The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-22 00:00:00

PRUSSIA.

The Second Chamber of Prussia, on the 19th,
proceeded to discuss the articles of the Constitution
relative to Public Instruction. Clauses enacting that
education should be free, but that public schools should
be established, and that all parents and guardians
should be bound to give children the education pro-
vided therein, were adopted.
The Prussian Government has sent a plenipotentiary
to Copenhagen, to endeavour to effect a settlement of
the affair of the Duchies.

lONIAN ISLANDS.
SIR H. G. WARD'S PROCLAMATION OF AN
AMNESTY.

Cephalonians,—l have allowed a week to elapse
since my last proclamation, in the expection that some
one of the large number amongst you who are in-
terested in the future tranquillity of the island, would
have co operated with the Government in its en-
deavours to discover the source of the conspiracy
which has disquieted the country. Many persons
have required it of me, but none have offered to
assist me : this might, perhaps, compel me either
to try by court-martial five of your fellow-citizens
for the crime of high treason, upon the insufficient
denunciations of individuals who, themselves con•
victed of the same crime, may have previously con-
certed their evidence, in the hope of saving their
own lives; or to enter upon a long series of new
inquiries, new accusations, and new arrests, with the
idea of ultimately obtaining a complete proof of the
crime. But I cannot adopt this course. Until now
I have done what I considered to be my duty towards
my Sovereign and towards yourselves in endeavour-
ing to prevent the repetition of any attempts such as
signalised the commencement of the last revolt ; but
this necessity has ceased to exist.
There has been enough punishment : I must use
the greatest circumspection in the employment of my
power, the more particularly as I find my name is
mixed up with the accusations against those whose
fate depends on my decision. I therefore:declare a full
and entire amnesty in favour of all persons implicated
in the events of the months of August and September
last, and I promise, in the name of the Government,
that no more investigations shall be made, and that,
above all, no accusations shall be admitted against
those who have been in any way connected with the
events in question.
Every individual who is in prison shall at once
from to-day be set at liberty. Time, their future
conduct, and the opinion of their fellow-citizens will
decide upon their innocence or guilt. If any one
accuses the Government of having permitted itself to
be biassed by former recollections or by personal
feelings, I am ready to lay before the Parliament, as
soon as it shall have assembled, a full statement of the
reasons for all my acts, and to leave it to the Legis•
lature to decide whether my justification is complete.
It has been suggested to me how very painful it
would be to see men of education and of independent
fortune inculpated by the denunciations of malefactors
and murderers. It is very rare, indeed, that conspira-
cies protected by secret oaths are discovered without
the treachery of an accomplice, for these accomplices
only become assassins, or brigands, after having been
initiated into the conspiracy by the inducements of
individuals more elevated in society, perhaps, but lees
enterprising.
The general amnesty will have but one exception.
Judgment on G. Pierato Cutwevi And on Nicholas
Metaxas, son of Denys Metaxas, will be pronounced
to morrow, by the Court at Lixouri ; the former
being proved too hardened a criminal to be set at
liberty, and the latter, unhappily, having acted most
inexcusably towards a rest ectable and well-born indi-
vidual, for which several other persons have been
punished. Immediately after this judgment the
court martial will terminate.

