The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-16 00:00:00

MEDITERRANEAN FLEET.

(From Malta Papers to the 4th inst., inclusive.)
&MIKA BAY, OCT. 18,—The corvette, Hazard,
relieves the Dido on the Smyrna station.
The ships of the line, Ganges, Powerful, Vanguard,
and Implacable, which have been some days under the
command of Captain Napier, cruising off Smyrna, have
joined the Admiral at Beshika Bay. It is net certain
whether any other portion of the squadron will go on the
same cruise.

The frigate Belle Poole, commanded by the Prince de
Joinville, has left the bay for Constantinople. There is
nothing new respecting the united squadrons, which
occupy the same position in the bay as formerly.
The Austrian squadron has left Smyrna.
On Sunday last a line-of-battle-ship passed this island
from tile westward steering to the eastward, and a fri-
gate from the eastward for the westward.
The British naval force in the Mediterranean now
consists of 15 line7of-battle ships, 5 frigates, 5 sloops,
4 brigs, and 1 cutter of war, 4 steam frigates, 1 steam
tender, 1 receiving ship, and 5 steam-packets, and
1 bombard in the Post-office service—a much larger
force in time of peace than at any period during the
late war It may not, at this moment, be uninterest-
ing to our readers to have under their eye the names
of these ships with the number of guns they severally
carry—viz.: Ships-of-the-Line—Princess Charlotte,
104 (with the flag of Admiral Sir R. Stopford) ; Rod-
ney, 92 (with the broad pendant of Commodore Hyde
Parker) ; Asia, 84 ; Belleisle, 74 ; Bellerophon, 80 ;
Benbow, 74 ; Edinburgh, 74 ; Ganges, 84 ; Hastings,
74 ; Implacable, 74; Minden, 74 ; Pembroke, 74 ;
Powerful, 84 ; Talavera, 64 ; and Vanguard, 80.
Frigates.—Carysfort, 26 ; Castor, 36 ; Talbot, 28 ;
Tribune, 24 ; and Tyne, 28. Sloops.—Beacon, 8
(surveying vessel) ; Daphne, 18 ; Dido, 18 ; Ha-
zard, 18 ; and Wasp, 16. Brigs.—Jaseur, 16 ; Scor-
pion, 10 ; Weasel, 10 ; and Zebra, 16. Cutter.—
Magpie, 4 (in the surveying service). Steam Fri-
gates.—Gorgon, 4 ; Hydra, 4 ; Phoenix, 4 ; and Rha-
darnanthus, 4. Steam Tender—Confiance, 2. Steam
Packets—Acheron, 2 ; Blazer, 2 ; Hermes, 2 ; Me-
gara, 2 ; and Volcano, 2, and packet bombard, Au-
gusta, 2 (the 6 last-mentioned in the Post-office ser-
vice) ; and the Ariadne, at the coal depot in Alexan-
dria ; and finally the receiving-ship Ceylon, 6 (with the
flag of the Rear-Admiral and Superintendent of the
Malta dock-yard, Sir John Louis), making in all a total
of 42 pendants, carrying 1,526 guns. Besides the above,
the Queen, 104 ; the Revenge, 78 ; the Blenheim, 72,
ships-of-the-line ; the Cyclops (1,200 tons) and the
Salamander steam-frigates, are looked for froth England;
and other vessels of war are ordered to be prepared for
being commissioned, and it is said to he in contempla-
tion to reinforce the squadron by a strong detachment
of Royal Marines from England.
The appointment of Admiral Fleming to the Me-
diterranean station vice Sir Robert Stopford, whose
period of service expires in March next, will not take
place, as the Governorship of Greenwich Hospital. vacant
by the death of Sir Thomas Hardy, has been conferred
upon him. It is not at all improbable that one or two
of the Captains, whose ships are relieved on this station
by the late arrivals from England, will effect exchanges
in order to remain out. By the Hydra. arrived to-day
from Beshika Bay, which she left on the 23d, we learn
that the combined squadrons occupy the same position.
—Harlequin

(From 1-1 Portafoglio Maltese of the 4th inst.)
The Minos steam-packet, which reached Malta on the
4th inst. from Constantinople, brought intelligence of
the departure of the British fleet from Beshika Bay on
the 23d ult.; and its arrival on the following day at
Vourla, where it was still lying on the 29th. The
French fleet was to have left for Smyrna on the 3d inst.,
but was not expected in that harbour before the 10th.
The British steamer Hermes arrived in Malta on the
4th from Alexandria, with the Indian mail, which was
despatched from Bombay on the 7th ult. for Suez in the
Zenobia.

