The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-09 00:00:00

BOMBAY AND MAURITIUS MAILS.

The following telegram has been received by
Reuter's Telegram Company (Limited), from the
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Com-
pany, March 8:

MARSEILLES, MARCH 8.

The Massilia, with the above mails, arrived
here to-day at 10 a.m., having experienced severe
weather.
The mails leave at 11.30 a.m. for London.

Ihe Late Fire at Saville House.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

S 18, —The undersigned tradesmen, in the immediate
locality of the late fire, having had the following facts brought
under their notice, beg to solicit space in your valuable
journal to bring them under the notice of the benevolent
public.

Upwards of 30 persons, male and female, including
vocalists, instrumentalists, a ballet troupe, stage atten-
dants. ;waiters, and porters were engaged at the Odeon
Music Hall, many of them living on the premises which
were large. As nothing was saved these persons have lost
all, except what they stood upright in. Many of these
have also lost their furniture.

All of the performers have lost their wardrobe proper-
ties, &c., which are the means by which they might
obtain other situations, and as the company was
a very poor one, they are really in a very destitute condi-
tion. Being most of them foreigners, they have not the
power to bring their misfortune fully under the notice of
the public. We therefore beg of you to give them 'the
benefit of your great circulation. Personally, we shall be
glad to receive any small sum that the benevo-
lent may forw'ard to us. Mr. Strange, the proprie-
tor of the Alhambra, has kindly given them
a benefit. A benevolent donor, under the signature of
" F. R." has given them .£lO ; Capt. Hodges has behaved
most handsomely ; and Madame Parepa has in the most
generous manner offered to sing for them, if a suitable con-
cert can be organised. Other kindly suggestions have also
been received.

We are, Sir, your obedient servants,
P. DUSSONQUAY, New York Hotel, Leicester-street,
Leicester-square.
WILLIAM C. PRICE, 51, St. Martin's-lane.

JOSEPH MmumsKo, 21, Ryder's-court, Leicester-square.
ROBERT LEMON, Lemon's Hotels Cranbourne-passage,

Leicester-square.
ARTHUR DEJONGE, hat manufacturer, 44, Great Windmill-
street, Piccadilly.

The committee appointed by the company sit daily from
11 to 5 o'clock, at the Black Swan, Ryders-court, Leicester-
square.

The Southern Confederacy.

The following letter from Captain (now Admiral)
Semmes, written to a friend in England, though
prior to recent events, gives an interesting account
of a part of the Confederacy little known in this
country :

" Alexandria, Louisiana, Dec. 7, 1864.

" My Dear—,—YOu perceive that I am not yet
at home, after more than two months of wayfaring.
You heard of me from Broomsville, Texas. From
this place I have travelled all the way hither, by
coach and railway, and arrived nearly a week ago.
My journey thus far has been in every way satis-
factory ; my only inconvenience being that I was
not master of my own person, but was forced to
become public property. All the towns on the road-
side turned out to meet me ; some with formal ad-
dresses, to which I was obliged to reply and all with
demonstrations, not of kindness only, but of appa-
rently real affection. My name and that of the
Alabama, which seemed to be known by every
woman and child in the country, were the open
sesame that unlocked all doors and hearts. Hotel-
keepers refused to receive payment of their bills,
and my way was franked in the coaches and in the
railways. This was all very gratifying to me per-
sonally, but I was still more gratified at the temper
and disposition of the people with reference to the
war. Never was a people more united in their re-
solution to be free. All the burdens imposed by the
war are borne, not only without milliner or com-
plaint, but cheerfully. The man gives freely of his
substance to the government, and lays down his
life, if need be, in the battlefield, entrusting his fame
to posterity; and the woman yields to the grim-
visaged monster her husband, father, son, and
brother, with the resignation and faith of a martyr.
Glorious, glorious woman !

" The state of Texas, through which for the
most part I have been travelling, has not only
not felt the ill effects of the war, but has even
prospered by it. The enemy attempted an inva-
sion of it at two points, but was beaten at both,
and driven back with disaster, and has not
since renewed the attempt; nor is he likely to do so
during the remainder of the war, as he is concen-
trating all his forces for the campaigns in Virginia
and Georgia, having vainly imagined that if he could
capture Atlanta and Richmond the war would be at
an end ; the fact being that even Richmond is of no
more importance to us than any other frontier town.
You will see this when I tell you that we are not
now dependent, as we were in the beginning of the
war, upon two or three points (of which Richmond
was one) for the production of arms and other mate-
rials of war, but that these necessary articles are
produced all over the country, and that the produc-
tion of them is annually increasing. The state of
Texas alone has within her limits all the materials,
and is fast getting the appliances for equipping and
maintaining armies, and when you reflect that she
has three times as much territory as the empire of
France, and that countless herds of horses and beef
cattle wander over her boundless prairies, you can
well imagine with what contempt this warlike
people regard the insane threat of subjugation. If
our armies were driven to-morrow across the Mis-
sissippi river, we could still fight the enemy for a
century to come in Texas alone. So dismiss all
your fears, my friend. Our independence is an
accomplished fact, let the war continue as long as
the Yankee pleases, and with what varying resultsk
it may. One of the most frequent question.stias asked
me on my journey has been as to the disposition onf
England towards us. I found a good dealt of
en on
igno-
rance and some prejudice among
this subject, and one of my most
been to set themright upon it. An
pleasingmydwe?ie nn
duties
the has
me,
e,ulthaoturnifnase-t
learned, as they always did from
tenths of the English people are not
to
indeed,
eed,
friends, but our warm admirers, great, d was
rejoicing.thsureeofMajor Semmes, here.
meeting
hulavye had the. anticipated plea-
son,
mee
He has had the good fortune to see a great deal of
active service in the field, having been in eleven
battles and some forty skirmishes. I was proud to
hear from all quarters such good accounts of him.
All being quiet here just now, he has obtained a
furlough, and will go home with me to visit his
mother and sisters. It may be a long time before
you hear from me again, as the enemy is pressing
the blockade of Wilmington with great vigour, and,
indeed, may even capture it.--Yours,

" R. SEMMES."