The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVE XING, SEPTEMBER 29, 1862.

not at all likely to prove true, although rather
plausible. The result of the alleged gathering of
Daimios at Jeddo has not transpired; it may sim-
ply have been an auxiliary movement towards
inducing Col. Neale and the others to retire from
Jeddo. Matters in Japan are therefore, with one
important exception, pretty much as when we last
with regard to China, the last fortnight has
passed.
without any incident of importance.
r,o,te

At Tien-tsin cholera has been raging frightfully
among the native population, and is said to be mov-
ing in the direction of Pekin. Further accounts say
that the statesman Kweiliang has succumbed to it.
Only one foreigner has fallen a victim in Tien-tsin.
"At Chefoo, also, the pestilence has committed
dreadful havoc, 20,000 people, it is reported, hav-
ing died of it. The Rev. S. Hall and other four of
the foreign residents expired within a few days.
"At Shanghae everything is quiet. The dimen-
sions and importance of that settlement are increas-
ing with the growing trade on the Yang-tsze river,
already very large. A movement is at present on
foot to have a regular municipal corporation, or
something equivalent, with power and authority
over the community to the extent of levying taxes
for public purposes- A proposal to constitute
Shanghae a free city has been made and has met
with approval. In order to carry out this idea a
charter would be required from the Emperor of
China ; but the British consul, whose advice was
requested, pointed out that the moment had scarcely,
arrived for asking such a concession from th e Em-
peror. Considering the part Shanghae has recently
played in Imperial interests, the reverse would
rather seem to be the ease ; but it is beginning to
appear that the representatives of England are act-
ing under instructions to be in the utmost degree
guarded in encroaching upon Chinese interests.
There is little doubt that the Emperor would grant
requests of a reasonable kind now that he would
not give much attention to in different circum-
stances, but our officials have instructions—we have
evidence to show it—to deal favourably with the
Chinese government, and to be strictly content with
what we have got.
" The following, from the North China Herald,
refers to the former governor-general of the Shang-
hae province :
" 4 There was a well-authenticated report current
at Pekin, that the unfortunate governor-general of
this and the neighbouring province, named Ho-
kwei-tsing, was beheaded on the 17th of the fifth
month. It will be in the recollection of our readers
that this is the same personage who remained a
poverty-stricken refugee in Shanghae after the fall
of Soochow, and whom we mentioned had gone to
have his case tried at Pekin, which has resulted in
his decapitation. Before his execution he handed
in a petition informing the Emperor that what he
had done—resulting in the loss of Soochow—had
been done by the advice of four of tie chief provin-
cial authorities, amongst whom he named the Im-
perial Commissioner Hsieh. The governor general
of the Kiang provinces and the governor of Kiang-
soo have been ordered to examine into the matter.
Hsieh may possibly be banished.'
" From the ports on the Yang-tse we have no par-
ticular intelligence. Hankow continues to improve.
We have heard no solution to the land lot diffi-
culty ; that has been consigned to Pekin, where
delay is necessary and undue delay more than
suspected.
" Canton and Macao have both suffered most
seriously from the effects of a typhoon which swept
over that district about a fortnight ago ; it is said
to have been of a more severe nature than any that
has been experienced for upwards of 30 years. The
destruction of life and property at Canton is im-
mense,-the loss of life in the city and neighbour-
hood being estimated at 40,000. This is the
highest estimate, but continued inquiries show it to
be probably the most correct. At Macao some
damage was done and a number of lives lost, but the
place is not at all so much ',punished' as Canton.
" From Ningpo, we hear that Luh-sin-lan has
been decapitated. He is an old man of seventy, and
had lately made himself obnoxious to the Impe-
rialists and to the Tontae of Ningpo. He had
temporised with the rebels when the latter worthy
fled, which fully accounts for the fact now recorded.
At the same time a colour would not be wanting for
Luh-sin-lan's execution. It has created much and
deep regret among the missionaries, with whom he
was on terms of friendship. This is the same man
whom they brought out of Ningpo after its recap-
ture by the allies ; they brought him to the funeral
of Lieutenant Cornewall, which was a kind of out-
rage on proper feeling that nothing we know of
appears to have warranted.
"The following notice of a pirate fleet in this
neighbourhood is from our Shanghae contemporary :
By the steamer Sir Charles Forbes we learn that
these pests of humanity are again becoming trouble-
some on the coast between Shanghae and Ningpoo.
The captain of the above-named steamer informs us
that he spoke the Heather Bell, which had been
fired on by the pirates off Chin-hae, on her voyage
down from this port ; also that another small craft
in company with her at the time is missing. These
pirates are said to be very daring, and belong to
Apak's fleet of buccaneers, the greater portions c f
whom are now in the Imperial service, keeping the
Taepings in check at a place some 30 miles inland
from Ningpo.
" In Hong-Kong everything goes on smoothly.
The late typhoon was felt here in smart gusts of
wind, which did just sufficient damage to show what
we have to fear should any other part except the
extreme edge of a cyclone approach us. About a
week ago the Snake picked up a boat's crew who
had left their vessel, the Lord of the Isles, after she
had caught fire; the ship, being full of gunpowder
in cargo, was abandoned soon after the efforts to
extinguish the fire were seen to be unavailing. The
crew reported the Captain (Davie) and eight pas-
sengers (including six French priests) as at sea in
another boat. These have since, we are glad to
say, turned up safely after considerable hardships.
The weather here is pleasant, but the barometer is
very low, and it is feared that the last has not yet
been heard of typhoons, but that one is either im-
minent or raging somewhere in our neighbourhood.
" With regard to the opium swindle matters are
moving along slowly. Rustomjee still remains at
Macao, his surrender to the authorities here being
dependent on the decision of his excellency Gover-
nor Guimaraes, who is at present in the north of
China. Rustomjee is represented in Hong-Kong
by his attorney, Mr. Pauncefoote, who is prepared
with and holds a document in terms of which the
Parsee makes over certain assets in England to the
creditors here. As the amount of those assets is
not specified, although an attempt was made to
convey the idea that they were immense, and as
the right of Rustomjee as to their absolute dispo-
sal is far from certain, the creditors have refused to
compromise the matter in consideration of getting
this document ; it is called a trust deed, and lies in
the attorney's hands ready for delivery on the terms
proposed."

