The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-15 00:00:00

LIFEBOAT SBRVICES.--DUNDEE, Oct. 13.—The

Italian schooner Giulia, of Palermo, bound from
Cronstadt to Dundee, with a cargo of flax, got on shore at
the entrance of the Tay. It was blowing hard from S,E. at
the time, with a heavy sea running. The signals of dis-
tress of the vessel having been observed, the Dundee steamer
Samson immediately proceeded down the river with a crew
for the lifeboat of the National Lifeboat Institution sta-
tioned at Buddon Ness. After arriving at the vessel in dis-
tress a warp was brought by the lifeboat from her to the
steamer. The schooner was soon afterwards towed off the
dangerous lea shore, and she and her crew of ten men
brought to a place of safety.
LORD LOVAINE, who has been draining Dowal-
tan Loch, between Wigtown and Fort William, has found
traces of lacustrine habitations in the bed of the loch. Ar-
tificial islands appear to have been made by means of stones
mixed with fern and other branches, bows of trees, and other
timber rudely worked. Piles have also been found, and
many teeth and other bones of animals ; a bronze vessel,
earthenware articles, a small granite quern, beads, frag-
ments of armlets, and other relics. No distinct remains of
dwellings have yet been found, and no tool or weapon of
any kind.
JOHN BUNYAN'S FLUTE !—The flute with which
John Banyan beguiled the tediousness of his captive hours
is now in the possession of Mr. Howell, tailor, Gains -
borough. In appearance it is not unlike the leg of a stool
—out of which, it is said, Banyan, while in prison, manu-
factured it. When the turnkey, attracted by the sound of
music, entered his cell, the flute was replaced
ea the stool,
and by this means detection was avoided.
VIOLENT STORM.—Truro, Tuer.day
Afternoon.—
Last night various parts of Cornwall were visited
by one of the fiercest gales of wind that are remembered to
have prevailed during a long period. A stiff breeze com..
menced in the morning, and gradually developed itself into
perfect hurricane. Rain, too, poured down in torrents.
Wuis morning the weather is calmer, although we have had
a high wind, in addition to rain, and heavy peals of thun-
der. Reports from various quarters speak of considerable
damage to house property that has been effected. At 235
Reports from
p.m. the wind appears to be again rising,
Falmouth state that her Majesty's ship Russell, GO guns,
Commander Grrenfell, was driven from her moorings acroee
the bars, where she now remains.
The practice of spoiling such fine frigates as the
Narcissus, Sutlej, Bacchante, Forte, and Euryalus,
by encumbering them with poops, is most objectionable,
as all officers who have served in them within the tropics
will testify. Tho efficiency of the ships s man-of-war is
seriously interfered with, While the ventilation so necessary
to crews in hot latitudes is sadly impeded, to the detriment
of the health of a large portion of the ships' companies.
We are glad to find that so roomy a vessel as the Duncan is
to be selected as the future flagshipin the West Indies, and
we would suggest that two deckers—like, for instance, the
Princess Royal and conqueror—should be fixed upon to
Proceed to the Cape and Brazils, to relieve at the proper
time the Narcissus and Forte.—As my and Navy Gazette.
FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE RIVER,—About one
nod.
Thy Warwick-street, yesterday morning Capt. Usher, R.N., re-
siding was aceidnta:lyenta:ly
droNT
and his brother, Colonel Usher, of
Lee Park, I3lackheatb, had been on board a steamer, moored
iac-tairn ee t,
near LOlldoll.bridgP, to see some friends, end on leaving
they either overbalanced themselves or slipped from the
plank they were crossing to get on shore, and were both
precipitated into the river. Although assistance was
promptly rendered, Capt. Usher was unfortunately drowned.
The colonel saved himself by swimming ashore.
THE NEW WEST PIER, BRIGHTON, will be 40
feet wide instead of 10 feet 6 inches, as at present. The
work is to be delivered, perfect, in 12 months from the time
the contract is taken,

••••

WESTERN STATES.

