The Express.
London, England, 1858-10-12 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 12, 1858.

man who was swimming for life hard by, and, in
default of oars, extemporised a rough kind of
paddles out of some laths, which bad been nailed
together am a sheathing for the sides. Meanwhile
the ship had driven on, hut we. still in eight, and
the Englishman and German, paddling for life with
their laths, were near enough to see the end of that
dismal tragedy on the quarter-deck. " I could see
" the ladies and gentlemen," says Mr. BREWS,
jumping off the poop into the water in two. and
" threes, some of the ladies in flames. Several heal-
" fated to leap from the burning ship till the last
" moment, as the height was 22 feet, and were only
" at length compelled to throw themselves off to
" avoid a more fearful death. In half an hour not a
" soul was to be seen on the poop." It was at five
o'clock—three hours after the fire was first disco-
vered—that the French barque Maurice reached the
blazing steamer. Between thirty and forty human
beings were still sustaining themselves, blistered
with heat and stifled with smoke, in the forechains
and under the bowsprit. These were picked off by
the boats of the Maurice. The metallic lifeboat of
the Austria, with 23 scorched and wounded people
on board, including three officers of the ship and six
women, soon came up. Then three or four men
were picked up floating on a piece of broken boat.
The second officer of the ship was taken out of the
water, where he had sustained himself without other
support than his own strong arms for nearly six
hours. At half-past seven BaEws and hie German,
with their paddles of lath, were received into
the hospitable Maurice. Then night fell, and the
Maurice took in no more. The next morning a
Norwegian barque came in sight, and her boats were
observed busy round the still burning hull. There
is just a desperate chance that she may have added
one or two to the 67 rescued by the Maurice, out of the
800 who were alive on board the Austria at two
o'clock on the 13th of September.
One of the most frightful of recorded catas-
trophes !—and how was it caused? By an act of
the grossest and mat culpable carelessness. It had
been resolved to fumigate the steerage. The mode
adopted for doing this was by setting a cauldron of
pitch on deck and dipping into it a piece of chain,
one end of which had been made red hot and
the other was held by the boatswain. The beat
being greater than was convenient the boatswain
suddenly relaxed his hold, the cauldron was upset, and
in another instant the burning pitch was streaming
over the deck. Taking this account to be correct, it
seems incredible that, had proper efforts at once been
made, the flames might not have been speedily
arrested. Indeed, looking at the whole narrative
of these disastrous facts as detailed in the evidence
now before us, it is impossible to avoid the conclu-
sion that upwards of five hundred human beings
have been destroyed in the most horrible
manner imaginable, by culpable negligence,
unpardonable defect of discipline, and a lamentable
want of the most ordinary presence of mind. Our
present impression is, that had the captain and
officers done their duty; had the vessel been put
about; the steam they shut off; and the boats
properly guarded—the majority of these unfortunate
people might have been saved from their deaths of
torture.

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(11011 0111 OWN

PARIS, MONDAY EVININO.

Notwithstanding efforts active and passive, on
both aides of the British Channel, to treat the Por-
tuguese affair u insignificant, it still returns to the
order of the day and eclipses almost every other
political topic. The view which I took yesterday
of the state of the question, after a hurried sum-
ming up of various information, is quite confirmed.
It is certain that the French ►nd Portuguese
Cabinets are very far from being agreed, but it is
also, as far as can be judged from indications,
certain that the French government has not, and
never had, the least idea of war, and now thinks
mainly how the Donawerth and Austerlitz, which
were so rashly sent to Lisbon, may best be got
away without open and palpable discredit. The
bidepeedanee, indeed, says that the Bretagne, 120
guns, and several war steamers will be sent to rein-
force them, but I am persuaded that the intelligence
is incorrect. The Press. contains a leading article
upon the affair, in which it assumes that the ques-
tion about the ill-treatment, at Lisbon, of some French
sisters of charity, of which you have heard, is one of
the subjects which Admiral Lavaud's demonstration
is meant to settle. I doubt this very mach. If,
indeed, the Univers could be accepted as the autho-
rised interpreter of the feelings of the French go-
vernment, France entertains a hostile feeling
against Portugal on many accounts, and the affair
of the Charles Georges would only be a pretext for
paying old scores. The Univers objects that in
Portugal the press is entirely free, and that the
great majority of the Lisbon newspaper' write
against the Jesuits, and do not scruple to say what
they think of the principles upon which France is
now governed. I have no idea, however, that the
French government is prepared to solve this ques-
tion by the cannon of Admiral Lavand's squadron.
The matter of the sisters of charity is admitted to
have been in a fair way of arrangement when the
difficulty about the Charles Georges arose; and
I do not think it will in any way complicate
the settlement of the latter affair. The Press.,

