The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-07 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 7, 1854.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

The St. George, 120, Captain Eyres, C. 8., has sailed
from Portsmouth, for Devonport, to be paid off. Her
crew will be draughted into war steamers.
The Dauntless, 33, screw-frigate, Captain Ryder, was
ordered yesterday to prepare for sea with all possible de-
spatch. She went out of the steam basin at Ports-
mouth yesterday morning, received her crew, and began
to re-ship her sea stores. She will go to Spithead this
morning, and have her sea-going complement made up by
draughts from the sailing squadron, after which, it is
reported, she leaves to reinforce Rear-Admiral Fan-
shawe's squadron on the North American station.
The \Araliner Castle, hired sailing transport, left
Portsmouth yesterday, full of victualling supplies for
Malta.

TIIB LOSS OP TIIE ARCTIC.

EXTRAORDINARY NARRATIVE.

The following personal narrative of his sufferings on a
raft, after the loss of the American mail steam-ship, the
Arctic, is given by James Smith, of Mississipi, in the
Quebec Chronicle of the 14th of last month :

I was a passenger in the Arctic. We had been out from
Liverpool seven days, and were 'in about longitude 52, and
somewhere about 50 or 60 miles off Cape Race, on the
coast of Newfoundland, when the dreadful occurrence took
place on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
During the day, up to the time of the accident, the wea-
ther had been quite foggy, and I was somewhat astonished
and alarmed several times, when on deck, seeing the weather
so thick that I fancied not more than three or four of the
ship's lengths ahead could be seen, and she going on at full
speed, without any alarm-bell, stem-whistle, or other sig-
nal being sounded at intervals, in some such manner as I
had been accustomed to-in a fog onother vessels. At about
15 minutes after the meridian eight bells had been struck,
and while sitting in my state-room in the forward cabin,
the earnest cry of a voice on deck (whom I at the moment
egal i
nine
vgrdi—i 1
ial
giving
all -
the
hot eeo a.
in na
.1
othersl em rr
in
in an -
stepped hc
the cabin
could
' a'
bbeewi
:laths;
took to be the man Os the look-out) to "Stop her, stop
heard with alarm by myself,
eoaf-ardtintryhneantnas
itanemg.
reoo
offtu
li mt,
oeawnt
andredwsnhti
ihalnee
endeavouring, with Mr. Cook, my room-mate, to calm the
excitement among the ladies in the cabin, and before the
man giving the alarm on deck had reached the engine-
room, we were made aware of the concussion by a somewhat
slight jar to our ship, accompanied by a crashing noise on
our starboard-bow. It was a moment of awe and suspense;
but I think we all seemed to satidy ourselves that the
shock was slight, and that, as we were on so large and
strong a vessel, no serious damage had happened, or could
well happen to such a ship, in an occurrence of such a na-
ture. With such a reliance on my owl mind, at any rate, I
was very quickly on deck, and, in detached accounts from
other passengers, learned that a screw-steamer, with all
sail set, had struck us on the starboard bow, and, glancing
aft our starboard wheel and wheel-'..ones, struck her again,
and she passed astern of us out of sight immediately, in
the thick fog. I saw, on the first glance at oar bulwarks,
that all was right with us, but instantly began to get
alarmed from our careening over on the side we had been
struck, as well as from the call for the passengers to keep
on the port side. I understood, also, at this time, that
one of our boats had been cleared away and lowered, with
our first officer and six men, to render assistance to the
other vessel, and that our ship was making round in search
of her also. I saw Captain Luce on the paddle-box, giving
orders in one way and another, and most of the officers and
men running here and there on the deck, getting into an evi-
dent state of alarm, without seeming to know what was to be
done, or applying their energies to any one thing in particular 1
except in getting the anchors and otherheavy articlesover on
to the port side of the ship. I looked over the starboard bow
and saw several large breaks in the aide of our ship, from
8 to 12 or 14 feet abaft the cutwater, and I was convinced
that in the 10 or 15 minutes' time our wheels were further
submerged in the water than usual. Our ship seemed to
right herself somewhat after getting the deck weight upon
the larboard, but it was too evident that Captain Luce
himself, as well as all hands, was becoming aware of our
danger, and, from the tremendous volume of water being
thrown out from our steam pumps, I was convinced we
