The Sun.
London, England, 1836-12-30 00:00:00

either Calais or Boulogne, or from both, while they wcr e
detained rfnwilling prisoners half way.
During this state of embarrassment an additional group
of sufferers was added to the party at the inn. It was com-
posed of some of time actors and actresses of Boulogne,
%.,v1o; 1.4.1 attempted to go over the day before to Calais.
They had bt,:n upset in the snow, forced to abandon their
little carrilge, arid to spend the night in a blacksmith's
forge ; and they had come now on foot, through the deep
Cu'wading, in all their finery, to the hospitable shelter
which am village promised. Their habitual good nature
did not desert them on this occasion, they laughed and
joked on the oddity of each other's appearance, and at the
itl.4 of promenading in dancing shoes arta silk stockings
through the snow wreaths. A certain Alonsieur Pichon
seemed to he the great man of the party. 'The manager's
wife held his arm, anti the manager carried a little bundle.
All the ladies called out, for M. Pichon, and M. Fiat:mu
strode at the head, lifting the manager's wife in ant? out f
the ruts; strutting with conscious pride at the homage paio
him, " Alm mon Dicu, Messieurs et Mesdames," they' el"
4airned together, '° nc sortez pas—the road is blocked up, old
itipnesable. We spent the night at an abominable farrier's.-
A): moil Dieu, quelle ora,'e." A gust of wind that almost:
tack the roof off the house bore justice to the truth of this last
observation ; and the whole party rushed again to the inn to
take sonic crumbs of consolation from another source.
Other travellers arrived, bringing an account of fresh dis-
asters. The snow had fallen in such quantities on the low
roads lending to Calais that it was quite impossible they
could be open for some days : and, ridiculous as it may
appear, tie telegraph was again ordered out for the third
time, and r. was determined to return io Boulogne. Just
at the momemt of starting the young Frenchman alluded to
stopped the river he mounted the box with his usual
question—" A'ez vous vu mon parapluie ?" There being
vacant places it the Telegraph, some of the theatrical
people prepared to take advantage of them, and to return
to Boulogne. Tr.ere was space for three inside, with
room for as many is would venture outside. The mina--
gees wife and the prima donna availed themselves of two
seats within, and, finding a third disengaged, determined to
give it to M. Pichon, to the exclusion of the husband.
" Ou est Monsieur Pichon?" " Appellez Monsieur Pichon,
" Pichon, vite, vite, vite," they exclaimed. " Pichon, venez-
vous, depechez vous Pichon," they cried together. The
happy man came as fast as his dignity would allow him,
ensconced himself in the vacant corner, bound up his head
with a handkerchief, and when the manager came to claim'
the place near his wife exclaimed that he had a terrible
tooth-ache, and that it would be impossible for him to ride
outside. The pauvre marl, with his teeth chattering, left
Pichon in possession of the place, mounted the box with
the driver, and Pichon and time prima donna commenced a
duet, which, considering his tooth-ache, was remarkably
well sustained. At every cabaret where the coach stopped,
in order that the driver might take his goule of brandy,
the husband, with a great icicle: hanging from his nose,
beard all grey, his hat and coat ov-,^rloaded with snow,
popped his head in at the window ; while .Pichon ensconced
his chin in the handkerchief, groaning with assumed pain,
and the wife and the prima donna exclaiming " Pauvro
Pichon, le pauvre petit Mellon." The manager's wife was
evidently the manager, and the pauvre petit Pichon ma-
naged the manager's wife.
Slowly by securely the Telegraph returned to Boulogne,
where it found that no steamer had ventured to stir out in
its absence. On Tuesday morning a change of wind at
Boulogne allowed of the passage to Dover.
DOVER, TUESDAY NIGHT, DEC. 27.—This place has
been without communication with London, or even Can-
terbury, since Saturday, in consequence of the immense
drifts of snow, which have blocked up the road. Various
attempts have been made to penetrate, but without suc-
cess. The foreign mail, which left London on Friday
night, has not yet arrived, and none of the mail or post-
coaches have ventured to stir beyond the precincts of the
town since the same period.