correspondent
troops which lately TIER— CONFEDERATE SOLDIERY.—The Baltimore
an approacla
either extremity.
f the New York Times thus writes of the
invaded Maryland :—Thousands of them
!kegs, and many destitute of clothing for
are hatless or
city, who went to join satid that some Secessionists from this
to particulars.
hese liberators, had their ardour so
It i: to
their
filthy
condition don't force me
cooled by
returned in disgust. from There the windward side, that they
be-
tween these friends of Mary ha
evidently little affinity be-
and the kid-gloved gentry :111d,, in their present condition,
repre-
sentatives of secessia
now
left in
almost the only
ragged and filthy, the rebel soldientlaßaltimore. Though
healthy and robust-looking sot
of
fellows,
represented to be a
hard fire. Indeed, it has developed iwns'thn spite of their
eliaricteristies of the Arabs, or Indians,
.7. some of the
their efficiency in marching and
filai•ng,
which increaser,
rlrribed aq p9Psing over the road with unusual 7 are
de-
unencumbered as they are with baggage ; bearirna‘,PiditY'
their muskets, trailing at their side. They have clean'edOnly
u
the stock of merchandise in the place, in exchange for
theirot
worthless scrip, visiting their friends as well as their ene-
mies with this infliction. Shoes being in special demand,
one rebel shoemaker, who met the approaching Confede-
rates with an address of welcome, has had the melancholy
satisfaction of seeing his stock disappear before his sudden
increase of custom, leaving in its place a currency not yet
at P4r in the Northern niarkets, to which he must look for
a new supply. Even the women and children's shoes have
been taken to be sent home.

THE GOLDEN FLEECE S7EAMEB, DIS-
MASTED IN d HURRICANE.

SHOCKING DEATH OF CAPT. WESTERN, R.N.
Intelligence has been received by the Cape mail
of the miraculous escape of the splendid screw
steamer Golden Fleece, bound to London from Cal-
cutta and Madras with a large number of passen-
gers—and the melancholy fate of Capt. Western,
R.N., the highly-respected commander of the ship.
The East India and London Shipping Company
have received the following particulars of the dis-
aster :

_lt appears that on the 10th of July the screw was
found to be out of gear, and on the 18th, there
being light winds and the sea having gone down,
the crew were employed in rigging purchases to
raise the screw, which weighed about seven tons,
and had to be raised 11 feet to enable the engineer
to make the necessary repairs. In the afternoon the
attempt was made at first with every prospect of
success ; but at 5.30 p.m., when less than a foot
more was required to raise it to a proper height,
the chain parted, letting the screw slide down into
its old position amidst a perfect flame of fire caused
by the chain rushing through the iron block. Al-
though several of the crew and passengers were
standing round assisting and witnessing the opera-
tion, no one fell a victim to this mishap but the
commander, Capt. Western, who was struck in the
chest with the chain which broke, and expired at
half- past 11 from the effects of the severe injuries
he had received. A piece of the chain (nearly half
a link) was extracted from his back, having en-
tered his chest, breaking the breast-bone and seven
ribs. When the purchase parted the screw came
down with a terrific crash, and for a short time it
was feared that some serious injury had been done
to the stern post, but on sounding the well by
order of Captain Western, who to the last thought
of his vessel and passengers, it was found that
nothing was to be apprehended. On being raised
from the deck Capt. 'Western at once iaquired if any
one had been hurt, and being answered in the nega-
tive, exclaimed, " Thank God, its only me," and
then walked to his cabin, supported by two of the
bystanders.
A passenger writes :—" On the 19th it was our
melancholy duty to commit to the deep the remains
of this brave and lamented officer. The weather con-
tinued bad for several days, and on the afternoon of
the 30th we split the main and mizentop sails, and
a heavy sea lifting our first cutter off the davits, the
next roll dropped her on to the muzzle of a gun and
stove her in. At midnight it blew a violent gale
with terrific squalls. The reef points of the foretop-
sail, which was close reefed, drew through the eye-
let holes, giving the sail the appearance of an enor-
mous comb. The next day the weather was, if pos-
sible, worse. The foretopgallant backstay was car-
ried away, leaving the:foretopgallantmast in much
danger. Next two of the weather shrouds of the
fore rigging was parted, the other two looking very
doubtful, and great fears were entertained for the
safety of the lower masts; however, tackles were got
up and secured in the best manner we could. In the
afternoon a more terrific squall than usual split the
foretopsail to ribbons, necessitating the cutting
away of the sail,as it endangered the yard and mast.
Here Mr. Connop, the fourth officer, showed true
courage and presence of mind. Getting out, axe in
hand, to the very extremity of the lee yardarm, he
remained until the whole entangled fragments and
gear were cut away. Notwithstanding that the lee
braces were slack and the yard jerking violently,
one of the sailors, named Fox, was the first to follow
and assist Mr. Connop. At a quarter past 6 the
maintopgallantmast was carried away, taking with
it the topmast, and the wreck was secured as soon
as possible. At 8 o'clock it was blowing a tremen-
dous gale, which lasted all night ; on the following
morning (Aug. 11), at about 4 o'clock, the foremast
being considered in imminent danger, it was deemed
advisable to cut away the foretopmast to save the
lower mast, hut before this could be effected, and
whilst bracing up the foreyard to allow the top-
mast to fall clear, the foremast went over the
side about twelve feet from the deck, carrying
away with it the main and mizen masts, the
former about four feet and the latter close on from
the deck, leaving us in a furious sea a perfect wreck,
with our screw out of order, drifting away where
the wind and sea willed, like a log. We imme-
diately began to clear the wreck, and in cutting
away the gear lost four boats and two guns, which
were so broken and entangled as to render it an im-
possibility to save them. At daylight we found
that the mainyard and the stump of the mainmast
were partly under the ship's bottom, and foul of the
screw, bumping heavily, and threatening ever mo-
ment to knock a hole in the ship's bottom, and sink
her, but in a short time, to our unspeakable relief,
they broke away, and we soon had the satisfaction
of seeing ourselves drifting elear of them. We were
now lying perfectly helpless in the trough of a
heavy sea, the vessel labouring fearfully, with all
hard at work in rigging shears, &c., preparatory to
rigging jurymasts. The screw was put in order on
the 3d of August. Too much praise cannot be
awarded to Mr. Randle, chief officer, now in com-
mand, for the admirable precautions taken to ensure
success ; to Mr. Bray, chief engineer, and his sub-
ordinates, for the courageous and determined manner '
in which they performed their dangerous duty, and
the way they worked at the screw in so heavy a
sea ; and to all the officers, for their untiring exer-
tions and the spirited manner in which they carried
out the orders. No sooner had this important work
been so successfully finished than a hard gale set in
with a more heavy sea than ever. Steam being up
the engines were set going " dead slow," and after
some time the ship was brought round and was soon
on her right course for Simon's Bay. At midnight
it was blowing a fresh gale, with a very high sea,
the ship taking in much water. At eight p.m. on
the sth it was blowing a hard gale, and we shipped
a heavy sea fore and aft, there being at one time
as much as six inches of water on the main deck.
At three o'clock on the following morning (6th) we
shipped a tremendous sea on the port bow, which
washed away about 30 feet of the bulwarks, and
the rush of water carried away with it sheep, pens,
lamps, and side houses, filling the forecastle with
water. At the moment of the sea striking the ship
quivered so violently that the general impression
among all that she was filling and going down.
The water rushed from one end of the ship to the
other, swamping the saloon and many of the cabins.
On sounding the well it was found that no serious
damage was done, although few ships could have
sustained the tremendous shock with impunity.
The next day being fine we succedcd in raising a
topgallantmast for the jiirymast, but on the Bth the
wind blew harder than ever, with a very high sea
running, caused the ship to pitch very heavy. At
last on the 10th the wind began to moderate. On
the 11th we sighted land, and early on the 12th
we were to our unspeakable joy lying at anchor in
Simon's Bay."
The Golden Fleece will be repaired at Simon's
Bay. She is a very large steamer, 2,000 tons re-
gister, and was employed as a transport during the
whole of the Crimean war. The ship and cargo are
heavily insured.

EXTRAORDINARY OCCURRENCE AT MILLWALL.---
On Saturday Mr. H. Raffles Walthew, the deputy-coroner
for Middlesex, held an inquest at the Crown public-house,
Millwall, Poplar, touching the death of Daniel Arthur
Burns, aged twelve years, who lost his life under the fol-
lowing circumstances :—lt appeared by the evidence that
the deceased and several boys, a few days since, were
amusing themselves on the wharf of the Thames Plate-glass
Company, which runs on one side of the Bow Creek, near
the Orchard House, Minivan. There was a machine for
raising a box by the means of ropes. and the deceased,
with
another boy, got into it, while others pulled them up and
let them down. Suddenly the boys let the machine go down
rapidly, and those in the box fell into the canal. Two men
in a beat rowed to the boys, who were struggling for life,
but before they could be reached the deceased
sank, but his
companion was saved. The drags we re brought into requisi-
tion, but before deceased could be found life was extinct.
The wharf was accessible when the workmen were at dinner.
A surgeon having been exaccined as to the cause of death,eah
several of the jury complained of the unprotected tthe machine, which was worked by a windlass; and, after
some remarks from the deputy -coroner, the jury returned
the following special verdict—" That the deceased died from
drowning .i.,,,,
by falling from the premises of the Thames plate-
'
glass Works Millwall, accidentally, but the jury requested
that i
up when not in use." 'r he deputy-coroner said that he n future the company should keep the machine locked
p
would write to the company

MR, CLAY, ALP., ON 71IE AMERICAN
TVAR.

