The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-22 00:00:00

iIR a

22,

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Shipwreck of the German Emigrant Ship

MR. COBDEN AND THE "TIMES."

Wilhelmsburg.

The following additional correspondencs has been
oricarded to us for publication :

LOSS OF THREE HUNDRED LIVES.
It has been briefly announced that an emigrant vessel
which left Hamburg for Australia a short time since with
ab3ut 400 persons on board was lost on the coast of Holland
during the recent storms, and that nearly every soul on
board perished. One of the few survivors has furnished

Midhurst, Dec. 18.
Sir,—For the first time you now disavow having imputed

8, GREAT WINDMILL,STREET, W.
Observe the Red Seal, Pink Label, and Cork branded
Kinahan's LL Whisky.

to Mr. Bright and myself the design of promoting by vio-
lent, illegal, or immoral means a redistribution of the land
of this country. Had you conteated yourselt with this
simple disavowal it might have passed in silence ; but you
have invented for us another theory, that of the equal testa-
mentary division of land, for which you have no better
foundation in anything that ever fell from us than for the
former and heavier aspersion. You now ask my acquies.
eence in a proccss of reasoning by which you attempt to
show the connection between your former language and
your new accusation—against which grammar, logic, and

THE TEA ESTABLISHMENT, 4 and 5,
Kin William-street, City, will be CLOSED on
SATURDAY, the 26th instant.

the following narrative of the wreck :
" You will have heard that the Hamburg ship Wilhelms-

RIDGWAY & CO.

burg, Captain Gross, belonging to the house of Godtffroy
and Son, was lost on the coast of Holland, and that few
lives wore saved. Among these few lam one, and there
are also 15 of th© crew saved, and about 25 of the passen-
gers. About 300 men were drowned or died in the terrible
night from Thursday to Friday, and among these were the
captain and the aged doctor, No clothing was saved, as all
was washed away and strewn on an unknown coast. Of the
\Vilhelmsburg, one of the largest vessels sailing for Ham-
burg, nothing remains but a portion of the after part,
which, in consequence of the strength of the deck, still re-
mains a little above water. I will briefly tell you our adven-
tures from the time we sailed. We left the city for sea,
having on board from 315 to 320 passengers, and had a fair
wind. We had not been long at sea when we encountered a
westerly wind, which increased from day to day, until it
became a storm which we could make no head against, and
were driven back to the coast. In the night from Thursday
to Friday the storm raged so violently that the sails which
were stowed were blown away, and those which were set
were more or less split. None of the sailors dared venture up
the masts, and we feared they would go every minute. The
vessel was driven about in a terrible manner by the winds
and waves, and at last she could no longer be steered. About
1 o'clock the captain gave orders to sound with the lead. We
did so, and to our horror found only 17 feet of water. We saw
that we were lost, and in a few minutes the ship struokfor-
ward, and with a terrible shock sheafterwards struck aft, The
rudder then gave way. We immediately proceeded to cut
away the masts, but they broke off like sticks, and their
wreck beat great holes in the deck,through which the water
poured and filled the 'tween decks. Another fearful crash
was heard, and the ship broke in two amidships. All who
were in the fore-part of the vessel and 'tween decks were
drowned, as the one sank with all who were there, and the
other was full of water. Thus 250 lives were sacrificed to
the waves in the space of a few minutes. It was a fearful
sight. Yet we could do nothing. In suck a moment one
has enough to do to think of himself, and has also enough
to do to save himself. The after-portion of the vessel also
sank in a few minutes, but was not entirely covered with
water. The lower portion held together, but was imbedded
in the sandy bottom. Now, however, one sea after another
rushed over the deck. tore away the bulwarks, and carried
off all who could hold en firmly. We all jumped into the
largest boat, which was firmly jammed in between the
wrecks of the masts and water vessels. Behind and before
me lay dead and wounded, and among these was the cap-
tain. Thus cowering together in the boat, exposed to every
sea which swept the vessel, sometimes lying on the dead,
at other times packed between corpses, I awaited the dawn
of day. It was quite 7 o'clock when we saw a northern
barque in the distance, with her masts cut away, but other-
wise holding together, drive upon the strand. Her crew
launched their lee g-boat,and fortunately succeeded in land-
ing. We followed this example, although our boat leaked.
Men now came from behind the masts and water ves-
sels and from every corner of the deck, almost blue with
hunger and frost, but anxious to get to land. There were
about 10 more than the boat would carry; but, as these were
passengers, come of the crew were compelled to remain be-
hind,and amongst these I was one. The boat left us with the
promise that we should soon be fetched from the wreck. The
boat, however, soon stuck fast, and those who were in were
compelled to wade to dry land. The tide now ebbed,and as the
boat lay high and dry we wore compelled to try and save our-
selves, ap we could expect no help from the shore. We
therefore patched up a small boat the stern part of which
had been broken away by the waves, and this frail barque we
launched in the darkness into the sea. The waves fortu-
nately drove us to the shore, and then we got out and waded
towards our comrades. The next night, like the last, we
were forced to spend without any shelter ; but at all events
we were not exposed to the waves. On the evening of the
next day some men arrived, and we were conveyed to the
nearest village in waggons. We then learned that the land
was the island of Terscheliing, and here we remained till we
could be sent to Harlingen. Of the 300 passengers only 24
men and one woman ate saved, and, with the remnant of the
crew, are reduced to a state of utter desTitution. They are
now at Hamburg, where they have been treated kindly ;
but one or two have left for England, with the intention of
finding their way to Australia in another vessel.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.
CHRISTMAS EVE.
The Lessee and Director bees to announce that a Grand
Performance of the MESSIAH will take place on THU IiS-
DAY, December 21.
Principal Vocalists—Madile. Titicns (most positively her
last appearance previous to her departure for Italy), JMiss
Lascelles, 31r. Wilbye Cooper, and Mr. Sautley. Conductor,
Signor A rditi.
The Band (selected from the Orchestra of Her Majesty's
Theatre and the Sacred Harmonic Society) and chorus will
c)nsist of 560 Performers.
Prices :—Gallery, 2s. ; pit, fa.; dress circle, 7s. ; upper box
seats, 5s ; pit stalls, half-a-g-uinea ; private boxes, from one
to three guineas.
Doors open at half-past seven. Commence at eight o'clock
precisely.
Boxes, stalls, and plales may be obtained at the Box-office
of the Theatre, open daily (under the superintendence of Mr.
Nugent) from ten till five.
Now ready at all the Libraries, crown Bvo., price Gs.,

