The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 11, 186 L

THE NAVY.

The hired screw steam transport, Melbourne,
Capt. Auld, from Woolwich for North America,
entered Plymouth Sound yesterday afternoon, at
two o'clock, and at five was escorted out by the
Orpheus, 21, Capt. Burnett, C.B. She was inspected
in the Sound by Port Admiral Sir _Houston Stewart
and Major-General Hutchinson , and was despatched
by Capt. Benson, agent fur the charterers, Messrs.
Thompson and Tweeddale. The two ships will fill
up with coal at Queenstown. The Melbourne, hav-
ing on board 1,200 tens of munitions of war, is very
deep aft, but will be trimmed on the passage.
Yesterday the Bombay, 81, screw steamer of the
line, which has been several months in hand, com-
pleted fitting at Folly-point, Chatham, for the
steam reserve fleet in the Medway. In the after-
noon she was officially inspected by Mr. Lang,
master shipbuilder. The Bombay was built in the
East Indies, and has just been lengthened at
Chatham, converted into a screw steamer, and fitted
with engines of 400 horse power. By her comple-
tion a splendid ship is placed ;at the disposal of the
Admiralty, and, as she is already partially equipped,
a very short time will suffice to have her ready for
service in any part of the world.
The Stromboli, 0, paddle, Commander Lord
Elphinstone, was undocked at Portsmouth yester-
day. She is destined for North America.
The Wasp, 13 screw, Commander C. Stirling,
was officially paid off and put out of commission at
Portsmouth yesterday. Her crew have been turned
over to the Chanticleer, 17, screw, for the purpose of
strengthening Admiral Milne's squadron on the
North American and West Indian station.
The screw steamship Hero,B9,Capt.Rogers, from
Spithead, arrived in Plymouth Sound on Monday
evening. She has embarked supernumeraries for
the flagship Nile on the North American station.

The-screw steam frigate Orlando, 51, was re
moved yesterday from No.l dock in Keyham steam
yard into the basin.
Considerable progress has been made during the
past week in the work of fitting the Defence, 22, at
Chatham; and, although much remains to be accom-
plished before she can be pronounced fit for sea,
there appears little doubt that she will be ready to
make her first trip in about six weeks from this
date. In addition to the hands employed upon her
at Chatham, a number of additional coppersmiths
and labourers are ordered to be entered at Wool-
wich dockyard to complete her works in hand
at that establishment. A great portion of her crew,
most of whom are continuous service men, have been
sent to her from other ports, and these, as fast as
they join, are berthed on board the Gloucester, 50,
in harbour.