(F ern the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, Sept. 23.
I hat I devised to go down the Mississippi River
from Si:. Louis, and visit the various ports of Cairo,
Memphis, Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Natchez, and
New Orleans, when, in an evil moment, the war-
like exploits of General Rosencranz diverted me
from my purpose, and here am I, now, on my way
to Chattanooga, with very little hope ever to be able
to reach my destination. The news of the san-
guinary affairs in East Tennessee of Saturday and
unda y last only reached St. Louis on Monday, and
threw that city into a perfect fever of frantic ex-
pectation. The movements of General Rosencranz
across the Tennessee River had caused my friends
the officers of the Union party to look grave, and
they professed, rather loudly than earnestly, their
full confidence in that General's prudence and cool-
asserting that " he knew what he was about,
and if he deemed it safe to move forward, there
could be no reason Why he should keep back." That
great uneasiness beset my friends the Union officers'
minds there could, however, be no doubt, and when
the intelligence came, like a clap of thunder, that
Rosencranz had unexpectedly found himself in pre-
sence of superior forces, that he had been attacked
by the combined corps of Bragg, Johnston, and
Longstreet, summing up altogether a force of no
less than 140,000 combatants, people began to feel
sure he had been caught in a trap and decoyed
into a position from which he could not extricate
himself without grievous losses. The first news
reached St. Louis by private telegrams, generally
forwarded by the correspondents of the local press ;
these first bulletins—hasty, perhaps, but genuine
—talked of a positive defeat of Roseneranz's
army, of its centre being broken through, of two
divisions in complete " deroute" and confusion,
and the Commander-in-Chief being forced back
to Rossville, eight or ten miles from Chattanooga.
Since that first instalment of news the tele-
been closed against all private graph has
inter-
course, correspondence is at an end, and all the
information that reaches us in the West comes
in roundalecut way from Washington, where the
United States' authorities monopolise the wires, and
prescribe what we shall read, hear, and believe.
I left St. Louis yesterday at 4 o'clock
in the after-
noon, and arrived in this city at 8 this morning • , just
a quarter of an hour too late for the
train which,
according to time-tables, should
have taken me on
to Nash ville this same day--a disappointment too
common to all men travellingb
y i , regulated Ame-
rican railways, steamboats, and other public con-
-veyances. As it turned out, it was just I
as lucky
could not proceed on my way, for the people assured
me no mien could travel from here to Nashville
without a pass from the
military authorities, and on
my applying for it to the officer in command, Col.
Mandy, that l gent eman used his best arguments to
dissuade me from
a journey which, he assured me,
would be bootless, as the persons in command at
Nashville would never allow me to follow my route
to Chattanooga, or go even a step in that direction.
As I had in my pocket letters for Generals Rosen-
cra'az, Burnside, Gordon Granger, and others,
I begged to differ from the gallant colonel, and re-
newed my request that he would supply me with a
pass as far as Nashville, as I there would risk the
alternative of being allowed to travel further or
being compelled to a backward movement. The
colonel was about to relent and comply with may
wfshes when an orderly broke in upon na, inform-
ing the colonel that the rebel guerillas had burnt
the bridge near Elizabethtown, on the Nashville
and Louisville Railway, only forty-two miles from
this latter place, and that the train had come to
a dead stop there. Presently another pale, breath-
lees messenger rushed in to tell of other out-
rages perpetrated by these same rebel bands
at other points on the same railway, and to
beseech the Colonel to " send as may of his troops
as he could spare for the protection of the endan-
gered li ae." Going to Nashville for the next day
or two is, therefore, out of the question no less for
me than for any other person, and here I must stay,
awaitin g events. The information we receive from
'Washington respecting the affair at Chattanooga
will be before you much earlier than this letter has
any ch ance of reaching its destination. All I can
