EXECUTION OF A BRITISH SEAMAN IN THE AMERICAN NAVY.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 107, 9 June 1847, Page 3

EXECUTION OF A BRITISH SEAMAN IN THE AMERICAN NAVY.

[From the Skipping- and Mercantile Gazette .] We copy the following from a New York paper. The unfortunate victim to the extreme penalty of martial law was an Irishman, and, after great provocation, knocked down a lieutenant ol the American vessel on board of which he had entered. He made a most eloquent defence before the court, and excited the sympathy of all hut his obdurate judges. By preuous accounts, a hope was entertained that the commodore would reprieve him; but this hope, it will be seen, pioved to be delusive, for he was only respited two days, from the 13th to fhe 17th of Sept. This is a specimen of the American fashion of treating Biitibli seamen who serve in the American navy : " Otf Vera Cruz, Sept. 25, 1846'.— 0u the 17th inst., I was one ol the edified witnesses of the supremacy of the law over natural right. A sailor, named Samuel Jackson, belonging to the stoop St. Mary's, was hanged <it the forcyard arm, pursuant to the sentence of a court martial, before whom he had been tried lor sinking; a man named Taylor, one of the officers of that ship. The preparations for the J cxc cutio/i were numerous and solemn, a regular programme having been issued by Commodore Connor, and circulated through the squadron several days previously. All labor in the dillcrent vessels was forbidden tor the day, aud the crews were directed to assume their holiday attire. At 11 a. m. the signal, 'prepare to execute the sentence of the courtmartini,' was displayed at the inizen of the Cumber' land, when a yellow flag was hoisted at the foreyard arm of the St. Mary' a. The officers and crew of all the vessels at the auohorage were then mustered ou deck, aud distributed in such places as would enable them to take as much of the spectacle in view as possible. Here they were kept ou the tiptoe ol anticipation for more than half an hour, when the same signal that i be tore mentioned was hoisted, without the 'pieparative,' and the curiosity of the spcclnt>rs was very materially enhanced thereby. In a few moments more the victim made his appearance on the 'top-gallant forecastle' of the St. Mary's attended by two or three officers and the master-at arms ol the ship, and the Rev. I'itch W. Taybr, chaplain oi the Cumberland, (stepping over the forecastle railing on the suiifold wh'u-h had been erected there for the occasion, the piisoucr seated himself ou the lading, apparently on account of nervous deficiency. The machiueiy fitted for the principal act was simple, but strong and efFective. A I hick rope was rovu through a block at the yard arm, leading along the yard into the lorenutht, where it was rove through another block, and made fast to a weight of near four hundred pounds. After some additional minutes of suspense had been inflicted upon the thousands of spectators, a flash issued from the gun over which the scaffold had been raised, and at the same instant a human form was seen flying in a curved line through the air, with astonishing velocity. When the body reached the yard arm, so great had been the impulse, that the check threw it perpendicularly into the air, feet upwards, and rebounding against the 'fore lift,' it passed over the lore brace, split the halter block, and then after a lew vibrations, it assumed the usual dangling attitude of a hanging man. The operation, I have no doubt, has advanced the interests and safety of society infinitely, and exerted, a vast influence upon civilization in general— in what manner, however, I cannot say! This is^the first man that has been killed, on the part of the navy during the