The Express.
London, England, 1848-01-19 00:00:00

WEDNESDAY FrVANING,,JANUIRY 19, 1848.

THE LOSS OF THE AVENGER.
The following letter from Mr. Lemma (the gene) to his
wife, residing at Portsmouth adds anodise *onion to the
narratives w*iia have already bees rehabbed of the law
of the Avenger:
. " MALTA., JAI. 4.—1 take this 1114SeMe eggerteW
writing a few lines to you to tell you I ea/01W
ing the most dreadful shipwreck ever keelefll. The Answer
ran on a reef of rocks on the night of the lOek of Deeembee,
about tan o'clock. I was is bed at the Was, hat was awoke
by the shook. fluoridate at bed wed hew to beg he my
•thess, but a very barmy see *dim the dig have her en-
tirely on her beset ea& I sea ea desk without ay &thee,
when I was ordered le get the waiters lammed, Mat there
was such a dos ems that net • Era would dear away the
beats. At led ems et the einem. together with myself
milts caplets", elewerd, loweeed gee et the boats, and
zeit and Ism ethers shamed sir Am war ill.fated
with byes that we abseil be able to reader
gem eulelemee to our dew gel litieeelled
bat I am any to say without seems We had hardly
shoved off from the ship when the arelemaell meat over the
side, taking with it the funnel aadmleashersolle•Mhieh fell
in-board, and must have killed • ausabar et see. A minute
or so ate' this the foremast and berm gek went, leering the
ship • total wrath in less than 111 Was*. All this time the
wind and see were driving our little ban away from our al-
ined ship, which we lost sight off la Ism than ea hour and
• half, and in this time the wind blew a gale ; and I then
began to inquire who was in the boat, whoa, to sty sorrow,
I found that I had not a man in the boat who meld do
a thing. It must have been nearly twelve o'clock when
it came on to hail and rain ia such • way that I
thought we should have been sunk ; one moment we
were on the top of the monatain wave, the next seemed
the bottom of the as. expecting every second to
be oar last. We were all praying for daylight, and at
last it came, bringing to our gars aU the horrors of the pre-
vious darkness. I then took a glance at my ill-fated cora-
MiG. Oh, what a sight to sea !—four of the eight lying
eer, or nearly so, at my feet, the wind still increasing,
and the eta runner; mountains high, which broke over and
nearly filled us a great many times. At last land op-
peered right ahead, and our little boat was tearing
through the ma. We made out the land to be the
coast of Barbary ; we were forced to run right for the
land ; if we had not, we should have essuredly been
lost. It was now about ten o'clock, end I found may eye.
sight and sUrongth leaving me. Our boat was nearing
the shore at an • rate and when within a few
hundred yards of the land our little boat was canned, when
four sank to rise no more • the other four reached the shore
and fall senseless on the beech, or nearly so, bat coming to
our noses we got up and commenced walkiint, we knew not
whither. At /sat we fall in with an Arab, who took as to
his hut, and gave us some warm milk, which brought us to
our right senses, when we tried to make him understand we
wanted to get to • place where we could get a vessel to take
to the assistant* of our lamented shipmates. We got •
vessel ourselves after travelling a hundred miles, which we
did in two days, with our faithful Arab for • guide ; but I
• am sorry to say when we got to the place where our ship
ran on shore she was gone down, and every soul had perished,
I belay in all 256 persons."
The following extract from a prints letter, dated from
Malta, narrates a narrow escape from the fate of the un-
happy crew of the vessel. The writer who was on his way
to Malta, bad been hashed by Capt. Napier to sail as his
guest in the Avenger:
" The steam was got up, and the anchor actually weighed,
but whilst this was going on we were bmrded by the
sco of the Oriental Company's 'gent, at Gibraltar, with
e letter from his father to Captain Napier, in which it was
pointed out that, by • clause in the contract between
government and the company, it is laid down that no
ship of war is to take passengers, if leaving harbour at
the same time and with the same destination as any of
the company's packets, provided the latter have spare
room for passenger* at the time, and farther referring
him to an Admiralty order enforcing observance of
the same. Neither Napier nor myself knew any-
thing of such • regulation ; and, from what I could
make out, it seemed to me to apply to sending officers on
duty by the Admiralty, but not guests; and I was disposed
to pay no attention to the agent, and took no steps for
leaving the vessel. Capt. Napier, however, on referring to
the minute, came up, and said that he found it so specific,
that he feared he could not have the pleasure of my com-
pany; so he sent me and another passenger in the ward
room in his cutter on board the Pacha, which was at
some distance. We were much annoyed at this at the time,
being removed in a hurry from a fine ship to a erowded
packet, and put to considerable additional expense. But
mark the sequel. Captain Napier had told me, on my
asking if we should see Algiers, that he intended to keep as
much mid channel as he could, to avoid the rocks and
islands near the African coast, and that he would sail es
much as he could, to economise coal, in conformity to a
meet foolish regulation, like many of those now enforced. He
therefore, expected to arrive at Malta some days after the
Pacha, and seat a message by her to the port admiral there,
He sailed soon after one o'clock, p.m., on the 17th, but it
was nine, p.m., before we left Gibraltar. The wind was
quite fair, and afterwards freshened up almost to a gale, but
we suffered no inconvenience except from the motion of the
vessel, and arrived at Malta in safety on the morning of the
22nd. We several times saw the smoke of the Avenger
ahead, end on the 20th saw her about noon, ten or
twelve miles to the north-west, we having kept the
coast, so as to leave the island of Galata to our
left. Her funnel was smoking, and she was car-
rying a good deal of sail, and frnag of course very fast,
and with a heavy sea. That night we experienced the
effects of • strong current, which is known to set often to
the south-east in this neighbourhood ; and we were once so
near the shore that the captain changed the venal's course
five points to the northward ; but we had moonlight, though
hesy, so that there was no danger for us, who saw the land.
The Avenger, no doubt, experienced this current, sad suf-
fered in consequence. As she did not appear at Malta, it
was thought just possible that she had fallen in with some of
the fleet, and joined the admiral. On the 28th, however,
our nun were fully confirmed by the arrival of a letter to the
port-admiral here, from the Avenger's 3rd Lieutenant."
Sines perusing this letter we have learnt from the beet
authority, that, contrary to a statement which has been very
generally circulated, no supernumerary canon whatever
were on board the Avenger when she was lost.

