The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-21 00:00:00

THE THETIS FBIGATE.

, -
In the frigate Thetis the Christmas-box slipped
by the English Ministry in to the coy, but unctuous
hand, of the jovial Majesty 'ofS Iteussia ? The cus-
tom of " boxing "
may not )se without its advan-
tages, but, like other good mustomins, should
fiuldtf
noto
be pushed to a ridiculous excess.
oWhysufa gicevde?awwaye
a frigate from the English -navym
official prodigality, when a revenue - cutter, and,
say, a couple of lighters, wouldliay.
have never yet heard of one who has passed a
Bank post-bill for 100/. into the horny hand of a
railway porter for simply carrying his carpet-bag
along the arrival-platform from a train to a Hansom
cab. Why should he t The man is well content
with his illegitimate sixpince, and there is an end
of the transaction. There must be some uncom-
mon inducement, of which we have yet no hint,
which has led Sir James Graham to depart so vio-
lently'from the usual laws of barter, and so ludi-
crously to outstrip the most liberal givers of his
time. There was an Indian Prince one rainy day
last week, whO scattered a carriage-full of caps
and hats among the astonished population of
armed, is. surely worth the stock of many hatters.
a Frenstii town ; but then an English frigate, frilly
What can ):.t mean ? Is it that the King of Prussia
Tsthaenttiisatlhte do
sink-getd or tip ? A
has resolved nsat to join the alliance without a sub-
participationAnal is the unfortunate
the price of his
iunc eu
ther
policy necessary
of
fthase
Western Powers?
Does the English Admiralty-, on the other hand,
imagine that the Prussian Monarchy is on the
eve of one of Prussia's great mistakes,
and that
the graceful Thetis must in a few weeks inevi-
tably revert to her original owners? That
would bo some excuse, but then it would have
been just as easy to tztke the two gunboats
which we are to receive as as consideration for our
poor frigate as to recapture her. Corkjeoture must
necessarily be fruitless iipou-such so. subject. It is
a State mystery. Our present rulers are prone to
mystery, which in ninety-nine cases out: of a hun-
dred is simply a veil thrown over a worthless pic-
ture, as many groaning shelves of blue-books are
there to testify. For the time we can only know
what Sir James Graham is pleased to tell us, which
is, that he and his colleagues have delivered over a
magnificent
frigate, fully armed, into the hands of
a Power which in six weeks may be involved in
hostilities with England as a point of honour.
Really this is too bad. It is our earnest wish not
" to pick holes," as the common phrase runs, in the
coats of men who are directing ' the /talon of Eng-
land at a mosb critical period of her history with-
out strong reason, but the cession of a British ship.
of-war into the hands of a neutral, ahnost of a hos-
tile Power, at such a moment cannot be slurred
over or concealed from public observation. The
little that we know is most unsatisfactory, and
evidently betrays a consciousness of much previous
and painful blundering even on the part of the man
who was stating his own case. Thus, however, it
was that Sir James Graham endeavoured to purge
himself and his colleagues from the blame of wan-
ton waste of-the public property :
In the month of June last, as Sir James in
formed the house, the Kin°.'''. of Prussia inquired
of the English Government whether they would
be willing to give a couple of old corvettes in ex-
change for twc gun-boas which had been built in
this country for Prussia by Mr. Scott Russell. We
can understand that at the time England might
with sound policy have given her gold for Prussia's
brass ; a few gun-boats for Baltic service might in
June last have been cheap at any price. The gun-
boats were duly inspected, and the Prussian Go-
vernment wore informed in due course that the
English Admiralty bad no objection to effect the
exchange. As the season for Baltic operations
dwindled away to nothing the English negotiators
evidently cooled upon a bargain to which the
keener-witted Prussians were resolved to hold,
them fast. At length in the month of Sep-
tember, a compromise was effected, upon what
terms Sir James Graham himself must explain
" The Prussian Government acceded to a proposal
which we made, that, instead of two corvettes,
an old frigate should be taken for the vessels in
question. . . . . The Prussian Government
intimated that they thought the honour of the
British Government was pledged to the exchange,
and it Was not thought desirable to involve
the question in a difficulty of that kind."
Had not, then, the honour of the British
Government been involved, or deemed so to
be, the bargain would not have been con-
cluded. Sir James Graham, in -fact, had made a
bad bargain, but was held to his word. Let us,
however, leave this consideration for a moment out
of the question, and simply ask what is the real
character of the ship which Sir James Graham so
contemptuously characterises as "an old frigate,"
and which we have been giving away in exchange
for the two gun-boats Nix and Salamander? "The
Thetis, 36, was launched on the 21st of August,
1846, at Devonport. She was designed by Messrs.
Chatfield, Read, and Creuze, of the Naval School
of Architecture, and is of 1,524 tons burden."
This young frigate is spoken of by naval connois-
seurs in terms of great admiration, and has ap-
peared to give great satisfaction in the Channel,
and the Pacific, and wherever she has been em-
ployed. The suggestion is, that Sir James Graham
has really made a blunder, and has mistaken a
younger for an older ship, and the English nation
must pay the penalty. ,The case is one which calla
for very earnest inquiry, although such inquiry
may be without practical result. A Prussian cap-
tain has arrived in Plymouth to take the poor
Thetis home to her new masters. Englishmen feel
about their ships as Arabs feel about their horses.
It is impossible to part with one of them without a
pang, even when the bargain is, commercially
speaking, a good one, and how much worse in a
case like the present Let us add that all Down-
ing-street is ready enough to snort with official sa-
tisfaction when the correspondent of a public
journal is caught tripping, even upon an unimpor-
tant point ; perhaps some one of the heroes of
obb
fluurtnehdae
eu
First
r a cm yad
Lewobirle g
ydl f
public
thoeod g A
djeomnuoirmunalhtl
journalist_
ot
in
equalph
io
si point out
that
teotr
ayal
of the Thetis to a foreign Power.—Times.

