The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-21 00:00:00

DESERTERS FROM THE ARMY.

TO OFFICERS COMMANDING LINE AND MILITIA REGIMENTS
AND DEPOTS, DEPOT AND PROVISIONAL 'BATTALIONS,
CONSOLIDATED CAVALRY DEPOTS, INSPECTING FIELD
OFFICERS, AND ALL CORPS, EITHER BRITISH OR FO-
REIGN, IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Silt, —Complaints having been addressed to the Sec-
retary-at-War of the unnecessary detention in gaol of
soldiers committed to the custody of the Governors
thereof on charges of desertion, and it being found that
the descriptive returns received from the committing
magistrates, under the provisions of the 46th clause of
the Mutiny Act, which are referred to officers command-
ing with a view to the prompt and satisfactory identifi-
cation of the individuals charged with the offence of de-
sertion, are frequently detained instead of being for-
warded to the War-office with the least possible delay,
as in every instance the several commanding officers are
particularly requested to do, I have now the honour, by
direction of the Secretary-at-War, to acquaint you that
such descriptive returns, when referred to you, should
be sent back to the War-office,. with the information re-
quired, by return of post, if possible ; and if that be not
practicable, I am then
directed to desire that the Secre-
tary-at-War may as immediately be informed of the
cause of delay.—l have, &c.,
War-office, November 19.

E. HAWES.

STEAM-SHIP PACIFIC.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—Upon perusing the "Latest Intelligence" in
your paper of this day, I was much surprised at the fol-
lowing paragraph, " The English steamer Pacific was
totally wrecked." As principal owner of this vessel I
immediately endeavoured to gain every possible informa-
tion relative thereto, and when you consider that there
are on board that steamer between 500 and 600 souls,
you may imagine the anxiety of their relatives and
friends upon reading such a report. The result of our
inquiries at Lloyd's is to the effect, that they have a
letter from their agent at Constantinople, dated Bth
inst., and no mention of such a loss as the Pacific re-
ferred to. I have this morning a letter from the captain,
dated the 6th inst., wherein he speaks of sailing next
day for Balaklava.
There must evidently be some mistake in your infor-
mation, and the same should be corrected as speedily as
possible, in order to relieve the anxieties of the friends
of those on board. W e have had several telegraphic
messages from parties interested, and fear tomorrow we
shall be overwhelmed with inquiries.—We are, sir, your
obedient servant.,

GEO. A. LLOYD.
Nov. 19, 1855
2, Royal Exchgtnge Buildings, Cornhill,

STATE OP TRADE.

MANCHESTER, Nov. 20.—There has been but a very
moderate demand, and, though prices are nominally the
same as last week, it is found that practically sellers
would have to yield about lid. per piece to command
business. Most of the manufacturers, however, are in
a position, from pre-engagements, and through freedom
from stock, to hold back. In yarns there is also a
quieter market, and an inclination on the part of spin-
ners to give way, while this symptom of weakness has
not induced buyers to operate. Practically, therefore,
both yarn and cloth are rather easier to buy.
LEEDS, Nov. 20.—There is little alteration to notice
in the tons of the cloth-markets to-day. In the Coloured
Cloth-hall an average business was done, and the tone
of the business was of a hopeful character. The White
Cloth-ball was somewhat dull and languid. On the
whole the woollen trade shows an improvement, and
more goods are changing hands, the prices tending
downwards. The manufacturers are said to be toler-
ably well employed, and in some instances orders have
been issued for the home spring trade, and also for ship-
ment, the latter including Spanish stripes on account of
the Chinese market. There are also a few Government
contracts for the army still uncompleted. The business
in the warehouses continues quiet. The Huddersfield
market to-day has been but indifferently attended, and
very little business has been done.

POEM FOR A POLITICAL PRIMER.

Cobden is a Muscovite,
Ditto set down Mr. Bright,
Ditto Gladstone, ditto Graham,
Lord John Russell much the same. —Pu nch.

INTERESTING FACT.—It is understood that poor Mr.
Hamilton, whose eloquence was so promptly cut short
by his Grace the Duke of Somerset, the moment the
former bad uttered one sentence, is now known as
"Single-Speech Hamilton."—Punch.
TOAST AND SENTIMENT FOR MESS TABLES.—The
health of an Illustrious Field-Marshal, and may his
Royal Highness be always as ready to remove the griev-
ances of the army as he is to re-dress the officers and
men.—Punch.
GENERAL WILLIAMS AND THE ITURSS.—Everybody,
no doubt, bas been struck with the perspicuous and
comprehensive nature of General Williams's despatch to
the Earl of Clarendon, describing the action at Kars.
In a private note addressed to a friend in London the
gallant officer says:—"Will any wan ever again say the
Turks cannot Sight 1"

THE LATE CONFLAGRATION IN PARIS.

The Moniteur of yesterday contains the follow-
ing notice relative to the late conflagration :
" The fire which broke out on Sunday evening, at
the military bakehouse, on the Quai de Billy, has
not been attended with the serious consequences
which might hare been feared. Only one store-
house of corn, isolated from the other part of the
building, and from the mill, has been burnt. The
immense supply of corn and flour remain, there-
fore, almost untouched, and they will be soon again
made complete by means of corn purchased abroad,
and which is now being received or on its voy-
age." The following are some additional details :
" As soon as the fire was observed, General Reg-
nault de Saint Jean d'Angely ordered a party of
the cuirassiers of the guard to mount, whilst the
other part of them and the regiment of voltigeurs
of the guard went to the spot on foot at double
quick time. MM. Fleury and de Toulongeon, aide-
de-camp and orderly officer to the Emperor, were
early on the spot, encouraging the men employed,
and did not quit the spot until all fear of further
danger was removed. The Minister of the Interior
was one of the first to arrive, and on leaving he
gave 500 fr. to M. Colombe, the commissary of
police, to be distributed among four men who had
been injured by some of the falling timber. An
act of courage and coolness, which ought not be
passed over unnoticed, took place during the fire.
A well-dressed young man, whose name is not
known, heard, at a time when the fire was burning
most violently, the alarm whistle of the steam-
engine, which indicated that the boilers had Le-
come overheated, and were about to explode.
Every passage was obstructed by the flames, but the
young man, guided by the sound of the whistle,
rushed forward and opened the valves, and thus
prevented additional mischief. Two English non-
commissioned officers, in undress, who are in Paris
for the service of the English Government at the
Universal Exhibition, made themselves remarkable
by the coolness with which they went into the
greatest danger. The Minister of War, who had
noticed their daring during the fire, requested them
to call on him the following day that he might
personally thank them. All that the storehouse
contained—corn, flour, and material, as well as the
moveable granaries which were in, the building—.
fell a prey to the flames. The mill has been some-
what damaged. The storehouses, specially appro-
priated to keeping the flour, and in which the
greatest part of the supply was placed, were pre-
served. There still remains at La Villette a supply
of flour for three months. The two bakehouses are
again at work on the Quai de Billy, and the ovens
are uninjured. The fire appears to have originated
in a flue running from the granary to the steam-
engine ; the soot which remained in this flue is
said to have caught fire from coming in contact
with some sparks in the chimney. The form of
those granaries, and their being built of deal, ex-
plains the rapid progress of the flames. All the
building materials of the burned premises are lost,
as the stones are calcined. On the ground-floor
there still remains a layer of corn, rice, and flour,
of a certain thickness, but it is all so mixed with
ashes and rubbish that it will be useless unless it
can be converted into starch. Behind and to the
north of the burnt building is another much larger,
but the wind, blowing towards the river, carried
the flames away from this latter pile of building,
and it was scarcely touched."
Some idea may be formed of the extent of the
establishment destroyed on Sunday evening, from
the fact that by the regulations stores were always
kept on the premises to supply 40,000 men for 3
months, and that upwards of 40,000 rations were
prepared there each day.