Star.
London, England, 1829-10-09 00:00:00

•ROM SIA IDWAILD

TO M. CROXEI4.
" Eatoo.square. July 17,1829.
" Ste—ln obedience to the desire of the Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty that I should state specifically all the points of
Captain Dickenson's conduct with which I was dissatisfied, during
the period of his bring in temporary command of his Majesty's
ship Genoa, in order that the same may be investigated before a
Court Martial (a measure which their Lordships are pleased to
consider due as well, to the character of Captain Dickenson as to
the interests of the public service), I have the honour to state, for
their Lordships' information, that from not making proper use of
the springs, directed by my order of the 19th October, 1827, to
be placed on the anchors, the broadside of the Genoa was not
directed to ber regular opponent in the Ottoman line; and that in
such a position she could not fire any of her irons except those of
the stern and quarters without endangering the Asia and others of
the Allied squadrons on her larboard side, and the Albion and
others on her starboard side ; that consequently, shot which in-
jured the Asia, and which came in that direction were apparently
fired by the Genoa; and that the Genoa did positively fire into
the Albion, probably (according to her log-book), mistaking that
ship for one of the Ottoman fieet,:although the Albion had an
English ensign it her mast-bead, to prevent such mistakes; that
Captain Dickenson having been. reproved by me for not using
the Genoa's springs, and having accounted for it by his inability to
get the men from their guns for that purpose, it was eeeee theleu
asserted in the ship's log-book that the springs were used ; that the
account of the battle liven in the Genoa's log-book erroneously im-
plies that she had three Ottoman ships of the line opposed to her on,
her starboard side, three 60. gun frigates on her larboard side and a-
head, and a double-banked frigate astern ; that Captain Dickenson:
returned Captain Bathurst as killed, and procured the surgeon's
signature to that return, knowing that he did not die till many
days after the battle was over, and that he retained his faculties to
give orders during the whole time of the battle ; and that by this
mis-statement he gained an honorary distinction which might not
otherwise have been conferred on him; that the refittal of the
Genoa for leaving Navarin and engaging the batteries, if re-
quisite. was unjustifiably, tardy; and that the same slackness
prevailed on her way to Malta : that the Genoa's mizen-mast
was suffered to go by the board on the 21st, the day after the bat-
tle, for want of being properly secured ; that the Genoa continued
Clog after the battle was over, at the risk and to the probable in-
jury of the allied ships, until hailed front the Asia to cease.
" In further addition to the statement in my former letter, which
was confined to the object of getting Captains Baynes and Canip-
bell placed at least upon a level in honorary distinctions with
Captain Dickenson, I have now, in obedience to their Lord-
ships' pleasure, that I should state specifically all the points of
Captain Dickenson's conduct with which I was dissatisfied, to in-
form their Lordships of an instance of insubordination of which I
would gladly have avoided the exposure :—that Capt. Dickenson
himself presented to me a letter in the nature of what is called a
round robin, purporting to come from the crew of the Genoa, and
desiring that I would appoint him in preference to any other offi-
cer to succeed Captain Bathurst as Captain of the Genoa. And it
is due to myself to explain, that I was then induced to relinquish
the reporting to his Royal Highness the Lord High Admiral this
instance of insubordination, which your letter has now made it in-
cumbent on me to bt ing forward, by Captain Dickenson's strongly
expressed contrition for errors, which he said he had fallen into
inadvertently, his own entreaties that I would overlook them being
supported by Captains Ommanney, Spencer, and others who united
with me in a desire to avoid the exposure of such misconduct in
this individual instance, on an occasion where a zealous execution
of the service was the general characteristic of the three combined
squadrons.
" I have the honour to be, atc.
(Stifled) " EDWARD CODRINGTON."

:MOM ssa CitOZZI TO SIB EDWARD CODZIMITON.
(Immediate.)
" Admiralty-office, July 25, 1829.
" Sta—ln reference to your letter of the 20th instant, relative to
the attendance of Captain Ommaney as a witness at the Court
Martial upon Captain Dickenson, I am commanded by my Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, to transmit to you a copy of a
letter from /Um. Sir R. Stopford. stating that that officer expects
to be in a sufficient state of recovery to enable him to attend about
the 3d of August, and adverting also to the need for the attendance
of witnesses now absent from this country ; and I am to request
you will let me know, for their Lordships information, whether
you think the trial may proceed about the time mentioned ; as in
that case their Lordships would not put the witnesses who are
abroad to the trouble of coming to England.
" I am, Sir, kr.
(Signed) " J. W. CROKER."

