The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-05 00:00:00

attempt to remedy the evil, and that she was rapidly sink-
ing. Learning thie melancholy truth, and observing that
the Alabama was on my port bow, entirely beyond range of
my guns, doubtless preparing for a raking fire of the deck,
I felt I had no right to sacrifice uselessly and without any
desirable result the libel of all under my command.
" To prevent the blowing up of the Hatteras from the fire
1 which was making such progress, I orthited the magazine
to be flooded, and afterwards a !to gun to be fired. The
Alabama then asked if atsistance was desired, to which an
affirmative answer Was given.
"The Hatteras was now going down, and in order to
save the lives of my officers and men I caused the armament
lon the port side to be thrown overboard. Had I not done
so I am confident the vessel would have gone down with
many brave hearts and valuable lives.
" After considerable delay, caused by the report that a
steamer was seen coming from Galveston, the Alabama sent
us assistance, and I have the pleasure of informing the De-
partment that every living being was conveyed safely from
the Hatteras to the Alabama.
" Ten minutes after leaving the Hatteras she went down,
bow first, with her pennant at her mast head, with all her
muskets and stores of every character, the enemy not being
able, owing to her rapid sinking, to obtain a single weapon.
The battery upon the Alabama brought into action against
the Hatteras mounted seven guns, consisting of four long
32-pounders, one 100-pounder,one 68-pounder, and one 24-
pounder rifled gun.

" The great superiority of the Alabama, with her power.

ful battery, and her machinery under the water-line, must
be at once recognised by the department who are familiar
with the construction of the Hatteras, and her total unfit-
ness for a contest with a regularly built vessel of war.
" The distance between the Hatteras and the Alabama
during the action varied from 25 to 100 yards. Nearly 50
shots were fired from the Hatteras, and I presume a greater
number from the Alabama. I desire to refer to the efficient
and active manner in which Acting-Master Henry Porter,
Executive Officer, performed his duty.
" The conduct of Assistant-Surgeon Edward Matthews,
both during the action and afterwards, in attending to the
wounded, demands my unqualified commendation. I would
also bring to the favourable notice of the department acting
master's mate T. J. M'Grath, temporarily performing duty
as gunner.

" Owing to the darkness of the night and the peculiar
construction of the Hatteras I am able only to refer to the
conduct of those officers who came under my especial atten-
tion; but from the character of the contest and the amount
of damage done to the Alabama I have personally no reason
to believe that any officer failed in his duty. To the men of
the Hatteras I cannot give too much praise. Their enthu•
siasm and bravery were of the highest order.
" I inclose the report of Assistant-Surgeon Edward S.
Matthews, by which you will observe that five men were
wounded and two killed. The missing, it is hoped, have
reached the fleet at Galveston. I shall communicate to the
department in a separate report the movement of myself
and command from the time of our transfer to the Alabama
until the departure of the earliest mail from this place to
the United States.
" I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
" H. C. BLARE, Lieutenant-Commanding.
" Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy,
Washington, D.C."

By way of New Orleans it has been ascertained
that the Alabama landed 125 of the officers and
crew of the Hatteras at Kingston, Jamaica. The
entire crew did not exceed 140, and of these six
escaped.

The New Orleans Picayune of the 4th has the
following mention of the Florida:—
" The Confederate gunboat Florida was coaling at Ha-
vannah on the 20th ult. She departed next day, the Bio
Bio, hence for New York, via Havannah, leaving at the
same time, but did not molest the latter, owing, it is said,
to a pledge given the Captain-General to that effect. The
San Jacinto pursued the Florida immediately upon her
leaving port, but she eluded her pursuer. A number of other
United States war vessels subsequently went in search of
the Florida, and succeeded in compelling her to take refuge
in Kingston, Jamaica, where she was lying at last accounts.
Among the vessels destroyed by the Florida was a barque
from New Orleans (name unknown) with a cargo of sugar
and molasses for a Northern port. The purser of the Creole
favours us with the following

" ' The Florida (rebel gunboat) is reported to have cap-
tured I() vessels of the United States commercial marine
between their ports and San Juan de los Remedios. All
the United States war vessels in the vicinity of the coastof
Cuba are in pursuit of the audacious depredator, and they
will not catch her.' "
COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
(From the New York Journal of Commerce of the 17th of

The Ministerial Crisis in Prussia

IltuLtri, March 2.
With respect to the Ministerial crisis, the Cologne Gazette
of this day's date has the following, under the head of Ber-
lin :