however—and in this it chimes in with the Univers
—hints that the King of Portugal and his ministers
are really altogether in favour of France, and that
they are secretly glad of the presence of the French
ships as a means of repressing a revolutionary
feeling in the country, which the King's government
is not of itself strong enough to resist. This is pro-
bably- a most egregious libel upon the excellent King
Don Pedro VI., his ministers, and his people. The
Press*, however, after stating, in a tone of com-
mendable hesitation, that the mere presence of a
government commissioner on board a French vessel
seems" to absolve the captain of that vessel from
any questioning whatever by any other power, says,
in a very peaceable spirit, that it does not follow
because France may think tit to send an ultimatum
to Lisbon, that a coma belli is therefore propounded.
The rupture of diplomatic relations would be, it
considers, a sufficient warning for Portugal as it was
in the case of Naples. This is just the insignifi-
cant conclusion to which I said yesterday the matter
might possibly come at the worst. The Peens
takes comfort in the reflection that the presence of
the French flag in the Tagus will not humiliate
Portugal so much as England, " which has been
accustomed to regard the harbour of Lisbon as a
British port." With the quotation of this neigh-
bourly sentiment, I leave the subject for the
present.

A telegram from Rheims, dated this day, gives
long details of the preparations for the reception of
their Majesties. The bishops of Chalons and
Nancy, the prefects and sub-prefects of the depart-
ments of the Aisne and the Ardennes, the
generals commanding in thole departments, and
a vast host of functionaries, have arrived.
The Mayor has issued a proclamation calling upon
the inhabitants to testify their joy at the "distin-
guished honour conferred upon them by their Ma-
jesties' visit," and expressing a hope that the recep-
tion will be worthy of the occasion. Over the en-
trance to the archiepiscopal palace the following
inscription has been placed:

Dena digit, dens conserve!.
The houses are already studded with banners bear-
ing loyal devices. Some of them intertwine with
imperial crowns and the letters "N" and "E " the
words " Rome and China."

The imperial yacht the Reine Hortense, which
was commissioned at Cherbourg a month ago, has re-

ceived orders to proceed to Toulon, to ;wait the
Prince Napoleon who, it would appear, is at last
really going to Algeria.
The Bourse has been depressed. The Rents fell
15e. far cash and 110 c. for account, closing at
73fr. 40c. and 73fr. 60c. The affair of the Charles
Georges excited considerable uneasiness, notwith-
standing a rise of 1 per cent. in Consols, which
shows that no serious alarm on the subject can be
felt in London. Mobilier fell 21fr. 26c. The
Orleans Railway fell 13fr. 76c.; Lyons, 7fr. 60c.;
Eastern, 6fr. 25c.; Southern, 3fr. 76e. ; and North-
ern, 2fr. 600. Western was firmer than the other
lines, and closed at yesterday's prices.

(From yesterday's Moniteur.)
CAMP OF CHALONS, Ocv. 10.
To-day, Sunday, high mass war celebrated by
Monseigneur de Nancy, first almoner of the Em-
peror, upon the grand military altar, near the
imperial quarters, in the presence of their Majesties
and the whole army. The infantry, drawn up in
two lines, faced the hotel ; the artillery and cavalry,
on horseback, were ranged on the aides of a vast
square. An immense crowd, assembled from all the
neighbouring departments in order to be present at
this solemnity, saluted the Emperor and Empress
with the warmest acclamations. After divine service
the troops resumed their battle array,and the Emperor,
accompanied by the Empress, passed in front of the
ranks of eacn division. Previous to the Sling off,
the Emperor distributed rewards to many officers
and soldiers, whose brilliant services in the Crimea
had long designated them to his benevolent regards.
The troops filed off in admirable order, and this
grand military display, the arrangements of which
bad been drawn up with skill and precision by Mar-
shal Canrobert, presented the most imposing spec-
tacle. The Emperor repeatedly testified his ex-
treme satisfaction. The Marshal was charged by
his Majesty to convey the expression of it to the
troops. . _

To-morrow their Majesties will repair to Rheims.
They will rrturo to St. Cloud on Tuesday during the
course of the day.

THE UNITED STATEB.

Off ILICYZIC TILBOZAPIC)
("SOK OD OWII 0011.110111PONDMI

SOUTHAMPTON. TII/lIIIDAT, 1.40 r.x.
The Vanderbilt, with three days later advice,
from New York, has arrived off Cowes.

Gatignases Messenger announces that the Church
ot %Diked hu it in omtemplelon to establish a permanent
service in Paris. For the present tie service le performed at
the (*moils, the Fnmeh Proeminat Chttroh, which has been
genermulv Mat at stated tense *yr Ibe paeoese. bat it le
expected that a more central plow of worship will soon be
obtained.

his capacity of a military officer at the head of the
Prussian army, unless the whole of that Prussian
army were called upon to swear fidelity to it, which,
as is well known, was not the case, the military
being only bound to take the Fahnen-Bid, or Oath
to the Standard.