STATE OF TRADE.

(Fiont the Mane/aster Guardian of yesterrday.)

MANCHESTER. Dec. 19.—Business has been rather un-
favourably affected to-day by the reports of the sanitary
condition of our army in the Crimea, and by a feeling
of anxiety about the position of the Government in re-
gard to the Foreign Enlistment Bill. At the eame time
winithcc.oltutotiiionin;clainneds
this
feeling has influenced the proceedings of the day. The
thebuy
ers o declining
of
yarns tendencyan
d
goads of
topr laccets
aggregate transactions in yarns have not been large, but
prices have continued steady. Common 40's mule for
India have been sold at an advance of tid. per pound
upon what was obtainable last week. There continues
to be an active demand for printing cloths, T's, long-
cloths, and domestics, for the Mediterranean and Levant
markets, and the prices of last week are fully sustained.
Of low shirtings, jacconets, and madapollams,
mar-
ket has been pretty well cleared, and the prod the
uction is
largely pre-engaged for two or three weeks.
ROCHDALE, Dec. 18.—We have had a rather slack at-
tendance of buyers in the market to day, and the amount
of business has been upon a limited scale. Wool has
been firm, and prices have been rather in favour of
sellers.

SHIPWRECK ON THE GOOD WIN SANDS.

DEAL, Wednesday.—During the snow-storm and gale
from the N.W. on Monday evening a fearful wreck took
place on the Goodwin Sands to the bark Devonia, of
London, 'early 500 tons burden, Captain Lawson,
master, while on her way making for the Channel, on a
voyage to Aguilar, from Shields, with a cargo of coke.
The following narrative of the sad catastrophe is taken
from the lips of the chief mate, Robert Parkin, one of
the survivors. The Devonia sailed from Shields on
Saturday last, and, after encountering severe storms of
snow and rain, fell in with a terrific storm off Yarmouth.
The vessel was made all snug, and nothing happened to
alarm the crew until about 9 o'clock on Monday night,
when a cry arose that the ship had struck ; at threesecarhmeze,
time the sea made a complete breach over the vessel,
washing overboard Richard Boyd and Allen Brown,
who n immediately etoditaiteelypopoeprifsohresdh.elteTr,haenrdemhaad roinadcearoefly the
a
there before the vessel broke up, or ratthhheeeirdwpcnertetekodatnihndo
remainst wo or t horfe et
hpel places. They
which
floatedcontinued f
rotnto
drifted about for ten hours, during which time the
steward, John Caroline (a man of colour), and George
u(
.tt e perished , e
bruised.
chiefer she
mate)fromThey
hbad
awere
hisat exhaustionlen
shoulderangt and
Davis, the sndecaorwnraadstommr
a
dpcorisolldiicadetneTdtihaaelnly sighted from the Lord Warden steamer,
Captain Robinson,
Captain and the Princess Nolen steamer,
Jenkins, from Boulogne for Folkestone (both
vessels belonging to the South-Eastern and Continental
Stearn-packet Company), which instantly bore down to
the spot, and after a great deal of trouble succeeded is
taking them off—viz., Captain Lawson Charles Petts,
John Thomas, Alexander Lumsden, Richard Jenkins,
George Jenking, Thomas Davis, George Holyweod,
James M`Diarmid William Berry, 'William Brown, and
Thomas Praden, seamen. On the poor fellows being
picked up, they were found to be almost in an insensible
state from cold and exhaustion. Upon their landing at
Folkestone, Captain Hawthorn, R.N., the harbour.
master, and Captain Kenniest, R.N., personally attended
in providing the poor fellows with creature comforts and
warm clothing. An American captain, who was on
board one of the packets, went round to the passengers,
and succeeded in collecting a sum of money for the
benefit of the unfortunate fellows. The pilots who came
in to-day report that not a vestige of the wreck is to be
aeon on the Goodwin,