The Benbow ship of the line left Malta for Vourla
on the 30th ult., and the Belleisle followed her on the
next day.
On the 29th ult. a colony of 167 Maltese agricultu-
rists set sail for the island of Grenada, in the English
vessel Ellen, Captain Brown.
Nourri Effendi, the new Turkish Minister in Paris,
and Nourri Effendi, the Ambassador of the Porte, at
the Court of Berlin, arrived at Malta in the Minos."

It is reported that the Earl of Sandwich is likely to
be the new Master of the Buckhounds, in the room of the
Earl of Errol, who is to be the Lord Steward of the
Household. The Earl of Sandwich's Countess is al-
ready a Lady of the Bedchamber, and it seems by no
means unlikely that the Noble Earl himself may be in-
clined to Toby round his Royal Mistress, and defend
her frOm the vile attacks of the Bradshaws, the Robys, the
Closes, the Greggs, and the Ingestries,who seek to defame
her, and are ready to overthrow the Throne, that the To-
ries may clamber into office on its ruins. We believe that
he will be kept in countenance by many other Noble-
men, who have hitherto numbered themselves amongst
the Tories. It is impossible that the Nobility of Eng-
-1 ind can see without alarm that the people should be
fanaticised by their old enemies the priests—the Thomas
a'Becketts of our day. The Rev. Messrs. Gregg,
Close, Stowell, Phillpotts, and Co. may be the oppo-
nents of the Whigs, but they preach a levelling religion,
and are the enemies of every aristocracy but that which
is centered in the priesthood.

THE SNIPE.—The snipe, when seen on the
ground is a very pretty bird ; and though its bill com-
pared with its size, seems out of proportion, yet, from
the manner in which it carries its head, it presents no-
thing of that grotesque appearance which the extraordi-
nary length of its bill would seem to indicate. It has
been observed that the first arrival of snipes from the
North is early in September ; they appear in wisps, are
very wild, and continue but a short time, a day or per-
haps two. Towards the end of October, they arrive
in great numbers, become dispersed, and afford better
amusement than at an earlier period of the season ;
but as soon as the severity of winter commences,
they disappear for the most part, and are seen
no more (in considerable numbers at least) till
March. The preceding remarks were made by a
gentleman of Norfolk, and may be applicable to that
part of the kingdom, though not generally, as in very
severe frosts we have uniformly seen them on the north-
west coast in very great, if not immense numbers.
When frost has hound up the earth and the still waters,
snipes resort to springs and running streams in search
of food, particularly towards evening ; and if the frost
continue they may be observed throughout the day on
the wing, evidently wandering about in order to procure
the means of satisfying the imperious demands of hun-
ger—on such occasions they do not lie well. Hitherto
we have been speaking of the common snipe ; two other
varieties visit this country—the jack snipe (in some parts
called the judcock), much smaller than the common
snipe ; and the solitary snipe, considerably larger than
the common snipe, but not often seen,—Sporting Alma-
nack for 1840.
The late Counsellor Curran was once pleading.
in an Irish Court before Judge Hen,who hada great dis-
like to Mr. Curran, having often smarted under his wit.
The lively orator having a point of law to urge, the
Judge asked him if it were Braken's Farriery that he
had consulted for his law. " No," said Curran ;
"neither was it an old hen at roost."
It is computed that the produce of seven million
acres of land is consumed in England by horses ; the
number of the latter is about one million two hundred
thousand, of which 200,000 at least are pleasure horses ;
but the number of the former, it is expected, will be
reduced by the railroads which arc constantly increasing.
"I guess," said a New Yorker to Wallack, the
day after the fire, " when your theatre was blazing you
sent for the newspapers.' " Why for the newspapers?"
" Because they arc the most powerful engines in the
United States."

The long continuance of wet weather has greatly
damaged the potatoe crop. In various parts of the
country, particularly towards the north-east, a large
breadth of land is under water. Sedgemoor and its
neighbourhood present the appearance of a large lake.
The catch of wild fowl, at the decoys, bas been already
considerable.—Taunton Courier.
It was once obsnved by Baron Garrow, when
at the bar, and he had some licensed victuallers to de-
fend against a rapacious herd of common informers,
that his clients were a class of industrious tradesmen,
who were treated like toads under a harrow, who
found it the most difficult on all occasions to obtain
redress."

