The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-28 00:00:00

party until further and more definite information

score, although I shall certainly do all I possibly
can, by means of the expenditure you have sanc-
tioned, to arrive at the real facts connected with
the loss of the Possidhon. To the best of my know-
ledge the hull of the vessel was not insured at all,
for the captain wanted to have her registered and
classed in England for that purpose,but did not like
the idea, with the hard times for shipping which
then ruled, to incur the heavy expense of insuring
her for the voyage, while, as he remarked, he would
be on board to take care of her. This fact is suffi
cient to preclude the idea of anything wrong on his
part, but will render it impossible to comply with
one of Major's requisitions. It will be difficult also
to get a declaration from the captain of a vessel who
met the burning ship. None was made here, as it
would have entailed unprofitable expenses on the
captain to do so, and might possibly have given him
much trouble with the quarantine people here, who
are always too ready to give pretexts to put vessels
into quarantine. It was principally on this account
that 1 thought some expenses would have to be in-
curred to find the whereabouts of the said captain
and get his declaration. It would, moreover, have
been a most difficult matter to accomplish, and have
entailed much loss of time, so I am glad to have
fallen on a clue which will enable me to obtain this
information from another quarter. I therefore trust
before long to be able to collect sufficient evidence on
the subject of the unfortunate Possidhon to satisfy
all parties concerned. I need not say I never had
the slightest suspicion of anything wrong on the
part of Hussein Agl ~who could have had no possible
motive for behaving otherwise than uprightly and
moreover, that he strongly re-
at having had to pay a heavy
honestlymonstrat. e
dTwh
iet
hf a
mc t
e,
insurance premium,which like most Turks he thought
a Per
fe
voucher superfluous item of expenditure, is
anotherucher for his perfect good faith. lam
glad to find that,
in one respect, the consignment of
the Possidhon's cargo has been of service to you,for
I began to fear that all the annoyance and trouble it
seemed to be giving might have made you regret
that you had ever acted upon my recommendation,
though it was given entirely with a view to benefit
yourself. (Signed) " W. CALVERT.
" To W. Abbott, Esq."
"Dardanelles, Nov. 21, 1861.
" I have sent you to-day, in a separate letter,
official size, four documents relating to the Possid-
hon, together with my comments thereon, to which
I refer you. I may here add, for your private in-
formation, that it appears that several vessels fell
in with part of the wreck of the burnt vessel ; but
although I may be able to find the captains by dint
of perseverance, I must doubt whether any of them
would voluntarily make any statement on the sub-
ject, for no doubt but that most, if not all of them,
will have picked up whatever they could lay hold
of, and will not willingly say anything which
might possibly give rise to claims being preferred
against them, or at any rate, get them into a scrape
with the quarantine people for having, no matter
how long ago, had communication with the remains
of a vessel which was not positively ascertained to
have had a clean bill of health. If this had been
known at the time, each vessel that had had any-
thing to do with the wreck would undoubtedly
have been subjected to 10 days' quarantine—a most
ridiculous regulation certainly, but which is never-
theless enforced here with the utmost rigour. This
will serve to make you understand why so little
has been heard of the burnt ship, until I have gra-
dually ferreted out such information as I have been
able to get. I have every reason to believe that
the Possidhon's longboat has been found on the
Island of Lemnos, but communications with that
island are so few and so uncertain, and it is so diffi-
cult to arrive at the real truth of anything of the
sort, that I am not at all certain of being able to
make sure of the facts. However, lam still doing
all I can to collect further information, iu case that
the documents which I send you are not sufficient
to establish the fact of the loss of the Possidhon,
which I can scarcely imagine will be the case ; and
so, if you find that more documents are wanted,
you had better, to save time, inform me thereof al
once by telegraph.
(Signed)
" To W. Abbott, Esq.";
" Dardanelles, Nov. 21, 1861.
" I forward to you herewith unclosed tho follow.
ing documents, which can leave no further doubt
as to the fate of the unfortunate Possidhon and her
crew :
" 1. A certificate from the harbour master of
Tenedos, to which port the vessel belonged, stating
the date of her departure from thence, and also
that it is not the custom of the owners there to in-
sure their vessels.
" 2. A certificate from the consular agent at
Tenedos, stating the date when the vessel left that
port, and also that no further news had since been
received of her.
" 3, A certificate from the consulate of the Dar-
danelles, giving the result of inquiries made at
Avagit respecting the vessel and her cargo.
" 4. A certificate from the agent of Samos, at the
Dardanelles, respecting a statement made to him by
the captain of a vessel that passed at sea the remains
of a ship which had been destroyed by fire, and
which had evidently been laden with oil.
" It appears to me that no other documents will
now be necessary to establish your claim on the un-
derwriters on behalf of Hussein Aga,
" It is very doubtful whether I shall ever be able
to fall in either with the captain who made the re-
port to the Samos agent, or with the other one, from
whom was derived the information reported by me
to Mr. Black for transmission to Lloyd's, towards
the end of April last ; but it appears to me that, as
these two statements corroborate one another, it
would be superfluous to seek any longer for a direct
statement from either of the captains for the pur-
pose of proving the fact that the Possidhon was de-
stroyed by fire.
The fact, also, that she was not insured, and
that the captain, who perished, was the principal
owner, speak for themselves. If, however, any fur-
ther evidence is required, pray let me know at once
what is wanted, and I shall do my best to procure
it for you.