were making water at a fearful rate. Then came in full
view before us the other vessel, presenting a most heart-
rending spectacle ; the whole of her bow, for at least ten
feet abaft her cutwater, was literally crushed away, leav-
ing to all appearance an open entrance for the sea, and how
she bad remained above water for so many minutes seemed
a mystery. Her decks were covered with people, and all of
her sails on all three of her masts were set. We merely
passed her again, and she was in less than a minute hid in
the fog, but scarcely out of sight when wo heard arise
from her dock a loud and general wail of mourning and
lamentation that told us of their burial en masse. I
should think there were at least two hundred souls
on the deck of that ship. It was just previous
to, or at the same time that we thus came in sight of and
rpassed
individualsher
,thationur
fh we
wheaetlesr,weans twoelvlearstawboooart thanrode,cserepwa-
who had evidently left the other ship for safety on ours.
Ono man only we picked up— an old weather-beaten French
fisherman,
went under n who, havingour wheel,caught
m ropeth e
hangingsmall
r
she our
ship, and was finally pulled onboard of us, and from whom
wo learned something of the other vessel. Captain Luce
had, by the time of our coming in sight of the Vesta, be-
come so convinced of our own critical situation, that our
only or best chance was to keep under headway as fast as
possible towards the land. A deep-seated, thoughtful look
of despair began to settle upon every countenance—no ex-
citement, but ladies and children began to collect on deck
with anxious and inquiring looks, receiving no hope or con-
solation, wife and husband, father and daughter, brother
and sister, would weep in each other's embrace, or kneel
together imploring Almighty God for help. Men would
go about the decks in a sort of bewilderment as to what
was best to he done ; now laying hold of the hand-
pumps with redoubled energy, or with sickening
effort applying their power to the hauling up of freight
out of the forward hold, already floating in water before
the lower hatches were opened. System of management
or concentration of effort was never commenced or ap-
plied to any ono object. Two separate ineffectual at-
tempts to stop the leaking by dropping a sail down over
the bow were made, and the engines were kept working
the ship a-head toward the land ; but, in the course of
, an hour, I should think, from the time of the collision,
the lower furnances were drowned out and the steam-
ofThe first officer, with his boat's crew, we had left
fu
hmopws
many s t o p p e
hd
0.
nrThens o r in
it
is
ne eumt
eesdwt to become
would
boon
al yh
oa, qe uwe
as ttieorn.
behind
ship,
ilotp , of
an
dt hae
general sailors,
enl eegri theten as with
t 0
The stern tackling of another had given way from the
who should have
hadsfcrroall Otbileent 0: . rdsstae.
en
moTtehhdee
rstehocaeabnted
and ogffioi
weight of persons in it while it was swinging over the side,
places in the only two remaining boats that I saw on deck.
and I think several must have been lost with that. I saw
one lady hanging to the bow tackle of it after the stern
had broken loose. One of those still remaining was a large
one on the quarterdeck occupied by ladies and children,
and some few gentlemen. The other was on the upper
deck forward and in the possession of a lot of firemen.
Things were in this condition at about two hours after the
accident. Captain Luce was superintending the lowering
of spars and yards, aided mostly by passengers, for the purpose
of making a raft, and complaining that all his officers and
men had left him. Most of the women and children were
collected round the boat on the quarter-deck, seemingly
resigned to their fate. Some few gentlemen exerted all their
powers to prevail on others to work on at the pumps, but ,
all to no purpose ; the ship kept on gaining in quantity as
steadily as time progressed. The engines had stopped
working, and I, seeing that the chief engineer, with some
of his assistants and firemen, had got the forward boat in
the water over by the bow., under the pretence of working
at the canvass which was hanging over the bow, so as to
sink it down over the leaking places, but seeing as I thought
symptoms of their real intention to get off from the ship
without too many in the boat, I dropped myself down near
by them on a small raft of three planks about a foot wide
engineers'lro
each, and 10 or 12 feot long, and an inch in thickness,
lashed together with some rope and four handspikes, and 1
which I had just previously helped to lower into the water
for the purpose of working from about the bow of the
