The Press.
London, England, 1853-05-21 00:00:00

Nam) STATES.

The following diplomatic appointments are said to
have been made at Washington by the President :
Governor Seymour, of Connecticut, as Minister to
Russia; General Gadsden, of South Carolina, as
Minister to Mexico; and General Dix, of New York,
as Minister to France. All are able men and leading
democrats.
Fearful disasters follow each other in rapid
succession. A melancholy casualty has occurred on
Lake Ontario, about thirty miles from Kingston.
Canada. The steamer Ocean Ware was destroyed by
fire on the 30th ult., when. horrible to relate, at least
twenty-eight persons perished in the flames or by
drowning. The upper cabin was consumed in fifteen
minutes, and in two hours the hull went down,
within a mile and a half of the shore. The
schooner Georyiana and some boats saved twenty-
two individuals.
A frightful railway accident hail occurred on
the New York and Newhaven Railroad, caused by the
carelessness of the engineer. A train from Boston,
comprising four passenger and two baggage cars, ran
otr a drawbridge into the Norwalk River. The whole
train was engulfed, and the passengers either crushed
to death or drowned. Forty-five persona were killed
on the spot, and many seriously wounded. This
horrible catastrophe had created an indescribable
sensation. The drawbridge of the River Norwalk was
raised to admit the passage of a steamer, and the
driver of the train. instead of stopping, continued his
course at. a rate of twenty miles an hour, and the
whole train descended bodily a distance of sixty feet
into the water below.
The Government expedition for the survey of the
Chinese Seas and the Northern and Southern Pacific
Oceans was equipped and nearly ready to start from
New York, under the command of Captain Rin7guld.
The field of its operations will embrace the North
Pacific coasts of Asia and America, surveying all the
reefs, banks, shoals, &v., Japan islands and seas, the
Gulfs of Tartary, China, the neighbourhood of
Kamsehatka and Okhotsk, the Aleutian Islands,
Sandwich, .te. There will be on board an
abundance of professors of science with suitable
apparatus, and it. is hoped that the destined voyage
of three years will result in benefit to mankind. The
squadron comprises a sloop of twenty guns, a brig of
twelve, a schooner of one, a steamer of three, and a
store-ship, carrying in all eight hundred and forty-
five men. This expedition is not at all connected
with that which has sailed for Japan, though it. is pro-
bable that the two will meet at ditferent points.

The printers in nutny of the large cities any on a
strike for wages. In Boston Imadreds of women are
employed in setting type. and the example is likely to be.
come mom general. In ninny instanees the employers
have 1NT4.041 to the terms demanded.
The Ist of May has passed In. and yet the Crystal
Palace, New York. is tar front being complete. Front ap-
peonmees, it will hardly be nerdy until the end of June or
beginning of lint packages and specimens ar
rapidly arriving from all quartets.
Tine calorie ship Ericsson is now lying at her dock in
Williamsburgh. Important alterations are going on in
her machinery, which the owners are confident will con.
siderably increase her speed. She is soon to be ready to
sail for London.
As the Arabia, whit!), reached Liverpool on Monday
from New York, was approaching Englad, on Friday last.
Mr. Henry Schlott. a cabin passenger. leaped overboard,
and was drowned. A lifedntoy was thrown over, the ship
stopped. and a boat lowered, which returned with the hotly
of the unfortunate man. life being extinct. Ile was an
Englishman, hat for several years a resident in the United
States, and bad lately become a partner in a respectable
firm at New York, and was possessed of letters of vtvtlit
upon England for 40,000 dollars.

SATURDAY,

It is stated from Mexico that General Boulbon was about
to attempt another invasion of Sonora. His force con-
sisted of LW) Frenchmen. Santa Anna had determined
to drive General Lane out of the Mereilla Valley, for which
purlse.e he had despatched a number of troops.
The American papers mention that hostilities had
ceased at Buenos Ayres, and that peace was re-established.
This intelligence is given without a date and without
authority, and cannot safely he relied upon.
Letters brought by whaling-ships state that the
King of the Sandwich Islands has made another
strong appeal to the Government of the United
States for protection against the designs of France,
which, it is said, menace an absorption of the
islands.

COLONIAL.
WEST IN DIES.

From Jamaica political news possesses some inte-
rest. On the 15th April the Council had rejected the
Import Duty Bill (the principal revenue act of the
colony). Upon this the Governor prorogued the
Legislature for a few days in a speech strongly con-
demnatory of the course pursued by the House of
Assembly. On the •95th the house again met; and
the members voted an address, which was to have
been presented to Sir Charles Grey on the day the
packet sailed. The language in which this address
was couched was so very offensive that a dissolution
of the house was supposed to be inevitable. As the
existing Import Duty and Rum Duty Bills would
expire on the :10th April, the island would be lett
without the means of raising its principal revenues.
The sugar crop was fast drawing to a close on the
north side, where the yield had fallen short of the
estimate ; but in the east the crop will be an average
one ; and in St. Anne's the prospect of the pimento-
growers was encouraging. The weather was favoura-
ble, refreshing showers having fallen.