war— not a Mexican having yet received ihe slightest injury" Mr M'Geachy has just published some suggestions towards a general plan of rapid communication by steam navigation and railways ; shortening the time ot transit between the eastern aud western hemispheres. All the projects that have been devised in these projecting days become perfectly Lilliputian compared with Mr. Ai'Geachy's. Some twelvemonths ago the public were übtoiuided at the announcement of a grand European railway, to traverse all Europe from west to cast ; with sundry diverging lines, to all the gicat towns ou the continent, between the North Cape and the Pillars of Hercules! This, however, is nothing to M'Geachy's projects— whose expansive mint! embraces the following:— A railway from Dublin across Ireland to Bautry Hay. A new line of steamers to communicate between Bantry Bay and Halifax, m Nova Scotia. A railway from Halifax, round (he head of the Bay of Fundy.aloug the southern bank of the St Lawrence, to Q lebec. Another diverging from the above line to I'urtlaiid and onwards to Boston. One from Montreal to Portland.— Another from Boston by way of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wilmington, Cbarlestown, &c., to Tampa Bay.— A line of steamers from Tampa Bay to the Havannah. — A railway across Cuba. — Another Hue of steamers to the nearest point in Jamaica.— A railway to Kingston.— A line of steamers to Panam. — A railway across the Isthmus.— A line of steamers from Panama direct to Cantou.— Another line of steamers froai Panama to Valparaiso by way of Callao.—A magnificent line from Callao to the eastern coast of New Zealand, (Auckland}— A railway across New Zealand. — A line of steamers from the western coast of New Zealand, (Manakau,) to Sydney. — Then to Van Dleinen's Laud ! ! All this is pretty well, but in Mr. Geachy's. dashing view far from enough. There is to be, a railway from Monte Video, via Rio Janeiro, to Pernambuco, aud thence to the mouth of the Amazon. A line of steamers from Pernambuco to the nearest point ol Africa. A grand railway fiom the said point along the western coast of Africa to the north west angle of the continent, immediately opposite to Gibralter. A line of steamers from the said an»lc to Lisbon. A magnificent railway from Lisbon or Cadiz (we are not sure which) through Portugal and Spain (via Madrid) to the Pyrenees; thence through France, via Paris, to the Rhine; and from the Rhine through Germany to the north eastern shores of the Baltic !! ! Even this is uol all. Communication in the Old World and the New, aud between the two, will not be perfect until theie be a winter line of packets from Charlestowu to Bermuda there to join the West India mail steamers ; nor until there shall be sundry other hues from Jamaica to the great South American ports in the Caribbean Sea, nor until Toronto is joined to Goderich by railway, with diverging lines to Hamilton, and the southern extremity of Lake lluion. Until all these objects, vast as they are, be fully attaiued, Mr. M'Geachy thinks that neither governments nor people ought to be satisfied. The advantages are — that the voyage from Canton to Panama will be performed in six weeks, and from Sydney in four or five ; that the passage from Panama to Jamaica will be performed in fourdays— from Jamaica to New York in five or six— and from New York, ami via Boston and Halifax, to Bantry Bay, and thence to Liverpool, so quickly that nine weeks may be taken as the fair average time to be consumed between Canton and England. To he sure, " the Crown Surveyor ot Jamaica," though fully convinced of the feasibility ot his plan, does foresee some objections to his scheme ol universal communication ; but they are slight compared with the magnitude of

