The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-11 00:00:00

THE CHARTIST PRISONERS.

From the Van Dieman's Land Colonial Times, July 21).
The manner in which Messrs. Frost, Williams, and
Jones, have been treated by a Waig Government is most
disgraceful, and perfectly opposed to even the old and
most abominable practices enforced by the Tories under
the " iron rule" of my Lords Liverpool and Castle-
reagh. Our " Victoria" contemporary of the Review
has the following remarks upon the mode of treat-
ment :

" Mit. FROST.—This gentleman, with the two other
persons sent here for treason, have been sent, we sup-
pose, by order of the Secretary of State, to Port
Arthur. How they are to be treated there remains to
be seen. This is the first instance of political offen-
ders being classed with felons, and it is by a Whi.,
Ministry that such unfitting punishment is perpetrated.'
In the Tory times, persecuting " at home" as they did
all such offenders, they treated them according to their
stations in life when they sent them to Australia.
Messrs. Margarot, Fyehe Palmer (father of the mem-
ber for Barks), Skirving, Muir, and others, sent to New
South %Vales, were all there treated with marked at-
tention and kindness, landed free of all restraint, and
colonial pardons immediately issued to them. The pre-
sent unfortunate persons were sent away while their
case was under discussion in Parliament ; certainly not,
as in a well-known former case upon the ground of its
illegality, but upon other very strong grounds."
We can say more about this affair. When the Man-
darin anchored in this port, certain despatches, or
orders, were delivered to his Excellency the Lieutenant
Governor, empowering him to transport to the penal
Settlement at Tasnaan's Peninsula these unhappy " poli-
tical offenders ;" they were not permitted to land with
their " co-mates in exile," but were unshipped from the
transport, on board a Government vessel, and forthwith
conveyed to Port Arthur.

SLAVERY IN INDIA.There is no such thing
as slavery, properly so called, known in British India, nor
is compulsory labour of any kind recognized by the laws.
The individuals are called slaves in contradistinction to
servants and ryots, for no other reason than that they are
not at liberty to leave their land or their service. Domes-
tic slavery of this kind is common all over India, but agri-
cultural slavery, more properly termed villeinage, is known
only in some districts. The slaves are sometimes released
by their masters, sometimes (in cases of ill treatment) by
the decision of the Magistrate, and, more frequently, by
running away. When a slave dislikes his treatment, he
runs away ; and, as it is the principle and policy of the
British Government to discourage this species of servi-
tude, the master has very little chance of recovering hint.
A law having been passed in 1811, prohibiting the buying
and selling of domestic slaves, the master must prove
before the Magistrate that the runaway was his pro.
perty before that date, which, of course, he can
rarely do. The law was not made in favour of agricultural
slaves, because these cannot be sold without the land, and
it is contrary to the custom in India to sell the land at all ;
moreover, agricultural slaves were never known to run
away. In fact, they had no motive to do so, They are
on exactly the same footing as the other ryots, except that
immemorial custom requires them to remain on the land.
Like all cultivators, they pay their rent in produce ; and it
their master raises their rent exorbitantly, they appeal
against him to the Magistrate. Compulsory labour is en-
tirely out of the question ; they enjoy their personal liberty
in every respect, and have the same civil rights as their
master. When slavery was abolished in Coorg, on account
of the tyranny of the Rajah, the slaves never thought of
availing themselves of their liberty, but remained on their
ground as before. In cases of a litigation between master
and slave, the benefit of any doubt is always given to the
latter, and the full burthen of proof imposed upon the
former; so that the practical result is, that, for instance,
out of ten slaves who run away, only one reference is made
to the courts of justice; and, out of ten references to the
courts of justice, nine are dismissed. India is not go-
verned practically by the Hindoo and Mahomedan laws,
but by those laws modified by the Company's regulations;
and when new cases occur not touched by the regulations,
the judge has a discretionary power of setting the former
laws aside, and deciding according to justice and equity.
A clause in the East India Act of 1833, recommended the
extinction of slavery in India. The spirit of the clause,
however, had been acted up to by the Company many years
before, and continues to be so; but it was not carried lite-
rally into execution, because the very modified form .of
slavery was not a practical evil. It is enough that the feel-
ing in favour of abolition has spread in India; and legis.a
tion on the subject would merely break up the established
usages of the country, and give satisfaction to neither
party. "_East Indian Teleyraph,
ACCIDENT AND LOSS OF LIFE.—An accident,
attended with loss of life, occurred on Saturday morning.
Five passengers, two men and three females, hired a bust
of a waterman, named Elijah Barton, at the upper Cus.
torn house stairs, to convey them on board the Earl of
Liverpool steamer, bound to Ostend, which was lying in
the middle of the stream. The boat had not proceeded
many yards before the fields of ice floating down the river
carried the boat towards the tier of Newcastle traders
moored off the Tower. It was in vain that Barton and his
assistants endeavoured to make their way through the ice
to the Earl of Liverpool. The boat was driven against
the inside vessel of the tier, when one of the passengers,
a French courier, imprudently got up and seized a hawser
hanging over the vessel's bows, to which he clung in his
fright. The boat was dewed roun.l clear of the ship,
leaving the Frenchman clinging to the rope, and it was im-
possible, owing tot he immense icebergs pressing against
the boat, to render him any assistance, he perished. The
waterman, after being carried some distance, effocted a
landing at Alderman's-stairs, Lower East Smithfield,
where the passengers went ashore, and deposited
their luggage at the St. Katharine's steely-packet
wharf. None of them were able to reach the
Earl of Liverpool, which left her moorings at seven
o'clock, and cut through the ice. The French courier
was in the employ of the Prussian Ambassador, and had
two large packages ; one contained important despatches
directed to the diplomatic functionary at Aix la-Chapelle.
They were conveyed to the station-house in Tower-street,
and in the afternoon were forwarded by Mr. Harvey, the
Commissioner of the City Police, to the residence of the
Prussian Ambassador. We believe the Earl of Liverpool
was the only steamer which got away from the pool during
the day. On Saturday evening, at six o'clock, two men
imprudently made an effort to steer a boat through the ice
in the lower pool, for the purpose of reaching the southe n
shore, and were drifted as far as Limehouse, %%here the
boat was crushed against some vessels at anchor, and both
men perished. They called aloud for help betel, the' bat
reached the tier, but it was impossible to approach them.
The Royal William steam-ship arrived at St. Kath( -
rite's wharf on Sunday, at one o'clock, from Leith, which
place she left on Tuesday night. The voyage was a lows
and boisterous one, and she encountered a severe gale on
her way to London. Three lightermen, in a lug boat
which had been frozen in among the ice near the west end
of the wharf, were enabled to get ashore.
In consequence of the heavy fall of snow in
England the London mail did not arrive in Glasgow yee-
terday till about half-past four o'clock—being nearly three
hours behind her fixed time.—.Glasgow Chronicle.