Admiralty orders reached Chatham yesterday
directing the iron screw steamer Resistance, 22,
600 horse power, to be got ready for sea with all
possible speed. Instead, however, of the ship being
fitted by the dockyard hands, the workmen from
the establishment of Messrs. Westwood, Baillie, and
Co. will complete the work left undone by the con-
tractors. During yesterday and the previous day
a large number of mechanics arrived at the dock-
yard from the London establishment, and were at
once placed on the Resistance to hasten forward
her completion. A notice was affixed at the dock-
yard gates that shipwrights and joiners were
required for the steamer, and within a very short
time after the notice had been given the whole
of the required number were obtained. Mr.
Dodd, inspector of shipwrights, is to superintend
the labours of the contractors' workmen, and Mr.
Setty, the foreman at Messrs. 'Westwood and
Baillie's establishment, has been ordered to proceed
to Chatham with the drawings, plans, and specifica-
tions of the Resistance, for the use of the dockyard
officials. There is little doubt that the vessel will
be completed and ready for sea early in the ensuing
year.
Yesterday and Monday courts-martial have been
sitting on' board her Majesty's ship Victory, at
Portsmouth, for the trial of twn_finginecrs, lately
doing duty on board the Black Prince. Mr. G.W.
Sirewright, acting engineer on board the Black
Prince, took his trial on charges of being drunk,
absent from duty, disobedient to orders. The Court
found him guilty of the second charge, and ad-
judged him to be severely reprimanded, to lose six
months of his time, and to forfeit 20 days' pay. Mr.
Thomas George Heaven, recently doing duty on
board the Black Prince, was tried upon three
charges of precisely similar nature, It ap-
peared from the evidence that on the en-
gine being started to move the Black Prince
from the Victoria Harbour, Glasgow, the pri-
soner kept continually opening the injection-valve
and working the starting gear in the opposite
direction to that ordered by the chief engineer. He
also broke the auxiliary slide-rod by attempting to
move the valve in the wrong direction, and refused
to leave the engine•room when directed to do so.
Evidence was also given in proof of the prisoner
being drunk on board the ship, and also of his hav-
ing been absent from the ship on another occasion
without leave. The Court, finding all these charges
proved against the prisoner, sentenced him to be
dismissed the service.
A proof of large-size Armstrong guns, as well as
32 pounder old pattern guns, is now being actively
prosecuted at the Arsenal-butt, Woolwich ; and the
Royal Repository and Gun parks are being abun-
dantly stocked with reserves of batteries, in imme-
diate readiness for embarkation. An excitement
rarely witnessed pervades every department at
Woolwich, and the most intense interest is mani-
fested in what is going on.
The following appointments were made last evening at
the Admiralty :
Paymaster---Thomas Waterfield to the Wellesley, in
lieu of clerk
Assistant-Paymaster—Wm. Crump to the Majestic
Clerk—Edwin D. Green to the Pembroke
Master's-Assistants—Wm. F. Wheeler to the Strom-
boli ; Alfred S.:De Ridder to the Devastation
Assistant-Engineers—Charles S. Edye and Thos. Scott
(D), acting second-class, to the Topaz° ; James Legato
(ditto) to the Termagant ; George Woollard (ditto) and
Robert Phillips (ditto) to the Bacchante; James 11. Fer-
guson (ditto) to the Cumberland, for the Galatea

2 ILE PACIFIC AS TA2ION.

(From the Correspondent of the Times.)

VICTORIA, VANCOUVER'S ISLAND, OCT. 21.
Admiral Sir Thomas Maitland, C. 8., left on the
9th instant in his flagship the Bacchante, Captain
M‘Rienzie, with the Mutine, Commander Graham,
in company.

The Bacchante has been stationed here for several
months, and is now on her way to Tahiti and Val-
paraiso. She returns to this place i • April next.
The Mutine goes to Mazatlan, aqk "ie ports
on the coast, to protect British inteN.:4:,o) 'co,
which, as you aro aware, are threatened 'l3 't!t4l,
- 14
jured seriously by the present Government of :
wretched country. The Termagant is also on her
way to the same destination from Panama.
The only vessel of war in this colony at present
is the Topaze, Captain the Hon. J. W. S. Spencer,
in harbour at Esquimalt, and the two gunboats sta-
tioned hero permanently. These two vessels are
kept actively engaged on colonial and Imperial ser-
vice—cruising along the coasts of the island to keep
the Indians in check, conveying supplies to the
Race Rock lighthouse and to the encampment of
Royal Marines on San Juan Island, guarding the har-
bour against the desertion of sailors from the other
men-of-war, and occasionally visiting Fraser River,
and otherwise occupied on Government commissions.
Nothing could exceed the utility of these two gun-
boats to the colony. They add materially to our
security and convenience, and they are particularly
well suited for the services they arc engaged on.
Our squadron in the Pacific is unusually small at
present, and it is therefore to be hoped its services
will not be suddenly called for to protect English
interests at any one point, as the ships are few for
so extensive a station, and scattered all over the
Pacific thousands of miles apart. The force consists
of the following ships :—The Bacchante, flag-ships,
51 guns ; the Topaze, same armament ; the Terma-
gant, 25 (all three frigates) ; the Clio, 21; the
Tartar, 20 (both corvettes) ; the Mutine, 17; the
Hecate, 6 (both sloops), making in all seven ships,
mounting 191 guns, some of which—indeed, most
of which, are of heavy calibre, the whole squadron
being screw steamers. To these I may add the
Camelion, 17, a screw steam sloop, on her way out
(to be at Valparaiso next month), and the two gun-
boats stationed here.

