The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-22 00:00:00

MORE .NEGOTIATIONS

( Prom the Press of this day.)

The secret negotiations which we announced on the
27th May as actively carrying on. and to the course of
which we have frequently called. the attention of our
readers, may now said to have reached their acmii.
The Court of Vienna has not only announced to the
Western Powers that it is notthe intention of Austria to
enter the principalities, oven "as an armed mediator,"
but it has expressed its agreement with the Court of
Berlin, that the reply of Russia to the notes of the two
German Courts contains propositions conducive to a
general peace, founded on the maintenance of the
political equilibrium.
Further, it not only recommends to the Western
Powers a revival of the Conference of Vienna with this
object, but.it expresses its wish, in unison with Prussia,
that England and France should specifically intimate the
terms on which, in their opinion, the general peace may
be satisfactorily negotiated and concluded.
Referring to our intimation, in our last number, that
considerable changes might now be expected in tho
personnel of the administrative and diplomatic bodies, in
order tranquilly to withdraw from the scene individuals
highly pronounced in their conduct and convictions, we
have now to announce, that his Excellency Comte
Walewski, the Ambassador of France, has offered his
resignation to his imperial master, which has been duly
accepted.
His Excellency, as well as the accomplished partner of
his life, will leave at the Court of St. James's and in
our circles lively recollections of many amiable qualities
which bad rendered them alike popular and esteemed.
It will be remembered that his Excellency is of a
Polish family, and has viewed the Eastern question very
much with reference to this circumstance.

GUN-BOATS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

London, July 21, 1854.

SIR,—You have fought a good fight in trying to over-
come Admiralty prejudices against efficient gun-vessels
for army and navy purposes in the Danube and the
Baltic. The press generally has followed your lead—all
except the trimming, vacillating, time-serving Times.
If that paper had as warmly and properly advocated the
right course as you have done, such leading remarks as
it contains this day would have been unnecessary ; for
nobody doubts its influence, and the authorities dread it
more than any other journal, from its great circulation.
In spite of its time-serving, it has been compelled
more than once to make allusions to the subject, but
never before so plainly as today ; and if (a natural in-
ference from its heretofore neglect of the question) it is
in the service of the Government, the following copy of
its leader will probably be the occasion of no slight
hauling over the coals : " From the moment that we
can throw a sufficient naval force or flotilla into the
Danube, the Russians are cut off in the Do-
brudscha." And again,—" It is an extraordi-
nary, and almost incredible fact, that down to this time,
nearly four months after the declaration of war, the
Russians should still have had the use of a steam flotilla
in the Danube, and that the allied flags should only now
appear there ; for one of the most obvious requirements
in the war both in the Black Sea and the Baltic was a
multitude of small vessels fit for service in shallow
waters." Sapient Editor—ls 'it only now you have
found that out ? Look back just three months—

look into your own columns read Mr. Scott
Russell's letter—read Mr. Kennedy's question to
the First Lord of the Admiralty—read Captain Clac-
ton's letter, a result of a reference to his name,
and then look through your own remarks, and if you
can find a single word of your own written with the in-
tention of urging the Admiralty to provide the steam-
vessels you have at last found out would perform good
service, and are so much wanted, you will do what I, as
a constant reader, have been unable to accomplish.

You, sir, of the Sun, have done your best, and every

word you have said is fast being proved true—every
prognostication of what was likely to follow is in the
act of fulfilment. One Pruth, or one Nix or Salamander
would now destroy, without much trouble, or without
any risk, the whole Russian flotilla in the Danube, and
secure to the Allies the command of the river for good
and all, and such a vessel need not have waited for the
clearing of the Sulina mouth of the Danube.—Your
obedient servant, NAUTICUS.

THE MEDITERRANEAN.

SOUTHAMPTON, JULY 21.

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation
Company's ship Ripon, Captain E. Cooper, arrived
here this afternoon, bringing the heavy portion of
the East India, China, and Mediterranoan mails,
and dates from Alexandria July 7, Malta July 11,
and Gibraltar July 10.
The Ripon brings 74 passengers, among *whom
are Mrs. Giffard, widow of the late Captain Gifford,
of her Majesty's ship Tiger, Sir Anthony Oliphant,
&c., and on freight 97 bales of flax, 105 bales of
silks, three cases of cheese, 12 packages of silk
handkerchiefs, 136 packages of sundry merchandise,
and a live hippopotamus.
This steamer brings no news from the Mediter-
ranean. From Gibraltar we have accounts to the

16th inst., by which we learn that the two boys
and four seamen belonging to the British brig Cuth-
bert Young, who escaped from that vessel prior to
her capture by the Riff pirates, and for whose
safety but faint hopes were entertained, had been
picked up by the British cutter Vampire, bound to
Oran, and taken thence to Gibraltar in the French
war steamer Tartare. The British steamer Persian,
with 110 miles of submarine cable on board, arrived
at Gibraltar on the 14th instant, in eight days
from Plymouth, and proceeded at once to Genoa.
Her Majesty's steamer Antelope, 10 days from
Sierra Leone to Teneriffe, and 7 days thence,
arrived at Gibraltar on the 13th instant.

At Gibraltar exchange was quoted as follows :
On London, at 90 days' date, 51± ; Paris, sf. 32c.;
Marseilles, sf. 33c.; Genoa, sf. 41c.; at eight days'
sight on Madrid, discount ; Cadiz, Malagar, and
Seville, par ; Alicante and Valencia, discount ;
Barcelona, discount ; Spanish pillared dollars, 9
per cent. premium ; Carolus dollars, 13 per cent.
premium.