ship. Finding it bore me up I shoved off, intending to get
ablooantg, si
thede engineero f the
several firemen and one or two passengers dropped into the
at the same time pushed off and pulled away from the
ship, with about 12 or 15 persons in his boat, declaring to
g baogaat
1,.
nbs
tu but
theiras ld
osihn shoved v
so,ed ao
ti.f off,
those on board, at ,the same time, that ho was going off,
but would stay by the ship to the last. At the same time
he, er those in the boat with him, continued to pull away
in what I considered was the direction of the land, and
were in a few minutes lost in a fog. I now saw there was
no probable chance for me but to
remain where I was, on
my frail little craft, until I could see some better chance
after or before the ship went down. She had now
settled • down to the
wheel houses. The upper
furnaces had for some time been drowsed out. People
on board were doing of nothing but firing signal guns
dis-
tress, trying to get spars overboard and tearing doors off
the hinges—nothing else seemed to present itself, as a
means of saving the lives of some three hundred souls still
on board. I have crossed the Atlantic 9 times now, and
nearly every previous time have had in my charge one or
more of my family or near relative, but now I thanked my
God that I had not even an acquaintance with me in this
my adversity- I tightened up- my little raft as well as I
could, so as to make it withstand the buffettings
and strainings of the heavy rolling sea, and with
the aid of a long narrow piece of plank, which I tore up
off the others, nabg it • as a paddle,kept I hovering
within about two hundred or three hundred yards of the
sinking ship, watching operations there, and keeping
myself from being drifted out of sight, so as to have what
company there might be left on rafts like my own e fter
our doomed vessel had sunk beneath the surface. In this
position I saw three different small rafts like my own
leave the ship, one of them with three, and another with
two of the firemen standing erect on them, and one of
the mess boys of the ship sitting on it. Those three
rafts all drifted close by me, so near that I was hailed
by one and another of them, with the request for us
all to keep near together, to which I assented, but told
them that we had all better try and keep by the ship till
she went down. And this time I noticed that the large
boat which had been on the quarter-deck was ie the water,
and was being freighted pretty fully, to all appearance,
with several women, and a good number of men, and that
the raft of spars was at the, same time being lashed
together, several getting on it. I noticed also a couple of
large empty water casks lashed together with five men
on them, apparently passengers, leave the ship, and
drifting towards me, while within about 50 yards,
they capsized with the force of a heavy swell, giving
their living freight an almost immediate watery
grave. Three of them I noticed regained the top side
of the casks only to be immediately turned over again,
and the casks separating I saw no more of them. My heart
sickened at so much of immediate death, and still I almost
longed to have been one of them, for at the same instant,
and as near as I can judge at about half-past four, the ship
began to disappear ; stern foremost she entered under the
surface, her bow rising a little as she slowly went under,
and I distinctly heard the gurgling and rushing sound
of tho water filling her cabins from stem to stern as
she went under, taking, I should think, from thirty
seconds to a minute in disappearing, with a large num-
-1 ber of people still upon her deck. Thus went down
the noble Arctic, leaving nothing but a mixture of
fragments of the wreck and struggling human beings.
I saw one large halt round fragment burst above the sur-
face and several of the struggling fellow mortals get on
it ; this and the raft of spars with several on it, and the
boat full of people, was all that I could distinctly make
out as being loft in tho neighbourhood of where the
ship went down to windward, and the three small
rafts to leeward along with my own were left to pass
the night, now beginning to close in upon and hide away
from my sight—l wish I could say from my memory—
this dreadful day ; but such a night of extreme melancholy
despair and utter loneliness I hope I shall never again ex-
perience. I had, it is true, become familiarised with death,
and felt as if it would be a great relief to go immediately
like the rest; and for this end I, with somewhat of satis-
faction, thought of the phial of laudanum in my pocket, pre-
viously intended for a better use ; but, oh ! how unpre-
pared was I to soo my God, and for my family's sake how