teeny City: Gene Reeds, Rao , of Kilkenny. King's
County: Is Barry Baldwin, Req., of Parliementaareet,
London. Limerick: Francis Geoid, Req., of Thrensera.
Limerick City: Henry Kausisell, Req., of Limerick.
Queen's County Joke H. Leckie, Req., of Cleabrock,
Crettyard. Tipp : Rieh. Pennefather, Esq., of Kam:-
keen*. Wati~ • Simon Beggs, Req., of Ardmore.
Waterford City : W. 8. Doyle, Req. of Newtown.
STAFF OF TRa COUNTRY.—On Tuesday, the 11th, six
families, consisting of IR individuals, were evicted in one
of the mast crime-producing districts, at the snit of Mr. C.
Bt. George ; end on Friday, a Mr. O'Hara, a land-agent,
was occupied all day turning out tenants and levelling
houses. At the sessions of Wexford the grand jury, bad to
consider 80 bills of indictment. The proms of ejectment
is proceeding rapidly in every stouter. The (Wowing
proceedings, tending to give effect to the Coercion
Act, are stated in the Westmeath Independent:—
Lest night a strong body of police, consisting of twenty-five
from each constabulary district of this county, emonnhag in
all to 150, arrived here, and after a short stay passed on en
rosin for Roscommon, where they an required to carry into
effect the spirit of Sir Geerge Grey's bill, by a strict search
throughout the entire of that county for all unregistered
arms. Bub-Inspector Ireland, of Idttllirr, is in command
of hie own district, end we have beengiven to understand
that N. Falloe, Rig., 8.1 , proceeds tit day in command
of his own (the Athlete) district. The known activity of
this lest-named officer induces us to believe that his portion
of the mission will not entirely be without success. A
troop of the 2nd R. N. B. Dragoons and a company of
the 2nd (Queen's Own) Foot, with • party of artillery,
left this garrison in aid of the civil power in dimming the
peasantry. Judging by the reports we have received, the
government, it appears, is determined oa the carrying out of
this measure ell through the country at the mime time.
Similar parties are detached to all the proclaimed districts.

SCOTLAND.
ED114117108, Jaw. 17.
The reported death of Rear Admiral of the White
Pringle Stoddart, inserted in a paragraph in the
Glade under the imposing title of " Deaths of Flag
Officers," turns out, according to the Kelan Mail, to be
nnauthorfsed—the gallant officer being in his usual
health.
Defalcations to the extent of 4,0001., or some other
considerable amount, are said to have taken place in
the Glasgow Post-office, and an official inquiry is at
present being instituted. Many rumours are afloat,
but the above is all that can as yet be said with
safety.
Tho highland landlords, in their attempts to exone-
rate themselves from blame in the matter of relieving
their destitute tenantry and dependents, are driven
from post to pillar—the last exposure being that go-
vernment has not kept back grants for drainage, as
was stated to the destitution inspectors.
A great educational step has been taken by the es-
tablishment of a gymnasium in old Aberdeen. The
want of intermediate educational institutions in Boot-
land has long been felt. Boys stepping at once from
country schools into the universities has deteriorated
the latter very considerably, and has caused the pro-
fessors so to popularise and dilute their prelections as
to make colleges little better than upper schools. It
is the object of the gymnasium to obviate this.
According to the prospectus :
1. No scholar will be received whose age, character, ac-
quirements, and abilities do not afford ground to expect that,
after three years' instruction, he may be qualified for enter-
ing with advantage on a course of study at the university.-
2. The general instructions will be conducted on the princi-
ple of securing a solid foundation for university study, by
thorough scholarship in Latin, Greek, and mathematics,
up to the point to which it is found possible to advance,
rather than by attempting prematurely to realise high at-
tainments in say one of these branches of knowledge.-
3. A stated portion of time will be employed in the study of the
English language, its etymology, Latin ,and Saxon—its syntszt
and the practice of its composition.-4. With the practios si
thorough study and acquisition of elements in the difficult
branches of Greek, Latin, and mathematics furnishing the
means of a severe mental diseipline, and justly regarded as
the most fundamental condition of a liberal education, it is
proposed to combine a daily exercise by tried nom initrue-
dos la various branches of knowledge, collateral and add
'lenient to the study of religion, natural and revealed.
5. Au attempt will be made to cultivate the right use of the
senses and habits of observation, by natural history excur-
sions, and other means; also, to promote right physical
habits as respects bodily exercise, the regulation of the hours
of study, &c. An important element in education will be
secured by the inftmlitetion of the teaching of music.-
6. A paramount object of this institution will be the diffu-
sion of Christian pnnciples among our educated youth.-
7. No advancement will be allowed from a lower to a higher
class in the institution, without satisfactory attainments in
the subject of the previous year's study, proved by ex-
ination.