BOME.

is received from me.

" W. CALVERT.

(Signed)
" To W. Abbott, Esq."
" Dardanelles, Feb. 12, 1862.
" You will have understood, from the nature of
my telegram of the 9th inst., to which I have
already received a reply, that my worst suspicions
had been confirmed with respect to the most unfor-
tunate affair of the Possidhon ; and I can only now
add, that I have already ascertained quite sufficient
in a quiet way to warrant me in writing that I am
now convinced that such a shipment was never
made at all. I will not go further into details for

the present, as I am still engaged in slowly un-
ravelling the details of this wonderful and most
barefaced imposition on my good faith and credu-

lity. I feel naturally most vexed and mortified at
all that has occnrred, but, at the same time, most
thanktul that my eyes were opened in time to pre-
vent matters from going on any further than they

actually did. I also need scarcely assure you how
sincerely I sympathise with you on account of the
false position in which you have been placed, or how

very anxious I am to do all in my power to assist in
relieving you as soon as possible. Had all this
business happened in about six months hence, I
would then have been, in every probability, in a

position to remit you the money at once ; and after
having thus enabled you to repay Messrs. Bevan

and CO., the amount you have received from them,
would subsequently have agreed to any arrange-
. .

ment for being gradually repaid by you which
might best suit your purpose. But since this is
now quite out of the question, it is necessary to
have recourse to other expedients, and to the assist-
ance of friends. After receiving your first telegram I,
therefore, at once combined matters so as to obtain

any advance required by you, not exceeding

£1,500, on your making certain engagements on

. . _
behalf of Bartable and Co. for the gradual re.

payment of the money by monthly instalments.
My idea was that you should refund the whole
amount (suppose £1,500), which would be ad-
vanced to you in three weekly payments of £5OO
each, by 15 monthly payments of £lOO each,
the first of which would fall due, say on the 15th
of May, the regularity of these payments, and
their punctual fulfilment being guaranteed by my de-
positing some property here with the friends who
will advance the money, so soo❑ as anything defi-

nite can be established with respect to the amount
required and terms of repayment.
(Signed)
" To W. Abbott, Esq."
As the investigation proceeded at Constantinople
it became evident that not only the oil, but even the
Possidhon, never existed ; and in answer to an ap-

" W. CALTERT.