" It is positively asserted that M. von Bismark tendered
his resignation on Monday last. The English Minister, Sir
Andrew Buchanan, who, in his quality of ambassador, has
direct access to the King, is said to have made, in a conver-
sation with his Majesty, representations against the Conven-
tion, which did not fail of their impression. In consequence
of them, it is further stated, discussions with respect to
the Convention took place in a Cabinet Council—discus-
sions which were all the more animated because two of the
members did not conceal their scruples respecting it. Under
these circumstances, M. von Bismark proffered his resigna-
tion, whose acceptance, however, under the existing circum-
stances, was the less likely to ensue, since the formation of
a new Ministry must necessarily involve comprehensive con-
cessions in the military question."
The fact is, that M. von Bismark knew very well his re-
signation would not be accepted, or probably he would not
have offered it. He professes, we hear, to be weary of office
and its disagree4bles, and to be anxious to relinquish it so
soon as he can do so consistently with the interests of his
country and the wishes of his King. If this country were
asked, it would beg him to follow his inclinations and re-
tire, but of course he has no means of knowing this, since
he is persuaded that the seats in the Chamber and the
bulk of the press are in the hands of a disloyal clique of
democrats. Doubtless the King is willing to retain
him for the present, for otherwise he must already
have fallen from total absence of support. That he him-
self, however, really wishes to retire—and that at a mo-
ment when it would be scarcely possible to give him a
first-class or even a second-class diplomatic appointment
abroad—is what nobody believes, any more than that his
most ambitious desires are limited to a bucolic existence in
his native pastures of Pomerania. The debate on the Po-
lish question ended with spirit and animation by reason of
two good speeches made on its last day by Messrs. Simson
and Sybel. In reply to the first-named, M. Bismark made
use of an expression which has caused much speculation.
" It is not my intention," he said, " to answer the strong ex-
pressions made use of by the last speaker, who compared the
Ministry to Don Quixote and afterwards to a ropedancer.
I will not bring those clever sayings here under discus-
sion—perhaps a less personal' way may be found of so
doing—but keep myself purely to the matter in hand."
Nobody can imagine what M. von Bismark meant by
his less personal way. Had it been "more personal,"
one might have concluded that the Minister-President
proposed challenging the ex •President of the Cham-
ber to a combat a i'outrance, a contest in which poor Sim-
son, who has but lately recovered from a severe illness,
could not but have succumbed before the grand sabre of
the doughty Knight ofjSchonhausen. Somehow or other the
report has got about that M. von Bismark and his col •
leagues propose testifying their disesteem of the Chamberand
their wariness of its discussions by no more appearing in it.
This would be a fresh and manifest violation of the
constitution, of which Art. 60 gives to each Chamber
the right to demand the presence of Ministers. A
paragraph in the Not d Deutsche Allgemeine of yesterday's
date countenances the rumour, and perhaps has contri-
buted to its propagation, but the Official Gazette of Satur-
day night warned the public against the statements of that
pretended semi-official paper.
Under the beading of "Warning" the Cologne Gazette
has just published an article declaring its belief in the
possibility of a French army being soon marched into the
Rhine Province. It claims credit for its prediction on the
ground of its having always discountenanced alarmist re-
ports, when those have been current respecting a war with
France. While doing so it has invariably declared that,
when real danger should be at hand, it would be the first
to uplift its voice. To-day, the writer adds, we redeem
our pledge and give warning. " Our well-weighed opinion
is that, since 1815, the prospect of a war with France has
never been so near as now." This is serious, if true, and
one can only hope that the usually well informed Cologne
Gazette is to-day less correct in its anticipations than is
often the case. The peril is all along of this unlncky Con-
vention, it declares, and the only salvation cf Prussia lies
in cancelling it. If the Government adheres to it through
a false point of honour—" beware I" says our friend at
Cologne, " and bear in mind the false step taken by the
Emperor Nicholas when he entered the Danubian Princi-
palities. Because he could not decide to retrace it in time,
ruin came to himself and his Empire." We will hope better
things than such disasters should befall Prussia, or that
King William should have the opportunity of [proving the
excellence of his reorganised army in a campaign against
the French, with Marshal Wrangel and Gen. Manteuffel
for his chief military advisers. I prefer believing that mea-
sures are new taking to extract the sting from the Conven-
tion which in Cologne it is thought might lead to:such cala-
mities. With respect to alleged notes preseuted here from the
French Government, I think myself justified in assuring
you that up to this time the communications between Paris
and Berlin have (at least in the capital) been limited to con-
versation.

