The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-07 00:00:00

EXAMPLES.

Perma- Sum the
Annual Policy Bonus in sent lie- Assured
Age. f.l Pre- taken addition Bonus in duction of may bor-
nMium. out in to Sum Cash. Annual row on
I Assured. Premium. Policy.
£
s. A. s d. £ s. d. £ s. d.
1837 276 14 3128 11 3 21 7 2 593 6 8
1838 251 18 10.115 14 8 18 12 8 543 17 9
X X P.d. 1839 226 6 0 102 15 1 16 2 9 194 810
1840 178 0 0 82 14 2 12 14 11 145 0 0
60 1600 74 3 4 1841 174 0 01 78 3 4. 12 .3 0 195 11 1
1842 147 4 21 65 15 10 10 2 4 346 2 3
1843 99 18 41 44 8 4 615 11 196 13 4
1844 62 6 81 27 13 4 4 4 0 '47 4 5

PUBLICATIONS.

STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH
• TIIP.I WEST INDIES AND THE PACIFIC.
SOUTHAMPTON, OCT. 30.—1 n our paper of Oct.
22 we published a statement showing the saving in
distance and time that could be effected by an altera-
tion in the routes of the West India mail steamers to
and from the Gulf of Mexico, by avoiding the port of
Mobile. Such statement likewise exhibited the cause
of decline in the extent of passenger traffic, and the
still more prejudical effects which may be anticipated
to follow a persistence in the existing plan by reason
of the active competition organized by lines of Ame•
rican mail steamers.
These remarks embraced only the monthly Mexi-
can Gulf route, and did not refer to the separate
monthly communication now kept up by the Royal
IVestlndia
mail steamers, between England, Panama,
and the Pacific.
The importance of the latter route demands a dis-
tinct notice, particularly when viewed in connexion
.with the lines of American steam ships in existence
and in contemplation, and also as regards the import-
ance, in a national point of view, of the line to and
from the Isthmus of Panama, across which a vast and
increasing amount of traffic must flow to and from the
gold xegions of California, the west coast of America,
the numerous ports in the Pacific, and probably from
Australia and New Zealand.
I3efore alluding more particularly to this branch of
the subject it should be premised that the scheme of
Communication established and kept up by the West
India mail steamers is not a mere semi-monthly mail
to and from the British ultra-marine possessions, but
comprehends a wide-spread Atlantic communication
between Europe and the French, Danish, Spanish
and Dutch West India colonies, with the island of
Hayti, Mexico, the Central American States of Nice-
raceua, Yucatan, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Columbia,
and via Chagres and Panama with New Grenada,
California, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili.
The communications regularly maintained may be
classed as follows :
Mexico (including Vera Cruz and Tampico), Mo-
bile, Havannah, St. Jago de Cuba, Hayti, Bermuda,
the Bahamas, Honduras, Porto Rico, San Juan, Nica-
ragua, Carthagena, Santa Martha, Laguayra, Cha-
gres, Panama, and the Pacific ports of the states of
Chili, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador.
The British colonies of Jamaica, Demerara,
Trinidad, Tobago, St. Vincent, Barbadoes, Grenada,
St. Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis,
St. Kitt's, and Tortola, the Danish islands St. Thomas
and St. Croix, the French Antilles, Guadeloupe, Mar-
tinique, &c., the colony of Cayenne, via Demerara,
and Dutch Guiana.
Neither must the regular intercolonial communica-
tion supplied to the West India colonies, nor in some
instances, the beneficial intercourse afforded to a few
of those islands with the mainland, be omitted in the
estimate of the extent of this scheme. ;
It will, of course, be apparent in the applicationand
working details of so comprehensive and intricate a
plan, that all the interests concerned cannot be equally
well served, and that certain colonies and seats of
trade may complain that their particular interests are
only imperfectly protected. The little island of Mont-
serrat, for example, on a recent occasion petitioned,
complaining that a direct communication was not
kept up between it and the mother country. Jamaica
loudly complains of the injustice of its mails having to
be conveyed to Havannah, Nassau, and Bermuda,
while it has been found hitherto impossible to accom-
modate Jamaica with an unbroken route to England,
for many reasons, one of them being the comparatively
isolated geographical position of the island, which lies
out of the regular track of the mail to the other
colonies.
Whatever plan may be adopted, it is clear that
some complaints will be provoked from the clashing
of interests of small and relatively unimportant places,
each anxious to possess the short cut to and from
Great Britain. The more important ports, colonies,
or states, should therefore receive the greatest amount
of convenience, and the communication with such
places should he facilitated to the utmost extent, while
the smaller or less important places should be made
subordinate to the general scheme, and be accommo-
dated with the supplementary or branch lines, in
conjunction with the main artery of communication.
One of the greatest faults of the existing arrange-
ments for conveying and delivering the mails is that
no through or trunk line for direct communication has
been laid down and adhered to, to which all other
lines of intercolonial or branch mails should be tribu-
tary, and therefore, while several important places
have been but indifferently served, numbers have been
badly accommodated, and but
few pruperly attended
to. These, however, it must be fully understood, are
faults rather of the plan of routes than of the
steamers or the company, as, with few exceptions,
the %Vest India mail service has been generally per-
formed with the stipulated regularity, and with more
than the speed and rapidity contracted for.
Since the first concession of the mail contract to the
West India Steam Company circumstances have arisen
which attach to certain places greater importance
than they at one time possessed, and which would
seem to render some changes desirable, in order that
the interests of the British steamers may not be per-
mitted to suffer, and that the new and formidable
opposition of a rival Power in the steam carrying
trade of the New World should not completely divert
and absorb the legitimate traffic pertaining to the
British steamers.
There is no part of the South American continent
to which these remarks apply with so much force as
to the Isthmus of Panama, now becoming the great
high road for traffic to and from the whole of the
western coasts of both North and South America.
We purpose, therefore, in the subjoined remarks,
to set forth the exact position of British steam enter-
prise in connexion with this portion of the globe, and
to exhibit some of the causes which at present pro-
duce the inconvenient and anomalous results that
British steamers are frequently anticipated by the
American rival lines, and that mails, passengers, and
intelligence, reach England via New York, from
certain points of the West Indies and South America,
more quickly than they can be brought by the so-
called steamers.
Assuming that from the Isthmus of Panama to
England should be considered a main trunk line, say
from Chagres to Southampton, we find the existing
routes as follows :