It may be remarked that, in case of emergency
down the coast, the gunboats could not be spared
from this colony without causing much anxiety to
the colonists, who would dread trouble from the
Northern Indians; and inconvenience, detriment,
and expense to the imperial service, all which are
saved by the presence of the gunboats. The Hecate
is also a vessel which we look upon, in a measure,
as belonging to us locally, for the present. She is
the surveying vessel, and her officers have been
engaged for several years on the survey of the
coasts of Vancouv€r Island and British Columbia.
She has been in California for several weeks getting
repaired.

I cannot avoid again alluding to the anomaly, in-
convenience, and expense of not having a dock here
in which her Majesty's ships could be repaired.
Take the case of the Hecate as an instance. She
got injured within a few hours' steaming or sailing
of Esquimalt. Had there been a deck at the latter
place she would have been repaired in three days,
and in a few hours' steaming from the harbour
would have been on her station, and her officers
prosecuting their survey. As it is, she had to go to
San Francisco, incur the cost of coals going and
returning, as well as the cost of coals expended by
the Mutine in convoying her half-way to San Fran-
cisco and in returning to Esquimalt. So much for
the expense. Now for the anomaly. When the He-
cate got down to San Francisco Captain Richards
found that he would have to lie for six weeks before
the American Government dock could receive his
ship, because it had not (yet) then been repaired—
that is to say, the damage which the dock had sus-
tained from another of our men-of-war having
smashed it to pieces same months before-and which
rendered the dock useless ever since, had not been
repaired. The American Government must think
us troublesome customers and rather onerous
neighbours. Who pays for the repair of the
damaged dock I do not know; but our Govern-
ment will, of course, offer to do so, and if they
have to pay for it, the expense would go some way
towards defraying the cost of a dock for themselves
in their own port, on British territory. Besides the
delay rendered unavoidable by the state of the
dock, the Hecate would have had to endure a much
longer delay had not the courtesy of the American
officer in charge given her a preference over a
national vessel, and over several merchantmen
waiting their turn to be repaired. This was the
report we last had of the Hecate's case some weeks
ago. Whether she has got into dock yet Ido not
know. Finally, it can be no little inconvenience
to the public service that she has lost the best part
of the season for 'prosecuting the survey. It will
be too late to resume it on the vessel's return, and
she will have to go into winter quarters with only
half a season's surveying for her officers to " work
up" in their office.

Great Britain does not possess a single port or
spot in the Pacific south or north of Vancouver
Island (excepting always a point on the coast of
British Columbia adjacent) in which in time of war
a ship could be repaired. A ship could be hove
down of course ; but I should think that this expe-
dient, always tedious in cases of sailing vessels,
would be both tedious and very dangerous to our
present steamers, and all our men-of-war are now
steamers.

