The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-22 00:00:00

SHIP.

Extract of a letter from a passenger on board the British
Quen, outward bound :

" HALIFAX, MONDAY, MARCH 29.

" The date of my letter will a little surprise you. Yet we
are not arrived, but if the present wind and sea continue wo
shall be at Halifax to-morrow. Nineteen days and nights
have I passed since I left Portsmouth, full of heart and
hoalth and hope. For two or three of these days all went
stuoothly, but alas ! for the ten or eleven following, never
shall I forget them. Our lee paddles or floata; from some
accident or mismanagement, began to drop off daily, until
on the 16.1 i inst , not one of them remained upon that
wheel. At this period Providence gave us exactly six hours'
calm, during which we took half the paddles from
the starboard, and fixed them to the larboard wheel. That
night we bad a hurricane which scarcely ceased or mode-
rated for 220 hours. The steam power of the ship
crippled, as she was, was totally inadequate to the size of
her and the storm. We rolled helplessly in the mighty
billows. Every sail was split into rags, and we were
completely at the mercy of the waves. Oh I it was
an awful time ! I went not to bed for several nights, and
hed not my clothes off for many. My deck berth I was
afrail to remain in. I sat up in the main saloon. The
rolling of the huge mass was terrific. From beamcnd to
bcamend the watery mountains } itched her with fearful
violence. Her paddle-boxes and wheels alone brought her
up ; but how her timbers shook 1 Her sides rebounded,
her bulkheads cracked, her rudder thumped, while the
row' jag cf the storm was beard above all. One of our
officers was iajuted ; anodicr was ill. The crew could
hardly bear tne weather, and were lashed. I, in the
meanwhile, was in a nervous state of terror, thoagh the
world saw it not. We ought to have pushed for Fayal
when our floats disappeared—say when we were five or
six days out. I hinted this to the captain, but he pressed
onwards into the great Atlantic, until the violence
of the storm and size of the waves rendered it unsafe to scud
before the wind, and our only chance was to face it with
half- paddle power., The consequence was, wo were twice
(each time for four or five hours) in the trough of
the sea without steerage way, and as helpless as a raft-
Nothing saved us but the prodigious strength and huoyancy
of our noble ship, which only wants 150 more horse power
to make her uuconquerable. However, the danger is I
hope now passed. The wind is light, the sea smooth, wo
are past Sable Island, and within eighteen hours of Ha-
lifax at our present sailing, seven knots—all she can do.
We have some six or sevem days' coal left, but arc prepared
for another storm on a lets shore, and go in to refit and
refuel. It will probably be a week more cre we reach
New York—twenty-six days.
" Wednesday, March 31.
t, We got on shore last night, after a most disagreeable
day, dreadfully cold and gale from N. W., with a snow-
storm, which covered our ship with ice and froze every-
thing in our rooms. We have no fires on board, and
some are frostbitten. To-day the sun is shining, and I
have been somo hours wandering about this miserable
to-au. We leave tc-night at six or seven o'clock, hoping
by that time to have our paddles ready and coal in.
We have some seventy passengers of all kinds and
nations, principally Germans. A motley uninteresting
group they are. The fore-cabin have been let loose upon
the aft passengers, and turned the saloon into a bear gar-
den. The race of this line of steamers is run. I bay°
done with them for ever. It has been a miserable passage."

SCOTTISH BANKING SYSTEM.
We understand that a numerous and respectable
meeting of Bankers, Managers, and Representatives of
the Scotch Banks, was held in the Royal Hotel, :on
Friday last, in consequence of a communication from
the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee, now
sitting, that two witnesses from Scotland would be exa-
mined on the Scottish System of Banking ; one to be
sent by the Chartered Banks, and another by the Pro-
vincial Banks.
The meeting adopted certain resolutions, explanatory
of the existing system in Scotland, which, we under-
stand are to be printed and circulated. The gentle_
men present were unanimous in their sentiments as to
the excellency of the present system, and the danger to
the agricultural and commercial interests of the country
woutn
that would ensue by the rash introduction of any
change.
Considering the momentous nature of the subject
now under consideration of the Parliamentary Com-
mittec, the meeting agreed that it
ex-
pedient
itornacprt% ato dLeponudtaotnio, n
to of
communicate
be
b number
proceed m
the Committee, and to give such evidence as may be
necessary. highlyumwithrto
theexpediency
currencyof
we are informed that one, if not the principal object
now under the consideration of the Select Committee,
is the
esttaobltishe UnitedhingoneßKaninkgodfomls.suevifoer
supplying
can hardly believe that there is any serious intention is
the majority of the Committee of establishing such a
Burk of Issue, as the danger and impolicy of interfering
with the present system must be evident to all who are
acquainted with the Scottish Banking, and appreciate
the benefits which the country has derived from it.—
Edinburgh Advertiser.

men, Oi
o fiNtlhoen daynight,
names.f
Laote
knee, a ra n taw ele o'
Warren,
vco
bckaa,
beet w ott
spending the day" after their own fashion. They re-
sidel at Peckham, and came from the Kent-road by the
Canal House. Over that bridge they passed safely; but
when they arrived near the next bridge, over the Peckham
branch, Locker walked into the canal. Warren, it seems,
was not able to render mush useful assistance, but ran to
the Canal House, a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile,
and from which place the drags were brought, and, after
nearly an hour's delay, the body was got out. It is need-
less to add, life was quite extinct. The place where this
occurred is most dangerous to any one passing by, and, un-
less they be well acquainted with the pathway, the chances
are that that they will fall into the canal.