plication for an explanation upon the subject of
certain official documents bearing the consul seal,
&c., Mr. Calvert wrote as follows :
" Dardanelles, May 15, 1862.
" Sir,—l reply to your letter of yesterday's date,
I have to state that the document which Imentioned
confidentially to you yesterday as having emanated
from the Mudir of Aivajik has evidently been made
out with a view to deceive me, as well as to screen
the authors from the possible consequences of dis-
covery, inasmuch as, since my suspicions as to the
bona fide nature of the shipment per Possidhon have
been aroused, I have found:out that the seal attached
to the declaration in question are not the official
seals of the Mudir, nor of the other authorities of
Aivajik. The document is therefore valueless as an
official statement.
" But, on the other hand, the paper in question
is likely to prove of very great service to me, as by
means of the seals and some private information re-
lative to the matter which I possess, I have little
doubt of being able to trace out, with the promised
aid of her Majesty's ambassador, the authors of the
conspiracy of which I have been made the uncon-
scious instrument.
" With a view to secure this desirable result, it
is of the utmost importance that these persons
should have no previous notice of the possibility of
my following up the clue which the possession of
this document affords me; and, as no advantage
could possibly ensue from your forwarding it to
London, I trust that you will see the necessity of its
not being copied by, or even for the present exhi-
bited to, any person here.
" In compliance, however, with your wishes, I
shall request his excellency the ambassador to
allow Mr. Sandison to make a copy of the docu-
ment, and will hand it to you on the understanding
that you consider it as a strictly confidential com-
munication until I have made all the use I require
of it as a clue to the perpetrators of this extra-
ordinary imposition.
"Should you require a translation, you will of
course get it done at Cons:an tinople.—l am, sir, your
obedient servant, (Signed) F. W. CALVERT.
" P.S.—Enclosed is an extract from my books of
the entry of the Possidhoa's bill of health.
"—Hopper, Esq., Constantinople."
At length the matter issumed such a character
that the committee of Lloyd's Salvage Association
resolved to appeal to the Government, and the
secretary (Mr. Harper) was in the act of preparing
a statement of the facts to lay before Earl Russell,
when a telegram was received from Constantinople
informing the committee that the ambassador had
ordered an inquiry into the conduct of Mr. Calvert
in the matter, but that It was limited to a charge of
departure from the strict routine of office in issuing
a clean bill of health to the Possidhon without pre-
vious production of the unual Turkish documents.
The committee, considering that the whole matter
should be thoroughly sifted, the secretary was re-
quested to proceed at one to Constantinople. He
went to the Foreign-office, and an order was sent
by telegram to the ambassador to suspend the in-
quiry till the arrival of the secretary in Constanti-
noble, and on his arrival to allow him to be present
at the proceedings.
On Mr. Harper's arrival at Constantinople, he
was informed by the ambassador that Mr. Calvert
had absconded, consequently it would be useless to
proceed with the inquiry. Upon which Mr. Harper
applied to the Supreme Court for a warrant for the
apprehension of Mr. Calvert. The Embassy was
applied to examine Mr. Tolmides, the consular agent
for Mr. Calvert at Tenedos, and the parties whose
names were affixed to the documents in question.
This was granted. Tolmides, in his examination,
admitted that all the instruments bearing the official
seal of the consul were false as regarded the purport
of their contents ; that they had been obtained by
Mr. Calvert, with Tolmides' signature to them, and
afterwards himself filled up the holy of each docu-
ment. Since then nothing has been seen or heard
of Mr. Calvert, the officers having failed to effect
his arrest.
The following official communication was received
at Lloyd's on the 17th inst., announcing the course
pursued by the Government in the matter :
" Foreign-office, August 16, 1862.
" Sir,—With reference to my letter of the 11th
inst., I am directed by Earl Russell to inform you
that his lordship has instructed her Majesty's am-
bassador at Constantinople to suspend the inquiry
instituted is reference to the fraud alleged to have
been attempted by Mr. Calvert, her Majesty's
consul at the Dardanelles, on the underwriters at
Lloyd's, until the warrant for that gentleman's
arrest, issued by the Supreme Consular Court at
Constantinople, can be served upon him. I am to
add that the report alluded to by you of confessions
made by Mr. Tolmides, the consular ageet at
Tenedos, is correct, and that steps have been taken
for removing Mr. Tolmides from office, and for
appointing a new consul at the Dardanelles.—l am,
sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
" JAMES MURRAY.
" J. A. W. Harper, Esq., Lloyd's."

" W. CALTERT.

" I have several other Turkish and Greek docu-
ments in hand relating to this affair, but, in my
opinion, they are not necessary to establish your
claim ; and, as I have not yet got them correctly
translated, I shall keep them by me until I hear
from you in reply to the present.
" You will please credit me with 14s. fees of office
paid on the documents above referred to; and, with
kind regards from all our circle, believe me ever, my
dear Mr. Abbott, yours very sincerely,
(Signed) " W. CALVERT.
"To W. Abbott, Esq."
The whole case appearing extremely suspicious
to the general body of underwriters, the matter was
put into the hands of Lloyd's Salvage Association
to be investigated ; and in the early part of January
last Capt. Sceales, a special agent, was despatched
to Constantinople for that purpose Mr. Calvert, on
learning the object cf Capt. Sceales' mission, tele-
graphed to Lloyd's as follows :
" Inform underwriters of Possidhon and Abbott
that something suspicious has come to my know-
ledge."

" Dardanelles, Feb. 5, 1862.