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OP YESTERDAY.
• (From the Globe.)
From the disloyalty and sedition mouthed out at
~1 Tory feasts, and then insolently proclaimed to the coun-
try by the Tory journals, we turn to the Chartist out-
ibreaks, and we find these also traceable to the incentives
supplied in a great measure by the organs of Toryism. The
history of the last general election justifies this allegation.
The Tories availed themselves of the dissatisfaction among
the labouring classes which a change so considerable
in the
ladministration of the Poor-laws had excited—
partly hrough ignorance of its principles and opera-
tion, and partly from a dislike to the restrictions it
imposed ; and turned its enactments into a bat-
tery of assault against the Government. The most
exaggerated and inflammatory statements respecting
its administration and results were sent forth by the
Tory journals ; these laid the first trains of the subse-
quent explosions of violence. The speeches of Oastler,
Stephens, O'Connor, and the rest of the anti-Poor-law
agitators, while they quoted the Times as the authority
for their statements, were in their turns bepuffed and be-
praised in its columns. So long- as these inflammatory
statements and harangues could be made subservient to
election purposes, the Tories were blind to the fact that Sir
R. Peel and the Duke of Wellington had advocated the
principle of the Bill, and had warmly vindicated its cha-
racter from the aspersions cast on its operation, by testi-
fying to the benefits it was working to every part of the
community. The Tory press cheered on in their work
of violence the agents of sedition—the apostles of the
dagger and the torch, until anti-poor-law agitation gave
birth to the Chartist Convention. The Tories sowed
dragons'-teeth, and thus produced an harvest of armed
men. They voted a combination with Ultra-Radical..
ism very pardonable, because expedient for party pur-
poses—let them not complain if they be held respon,
sable, in no slight decree, for the proceedings of their
former proteges.
(From the Courier.)
We find in the account of the United States Bank's
assets an item of 400,0001. sterling in specie ; a sum
miserably inadequate to represent even it's notes and
deposits ; and yet no one, we will venture to say ; will
affirm, that because this Bank possesses only this small
amount in specie it is therefore insolvent ; it's insol-
vency, if insolvency it should prove to be, is attributable
to other causes. But it is a fact notorious, that it is in
consequence of the want of gold by the Bank of Eng-
land, of it's endeavours to get it, and of it's measures to
cause it's return to this country, that the general Ameri-
can distress has been mainly occasioned. It is felt on
viewing the account of the United States Bank, that it
is not gold or silver that it needed for the carrying on of
its affairs, but some representative of the values which
it possessed. It may seem at first sight contradictory to
show that the value of a principal item in the " Account,"
namely, its " Stock Accounts," was delusive, and to
speak now of representing such " delusive" values in
some sort of money. But in this there is no contradiction ;
this and other securities held by the United States
Banks may be at this time inconvertible, and, for reali-
zation, worthless ; but they might have been when first
accepted as securities, valuable, and convertible ; their
inconvertibility and their worthlessness for realization
having been occasioned by the impossibility of procuring
a metallic money in sufficient quantity to represent them ;
for many properties may be valuable as properties,
such as manufactured goods and produce, but value-
less as assets ,to pay away in the shape of money. In
speaking, therefore, of these securities or properties of
the United States Banks as valueless for the purpose
of realisation for the present winding up of it's affairs
and the payment of it's debts, it is by no means a con-
tradiction to treat them as pro'erty of value if the
American system of currency would allow them to be
represented by a money that is easily procurable.
(From the Standard.)
The education of the people is no doubt an element of
safety, if that education shall be such as to attach those
who are affected by it to the institutions of the State; but
if it is such as to render the people dissatisfied with their
political institutions, it is plainly not an element of safety
but of danger. Now, the Conservatives wish for such
a general system of education as shall invite others,
without directly or indirectly compelling any, to re-
ceive an education founded upon religion as taught
by the ' Established Church. Is such an education
less safe than an education without religion? or
an. education by Dissenters hostile to the Esta-
blished Church, one and not the least important of
the institutions of the State, or than an education
by Papists ? As regards hostile sectarian education
we are informed that there are fifty chapels of hostile
sectarians in the district now in rebellion, and but
two churches—is it safe to augment this dispropor-
tion? As to Papists—and it is chiefly for their sake
that the Church is to be deprived of the right of offer-
ing education to the people—we learn that any educa-
tion to be carried on by them is not to be directed to
British objects, but to such as shall seem pleasing or
profitable to an Italian Prince.

