The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 8, 1861,

7HE NAYY.

By advices from Madeira and Cadiz we have re-
ceived the following particulars of the movements
of her Majesty's Royal yachts and the arrival of the
Empress of Austria at Cadiz from Madeira :—On
Tuesday, the 23d of April, the officers of the British
squadron in Funchal Roads and his Royal High-
ness the Duke of Oporto, Captain-General of the
Portuguese Navy, had the honour of dining with
the Empress of Austria at her palace on the island.
On the 24th the officers of her Majesty's yachts
Victoria and Albert and Osborne, and her Majesty's
steamer Argus, played a match at cricket with
English gentlemen resident on the island, and
after a lengthened contest, were beaten by the
islanders. The day was oppressively hot, and there
were occasionally tremendous showers of rain. On
the following day it blew a fresh breeze from the
south-west. At three p.m. her Majesty the Em-
press proceeded on board the Portuguese corvette
Bartolomeo Diaz, and partook of luncheon with his '1
Royal Highness the Duke of Oporto, Captain the
Hon. Joseph Denman being honoured with an in-
vitation to meet the Empress. Royal salutes were
fired as her Majesty embarked and disembarked
from the Bartolomeo Diaz by the batteries on
shore, from the corvette, and from her Majesty's
steamer Argus, the several ships being dressed out
from deck to truck in coloured bunting ; yards were
manned, and the scene, under the glowing- April
.ann tempered by a pleasant breeze, was most -in-
spiriting. The same evening, at seven o'clock, her
Majesty's steamer Cossack, 20, screw, Captain R.
Moorman, arrived in Funchal Roads from England,
on her way to the Cape of Good Hope, and an hour
later her Majesty's ship Isis, Capt. Barnard, arrived
from England, on her way to Ascension. On the
following morning the British Consul paid a visit