necessary I felt it was for me still to live a while longer,
else would I have emptied that phial or rolled over the
side of my plank most willingly. The night was cold and
chilly, the dense fog was saturating my already wet clothing.
I was standing up to the ankles in the water, with the
waves every now and then washing me up above
the knees, no hope in my mind of being drifted to the
land, and in a part of the ocean where it is believed a
thick fog continually hangs over the surface, precluding
the hope of any chance vessel in passing near us being
aware of our situation—all circumstances seemed to say, it
is but a question of how long the physical frame can endure
this perishing state, or how long before a more boisterous
sea turns over or separates the slightly fastened planks.
Thus reflecting, I offered up to Him who ruleth tho winds
and the waves--to Him unto whom we all floe in our
deepest distress—a sincere petition for mercy, that, as I
had now been called to account, I might, notwithstanding
my unworthiness, find an acceptance through the merits of
Him who suffered for us, and who stands ready to aid, and
who says, " Knock and it shall be opened unto you"—unto
whom can we look, oh ! our God, but unto Thee ?
Our whole life is, after all, but as this hour—a mere ques-
tion of a few short days; and what are all the mere vani-
ties transpiring during an ambitious and short existence
compared to an assurance which makoth our latter end a
fearless one ? Relieved and consoled by this, my last pe-
tition, I was somewhat calmly resigning myself to await
my time as long as my strength and power of endurance
could hold out, when I discovered close by me a large
square basket lined with tin, floating lightly by me—one
of the steward's dish-baskets it proved to he, and paddling
up to it, I got it on board, and with the help of a piece of
small rope I had round my shoulders, I lashed it pretty
firmly on top of the plank, thus not only tending to make
my raft more secure, but affording me a comparatively dry
place to sit on the edge of it, and with my feet inside form-
ing a shelter for my legs up as high as my knees. After get-
ting this all arranged, and while sitting watching the water
every now and then`• dashing over the top of it, and becom-
ing convinced that it would soon be partly filled and add
to my discomfort, as well as to the weight of the raft, I ,
was again surprised to hear a distinct rattle against the
side of the raft, which proving to be a small air-tight tin
s
tmaskthceennanodycndyliistdf—otieehnulse,faigosfnacpn:nrai aitdaerge,rmeolhtfeasv,
else,
andaaelanbdnndstledafiehioettdeslufi
etnsibaneienc
cut such
out
usedut to token
enanes
of
fnl life-preserver--I
theeo-fp
ipr
ter swe es
with
tvnhee rem—oyflseizedmp pocket
ee
n
rneansweredtpaoerkdo breaking
the
th:hieoananwl
inside,
nnudfgrerr purpose
ivotsehtea—ultoeshfadonwktdeooheohampl tydi ,ynwdg ahabovenmi
sightco damp
nothingwn
oI n wl
yams
y enabledb feetut t
and
thick
kol
emkgesi e:pt7mtthyet littlehe
unceasingl
o ver pshelter clear of water ;
findl thisn th this
sort little
rt willow oswi t house,uatio n wore
t Ir
owbs oosaodywnyeasfyo some-
whatfound
myself
blast
rln
a.
mid-
day otwhensluitntleelebaarreqduea;wnayottahesimn
ilset,v
and
ci."
the night closed upon was now single
beeasrtsrlegooelelfnio.nmfgyaAllboeluste
rays was truly grateful, but oh how desolatet
cheerfulness seemed the prospect he thus
the whole broad expanse of waters not a unfolded ! OvOr
seen, not a thing save the figures of the
tswaiel could be
about half a mile distant, still standing erect and showingren'
themselves at intervals, as every heavy swell raised them
on its crest. I had not yet felt either hunger or thirst,
for which I was truly thankful, for I had but a hand-
ful heatini t
s' ofmv thatehi
rjdi his
of dry broken crackers in my hat, which I felt deter-
mined to save to the last, and •of course no water. I
dreaded the craving of either.
The day wore on still clear until about an hour before
nightfall, when the two firemen (within hailing distance
of whom I had worked my way again) discovered a ship
under full sail broadside towards us, but it was with faint
hopes of success that I hoisted my handkerchief tied to
the end of the strip of wood I was using as a paddle, the
firemen doing the same with a shorter pieceof wood in their
possession. The ship at one time, we noticed, lay to, or
altered her course for a moment, giving us a hope that she
had discovered something, but the night closed in again,
and with it all hopes of a rescue.
I passed through this night in a dozing, dreary,
shivering, half sensible sort of state, with all sorts of fan-
cies before my drowsy and somewhat disordered mind,
and all sorts of pictures in my wakeful moments, both of
a pleasing and of a revolting character, floating before me
on the dark surface of the water. Now and then, during
the night, I fancied myself hailed by various sur-
reundiug parties, convinced as I was, at the same
time, that none others were within hailing distance
but the two firemen. My disordered fancy, however,
kept me for more than half the night in an agreeable
state of excitement, under the firm belief that com-
panies of boats' crews were on the search for us, and
most lustily did I answer every fancied or real signal.
The morning dawned again, and with it a horrid scene of
despair at the gloomy prospect of the same dense, foggy at-
mosphere, now and then fully developing to view the same
two erect figures dancing about on the rolling surf, and,
in my selfish liberality, I bargained with myself that I
would endure still during this day, seeing that my two
companions, who were obliged to be on their feet support-
ing each other in a very precarious looking, back-to-back
attitude, were able still to exist. I felt a little hungry
this morning, and ate half a biscuit. While warming my-
self by about two hours' paddling up towards them, during
which the fog partly cleared away, and while close to
them, we all became excited at the sight of a sail far to the
south, as I thought, but broadside towards us. Like the
one on the previous evening, I had little hope of her com-
ing much nearer, but being determined to leave no effort
