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animated one , and the fineness of the weather attracted a crowd of spectators . The first vessel , the Meteor , was launched soon after , half-past one , and the second , the Thunder , a few minutes after two o ' clock . * These floating batteries , or enormous gunboats , as they may be called , present a very imposing appearance . Their length between the perpendiculars is 172 feet 6 inches , their extreme breadth 44 feet 6 inches , and their depth in hold 14 feet 7 inches . Their tonnage is 1469 . They are coated with iron about 4 inches to 4 A inches in thickness , and are pierced for 28
10-inch Lancaster guns , carrying 68-pounders . The decks are of 9-inch oak , the beams being 12 inches square , and only their breadths apart . One peculiarity worthy of notice is that the mqoring-holes are below the water-line . The extreme draught of water ( with everything on board ) will be 7 feet 9 inches . The Meteor and the Thunder were launched with the steam up . Their engines are High pressure , and of 200-horse power . Three more of these batteries are in course of construction for her Majesty ' s Government in other yards , making five in all .
The Camp at Aldershott . —On approaching the heath , said to comprise 3000 acres , the long ranges of wooden huts have a curious appearance , and suggest the temporary towns of the gold country . Six . hundred of -the huts are ready ( about half the number intended ) , « nd these stand eighteen feet apart , on each side of a road ( a sufficient number being together to serve for a "battalion ) . Each hut for the privates is to accommodate twenty-five men , with a kitchen , and a range , or cooking-stove . With the exception of the fire-place , the huts are wholly formed of timber , boarded inside and out , and , in the first instance , were planted down on the soil without any foundation . Those erected more lately , however , have some concrete , with a few courses of bric"ks ,
for the woodwork to stand on . The roof is formed of feather-edge deals , covered with asphalted felt . The arrangement of the huts is not good . In fact , we should not be honest if we did not say that it seems to us to be very bad . A flat ceiling is formed with boarding at the level of the underside of the tie-beams ; and the windows ,-hinged at the top to make the matter worse , are placed low on the sides of the hut , not more than four feet six inches from ffie hinges to the floor . The room" has the aspect of a large , eggbox . With a quarter of a hundred men sleeping in it , the atmosphere will become poisonous .
It is true , there is a _ hole in the ceiling , to allow the smokepipe of a stove to pass through ; but the small annular opening left round the pipe would be altogether insufficient for the purpose of ventilation . Why have the flat ceiling at all ? If the boarding followed the line of rafters at a sufficient distance from them to enclose a layer of air , protection would be obtained from sudden alternations of temperature , and a more lofty and healthful apartment formed , of a convenient shape for draining off the vitiated air . The greater number of the Jmts are being executed by Messrs . Haward and Nixon . —Builder .
Lord Carlisle has paid a visit to the sick and wounded-soldiers ^ in . Dublin , _ His Excellency entered into conversation with them , and shook hands with each previous to addressing him , and when about to leave . The British Foreign Legion in America . — -An examination into the facts connected with the enlistment , in America , of recruits for the British Foreign Legion has taken place . Fifteen have been arrested at Philadelphia as they were leaving that city on board a steamer for New York . The number that has been raised in Philadelphia is estimated at 500 . In New York , a person named J . R . Bucknell , said to be an officer of the British army , has been arrested and sent to Philadelphia , charged with enlisting persons for this object . Mr . BuckneU represented himself as an engineer engaged in employing men to work on railroads in Texas .
Sir Thomas Coohranb's Squad-ion of the Baltic fleet returned to Spithoad from the Downs on Wednesday morning . L-argk Bodies of Men still continue to embark for the Crimea . This Baltic and the Z ^ leet . —A communication from the Sound , dated the 10 th of April , and published in the Independence Beige , says that the ice in the Baltic had not then broken up , but that tho entrance into that soa from the Sound and tho Great Belt would , no doubt , be navigable in eight days at most . Tho Gulf of Finland , it is added , would not bo free for another month . From Kiel wo hear that the principal part of Admiral Dundas ' e npet was expected to arrive there in tho course
of three or four days . A despatch from Hamburg of Thursday saya that an English fleet , of twelve ships of the line and four Bteamer corvettes was seen on tho preceding evening in front of Nyborg . Polish VoTLunteerb Fon the Foreign Legion . —Tho Morning Herald of Friday contains the following piece of satisfactory intelligence from Plymouth : ' — ' . ' Two hundred Poles belonging to tho part , of tho Russian garrison captured at Bomnraund , now in tho military prisons at Plymouth , have volunteered for sorvico in tho Foreign Legion , and have been accepted . On Thursday morning they loft the prisons , and embarked on board the Royal William , 120 , Captain Kingcomo , tore to wait for a steam-transport to tako them to tho pdt of the Legion . "
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MISCELLANEOUS . Sue Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy . —The Court of Common Council has resolved to present the above-mentioned Indian gentlemen with the freedom of the City . Alderman Kennedy , in making a motion' to this effect , said : — " The gentleman for whom ,, as a personal favour to himself , as well as on public grounds , he asked the freedom of the City , had given in charitable donations , of a public and private character , the almost fabulous sum of 300 , 000 / . By an official document issued from the India House , it was shown that his donations through Government , and in a public form , . amounted to the enormous sum of 86 , 000 £ At a public meeting held in Bombay , on the 16 th of January last , for the purpose of raising subscriptions for the Patriotic Fund , a donation
was announced of 5001 . from Sir Jamsetjee , and 250 ? . from each of his three sons , making a total of 1250 ? . When her Majesty , some time ago , was pleased to confer on Sir Jamsetjee the dignity of knighthood , the Parsee community , in token of their sense of her Majesty's condescension , and of the noble and patriotic character of him on whom the rank was conferred , subscribed a sum of 35 , 000 ? . as a fund to be designated ' Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy ' s Fund , ' for the purpose of defraying the expenses of translating European works into the Indian languages , for free distribution among the Parsee community , and in furtherance of popular education . To this sum , Sir Jamsetjee had added 35 , 000 ? . ; and the money was now invested by the British Government for carrying European knowledge into India . "
Damaging Pictures . — - At the Liverpool Assize Court , on Saturday , an action was brought against the Chester and Holyhead Railway Company , by J . Naylor , Esq ., to recover the sum of 4500 ? . for damages to certain pictures , which , while being conveyed across the company ' s lines at Oswestry , were run into by a train , destroying the horse , van , and the property above named . The pictures had been on view in Liverpool during the visit of the British Association , and were highly prized . After the case had been called on , the respective parties effected a compromise , the company paying the plaintiff 2500 Z ., and costs . Mb . Roebuck ' s Committee . —On Saturday , the first volume of the evidence in the Committee of Inquiry , respecting the army before Sebastopol , was published by order of Parliament . The Blue-book contains 729 folio pages .
Barnum ' s " Baby Show . "—A baby show is to take place at Barnum ' s on the 5 th of June . The premiums range from 250 dols . down to ~ 10 dols . A committee of ladies has been appointed to act as judges . The " finest baby under five years of age" will receive 100 dols . for being so nice . The "finest" twins , 50 , dols . ; the " finest" triplet , 150 dols . ; the " finest" quatern ( four at a birth ) , 250 dols . The fattest child , 50 dols . These are inducements . Barnum says , " Two triplets and one quatern are already engaged , and we expect the woman from Ohio with five at a birth . " —New York Daily Times .
__ Death from . _ Machenery . — -We derive from the Manchester Examirier ~ the" following details of a-most appalling accident which has recently occurred at Staleybridge : — " Luke Carter , a' self-acting minder , was engaged with another man in piecing a strap ; he was suddenly . taken up to a horizontal shaft , and became entangled among the machinery , so that the strap had to be cut to set the body at liberty . Before he could be got at both his feet had been torn from his body a little below the knees , both his arms were also broken , and he
was nearly knocked in pieces . One of the spinners heard the deceased shout out , and ran towards him ; but before he could get to him , the foot of the deceased flew off and hit him on the arm . The deceased ' s body was then going round the shaft . The engine was stopped in about three minutes after tho deceased was caught . In going round , he broke a steam-pipe . During the three minutes , tho deceased ' s body would go round the shaft close upon four hundred times . A small basketful of tho remains of tho deceased was picked off the floor after the accident . " — Accidents such as these , which are
not of rare occurrence , render imperative some protection to the workman by means of inclosing tho machines ; yet all such measures are opposed by tho master manufacturers . Railway Accident , —An engine-driver on the Great Northern Railway has been killed by an act of great rashness . While tho train was at full speed , lie sprang off tho back part of the tondor on to tho guard's van , and was in the net of walking over some luggage at tho
top of one of tho passenger carriages , when the back of his hoad struck against an iron girder bridge , and he was instantaneously killed . Ho was fond of betting on horse-races , and , in order to talk with any of hia turf friends who might happen to be in tho train , he would often pass from the engine on to tho footboards of the carriages , or reach tho latter by clambering over tho roofa to tho steps at tho end . Ho had already had one or two narrow escapes , but ; obstinately refused to take warning from them . Mountki * Escort Coups for Australia . —One hundred men , selected from tho polico of Glasgow , Liverpool , and other northern towns , have sailed from Liverpool in tho Exodus . The force , which ia to bo mounted , consists of 90 men , 8 sergeants , nnd 2 inspectors ; tho last-named officers being Captain Hampton
and Mr . John Cecil Reed , late an efficient and active inspector in the G division of the metropolitan police Garratt , the bank robber , proceeds by the same vessel . The African Slave Trade . —By the las t mails from the African station , we learn that certain notorious slave-dealers had . attempted to re-establish the trade at Lagos , but that Commander Miller succeeded in obtaining their expulsion . The King of Dahomey and the King of the Ashantees were on their march to attack Abbeokuta , the Olake of which place had made application for a naval officer to conduct the defence of his town .
Extraordinary Case : Rifling a Tomb . —A painful sensation has been caused at Bristol by the violation of the vault in which for . several centuries have reposed the remains of the Smyth family , of Ashton-court , situated about three miles from Bristol . It is now scarcely two years since the celebrated case of " Tom Provis , " alias Sir Hugh Smyth , was tried at Gloucester . It will be remembered that the trial attracted general attention at the time , owing to the success an audacious impostor obtained among the citizens of Bristol and Clifton . The present attempt , however , had probably more to do with anticipated booty than the recovery of documents . From inquiries made on the spot , it appears that there must have been at least seven or eight persons engaged in the
matter ; and , from the artistic manner in which the vault was laid open , it is equally plain that some stonemasons were engaged to conduct the operations . Owing to family differences , the aunt of the late Sir John and Sir Hugh Smyth resided by herself . She was of somewhat eccentric habits , and it was currently reported at the time of her funeral that a quantity of jewels were interred with her ; that , the body having been embalmed , the heart was placed within the coffin , enclosed in a silver box ; and that the breastplate , handles , &c , upon the coffin , were of pure silver . The thieves cut open the lead coffin of the late Sir John Smyth , and also that of the late Lady Smyth . The former they must have had
some difficulty in removing from its position , as it took four men to replace it . They were disappointed , however , in their anticipations of plunder , the leaden coffin in which are contained the remains of the Dowager Lady Smyth remaining intact . It is supposed , also , that they were disturbed , as they left a dark lantern behind them and some massive silver ornaments , which had been appended to the exterior of one of the coffins . A large reward has beenoffered for the discovery of the offenders ; but at present _ the police have no clue to them , although it is-more than suspected they belong to a gang who have long infested the parishes of Bedminster and Long Ashton , near Bristol .
Discovery of a Druidical Circle , &c . —The Perthshire Advertiser records that a small Druidical circle close to the highway has been laid bare at Tynrich by the removal of some masses of broom and bramble that had hitherto concealed it . It is about 18 feet in diameter , and quite entire , each of its huge stones standing erect and in its proper place ; but an additional interest arises from the fact that , while digging and levelling , the interior , four huge urns , about two feet in height and one foot m diameter at * tlie mouth , were exhumed , quite full of calcined bones , beside three or four stone coffins , formed of thin , unshapen slabs , evidently from the adjacent ground , and likewise containing the mortal remains of the ancient Caledonians of a
prehistoric period . Unfortunately , either from the extreme brittleness of the urns , or a want of care on the part of the labourers , the whole were broken to pieces ; but enough still remained to show that they were of the very coarsest manufacture , in shape remote from classical , and with no pretension to decoration but a profusion of scratchings without method on the outside of the upper portion of each . The coffins were equally unceremoniously dealt with ; but it is worthy of remark that they lay in no particular order in reference to the compass , but , if unything , rather inclined to south and north—indeed , one of them lay exactly in that direction .
Boylk v . Wiseman . —This never-ending case has been again brought before the public . In the Court of Exchequer , on Monday , Mr . Serjeant Shee moved for a new trial , upon the grounds—first , that certain evidence was improperly admitted ; secondly , that material evidence yvan rejected ; thirdly , on the ground of misdirection by tho judge ; and fourthly , that tho damage were excessive . In order that tho matter may upon . somo future occasion bo fully discussed , tho court granted a rule nisi upon tho first nnd fourth ground * . Sir Hjcnry De la Bkciiu died on the 18 th instant at ten o ' clock . Ho was director of tho Gcolotf iciil Survey , of tho Museum of Practical Geology , nnd of tho Government School of Mines . . .
Injury vnou Elephants . —A keepor attached to a travelling menagerie now at Manchester , having , while drunk , gone into tho elephants' den to flle « l > , was trampled upon and much crushed , but waiJ rescued , wwu two broken ribs , and other injuries . He liunseU nays that ono of tho elephants , lying down to rest , camo w nn all his body , weighing 70 cwt ., upon him , and that tncru was no intentional attack . . The Chops , aided by tho late fine wcathor , arc u « - ginning to put on a favourable appearance ; but , ovv » b to tho longth ond severity of tho winter , thuy aro no cosaarily vory backward .
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372 THE IEADEB ,. __^ [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 21, 1855, page 372, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2087/page/12/
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