The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-24 00:00:00

RIDAY EVENING, JULY 24, 1857.

sire waiting to b 3 teinf,rced by the guni-o-its
The Bittern brig is recommissioned by the officers
of the Raleigh.
The Right Hon. Sir Charles Wood, First Lord
of icithiralty, held a levee yestord.ay at the
Admiralty. He hold his last levee this season
on Thursday next.
Commander Joseph Martin Mottley is pro-
moted to the rank of Captain on the Reserved

most unfavourable opinions c-mcerning it and its
probable effects upon the cible ; and even those
intimately connected with the plan and it.l detsiLs
do not disguise their regret that such a machinery
should be resorted to. It consists of four pulleys or
iron wheels about six ket in diameter, with very
deep flanges or V grooves in which the cable will
rest. iloand two wheels the cable will be wound
. twice, and round two wheels once, so as to forte
two figures of 8. As if the friction of this were not
enough, each wheel is" connected with missive
toothed wheels, and the motion of all made equal
at the expense of a proportiinate straid on the
cable. In case of a fault or kink going overboard
there is an auxiliary apparatus, consisting of two
wheels, mind each of which the cable will be wound
Eve times. These will be Worked by a small engine
placed immediately beneath, so that, if necessary, a
portion of the cable can be hauled in again and the
kink or fault remedied. The machine which works
this 'cm also be made to turn the wheels over which
the cable pa.ses, if their friction should be thought
too much for its strength ; but, though this will
lessen,the strain in paying out, itincreasea the ri.k
from a sudden lurch of the vessel, when the cable
must either run rapidly or part alto ether. Strong
breaks are attached to the wheels of the paying out
machinery, which act powerfully, though very
slowly. -But, with the friction we have mentioned
ou toe wheals themselves, the breaks are • never
likely to be resorted te. Of the auxiliary engine for
hauling in we need say nothing except that we.sin-,
cere7y hope its services may never be 'required.
After passing off the wheels the cable runs in a•
protracted groove along the quarter deck over a
large wheel at the stern of the vessel. This
wheel has a very deep trumpet-shaped groov', and
all around it is carefully finished off, and woodwork
placed so that not an angle is in the way. The
screw of the Agamemnott is also caged in to pre-
vent any chance of the wire fouling it. In case of
a strong stern wind before which the vessel woill
pitch too heavily, or a gale blowing, a simple but
very ingenious apparatus is provided to susp3nd the
process of submerging till more favourable oppor-
tunities occur. Two wheels similar to that at the '

The following appointments were made yester
day at-• the Admiralty :
Commander H. C. Harston to the St. Vim
cent- vice Fr inklin, promoted ; the Rev. J. W.
Bonifield, chaplain, to the Chesapeake • the Rev.
Richard Crolier' chaplain to the Royal
the Rev. John Gurney, to the Brunswick.; T. S.
Osborn, naval instructor, to the Chesapeake..

THE NEW SHIPS AND THE[R NEW
COMMANDERS.

In giving the appointor. nt of Captain. Buckle,
to the command of the Chesapeake, 51, new se-env
frigate, wo alluded to her celebrated name, and re-
marked that she was inferior in modern classifica-
i ion of screw frigates as she was in battle to the st.ll
more distinguished Shannon. Captain Watson,
C. 8., has since superseded. Captain Buckle, and
will doubtless fit out the Chesapeake an I proceed
with her on foreign service—to China, it is said
—where both ship and captain will most likely take
the place of the iost Raleigh, 5 I, and her gallant
co andert.Captain the Hon. IL Keppel, C. 8.,
w to, Tire Ems th-6 anal order— reaches him for
entirely abandoning the Raleigh, will most pro-
bably have at ained -his flag rank. If Captain
Buckle's was a good appointment, that of Captain
Watson is.quitts as g ad. Toe Mt rga lint officer
won his promotion sad honours in China. He has
set vel since in two commission!, and during the
latt r part of his command of the 51-gun screw
frigate Imperieuse, as senior officer of the advanced
squadron in the Baltic. The-appoiatment, there
--
f ite, by the First Lord of the Admiralty of Capt.
Watson to proceed to China, to become second in
command to Sir M. Seymour, is admitted- ta b a
most judic'ous selection, and one that p7ornises in
every rtspect to be advantageous to the service and
conducive to the honour and glory of the country,
if opportunity should be afforded for alqu-ring it.
The selection, t7io, of the Chesapeake t replace
the Raleigh will be an advantage to the China
squadron, for one such ship as the former is worth
.hree of tie latter for that station ; in fact. we may
regard the machinery of a man of war iu. the China
seas as an auxiliary means of self-preservation,
although a screw man of war, the Reyuard, Com-
mander Cracroft (oow captain), was lost on the
Pratas sl-oal.