untried whichmight possibly attract their notice, I stripped
myself, and taking off my shirt tied it by the sleeves to the
end of my paddle, aid, with my handkerchief on a small
strip of wood tied on above it, I thought I had a tolerably
conspicuous signal, and 'waved it to and fro for more than
an hour, until the skip was nearly out of sight; and just
as I had lowered it in utter hopelessness, we all descried
at the same instant, in the opposite direction, another
sail, and on to us, just entering, as it were, into our grand
amphitheatre, through a cloud of mist that seemed to rise
and clear away above the vessel, forming a grand triumphal
archway around our eureka, like a tower of promise, in
the centre. When within three
miles of us, and about an
hour and a half after she first hove in sight, we were relieved
by her backing her sails, altering her course' and lying to for
a while; then, hoisting a signal on her spanker-gaff, se put
about and hero away, on and en far in the distance on the
opposite tack, until my heart began to fail again, doubting
whether she was beating to windward for us, or had gone
on her way, rejoicing in the discovery and rescue of only a
portion of the unfortunate wretches within range of her.
But again how light and buoyant was the joy as she at last
put about, and stood directly for us ; and on and on she
advanced like a saving angel, until we could see her
noble-looking hull distinctly rise and fall within little
over a mile distant from us, when she backed her sails
again and waited for some time in the prosecution of
her mission of mercy, no doubt relieving some of our scat-
tered companions from a like precarious state. Soon she filled
away again, and at last, lying to close by the two firemen, I
saw her boat lowered with five men in it, who, picking up the
two firemen in their course, came dashing along directformy
raft, and, soon bouncing alongside, I allowed myself to
tumble on board of them, unable, physically, to adopt
anything of a graceful action, and morally overpowered
with gratitude to God and to those His instruments. I re-
mained speechless until I got on board the ship. Before
getting on board, however, the boat went away off some
distance to windward, and picked up the three other fire-
men whom I bad seen leave the Arctic, but who had been
ever since out of view. We all got huddled upon the deck
somehow, although rather awkwardly, and making my way
down to her neat little cabin as well as my stiff feet and legs
would allow, I had thepleasure of paying my respects to Capt.
J. Russell, and found myself on board the ship Cambria, of
Greenock, bound from Glasgow for Quebec. Capt. Russell,
the Rev. Mr. Walker of the Free Church of Scotland, and his
very kind and attentive wife ; Mr. Sntherland, of Caith-
ness-shire, in Scotland ; Mr. John M`Naught, and several
of the passengers of the steerage paid us every attention
that I could have desired; Captain Russell giving me up
the berth which he had been using himself, and putting
gleh.t tend nveil ain
sur-
priseds the
whom we had
leevaesr yt tt het ionr gleel
learn
ernvneb
tohaaarntddtihnme raeokql
deu i suFi
st
ri
eo
cnnoc
mthhmfac
iatr
ntma
pinked up from the Vesta was our good genius on this
occasion. Being directly in the track of the approaching
Cambria, he was picked up by the second mate of the
Cambria, Mr. Ross, jumping overboard with a line, and,
seizing hold of the old man, they were both pulled on
board, and the rescued Frenchman, in the best English ho
could muster, made Captain Russell aware that others were
near. He then went to the masthead, and with his glass
made out the other four pieces- of wreck which we were all
on, and making his long tack to windward, came back in
the midst of us, picking up first, from that half-round
piece of wreck that I saw burst above the surface at the
time of the ship going under, Captain Luce, Mr. George
F. Allen, of the Novelty Works, and a young German, a
passenger of the Arctic, by the name of Ferdinand Kaye.
They, along with night others of those who went down
with ;the ship, had gained this piece of wreck, which
turned out to be a segment of one of the paddle-boxes ;
and singular it seems that Captain Luce, who had
stuck by his sinking ship to the last minute, was thus
saved at last on the very boards which, as comman- '
der, were his post of duty. The same thing, however, ,
had caused the death of an interesting eon, by striking or
falling on him as it burst above water. The eight others
who had gained it with them had from time to time
perished on it, and Mr. Kaye was on the point of making
the ninth, when the Cambria hove in sight. He had be-
come almost a lunatic from extreme thirst, from eating
biscuit soaked in sea• water, and attempting to quencht
it
by blood sucked from veins in his arm, opened wih his
penknife, and attempted to drown himself several times.
He had ben prevented by Capt. Luce and M
longer endurance seemed impossible with him,
when
Mr. Allen, too, although saved himself,
had too much reason to fear the loss of his wife and several
r. Allen,
Cambria appeared. the
until
other relatives who were on board, and whom he saw placed
on the raft of spars before the ship went under. I found
and
those three, my companions, in the cabin of the Cambria, and
forecastle, all suffering much, the old man having lost his
do voyage," " compagnon the mess boy, who held out as
comfortably b l The
hold
quartered
away in
long as he could, but finally rolled overboard.
tbheeinfigvaettended firemen to
were like
In the course of a few days we all began to get round
and feel pretty well, with the exception of the severe pains
in our feet, which continue with very little intermission,
and at the same time it is most congenial to our feelings
that, through the leadership of Mr. Walker, we have the
daily opportunity of rendering praises and thanksgiving to
a gracious God for his mercy and goodness towards us.
Captain Russell feels the circumstance of his instrumen-
tality in the matter with great gratification on account of
Captain Nye, of the Collins steamer Pacific, having some
years ago run great risk in saving him and his orew from
off the sinking Jessie Stevens, in a severe gale in the
Atlantic. •