NEW WORK, by the Author of-" JANE EYRE."
Just published, in 3 vols. post Svo. price. I/. I Is. Gd.
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"'Shirley' Is the anatomy of the female heart."--Daily News.
London : Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornhill.,

NEW NOVEL BY MISS SINCLAIR.
Just published, in' 3 volS rost Ivo., price 31s. Gd. boards,
I[ ' EDWARD GRAHAM ; or, Railway
ksi Speculators. By CATIIERINE, SINCLAIR, Author of
-" The Journey of Life," "The Business of Life," " Jane Beuverie,"
8G 3..
London : Longman, Brown, Green, and Long,n-c.ns.

GREAT EXHIBITION OF INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS.
Now ready, folio, price 2s. 6d.,-
AIiEPORT on the EIsEVENTH FRENCH
EXPOSITION of the PRODUCTS cf INDUSTRY.— By
MATTHEW DIGBY IVYAIT, Architect. Prepared by order of
H.R.11. the Presldent and Council cf the Society of Arts.
J. CMidall, 21, Old Bond. street ; Chapman and Hall, 186, Stjand ;
D. Bogue, 16, Fleet-street.

Just published, by C LPIN, 5, Bishopsgate-street

Without

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS tVE

ISSUED.

The demand already is nnprecedently large. Every Friend of-Peace

• and Retrenchment should possess -
FIE FINANCIAL REFORM ALMANACK,
bristing with Statistics," price 3d., forming one of the most
important and complete Works on the Financial Condition of the
Country ever exhibited.

This ALMANACK, besides the Calendar a-id all other topics per-
taining to Altnanacks, contains, among a variety of ORIGINAL
ARTICLES, tha foLowing :—History of Taxation—Present Amount
and Sources o: Taxation—The Civil List—The Army— ihe Navy—
Naval and Military Colonial Expenditure—The Woods awl Forests
—The civil Service—The Executive—Colonial Government and
Expenditure—lndirect Taxation —The Budget of Richard Cobden f r
1849—The Armed Peace Policy—The European Debt--National
Debt—The Pension List—ln and Out of (hike—The Poor-laws—
Local 'or Delegate Taxation—Taxation and Representation—The
Expense of War—Miscellaneous Abuses Law and Justice—Edgca-
lion, Science, and Art—Ambassador's, Royal, and other Palaces—
Colonial, Consular, and other Foreign Purposes—Consuls—Regina-1
Donam—Queen's Plates—Charities to Ireland—British India and the
Cotton Trade—with a variety of Facts, Scraps, and Statistics.