tern, are fixed one on each side of the bows of the
ve see. In case of a strong wind only a powerful
wire rope of great length, and capable of bearing
a strain of 10 tons, will be fastened to the coil,
which can be severed and allowed to sink as near
the bo'tom of the oce n as the length of the wire
mooting-rope will permit. The Agamemnon will
teen mire head to wind, and, steaming against it,
take off any undue strain upon the eleeerie cable
itself, and so remain until modera'e weather allows
the operation to be coot need. The wire rope,
with the cattle attached, can then be hauled in, the
cable carefully re join. and the su'tmerging• gone
on with as before. Should the squadron meet with
very severe weather, and it not be considered pru-
dent to retain the cable en 1 on beard at all, the
wire rope will be aq wiled as before, and the
end of that secured again to an immense buoy.
The whole can then be let adrift, to bob about as
the winds and waves may choose, the vessels re-
maining as near to the bury as possiede. In order
to a,sist them in finding it again immediately the
uppermost end of the buoy will be fitred with
four powerful reflectors p'aced under a flog, so
as to be plainly visible amid the dark expanse
of waters, even at a considerable distance. Tee
buoy once picked up, the wire rope can lo.) wound
in, and with it the electric cable at its end.
The buoys are capable of supporting a weight of
seven tons—of course much greater than they
will ever be required to bear, and are so placed
at the sides of the Niagara and Agamemnon as
to ho launched et ar of the ship in an instant.
As we have said, the Agamemnon leaves Green-
wich to-day, and after the adjustment of her
comp asses proceeds at once to Queen4town, where
the other vessels composing the squadron—the
Niagara, Susquehanna, and Leopard, wdl also
rendezvous. During the trip from Sheerness to
Queenstown experiments will be made by laying
down'about 20 miles of cable, in order to ascee-
tein that everything is in pod working coedit on.
By this means the stiffness of the paying out
gear, of which c nsiderable distrust is enter-
tained, will be accurately tested, and the amount
of risk known which the scheme will hive to en-
counter in mid ocean. Thee trials, however, are
--4,-01,rr)rivate. and none but these actually
connected wits, tote operaaanis auout, to under-
taken will be allowed oa board. Autei-
in coa's at Queenstown the four vessels will
start together for Valentia Bay. It has been
thought advisable to alter the arrangement
by which the cable was to have been joined
in mid-sea, and the Agamemnon and Niagara
then make the best of their way to shere—the for-
mer to America and the latter to Ireland. Now
the plan is, to submerge the whole cable in a con is
nuous line from Valentia Bay to Newfoundland.
The Niagara will lay the first half from Ireland to
the mi Idle of the Atlmntic ; the end will then be
joined to the other half on beard the Agamemnon,
which takes it on to the coast of Newfoundland.
During the whole process the four ves ela will re-
main together and give whatever assistance is re-
quired. While it is being laid down messages.will
be sent back to the coast of Ireland reporting each
day's progress, and, if necessary, of course, each
hour's. Scientific men look forward to the result
of the undertaking with the deepest interest, as
some wonderful electrical phenomena are ceriam
to be observed during the process of submerging.
Those most nearly interested iu the plan are san-
guine as to all being successfully completed wilun
a month, and the state of ihe markets at New York
known every morning throughout England. Most
earnes ly do we hope that their fullest expectations
may be realised, though it is useless attempting to
conceal that the risks of failure to the present plan
are many and most serious.—Times.