On Wednesday evening Mr. Clay, M.P. for Hull,
addressed a meeting of the Reform Association, and
in the course of a long and eloquent speech, -which
was received with loud cheers, he made the follow-
ing observations upon the present war in America,
and the desirableness of an immediate effort for the

restoration of peace :
" Very much of the anxiety, and some of the dis-
cussion of Parliament, was given to the American
question. It could not well be otherwise. No dozen
men, with thoughts more serious than Doncaster
races or the last new opera, ever meet without an
interchange of opinions as to this mighty calamity.
It is difficult, indeed, to extract from it any topic of
consolution ; yet England may look with just pride
at the attitude and feeling of her people, from the
commencement of the struggle to the present day.
(Applause.) Not six men in the country will con-
tradict me when I say that, at the first news of the
rupture of the American Union, our feeling, almost
universal, was deep sorrow for the probable failure
of a great experiment, and a sincere hope—if not a
confident belief—that a speedy way might be found
to avert an unnatural war, and preserve intact
the work of Washington, whose name can scarcely
be more venerated in the country of which he
was the father, than it is by us. (Cheers.) We

were not Northerners—we were not Southerners—
we were anxiously interested in both by right of
common humanity, of special interests, and of blood

As time wore on, it was not perhaps in human na
ture—not even in English nature—one of the most
forgiving—to bear without some feeling of resent-
ment the systematic representation, the threats, and
the undisguised animosity of the North. The weaker
side, too, or that which appears so, has always a
prima facie claim on an Englishman's sympathy—
and it may be that not a few of us have for some
time been affected by Southern proclivities. But our
conduct as a nation has been unchanged. From first
to last a strict impartiality. We have, it is true, ad-
mitted that which we could not deny—that there
was a war—but, with this exception, we could not
have observed a stricter neutrality if that war had
been the paltry sedition which some would even yet
call it. England has borne, and still bears, her heavy
share of a calamity which is as wide as the world,
with a dignified and sorrowful patience, to which
the history of mankind can scarce furnish a parallel.
We have made no offer of mediation. The great ma-
jority of those whose opinions are most worthy of
respect, whether on this or the other side of the At-
lantic, believe that such offer would have been mis-
chievous. I make no doubt they have been right;
and I am further convinced thatthe present Govern-
ment, or any other Government, will seize with avi-
dity any chance which may present itself of offering
mediation, with a reasonable chance of success. The
anxious question of the day is, will these horrors last,
and I see that a statesman of the greatest ability,
Mr. Disraeli, has lately indicated an opinion that
they may last for years. Civil wars, he said, are al-
ways long wars, and he instanced the 30 years' war
and the struggle between Athens and Lacedtemon. I
venture, not without diffidence, to hold a contrary
opinion. This war cannot last much longer. Every-
thing is against its long duration. The improvement
in arts of destruction, which must make a long war
an exchangeable term for wholesale extermina-
tion—the improved feeling of the civilised world,
and the inextricable financial difficulties of the
Northern States. Why, a friend of mine, writing
to me from New York, tells me, not as a joke, but
as a fact, that, on having his hair cut, and paying a
dollar, he received in change two tickets to have his
hair cut again—six postage stamps, and two tickets
for drinks at any bar in New York. (Laughter.)
How can a war so bloody, and a finance so absurb,
be of any long duration ? In what way the end is
to come I will not venture to predict. The Presi-
dent has the name of a good and sagacious man. If
he merits this reputation, why should he not say
to his countrymen, as any one of us would probably
say, " I have striven to the utmost to preserve the
Union which is so dear to us ; I have spared neither
your treasure nor your blood ; I have failed, and
cannot honestly say that I any longer expect suc-
cess. Further war is not for the Union, but for
frontier. Let war cease.' It is my belief that if
but a few men of mark in the States held this lan-
guage, the immense majority of their countrymen
would hail it with delight. (Hear, hear.) ls there
dishonour in such a course ? The duellist only
would say so, while all Christian men would agree
that the greatest honour was with that man who
first said, Peace. Again I say this war cannot last.
If there were no other reason, it is impossible that
men, having our blood in their veins, can long sub-
mit to the loss of the liberty of the press, freedom
of speech, and all that is dear to freemen."

