The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-20 00:00:00

THE CHARGES AGAINST COLONEL
SHIRLEY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
hereby forward you a copy of the charges
which were some time since preferred against me by
General Beatson, (if the Turkish army, together
with the opinion of the court of inquiry. lately as-
sembled by order of the General Commanding in
Chief for investigating the same ; and as every pub-
licity was given to the attack made on my character
as a soldier, and as I am permitted to make such
use as I think right of the enclosed document, I ask
the favour of your giving equal publicity to the
refutation of the charges in your widely circulated
journal, in justice to the character of a public ser-
vant.—l remain, sir your most obedient servant,
ARTHUR SHIRLEY, Colonel Unattached,
Late Commanding Cavalry, Turkish
Contingent.
United Service Club, April lg.

" HORSE GUARDS, March 30, 1857.
"Sir,—The Court lately assembled for the purpose of
investigating the charges preferred against you by Lieut.-
General Beatson, of the Turkish army, having closed its
proceedings, and reported the same to the General Com-
manding-in-Chief, I have now the honour, by direction of
his Royal Highness, to transmit to you, for your informa-
tion, the accompanying copy of the opinion expressed by
the Court upon the various points laid down for its consi-
deration.—l have the honour to be, sir, your obedient
humble servant, (Signed) • "C. Yoßicr.
"Colonel Shirley, So.', &c., ke., 'United Setvioe Club?'

COPY OF THE CHARGES PREFERRED BY GENERAL BEATSON
AGAINST COLONEL SHIRLEY.
" That Colonel Shirley, without reasonable or probable
cause, made private inquiries at Shnmla amongst the
officers and others of the corps formerly under General
Beatson's command, he being at the time to which these
inquiries referred a superior officer to Colonel Shirley.
"That he, equally without reasonable cause and with-
out the means of proving his statements, transmitted such
statements to General Vivian, which were highly dero-
gatory to General Beatson's character as -an officer, and
which he must have knoWn to be untrue; and was there-
fore guilty of wilfully slandering him.
" That he wilfully suppressed evidence which he had
received, and which was material to show that General
Beatson was not guilty of the acts which he (Colonel
Shirley) alleged against him."
The Court having read over the statement of
General Beatson and all the evidence offered, as
well as a statement of Colonel Shirley, then read
the letter from the Deputy Judge-Advocate-Gene-
ral, dated 9th February, 1857, and proceeded to
give their opinion separately on each of the points
laid down in the concluding part of that letter :-
IST QUESTION. IST ANSWER.
Did Colonel Shirley make Colonel Shirley did make
any private inquiries at private inquiries at Shumla
Shumla, among the officers and at Constantinople among
and others of the corps for- the officers of the corps for-
med, under Major -General med under Major-General
Beatson's command respect- Beatson's command respect-
ing the conduct of Major- ing the conduct of Major-
General Beatson ? General Beatson, and also of
Mr. Skene, Civil Commis.
sioner to the Turkish Con-
tingent ; but these inquiries,
though private, were not
secret or 'underhand.
2D QUESTION. 2D ANSWER.
If so, did he do so with- Colonel Shirley had rea-
out reasonable or probable sonable cause for making the
cause ? inquiries referred to.
3D QUESTION. 3D ANSWER.
If he did make such in- The reply to the preceding
quiries without reasonable or question renders an answer
probable cause, was Major- to this one unnecessary.
General Beatson a superior
officer to Colonel Shirley at
the time to which these in-
quiries referred ?
• 4TH QUESTION. 4TH ANSyVER.
Did Colonel Shirley, with- Colonel Shirley did trans-
ont reasonable cause, trans- mit to General Vivian state-
mit to General Vivian state- ments highly derogatory to
meats highly derogatory to Major - General Beatson s
Major - General Beatson's character as an officer, and
character as an officer ? with reasonable cause ; but
the evidence be had received
was not, in theopinion of the
Court, so precise and full as
to warrant his making those
statements so strongly.
STH QUESTION. STH ANSWER.
If so, had Colonel Shirley Colonel Shirley had the
no means of proving such means, in the opinion of the
statements I Court, of obtaining further
evidence on the subject; but,
under the circumstances of
the case, and considering
General Beatson's rank, the
Court considers that it was
advisable that he should not
prosecute the inquiry further
than he did without instruc-
tions fro re his superior officer.
6TH QUESTION. 6TH ANSWER.
Must Col. Shirley have No.
known those statements to
have been untrue?
7TH QUESTION. 7TH ANSWER.
Did Col. Shirley willingly No. Col. Shirley framed
suppress any evidence which his report upon the corn-
he had received ? munications made to him
verbally by the persons from
whom he obtained his infor-
mation, but did not forward
the particular evidence of
any of them.
BTH QUESTION. BTH ANSWER.
If so, was that suppressed The answer of the Court
evidence material to prove to the preceding question
that Major-General Beatson renders an answer to this
was not guilty of the acts one unnecessary.
which ho (Colonel Shirley)
alleged against him?
The Court having answered all the questions on
the several points laid down in the Adjutant-Gene-
ral's letter of the 9th Feb., 1857, does further,
with reference to the Deputy Judge Advocate-
General's letter of the 25th Feb., 1857, record their
opinion, that there are no grounds whatever to
render it necessary to investigate the charges
brought by Major-General Beatson against Colonel
Shirley by a Court martial.
(Signed) C. CAMPBELL, Lt.-Gen. and President.
P. MONTGOMERIE, Major-General.
W. PAULET, Major-General.
D. A. CAMERON, Major-General.
J. LAURENSON, Major-General.
H. J. HANCOCK, Major-General.
W. NORCOTT, Colonel.

MR. SCOTT RUSSELL'S GREAT STEAM-

SHIP.

The following letters have been addressed to the
editor of the Times :

Sir,—Your interesting observations on the great
ship now building in my yard at Millwall, in your
leading article of this morning, have induced me
to beg the favour of your communicating to the
public some additional points of information, which
I have no doubt they will find interesting.
I hope you < will pardon me for saying that your
mention of my name exclusively in connection with
that ship may be interpreted injuriously to the rights
of others who have largely shared in whatever
merits or responsibilities belong to the undertaking.
In justice, therefore, to my own feelings and to
their rights, I wish to communicate the following
facts : _

My share of the merit and responsibility is that
of builder of the ship for the Eastern Steam Navi-
gation Company. I designed her lines and con-
structed the iron hull of the ship, and am respon-
sible for her merits or defects as a piece of naval
architecture. lam equally responsible for the
paddlewheel engines of 1,000 horse-power, by which
she is to be propelled.
But Messrs. James Watt and Co., the eminent
engineers old` Soho, have the entire merit of the de-
sign and construction of the engines of 1,500 horse-
power which are to propel the screw.
It is, however, to the company's engineer, Mr.
I. K. Brunel, that the original conception is due of
building a steamship large enough to carry coals
sufficient for full steaming on the longest voyage.
He, at the outset, and long before it had assumed
a mercantile form, communicated his views to me,
and I have participated in the contrivance _of the
best means to carry them into practical effect. I
think, further, that the idea of. using two sets of
engines and two propellers is orwinal, and was his
invention. It was his idea also to introduce a cel-
lular construction like that at the top and bottom
of the Britannia-bridge into the construction of the
great ship. It will be seen that these are the great
characteristics which distinguish this from other
ships, and these are Mr. Brunel's. Her lines and her
structure in other respects are identical with those
of my other ships, which are constructed like this
on a principle of my own, which I have systemati-
cally carried out during the last 20 years, and which
is commonly called the " wave" principle. In other
respects, also, her materials are put together in the
manner usual in my other ships.
I think, too, there are others whose names and
services in this matter the public should not forget
whenever the great ship is mentioned. The mer-
cantile difficulty appeared at the outset, and this
has proved itself since to be quite as great as the
mechanical difficulty of the undertaking, So un-
usual an enterprise could not have been carried out
without ability, enterprise, and prudence, to the
credit of which the board of directors, represented
by their chairman, Mr. H. T. Hope, and their
secretary, Mr. John Yates, are entitled in a high
degree. And there was one of them who bore the
burden and heat of the day, and at the outset of
this undertaking was one of its most able and zealous