TILE WAR
.FEELING AT MANCHESTER.—The desire
amongst the citizens of Manchester for intelligence from
the seat of war is daily increasing. The clubs, the Ex-
change, tho Athenleum, the Portico, and every place in
which the telegraphic despatches are published, are
crowded every morning ; and on the arrival of the Lon-
don daily journals, the various news-rooms and news-
venders' shops are besieged. To satisfy this intense
desire, the newsvenders have frequently found it neces-
sary to affix one or more of the London daily papers in
their windows, the contents of which are eagerly devoured
by nunaciroup crowds

[PRICE SD.

THE INDIR, ECT TRADE WITH RUSSIA.

(From the Examiner,)
To [hurt our • enemy, shall we resort to measures to
distress our owl t commerce ? So foolish a question
does not call for answer. But really the question we
have stated is it tcluded in the question that has been
raised, whether it is not expedient to take steps ,4-e sup-
press the indirect trade with Russia ? The fact to be
dealt with is that, : notwithstanding the war, we continue
to get what pr w int from Russia, and that which wll-
not be supplie Ai to .us at the same price and of the sam e
quality from any other quarter ; and the question is,
whether we s b ould refuse ourselves the supply of our
wants in order ,to affect Russia with the loss of the sale
of her raw mat ,e rials ? The- short answer to this is, on
which side woe el, 1 the balanc,sof injury lie, or which side
would be the greater loser. by their common injury ?
For the war of t market is like the war of the field;
the battle canno t be fought witAout damage and loss to
both buyer and s eller, and the party who suffers most in
the conflict is the defeated. It would then remain to be
asked whether It ussia or England was the greater gainer
by the trade bets teen the two, which would be resolved
into another question, about the answer to which there
can be no doubt, namely, whether a trade in raw mate-
rials, or a trade •of manufactures, is the more valuably ?
If the indirect commerce with Russia could be extin-
guished altogeith or, our conviction is that we should
suffer more than our enemy from the common injury.
And as our trado supports the war, how should we Ise
the bet ter enable d to wage the war with vigour and si!c-.
cess by impairini; what supports it ? But the truth is,
that it is out of or'r power to suppress the Russian trade
—as much out of our power to suppress our wants of
necessaries as to suppress the supply of them—and all
that could be done by expedients for the exclusion of
Russian goods would be putting them through a more
circuitous channel, or passing them through the manu-
factories of neutral nations to the loss of our own. If
Russian tallow and Russian hemp were kept out, can-
dles of Russian tallow, and cordage of Russian hemp
would, in Scsalsah phrase, " win in," despite of certifi-
cates of origin, or any other expedient for thwarting the
natural laws of demand and supply.