MORNING E ETION.

FURTHER PARTICULARS OF
GALE OF WIND OFF THE COAST OF SYlll'

(From the Malta Times )
When the gale commenced on the Ist inst. th°';
lowing ships were lying in St. George's Bay, BeYti'.:
—Princess Charlotte and Benbow, of the line, tn.l :
Gorgon, Hydra, Sromboli,and Prometheus (since err"
at Malta) steamers. The Bellerophon was off the toe's
Beyrout. Two Austrian frigates (one with the 114
Admiral Bandeira, and the other commanded IoY ,
Royal Highness the Archduke Frederick). The g'
commenced on the afternoon of the Ist, and tote;
noon of the 2d it became worse. Early on that 01°,
ing the Bellerophon put to sea, and stood to the r1(1
ward. She lost two boats, all her sails, and threo"
quarter-deck guns overboard. The Powerful was sit
on the near bow, which started her fore chains,
was only by the quick evolution of wearing that t
fore-mast was saved. A heavy sea took the Auslr
corvette's fore-mast clean by the board. Elevererr
chant vessels (names not reported) went on shored
a fine brig lost her masts and filled at hsr anchors'
number of lives must have been lost. The follow'
are the particulars of the providential escape °f:
Bellerophon from total loss, and show what courage'
d'scipline can effect under the most difficult and ttl
circumstances :
" The evening of the Ist of December was
fine, with little wind, but it fre,hened up during,
night to a gale. At half-past five in the morning`
anchor came home in an awful squall of wind antl:s3,
a second anchor was let go, but this was of no avail,
ship kept driving broadside on, never looking t°
aechors. The only chance now was to slip and 15"
sail ; this was done very quickly, leaving the aneh°s':
deep water. We sot sail on the ship, carrying a bei
press to keep her off from shore, both the pinnace
e
barge were swamped while the ship drove. By nit!,
the morning it blew a hurricane, nothing could role,
—the sea was running high, and no sign of a lull.
fore and main courses were blown clean away, als°,
foretopmast staysail, not leaving a dozen yarl.
canvass in the tree. 'Fne fore-topsail split
after noon, the maintopsail went to ribands,
saving the part reefed ; then main trysail. Th°
was now labouring heavily and the mainmast 5
plaining. We threw overboard the upper deck
and shot, which appeared to ease the ship 1°_..,1/
all hands employed shifting sails, as well as the "7
would permit, which, during the storm of rain, hail''
wind, was no easy job. Towards sunset it becant°l
dent that nothing less than a miracle could WI,
The ship kept dragging along shore—a shore preses,
no place of refuge. We bent the cable to the 51
anchor and made every preparation for cutting awill
masts, as by •nine o'clock at night every one was°
fled that nothing more could be done, and our safetY,,'
utterly hopeless. At this time, during a pelting?,
of rain, the Captain sent for the ship's company altl
told them the position of the ship—saying e that!!
depended on their coolness and conduct, and to
tention paid to orders given." The men went up wt
will to bend fore and man topsails—just at,
tune the wind lulled for a moment—and the
broke off two points, now heading right on 50
not more than five miles off it, some saY
11.
three. As our sole chance, we put the
up, and the Bellerophon wore where perhaps vet.
ships would ; indeed, this fine ship behaved
through the whole gele. After coming to on the,
board tack, the wind came aft two points, the;
coming up S.S W., and sometimes a point 114,'
We made all possible sail we could carry—r&
sleet still continuing, but wind a little athated.,
4 o'clock in the morning we were some 10 miles o°o
land, and leading south-west. The watch was eitj
all hands had been on deck twenty-four hours.
the whole it was an extraordinary and very °
escape from most imminent peril. Had the
grounded, she would have gone to pieces, and all It
must have perished. Nothing was to be found tide
board, the ship leaking from the tremendous at''l'