The Ca(-sapeake is 2,355 tons and 4CO-horse
povver ; but the Shannon is 2,655 tons and
600-horse powe,-. They carry the s tme number of
guns-51 ; but on the main deck the Shannon has
30 guns, 8-inch, 65 cwt., 9 feet long, throughout ;
wguns of that
cal lsielirreeatt)hde2C2 guns, 32 pounders,hasoniy 858 cwt. or 56
cwt., 9 ft. 6 in. long, to make up her main-deck
srniatnent. On the upper deck the Shannon has
20 guns, 32-pounders 56 cwt., 9 ft. 6 in. long, and
a 68-pounder pivot, 95 cwt., and 10 ft. long. Tne,
Chesapeak:. carrii4s on her upper deck a pivot-gun
like the Shannon ; and two guns, 8-inch, 65 cwt.,
9 ft. long ; and 18 guns, 32-pounders, 45 cwt. 8 ft.
6 in. long. The complement of the Shannon is
560 ; that of the Chesapeake 530.

ATLANTIC SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH.

All the details connected with the manufacture
and stowage of the cable are now completed, and
the conclm•ion of the arduous labour was celebrat•=d
yesterday with high festivity and rejoicing. All
the artisans who have been engaged upon .the
great work, with their wives and families, a large
party of the officers, with the s3il9ts, from the
Agamemnon, and a number of diwinguislied scien-

tific vi.it ,rs,-were entertained upon this occasion at
a kind of fete actinpetre at Belvidere-house, the seat
of Sir Culling Eardley, near Erith.
An immen e marques was pitchei on the lawn
in front of the house, under which a sumptuous
cold colation was provided for the 850 visitors of
all ranks who were invited to shave -;. the reinie-
ina. of the:cl_ay. _The, dinner took Owe, at two
o'clock, (Awing Eardley presiding as chairman.
The invited guests were mated at a semi-circular
table, which ran round one side of the marquee ;

the Sailers and artisans at smaller tables at' right
angles with the principal one.
At the conclusion of the dinner the usual loyal
toasts and srenlies expressive of the amity. and
cordial feeling which exists between this country
and America, followed, and were most enthusias-

tically receiv( d.
After the dinner the bands played a well chosen
selection of hornpipes, polkas, Asc., which brought
out tho agile capabilities of the Blue Jackets in a
strong light, and made a most amusing portion of
the day's. proceedings. Sir Oulliug Eardley was
busy al waysand everywhere looking arter the com-
fort of his guest., and the day passed off without
a single contretemps to mar its general hilarity.
After this brief notice of the gala, is may not be
out of pace to say a few words regarding its great
occas'on, the cable itself, and the arrangements for
submerging it.
The Agamemnon is still moored off the wharf at
Glasse and ElI ot's yard, though this afternoon,
with the ebb of the spring tide, she commences her
voyage to Sheerness. There, too, her compass -a
will be adjusted, as she is too deep in the water to
be swung at Gteenhithe, At ptesent she has any-
thing but a sightly aspect, the great deadweight of
the cable and the rasher ponderous
app iances for
paying it out having altered her trim app, arance
'
for the worse. To approach her from tie yard is
neither an easy nor a cleanly task, and the visitor,
however cauious, will ascertain beyond a doutt
that the old maxim that one cannot touch pisch
and not be defiled is strictly true with regard
to t.r. The win., as we have already explained
in previous no ices, has been wouud over
the flia•itig stages from the wharf into the hold
of the vessel. °The machine by which this was
done registered etch fathom, furlong, and mile as
it passed, while the usual apparatus was em-
ployed to test the integrity of the c nducting wire.
This test, however, would only show when the con-
ductor was severed, and not unit the time for its
committal to the deep arrives will it be seen whether
it has been so attenuated in certain portions as to
part during the process of paying out. From the
small machine on deck it was wound at once to the
hold, where it lies in one stupendous solid coil 45
feet in diameter, and nearly 14 feet high. It is
beautifully arranged here, laid coil over coil with
the most perfect accuracy, and every precaution
taken to guard against a " kink" or fault occur-
ring in the paying out. Its being ranged in one
mass will much facilitate the operation of submerg-
ing. On b tard the Niagara, we believe Wig stow-:d
away in three coils, a decidedly obj,ciinnable ar-
rangement, but one which it was imp- ssible to a sid.
While looking at the ponderous mass on boars the
Agamemnon, one cannot fail to be struck by the
heat of the place in which it is stowel away, a heat
which might excite well founded fears as to its in-
fluence on the gu to perch& If we are not misin-
formed, the heat of the sun destroyed many miles of
the wire by melting out the gut' a percha while the
cable was lying in Glasse and Elliot's yard. Pro-
per precautions should be taken to avert rick from
this point. We have already explained how the
cable is coated with closely woven spiral wires, to
prevent damage to the core in paying out ; but, in
consequence of the two halves having been made at
different places—one at Birkenhead, by Messrs.
Newall ; the otherat Greenwich, by Glasseand Elliot
—a most egregious blunder has been committed. It
wit scarcely be credited, but it is nevertheless true,
hat the twist of the spiral wires of the Birkenhead
half is in exactly the opposite direction to the twist
of the wires in the half made at Greenwich. Thus,
when joined in the centre of the Atlantic they will
form a right hand and a left band screw, and the
tendency of each will be to assist the other to un-
twist, and expose the c, re. By attaching a solid
weight to the centre joining it is hoped this diffi-
culty and danger may be overcome, but none
attempt to conceal that the mistake is much to be
regretted. We are informed that Messrs. Glasse
and Elliot had neat ly 100 miles of their portion of
the cable completed before Messrs. Newell com-
menced theirs, and that therefore the fault rests
with the firm which began last.
The apparatus to be used in paying out the cable
is a'so looked upon by engineers as very ill-adapted
to its purpose. With a cable of such extreme light-
ness and no strength, and at to a vessel like
the Agamemnon, the slightest Pos'ible check or
hitch occurring would par, it like a thread. The
friction drums should therefore havt4 been of the
slightest kind consistent with preventing a " rush,"
and in fact only sufficient to ease it over gently.
Yet it is no exaggeration to say that the machinery
to be used is the very reverse of all this, and its
massive aspect strikes dismay into every well-wisher
to the scheme. Some of the first engineers of
acid have eipressed
the day consider it too heavy,

THE lONIAN ISLANDS.

' sioner prorogued them, and governed for the rest
of the year on his own account.
We should regret that Ill's strict disc'pline, the
only cure for the original evil of e;ranting a Con-
stittleion, should be relaxed. If, however, the
description given by a contemporary of alate scene
in the Chamber be correct, it is high time that the
Government should look to the maintenance of its
authority. Ever since the beginning of the Rus-
sian War the lonians have displayed more than
their usual fully and insolence. When the contest
appeared likely to be long and doubtful there was
no concealment of their exultation, and since the
pace their disappoiutmetet has been loudly ex-
pressed. It would seem that the Indian mutiny
has roused the spirits of the mal-contents, for the
outbreak in the Chamber is the boldest thing they
have yet ventured upon. The thing would be ir-
ritating were it n .t for the utter folly and feeble-
ness of th!ee noisy chatterers, who would be the
first to mike their escape if an outbreak were to
follow their mischievous declamations. But be-
cause the lonians are weak there is no reason that
we should allow them this liberty of abuse year after
year. reere is no saying bow far disturbances in
o'ller parts of Europe may not be encouraged by
the spectacle of a people seeming to defy openly the
pawer of England. This constitution is now recog-
nised as an absurdity, and should at once be sup-
pressed. The lonian Parliament has not- he excuse
of being a new and inexperienced asses offend-
ing for the first time ; it has indulged in these
scandalous excesses continually, whenever it has
been allowed to meet ; and now it should be closed
at once. Why are we to carry everywhere into ex-
tremes the policy of conciliating dependent races ?
We see the result in India as we see it among( the
lonian. We sincerely trust that if ever again
there be an attempt at insurrection, this miserable
pretence at a Republic will be swept away, and the
islands declared Crown Colonies of the United
Kinedom. But we should not wait for such an
oc,..asion to abolish the Constitution so unneces-
sarily gran'ed. The islands may very well.be go-
verned by the Lord High Commissioner and his
deputies without any such machinery as Lord Sea-
ton attempted to create.

THE INDIAN lIIUTIATIE.4.