employment of steam power and speed to rerform the
I Atlantic voyages.
If the West India steamers were permitted to take
a direct route, as follows :

Chagrcs to St. Thomas's
St.. Thomas's to Fayal
Fayal to Southampton

1,120
2,249
1,373

The total distance from Chagres to South-
ampton would be, say
And the distance saved thus—
Chagres to Southampton via Jamaicq, Jac-
mel, Porto Rico, St. Thomas's, and Fayal 5,080
Chagres to Southampton via St Thomas's
and Fayal

...
........ ~. 4,742

By employing steamers of the Cunard class,33B say
with a proportion of 700 to 800 horse power to a
burden of 2,000 tons, capable of maintaining a mini-
mum average speed of 10 knots, the through voyage
from Chagres to Southampton could be performed in
21 to 23 days, including the necessary stoppages for
coaling at Fayal and St. Thomas's, and thus a fort-
night or ten days would be the real saving in time,
while the New York route would be surpassed in re-
gard to the economy of time effected.
The only alteration in the present arrangements
necessary to guard against a derangement in the
intercolonial service would be the necessity of having
a branch steamer to bring up mails from San Juan,
Nicaragua, Carthagena, Jamaica, &c., to St.
Thomas's, there to meet the direct steamer from
Chagres, which wc,Tild also be joined at St. Thomas's
by the vessel from Demerara with the homeward,
windward, and leeward mails, as at present. Jamaica
would not be prejudiced by this arrangement, as that
island would have the same accommodation as at
present, while the employment of more rapid steamers
would bring that place to within 17 to 19 days' voy-
age of England via St. Thomas, instead of 22 to 26
days, as at present.
The route outward to the isthmus pursued by these
steamers is still more objectionable and lengthy, and,
if pricked'out on the map, will probably excite a smile ;
it is as follows :

Miles.

1111 E EMIGRANT'S ALMANACK.
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The EMIGRANT'S ALMANACK contains a greater mass of
useful information on the important subject of Emigration than any
other publication, and every possible care has been taken to ensure
its entire accuracy. It contains advice relative to the United States
of America ; describes the routes to the various fields of emigration;
determines the distances to each place ; the modes of conveyance;
the length of time occupied in the various journeys ; expense of
transit; cost of land in different parts of the world ; expense of
clearing the soil; and all the °Meal information from the Commis-
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for the Emigrant of every degree, and altogether forms one of the
most interesting and valuable books of reference ever published on
the subject of Emi,ration.
London : STANDARD OF FREEDOM-OFFICE, 335, Strand ;
Charles Gilpin, 5, Bishopsgate Without, and all Booksellers.

Southampton to Madeira 1,287 steamer stops halt a day.
Madeira to Barbadoes ... 2,610 one day.
Barbadoes to St. Thomas 420 quarter of a day.
St. Thomas to Porto Rico 65

Porto Rico to Jacmel ... 388 one day.
Jactnel to Jamaica ... 255 one day.
Jamaica to Santa Martha 440 quarter of a day,
S inta Martha to Carthagena 105 half a day.
Carthagena to Chagres 280

Total distance 5,850 miles`from Southampton
to the isthmus, occupying 35 to 36 days, when, if the
principle of a through or trunk line, via St.Thomas's,
were adopted, to which other lines should be qr.;
butary, the distance would be 4,742 miles, occupying
22 or 23 days, thus effecting a saving in distance of
1,108 miles, and 10 or 12 days in time, which would
be principally accomplished by the fewer stoppages
and superior speed of steamers under the new regula-
tions thus assumed.
To conform to this arrangement the Pacific Steam
Navigation Company's ships might leave Valparaiso
about eight or ten days later than at present, to be in
time at Panama for the steamers leaving this side of
the isthmus for England, and it may be estimated
that the general mail service from all parts of the
West Indies and South America would be accelerated
from seven to ten days, and the courae of post
shortened 14 to 20 days, thus bringing the corre-
spondence with all the ports embraced in the scheme
into a much shorter general communication with
Europe.
That some arrangement, of which this is an outline,
will be indispensable, if the Royal Mail Company
intends to secure the traffic between England and the
greater part of the New World, must be perfectly
evident. The matter speaks for itself. A week's
priority in mercantile correspondence is an age,
during which a fortune may be made or lost, and if
the present slow conveyances are continued, with
their circuitous route and perpetual stoppages, the
whole of the mails, passengers, and specie from the
WestiCoast of America and some parts of the West
Indies will be lost to the Royal Mail Company, whose
ships will be almost entirely superseded by the
American steamers.