during the gale, and the previous heavy firing °Li
the campaign on the coast. The coolness of our
and the steadiness of the men during this trying
sion, were beyond all praise. Thank God we are?
all safe, refitting and setting to rights in Mar°l
harbour."
" Marmorice, Dec. 13, Ic4o
" We left off Alexandria on the 28th of Noye;
and arrived here on the Bth instant, having frilled
with one of the heaviest gales it has been raY,oil
encounter since 1 have been in the service ; tots
sustained little damage, the main shot locker onlY -Ft
adrift, no sails lost ; the Rodney lost a quartet
and maintopsail ; Vanguard, maintopsail ; r°"forr
laboured very heavily, carried away larboarultie
channels, and endangered foremast ; Cembridire,
all but gone ; Revenge. not much damage. IV,
lerophon had a very narrow escape at 13eyroLdi(41
broke from her anchors, was obliged to make 11°,,i'1
every sail but mizen-topsail, hove eight upper d'e,i`joesl
overboard, and, in fact, was saved by PrO''aei
The Zebra is totally lost, and three men drfl,
the Pique (both at Cain) cut away all her la
was saved only by the goodness of or L,'"o
cable, both chains having parted ; great
MI au'
merchant vessels have been wrecked on the CO it'ts"
ships are expected to leave this for 1b1;
namely, Powerful, Edinburgh, and Gange 01,r"'Idl
other two I know not. Lieutenant Fitz-James'cieret
Ganges, has exchanged with Bridges of the Th°,,°oo:
Another Court-martial is to take place on the nos'
of an Austrian corvette ; one charge is, I unders
cowardice on the attack at Acre."
The Pique reached this harbour on the 2F2d ip
having sailed under jury masts from the coast of
and having occupied 18 days on her passage. 00!
This frigate has been left in command of the „
Acre for the winter, in company with the stearn%,/
suvius, and had taken up an anchorage off Cll°s
being the most sheltered part of the bay. 0'
On the 2d inst. it began to blow violent squell°,oo tit.
lasted with occasional intervals for two days.
wort`
4th the wind shifted round the point of Carmel,
005
had hitherto sheltered the anchorage, and comi" IS°
with unbroken violence upon the shipping, draretoiltv
brigs from their anchors, and compelled the Vesi-
to put to sea, after losing both her anchors ; 55,d:
two brigs, one, her Majesty's ship Zebra, had euti
her roasts early in the day, and made a signal °,sie°
tress. To render her any assistance while toe, bar
and sea raged so furiously was of course imprae.titiel
The steamer made a fruitless attemt with (110,
and herself hardly succeeded in gerthig clear °d 051
coast and taking the open sea. The brig still 11°' tot
by her remaining anchors, the seas breaking 06'016
dismasted hull with resistless violence, and at lot' 031'
her again from her anchors. She drifted shore 0)1
and after striking repeatedly on the sandy bottol°Zeoct,
thrown by the violence of the sea high up on the beech,
and her crew were thus providentially rescued 0115
their apparently hopeless situation. Three
111°a
gtl
were drowned in an attempt to save their own . ,
lowering a boat, which was swamped alongside'
other lives were lost.
,Te°
The frigate had meanwhile imitated the ex°ll/ririll
her consort, and cut away her masts, after bniell
from two iron and one hempen cable. She stu'esfe
on by her last hempen cable, which was so much C'',ol
by the wrecks of her masts, as' to destroy any 11°Pee''
tot
tin d
forwento
its holding the ship much longer under the violeile
the
safe
the tempest,d
night.wn •A
almost
EstaPrrliaoylitdaenntutinaelloyuslyat thisand she
next day the steamer rent
erlisf,^
o ;
v
peered, and having towed the frigate 140 miles °,f3)'
sea, left her a sheer hulk, to make the best of her et
to Malta. She had lost all her masts and bowsPrtr,',C
guns, and her four best anchors ; her rudder was
ously damaged, and she was found leaky. In thts'of'
dition she was jury-rigged; and. being favoured bsiiroo
perate weather, she has reached Malta, 18 days'
the day on which she teas towed out.