The following distinguished fashionables intend
to winter at Rome :—The Prince and Princess Borg-
hes.: Aldobrandini, Prince and Princess Doria Pam-
phili, Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury, Lord and Lady
Rendlesham, Lord and Lady Vernon, the Countess of
Coventry, Lord Crewe, Countess of Clare, Mr. Est-
court, M.P., and Miss Estcourt, the Hon. Colonel and
Mrs. Dawson Darner, Mr. and Lady Georgiana Baillie,
of Douchfour, and Lord Clifford of Chudleigh and his
family.—Court Journal.
DREADUL ACCIDENT.—On Saturday last, a
man of the name of Goodwin had both his legs frac-
tured, and his back seriously injured, at Toadmoor tur-
nel, near Belper, on the North Midland Railway. He
had been setting a shot, and the powder ignited before
he had time to get out of the way. He still remains
in a very dangerous state, and very little hopes are en-
tertained of his recovery ; he has a wife and three
children wholly depending on him for support.—Derby
Reporter.
We are informed by a respectable authority, that
a courier arrived on Tuesday at Paris from Madrid, re-
calling the Marquis de Miraflores, the Spanish Ambas-
sador in Paris, whom the Queen is anxious to entrust
with the task of forming a new Cabinet. The Marquis
will leave for Madrid in the course of a few days. He
belongs to the Moderate party ; it is a Cabinet of that
nuance that is likely to be tormed.—Evening Paper.
The following are the British vessels on the
South American station employed in protecting British
interests. At Rio—the Stag, 46, Commodore Sullivan ;
Orestes, 18, and Clio, 16. At the River Plate—the
Calliope, 28, and Actaeon, 26. At the Falkland
Islands—the Grecian, 16, (cruising in the Pacific),
Electa, 18, and Sparrowhawk, 16. At Callao and its
neighbourhood—President, 52 (flag-ship), Semarang,
28, Fly, 18, and Basilisk. There were moreover at
Rio, when the Imogene sailed, an American frigate, a
Sardinian frigate, and a French brig of war.
BANKRUPTCY—DISCOUNTS.--On Wednes-
day last, in the Court of Bankruptcy, when assignee,
were appointed to the estate of Peter Paul and Sons
builders, Mr. Commissioner Evans at the conclusion of
the proceedings observed, that as regarded the argu-
ment of 21 per cent. being charged as discount render-
ing the Warrens unfit or ineligible to become assignees,
the same argument would apply if they had charged
but 5 per cent. He thought, however, that the public
would ere long discover their mistake in discounting at
any such rate ; for they must ultimately he the losers,
and especially when it was found out that the trade
exercised by the discounters did not yield them even 10
per cent. When persons discounted at any such exor-
bitant rate, he thought creditors might make them feel,
' and teach them a very wholesome lesson, by delaying
if not withholding their certificate. Ouo or two such
(
refusals would bring bankrupts to their senses, and I
(very emphatically said the Learned Commissioner) if
I were a creditor would not give them their certificate.
—(Cries of hear, hear, from a very crowded court).
Several creditors, upon hearing this opinion, said if this
intimation of the Learned Commissioner's opinion were
given to the public, the benefit to be derived from it
to the trading community would be of the utmost im-
portance.
GRAND MATCH AGAINST TIME.—The long
talked of pedestrian undertaking against time was de-
cided on Wednesday at Lord's Ground, St. John's Wood.
Genuine matches of this description arc very rare, but
are invariably well attended, and create considerable
sporting interest, when they are known to have been
got up or encouraged by parties of respectability. The
undertaking of Wednesday was one on which money was
freely laid out, and certainly was no trifling task. It
was to run four miles in twenty-three minutes and a
half, the stakes being 251. aside. The distance was
measured round the cricket ground, and ten turns
round, with a short distance, constituted the four
miles. The weather was very unfavourable for such
a performance, and it was found necessary to throw
down a quantity of saw-dust, to give the operator
anything like a fair footing. The match had been
announced to take place at three o'clock, at which
hour some hundreds were in attendance, anxious to
witness the start. The tgeneral opinion was that the
pedestrian—whose name is Slade, and who, we be.
lieve, is known by the soubriquet of the " Padding-
ton Washer"—had undertaken to do more ;•„
than it ~
possible for him to accomplish, and betting was 6 and 7
to 4on time. At five o'clock, the watches having been
set, and all prepared, the pedestrian made his appearance
at the starting-post, attired in drawers and jacket, and
sporting the crimson colour, similar to that worn by
Townshend on,Monday. The word " Off" was given,
and Slade went
away at a pretty, but middling pace.
He increased in speed after about two hundred yards,
and finished the first circuit at an amazing rate, he had
performed five rounds without any particular indication
of distress in half the allotted time, and at each succeed-
ing time he passed the umpire's stand the anxiety in-
I creased.
.The speed was nearly even throughout, and
• be accomplished this great undertaking in twenty-three
, minutes twenty-five seconds, being five seconds under
the given time. He was greeted with loud and con-
tinued cheers, hut was decidedly much exhausted. He
i continued walking for some minutes, a necessary pre-
caution after the conclusion of the wager.

_I4IVE N 'MG ED ON: