-27 00:00:00

THE GARIBALDI VOLUNTEERS.

At the Mansion-house yesterday a number of
young men, some of whom wore the uniform of the
Garibaldi volunteers, who, it will be remembered,
went from this country to Italy, to assist General
Garibaldi in his struggle for Italian independence,
attended before Alderman Meohi to support a sum-
mons that had been issued against Mr. William
Laurence Arrowsmith, the registered proprietor of
a steam vessel called the Melazzo, under the Mer-
chant Shipping Act, for having, on the 29th of
December last, unlawfully carried as passengers on
board the said vessel a greater number of passengers
than he was by law entitled to do, whereby he had
incurred a penalty of £2O, and ss. for each pas-
senger carried over the number for which the vessel
was registered.
Mr. Murrough, a solicitor, attended in support
of the complaint.
The defendant did not appear, but a gentleman
named Legatt attended, and stated that he was
abroad at the time the summons was served, and
had not yet returned.
Mr. Murrough stated that he appeared for a
number of young men, who were members of the
Anglo-Italian army in the recent struggle by Gen.
Garibaldi for Italian independence, and if they
had only been sufferers by the proceedings of
foreigners in connection with that expedition, he
should have felt that it was no more than they
might have expected, and he should not have inter-
fered. According to his instructions, however, they
had been most unfairly and indeed cruelly treated
by the commander of the vessel, and the only
remedy the complainants had was to adopt the pre-
sent proceeding against Mr. Arrowsmith, who was
the registered owner of the vessel in question. He
then proceeded to state that the Melazzo sailed
from the Bay of Naples on the 14th of December,
having at the time on board no less than 256 pas-
sengers, most of whom were young men who were
returning from the expedition. The vessel was only
registered for the conveyance of 145 passengers, so
that she had 111 passengers more than she was en-
titled to carry ; and there was no commissariat, the
only thing in the shape of food that was on board
being some horse beef, a portion of which he pro-
duced.
The Alderman examined it, and said it more
resembled a piece of hard wood than anything cal-
culated for human food.

Mr. Murrough went on to say that the unfortu-
nate young men suffered a great deal until they
arrived at Gibraltar, and they of course went on
shore in order to obtain some wholesome food, and
for the purposes of cleanliness, and a notice was
given by the captain of the vessel that she would
leave on a certain day, at 12 o'clock in the morning.
Instead of sailing at that hour, however, the Me-
lazzo sailed at 10 o'clock, leaving the complainants
behind, without any clothes or necessaries, the
whole of which were taken away in the vessel.
The complainants were reduced to very great dis-
tress in consequence of this proceeding, and they
were only enabled to get back to their homes
through the charity of the owners of a steamer
called the Mavrocordato. Ile had since made
an application to the agents of Mr. Arrowsmith
with a view to obtain restitution of the pro-
perty, but he could not obtain any explana-
tion, and his application was not paid any
attention to. The vessel is now at sea, the
agents, as he before stated, declined to interfere,
and the complainants had no alternative but to
adopt the present proceeding, in order to obtain
some redress.

Alderman Meehi said that, according to the state-
ment that had been made, the matter was one that
certainly ought to be inquired into ; but the diffi-
culty in the matter was that the defendant was not
present, and there was no evidence to show that the
summons had been served at his last place of abode
or residence, which was required to be done by the
Merchant Shipping Act. It appeared to him,.
therefore, that he had no jurisdiction to entertain
the present complaint.
Mr. Murrough submitted that their service at
the offices of his agents was sufficient.
Mr. Oke, the second clerk, said that there was
another difficulty in the case, which was, that there
was no evidence to show that Mr. Arrowsmith was
within the jurisdiction of this Court at the time the
complaint was made.
The summons was then dismissed.