" Victory, Portsmouth Harbour, July 24, 1829.
" SIR-I have to request you will inform the Lords Commis-
sioners of the Admiralty, that in pursuance of their directions, I
communicated with Captain Ommaney on the subject of his at-
tendance at the Court Martial ordered to be held on Capt. Dick-
enson ; and he has informed me that he especta to be in a suffi-
cient state of recovery as to enable him to attend here about the 3d
of August ; and having in consequence requested the Deputy Judge
Advocate to ascertain from Captain Dickenson whether the attend.
ance of Mr. Millet, the late master of the Genoa, was indispensably
necessary. I have been informed in reply, that however desirous
Captain Dickenson may be of his testimony, yet he was willing to
avoid the great delay and increased expense by dispensing with it.
—Should Sir Edward Codrington be equally willing to proceed
without this witness, and others who are in the West Indies and
the Mediterranean, I should hope toile a day for holding the Court
Martial in the first week of the nest month.
" I am, &c.
(Signed) " ROBERT STOPFORD, Admiral."

!Mx MI.

TO Sit R0w414

(ti- ) "iiidon, July 20, 1829.
" Sta—An order hating been yesterday received by Admiral
Sir Robert Stopford, Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, trout
the Lords Commissioners at the Admiralty, to Assemble a Court
Martial at that port for the trfatof Captain Dickensou, for his
conduct during the period of bit 'be(ng in the temporary coin-
mand of his Majesty's ship Genoa, as stated in your letters to
their Lordships of the 14th of June, 1829, 24th of. June, 1829,
and 17th of July, 1829, I ant directed by Sir Robert Stopford to
apply to you for a list of the witnesses necessary to be produced
on the pan of the prosecution, Warder to their being summoned •
to attend the Court. and to infpcm you thet the Admiral will
appoint a time for aseembling* Count. as soon as it can be as-
certained when the respective Witnesses are likely to appear at
Portsmouth. He also desiredline to request of you to lurnish
the Court with a correct pladlof the Bay of Savants, and the si-
tuation of the different shipi during the actin% if yot are
saision of glint. I haveapplied to the Admiralty, but they.base
not got theso: t . .. •
" I have the,tottour to blia.lkr,Yotki yerypbedient wirant, . •
. (Signed) "M. DRIIETIIA M,
Depot]
elmigt- Advocate of the fleet?
" P.S.Be 'pleased to address t
.)tit to me at Portsmouth." -

.

:. +' . .

rout to $l. moue.
" Eaten-square, July ded. UM.
" In answer to your letter of Ibis day, marked ',immediate:
I have the honour to inform the Lords Comnalsslonere or the
Admiralty' that I named the master, the surgeon, and the other
officers of the Genes, amongst he witnesses considering the
former as able to speak to the position and general mode of .cOO-
- that ship at the time in question, and particularly as to a
report of his having disavowed the log-book account of the battle,
and of its having been drawn up by Capt. Dickenson himself'after
an interview with me ; the surgeon, as kiowing the state of Capt.
Bathurses faculties after be was wounded, and the tiase of his
death, and also as to how his name caciaphos,A,* joined.with that of
Captain Dickenson in a return of Captain gathurst using killed;
the other officers, not only as to matters to general, but as to the
circumstance of its being made known to Captain Dickenson that
the ship into which the Genoa was firing was not a Turkish Alp,
but the, Albion, as evinced by her English white ensign at her
mast-head, and her sails not beineuried.
" How far the evidence of these officers may be dispensed with,
and how far it may be supplied by others, can probably be ascer-
tained by the Board of Admiralty through the Dtputy Judge Ad-
vocate.
" In my situation as Commander-in-Chief at the time of these
occurrences, it would have fallen to my lot to have ordered a
Court Martial on Captain Dickenson, had I not judged that it
combined the interests of the public service with a lenient con-
sideration for him to relinquish such an investigation. On their
Lordships being in possession of the same information, they are
pleased to come to a different conclusion. Therefore, after for-
warding their Lordships object as far as lam able, I respect-
fully, and with the utmost deference, submit that it is for their
Lordships themselves to decide on the course most expedient to
pursue under all the circumstances of the case.
I am, &c.
(Signed) " EDWARD CODRINGTON."

'ROM silt EDWARD

GOVERNMENT CONTRACT
FOR CONVEYING THE MAIL BY STEAM-COACHES.

The Irish Post-office have entered into a contract with
Sir James Anderson, by which be undertakes to convey the malls
throughout Ireland at the rate of twelve miles an hour, in coaches
impelled by steam, calculated to carry two or three passengers, in
addition to the coachman and guard. This invention of Sir James
Anderson, for which he has obtained a patent, has seldom been ex-
hibited out of the yard in which it was constructed; but it is said
to bear very little resemblance to the drag-coach of Mr. Gurney.
The contract between the Irish Post-office and Sir James Is under-
stood to be for fourteen years, and the only pecuniary stipulation
made by him is, that he shall receive half the mosey which the Go-
vernment may save by adopting his system. Sir James will com-
mence operations by carrying the mails between Howth and Dub-
lin during the present month. The road is level and good, and the
distance not more than nine or ten miles. _ _

It is difficult to conjecture what effects will be produced by the
application of steam for the purposes of land carriage. The de-
mand for draught horses must, of course, materially diminish ;
lands now cropped with oats, hay, beans, or other horse provender,
will hereafter be cultivated solely for the production of human
food ; travelling will become more cheap and expeditious ; internal
commerce or interchange of commodities be facilitated and ren-
dered less costly than heretofore; every particular, in short, vela.
tive to trade and intercourse will experience, before long, an extra-
ordinary revolution.
England, from her inexhaustible stores of coal, dtpositeff In all
directions upon the very verge of the sea, surely must possess a vast
superiority over most other nations, so far as steaming operations
are concerned. Coal fit for generating steam is only found in
France, at considerable distances from the ocean. Russia is al-
ready dependent upon Great-Britain for coal ; as her steam vessels
in the Baltic now receive their supplies of fuel from Shields or
Sunderland, notwithstanding the heavy export duty. The coal in
Sweden is principally of the kind called calm, or kolm, not calcu-
lated for steam-vessels, owing to its liability to cake or clinker.
Portugal, Spain, and Italy, have little coal near the sea coast :
Austria is almost without a sea port. Will not Great- Britain,
therefore, derive more benefit from the discovery of steam than
any other European nation? In America, it is true, steam navi-
gation prevails to a great extent, but it is principally employed
upon the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, and other great rivers and
lakes of the interior, where whole forests of pine-trees are yearly
disappearing from the banks to furnish fuel fur steam-boat.. As
these supplies, however, become daily more difficult to procure, the
Americans must soon resort to coal as fuel, instead of burning
wood as at present ; and from the moment that the necessity for
this change arises, America will have reached the us phis nitro of
steam conveyance. The chief strata of coal yet discovered west.
ward of the Atlantic are situated in Newfoundland, Cape Breton,
Canada, and some of the Provinces of New England ; but in all
these countries the coal is of a quality much inferior to the British,
and entirely unfit to be used in many manufactures, so that they
import coal from Britain for various purposes. In short, coals,
though not an exclusive, yet may with propriety be styled a pecu
liar blessing to Britain, from their great plenty, their acknowledged
excellence, and, above all, from their being found in such places as
are conveniently situated for exportation.
The discovery of the power of steam was said by Canning to
resemble the invention ot " a new element;" and it is wholly be-
yond human comprehension to estimate what mighty changes in
the universe may be produced by this cause alone. Steam navi-
gation formed the first link of this wonderful chain of effects—
steam coaches may uuw be considered the second—to what other
purposes it may yet be applied time only can elucidate. With a
power so gigantic, perhaps mountains may be levelled—lakes
drained—rivers •turned—harbours excavated—estuaries opened—
isthmuses demolished—straits filled up—and the whole face of na-
ture changed !