" Some time ago certain circumstances came to
my knowledge in connection with Hussein Aga, the
shipper of the oil per Possidhon, which, though
they did not bear directly on the transaction in
question, led me to entertain doubts as to whether
he was really worthy of the confidence which I
placed in him. I have consequently been endeavour-
ing in a quiet way to learn something more about
him and his proceedings at Aivajik, Nothing, how-
ever, that I had heard lead me to doubt the bona
fide nature of the transaction in question until yes-
terday, when further information casually came to
my knowledge, which has given me strong grounds
to apprehend that all is not right with respect to
the shipment of oil. lam therefore determined per-
. nally to make a strict investigation on the spot
nto the whole matter, in order to establish the real
facts of the case, whatever they may be, before the
business s definitively closed. On this account I havejust „ow telegraphed to you as follows :
Inform
underwriters of Possidhon and Abbott
will, I trust, be s
that something suspicious h
This
Y Payments being made by either
as come to my know-
nfficient, and in time
1 ledge:
, 1 to prevent an

THE MACKEREL FISHERY.—There is at present
an abundance of mackerel on the south coast of Cornwall.
One seine off Mevagisrey is said to have been broken with
about 40,000 mackerel. At Par there appears to be no end
to them. On Friday one seine caught about 42,000, besides
unknown quantities by other seines. On Saturday the
astonishment was still greater; five seines having opened
in the bay, some of which were so near that parties were
standing on the quay and throwing their baskets into the
boats, buying the fish as they were being drawn on board
and put into the basket alive. One seine was stretched
across the entrance of the quay, and another spread outside
for fear the first would break. As the tide recedes the sight
is really extraordinary, there being a multitude shut within
the harbour to wait the ebb of the tide, when it is only 11('"
cessary to fill the baskets and bring them on shore,
the aid of boats. Mackerel have been sold from the
at four for one Penny, wi
boats
thout

THE SUN, LONDON, THITRSD Y EVENING, AUGUST 28, 1862.

A letter from Rome dated Aug. 23, says—En-
closed I send a translation of an address from the
Moderate Roman Committee, which shows the
spirit by which the majority of the Liberal party
in this city are animated. Another short address
made its appearance on the 20th, and if I cannot
procure a copy of it, you may understand it as being
in the same sense, inciting to patience, at least for
ten days longer. You may rest assured that there
is no communication nor sympathy between the two
committees, the Roman and that of action, though,
at the same time, it is only fair to say that the Mo-
derates, so far from being inert and indifferent to
the success of the great national cause, are all ad•
mirably organised and ready to obey the mot d'ordr6
when given by Victor Emmanuel. On such condi-
dition there are enrolled 14,000 Romans, who are
divided into sections, squadri, and squadriglie, and
they are so combined that no one knows more than
five persons. The firmness and fidelity which these
men have shown are remarkable, and journalism has
not sufficiently noted the fact that though 11,000
of these same men signed the addresses to the French
Emperor and to the Italian King, and though 500
scudi were offered as a reward to any one who
would give up one single sheet of signatures to the
authorities, and though the police were on the
watch both day and night, not one single case of
treachery occurred. Such men will know how to act
when the proper moment has arrived. At present
they are agitated and intimidated by the imprudence
of the party of action and by the excesses of the
police, which become greater every hour. All
moderation and decency are thrown aside, and
arrests and perquisitions take place continually.
Thus, I have been informed, by those who are
in a position to know everything, that within
20 days 158 political arrests have been made of
persons of good condition, and if to these are
added others of various classes, the statement is
by no means improbable that the prisons are full,
and that the Palazzo della Cancellaria, where the
Parliament was held and Rossi was murdered, has
been devoted to the reception of the victims of the
police. I told you in my letter of the 21st that a
banker had been arrested. He is Signor Pacifico,
and is the manager of Ceruse's bank, and seems to
have rendered himself obnoxious by having fre-
quented the French club, and by hating lately vi-
sited Leghorn, where he appeared at a public din-
ner. With regard to Silvestrelli, it was not he who
was laid hold of, but his coachman, though the act
was intended as a blow to the master, whose corre-
spondence with his exiled brother he was supposed
to have conducted. The family consisted of two
brothers, the elder of whom was exiled, and is now
a deputy in the Italian Parliament ; the younger,
too, was anxious to leave, but was not permitted to
do so, except on condition of signing a paper pro-
mising never to return. As he is a large proprietor
he was not prepared to do this, and has remained