MRS. MUTER'S TRAVELS.
Now re dy, in 2 vols., 215.,
TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF AN
OFFICER'S WIFE IN INDIA, CHINA, AND
NEW ZEALAND. By Mrs. MUTE If. wife of Lieutenant-
Colonel D. D. MUTER, 13th (Prince Albert's) Light Infantry.
Hurst and Blackett, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

HE 0 X F OR D,'
6, OXFORD STREET, W.
THIS EVENING, wiil be performed Selections from the
following Operas, viz., T lIE SLAVE, and CL ARA, the
MAID of MILAN, by Sir H. bishop; also, from LA FO LIZA
DEL DES L INO—Verdi ; by the following talented artistes
—Misses Russell, Townley, Fitz Henry, NN,lmsley, Tyrrell,
and Ellison ; Messrs. Green, Huish, Kimberley, Stuart, &c.
Also, Solos on the Violin by VIOTTI COLLINS, the
celebrated English Violinist.
Flute by Drew Dean, Pianoforte, Miss Bryant.
ETU the marvellous instrument, the ORCHESTRAL
PIANO, by Herr SCHAL KENBACH, the Inventor.
Comedy, by UNSWORTH ("or any other man "), Eugene,
W. Randall, W. T. Critchfield, T. Maclagan, and the marvel-
lous Gymnast, J. Henderson.
In rehearsal, and will be produced on Christmas Ece, sup-
ported by the entire company, a new and original Cantata,
entitled "King Christmas," written by Litchfield Moseley,
Esq., and composed by W. Meyer Lutz, expressly for the
e3tsb:ishment.

NEW NOVEL by the Author of "GRANDMOTHER'S
MONEY."
Now ready at all the Libraries, in 3 vols.,
A WOMAN'S
By P. W. ROBINSONR,ANSOM.
Author of " Grandmother's Money," &c.
Hurst and Blackett, 13, Great Marlborough-street

UNDER THE ESPECIAL. PATRONAGE OF HER MAJESTY.
Now ready, Thirty-third Edition, 1 vol., with the Arms beau-
tifully engraved, handsome y bound, gilt edges, 31s 6d.,
LODGE'S PEERAGE AND BARONETAGE
FOR 1861.
Corrected throughout by the Nobility.
Hurst and Biackett, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

Now ready, in crown Bvo., with Two Illustrations, 65.,
THE LAST OF THE CAVALIERS.
A NOVEL.
Also. uniform,
The INITIALS. By the Author of " Quits" and "At Odds."

68.
EAST LYNNE. By Mrs. HENRY WOOD. 65.
The CHANNINGS. By Mrs. HENRY WOOD. Gs.
MRS. HALIBURTON'S TROUBLES. By Mrs. HENRY
WOOD. 6s.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.

CAP TAIN SPEKE'S JOURNAL of the
DISCOVERY of the t OURCE of the NILE
Is now published, in One large Volume Octavo, with nume-
rous Illustrations. price 21s.
William BlackwoAl and Sons, Edinburgh and London.
To be had of all Booksellers and Libraries.

Now ready, price 361, with Map,
POST-OFFICE DIRECTORY for 1864
(Sixty-fifth year).
Kelly and Co., Old Boswell-court, Strand, W.C. ; Simpkin,
Marshall, and Co. ; and all booksellers.

OTICE.—CHARLES ItEADE'S Great Story
of " HARD CASH " 1s now Ready, in 3 Volumes,
post Bvo., cloth, 31s. Gil., and may be obtained at any Library
or Bookseller in the Kingdom.
London : Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, 14, Ludgate-

TEMPLE EAR MAGAZINE.
In the January Number (now ready) commences a New
Novel, to be continued Monthly, entitled—
THE DOCTOR'S WIFE.
By Author of "John Marchmont's Legacy," "Lady
Audley's ..ccret," (to.
Office of Temple Bar, 122, Fleet-street, London.

NEW NOVEL BY AUTHOR. OF " SACKVILLE CHASE."
In the January Number (now ready) of the
ST. JAMES'S MAGAZINE commences
THE MAN IN CHAINS,
By C. J. COLLINS.
London : Kent and Co., Paternoster-row.

Fatal Collision on the Scottish Central
Railway.

-

(From the 11'orth British _Daily Mail of yesterday,
On Saturday morning we were able to announce the feel
that a collis'on attended with serious consequences had oc-
curred the previous night near the Dunning Station of the
Scottish Central Railway, and that two men had been killed
and other three severe'y injured.
Dunning Station is nine and a half miles south of Perth;
and 53 miles from Glasgow, and the dire catastrophe oc-
curred between the distance signal and Dunning Station,
on the down line of rails, about half past five o'clock
p.m. A down train had arrived at Dunning Station, and
was a considerable time detained there in shunting.
While doing eo a ballast engine, with one third. class
class carriage attached, came up, also from the south, on
the same line of rail, and drew up close to the rear of
the goods train, which had not started off on its journey,
and within protection of the distance signal. The carriage
was filled with platelayers, who had been engaged dur-
ing the day working on the line near Blackford, and
who were returning to their homes at each of the stations
on the line up to Perth, including Forteviot and Potpie-
denny. Some time afterwards another goods train of 34
trucks, from Greenhill, came up, ran past the distance
signal at full speed, and into the ballast and other goods
train, producing a scene which forcibly recalled the dread-
ful spectacle presented by the Winchburgh collision last
year, Happily the workmen in the ballast carriage had all
got out but five, or it would probably have rivalled that
catastrophe in the loss of life. The destruction to property
is not so extensive as that which took place at Winchburgh,
although it must be very considerable. Both lines were
blocked up with a dozen broken trucks, and the passenger
carriage was smashed into very small pieces, while the en-
gine and tender of the train which did all the damage—a
very heavy one—was damaged so as to render them well
nigh useless, and the ballast engine and tender were like-
wise a good deal broken. Some of the vans had been thrown
right on the top of others, while one or two were knocked
on end as if they had been lucifer-match boxes, and others
were so reduced in size that only their mere framing re-
mained intact. The down rails were twisted and broken,
and the debris heaped around was very considerable.
As soon as the sound of the collision reached Dunning
station the attendants there ran to the spot and gave
speedy help to the injured; while, at the same time, a
telegram was sent to Perth informing the chief officials of
the occurrence. As quickly as possible they arrived in two
special trains, bringing with them Drs. Buist, Wallace,
and Stirling, all of Perth. By this time the five men who
were in the carriage had been extricated alive from its broken
fragment?, but two of them died in the Dunning station-
house soon after. Their names aro William Morris and
James Bowden, both married men, who have left widows
and families to lament their loss. Morris, who was an elderly
man, resided in Perth, and his family are all grown up,
some of his sons being drivers on the line ; and Bowden is a
younger man, who lived at Forteviot. Other two men,
surgeonsfo u found
named Matthew Reilly and George Cunningham, both re-
siding at Forteviot,
were carefully con-
veyed to the Perth Infirmary, where they arrived about 10
p.m. Reilly is badly injured in the chest, and he had also
his foot bruisad ; but Cunningham's injuries. which are
bein attended t b were
the dto b e much injured. After
g they
chiefly on his back, are believed to be more severe. How-
ever, he has youth on his side, being only about 30 years of
age, while Reilly is at least 20 years older.. Both were re-
ported on Saturdayas being slightly better, although neither
is out of danger. The other man who was hurt was able,
with assistance, to walk home, and no serious consequences
are apprehended on his account.
Immediately after the sufferers had all been extricated
and attended to, a strong force of men were gathered to,
gether from various points, and vigorous pleasures were
taken to clear the up line, so as to permit of the usual
traffic being resumed with as little delay as possible on the
one line of rails. This was accomplished by midnight,
when the south express, leaving Glasgow at 9 o'clock, which
arrives at Perth at 11.20 p.m., was able to proceed. In con-
sequence of the stoppage of the line the passengers by the
trains leaving Glasgow at 4.15 and 6.15 p.m., and that at
7 30 pan. from Perth were detained, they having to leave
the carriages and walk to others which were in waiting for
them at the ether ends of the blocked part of the road.
nom this cause the latter train dal not arrivo in Glasgow
till midnight.
Who is to blame for this sad catastrophe it is not for us to
say at present. The distance danger signal was shown, it
is averred, but the driver says he neither saw it nor any tail
lamp at the ballast carriage; in fact, that he saw nothing o
the preceding trains until ho was within 20 yards
udof
er them,
'Cr these
when he had, of couree, no time to pull up.
circumstances it is wonderful that more casualties have not
occurred, and that the drivers and stokers of the trains were
not injured. Itir. John. I\l`Lean, the procurator-fiscal for
the county, was early on the ground on Saturday, and com-
menced a Fearchieg investigation into all the circumstances.