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The entire removal of the last arch of old4ee
minster-bridge was accomplished yesterday. and
very little is to be seen above water of the ruinous
obstruction which has so long impeded not only the
navigation of the river but even the very passage
of the liver itself. In the course of another three
months or so even the foundations of the old piers
will have been removed, and the work of completing
the eastern half of the new structure be going on
rapidly towards completion. Let us hope that the
removal of this ancient watermark will inaugurate
a new era in the history of our metropolitan bridges,
and that it may lead eventually to the widening of
London-bridge and the reconstruction of Blackfriars
—especially before the latter falls of itself. The
work which yet remains to be done before West-
minster will be entirely finished is unfortunately
of a kind that cannot be very much hastened, yet
with all drawbacks there is no doubt but that the
close' of the present year will sec it nearly if not
quite completed. All the piers for the eastern half
of the new structure have been entirely finished,
except No. 1 pier on the Middlesex side, and piers
Nos. 3 and 5 in the centre of the river. The method
of constructing these is by driving in massive iron
piles deep below the bed of the river into the clay.
Between these piles, which are driven in the exact
form of the intended pier, are again driven iron plates
an inch and a quarter thick. From the massive
coffer dam thus formed the earth and mud are
dredged out below the gravel, and a number of
wooden piles of the largest kind driven in to the
greatest depth they will penetrate. All the space
between the piling is then filled in with concrete,
the heads of the piles themselves sawn off six feet
below low water, and the remainder of the coffer
dam filled in with immense slabs of granite up to
low Vater-mark, where the regular ornamental
piers to carry the arches begin. Driving the iron
piles is accomplished easily enough, but forcing
down the him slates between is an operation re-
quiring bot I 49 and care. The foundations of
No. 1 pier ren so far advanced that it is al-
most ready for the granite slabs, but the remaining
halves of Nos. 3 and 5 cannot be begun until all
the foundations of the two piers of the old bridge,
which are in the way and occupy the ground on
which they are to come, have been removed. Do-
ing away with theSe old foundations, however,
takes very little time. So great has been the scour
of the river since the removal of old London-bridge,
that the caissons on which these old foundations
rest, and which when the bridge was built were
more than six feet below the bed of the river, are
now completely bare. In the centre of the stream
they are not only bare, but many of them have the
ground so worn away from under their edges that
tre divers can get their hands beneath them for a ,
considerable distance. No. 1 pier of the old bridge
has been completely built into the Middlesex abut-
ment of the new Nos. 2 and 3 have been quite re-
moved, and the foundations of the new pier laid
in their place. No 4 old pier has been all removed
but the caisson ; No. 5 removed to high-water:level ;
Nos. 6 and 7 almost entirely removed; Nos. 8, 9.
and 10, cut down below high-water mark ; and No.
11 almost away to the caisson. Altogether, in-
cluding the removal of the arches, more than
2,100,000 cubic feet of masonry and brickwork
have been taken out. The Surrey abutment will
be completed in a few days, and all the founda-
tions of that on the Middlesex side are ready for
the masonry. The remaining halves of the first and
second arches on the Surrey side have also been be-
gun, and are well forward. A month more or so
will see these two complete, and others advancing.
When the building of the earlier half is quite
finished, the 15-feet footpath will be paved, and
.one tramway next the kerb will be laid down, the
remainder of the space being left for the lighier
traffic. The half now open will then be closed, the
footway completed, the tram next it left as it is,
and the other removed, when the whole will be
opened. There will then be two footways each 15
feet wide, two tramways each of 7 ft. 6 in., and a
roadway for light traffic of 40 feet. The extreme
width of London -bridge from parapet to parapet is
56 feet, or exactly the space of the roadway of the
new bridge, exclusive of footpaths. All the orna-
mental iron-work, parapet, and balustrades of the
western half have been put up, so that from this
side of the river a good notion of the effect of the •
whole structure when completed can be gained. It
is simple, light, and beautiful in the extreme, even
more so than the drawings at first showed it would
be. Beyond a doubt, when finished, it will be one
of the most beautiful not only in London, but even
in Europe. The ornamental shields which are to
fill up the Gothic quatrefoils in the spandrils of the
arches are not yet placed. These will be of cast iron
and emblazoned with the arms of Westminster and
England in gold and enduring colours. From this
side the rise of the bridge seems greater than it
really is, from the fact of the wooden balustrade on
tho inner side, within the ornamental railing, ap-
pearing to form a part of it. In reality the crown
of the arch is more than 11 feet lower than the
highest point of old Westminster. The entire space
allowed for waterway under the now bridge is 750
feet, and of this no less than 140 feet are now occu-
pied by the remains of the old piers and scaffolding
necessarily erected for building the new. In a few
months these will all be removed, and for the first
time for 20 years the tide will flow unrestrictedly,
and with greatly increased facilities for its passage
up the Thames. The result of this will be of course
that the tide above Westminster-bridge will rise
slightly higher than it has ever hitherto done;
while the scour down the river will be largely in-
creased in proportion. This latter fact must hasten.
the Bridge Committee to an immediate determina-
tion as to a new structure at Blackfriars. There is
no concealing the fact that one of the arches of
Blackfriars-bridge is completely broken, and resting
on the wooden centreing beneath it. An increased
scour would soon lead to an increased settlement,
which apparently the defective arch could not bear
without great risk of coming down in a mass, when
in all probability most of the arches in the centre of
the stream would follow. No time should be lo.st
in guarding against the possibility of such a fearful
accident as this, and we hope before long to hear
that plans for a new structure have been definitely
resolved on. A better example for the new bridge
can scarcely be chosen than that which Mr. Page is
rapidly complging at Westminster.

THE MAILS.