The Express.
London, England, 1853-06-28 00:00:00

STORM AT PORTSMOUTH AND LOSS OF

LIFE.

(EY ELECTRIC YELEGRAYII.)
PORTSSIOCTII, MONDAY.

The weather today has blown a heavy gale, and
many casualties are apprehended. A shore boat, in which
were Lieutenant Lambert and Mr. Muirhead, surgeon, of
the Edinburgh, foundered, and they with two watermen
have been lost.

Whilst striking lower yaras on board her Majesty's ship
Amphion, a hook fell down, and struck Captain Patey,
fracturing his skull. lie is not expected to live. Two
men arc similarly wounded.

OESTIU OF THE DANUBE BY RUSSIA.
sUFFERLNGS OF ENGLISH 5E.4.11E.V.

For the last threeweeks lettere from Constantinople
and GAlets have brought energetic complaints of the injury
done to British interests and British lives by the working
of the Russian scheme for shutting up the Danube. The
last reports from the embouchure of that river state that
there were on the 10th inst. scores of vessels laden with corn
stuck fast in the mud for want of water, their crews im-
prisoned amid the poisonous exhalations which at this
season of the year steam up from the ooze of the river
bed. A large proportion of the vessels are British. That
this mischief has been directly inflicted on commerce by
Russia may easily be shown by the recapitulation of a few
notorious facts which M. Skene has well stated in his recent
instructive work on the Danubian provinces. [The pas-
sages of M. Skene's work which we are about to adduce
were published yesterday in the late edition of the Times
verbatim et literatim, as the staple of a letter from " our
own correspondent" at Constantinople, and without one
word of acknowledgment.]
" The treaty of Adrianople conferred on Russia, in the
year 1829, the right of establishing and maintaining a qua-
rantine station on ono of the mouths of the Danube which
forms the boundary between the Turkish and Russian em-
pires, and bears the name of Sulina, and as this is the only
passage practicable for shipping she thus obtained a direct
influence over the whole trade of the river. A bar of mud
of about 200 yards in length crosses this month of :Le river,
and the water becomes so shallow over it, when no steps
are taken to preserve a suitable depth, that only vessels of
light draught can pass, and these are obliged to discharge
their cargo into lighters, and re-embark it after crossing the
shallows. The occupation of Sulina by the Russians re-
ceived the sanction of Austria in a special convention passed
in 1840 for the maintenance of deep water on the bar, in
consideration of a tax or toll on all vessels crossing
it. This bar is formed by the gra.lual deposit of mud
conveyed by the stream ; and to keep the required
depth across the bar nothing further is required than to
stir the mud, which the current carries off. Before the
conclusion of the treaty of Adrianople the Turks maintained
a uniform depth of 16 feet on the bar by means of heavy
iron rakes, which they obliged all vessels to drag after
them during their passage out of the Danube. Since the
convention of Russia and Austria, concluded in 1810, no
; steps have been taken to clear the bar, which in consequence
has been gradually increasing, although English and other
ships have been paying so many Spanish dollars to the
Russians for a service unperformed, besides many pounds
sterling for the cost of lighterage, insurance, and losses,
which this Russian breach of engagement has entailed on
commerce. On one occasion the master of an English ship
accidentally fished up a big of atones from the bar, show-
ing that sins of commission as well as of omission are re-
- sorted to, in order to divert trade from the Turkish territory
to Russian ports."

EDINBURGH, PESTI!, AND DIINDEE
A special meeting of this company was held on Friday at
Edinburgh, when the bill now before parliament for m►k-
iog an arrangement with the creditors of the cempany was
approved of. The Chairman (Mr. Balfour) intimated that
the chief objects of the bill were to effect a reduction on the
existing debentures to 3} per cent for a limited period, to
reduce the dividend on preference stock from 5 to 4 Wet
cent., and to sanction the creation of new debentures at a
fixed rate, iu order to meet the outstanding obligations of
the company. The bill had been approved of by a special
• committee ti the noun of COMMOLt•