exposed to constant police vigilance and persecution,
the latest effort of which was to arrest the man who
conducted his correspondence with his brother.
Several searches in shops were made on the morn-
ing of the 21st, and, among others, in the house of a
well-known goldsmith. The letters of his daughter's
lover were seized, and as allusion were made to the
state of things, a visit was made to the house of the
young man, where the lady's letters were seized,
and, both packets being put under seal, were taken
off to the police.office for further ecclesiastical in-
vestigation. Of course, Ido not pretend to adopt
such a tedious course as that of describing all the
cases of arrest, but I have mentioned the above as
samples. In the bosom of their families, in the
midst of business, in the broad light of day or at
the dead of night, this Government seizes on its
victims and hurries them off to the over-crowded
prisons. And the burden of my report must be,
all this is done under the eye of France, with her
connivance and her support. The idea is enter-
tained by some here that those wholesome ex-
cesses are carried on at the suggestion of the
French Government, in order to prevent so com-
promising an affair as a collision between the
French troops and the Italians, I do not aceept
such an explanation, having had a theory of
my own, founded on a long and intimate know-
ledge of French policy in Italy, and that theory is
that it has been the aim of the Imperial Govern-
ment by delays, temporary interventions, intrigues
with all parties, to render all regular government
impossible, and, by driving a people who have the
cup of liberty in prospect to desperation, to create
an excuse for making itself the suppressor of
anarchy. It is a dangerous game, and many a spider
has been swept off with his web. To confine myself,
however, to what is passing here, the inevitable re-
sult of these persecutions will be to generate a spirit
of vindictiveness which will gratify itself at any cost.
At the beginning of the week two priests were
stabbed in the Piazza Venezia, and another priest
was soundly beaten ; it is asserted that they had di-
rected the police to enter a courtyard where four
young men were assembled. They were all ar-
rested; but one was afterwards liberated, and the
act of the priests was not forgotten. There will be
many such acts remembered should a rising take
place, and I shudder at the thought of what would
happen here if the pent-up passions of this people
were ever to find a vent. I remember to have seen
the Bourbon police hunted like vermin through the
streets of Naples, and no good man would like to
see such scenes renewed in the streets of Rome ; but
the priests must look to themselves ; the people are
maddened to desperation, and if neither humanity
nor Christian feeling have any control over them, a
regard for personal security should command them
to pause.

M. Lavalette and the Duke de Montebello had an
audience of the Pope on Monday. After some diffi-
culties which were raised by A ntonelli, his Holiness
was promised all protection against Garibaldi, but
other communications were not, I am informed,
equally agreeable to the Pope. The Cardinals and
the clergy and displeased, and bystanders 9ay that
Lavalette and Montebello, on leaving,were observed
to have a very " lively" discussion. An impression
exists among the French, if I may believe some
of their officers with whom I have conversed,
that another division, equal to 8,000 men. is ex-
pected from Lyons. What is more ominous still is
an impression among the same persons that Napo-
leon may lay hands on Naples. It is obviously on
the cards, as it is entertained by the officers of the
Imperial Government ; but, as I have often ob-
served, the tendency of the Emperor's policy for two
years has been in that direction, and not a dodge,
political or social, military or naval, has been
omitted to prepare the way. The appearance of the
Spanish frigate, the arrival of which at Civita Vec-
chia I announced to you, has given rise to much
speculation here. The Osservatore Romano, on the
same evening declared that she was placed at the
disposal of the Spanish Ambassador. The Nuestra
Senora del Carmine, for that is her name, carries 48
guns, and is a beautiful vessel. Now, as his Holi-
ness is a necessary instrument in the hands of the
French, it cannot be for him, and public opinion has
set it down for the Bourbons. If so, so much the
better; but their departure is too late. They have
been permitted to remain until they have done irre-
mediable harm in the South of Italy. The ex-King
is at Athens, and has nearly recovered the effects
of his attack of smallpox. The Queen-Mother and
one of the princesses I saw on the Pincio the night
before last. Among the great and little diplomatic
personages who figure away nightly in that de-
lightful spot are the Minister of the Duke of
Modena, accredited to the Court of the Bourbons.
There, too, one meets with the Neapolitan refugees,
and little coteries are formed and hopes indulged
which will never be realised if the Bourbons are the
objects of them. Napoleon will take good care of
that if Victor Emmanuel fails to do so. It is worth
mentioning that the monster Stoppa was given up
by the French to the Italian authorities, and taken
across the frontier last Saturday. This man has
committed upwards of 10 or 12 murders, but, under
the quasi protection of this Government, has re-
mained secure. The nephew of his latest victim was,
however, determined to have him, and, having
obtained the permission of the French, came upon
him and felled him to the ground with some heavy
weapon. The servants of a friend of mine met him
as he was being taken under a strong escort across
the frontier. He was mounted on a donkey, his legs