to the fleet, and received the usual salute of seven
guns. At 230 p.m. the Duke of Oporto paid a
visit to the Victoria and Albert, and was received
at the gangway by Capt. the Hon. Joseph Denman,
by whom the officers of the yacht were introduced
to his Royal Highness. Royal salutes were fired
and yards manned by the batteries and ships of
war on his Royal Highness going on board the
yacht and returning from her. On the 27th of
April, at 8 p.m., a gun being fired as a signal, the
Victoria and Albert made a grand pyrotechnic dis-
play in the bay. The Austrian colours, on a gigan-
tic scale, were first displayed, and followed by a
magnificent flight of coloured rockets. Then suc-
ceeded the Portuguese colours, which, to judge by
the vigour of the cheers and vivas on shore, raised
the excitement of the islanders to the highest pitch
of enthusiasm. Rockets of large size followed,
ascending to an immense height. A Royal salute
was then given by 21 discharges of mortar-rockets.
On Sunday morning, the 28th, her Majesty the
Empress of Austria and suite, comprising the fol-
lowing :—Princess Windischgratz, Princess Taxis,
and Countess Hunyady, Ladies in Waiting; Count
Nobile, Master of the Household ; Count Nietrow-
sky, Lord Chamberlain ; Count Hunyady, Master
of the Horse; Count Hohenstein and Count Tra-
pezy, Couriers ; Rev. Dr. Hasel, Chaplain ; Dr.
Kurmar, Physician ; and Councillor Bayer, em-
barked on board the Victoria and Albert, accom-
panied by the Governor of Madeira and a host of
high functionaries. Her Majesty was received by
Captain Denman and his officers, with the officers
of British ships of war in the roads, and by the
hearty cheers of the yacht's crew, which she warmly
acknowledged. The usual Royal salutes were fired
from batteries and shipping, and the latter were
covered with streamers of every hue. An hour later
the Duke of Oporto paid his farewell visit to her
Majesty, and at 1.30 the Victoria and Albert was
steaming out of Funchal Roads with her Imperial
freight, followed by the Osborne, Argus, and Bar-
tolomeo Diaz, the latter with the Duke of Oporto
on board, and which after a few hours was hull
down, owing to the superior speed of the Victoria
and Albert. The yacht reached Cadiz on the Tues-
day following at 9 a.m. Shortly after the yacht
anchored the Count and Countess Crivelli, ac-
companied by the Captain-General of the port,
paid a visit to the Empress. The Empress was
expected to proceed to Seville to meet the Queen
of Spain, and to leave Cadiz again about the 7th of
May for Gibraltar.
The Adventure, screw troopship, Commander E.
Lacy, pays off her crew, and hauls down the pen-
dant at Portsmouth on Friday, The Sparrowhawk,
5, screw, Commander Byng, is reported to do so on
Monday next.
The Griper gunboat, Lieutenant-Commander J.
Keats, tender to the Cornwallis, has left Sheerness
for Hull, to resume her position at that port.
The Star, 4, steam despatch vessel, has arrived
at Sheerness from Woolwich, and taken up her
position in the third-class steam reserve.
The Phaeton, 51, screw steam frigate, 400 horse-
power (fitted with one of Smith's common screws,
with the leading edges cut off), was taken out of
Sheerness harbour yesterday for the purpose of
testing her machinery and speed. The vessel was
in charge of Capt. Schomberg, chief of the steam
reserve at Sheerness, and of Mr. Price, inspector of
machinery afloat. Although both the wind and
tide were against the vessel, the trial was pro-
nounced very satisfactory, and was attended with
the following results :--Draught of water forward,
18ft. 6in. ; aft., 21ft. 2in. ; mean revolutions, 66;
vacuum, 251 ; mean speed, 12 knots.
Her Majesty's 6.gun paddlewheel steam sloop
Driver, commissioned at Woolwich, was yesterday
docked in preparation for sea. After a thorough
examination she will be again floated on Friday,
and will be supplied with her sea stock, her depar-
ture having been ordered without delay.. The Driver
is the first ship appointed to form a portion of the
naval force about to be despatched to the Atlantic
r.a eho pi-mecum' ur LL., ohiYYias auwAsofir *ho
GNLti-
nuation of the war now threatening between the
Southern and Northern States of America. Her
new commander, Horatio Nelson (1857), yesterday
took up his commission, his pennant having been
previously hoisted by Mr. Patterson, master, in the
absence of the commander. The whole of the crew,
170 in number, yesterday volunteered for the Driver
from the flagship Fisgard in the course of a single
hour, and were allotted to the receiving hulk Hebe
for transfer on Friday. The commander and officers
already joined will take up their berths immediately
on the ship floating out of dock. Her departure:is
expected during the ensuing week. Mr. Patterson,
a convalescent from 11 wounds received from the
Chinese forts while serving in the Weasel, has re-
ceived a notification to the effect that he will not be
required to proceed in the Driver, but will be reap-
pointed to the flagship Fisgard. An Admiralty
order was yesterday transmitted to the Commodore
Superintendent at Woolwich, intimating that a
second paddlewheel vessel of the same class as the
Driver should be put forward for the same service,
to be proposed by the Commodore, as well as a pro-
portion of six gunboats, the other ships necessary
to constitute the force to be fitted out at Chatham,
Portsmouth, &c.

The Arethusa, 51, converting from a sailing'ship
to a screw steamer, at Chatham, is ordered, when
completed, to be sent to the steam basin at
Sheerness, to be fitted with her machinery and
engines of 500 horse power. Orders have been
received at the ordnance department for the fol-
lowing armament to be put on board her, viz. :
10 guns, each of 65 cwt. and 9 feet in length ;
22 of 56 cwt. each, 9 feet 6 inches in length ; 18 of
45 each, 8 feet 6 inches in length ; and
one cwt. each,
swivel gun, 10 feet in length. As
soon as the Arethusa has been undocked the 50-
gun sailing frigate Nankin will, according to pre-
sleenngtthnoredeedrs: andbe placed in the same dock to be
undergo the necessary alterations
to convert her into a screw steamer.