To-night's Berlin papers give long reports of the debates
in the English Parliament, and especially of that on Mr.
Heimessy's motion. The telegrams from Poland are of
various complexion. One dated from Breslau this morning
reports the destruction of a Russian corps, stationed at
Zombkowitz, by a column of 6,000 men, under command of
Langiewicz. There is a traveller's report of another Polish
triumph on the railway near Myszkow. On the other hand,
from Warsaw (date of yesterday) we are told that Langie-
wicz has been beaten and wounded. A disturbance in War-
saw, with no serious results, completes our telegraphic in-
telligence from that quarter.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—It has sometimes happened that when
the architect and the landscape gardener have ex-
hausted all the resources of nature and of genius in
a house and park, and provided the most magnifi-
cent avenues and approaches, it is discovered too
late that visitors will not use the average, but ap-
proach, if they are permitted, by ways of their own.
A well graded, well curved, and well gravelled
road, striding over ornamental water, skirting the
wood, and crowning the hill, may be very pic-
turesque, but if it takes you half a mile out of your
way, or leads to a desolate moor, it is apt to be little
used. When the Thames Embankment and road
were decided on, it became necessary to provide it
with continuations and feeders, to make it as great
a benefit as possible. In certain quarters there lin-
gered a fond hope that it would be like the quays of
Paris or Pisa—quiet promenades, seldom disturbed
by the sound of wheels. The promoters of the Em-
bankment were almost afraid to sayhow much traffic
they thought would find its way into the new chan-
nel. That traffic has to be collected and discharged.
So commissioners were appointed to inquire as to the
further improvements eastward from Blackfriars,
and southward from Westminster, best calculated
to serve the public and carry out the design of the
Embankment. Their report we published yester-
day, and their plans are before us. As to the City
end of the embankment, they had three projects to
choose from,—a further embankment and road to
Queenhithe ; a street to St. Paul's-churchyard,
coupled with large alterations there and at Wel-
brook and Charlotte-row ; and a street going as
straight as could be from Chatham-place to the
Mansion-house. The last was proposed by the
Commission of 1831, and it has stood the further
ordeal of the present inquiry. It is found the
straightest, the best, and by far the cheapest. It
comes unpleasantly near our own quiet nook, but
we feel it impossible to gainsay its merits as com-
pared with the rival schemes. If you want to get
to the Bank from Blackfriars, there is no reason
why you should be taken half a mile along the river
side, or compelled to admire the south transept of
St. Paul's. Still less is there any reason why you
should be compelled to make two or three sharp
angles. The most direct way, under such circum-
stances, is the best. At the Westminster end the
inquiry is neither so trite nor so readily answered.
The Commissioners, after traversing the length of
the embankment and finding themselves at the
foot of the Clock Tower, look round on all sides,
north, west, and south, as if free to choose their
route, and glad to use their brief authority. They
would like, if it were possible, to hug the river
side, but to do this they would have to encroach
still further into the stream, to pass under one of
the arches of New Westminster-bridge, and to
carry a public: road before the river front of the
Houses of Parliament to the annoyance of all the
Committees that sit there. So this they give up.
They must wind round that massive obstruction,
and return to the river side as soon and as grace-
fully as they can. As they do this the first spot
which calls for improvement, as a link in the new
chain, is Old Palace-yard and Abingdon-street.
Here, between two of the noblest piles in the em-
pire, are some of the dullest houses in London, a
narrow pass, and a winding thoroughfare. The
dignity of the site, the convenience of our legisla-
tors, and even the safety of the Palace of Westmin-
ster, demand a more spacious and airy precinct. At
times there is wanted standing room for hundreds
of carriages ; yet the thoroughfare must he pre-
served ; there must be space for crowds on foot, for
a Royal pageant, for a mounted escort, and for the
police. Adjoining Westminster Abbey are some of
the most interesting remains in the country buried
manufactoriesbehi n d privateof
the houses,
m 0 s whilet
ordinarytim kind
(yi
rdes
daannd.
gerousol r the Palace.ynearth A
eVictocrofiag
ianTowraetrwann,
withtheda southbriak
front
south wind, would at least blacken the south front
so thoroughly that it would take a large Parliamen -
tary grant to show the stone again. So the Com-
missioners propose to enlarge Old Palace-yard to
at least the size of New Palace-yard ; to show thus
the south side of Henry Vll.'s Chapel and the Chap-
ter-house ; to clear a space as large, south of Vic-
toria Tower, quite to the river ; to screen the river-
side premises further south with a row of handsome A