, In a national point of view Great Britain cannot
afford that the advantages of a communication
primarily opened and established by herself, and so
esF-er tin! to L,-~jexcn--.-ozperity, should be
diverted into another and a rival-channel, precisely at
a juncture when the intercourse has become, and is
likely to become, increasingly remunerative and im-
portant. The prosperity of the Royal Mail Steam-
packet Company, nay, its very existence, is bound up
in this question, and it must rise or fall exactly in
proportion to its efforts to retain the traffic legiti-
mately and properly its due.
Unless some alterations are made the English
steamers, compared with the American ships will,
in railway parlance, be merely slow Parliamentary
trains running against express mails, the former de-
feating their own object by continual and vexatious
stoppages, the latter distancing their competitors by
their extreme rapidity and celerity.
That this climax is likely to result may be gathered
from the immense efforts now making by the Ameri-
cans to increase and extend their mercantile steam
marine. The building yards of New York are filled
with stupendous steamers in course of construction,
and already many have commenced running. The
line of steamers between Panama and San Francisco
has been eminently successful. The same may be
said of the vessels running in conjunction with them
on this side of the isthmus from Chagres to New
York, the steamers Falcon, Crescent City, and Em-
pire City. While writing this your correspondent
has before him a description of the American steam-
ship Ohio, the pioneer of a mail line of five gigantic
ships intended to maintain a weekly communication
between New York and the Isthmus of Panama, via
Havannah, in direct communication with the West
India steamers. The Ohio is 2,600 tons burden,
and 1,000-horse power. She sailed from New York
on her first voyage on the 20th of September, and
returned on the 15th of October full of passengers
and with a considerable amount of specie. The
Georgia, a sister ship, is nearly ready for sea, and the
other three are preparing. All these ships are to
attain a speed of 11 knots, and will have accommoda-
tion for 260 passengers.
The present West India steamers are beautiful
models of naval architecture, and in regard do their
management and sea-going qualities may be said to
be unsurpassed. When they were constructed 1*
1841 and 1842 it was not considered desirable to
proportion so great-an amount of horse power to
tonnage as subsequent successful experiments have
demonsrated to-re-both safe and prudent for Trans-
atlantic voyaging. The consequence is that, com-
pared with certain Atlantic steamers, they are some-
what deficient in speed, and several of them will not
average more than from seven to eight knots. Recent
improvements in the boilers and machinery of others,
such as the Medway, the Thames, Clyde, Avon, and
Severn, have augmented their speed, and these 1
vessels are capable, under favourable circumstances
of making eight to ten knots per hour. Such a
speed is, however, manifestly insufficient to meet
the present requirements of ocean steaming when
exposed to powerful competition. To effect an
independent communication with Mexico and the
West Indies, via Bermuda and Havannah, on the
one hand, and with the West Indies and :Pacific on
the other, with such rapidity as is indispensable to
compete successfully with the American steamers,
new ships of the class now running between Liver-
pool and New York should be employed, while the
present vessels could be advantageously provided
with employment on the intercolonial or branch ser-
vices, in conjunction with the main lines.
This subject acquires additional importance, and
the necessity of an independent trunk line to the
Isthmus of Panama (to which the other lines should
be feeders), and which should be carried out by steam-
ships of greater power, is the more apparent, when
taken in connexion with the disposition of the Go-
vernment to extend steam communication to South
Australia and New Zealand by way of Panama, in
preference to the originally contemplated route via
Southampton, Alexandria, and Singapore, from the
latter of which places the Peninsular and Oriental
Steam Navigation Company proposed to extend
their line to the Australian and New Zealand
ports. It is understood that the Government
will shortly be prepared to receive tenders for
conveying these mails by either of the two routes
referred to. The respective distances are estimated
as nearly as possible as follows:

vir of
-"! N NOVEMBER 7, 1819.
7
N0.17,822.] LONDON, IyEDNESDAY )•=1 Er 4

Making a total of .., - ... ... 4,483
from England to Australia soil New Zealand.
The present :voyage from. Southampton to Singa-
pore occupies forty-nine or fifty days, and, supposing the
remainder of the distance to be performed by steamers
an average minimum speed of eight .knots, th
total voyage would occupy, including stoppages, say
eighty to eighty- four days.
The Panama route would stand thus—