Napoleon at the height of his power tried the experi-
ment of damming the streams of trade, and he might as
well hare attempted a millhead to Niagara. The conti-
nent was floochecf with English goods in response to the
Milan decrees..

-----
And when, mt the breaking out of this war, the neutral
' rights were enlarged, much to the honour of the Govern-
ment and .the satisfaction of the country, what was ex-
pected but precisely what has happened ? We hailed
that change as the best guarantee for keeping the war
within its present bounds ; but we foresaw without any
regret that ii'w effect upon the enemy's commerce would
be diminutio. s, not suppression, and such diminution only
as must nece: warily attend any derangement of the usual
course of trade, or passing it through an indirect channel.
But displeat cure is felt that Prussia is the gainer by her
mean subservioricy to Russia ; and because she is the
gainer, are we, .for spite, to make ourselves losers So
long as Prussia n iay be regarded as a neutral, she is en-
titled to the enlarged rights conceded to neutrals, and
when her ill officio: or undisguised hostility shall warrant
measures against her, they will be of another sort than
diverting the transit of Russian goods from her territory.
It is to be remembered, moreover, that Prussia is a
road traversed in both directions, and that British ma-
nufactures find their way through it to Russia, as *ell
as Russian produce to our markets ; and, with a very
obvious intention, Russia has lowered its import duties
upon articles entering from Prussia, among which are
English manufactures.

But we may be told our exports are small compared
with our imports from Russia ; but comparatively small
as they were, 1,200,0001., they bore an enormously en-
hanced value in the Russian markets, and Russia
would probably lose as much in wealth in losing those
imports as in loging her exports of raw produce. Still,
it is not to be denied that the value of the Russian
imports into this country has exceeded the value of
the British exports to Russia, perhaps by some 2,000,0001.
or more • but, whatever the difference may have been,
it has been paid circuitously by English manufac-
tures, represented generally by equivalents to colonial
produce. But if gold had been the commodity instead
of sugar, or any other article of consumption, the only
observation to be made on the fact would be that we
wanted tallow, hemp, or hides, more than we wanted
the gold with which we paid for them. The truth, how-
ever, is, that the exchange is still about par, or rather
somewhat in our favour.

To illustrate our argument generally, suppose we
wanted a fleet rigged' to fight against the Russians. The I
hulls, the masts, the yards, and spars, all are prepared,
except the shrouds, the halliardA, tacks, sheets, &c.
Should we, in such case, refuse ourselves the use of
cordage, the raw material of which was Russian, and
leave our ships to rot as lumber in port ; or should we
fit them with the help of the enemy's produce, and apply
them to the destruction of his power ?
Every gain of our trade is so much added to our
strength and our means of combating and subduing the
enemy. And even if the enemy gained in the same pro-
portion (which we do not admit), the equality would
leave us the superior strength of the superior commerce,
our trade being to the Russian more than eight to one.
But if we could contrive to extinguish both the Rus-
sian trade and our own connected with it, the effect
would be like starving a strong man and a weak man
before a combat, divesting the first of his superiority,
and reducing both to the same level. England, it is
true, has her commercial greatness independent of her
trade with Russia, but why should she forego any ele-
ment of her strength, why impoverish herself to any de-
gree in order to impoverish a poor Power ? And what,
after all, is the whole amount of the Russian commerce,
her trade with the whole world, of which such great
account is made ? Why, exports of about the annual
value of 14,000,000/., and imports to the annual value
of 1_2,000,0001.