Yesterday were issued, in the form of a return
,;o Parliament, a series of despatches, 19 in number,
relative to the late mutinies, and addressed by the
Governor-General of frriie, in council, to the Court
of Directors of the East India Company.
In the first despatch, dated Feb. 7, the Governor-
General, in council, informs the directors of a dis-
play of feeling on the part of the Sepoys relative to
the use of grease for the cartridges. He writes
" Fort William, Feb. 7.
" We have the honour to transmit for the infer-
meti ,n of your honourable court, copy of a corres-
pondeece rela ive to an uneasiness which first rnani-
leste 1 itself amongst toe men attached to the depot
of musketry at Dam Dum, in censequence of a re-
pert having reached them that the grease used in
+lid arsenal for preparing the cartridges for the En-
field rifles was composed of the fat of 'pigs' and of
cows.'
" The men Were appeased on being assured that
the matter woeld be duly represented, and, at the
suggestion of. the Inspector-General of the Ord-
nance, we have, no a present measure authorised
the issue of cartridges without grease, the men be-
ing permitted to apply, w.th their own hands,
whatever mixture they may prefer.
" As it appears, however, that service-ammuni-
tion requires to be bundled, and to be greased pre-
viously with a composition that, should last for a
cinsiderable timit without renewal, we hive re-
quested his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief to
cause some experiments to be made at Meerut,
where the presence of a Rifle Corps (her Majesty's
60th) offers means which do not exist at any other
station, for the purpose of ascertaining the best in-
gredients to b 3 used in greasing the cartridges,
with reference both to the feeling.; of the native sol-
diery and to the requirein ents of the service. We have
desired that we may be favoured with his excel-
lency's advice on this subject as early as may be
conveniently practicable. We would suggest to
your honourable court the expediency of obtaining
.some lamination on this subject in England,'
where doubtless many experiments have been
M-41 Your honouraoie cunt
matter has been fully explained to the men at Bar-
rackpore and at Dum Dum, and that they appear
perfectly satisfied that there existed no intention of
interfering with their caste ; and also that proper ,
treasures will be taken to remove the cause of their !
objection to the composition of the material used
for greasing the car ridges.
"-At the suggestion of the Inspector-General of
Ordnance, we beg to recommend to your honour-
able
court that no mote ready-made ammunition •
for the Enfield rifles be sent to this presidency."
The directors, in reply, express their entire ap-
proval of this order, and add that—" No more
cartridges will bo sent from this country. In
making them up in India there will not, we are per-
sued ea, be any difficulty in your prescribing a com-
position which, whilst sufficient for the purpose,
will be unobjectionable to any of the castes in our
native army."
In a dispatch, dated April 8, the Governor-
General mentions the expedient proposed to be
adopted. He says :
The objection on the part of the sepoys
was to biting cartridges, which it was currently re-
ported among them, were greased with fat of pigs
and cows. On this point our letter to the adjutant
general of the army, No. 116, dated the s:llMarch,
1857, has conveyed full information.
" It appe trs doubtful whether any composition
free from grease of some sort, as wax and oil, would
answer the required purpose ; and taking into con-
sideration the desirableness of avoiding ihe practice
of applying to the mouth anything which might
be repugnant to the religious prejudices of the
(From the Times.) natives, we have adopted the suggestion of Major
The lonian Islands h ere been virtually in the Bontein, commonding the school of musketry at
possession of England for half a century. They Dum Dum, to abuli-h in the platoon exercise the
are supposed to constitute a Republic under British practice of biting off the end oft` e cartridge, and
protection, but their affairs are, in rea'i'y, adrninie with this object to alter the instructions so as to
stored directly by the Lord ligh Commissioner. cause the end of the cartridges to be torn off by the
The islands are of the highest value as naval po-i- left hand.
Coes, and Corfu commands completely the Adriatic "His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief has
and the Levant.. The ',miens have even less than recommended that the altered mode of loading
the small share of good qualities which falls to the should be applicable to the ordinary percussion
lot of the Mediterranean populations. We need musket as well as to the rifle musket, and we have
not enlarge on a fact pretty well known, that our authorised this change to be carried into effect.
Consulates in every region where the Cephaloniotes "We consider that the new mode of loading
and Cortuotes wander are sufficiently employed should be introduced in every regiment, European
with their evil doings, in which they only find or native, in India, and we have instructed the
