Untitled

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 377, 18 June 1856, Page 4

The Monster Steamship.—The gigai^c steamboat now in course of consruction at"Messrs* J.Scot Russell and Co 'sp Miilwall.as-rapidiy^ap-proaching completion, although from its stupendous magnitude its progress appears but slow. It is satisfactory to know that the more difficult portions of the hull are completed and rivetted; some portions of the deck have been laid down, and cabins erected and fitted as specimens of the accommodation with which it is intended this magnificent ship shall be provided. An ernormous travelling crane is being constructed for lifting in the screw and paldle engines, and the boilers, previous to the launching of the vessel. The rails for this traveller will be laid on the deck of the ship itself and the working crab will be elevated to a height of about 100 feet from the ground. It can travel 600 ftet over the ship, and being 120 feet wide, can take lifts from either side. The engines and boilers are ■m a very forward condition, and will be placed in the vessel as soon as the crane is ready for work. Preparations of stupendous magnitude are in progress fox the anxious day of launching.

ADMIRAL LYONS ON THE WAB* On Monday the inhabitants of Christchurch, Hampshire, gave a hearty welcome to Admiral Lyons, their fellow-townsman, who was born there on the 21st November, 1790. The gallant Admiral has been staying1 with his cousin, Admiral Walcott, the local representative, and resident in the neighbourhood. An address was presented on the hustings, erected in the centre of the town ; to which the gallant Admiral, attended by his relatives (including Lord •Arundel and Surrey, his son-in-law, and Lord Maltravers, his grand-son) and [friends was escorted in procession. The day was singularly auspicious, the neighbouring gentry for miles round were attracted to the scene... and the town presented an almost endless series of banners and triumphal

arches;

Admiral Walcott read the address : which congratulated Sir Edmund on revisiting the scenes of his birth, after an eventful life spent chiefly abroad in the service of his country. It also related his rise, step by step, in his profe.ssion. until he succeeded to t^rVcommand of the English fleet in the Black Sea, and how, among other exploits, without the loss of a single ship or a single life, he succeeded in conveying the army from Varna and landing it in the Crimea, where again he performed essential service to the country by the unanimity of his cooperation with the land forces, by the emulation he inspired, and the example he gave, and by the cordialit}' of his intercourse with our allies. It likewise complimented him for the heroic devotion which he breathed into the officers and seamen of the fleet, whom he never led but to victory, as at Kertcli and Kinburn.

The Earl of Malmesbury elaborated the the deeds recoided in the address, with much eulogy of the Admiral's bravery. In reply, the feeling of the courageous sailor got the better of hirn^when he spoke of. the participation of every man in the fleet in the welcome he had received.

■A luncheon followed, at \vhich the Earl of Malmesbury presided, and, in proposing tbe health of the hero of the da/, spoke of the unprepared state of the ccuntry for war when it was entered upon ; in illustration of which, he stated, when he accepted office in 1852, there were not fifty guns fit for service. Not only that '* the carriages of those guns were in such an imperfect state that, at the funeral of the Duke of Wellington, when it was necessary that an escort of seventeen guns should attend his obsequies as a deceased Field Marshal, it was some considerable time before that

number could be found in a sufficient state of repair to travel safely the requisite distance over the streets of London." The noble lord spoke also of the ignorant calumTiV of some, and the personal pique and cruel jealousies of others, that caused the commanders sleepless nights and harassing days of mental fatigue supported only by an approving conscience, which should say to them x as he said now to" his gallant friend, " xou have done your duly." (Cheers.)

Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons replied in a most interesting' speech, giving a graphic account of his personal observation o( the battles fought by the soldiers. He said—

My lords, ladies, and gentlemen, you have done me the honour of associating my name with the names of those who haye/Ustiuguished themselves in the Crimean campaign. I only wish that I felt myself deserving- of the praise that you have so kindly bestowed upon me- But all I pretend to is an honest and earnest desire to do my duty to my Sovereign and to my country to the best of my humble ability. (Cheers.) The nature of the present war is such as to afford but few opportunities to fleets or large ships to take any prominent or distinguished part. In the Black Sea the Russian fleet has been self-annhilated, and we had the mortification of seeing their ships of war sunk beneath the waves by their own hands instead of by our broadsides, lv the Baltic, again, the enemy's

