The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-03 00:00:00

greatest friends Russia could have there would be pestilence
and famine; and as to customs' ditties, as the Circassians will
not, under pain of the brand of infamy, use any article that
comes through Russian hands, it can easily be proved that no
revenue ever has been got, or probably ever will be got, for
goods consumed by the Circassians, sufficient to pay one-
tithe of the expense of the customs establishments. All Eu-
ropean articles are_ brought there from Constantinople in native
vessels, and it is such trade that Russia desires to cut off and
divert into her own channels ; and to do that she has dared to
violate every international law and usage, and tries to stamp
with the character of smuggling, of secret aiding of her " rebel-
lious subjects," and of a covering for " treacherous intentions,"
a simple and legitimate mercantile speculation. I think it ire-
portaut for me io state that the reasons given by the Russian
Admiral and officers for the capture were, that the vessel was
attempting to ht.,: ak a blockade, and that the Circassians were at
war with ,them. This is ill he simian in two documents which will
be. I believe, made public in a few days • but at St. Peters-
burg!' the reason of condemnation is called a breach of cus-
tom and quarantine regulations, because the admission of a
state of hostility was not expedient. This brings me to the
question of the nature of the cargo put on board the Vixen.
She was originally ordered by me to proceed to the port of
Ibrail, in the Danube, where I had arranged for a cargo of
salt for her ; but in consequence of her having arrived at
Constantinople about a month later than I expected, and as
the Circassians had, according to our previous arrangements
with them, got ready near the coast a quantity of goods for bar-
ter which could not be left over the whiter, my brother (for
fear of the voyage in and out of the Danube throwing the
main voyage too late), with my knowledge and concurrence
loaded a cargo of salt at Constantinople, also two cases of
patterns sent by another vessel from London. As to there
being powder, arms, or cannon on board, the vessel was en-
tirely cleared at Constantinople of every package which she
took from Loinlon, and it is well known to all mercantile men
in that trade *that no munitions of war can be loaded at Con-
stantinople without the sanction of the Turkish Government ;
and if any had been put in the Vixen, there were, I find,
enough of Russian emissaries busy about her to have proved
the fact, but that is riot attempted ; it is only said when the
vessel was taken that there had been time enough, after her
arrival, to have Iroic(' her cargo of powder, viz., 3G hours.
Now, I have sent to the Foreign Office papers which prove
that there was no part of the cargo landed, owing to a severe
gale of wind, and that the Russian gun-brig lay for 24 hours
of the 36 near the Vixen, in the Bay of Souja lial& watch-
ing her, before the captain made his seizure. As to the ves-
sel's ship's guns, she never had but two, and these were two-
pounders, for signals. I have accounts from Sebastopol that the
cargo has been taken out of the Vixen, and that the Russian
officers showed evident disappointment at not finding powder
or arms underneath it. lam aware that, previous to the de-
parture of the vessel from Constantinople, many most extra-
vagant statements were sent home by the correspondents of
all the newspapers relative to the origin and object of the voy-
age of the Vixen, and the nature of her cargo but I assert
that such statements have never been sanctioned by, or even
known to, either my brother or me, or our agents, who are a
most respectable house, and the Russian Government only give
a proof of their bad feeling (Tor it cannot be ignorance) when
they attempt, as their organ the Frankfort Journal does, to
connect the British Government with such reports or proceed-
ings. In making this last observation I by no means intend to
say that. the British Government were not perfectly aware of my
itention to send a vessel to the coast of Circassia—and
their ambassador at Constantinople was so also ; but, as
they did not, and could not, state that there was any legal im-
pediment to her voyage, so I cannot now suppose that they
will fail in demanding and obtaining the proper redress for
this most outrageous violation of the British flag, in the seizure
and condemnation of both vessel and cargo, in the capture and
detention as prisoners of my brother and his fellow-passengers,
and in the interdiction of all right of trade with, or even ap-
proach to, a coast which cannot be claimed tither de jure or
de
_facto. This naturally brings me, as I hope it will the
House of Commons, to the question why, after the augmenta-
tion made to our fleet last year, for the avowed purpose of pro-
tection to commerce, there is not even one British vessel of
war stationed in the Black Sea, although we have so many
vessels trading there. This is a question which all merchants
interested in that quarter have long asked in vain, and I trust
that this last attack on our undoubted commercial rights in that
sea will show our Government the necessity for having always
there some proper maritime force. This is rendered still more
necessary when J state that the pretensions of Russia, in the
enforcements of quarantine regulations for the protection of
her two uninhabited and swampy islands at the mouth of the
Danube, are in noways abated, for I have by me the written
complaint of the captains of several vessels now on their way
home that the otherwise easy navigation of the entrance of
that river is rendered dangerous by the Russian regulations,
which are, that, however the wind may be, every vessel is to
lower her top-sails, receive a boat along-side, and have her
papers vised, although she may not have occasion to approach
these islands, which are well-lined by Cossacks, stationed to
keep all vessels off. The pains and penalties of non-compli-
ance with these rules are, first, one shot fired across the ves-
sel's bows, for which twenty dollars have to be paid ; and a
second shot right into her, for which forty dollars are charged.
One of these vessels narrowly escaped the second shot, only
from the pilot, through fear, running her against the bank,
where she stuck fast for 16 hours. It is not,i hope, necessary
to explain that these rules are made solely with a view to
spread a character of difficulty and danger over the navigation
of a river admitted by all captains who have visited it to be
the least dangerous of any in Europe, and thus to impede the
rising commerce of the countries on its banks, which send
forth annually from seven to eight hundred cargoes, and which
have only been visited within these few years by British ves-
sels, since which period it has been judged necessary to esta-
blish a quarantine„
I have to offer my apologies for the great length of this
letter, but I trust that my excuse will be admitted on several
grounds; first, that the distance and position
,of the countries
where these facts relative to the Vixen occurred, render it
necessary for me to supply the details, which otherwise could
.not be obtained except through a Russian medium ' • and, se-
condly, that the nature of the injustice sought to be perpe-
trated against a few humble individuals by a powerful Go-
vernment, in adding public insult and false obloquy to an
outrageous violation of their property, rights, and liberties,
as British subjects, justify an equally public defence and con-
tradiction; and I am much mistaken if the Russian Govern-
ment will not find that their conduct in this affair might have
passed the eyes of the British_ public with less notice if they
had not provoked the publication of details which might
otherwise have been communicated only to his Majesty's Go-
vernment.

Of the value of the commerce of the Black Sea but little is
known in England, and all the efforts of the Russian Govern-
rnent are directed to the prevention of its developetnent by
British merchants. Ido not hesitate to say that so far Russia
will succeed that we shall soon be completely excluded from
that commerce, and that the Black Sea will become a mare
clausum, except by Russian sufferance, if the British Govern-
ment should fail to demand proper redress for the outrage
herein detailed; but that if, on the contrary, it should be re-
sented, in the manner in which such outrages always have been
in former times resented, the moral effect upon the circumja-
cent countries of that sea will open up to us a field that will
far more than compensate for the exclusion of British goods
from Russia—at any rate, as far as relates to the trade with
the Danube and the coast of Circassia. lam happy to be
able to say that both will still be carried on, and that with vi-
gour, if proper security is afforded by our Government fur the
British flag arid property.
Sir, in enclosing this letter, and requesting its insertion in
your paper, I have only further to observe, that proofs can
be adduced of all the facts stated in it, and that I have to
reiterate my apologies for the length to which it has been
drawn.--I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

GEORGE BELL.
157, Fencburcb-street, February 2, 1337.

Intelligence arrived m town on Monday last of the
sudden death of Lady Combzrmere. The Hon. Fulke Gre-
vile, who lately died at.i)over, the father-in-law of Lord
Combermere, has left the gallant general's eldest ton the bulk
of his estate.

Mr. James M. Campbell, who has announced a
great, work; .".Thrs History of the, Indian Tribes of North
America," splendidly illustrated, with above a hundred portraits
of the principal Chiefs, &c., bad the distinguished honour of
an interview with his Majesty last week, at Brighton, to whom
ho submitted the first part of his publication. The King not
only examined it attentively, and permitted the dedication to
himself, but graciously signed his name as the earlist sub-
•scriber ; and, after an audience of nearly an hour, dismissed
the American citizen deeply impressed with a sense of his
Britannic Majesty's condescension and favour.
Wednesday morning, between eleven and twelve, a
labouring man, named Thomas Hennesey, while employed in
taking down the ruins of that portion of the London Univer-
sity which was destroyed by fire some months ago, fell from a
height of about forty feet. The poor fellow was taken up in a
dreadfully injured state, and removed 'to the North London
Hospital, where he shortly afterwards expired. He had sus-
tained a severe fracture of the skull and spine. He had a wife
and two children.

Wednesday forenoon the metropolis was again enve-
loped by one of those unwholesome humid fogs which have
been lately so common, and so very injurious to patients
attacked with the influenza. It was necessary to use lamps or
candles the greater part of the day, in London and West-
minster,

TEN-HOUR SYSTEM.—" The workmen of New
York, Boston, and Philadelphia, have struck for the ten-
hour system' on the ground that if a man work more than ten
hours a day he is unfit to read and improve his mind in the
evening, or to superintend the education of his children._
Grund's Americans in their Social, Moral, and Political
Condition.

The Barcelona journals of the 20th publish a de-
cree from General Parreno, ordering all foreigners reiiding
in that town, and who have arrived there in or after 1833, to
present themselves immediately at the office of the Captain-
General,

A candidate for the representation of the Borough
of Gateshead, has appeared in the person of R. S. Sup tees,
Esq., of Hamsterley Hall. We fear that Mr. S. is too much
a Conservative for the Radical Borough of Gateshead. —Tyne
Mercury.
We -understand that the Tories, and particularly
Lord Stanley, Showed
Lfroat annoyance on Wednesday that notice
was so pDoraptly given of the intentions of the Ministers to
bring forward on art early day their measure on Church-rates
and on Ireland. Ills Lordship would fain have had them post-
poned till after the measures of the Radical party been
submitted to Parliament. lie 40 bia ffien44 rfecc, rtioxtiAed
that the angry notice
thiflaaNOce*.,'ivas vut oftto star a disl4.lti day.