The Ganges, 84, Captain J. Fulford, late the
flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir R. L. Baynes,
K.C.8., Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific, is

being dismantled at Sheerness. The crew are to
be paid off on the 15th inst.
The Rinaldo, 17, screw, was commissioned at
Portsmouth on Monday for Commander Hewett,
V.C., who joined yesterday.
Eighty ordinary seamen and firstclass lads from
the flagship Fisgard are ordered to be despatched
from Woolwich to Sheerness for service on board
the screw steam corvette Challenger, 22, recently
launched at Woolwich, and commissioned by
Captain Kennedy for sea.
The following ships have been taken up by the
War Department for the transport of military
stores from Woolwich for stations in the British
possessions abroad, viz.: The Gondo:a, the
Lunaria, the Rambler, the Queen, the Hero of the
Hill, the Duchess of Sutherland, the Black Eagle,
the Wanderer, the Northumberland, the Eliza-
beth, and the Patrician, sailing vessels ; and the
Britannia, the Peninsula, the Eva, and her Ma-
jaty's ship Wye, steamers.

In order to ascertain the nature of the ground
at the entrance of the river Medway, on which it
is intended to erect the additional fortifications for
the protection of that river, borings have been
commenced at different places in front of the exist-
ing works, but up to the present time the results
have been so far unsatisfactory that the original
plans will undergo some important modifications.
In the reconstruction of the new line of sea defences
it was originally intended to extend them close to
high-water mark, in order to push them out as far
seaward as possible. Owing, however, to the un-
satisfactory nature of the substratum of the soil on
which the heavy batteries were intended to be con-
structed, coupled with the great expense in carry-
ing out the original scheme, it has been decided

,hat the permanent position of the new fortifica,

tions shall not extend so far seaward as was at first
proposed, though of course the additional line of
defences will be of such a character as to render the
approach to the river Medway almost impossible.
The 100-pounder Armstrong guns, with which it is
intended during the present financial year to arm
the forts and batteries of the Chatham district, will
be supplied, in the first instance, to the defences at
the entrance to the Medway, where they will be
mounted in the most commanding situations, the
positions of which will be decided upon by the colo-
nel commanding Royal Artillery and the colonel
commanding Royal Engineers. The martello tower
erected at the right band entrance to the river will
also be supplied with the 100-pounder Armstrong
guns, instead of the ordinary 68-pounder 10-inch
guns with which it is at present armed. The con-
tract for the erection of the new fortifications on
the Isle of Grain, on the opposite shore of the es-
tuary of the Medway, has been taken by Mr. Baker,
London, and the works are to be proceeded with at
once, in order that they may be completed as rapidly
as possible. The sum to be expended in the erection
of additional fortifications in the Chatham district
alone for the protection of the important naval and
military establishments at Chatham and Sheerness,
will probably extend to £2,000,000.

The following appointments were made yester-
day gat the Admiralty :—Lieut. A. H. Alington
to the Rinaldo ; Lieut. Henry Cardale and Lieut.
Edmund J. Church to the Driver ; Lieut.
Hilary M. Carre to the Challenger ; Lieut.
Edward L. Hoblyn to the Wellesley, for service in
the ordinary; Lieut. R. P. Fitzgerald, additional,
to the Cambridge ; Thos. Leethem, master, to the
Madagascar; Wm. E. Fitzgerald, mate, to th©
Challenger ; Wm. Skipvvith, W. B. Walpole, and
W. H. Hall, midshipmen, to the Challenger; E.
Day and Roberts Byng, midshipmen, to the Rin-
aldo; Fred. Hire, master's assistant, to the Chal-
lenger ; Henry A. Easther, master's assistant, to the
Rinaldo; and John Browne, master's assistant, to
the Driver.

KEW GARDENS.

On Thursday, the 2d inst., a flagstaff of unrivalled
height and symmetry, made of the Douglass pine
(Abies .Douglassii), from Vancouver Island, was
erected on a rising ground in the Aboretum of Kew.
It is the gift of Mr. Edward Stamp, a gentleman
largely concerned, in connexion with Messrs. Bilbe
and Co., of Nelson Dock, Rotherhithe, in the tim-
ber trade of British Columbia. It is only justice to
Mr. Stamp and Mr. Bilbe to state that this is the
second spar which they have presented. The first
measured 118 feet long, 14 inches in diameter at
the base, and 4 inches across at the summit. It was
the largest pole adapted for a flagstaff that had ever
been known in Europe, and it was sent as a specimen
of the tree in question, smoothed and made ready for
elevation, through the liberality of Mr. Bilbe. Un-
fortunately it sustained two accidents. On its way
up the river it was cut in halves by a steamer, but
taken back by Mr. Bilbe and repaired at his
yard; and, again, in the act of being
erected, a rope gave way and it fell and broke
into six pieces. On this disaster being communi-
cated to Mr. Stamp, he promised, on his return to
Columbia, to replace the loss with a spar of at least
equal size and beauty; and in April of this year
another was deposited by the same gentleman, free
of all charges, in the Royal Gardens. It is of the
same kind of pine, but 41 feet longer—namely, 159
feet—and its diameter is 22 inches at the base
tapering regularly to 8 inches at the summit. There
are 250 concentric rings, or layers of wood, indi-
cating as many years of growth ; its weight is 3
tons, and it contains 157 square feet of timber. To
rig and elevate this noble object the aid of the Ad-
miralty was sought, and it was immediately granted
by the noble duke who is at the head of that de-
partment of Government. His Grace gave instruc-
tions to Mr. John Isaac, the head mast-maker at
Woolwich, and a sufficient number of sailors and
riggers, and the difficult task has been accomplished
without the smallest accident. Many persons came
to witness the interesting operation of raising so
lofty a pole. The site is on ground about 15 feet
above the level of the park, and at a suitable dis-
tance from the new " winter garden" now in course
of construction. A cut was made through the side
of the hill to its centre, into which the butt end of
the spar was placed horizontally, and then, by
means of a skilful arrangement of ropes, some being
attached to sheers and others to several adjacent
trees, this prodigious spar was hoisted in a few
hours to a perfectly upright position, when it was
found to be so absolutely straight that a plumb-line
cut precisely through the centre of the butt end
and the cap at the top. Flag-halliards and cross..
trees had already been fitted ; and a star, with re-
flecting facets and points, was affixed to the vane-
staff. Being equal in height to the well-known
Pagoda at Kew, this flagstaff may be seen, far and
wide, and, if less conspicuous, it is far more grace-
ful. The main object in erecting this noble spar
is to illustrate the size, unrivalled beauty, and
utility for naval purposes of the tree which pro-
duces it. The Douglas pine abounds in all parts of
British Columbia, including Vancouver Island, and
has been known for many years in our parks
and museums. A small growing tree may be seen
close to the entrance of the Royal Gardens at some
distance, however, from the flagstaff, which is in
the Arboretum or pleasure-ground. The latter, as
is generally known, is open to the public from the
Ist of May to the 31st of October, and the Bota-
nic Gardens, with which it communicates, continue
open through the year, Christmas-day alone ex-
cepted.

LAW lIVTELLIGENCE.—May 7.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

Sittings in Banco, before Lord Chief Justice Erle,
and Justices Wines, Byles, and Keating.)
HARE Y. HENTY-LIABILITIES OF BANKERS.

This case was argued some time ago, and the
Court now gave judgment.
The Lord Chief Justice said a rule had been
granted in this case to enter a nonsuit or to have a
new trial, and the question was whether the rule
should be made absolute. It was an action against
a banker at Worthing for neglect of duty in not
presenting a cheque for payment within proper
time, and the first count alleged that it was the duty
of the banker to send the cheque by the post of the
day on which it was paid into the bank at Worthing
to the bank upon which it was drawn at Lewes for
presentment; and the second count alleged that it
was the duty of the defendant to send the cheque
for presentment within a reasonable time. The evi-
dence was that the cheque was paid in to the de-
fendant's bank on the morning of Friday, July 10,
and the defendant sent the cheque by the Friday's
post to his correspondent in London, for presenta-
tion at the country clearing house on the Saturday
to the correspondent of the Lewes bank. Accord-
ingly the cheque was so presented, and it was after-
wards sent by Saturday's post to the bank at Lewes,
where it arrived on the Sunday, practically on the
Monday; and payment was then refused, there
being no effects, but if it had arrived on the Satur-
day it would have been paid. The plaintiff showed
that for eighteen months the course of business had
been to send country cheques to London in the
way in which this one was sent, but that before the
commencement of the eighteen months the custom
had been to send cheques by the post of the day on
which they were received to the country banks on
which they were drawn, instead of sending them
through the country clearing-house in London. The
judge asked the jury whether the custom had been
as above described prior to the 18 months, and the
jury found in the affirmative. The court ander
these circumstances thought that the rule to enter
a nonsuit should be made absolute. The question
was whether there was any duty on the banker to
send the cheque by the post of the day on whichhe
received it to Lewes ; and the court was of opinion
that there was no such duty. Before the course of
sending country cheques through the clearing-house
was adopted, the court considered that the time
which a banker had a right to stop a cheque was
defined correctly in " Rickwerth v. Ridge." There
the defendant was a banker at Aylesbury, and he
aii..uuttted a cheque on Messrs. Smith, Payne, and
Co., of London, on the forenoon of the 13th Janu-
ary, and on the 14th he sent it to his London agents,
Price and Co., for presentment, and they presented
it on the 15th, when it was dishonoured. An action
was thereupon brought to recover the amount paid
in discounting the cheque, and it was held that the
country banker was not bound to send the cheque
up to London until the 14th, and that his agents
in London were not bound to present it until
the 15th. That decision had been recognised
and acted on and treated as established law in
all cases as between parties to the cheque, and
the court thought that the rule applied not only
as between parties to the cheque but also as be-
tween the banker and his customer, unless circum-
stances existed from which a contract or duty on
the part of the banker could be inferred to present
earlier, or to defer the presentment until a later
period. No such circumstance existed here, and it
was admitted that the usage alleged in the first
count did not exist at the time in question. The
court, therefore, gave effect to the leave which had
been reserved, by directing the rule to enter a non-
suit to be made absolute.

Rule absolute accordingly.
HARRISON v. NICOLL-ARMSTRONG v. SAME-
FALSE IMPRISONMENT.

These were actions against Mr. Donald Nicoll, of
Regent-street, to recover damages for false impri •
sonment and malicious prosecution, the plaintiffs
having been in the employ of Mr. Nicoll, Mr. Harri-
son as manager of a department, and Mr. Armstrong
as a foreman. Both plaintiffs had been given in
charge for theft, and they were subsequently tried
and acquitted. The actions were tried before the
Lord Chief Justice, in Middlesex, when the sub-
stantial question raised was whether the defendant
had reasonable and probable cause for suspecting the
plaintiffs, and upon the count for malicious prosecu-
tion his lordship ruled as a matter of law that he
had ; whilst upon the count for false imprisonment
the jury were of a contrary opinion, and they found
verdicts for the plaintiffs, in the first case for £3OO,
and in the second for £lOO. Subsequently
rules
were obtained for new trials, upon the ground that
the verdicts were against the evidence; an d to-day
cause was shown against these rules being made
absolute.
Mr. Di Seymour, Mr. Phear, and Mr. Butler
Rigby appeared to show cause; and Mr. Sergeant
Pigott and Mr. Hopwood to support the rule.
The Court was of opinion that it would be more