The present commercial relations may be temporary
or not—we believe the former ; but be that as it may,
we deprecate any deviation from the enlightened policy
as to neutrals which has been adopted, and any iater-
fereace with the currents of trade for which it has opened
channels.

TERRIBLE EXPLOSION AND GREAT LOSS
OF LIFE AT ST. GEORGE'S-IN-THE-
EAST.

Yesterday morning, between the hours of five and six
o'clock, the inhabitants of Coleman-street, St. George's-
in-the-East. were most painfully excited in consequence
of a fearful explosion of fireworks, which, it is to be re-
gretted, was attended with the sacrifice of not fewer
than five persons, and various injuries to several other
persons, besides destroying a great deal of household
furniture, wearing apparel, and other effects.
It appears that for some years past a man named
Watson, who carried on the business of a dairyman at
No. 491, Coleman-street, had been in the constant habit
of making fireworks to be sold on Guy Fawkes'-day.
This season, it is stated, he had been more than usually
busy, and to complete an order had been obliged to work
all Sunday night. At the time alluded to above, Mr.
Watson had occasion to leave the house for a few
minutes, and had barely entered the yard or court at the
rear of the premises, when he heard his wife crying out
" Fire 1" most frantically. The man immediately made
an attempt to get back into the house, knowing that his
wife and several children were within the building. He
managed to get half-way through the passage when an
explosion ensued, which struck terror amongst all re-
siding in the neighbourhood.
The explosion had barely subsided, when sheets of
flame of different colours, with crowds of sparks, and
suffocating smoke rushed out of every window. At the
same time the cries of those in the house became pitiable
in the extreme. A chimney-sweep, who was passing at
the moment, rushee into the building and succeeded in
rescuing Mrs. Watson and one of her children, whom
he brought down in safety. The husband of the unfor-
tunate woman also made every exertion to get to his other
children, who it was feared were in their beds asleep.
In so doing he became surrounded with a sheet of sul-
phurous flame, by which his arms, face, and neck were
terribly burnt, and he was at length obliged to give up
the attempt as hopeless.
Explosions followed in rapid succession, and when
they had spent themselves, the flames rolled forth from
the various windows, and also through tho roofs, shed-
ding a lurid glare ever the whole district, which caused
a general turn-out of the London fire-brigade. The
engines belonging to Well-close-square, Schoolhouse-
lane, Jeffrey-square, Watling-street, and Whitecross-
street stations were soon in attendance, and a plentiful
supply of water having been procured from the mains
of the East London Company, the firemen went to work
most vigorously, in spite of which the flames continued
to spread most fearfully, seizing upon every room in
the place, clearly indicating that all who had not
previously thereto been rescued must be burned to
death.
After the lapse of two hours the firemen succeeded in
getting the conflagration extinguished, when they made
a search of the ruins for the purpose of finding the
mis-
sing persons. After some time they
bodies
that h
ofth et three e
remains
of the sufferers
unfortunatechil d
ir
might discoveredht h
so
the
easilyfrightfully
av e
burned
been placed in a bushel basket. Shells n
having been beheandtie
pro-
cured,l Overton,the beadle of St. George's
parish,
bodies
inquestodiesrem is held upon them.ovedtothedeadhouse, there to remain until
an
The wife oft hyueoprngopens.
youngest
proprietor o f
children, the
who
werepremises,
both togetherfaer.
with one of the
fully;burnt,where placed in a cart on a layer of straw, and
they were removed to the hospital, but on making in-
quiries last evening the reporter was informed that the
mother and child had since expired from the effects of
the injuries received, consequently making five deaths by
this distressing occurrence.

CANADIAN PREPARATIONS TOR THE GRIAT FRENCH
EXHIBITION OF 1855.—0 UT Montreal correspondent
writing on the 23d ult. says :—" Sir Cusack Roney, the
Hon. Francis }lincks, the Hon. John Ross, Sir Allan
WNab, and Mr. Logan, geological surveyor to the pro-
vince, have just been nominated a commission to secure
a proper representation of the products of the country
at the Exhibition, and it is stated that the Canadian
Legislature will vote 10,001, for the purpose: