16 JANUARY 1864, Page 3

In Baron Channell's judgment in the Alexandra case, we observe

that, after stating that " building " is not prohibited by the Foreign Enlistment Act, he continues, " I do not pretend to say whether any particular act, as fixing the ship's bulwarks, is part-of the building or part of the equipment and fitting out. That, I think, might be a question for the jury. I do not even say that acts done to the structure of the vessel may not be equipments. I should say that you were equipping a ship for an Arctic expedition by strengthening her framework in order to enable it to resist the pressure of the ice." We commend this passage to the considera- tion of the Messrs. Laird, or any other persons who may lay claim to the famous Mersey ironclads.