The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-29 00:00:00

THE GALE AND ITS DISASTERS,.

During the past week the weather has been of an ex-
ceptional character, and the variations of the barometer
have forewarned the weatherwise that mischief was
at hand. On Saturday and Sunday most destruc-
tive gales occurred all round the western coasts,
inflicting much serious damage. From Liverpool many
disasters are reported, and the state of the Mersey is
described as most extraordinary. At high water on
Sunday morning the tide was no less than 23ft. 10in. in
height, and, owing to the wind, it remained even at low
water Bft. above its ordinary ebb. The appearance of
the river is compared to that of a gigantic steam
boiler, and old residents in the vicinity put the storm on a
level with the remarkable gale in 1839. Happily, no serious
casualty occurred in the river, the American steamers and
others at anchors riding out safely. Off the
North-west lightship, however, No. 9 pilot - boat
was run down •by the Royal Mail steamer China,
belonging to the Cunard line. Several pilots are missing,
the exact number being yet uncertain. In the various
docks round Liverpool great mischief has been done. and
every vessel which arrives has a fresh record to bring. The
City of New York, from Halifax, had the misfortune to lose
abag of mailswashed overboard opposite the Rock lighthouse.
The destruction on land has also been very great. At
Bolton the walls of a new Baptist chapel in course of
erection were blown down, at a loss, it is thought,
of £l,OOO. A still more serious accident is reported
from Rochdale, where service was being held in
a newly-erected Sunday-school, on Sunday afternoon,
when the building was completely blown down, and many
persons were buried in the ruins. Portions of walls and
houses were blown down in many places, and the tele-
graphic posts and wires much injured. More remark.
able was the effect produced by the force of
the wind upon the railway wires. The progress
of the trains was actually delayed by its violence, and
the train from London due in Liverpool at 6 p.m. on
Sunday afternoon did not arrive till nearly an hour later.
The great quantity of rain which has lately fallen has
produced another element of disturbance in the prevalence
of floods. The Trent has overflowed its banks and sub-
merged the neighbouring meadows. The erection of the
new bridge at Nottingham has again been stopped in con-
sequence, and as the old Trent bridge on the Nottingham
side is giving way through the saturation of the ground,
traffic has become very unsafe. The Ribble, which has been
much swollen during the whole of this month, has also
overflowed its banks. Hundreds of acres in the Croxton
and Mawdesley districts are now under water, and low-
lying lands in other parts are also inundated, to
the injury, it is feared, of the young wheat. The waters
of the Thames at Windsor and Eton have flooded the
Windsor racecourse, the playing-fields at Eton, and
several other parts.

It is said that a third letter from Earl Russel'
to the Right Hon. Chichester Fortescue on the state o:
Ireland will be published early in January.

Birmingham was on Saturday and Sunday threat-
ened with Irish riots. The row indeed began. But the
polico arrangements were so good that the disturbances
w quelled. The local journals hint that Fenianism has
someth'ng io do with the affair.
DEATH or MR. CHALMERS.—We regret to record
the death of Mr. Chambers, the inventor of the Chalmers
Target, which took place on Saturday morning last. Mr.
Chalmers has left behind him works that cannot but make
him remembered and regretted by the British public. He
has been cut off just as his target is about completed and
his Channel Railway scheme likely to come into notice.
It is hoped that these labours of his life for the public weal
may not be slighted- by those in posiiton to reward them.
Mr. Chalmers leaves a widow with two daughters and two
sons.

The metropolitan correspondent of the Sheffield
Independant says , --" I am glad to learn thttt there is a pro-
bability of Mr. Beales's appointment to a County Court
Judgeship. Whether one agrees with all that ho has re-
cently done, or otherwise, there is no doubt that ho laboured
hard and successfully in the cause of reform, and that in
ec nnection with it he has made personal sacrifices of no
ordinary nature. These labours and the loss of his Re-
vising Barristership will only be modestly rewarded by
such an office as that which, according to rumour he is des-
tined to fill,"

Several of our contemporaries "are given to
understand" that there is no foundation for the state-
ment in a paragraph copied from the Examiner, to
the effect that Mr. F. J. Scudamore, the Second
Secretary of the Post Office, is about to be removed
to the Treasury, to work in conjunction with Mr. Stans-
feld. The mistake has probably arisen from the fact that
Mr. Stansfeld has recently joined the committee to inquire
into the state of the office of her Majesty's Customs, which
was appointed by the late Government, and of which
Messrs. Scudamore and Forster, C. 8., were originally the
only members.
How far election bets are valid was instanced in a
case which came before the judge at the Blackburn Coutty
Court. '1 he plaintiff, a factory operative, named Abraham
Knowles, had bet a weaver, named Thos. Hall, 20s. previous
to the elections, that Mr. Gladstone would not have fifty
of a majority of Liberal supporters. The money was
placed in the hands of a fellow-operative, named
George ltaworth, as stakeholder. On the result of the
elections throughout the country showing that Knowles
bad lost, Haworth handed the money to Hall, the
winner. Knowles, however, demanded his money back, ac-
knowledging he had lost, on the ground that the bet was an
unlawful one, and not being able to get it he put up Haworth,
the stakeholder in court. His Honour said, as the law stood,
he must give a verdict to plaintiff, although, according to
plaintiff's statement, he was not in equity entitled tkike
menfir, 0,13 blllactfairly lost theiel

7r.
C.i.f.:Lev

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Dec.',2B.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise,
walked and drove in the grounds this morning.
Their Royal Highnesses the Crown Prince and
Princess of Prusssia (the Princess Royal), with
their children, took leave of her Majesty this morn-
ing, on their return to the Continent.

MILI7 ARY AND NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

Her Majesty's screw Indian relief troopship
Serapis, Capt. John C. Soady, with troops on board
for Alexandria, sailed from Portsmouth harbour
early yesterday morning, but shortly after noon re-
turned and anchored at Spithead for shelter from
a westerly gale of great violence which swept the
Channel, acco:npanicd with thick rain, and which
increased in strength as the day wore on. The
sailing of the Ariadne, screw frigate, Capt. Colin
A. Campbell, for the Mediterranean, appointed for
yesterday., was also deferred from the violence of
the gale.

The Agincourt, armour-plated screw man-of-war,
26 guns, 6,621 tons, 1,350-horse power, arrived at
Sheerness yesterday afternoon from Devonport to
take the place of the Formidable as flagship at the
Nore. The Agincourt was accompanied from
Devonport by her Majesty's ship Terrible, 19,
paddlewheel frigate, 1,850 tons, 800-horse power,
Captain Travenen P. Coode, and entered
Sheerness harbour during a heavy gale of wind,
accompanied by heavy gusts of rain, from the south
west, the barometer being at 28.30, and still fall-
ing. It was foulid next to impossible to safely moor
the Agincourt. Her anchors were, therefore,
dropped, and fortunately they held the ground. At
the time of the despatch of our parcel, however,
the Government riggers were still endeavouring to
moor the ship on the west shore. The Terrible
proceeded farther up the harbour to Backstakes
Reach, where she anchored. Before returning to
Devonport with the seamen riggers who navigated
the Agincourt to Sheerness the Terrible will re-coal.
Staff-Capt. Spain, assistant-master-attendant of De-
vonport Dockyard, had charge of the Agincourt oa
the passage round from Devonport.
The Cumberland, guardship of the Steam Reserve
at Chatham and Sheerness, has returned the whole
of her guns, shot, shell, and stores into the dock-
yard, and is completely stripped and dismantled,
preparatory to being put of commission on the
31st instant. Her officers and troops will be
transferred to the Royal Naval Barracks, it being
intended to abolish the guardship of the Steam Re-
serve in the Medway, the duties connected with the
superintendence and charge of which will in future
devolve on the superintendent of Sheerness Dock-
yard. No orders have yet been received from the
Admiralty as to the fate of the Cumberland, "but s
report of her condition will be made in order to en-
able the Board to decide whether she shall be broken
up or retained in the navy for an hospital ship or
other purposes.
The Formidable (the last of the old class of 84'
gun sailing line-of-battle ships in commission)/
Capt. D. M. Mackenzie, flagship of Vice-Admiral
Sir Baldwin IV. Walker, at the Nore, is partially
dismantled, and, according to existing orders, will
be put out of commission on Thursday next, when
her officers and crew will be turned over to the iron-
clad ship Agincourt.
The private steamship Una, Mr. Smith, master/
arrived at Portsmouth yesterday morning from-
Malta, with a quantity of Government stores and
the following officers and troops on board from corps
serving on the island :--Brevet-Major Francis, 64th Regiment, iu command, and Mrs. Francis 3134
child ; Lieut. Aylen, 64th Regiment ; Capt. Cald-
well and Lieut. Corcor, Ist battalion 24th ; Staff.:
Surgeon Mears, in medical charge ; 385 invalided
.
and time-expired non-commissioned officers and
men. The roughness of the weather yesterday
prevented the disembarkation of the troops from
the Una, but that, will be effected this morning if
the weather sufficiently moderates, and she will
immediately afterwards sail again for Woolwich to
deliver up her cargo of Government stores. SII°
sailed from Malta on the 13th inst.

The following appointments were made yester'
day at the Admiralty :—Capt. W. A. R. Pearce to
the Egmont, vice Capt. Ingram, whose period of
service has expired ; Capt. Edward Hardinge t°
the Juno, vice Capt. Pearce ; Lieut. Harry F.
Hallett and Lieut. Frederick W. Bayly Jones to
the Excellent, for study.

THE RIGH7 IION. _MILNER GIBSON

ON PEACE.

"There was a growing opinion that the prcse°
naval and military armaments which were math'
tained in a spirit of national rivalry were oppressive
and enormous burdens that ought to and must be
diminished. That sentiment was gaining ground
very rapidly in France, where branches of the Eng-
lish Peace Society were to be found, and he he'
lieved the day would come when the world would
see that that society had done great service, be,
cause, by spreading information throughout Enr
laud and Europe, it was assisting to form a public
opinion in favour of a new policy, namely, to Pay,
down those excessive military and naval armament°
which were at present maintained—(hear)—arms'
ments which were not supported by the voice °
the people of Europe, but were, in fact, due simPl4
to the military class having acquired, in nearly
the governments of Europe, an undue ascendancy
They would hardly find anybody in France
who was not ready to express his astonishment, 11°
might almost say his disapproval, of the excessive
armaments that were being maintained in time cit
peace. (Hear, hear.) Then was not this a mane°
which should be taken advantage of to make Pro:
posals to foreign Governments to bring about ;
mutual disarmament? It was his firm belief tbaa
unless the electoral body took the matter in 1331;
themselves, so great were the ascendancy and _e
power of the military element in the government °
the country and the control of the departmentelici
that no material reduction in the expenditure 011
take place. A gentleman for whom he (Mr. Milner
Gibson) had a great respect, had made an imPres"
sive remark upon the effect of that silent, slow pr°;
cess of the formation of opinion upon the importe°o
subject of peace. lie (Mr. Milner Gibson) ktieto
it was frequently said that it was all nonsense
0.4
talk about peace and a peace policy, that man vi
a fighting animal, and we should always liat,o
;0
wars, and it was therefore not worth while
take any trouble about the matter. The gentle'
man to whom he referred said, 'lf I uj
asked what effect we (the Peace Societlis
have produced by our teaching on general °plain%
in England, 1 answer that it is difficult to ineee,;ll:
moral influence. You cannot move for a Paw';
P io
mentary return of its operations—you cannot
them into a schedule or statistical tables. Itio
subtle, impalpable, like the light of heaven and t—t,
air we breathe ; but, like them also, it is penetr,3t
ing, diffusive, irresistible.' He believed that the
process was going on, and he hoped that eleet°ei
would support the policy of peace, in which thee
were so much interested. What became of onr frod
trade policy if a war system was to be perseveic.
in ? They must recollect that wars upon the Ci°ol
tinent were almost as prejudicial to them as Werthe
which England was actually engaged, because
general stock was thereby injured. He had see
calculation calculation that the Russian war actually destra
in Europe no less than 340 millions sterling id
capital. If Ministers were really in earnest„ jfi
making peaceful declarations, they ought to f° do,
them up by action, and use their diplomatic 10'00
ence to bring about a reduction of armaments; ,a 0
it was very hard to get any representations llore
to foreign Governments in that sense because t rias
were so many persons interested in keeping ug.,„10.
establishments. The only occasion on which °roe
mace had been used in that sense was whel'i
Earl d Clarendon suggested to the Conge!
Paris that the great Powers should estahlie.oo
system of international arbitration which retie
prevent the resort to arms for the settlement 0.
putes."—speech at Ashton.