Mile,

Southampton to Fayal
Fayal to St. Thomas's ...
S. 'Thomas's to Chagres
Panama to Tahiti ...
T.ihiti t.) Port Nicholson (New Zealand)
Port Nicholson to Sydney... ...

... 2.249
... 1,120
... 4,430
... 2,280
... 1,200

Southampton to Port Nicholson and Sydney —. 12,702
The distances used as above from Panama to
Australia are not calculated for the great circle, but
the shortest di3tance, or the track which a steamer
would probably pursue. This, however, would neces-
sarily be modified by the prevailing winds. From
Panama to Tahiti the winds would generally be
favourable—from Tahiti to Port Nicholson less so.
Reversing the rule for opposite directions, different
courses might be taken at various seasons. Pre-
suming the voyage from Southampton to the Isthmus
of Panama to occupy twenty-three days, and that the
distance from Panama be accomplished at an average
speed of eight knots (as allowed to the steamers
from Singapore), and allowing for the necessary stop-
pages, the voyage throughout would be performed in
sixty-eight to seventy-two days, or on the voyage from
England to New Zealand and Australia showing a
saving of 2,186 miles in distance, and of ten to thirteen
days in time. It is, of course, impossible to state
with any degree of correctness which of the two routes
on the whole, possesses the greatest advantages, or
which will ultimately be preferred, but of the Pa-
nama plan it may be said that not only does it offer
the advantage of being the shortest, straightest, and
most direct track to the Australasian colonies, but
also that the difficulties and dangers of the navigation
are far less, when contrasted with the dangers and
intricacies of the navigation from Singapore to Syd-
ney, northward of Australia, including the coasts of
New Guinea, Borneo, Timor, and Torres Straits,
which would have to be traversed by the steamers
connected with the Suez scheme.
Reverting to our remarks on the subject of the
West India steamers, it must be borne in mind that
modifications and changes in their present routes,
which every day's experience is showing to be more
and more necessary and desirable, can only be effected
with the direct sanction of the Admiralty. It is
therefore tube hoped that, ere long, the circumstances
enumerated, operating so disadvantageously to the
interests of the British steam-vessels, may bring about
some alteration whereby the competition of rival,)ines
of American steamers shall be counteracted,' and the
traffic conducted 'through Hi Proper channel. If the
Americans began too late in ocean steam navigation,
they have certainly made, and are making, great
strides. Their efforts are not, however, to be feared,
if they be met with corresponding energy and enter-
prise on the part of interests in this country. The
royal mail steam line must, as a necessary conse-
quence, fall into gradual insignificance and disrepute,
unless those efforts are made which the formidable
opposition their ships are called upon to encounter so
urgently demands. Nor can it be imagined that it
will answer the purpose of the Government and the
petple of this country to subsidize a line of steamers
to the extent of nearly 240,0001. per annum, the
utility of which has nearly ceased and is partially
superseded. It is a struggle of British capital and
enterprise against the energy of the Americans, and
if the former be fully and fairly employed and skil-
fully developed in its working details, who can doubt
the result in its own legitimate sphere ?
Some determination will doubtless soon be taken
upon this important subject by the Admiralty, and
then, armed with the needful facilities, the Roya
Nail Steam-packet Company (to borrow the mode of
Expression from a Transatlantic contemporary) will
only have "to put on the steam" to insure a successful
result.—Times.

