From the yard of the Thames Iron Shipbuilding Company will this day be launched the first armour-plated steam frigate in the possession of Britain. The dimensions of the _Warrior_ are, extreme length over all, 420 feet; ditto breadth, 58 feet; depth from spar deck to keel, 41 feet 6 inches. Her tonnage is no less than 6,177 tons builders’ measurement. The engines have just been completed by Messrs. Penn and Sons. They are of 1,250 nominal horse-power, and are probably the most magnificent specimens of machinery that ever left even Mr. Penn’s celebrated works. Their total weight with boilers will be 950 tons, and for these the _Warrior_ is only able to stow 950 tons of coal, or little more than enough for six days’ steaming. The armament, reckoning her as a 50-gun frigate, will weigh from 1,200 to 1,500 tons, or about the weight of the hull of the _Great Eastern_ when launched. With the fine lines, great length, and immense horse-power of the _Warrior_, a speed of not less than 14 knots is counted upon as certain. One row of the armour-plates with which the greater part of the broadside will hereafter be covered is already in its place, covering a space of 5 feet deep by 213 feet long on either side. Only the lowest row has been thus bolted, and more than this it would be unwise to place, as the immense weight might strain the ship during the launch. The others will be bolted in her piece by piece while in the Victoria Dock. =Source.=--_The Times_, Monday, December 31, 1860. This formidable ironclad frigate (the _Warrior_), the largest man-of-war ever built, was safely launched into the river on Saturday. GARIBALDI AND THE GOVERNMENT (1861). =Source.=--_Letters of Queen Victoria_, edited by A. C. Benson, M.A., and Viscount Esher, vol. iii., p. 550. (John Murray, 1907.) QUEEN VICTORIA TO LORD JOHN RUSSELL. _February 10, 1861._ The Queen has received Lord John Russell’s letter enclosing the draft of one to General Garibaldi, which she now returns. She had much doubt about its being altogether safe for the Government to get into correspondence, however unofficial, with the General, and thinks that it would be better for Lord John _not_ to write to him. Lord Palmerston, who was here this afternoon on other business, has undertaken to explain the reasons in detail to Lord John--in which he fully concurs. THE BUDGET: ABOLITION OF THE PAPER DUTY (1861). =Source.=--_The Illustrated London News_, April 20, 1861. MR. GLADSTONE’S SPEECH ON THE BUDGET.