Count Gerasimos Sdrin, who was convicted on the
most unexceptionable testimony of having appeared
fully armed in the midst of the insurgents at the
village of Marcopoulos, has been condemned to
twenty-one years' imprisonment; but having been
informed by witnesses who did not appear before the
court, that he is a man of weak mind, and quite in-
capable, both by habit and character, of taking an
active part in matters of this kind, and that he may
have been led to Marcopoulos by want of occupation
or by intimidation, I shall commute his punishment
to two years' detention.
The question of indemnities for the losses expe-
rienced by parties whose houses were burnt and pro-
perties devastated in the months of August and
September, in the districts of Scala Leo and Catoleo,
will be submitted to the Senate on my return to
Corfu ; but it is not to be questioned that the island
of Cephalonia ought not to be responsible, and that it
cannot possess any claim against this treasury of the
seven islands on the subject of these indemnities any than for every other extraordinary charge in-
curred by the Governor for the quelling of the revolt.
As malevolent passions, together with attempts at
proceedings contrary to the law, may be exhibited
during the winter in the districts recently exposed to
disorder, I believe it is my duty to increase the forces
at the police and military stations, and to invite the
-arblic agent and primates of those districts to lend
their assistance and zaalous concurrence to those
forces, for if this had not been disgracefully neglected
at Scala, Marcopoulos, Vattes, and divers other villages,
the disasters which occurred there might have been at
once suppressed.
I shall recommend to the Senate the establishment
of sanitary commissions at Pessades and Portoterra as
advantageous to the commerce of the island, and faci-
litating the watching of the smuggling trade, that
fruitful source of illegalities and of loss to tbe treasury,
at the same time that it deprives the local Government
of the proper resources by which it might contribute
to the general benefit, above all to the maintenance
and extension of the roads which are so indispensable
to your internal traffic. Since my first visit Pessades
has been pointed out to me as a port particularly
adapted to develop the communication between Argos-
toli and Zante, and to become still more important
whenever the negotiations which have been commenced
with the Austrian Lloyd's shall result in the establish-
ment of a direct communication from Trieste and Con-
stantinople to Cephalonia and Zante. The society hat
not the means of including Argostoli in the treaty for
the whole of the six months; but the Government
will facilitate the transport of dispatches and passen-
gers between Pessades and Zante, by sending to meet
the steamers until the direct communication shall be
opened.

I cannot leave Argostoli without thanking you for
the assistance which you have rendered me in the
rigorous duties I have had to fulfil. I have received
the best evidence of the support given to my political
conduct and its results from the Legislature of this
island, from the most noted of the citizens, as well as
from the extensive districts into which the
spirit of lawlessness has never penetrated: I
believe, from my heart and soul, that it is this
conduct alone which has averted from the island
the most terrible calamities ; but the amnesty
which I now proclaim proves that I am not actuated
by the desire of prolonging a power which only the
direst necessity can impose upon a Government ;
which I have exercised with regret, and with a feeling
of responsibility which few will believe, and which I
fervently hope, under any circumstances of my public
life, I shall never be called upon to re assume.
(Signed) 11. G. WARD,
Lord High cf,mcnissioner.
Argostoli, Cephalonia, Oct. 24, 1849.

DISCONTINUANCE OF MAIL PACKET% ET w,,pv
HULL, ALTONA, AND HANDURGIL—The following
notice
was posted at the General Post-office this mcreia-z:—
"The contract entered into in May last, for the
Onvey.
anco of mails by steam packets between Hull and Altona
and Hamburgh, tfrminating on the 23d of this month,
on and after the 24th instant, all letters and newspapers
for Hamburgh, Denmark, &c., spr cially addressed to be
forwarded ma Hull, will be sent by private ship, and
will be liable to the rates of postage heretofore charged
upon letters and newspapers for those places when con-
veyed by private ship."

PITCAIRN'S ISLAND, PACIFIC

OCEAN,

We have letters from this colony by the Pandora,
arrived on Saturday at Portsmouth, which contain
some interesting details relative to the island, and the
descendants of the unfortunate men connected with
the mutiny of the Bounty, and from which we make
the following extracts :
" Pitcairn 's Island, July, 1849 —The number of
inhabitants 149—males 75, females 74—of this num-
ber three are English, one a Otaheitean woman,
widow of Edward Young, midshipman of the Bounty,
aged 80, two men of the first generation, one of them
a son of John Adams (Bounty) named Arthur, and
the other a son of Matthew Quintal (Bounty) named
George, seven females of the first generation, three
daughters of Adams, one of Christian, one of Young,
one of Mills, one of McCoy, the remainder are chil-
dren of the second and third generation.
" During the last five years one-fifth of the popu-
lation have been born, and only one has died a natural
death, one of lock-jaw, and a child burned to death.
The inhabitants are occupied chiefly in cultivating
the ground and carpentering; several of the young
men are good at cabinet work and as black-
smiths. There are eight marriageable males and
seven females at present unmarried. The soil is very
rich but porous; a great proportion decomposed lava,
the other a rich black earth and clayey ground. The
climate is temperate ; thermometer from 59 to 89 in
the shade. The spring commences in August,
which is harvest time, and yarns and potatoes are
dug, which is the principal food ; and of potatoes
there are two crops per year, which are planted in
February and July, and dug in June and November.
There are no regular trade winds; in the summer
months the wind prevails mostly from E.S.E. to north.
Northerly winds are generally light, often accompa-
nied with rain or fog ; when the wind is N. it inva-
riably goes round to the westward, from which
quarter and S.E. the strongest gales prevail. With
wind from S.W. it is generally clear weather, with
moderate breezes. In winter prevailing winds
are S.W. to E S.E. The animal and vegetable
productions of the island; goats, hops, and poultry,
yams, sweet and Irish potatoes, the api-root and tarro
in small quantities. Plantains : pines, melons, oranges
breadfruit, sugar- canes, limes, and the vi, or Brazi-
lian plum. The only grain is maize. The food of
the inhabitants is chiefly yams and potatoes; animal
food two or three times a week. Fish are getting
scarce. Bed-clothes are generally manufactured by
the females, from the ante, or paper mulberry. Wear-
ing apparel is obtained from whale ships, in exchange
for vegetables, &c. Cotton cloth is much wanted.
Blankets and woollen articles, and soap, very scarce.
" The aierage number of ships touching at the
island annually is eight or nine, mostly Americans,
and they always behave well. Last year there were
seven ships, ten less than in 1847 ; the last vessel that
touched there was an English brig, from New Zea-
land, bound to California with emigrants, there being
eight English women amongst them.
" On the first day of each year a chief magistrate
and councillor are elected, all persons (male and
female) over sixteen years of age are voters. The chief
magistrate then chooses his counsellor or secretary.
The duty of the magistrate is to convene meet-
ings and hear cases ; it is then left to a jury of
five persons, and if the decision is not satisfactory to
both parties, they are allowed to appeal to the com-
mander of her Majesty's ships of war; punishments
are generally fines or labour. The inhabitants
generally retire to rest, early, and rise with the sun.
From August to November they have plenty of
employment, digging yams ; also planting bananas,
yams, and potatoes, weeding ground, &c., and when
not busily employed they generally meet in the
morning, and, if the weather is favourable go fish-
ing; if not, on Saturdays they go out hunting for
a Sunday's dinner. On the arrival of a ship off the
island no one is allowed to go on board before the
pilot, who always takes charge of the boats when
landing, and provides for the captain when on shore,
each family in rotation furnishing a pilot, or provid-
ing a substitute, who always expects a small
remuneration for his services. The females
generally assist in the cultivation of the ground,
preparing thatch for the houses, &c , and, in fact,
are more employed than the males; they are
generally very strong, many of them being able
to cary a barrel of potatoes down to the landing-
place, the path to which is very rugged and steep,
and in the rainy season very difficult to ascend or
descend. Since 1831 there have been 16 deaths; 4
of them accidental, 4 of fever, 1 a disease of the ear,
1 of the heart, 1 of cancer, 1 of consumption, 2 of in-
fluenza, 1 in childbirth, and 1 in infancy. The
di.teases most prevalent are asthma and catarrh, which
prevail mostly among the females ; bilious attacks
are frequent but slight, and easily give way to treat-
ment. Influenza had visited the island during the
last seven years, and caused. 2 deaths.

COLLISION ON A NEW YORK

RAILWAY.

The New York papers received by the Europa con-
tain detailed accounts of an alarming railway collision
that happened on the sth inst. We extract the notice
in the New York Herald, as at once the most concise
and the most distinct.
A dreadful accident occurred yesterday forenoon,
ou the New Haven railroad, by the collision of two
trains. The up-train, conveying the Bosron mail,
and leaving New York at eight o'clock, had
on board in the hindmost car, the mem-
bers of Marion hose Company, No. 4, Captain
Joseph Buckman, who were going on their annual
target excusion to new Rochelle. There were nearly
sixty in the car, including invited guests. When the
train was between Fordham and Morriania, a drove
of about thirty cows, belonging to Mr. Bathgate,
were being driven across the track, by the herds-
men, from watering. The train coming in collision
with them, the baggage car was thrown off the
track, and across the track of the down train. At
the same moment, the New Haven down train
was passing to New York, and the locomotive
coming in contact with the baggage car of the up-
train, was driven off its track, and being detached
from its train, it shot off at an angle, and went right
into the corner of the hindmost car, containing the
Hose Company. It went through it in a diagonal
direction, wounding and bruising the passengers in a
dreadful manner, and filling the car with steam.
Fortunately the safety pipe was broken in the colli-
sion, and the steam escaping, the force was necessarily
diminished. The engine was shattered, and buried
itself in the sand, by which its progress was arrested.
The sand was thrown up into the air, like so much
smoke. There were 13 of the cows killed, and
some of them were thrown 20 feet by the force of
the shock ; but it is almost miraculous that no
human life was sacrificed—at least we have heard of
none. There was a little boy sitting quite close to
the spot where the locomotive entered it, who was
thrown to the other side, and was not injured in the
least ; and a fireman, named James P. Sowerley, of
Stanton-street, was thrown out of the window without
being hurt. The other cars were considerably
damaged, but none of the passengers in thc,in received
the slightest injury. Some of the cars had the
wheels knocked off. The following is a list of the
wounded of Hose Company No. 4 :
George Bailey, 75, Norfolk- street—both his legs
broken, one of them in two places, and the other
at the angle; William Palmer, 161, Stanton-street—
leg greatly injured; William Swinerton, Broome-
street—leg badly bruised; William Wilmott, 240,
Delaney street—hurt in the side and feet ; George
Hobbs, Clinton-street—both legs and hip injured;
William Daley—injured in the breast and back;
John Morgan, Clinton-street—head and breast in-
jured; Robert Mackay—hurt in the stomach by
being thrown on a chair; Thomas Baker—hand
injured ; George W. Brady—face bruised ' • Charles
Dumonlin, Clinton-street—both legs injured.
Here we have a list of ten, besides others whose
names we could not learn, more or less injured. Ihe
amount of injury cannot as yet be ascertained, as
internal bruises have been received, which may
terminate fatally. It is a curious circumstance that
the target, which was exquisitely ornamented, was
not crushed in the least. There were two muskets
broken, and a trumpet of one of the band. The
horn of a cow, dashed off her head, was picked up
fifty feet distant, by a member of the company. We
saw it in the evening, together with a portion of the
whistle of the locomotive. Fortunately there was a
doctor in the train, who gave his services freely to the
wounded. We could not learn his name.

The up-train was delayed for about an hour, and
then proceeded on its way. The down-train was
taken to New York by the Harlem train, and Hose
Company No. 4, after consulting together, resolved to
return by it, instead of pursuing their trip, and to
apply the money they intended to expend upon the
excursion for medical aid to the suffering members of
their body, as the accident occurred when they were
on duty.
The down train having been placed on the track
by the assistance of Irish labourers, who were work-
ing in the neighbourhood, it was attached to the
Harlem train, and arrived in the city at twelve o'clock.
The members of Hose Company No. 4 conveyed the
wounded to their residences, and Dr. Cockroft was
called in to attend to Mr. Bailey. In the evening
the company held a meeting at their carriage-room,
and passed resolutions. These gentlemen state that
they heard no alarm whistle from either locomotive.
There is no fence whatever at the place, and no
railway police to keep animals off the track. Some
great change in the management of this and other
railways seems necessary, as a large amount of
human life has been sacrificed of late that might,
under a different system, have been saved. In Eng-
land and Germany the railway accidents are not one
to every one hundred that occur on the railways about
reason be of
ass
New York, in proportion to the
length
igroundg n e
d
travelled ; and yet no good
why one life more should be to t
here than upon the
railroads in any other country, Is not the life of a