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[PRICE SD.

with dispatches and specie for Hong-Kong, and she
proceeded last night, calling at Devonport for super-
numeraries.
The Fairy, royal yacht screw-tender, Master Com-
mander Welch, and the Elfin, steam-tender, Master
Commander Balliston, are ordered' to Portsmouth,
from Woolwich, to have their defects made good at
the former port.
Two parties of seamen riggers are ordered to
navigate the Vulture steam-frigate, at Sheerness, and
the Styx steam-sloop, at Woolwich. to Devonport,
there to remain as advanced steam-vessels of the
first division. The Contiance steam-tender, Master-
Commander Martin, is ordered to convey the parties
back again to Sheerness and Woolwich. The Vul-
ture is ordered to call at Portsmouth. The Styx
will be ready to leave Portsmouth on the Bth inst.
The Terrible steam-frigate is complete in her ma-
chinery, and will be out of the hands of the dockyard
by Monday next. Her spars are to be altered as pro-
posed by Captain Ramsay.
The Retribution steam-frigate will be out of the
hands of the engineers to morrow. Three of her old
boilers are to be broken up, the serviceable plates
being preserved.
The rigging and stores for the Dauntless, screw
steam-frigate, are being prepared at Portsmouth.
Captain Halsted is occasionally superintending the
works.
The Encounter, screw-steam-corvette, Capt. Gordon,
is expected home from Lisbon on account of the acci-
dent to her screw shaft. It is said on her arrival that
Captain Gordon and the officers and
_crew will be
transferred to the Termagant, now in the old basin,
nearly rigged.
The Stromboli, 6, steam-sloop, Commander Lord
A. Beauclerk, was ordered from Devonport to the
Chops of the Channel, to relieve the wind-bound, but
the wind has since shifted.
The Cuckoo, steam-veseA, Commander Dumaresq,
will be completed at Portsmouth by to-morrow, and
will proceed to her station at the Channel Islands.

The Hecla, 6, steam-sloop,Commander Beauchamp,
arrived at Madeira 11th October, and proceeded on
the 13th for the coast of Africa.
The Sphynx, 6, steam-sloop, ready for service if
required, was towed up to her moorings at Ports-
mouth by the Echo tug.
The Grappler, iron steam-vessel, at Woolwich, is
to be broken up. Estimates have been called for.
The Dwarf, screw-tender, Lieutenant-Commander
Osborne, has returned to Queenstown from Kinsale,
and remains waiting orders.
Portpatrick, as a packet station, having been
abolished, the Asp steam-vessel, Lieut.-Commander
W. W. Oke, and the Pike, steam-vessel, Lieut.-
Commander A. Boyton, have arrived at Portsmouth
to be paid off, and are both in the steam-basin, return-
ing stores. Theyare sister vessels; and were among
1114 first packet stearrierS that were built some 26 years
ago: They have both done much 'work, and with
, their
.50 hOrse..power gach averaged about ,eight or;
eight and a half knots per hour. They* Will be either
broken up or sold.
THE SIDON DOCK AT PORTSMOUTH.—When the
water was let into the dock it reduced the height of
the water of the steam-basin no less than eight inches.
The water was pumped out of the dock on Monday,
when it was found that the Sidon, when settled down
on her blocks, the lower parts of the outer rim of her
paddle wheels had but scant room, just clearing the
stone work on each side about two inches. The dock
would have been better had it had more breadth in
this part; however, this difficulty can be obviated by
the blocks being made higher when the next large
steamer comes into it.
PORTSMOUTH, TUESDAY.—Wind, N. W.; fresh
breezes, and fine clear weather. ae,
PORTSMOUTH, Nov. 6.-:-The. Hate steam sloop,
Commander Shad well, hauled off into the stream this
afternoon, ready for the reception of Sir H. Lytton
Bulwer and suite, whom she is destined to convey to
America in a few days. Captain Shadwell has made
the most of the room ittorded by the vessel, and will
provide comfortably, if-not adequately, for the ac-
commodation of the diplomatic party, amounting to
eleven persons. The cabins of Sir H. Lytton and
Lady .Bulwer are made out of the commander's and
are lined with chintz, which prevents the rough fit-
tings of the ship being seen, and obviates the neces-
sity for paint being used in decoration. The vessel
has been made to carry coals for 12 days' full steam-
ing, which will take her well on towards Bermuda,
where she is to put in to replenish. As she expects
to encounter rough weather, she has changed her old
for newer and stouter canvas this afternoon. The
officers of the Excellent (who are draughted for the
Hecate), having been bandied about so much in this
kind of short notice temporary service, deserve pro-
motion.