MB. .ROEBUCK'S GENTLEMEN.

(From 'the New York Evening Post.)

Mr. Roebuck, that extremely polished personage,
told the people of England the other day that
Southern rebels were gentlemen of the good old
English sort, and that the men of the North were
the refuse and scum of Europe. If Mr. Roebuck
were only a little better bred man himself, he
would not compromise his character for honour
and veracity by echoing a stale boast which
historians and readers have laughed at for
nearly a century. Virginia was principally
settled by convicts—by the cut-purses and
strumpets of London—by men and women of
whom the Moll Flanders and Colonel Jack of De
Foe are excellent types. That State, as all the
world knows, was for years a penal colony of Great
Britain, which Massachusetts never was, because
Massachusetts would never submit to the indignity.
So, at a late period, John Wesley found Georgia so
full of blackguards that, although he earnestly
desired to remain and preach the gospel, he was
forced to return to England. As a general rule,
the emigrant scamps, who left their country for
their country's good, went to the Southern colonies.
The Puritans of New England, the sober and honest
Dutch of New York, the Quakers of Pennsylvania,
kept a sharp look-out for incoming vagabonds, and
sent them away again as soon as possible. So much
for history ; let us look at the present.
If a man who systematically defrauds his
labourers of their hire—who is coarse of speech and
sensual in all his habits—who is at the best but
half-educated—won the
his own children—who is
always ready upon the slightest provocation to
assassinate his antagonist—who debauches all his
maid-servants who happen to be good-looking--
who, being thoroughly idle, finds his amusement in
drinking and duelling, in lynching and lascivious-
ness, in bar-room brawls and pot-house politics—
who, in the isolation of his plantation, lives in a
sort of semi-ignorance of all that is going on in the
world—who pays his debts when ho pleases, and
very often does not please to pay his debts—the
petty, bullying, blustering autocrat of his' neigh-
bourhood—if this man be also a gentleman, then
Mr. Roebuck is right—then the Russian lords, in
the time of Peter the Great, were gentlemen, when
they consumed their days in flogging serfs and
their nights in swilling brandy. Noah Webster,
in one of his now forgotten essays, describes a
specimen of these Virginian gentlemen tersely and
picturesquely. " I was once present," he says, "at
an entertainment given by a young planter in Vir-
' ginia who had much land and many slaves. He
arose at two o'clock next morning, pawned his knee
buckles and some other articles, gave his landlord
a note for 60 dols., and rode off without paying has
hairdresser." There is one of Mr. Roebuck's
4, gentlemen" for you!
We suppose that Mr. Roebuck's ideal of a gentle-
man is to be found in the Squire Western of Field-
ing, the roaming, bullying, fox-hunting,beer-drink-
jug lord of a little domain. But even squire Wes-
tern, in the very tempest, torrent, and whirlwind
of his passion, would hardly have tied up one of his
buxom English maids, would hardly have flogged
her until she hung a bleeding and insensible object,
with all womanhood crushed out of her for ever,
The Squire Westerns were fond of field sports, but
they hunted foxes and not men. They disposed of
fat cattle at the fairs, but they did not offer in the
market their miserable fellow-creatures. They had
too many illegitimate children, but they did not
sell them as merchandise.
They sometimes bran-
dished a horsevihiP' but it was always over masou-