rivals in their fellow-subjects, the Maltese. Yet governments of Madras and Bombay accordingly ;
everywhere they receive protection, as much as but we are unable to extend the alteration to her
they demand and more than they deserve. Since Maj. sty's infantry regiments serving in India."
the Peace of 1815 they have been well and kindly The succeeding despatches continue to record
goy rned ; the taxes are little or mehing, the pre- various demensirations of a mutinous feeling on
sence of the garrisons brings money into Vie islands, the part of the Sepoys, the punishment decreed for
and the prosperity of the people is greater than that individual offences, and at last the disbandment
of any neighbouring community. The lonians of whole regiments. On the 18th of May the
had the blessing of good government at a time Governor-General forwards to the directors a
when the mainland was drenched with blood, and narrative of the disastrous events at Meerut and
when Greece was still a Turkish province. It was Delhi, and of the measures taken to meet the
impossible for the most ingenious hater of this emergency. In a despatca of the following day,
country to point to any real grievance, while the the governor and council urge the necessity for a
benefits conferred by the British occupation were material increase in the strength of the European
constant and undeniable. The system of admi troops. They write :--
nistration might, then, have been wisely continued, " The necessity for an increase of the substantial
and the mutterings of restlessness end discontent strength of the army in the Bengal establishment—
disregarded by a nation which governs successfully that is to say, of the European troops upon this
men of all races in every quarter of the globe. establishment—has been long apparent to us ; but
But the mania for- constitutions was too strong the necessity of refraining from any material in-
for the good sense of the Government. Under crease to the charges of the military department,
Lord Seaton's commissionership. parliamentary in the present state of our finances,
urable court in
government was granted to the islands, and all us hitherto from moving your bono
at Ber-
tha innate mischievousness and turbulence of the this matter. The late untoward occurrencesd
Luck-
has prevente.d
national character showed itself at once. Of course, hampore, Fort William, Barrackre
yenaequired
the Constitution is an absurdity. The islands are now, crowned by the shocking and alarminganevents
in
our military posts, and must be governed actor- of the past week at Meerut andhDavelehil,atteakl
con-
dingly ; and the arliament can never be anything nection with the knowledge we
but a means for a few unquiet and malicious of the dangerous state of feeling in the Bengal na-
spirits
it hearveel
ye convinced nsicteiNaeu
nocfretahsee uhrige
ournt
,strange and, at present
to show their hatred of this country, and tive army .
unac-
their sympathy with its enemies. Frequently the countable
as
language used by the wretched upstarts who call necessity of not
of a material increase in
themselves representatives of the people has been European strength,m but
troops bear to
so seditious with respect to England, so insolent the proportion _ which our European
and gross towards the Queen and the Commissioner, the native r.egutlialrt troops_ on the establishment. We
that the session has had to be summarily closed. are of opinron a e latter is now the more pres-
It is, indeed, said that Sir P. Maitland, the cele-
ib we Wheys that all these objects, political, mi-
siu,g_nece_ssy of the two.
brated "King Tom" of these islands, once closed
the session in his shirt, having been surprised in litary,and financial, will be immediately attained
bed with the news that a seditious
proposal was in a very material degree, by taking advantage of
about to be carried. What was called a free press the present opportunity in the manner we have
has been used to vilify the English honour respectfully to propose ; and we see
nd th
pepulatioe Greek
ntoto. er way in which all the same objects can be
Government, now the
to rouse the discontent of thea awed iu any degree, now or prospectively. We
preach the necessity of being attached to dr
Russia. _ _ Sir_ recommend that the six native regiments, whiiih are
kingdom under the prolection of capable of in effect no longer iu existence, should not be re-
Heery Wald, however, showed
!ate severity with placed, whereby the establishment of Regular Na-
whichdealing with them. The wholeso
himse
- insurrection in tive Infantry would be reduced to 68 regiments ;
he punished the attempt at.
ect and tis
Cephalonia had for a time the best en,-and that the European officers of these late regi-
mode of treating his "Parliament" was dually
ments should be
be used to officer three regiments of
• Europeans to added to your establishment at
wise. The Chambers were never allowed to sic. • Presidency.
They assembled, he made a speech, an address was
I this _ -fidently affirm that the government will
moved, to which an insolent amendment was al- "We 'ri respect of all iraportaint inter-
ways carried, and then the Lord High, -COMM.si be much stronger