The Scourge steam-sloop, Commander Lord F. 11.
Kerr, took the place of the Hecate alongside the jetty
this day, to proceed with her fitting, about which she
seems very tardy.
The Contest, 12, is ordered to be rigged. It is
expected a commander will be appointed to her in a
day or two.
The Pollock Indiaman at Spithead, for China,
embarked the Bishop of Hong-Kong and suite this
afternoon, and will sail with them to-morrow.
Wind W. by S., fresh breezes and cloudy weather.
WOOLWICH, Nov. G.—The Enterprise, Captain Sir
James Clarke Ross, and the Investigator, Captain E.
J. Bird, having arrived in the river from the North
Pole, the Monkey and Adder steam vessels went
down the river to-day to tow them up to Woolwich,
and they are expected to arrive at this port to-
morrow. The expedition, which went in search of
Sir John Franklin and the officers and crews of the
Erebus and Terror, has brought no accounts of these
enterprising navigators; but all hope of their ulti-
mate return should not he given up, as several of the
whalers were near the latitude and longitude of the
spot where Sir James Clarke Ross wintered, without
being able to find the exact place where the vessels
were located. It is possible that, as the Esquitnaux
were correct in stating that two vessels were seen on
one side of Prince Regent's Inlet, that there might
be two on the other side, as it appears the Enterprise
and Investigator wintered at Port Leopold, at the
entrance of Prince Regent's Inlet. Captain Sir
James Ross will, however, be better able to judge as
to the statements of the natives, when he learns the
particulars communicated to the captains of the
whalers.

The Fairy, Commander Crispin, and the Elfin,
Master-Commander Balliston, left Woolwich at 9 30
A.M. to-day for Portsmouth.

COURTS-MARTIAL AT NOTTINGHAiIL

NOTTING HA M, TUESDAY EVENING.—This morning,
between eleven and twelve o'clock, the first_of three
general eourts.martial upon privates of the 3d Dra-
goon Guards, for the purpose of trying Knox, But •
terworth, and Ball, the major offenders during the
recent insubordination, commenced sitting in the
messroom at the barracks. The interest excited by
the proceedings was very great, and the room was
crowded. Amongst those present were Lieutenant-
Colonel Arthur, Mr. Thomas Carver, mayor, and
several of the principal inhabitants of the town. The
court itself presented a very imposing appearance,
and was thus constituted :—President—Colonel C. G.
J. Arbuthnot, Commander of the Midland districts;
members—Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. J. Yorke
Scarlett, sth Dragoon Guards; Major Henry Renny,
81st Foot; Captain George Lloyd Robson, sth Dra-
goon Guards ; Captain James Cunningham, (4th
Dragoon Guards; . Captain Sir George Curzon
Bisshop, 12th Foot; Captain F. L. Dashwood, 16th
Lancers; Captain William de Cardonnel Elmsall, Ist
Royal Dragoons; Lieutenant George Campbell, Ist
Royal Dragoons ; Lieutenant-Colonel John Patton,
12th Foot ; Captain Francis R. Forster, 4th Dragoon
Guards; Captain Thomas Pattle, 16th Lancers ;
Captain J. Arthur Gildea, 81st Foot; Captain
Thomas D. Perry, 81st
.Foot; Captain Herbert
Morgan, Ist Royal Dragoon Guards; Lieutenant
Michael M'Creagh, 4th Dragoon Guards ; Acting
Deputy Judge-Advocate, Captain J. Francis Kempt,
12th Foot.

The Court having been sworn previous to hearing
evidence,
The PRESIDENT rose and said—"Perceiving that
several reporters are here present, I particularly re-
quest that none of the evidence about to be produced
may be published until such evidence has been offi-
cially approved."
Private Robert Knox was the only prisoner tried
to-day. Ile was charged with absenting himself
from barracks without leave on the 14th of October,
and not returning until the 15th ; and, further, with
raising his hand, in which was a large stone, against
Sergeant-Moor Davis, and uttering in a menacing
manner, "Do, you -, or words to that effeet.
Mr. Bowley appeared for the prisoner, but was
prevented both from examining the witnesses and
addressing the Court. The President and the Acting
Deputy Judge-Advocate informed him that the only
as,iistance he would be allowed to render would be to
suggest questions to be put by the prisoner himself,
or write them on paper, and hand them to the Presi-
dent of the court. The latter expedient was adopted,
and about five written questions were handed for-
ward, but three of which were allowed to be put ;
and then Mr. Bowley, in evident disgust, exclaimed
that it appeared he could be of no service to the ac-
cused, and therefore he should not attempt to put
another question.
It would be impossible, without disregarding the