fleet has lain at anchor, secure under the shadow of their own granite walls and stupendous batteries. The coinmauders-in-cli.ief in the Baltic have had to report many daring exploits performed by the officers and men under their command, *nd I, on my part, have had the satisfaction of reporting what lias taken place in the Sea of AzofT, where I think I may say without any fear of contradiction, and with perfect safety, that the exertions of the commanders -in - chief have been seconded by as gallant a band of young officers as ever went forth in the service pi" their country. (Cheers.) And here, perhaps, it may not be irrelevant to say that, in the course of our expedition there, a letter was intercepted from the Emperor, in which his Imperial Majesty emphatically declared that he would almost as soot; see the allies in his palace at St. Petersburg as in the Sea of AzofF. I should be ungrateful if I did not < n this occasion acknowledge the good service of the officers and men under my command, which showed.itself in nothing'more than in a hearty co-operation witli the army. They conveyed the troops to the shores of the Crimea; they landed them there ; they supplied them with food and "materiel" to carry on the siege for eleven months; nor wa» their sympathy ever wanting in '.the. hour of sickness aucl suffering ; and thus was fostered that kindly feeling between the two services which has from time to time brought forth such good fruits /during this memorable campaign. We saw from the decks of our ships the battle of the Alma. Gt-neral Bosquet, with the French division, passed almost within hail of the Agamemnon, and anything finer than his attack on the enemy's lines could scarcely be conceived. We saw the British army ford the Alma and form on the opposite b:mk, undercover of the artillery, which, on that occasion, as on all others, peculiarly distinguished themselves throughout lhe Crimean campaign. We saw them also capture the position of the enemy, which the Russians thought impossible to be carried by any troops in the world. We saw them advance to the attack, and so striking was that movement that General Caniobert, at that time second in command of the French army, told me afterwards that he could only compare it to an English red brick wall supernaturally lifted up from the ground and propelled forward, so steady, so unwavering, and so irresistible was that attack. (Cheers.) I saw likewise the charge at Balaclava, and, however that may be criticised in a strategical point of view. I believe that it will go down to history as one of the finest an-l most brilliant cavalry charges that was ever made since the world began. (Cheers.) No man could have seen that chivalrous action, as I did, without feeling proud of his country and grateful to the gallant band who engaged in it. At the battle of Inkermann, again, I had a still closer view of that memorable conflict. On that day great and heroic deeds were performed. Each man in the French and English army fought as if the fate of the battle and the honour of the allies depended on his own individual exertions. (Cheers ) And great and glorious were the results, and I should think of it to the end of my days with the greatest pleasure and satisfaction, did there not come with it the alloy of the battle field; but that is the natural and inseparable concomitant of war. We saw, too, from the decks of our ships, the final attack on Sebastopol, in .■which, however, a violent gale of wind prevented us taking part. We saw all the alterations of the struggle of three hours which terminated so triumphantly for the allies. W e saw the French rush out from their trenches into the Malakhoff- W e saw also their attack on the Little Redan, where, after performing prodigies of valour, they were unable to maintain a position. The attack on the Great Redan was, to some extent, concealed from our view by the intervening hills, but I am well acquainted with the position and the circumstances of the attack; 'and here I may perhaps be permitted to say, in reference to it, that while our brave allies, the "French, favoured by the nature of the ground and protected by the fire of the English batteries, were enabled to carry their sap within thirty or forty yards of the Malakl.oft, it was not sot so with our troops- Every step they took was enfiladed by the enemy's batceries, and they were unable to approach nearer than from 220 to 240 yards of the Great Redan. Nevertheless, our troops, when called Upon, rushed out of the trenches to the attack, and although decimated, and more than decimated, in their passage across the intervening ground, they succeeded in affecting a lodgement in the battery, and would probably have retained it, but they found that, unlike the Malak-hoff,'.-which was enclosed all round, the Redan was open in the rear, and thus the enemy was enabled to pour in an overwhelming body of troops, and so to recover the position as often as it was wrenched from them. There is another circumstance, also,' which is not generally known, but of the truth of which I assured myself by asking General JSiel the other day in Paris. When the French made (heir unsuccessful attack on the 18lh of June, it was discovered afterwards that they had oniV spiked the enemy's guns imperfectly, which in their retreat were unavoidably turned upon our allies. A more positive order on this subject was subsequently issued, and on the

Bth of September all the guns.in the Redan were effectually spiked by the English, and thus rendered useless to repel the advance of the enemy's hordes from the rear. It was utterly, impossible to withstand the overpowering numbers that rushed in. But I glory in being able to say, that never was British courage more conspicuously displayed than on that day. (Loud cheers.) The example of the gallant Weisford, who fell gloriously in the action, and of the brave Handcock, who was killed at the head of his corps, will never be forgotten ; still less that of General Windham, who, amid a shower of buliets, and as if he had a charmed life, stood unscathed on the ramparts, urging on his men to the attack- (Cheers.) It may be said of them, as Lord St. Vincent said to Lord Nelson after his temporary want of success, in his attack with gunboats on Boulogne—:' It is not in mortals to command success, but you have done more, you have deserved it.' .The result of all these heroic deeds is that the allies stand on vantage ground on the eve of negotiations. If these negotiations terminate in a safe and honourable peace, and comprise effeciual guarantees for ensuring its permanence, then all the objects of war will be attained. But we must not forget the proverb. "Si vis pacem para btllum. There will be no relaxation on our parts in preparing for a continuince of the war so that, if the enemy will not listen to reason and shall prevent peace being ma<ie, we may look confidently, through the blessing of God and a righteous cause, to another glorious campaign. (Cheers.) My lords and gentlemen, I havespoken hitherto of the horrors and glories of war. I would now venture to mention an episode in the last campaign of a character that will come home to the hearts of all persons residing in Hampshire and this immediate neighbourhood with, peculiar interest—l speak of the benevolent acts of Miss Nightingale and of the ladies with whom she has been associated in her work of mercy in the East. (Cheers-) I speak with knowledge of the facts when I tell you that it has fallen to the lot of but few women to do the <*ood that they have done. To dilate on those acts would be superfluous; no tongue can do justice to to them; but I trust they are registeredjn heaven, as I know they are engraved on the hearts of thousands of their countrymen. (Loud cheers.) I hope you will do.me the justice to believe that it is impossible for any man to feel more sensible then I do of the honour which has been paid to me, not only in this room but out of doors, and I shall return' to my command with the increased desire, if that he possible, to do my duty.

The "Masonic Grip"—At a festival of ■ the Provincial Grand Lodge-at Glascgow oa Friday Sir A. Alison mentioned that during the assault on the Redan, an English officer led a small party of so'diers up to one of the guns placed in a recess o! t.ie Redan, and most of the men fell before the tremendous fire with winch they were received. The others were received by a body of Russians, and the English officer was about to be bayoneted, when he chauced^to catch the hand of a Russian officer, and had the presence of mind enough to give him a masonic grip. The Ru-sian in a.moment strucs up the bayonet of his soldiers, led his newly found brother ;o the|rear,and|treated him with all the kindness of a Mason