On Sunday the Crusader steamer, which left Boulogne
that morning, appeared off the bar, but was unable to land
her despatches or communicate with the shore. She then
passed on to the southward, and is supposed to have made
one of the Channel ports, though she has not been heard
of since—at least in this quarter. This day the French
packet-boat, with two of the over-due Paris mails, arrived
from Calais, and at the same time the Duke of Wellington
steamer from Boulogne. The former had two King's mes-
sengers on board. Orders have been made to one of the
trading steamers to take passengers round to London, and
it is probable that something of the kind will be done in
case the regular communication cannot be opened to-
morrow by the number of workmen employed in clearing
away the snow. The weather has been dreadful, but a
moment of calm gives us hopes that its great severity is
for the moment expended. A timber vessel has been
wrecked on the coast, and it is feared that a great deal
more injury has been done. The streets are knee-deep in
snow, and the windows and doors almost Mocked up by
the continued drifts. The rocks and hills were all in the
same white livery ; and what between the violence of the
wind, the lashing of the waves, and the Siberian appear-
ance of the town, a scene is afforded of a most picturesque
nature. The remark of an Italian courier must not be
omitted. " I have passed the Simplon, and am blocked
up between Canterbury and Dover : when I get back who
will believe me ?" General Soublette and General O'Leary,
the Venezuelan Deputies, are, it appears, weather-bound
near Boulogne, on their route from Paris to London. 'The
French diligence and estafette are held fast at Marguire,
between Boulogne and Calais, and the estafette despatches
are conveyed by active peasants on their shoulders, from
the point of stoppage to Calais. Such is the state of the
road that one gentleman is going to Calais to-night by a
packet, hoping to get on to London in the steamer which
plys direct from thence.
Dee. 28.—The inclement weather continues, and the
communication with this place and the London road is still
suspended. An attempt was made this morning to pene-
trate to Canterbury by the newspaper agent, but with
what success is not yet ascertained. The proprietor of the
Ship Hotel also harnessed two horses to a sledge, for
the purpose of breaking the blockade if it were pos-
sible ; but he was glad to return after traversing- six
miles. The trustees to the road have employed . a num-
berof men to cut through the snow—and it is to be
hoped, unless another heavy fall should take place, that
in a day or two the intercourse may be resumed. An ex.
periment is to be tried by the postmaster to-morrow morn-
iug, and a steamer is to' be sent round to London with the
mails now accumulated here. I take advantage of the same
communication, though I am not sanguine as to its success,
the weather having a still worse appearance, The captain
and the passengers by the Crusader Government steam-
boat, which left Boulogne last Sunday, arrived here to-day.
She made this port on the evening of her sailing, but in
consequence of a timber ship being wrecked at the mouth
of the harbour she could not enter, and was by signal or-
dered to stand away to the westward. The wind having
risen to great violence she struck on the coast near Ryes
and would have been totally lost but for the presonce of
mind of Captain Tynne and the spirit of his mate and
crew. She was finally, after two days' exposure, brought
into Rye, from whence some of the passengers have corn°
along shore to this place, the London road being, as they
report, also stopped. The appaerance of the Channel is
frightful, and the coast seems strewed with wrecks. A
Boulogne boat came over to-day, but the Paris mail of
Tuesday has not yet arrived. The Post Office or the Ad-
miralty ought to give a handsome reward to Captain
Tynne for having saved his Majesty's packet. The pas-
sengers by the Crusader say they owe their lives to his
courage and presence of mind. the streets are still en-
cumbered with snow, and the appearance of the weather
this evening is still more gloomy than before.
CALMS, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 28.—1 wrote to you en
Monday evening by a friend who left here by the General
Steam Navigation Company's fine sea boat the Lo:d Mel-
ville, informing you of the dreadful hurricane and 130'1
fall of snow we have had here since Saturday, which 1,,,a5
rendered the communication with the interior most dim-
cult, as the snow in some parts is ten and twelve feet deep,
The Paris diligence, which ought to have arrived on Sun-
day, was not able to reach beyond Beauvais, as the road is
quite impassable, and the passengers were obliged to mount
on the miserable post horses, en franc drier, preceded by e
postilion cracking his whip, who served as a conductor or
guide through the snow, and so from relay to relay, as far
as the road would admit. A great number of accidents
have occurred on the different routes by persons mistaking
their way and being smothered in the snow, but more espe-
cially in the cross-roads and by-villages, which are coin.,
pletely inundated, and many of the cottages buried several
feet, so as to prevent the inmates coming out with safety.
The diligence from Amiens, through St. Omer, was nearly_
lost, with all the passengers, as they got into a ditch off
the road-side, and were, with the greatest difficulty, extri-
cated front their perilous situation by a party of soldiers
belonging to the Waggon Train and the sth Regiment
of Dragoons, who fortunately were not a great distance
off, clearing the snow, and heard their shrieks, when
immediately hastened to the spot with ropes, and thereby
rescued them from inevitable death, as the diligence, from
its cxccssivc'we ght, was sinking into the bog, and could not
be got out until three teams of horses were obtained from
time adjoining farmhouses. Time position of the voyageur
may be more easily felt than described, as among them wer
e
several females, who were conducted by Messieurs les 71111 V
taires to the Post-office, where every they
tiered them by the hole, and they could proceed
assistance as
no vehicles being able to penetrate through the snow. 0„
The road from hence to Boulogne has the appearance
the white Alps, as mountains of snow are seen rising in ever;
i
direction ; whilst in the valleys not a tree or villageunables dis..
ascteaend no wfurtrheeil,
r
cernible, and the peasants closed up in many parts,
itloavge haetopupt.ened A
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