allow myself leave to observe is that, however care-
fully the 'Washington despatches may be got up so
as to:reassure men's minds, strongly excited by the
first unchecked and unvarnished announcement of
the facts, they do not materially affect the substance
of that same announcement, nor do they make
Rosencranz's position a whit better than we were
at first inclined to consider it. Rosencranz, it is
said, "had to bear the shock of 140,000 Confede-
rates ; two of his divisions behaved badly ; he had
to fall back in good order (if so we are to believe
it), and was waiting, either at Chattanooga or at
Rossville, about eight miles above it, such rein-
forcements as General Burnside could bring up to
him from his station at Knoxville, at a distance of
110 miles." Whether these reinforcements would
come up in time, and whether they would enable
the Federals to cope with the force of 140,000 men
whom they have already before them, with such
additional aid to the Southerners as might in turn
be sent up from the other side, events will soon de-
cide. Men of Southern tendencies meanwhile are
wistfully speculating here on what contingencies
might be in store for Rosencranz should the
anxiously awaited reserves chance not to come up in
time, or should they prove to be inadequate to the
want. Even should the Confederates be unable to
drive Rosencranz from Chattanooga and to cut
him to pieces in his retreat across the Tennessee
River, his position would still be extremely pre-
cariouBs unless he soon found himself sufficiently
strong to take the offensive, as the Washington bul-
letins pro h
P esy, or at least so to protect his rear as
to flecure an uninterrupted
with it. Now,line of communication
Nashville, and Chattanooga lies at 151 miles from
from Lnuisvu the latter town is again 185 miles
ue distancei of 336 miles from his
regular source of
already places' IT: and actual base of opera-
tionwoat a considerable disadvan-
tage ; but how much
Ste would his position be if
either skirmishers frorn
army, or rebel
bands, such as have been heafrtdggf's
this morning from
Elizabethtown and other localitiesre
to burn bridges, tear up the rails,
,waned emboldened
rend
munication imperfect, if not wholly ime.r corn-
pr cti cable !
The Union men, especially those bel
-R onging to the
Radical or Ultra -Republican party, attach ' • little mi-
ce to the check which the Federal - porter]armies have
suffered. It is only one
evidently su " more of the
ultless, and almost purposeless bloody, res attles of
which this luckless civil war is made up. There
of dead and wounded on ourit •
are thousands side,
true," they say,
4' but the Union abides. We Can
afford at any ti to put up with losses double thee()
()
of our enemies.
Victory exhausts the Confederates
more surely and irreparably than any amount of de-
feat would ever damage us.'' The most ranting
mishap fanatics exult at every that offers any pro-
probability of an indefinite prolongation of the war. •
Their work—i. e,, the immediate and violent eman-
cipation of the blacks, and the total ruin and deso-
lation of the South—cannot be effected on any
aeeedy close of hostilities; it can only be the work
or long, slow, fiercely contested warfare. It is of
vital importance for them that there should be in-
cessant fighting throughout the country so long at
least as president Lincoln and his Cabinet hold
their semY, veiled
The work they have been pre
upon to undertake must be accomplished be-
fore the Supreme power comes into the hands of less
obstinate peen, Who
might listen to the suggestions
of humanity and co, "
to a rational. compromise.
Meanwhile, no doubt, even had the fight at Chat-
moral no other results it must create a great
revolution in men'sminds
States. Since I first landed in throughout the
Gettysburg and Vicksburg, nothing this country, after
stantly dinned into my ears thant. e
was more con.
tth the
n Bogus Confederacy was collapsing
their fac
rued nthteir
armies were used up and denaoraneei'
rals at their wits ends, their means exhau. Gene-
sted their
provisions, clothing, shoes, •-•• g-
I at the lowest ebb
and that there was hardly a chance of Lee hinesel,
daring to take the field, so thatthe f
again on siege
of Charleston, Mobile, and Richmond the curtain of
this woful drama would fall." All this we heard
and read untie ad nauseam, and as extreme heat
put a stop to m .
ilitary operations on a large scale