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common sense at once rebel.
I will not allow you to divert me from the real question
at issue into a new discussion as to the comparative merits
between the equal division of real property, as it exists in
France and a great part of the Continent, and the custom of
primogeniture as it prevails here. That is a subject fairly
open to discussion in our Law Amendment Societies or the
Social Science meetings, and as it can affect the pocket of no
living proprietor it is not likely to lead to a very imPas"
sioned debate. But I must point out to you how impossible
it is to reconcile your present plea with your former lan-
guage. You now profess only to impute to us the design of
favouring the equal division of landed property among all
the children at the death of a proprietor. But this will not

correspond with your reiterated charge that we contem-
plated a division among the poor of the land of the rich.
What you now affect to consider to be our object is the divi-
sion of the laud of the rich equally among the children of
the rich. I must bring the question to the test of your own
language.
_ln—yojw leading article of December 3 you alleged that
the small States of the Continent regarded a Congress
with the "satisfaction with which the poor might regard
Mr. Blight's proposition for dividing among them the
lands of the rich." I now infer from your new interpre-
tation that I am asked to construe this as meaning only the
satisfaction with which the children of rich landowners
would regard a proposition of a division among them of the
lands of their fathers.

Again, in your letter to me of Dec. 7 you stated, "These
speeches are diecussed elaborately in two leading articles on
successive days, and in each of them certain passages are
interpreted as recommending a repartition of the land
among the poor." Now, the word partition or repartition
means simply a division, and not a bequest or inheritance,
and yet, with our dictionaries at hand, you now ask me to
interpret the " repartition of the Wad among the poor" as
only meaning to say that Mr. Bright and I wished to compel
rich landowners at their death to leave their estates equally
among all their children. And in your letter to me of Dec.
11, you " repeat' the assertion that "certain passages" of
our speeches "bear no other interpretation than that
ascribed to them." Now, up. to that date you had put no
other interpretation on those speeches than that they advo-
cated the division of the land of the rich among the poor.
The poor we are now told to interpret to mean only the
children of rich landowners
Then, I suppose, we must altogether agree to forget that
you coupled us with Gracehus and the agrarian system of
Rome,
No; in the teeth of all these proofs in plain, unmistake-
able English to the contrary, I should be sacrificing truth
to courtesy were I to affect to concur in this new version of
your language, which does not admit of two meanings. I
note your recantation, but repel the attempt to raise a fresh
issue to cover your retreat under a are of minor accusations.
I will conclude this correspondence with merely remarking
' that the blow which was aimed at the fame of Mr. Bright
and myself has missed its mark. How far the recoil of the
weapon may affect the hand that levelled it time will show.
—I am, Sir, yours, &el R. C OBDEN. •
J. T. D elate, Esq.
P.S. I cannot compliment your political economy. You
reproach me for having made the " concession" to France
of undertaking to levy no export duty on coal. Sir Robert
Peel had abolished the export duty on coal for the benefit of
England a doz3n years before the French treaty, and all I
engaged was that for ten years more we would not be so
i market. If
of rags, it
foolish as to put any impediments in the way of our ex-
ports. As for the paper duty, it is the interest of the British
everythingn the
oncheapest
the
export
is an additional reason why we should take their paper.
This may,—
and I am sorry for it—for a time, but only for
a time, bo injurious to our own manufacture of that
publicforei
g n
er to s
put
ty f
oolis
foolish
restrictions
tirade, in which I believe you or your family are largely
engaged. The difference between you and me in 1860 was,
that I was looking to the public interest and you were ad-
vocating the interest of a class.

Dec. 18.
Midhurst, Friday Evening,
sir—l am compelled reluctantly to resume my pen, after
having sent to the post what I hoped was my fi„al com-
munication. But this morning's Daily .21'etes Which has
just reached me, contains a statement which cannot with
honour be passed over, either by you or myself in silence.
In the first leader of that journal 1 have read, for the first
time, the following passage, which purporte to be an extract
from a leading article in your journal of the 25th of Novem-
ber on the following day, commenting on the speeches of
Mr. Bright and myself at the Rochdale meeting
Thi. language, so often repeated, and so calculated to
excite discontent among the poor and half-informed, has
really only one intelligible MEANING. Reduce the elec-
torial franchise; for when you have done so you will ob-
tain an Assembly which will SEIZE on the estates of the
proprietors of land, and DIVIDE THEM GRATUITOUSLY
AMONG THE POOR.'
duce the franchise, but certainly not as a step TO SPOLL&-

TION.''
I sincerely trust there is some inaccuracy in this quota-
tion, which is not only a libellous outrage on two member a
of the House of Commons, but a dire insult to millions of
honest and industrious Englishmen. If it be a correct ex-
tract from your leading article, which I have no means of
verifying at the moment of writing, it is in direct contra-
diction to the statement made in your last letter, that you
never imputed to Mr. Bright and myself the contemplation
of any more violent means of dividing the land than by a
change in the law of succession. Assuming the words to be
correctly given, you charge us distinctly with aiming at the
SEIZURE of the landed property of the country for GRATUI-
Tous division among the poor. You will at once Fee that
unless this language be unreservedly recalled it makes the
statement in your last letter simply a mockery and an un-
truth.—l am, sir, yours, &c., IL COBDEN.
J. T. Delane, Esq.

16, Sergeants'-inn, Dec. 2

Sir,--I received your second letter, dated "Friday Even-
ing, December ls," only last night. The quotation you take
from the Daily News is so far inaccurate that it does not
convey the same meaning as the whole article from which
it is taken does. I enclose that article and that which ap-
peared on the following day. I add an extract from an-
other, which has been published since; and, having now
given you all the means necessary for obtaining that redress
which purported to be the object of your first letter, I beg
to retire from the personal part of this controversy,—l am,
sir, your obedient servant,
Richard Cobden, Esq., M.P.

JOHN T. DEL Nu

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGII.—A vacancy having
been created in the chair of Scots law by tho lamented
and sudden death of Mr. George Ross, advocate, who has
filled it for two years, the Faculty of Advocates met on Fri-
day to exercise their privilege of selecting two names to be
presented to the curators of the patronage. The Faculty
unanimously selected as the first name Mr. G; Moir, advo-
cate, sheriff of Stirlingsbire. Mr. Moir was called to the
Scottish barin 1825,and from 1835 to 1840 filled the chair of
rhetoric and English literature in the University of Edin-
burgh, but resigned it in consequence of increasing profes-
sional practice, and the chair has subsequently been filed till
1845 by Professor Spalding, and since that date by Professor
Aytoun. The second name chosen—the advocates beg'
required to present two—was the Dean of the Facultyc(uMrar..
Moncrieff, Lord Advocate, M.P.), Nvho is sent to
otthhaet
they
tors as a nominal candidate in the expectation
tho open-
will, as usual, choose the first on the list.
ing of the university session is November
d severaland by Prince
classes have been attended by Prince Alfre.
o'ecupied,apart-
,Sine of the
William of Hesse, who have for the
tiemeas left on Friday
ments in Ilelyrood Palace.
for the Christmas holydays,
ly in January.
again to his studies in Edinburg
ohn
the
hned
eraPrr o Alfred returns
MR. STANSTELD, ALP. Friday, I+lr. Stuns-
Admiralty, who has
fold, M, P., Junior Lord of
vta,he
dockyards, and inauiring
been making a tour of the n
arrived at Birkenhead on a visit to
into their management,
left f.o,r, London on Saturday,
Dorian John Laird, M,P., aanadi
Isis stay he visited the Birkenhead docks, INE,;,:s:
Clover ana Clayton's graving docks, and minutely inspeeted
the extensive works and docks of Messrs. Laird Br.,th..,rs.
Ho also went on board the Agincourt, at preent, in cour-o
of censtruetion by the firm. The suspected rams
under
seizure in the river were visited. On the Liverpool sido
Mr. Stansfeld confined his attention to the Canada Dock,
the Sandell Graying Dock, and the new steam docks. He
boarded the Inman Steamship City of London, During
his visit Mr. Stansfeld made particular inquiries into the
progress of all works on both sides of the Mersey.' He
was accompanied by Mr. Walker, one of the chief audito:s
to the Admiralty.
DIRECT COMMISSIONS.—The nett elimination
for direct commissions will take place at Chelsea Hospital
on Monday, the Ist of February, ISM

r 4 /L

PRICE.....
S'

,~.~

'A AIPED ....sd.

LE JOUR DE L'AN,

7....".x......,24e.e..,e.,.40
- N E W S PAPE ict
,/,.r, -'....;4:•,,,,,......"--„,e
be a chance of the Rhine, but then Rearkel- col r.dw; Ne
1
O
be in the single position which his devil:MlZ, " iti,
_4
of his uncle's life will not allow him t 15i-/t....K -1.9f, ',..:4
. 1.,...
r,
s. 1L...
that is, to bs opposed to a coalition. II et :
~.-: , , ,-7
Russia, and still be in accord with pa 44414 AA,
but to menace on January 1 what he cannektnovA g
till May 1, and so afford time for all manner of corn- ti
binations, is not his usual line of action. Tlicre is /
no other enemy to be threatened, professions of amity
are pleasant bat not scenic, and as to internal
liberties, it is not of them that an Ealpror of the .
\-,,../
French will talk to a meeting of foreign Amhfosa-
bra- On the whole, admitting, as we have said,
the temptations which nress the Emperor towards
•
a coup de theatre,
the reasonable pre..3abiAity is that
he will express nothing beyond a ngret that, his
proposal should not have met a widcr and more COT.
dial acceptance.

(Front the Spectator.)
.
The salons of Paris are feverish, for the jour de '
Tait is approaching. Ever since 1860, when the
Emperor with a &nu words sent down the funds
in every capital of the Continent, and broke up that
icy surface, S 9 smooth and so dangerously thin,
which is called the European peaco, Paris has been
unable to divest itself cif the belief that a coup de
thcTre so exciting and so successful would one day
be repeated. The temptation, they say, of the im.
promptu Congress, with all Europe in attendance,
the world listening anxiously for the tele,gram, and
DO pcssibi ity of reply is to a rnorareh who combines
with unusual power of secrecy unu.i-ual love for
sudden and striking scenic effects -always great, and
this year may, they think, prove irresistible. The
difficulties of the Empire are, they conceive, thick-
ening fast, the deus ex machina must descend, and
the clouds could not open with more awe-inspiring
effect than amidst the combined etiquette and joy-
ousness of the Imperial receptions held upon New
Year's Day.
talk of circles to which
are to-day in possession of the
mit the ordinary newspaper
correspondent has rarely
access, and though we be-
lieve their opinion is based as much on a secret

rrin.ce Napoleon on the Probabaity o1W:x.

(From the Fiend?, Correspondent of the Dahl; News)
Ifla been sh-ut. in
PAINS, SA:le-Ay Evenir,g
Prince Napoleon, who,..:c mouth
reproduces from
the Senate, is now brought bc,fo:o tl: ~1. .
the letter
-,e-pno.ac .in an
unexpected m'7:llnrr. 'ne .Nat ion
the Vaterland of Vienna the following lettiticait.,:t::iis-
bated to ilitn, and expressing an opinion
inevitable. Tho name of his correspondent is
1104"
stated. The Nation, while publishing
under all reserve as to its authenticity, says it finds
in it the bellicose language of the prince, who Seems
to desire a war at any price both in the north and
the south. Here is the text of the letter in Tie,.

tion:.-e '
" You ask me Whether I believe in war. Yes, I
do. How will it break out ? I will tell you. It .-
will break out in the spring, and my father-in-la W-
. begin it. The situation of King Victor Em-
manuel is no longer tenable. The public debt in-
Crews every year. There must be an end to this.
The King has several times written to the Elezror
that he must have a solution,. and that he would'
rather be plain Chevalier de Cerignan than continue
to play the part of .a sovereign who is gravitating
towards a precipice. I repeat to you, my father-in.
law has warned my cousin that in the spring he -
means to attack the Austrian lines. Believe me
that this is the way the struggle will commence ; -
the King gives way to no illusions; he knows that
Austria will
re-enter gain the victory, but he knows also
that his magnificent army will not yield without
making a serious resistance. The conquerors will
but bombard the
sitthueei
will, iwlbillpecrhhaanpgse, . occupyiiow
Turin ; .
ever great may be
,
the desire of the Emperor for
peace, he cannot allow •
tmoy afallthe;l2
Austria to destroy the work
of Franc© in Da:
Y• -de will be forced, in spite of
himself, to maintain the
kingdom of Italy. If, hew-
eshv eoru,idcaotnatrnadroyn
cee ectation, the Emperor -.
relieved of the responsibility eil.-s,hich
to become once again King of Piedmont,
-in-law, he would prefer
and so be
atmc.ofr.we epigrol'b3abuiPeoin
him as King of Italy. s ..
tehre raever, the • that France will interfere, end th
and
King will have Northern Italy,
4 nperor.
will Clispose of the south es he thinks Be.e
A few hours will probably decide whether the
above letter, which a Paris journal, with 1 all the
fear of warnings and suppression before its ese'3'
ventures to print, is or is not an impudent forp;es.
If it be genuine, it will probably rank as one of
the most stirring events of those momentous timee.
This Much is certain, that all the recent letters from
Italy speak of preparations for immediate war
which nobody can account for. Prince Napoleon's
,etter—if it be hie—gives an explanation of them.

—terribl longing for sensations —terribly strong in a society
whichto speak, becalmed—as on
trustwtehrte empirehycalculhsataiO so to
is well worth the passing
study of those who recognise that Napoleon may
at any moment apply a solvent to all diplomatic
chemistry.
. The line of argument current in circles in which
argument has not been suppressed by a governing
hate of Bonapartism runs much in this direction.
The Emperor, say the talkers, stands, and knows
he stands, in the presence of three now dangers, two
of them self-created, and one the natural effect of
eleven years of repression: His address to his
Legislature, with its great but dreamy proposal,
followed as it was by a series of refusals reverberat-
ing from every superior Court, had among his own
people two distinct effects. It excited, and very
powerfully, the popular imagination. France feels
great ideas as no other country feels anything, ex-
cept, perhaps, menace or new taxation, and French-
men had special reasons for feeling this one. The
conviction, perfectly just in itself, that the treaties
of 1815 were intended to humiliate France, that they
had for nearly for fifty years operated as a heavy
restraint, and that " glory" was impossible until
they were swept away, has burnt itself deeply into
the mind of France. A vague hatred of those agree-
ments, acknowledged by all classes of educated
Frenchmen, by Republicans no less than Impe-
rialists, by M. Thiers as much as Prince Jerome,
has extended itself even to the peasantry, whose
traditions are of the Grande Arniee whose career
was arrested in 1815. Peasants who read nothing
else still read the Emperor's speeches, and as they
deem him irresistible, the acknowledged leader of
the Continent, his pledge that those treaties should
end, should be replaced by a new "fundamental
pact" more favourable to France and the nationa-
lities, created throughout all France a sense or deep
and pleasurable excitement. It was increased by
the knowledge that the Congress must first of all
take up the question of Poland, upon which the
strong feeling always existing had been recently
deepened by the unchecked invectives of the press,
and the greedily credited stance of Russian cruelty
to the Poles. That feeling might not survive a
long and still less a disastrous war, but it was
strong enough to authorise the Emperor to begin
one—as he said in his speech he would have done
had England consented—and to obtain euch a result
of a campaign in peace seemed to most Frenchmen
the no plus ul.tra of strategy. The universe]. refuel
of Europe to obey the summons has disenchanted
the populace, and their disappointment, like the
hailstorms and every other misfortune, is visited on
the Government. The educated classes know the
truth in spite of the /llnniteur, and alb uneducated,
though baffled as to the facts, have an instinctive
sense that notre maitre is not so strong as he said
he was. "Isolation in Europe," "diplomatic de-
feat," "dust thrown on the flag," these are to the
public mere phrases, but that Mouravieff goes on,
and that Napoleon does not interfere himself, and
cannot make Europe interfere for him, this is a
fact, and one which the masses by no means accept
with pleasure. Napoleon, who hears from official
reports everything that passes in France, the very
talk of the wine-shops and gabble of the market-
women, knows well how deep is the disappoint-
ment, and knows, too, that a similar one discredited
Louis Philippe for years, and that he, far more
than Louis Phillipe, cannot afford to fail.
Some striking act, some speech which shall
set the world in movement, would seem absolutely
required to alter the current of national thought,
and remove the impression of failure, and that
speech must be made just when the world from
habit begins to listen.
Again, the Emperor is known to have been
startled, not to say shocked, by the result of the
elections, a result which has been, so to speak, re-
peated by the votes given this week in Paris and at
Dijon. He suffers, despite his cool judgment, from
the temptation of day-dreamers—the disposition to
believe that the world is going their way, and he had
imagined that the masses of France were reconciled
to the Empire. The elections show nothing to the
Contrary, but they prove that the townsmen through-
out the country are thirsty for wider liberty, that
the artisans are voting with the rich, and the Em-
peror, who knows best of all men the gigantic efforts
made to divide those classes, is proportionately
alarmed. The debates in the Corps Legislatif have
proved that thevote of towns has greatly affected the
' 1
prestige of the Government, for though the Liberals
claim only 35 members, yet in the trial debates on_
the elections 84, some of them
" against M. de Persigny." There is a swerve,
nominees, voted
too, in the tribunals, which are
too barometric a
the fluctuations of power in apt to respond to
prosecuted by
example,veme. s
style, and editors, for nt getting
prefects, are to their own am
acquitted. These thin
h as himself, and it '
gs move the personal following
wrmhotheantjotyhse
some
ewfdaeinsat
of the Emperor alniost as affirm
is,
the past fortnight,
wameobngelitehveem,
within,ctohrereocnti;oonaefa
Emperor that if the Legislaturei
unmanageable, war, or a further grant of
s no t
sinhfaorremoefd social
the lik.ng, has,
are the only alternatives,
to become
liberty, are
exactly th© B
ty is still not beyond the reach of internal
Liberty
onaparte role,
iinste
not,rn aliv
the drills
attack, and war, if circumstances:would only allow,
might be the more popular aB Well as the easier out-
letsay the salons, reason for fearing that
N
situation. There is,
from an unmanageable
th
etawrefyoreeo,e3
aty
will b
utterance, possibly 0 marked by some Imperial
dangerous, and certainly im-
portant.
We
admit the full force of these arguments, at
least as far as
to the influences now working in the
direction of
some
grand and theatric coup, bat there
are reasons which
make such a New Year's gift to
Europe seem to men not longing
itn I and possibly will,
proaahle. The Emperor mean
scheme of a for scenes at least
and throwing the re-
take the opportunity of publicly abandoning his
aponsibility on the Powers w- • .
withdrawn ; but this
general Congress, .
llose adheston has been
is only
when that which
would be
suggestive of peace. It .
et. becomcas immi-
exists is to exist no longer that w.
speech by itself.
h would be a confession that
nent, and such n .
.pece
continue to last. Yet
that which exh3ts must
- 2 Ito i:1 known to •
what else is the Emil,-rnr to sad, ,
be bitterly annoyed at the conact of the Austrian
Court, which has saddled him with the ArchdukeMax,withoat affording him the support he expected
in return, bat he cannot a second time menace the
Austrian representative. There is nothing to fight,
Austria for, unless, indeed, he draws the sword on
All Germany its defence of Denmark, which he
seems as yet by no means inclined to do. Popete.r
feeling might back him then, because there would

THE GREAT FIRE Ili THE CITY,

A clover examination yesterday of the track of the recent
fire in Wood-street shows in a striking manner how much

it was confined to a class of buildings the interior arrange-
ments and means of communication of which appear to have
been made in defiance or in ignorance of the principles
which now regulate such matters, under the operation of
the Metropolitan Building Act. The warehouses and offices
which have perished seem to have been separated from each
other by thin lath and plaster partitions for the most part, .
and only in one instance was there an iron door between
one part of the interior of the same building and another,
such as is now commonly used and made imperative, indeed, .
in the conetruction of warehouses as an invaluable means of
which remaios uninjured would have been completely
shutting off communication in cases of fire. That iron doe-,
too,
effectual in arresting the flames in that direction had they
not pinetrated by a vulnerable point into the part of the
building which it protected. The use of iron for safety
against fire was most conclusively proved by a very remark-
able circumstance. The large and handsome warehouses of
Messrs. J. and R. Morley, situate at the corner of Gresham
and Weod-streets, overlooked by a large window on the
ground floor at the back the little court in which the fire
originated, and to which it was at first confined. This
large window was protected on the outside by a folding
iron shutter, and that more against robbery than fire.
Cu this occasion for some time the flames played fierce ly,
but harmlessly abona the outside of the window, Sob uared
by the iron shutter. Had they once entered Messrs. Mor-
ley's premises at that point, the stock stored inside, and
estimated at from £250,000 to L'300,000, would inevitably
have been destoyed, if, indeed, the devastation would have
ended in that one vast pile of buildings. Upon such a
slender condition of safety did property almost fabulous in
value and belonging to a single firm depend in this case.
bornicke,ascohmseidoef them.
The ruins, consiating for the meet part of large masses of
charred timber, show how largely wood rather than brick
had been used in the construction of the houses which have
perished. The fire, indeed, has literally followed in the
ef the
tgreapc twohf
itchhe Ete ohmeebulsetfitblheumgeatecraiballe,
saonfd
most valuable '
supposed to be 300 years old, and which the flatlets ever©
powerless to harm, remain_ standing. It is the otinieu. of
Mr. Woodthorpe, the district surveyor of the northern
division of London, who visited the spot yesterday, that but
for those formidable old walls :the whole mass of ware-
houses forming the east side of Wood-street and the west
and including with
right
Some upof tfohhmeoa
London, would .
ild have been destroyed. Ca in the city of
hptain Shaw, too,
the chief of the London Fire Brigade,
first time after his recent dangerous
ofth ellirilcOnstterneetsti
illness,
o was out for the
mead the temptation to go and and could not
his amazement that in a neighbourhood see the place, expressed
Packed the conflagration nec)
',lad so de Y
paratively small a
-n area. T
been confined to so cepa.-
he truth is that the promPt.l-
- with which the stenumber, were brougheam fit e"°E &es) six or seven. in
b into " d the resist-
ht vigour withaction, an .
which they played
on the lire,
materially checked itsr d that'
in spite of diffielatti. progress. from the
first,
ato it only
through a few blind'
s experienced in finail,ng
eae
h firemen' had at
imminent
risk
tcourts and alleys.
over the tops of lofty
piles of hous
both
eocridulovt theird hoseet
arl DEIII.--stract, and
through little by-waysnbefo°:e Wood-street and
13 in all, could
be brought to bear on the barning mass. Fortunately, the
trade books of Messrs. Grant, who aro the largest sufferera
were preserved intact in an iron safe on their premises but
about 300 people to whom they gave employment have been
suddenly thrown out of work. The firm is understood to be
that sum being spread
insured to the amount of £37,000,
over eight different insurance offices. Their stock consisted
mostly of underelotting of all kinds, shirts, neckties, um-
brellas, and parasols, of all which they were manufactuiers
on a large scale. 1n ono room alone on the third floor they
had 1,200 dozen of fine flannel shirts stored, all of which
have been burnt. They occupied four large warehouser, four
stories high, two of which have been completely destroyed,
with their valuable contents. Messrs. Morley, notwith-
standing the risk they ran, did not suffer to an extent at all
commensurate with the loss sustained by Messrs. Grant. It
is true their shirt factory, with many valuable machines,
has been burnt, but it was not a place in which they ka pt
any very considerable quantity of stock, and they only estio
mate their loss, which is covered by insurance, at about
£4,000 or £5,000. An underground communication existed.
between the shirt factory which has been destroyed and
another part of their extensive premises, and there, too
safety afforded by an iron door which shut offy: the
place
from the other in the subterranean passageone 'ace
by the result. A considerable amount o4c was established
salvage was hair'
collected from among the ruins of. Mes, --g
ware-
houses yesterday; but of Messrs. uc 1 eas. Grant's
contente, or of the stocks of Mr. L r ey'a factery and its
and Mr. Gibson, the other stifle tinting, 11ie ,6113. IL ti y ,
zers, not a vcetigo remains.

-
THE LANCASIIIILE, COAL TRADE.—WIGAN, Situr-
day.—The district stems at last about to r3turn to a
peaceful state, the advance of 10 per cent. arkrd by the rnea
having been granted in many instances ; it Mug uncle!!
stood in the ortiers that the additi3ual wages wid be ra':l,
after the "nearest vatting lip (Ily to tl?a Ist Of Ji!'7,3',„
The trade during. the week has b Try. rrrnart,:abl3:.L,o7.
vto:1:1;
quantity of coal despatched being really r_
sTinace, or a
the state of the cotton trade is considered
that has extended wonderfully
in Larraly -brisk, and the
dull fright. market at Liverpool, 'rho iron trade, crtilungantehb.e
past 1,.w years, is, however, particuuntry
number of furnaces in blast in the country
of
considerably to the increased number
pro-
spects of the winter are very ci!rlocm a contributes very
crders. ' The
Trade seems to
the long depression, and..
have completely recovered from
r_ hoped, counteract to CA tlllB
the improvement hero will, !otoln,' y
extent the evils of the still gt
manufacture. condition of the cotton