Naval officers tell me there are several points in
Esquimalt Harbour well adapted for docks and for
the construction of all sorts of works necessary for
the repair and equipment of vessels of every class.
I trust the Lords of the Admiralty will take this
important matter into their early consideration,
and do something which will enable our vessels to
serve out their commissions with efficiency, and
without breaking down our neighbours' docks.
The matter is becoming serious. This is the third
vessel we have had to send to California for repairs,
and one of our gunboats is in such a state that if
we had a dock she would now be on it repairing.
While upon the subject of naval matters, I may
take occasion to allude to a series of silly attacks
which was made by the local press upon Admiral
Maitland during the period of his stay here.
The first was founded on the fact that several
of the sailors who had deserted from the flag-
ship had, after capture and trial, been put in the
chain gang to work out their sentence. The con-
victed sailors were elevated for the nonce into mar-
tyrs, and a good deal of misplaced and spurious
sympathy was expended on their behalf. But as
this was a question of discipline, of which the Ad-
miral was the best judge, and as the sailors, all but
one, turned out to be worthless blackguards who
were a disgrace to the service, all I need say about
the affair is that all sensible men must understand
the inconvenience of keeping 15 sailors under
punishment in a crowded man-of-war in port,
unless they are put in solitary confinement, and that
it was a merciful alternative to let them undergo
their " term " on shore.
The other attack was compounded of the unfair-
ness with which the Admiral, of his own sovereign
will and pleasure, awarded the contracts for the
supply of bread and of ship's stores (chandlery) for
the squadron without first advertising for tenders,
and:(what excited most ire) of his indifference to
the appeals made by the press for an explanation.
The silent contempt with which he treated these
appeals, which oscillated between the pathetic and
the splenetic, was construed into a high crime and
misdemeanour against the sovereignty of public
opinion ! One might have thought that Oho obscure
Helots who barked so crabbedly paid a quarter of
the National Debt of England in taxes every year,
such was their solicitude for the naval expenditure.
. The charges brought against the Admiral reflect

only on those who made them. I❑ this, as in all
other affairs, the persons who conduct the news-
papers in Victoria are not in a position to ascer-
tain the truth. Their status precludes them from
learning anything which they do not see. The facts
of the contracts could have been ascertained had
information been asked for by any decent person
in the proper quarter. Here they are :—The con-
tract for stories was continued for six months only,
under a temporary arrangement, for reasons
originating at the Admiralty in London. There
was nothing to advertise for. The bread con-
tract was renewed at a reduced price to the only
man who could fulfil it, who has performed
naval contracts for some years with perfect sa-
tisfaction, who has secured, by " faithful per-
formance" of all his obligations the confidence of
several Admirals, and who supplies better bread
at a cheaper rate than the squadron get anywhere
else on the Pacific station. No one else possesses
the " plant" nor the means to supply the squadron
with bread. One or two men wished to get the con-
tract, and to have the bread sent from San Francisco;
and no doubt one or two more would have ten-
dered, and would have taken the contract, but they
could not fulfil it; and by failure in its performance
the service would have been put to an inconvenience
which it was the first duty of the Admiral to guard
against. He knew all this, and did not rush into
his arrangements blindly, or without investigation
and forecast. One of the petty officers put the case
very forcibly—" The Admiral might advertise till
he was blue in the face, but his ships could not be
better served with bread than they are now." This
is more expressive than elegant, but I believe the
sailor's dogma contains the truth.

You are aware that we have had a small military
force stationed on the disputed Island of San Juan
for some time, as our contingent of a joint occupa- ,
Von with the Americans. Our force was originally
80 men of the Royal Marines (Light Infantry). It
is now reduced from ore casualty and another to 66
men, one captain and two lieutenants of Marines, and
one surgeon. When the j oint military occupation was
entered upon the American force numbered the same
as curs. It is now reduced to 50 men and one cap-
tain. The officer who had been in command during
newly the whole period of the occupation, Captain
Pickett, obtained leave of absence some time back,
and is now serving the Confederate army in his
native State, Virginia. The whole of the regular
troops of the United States on the coast, in Wash-
ington, Oregon, and California (excepting only a
very small number in the latter country), are re-
called to New York ; and the men and the officers
on San Juan have received orders to hold themselves
in readiness to leave for New York also, as soon as
they are relieved by volunteers. This change
will not, I fear, prove agreeable to our
officers. They got on very well with the
United States officers; nothing could exceed the
good feeling and cordiality which from the first
subsisted between them on both sides. The respec-
tive officers were continually exchanging civilities,
and warm offices of friendship oven, while the men
fraternised ; but how it will be with volunteers—
particularly if they should be composed of the row-
dies who have so long hung about the island,
" waiting en Providence" to bring their "squatting
land claims" into value for sale—it is rather hard
to say. There are two favourable circumstances
which are consolatory. Our officers are gentlemanly,
frank, good-natured young fellows, whose residence
on the island for nearly two years has given them
experience, and the camps are 15 miles apart.
It is not my wish to criticise the action of the
American Government, but I may without giving
offence, remark that as the change gives the army
only so small an addition as 50 soldiers and one
officer, it is to be regretted that men who have
so well performed a duty of some delicacy
should be withdrawn, and replaced by volunteers
who may not appreciate the position as
well as the regulars did. That the Government
should desire to avail itself of the services of Capt.
English in a more active and important sphere at
this time I am not surprised, for he is an officer .3f*
high attainments; but I wish they had left the 50
men, or, at all events, had sent an officer of the
regular army to command the volunteers.
The greater portion of a sanatorium for soldiers
has arrived from the Cape of Good Hope at Victoria.
The materials are being stored here, but it is not
intended to erect the building at present, nor am
I well informed as to the object with which they
have been sent ; but if the intention of the Home
Government is to establish a sanatorium on Van-
couver Island for soldiers invalided in China or
India, their choice of a station is a wise one. There
is no healthier climate in the world than that of this
island. Warm in summer without being oppressive,
and bracing in winter without any severity of cold,
I have tried all sorts of climates, and find this

the best—the perfection of a temperate climate, to
which is superadded natural scenery of the most
varied and attractive character. I cannot recall at
this moment a more accessible place in our own
dominions than this island to India and China.
The passage from Hongkong to Victoria is, on the
average, only 40 days ; from Bombay it is more,
say 60 days ; and from Calcutta about 80 days by
sailing vessels:
There has been some talk of sending a regiment
out here. The Government could not adopt a wiser
plan. For several reasons, which I need not wait to
enumerate (well known to the Home Government),
this colony should never be without a regiment sta-
tioned in it. Had we had a regiment here in 1859, we
should have been spared the San Juan difficulty,
with all its heartburnings, trouble, risk, and ex-
pense: Depend upon it " a stitch in time" in this
matter saves much patching. If the Government
has any intention of sending us a regiment I hope
it will not falter, but send it speedily. We have got
up a Volunteer corps, but the population is yet too
small and too :migratory to make the force effec-
tual ; and next year it will be smaller ; for recent
discoveries of rich gold placers have been so
astounding in British Columbia, yielding to the
labour of individual miners gold in quantities which

are given by the pound, and not by the ounce, as
formerly, that it is almost certain the attraction
will nezt spring denude Victoria and the other parts
of the island of nearly all their able-bodied men.
They will all be off to the mines. The "gold fever"
is already general, and every fresh batch of miners
that arrives laden with gold dust adds intensity and
breadth to the contagion. Several men have made
handsome fortunes in a few weeks' work. It is
common to meet men who have sums varying from
5,000 to 10,000 dols.; and this evening (Oct. 25)
three men arrived from Fraser River who made
80,000 dole. between them in six weeks. This
amount was brought to Victoria last night. Another
man brought 30,000 dols., the result of his summer
earnings, and several miners brought smaller
sums. The steamer in which these men came
down from the river brought about 250,000 dols.
in dust. The amount of gold taken out of a
single district, named Cariboo, appears really
fabulous. But I am cognisant of the few facts
stated above, and of many others which I have not
space to enumerate.
In a recent letter I spoke of the fertility of the
soil of Vancouver Island. Samples of farm produce
shown at the first Agricultural Exhibition held the
other day at Victoria threw additional light on the
subject and corroborated my statements. For in-
stance, samples of plump white wheat weighed 641 b.
to the imperial bushel, from a yield of 30 bushels to
the acre. This is a common return, but 40 bushels
to the acre are yielded by land on which sheep have
been folded (fed), A sample of the white (potato)
oat weighed 441 b. to the bushel, and took the first
prize in this class. The barley was also very fine.
The show of vegetables was creditable, and the pro-
duce of field growth in mangolds, parsnips, carrots,
and turnips would have attracted notice at agricul-
tural shows in England. As for potatoes, no
eulogy eau be too fvourable for tho;:e of this island.