Yankee as ♦aluable as that
other white man on earth?

of a European, or of any

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.
CAMBRIDGE, Nov. 21.
JESUS COLLEGE .—ln accordance with the
nomination of the Bishop of Ely, the vacant
Mastership at this college was this day officially
offered for the acceptance of the Rev. George
Elwas Corrie, 8.D., Fellow, President, and Tutor
of Catharine-hall, and Norrisian Professor of Di-
vinity, in this university. It is understood that
Professor Corrie will accept the offer. The Master
of Jesus elect took his B.A. degree in 1817 as
eighteenth wrangler; was created M.A. in 1820, and
B.D. in 1831. He was elected to his Professional
Chair in 1838, and re-elected in 1843 and 1848 re-
spectively, the office being tenable for five years only;
this professorship can be held with the mastership.
The canonry in Ely Cathedral held by the late Master
in eonformity with a recent Government regulation,
whereby canonries nt Ely were attached to the Regius
Professorships of Hebrew and Greek, falls to the Rev.
Professor Scholefield (Greek).
CONGREGATION.—At a Congregation holden this
day, the following Graces passed the Senate :-
1. To appoint Mr. Thring, of King's College, an
Examiner of the Classical Tripos of the ensuing year,
in room of Mr. Andrews, of Queen's College, who
has resigned.
2. To appoint the Master of' Catharine Hall a
member of each of the following Syndicates :—The
Syndicate for the management of the Fitzwilliam
Museum; and the Syndicate appointed on the Bth of
June last, to consider certain questions relating to the
Public Health Act.

At the same Congregation the following degrees
were confferred

HONORARY M.A.—Hon. George Robert Gifford,
Caius College.
B.D.—Henry Alford, Trinity College; W. G.
Humphry, Trinity College; Thomas Dalton, St.
John's College.
B A,—Charles Boys, Corpus College ; Alfred Bond,
Trinity College; W. E. Carr, Trinity College;
Jos. Chapman, Christ's College ; J. B. Dodd,
Sydney College; F. J. Morgan Evans, St.
Peter's College ; E. G. Harvey, Queen's
College; J. G. H. Hill, Emmanuel College;
T. Mitchinson, St. John's College ; E. R. Sullivan,
Trinity College; G. H. Tidcombe, St. Peter's Col-
lege; Frederick Townsend, Trinity College; E. 0.
Williams, Sidney College.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETT.—The anniversary dinner
of the above named society took place on Monday last,
at the Bull Hotel. The Rev. Professor Willis, presi-
dent, occupied the chair, and Mr. W. Hopkins, the
vice•chair.

TATTERSALL'S—THIS EVENING
Siz o'CLocic.

Nothing doing.

Dr. GUTZLAFF, THE CHINESE INTERPRETER.—
Dr. Gutzluff is about to visit Europe, after an absence of
23 years. That long term has been passed in China, or
among the Chinese. Perhaps no foreigner of the age
has more thoroughly identified himself with the
people ; their literature, religion, government, his-
tory, and social and domestic habits, have been
investigated by a mind which finds pleasure in study.
Even in personal appearance the learned gentleman has
in a degree become Chinese. We have heard it asserted
in North America, that Europeans who live for years
among the Indians acquire the expression of coun-
tenance, especially a pt culiar cast of the eye, which no
Indian is without. Sir Henry Pottinger went to the
east when a mere lad; he resided for many years at
native courts, as a political agent of the Government,
and no person who has seen him will forget his oriental
countenance. Similar influences among a different people
may have had the same effect on Dr. Gntzlaff.—Friend
of Chintz.