the objects to be attained. Among objections we may, ourselves, just mention two— first, that the construction of the ships, railways, engines, &c, would require, for a century to come, the arm of every male on earth between fifteen and fifty years of age, and secondly the eXpense would be more thousands of millions than we can calculate. — Athenaum.

Laborious Zeal and Privations of the Colonial Bishops. — The Bishop of Tolonto, when on a visitation and confirmation tour in 1542, passed a night on an island in Lake Huron, under incessant and penetrating rain, and amid a storm which blew down the tents. — And the same prelate, on the same occasion, when prevented from proceeding to the place where he had tesolved to hold a confirmation, by the dangerous state of the roads and ferry, remonstrated with his clergy who had made this alteration in his arrangements, and who uiged his not pi oceeding, dint assured them that a load which could be traversed by a piiest and his people, might well be adventured on by a j bishop, The Bishop of Montreal drove in an open cariole through a 'raging snow storm,* and over, or rather in deep snow, m which the hoise was occtibionally almost buried, in older to hold a confirmation, and administered tlinl apostolic rite in a "diminutive wooden building" (ihe church sojourning literally in tabernacles) while melting snow poured down upon the altar part where he was officiating. The venerable Bishop of Nova Scotia travelled under a powerful hot August sun tvicnty five miles, to consecrate a church, and hold a confirmation ; he began the journey by water, and after contending for a time with a high and contrary wind, was obliged to shift into a settlers waggon, and traverse roads so rough and dangerous, that parts were only passable on lout ; on hi* arrival he went through the two oilices ofconsecnuio^i (church and burial ground) and confirmation, and delivered an address to the iiewlj confirmed ; and after tarry ing awhile at a settler's four miles fioiii the church, he went foiward twelve miles of a wi etched road, part of it through a deep wood full of stumps, and roots and stones, after nightfall, and after closing a long ferry, arrived at his destination at midnight :— and these exertions were made let it Le bornu in mind, by a man of advanced age, now upwards of forty years in orders., and more than twenty years a bishop, has been spent in labours such as these, and in a rough and variable climate. The energy and endu» ance of the Bishop of New Zealand are so well known, and have attracted so much at<ention, and the instances of them ate so many, that it will suflice to adduce his " pushing four hours in the dark m a canoe through a swamp, and then wading a quaitet of a mile to terra firma through mud up to the knees," when making an inspection of his diocese, and visiting his mission stations; — Ins travelling on that visitation tour (on which he was absent from home more than six months) by sea 1 ISO miles, walking G62, riding only BU£, and going in an open boat 249, making a toial of 2277-};— and again in anotlier visitation tout, walking in twddajs 70 mi let,, and swimming across a river, in older to be present on the third da) (Sunday) at the services at one of tin* mission station* ; looking upon an immersion, troin the swamping of a boat, " without any very serious appreheiibion," because all his part\ wereswimmeis, and he had no baggage ; fordiiig one river with the aid of a tent pole, and wading through another with " the water to the neck," and in which " the strength of the stream made it diflicult to walk." And these only bodily labouis; for daily he was evangelizing, preaching, saying prayers and sei vices of the church, as well in the native language for the aborigines u> in English for the settlers ; baptizing, solemnising marriages, and constantly conferring with natives '♦ to win them to Christ," and with Europeans, to confirm and stablish some, to lead others to repentance. — Oxford and Cambridge Review.

WHO WROTE THE NATIONAL ANTHEM ? Among the celebrated writers and performers of music at this period, was that of Dr. John Bull, to whom tradition ascribes the honour of composing our national air, of " God save the King." This honour, however, has never been unanimously bestowed ; and it has lately considerably faded on the Doctor's brow, by information supplied in an elaborate and erudite work on "Old National English Airs," by W. Chappell. Mr. Chappell there shows by considerations of great force, that the author of the anthem was a Henry Carey, then living in London. Carey was disaffected towards the reigning government, and composed the air on the eve of the insurrection in 1715, in furtherance of the cause of James the pretender, whose name was the burden of his theme. The insurrection failed, and the tune lay dormant till the occurrence of the victory of Admiral Vernon, in 1740, when the author met a party at a tavern, and sang it substituting the word "George" for "James," in celebration of the triumph. Dr. Arne harmonized it, and brought it out in Drury Lane Theatre in 1743, with great eiFect, when another pretender aspired to usurp the British crown. — It then took an elevated stand in the musical world, and may be said ever since to have been in growing favour with the public. It is singular that this anthem has served the cause it intended to destroy.— Thomas Hirst. It is with our judgements as our watches ; none go just alike, yet each believes his own — Pope. How to Man the Navy. I—The1 — The following circular, No. 22, dated Admiralty, September 1, 18 1G, cannot be too extensively promulgated, conveying, as it does, information of the utmost importance to the men of the Royal Navy :—: — "Memoiandum.— ln all futuie cases, when any of her Majesty's ships is about to be paid ofl", their Lordships desire it may be distinctly explained to the men, that, if they choose to continue in the service, they may have a month or six weeks' leave of absence, dining which time their time and pay will go on, and that they will be at liberty to join any of her Majesty's ships fitting out at any ports, from their return from such leave. Their lordships further desire that •very facility may be given to the men to deposit their hammocks, cloth, s, &«., in the dockyard, during their stiiy on shore."