The Sun.
London, England, 1840-11-17 00:00:00

SYRIA.

We have had no direct arrival from this quarter
since our last publication ; but the fall of Acre, re-
ferred to in our supplement of the 2d instant as hav-
ing been reported by a French steamer (we imagine the
Euphrates, wh ch had conveyed Khosrew Effendi to
Acre on a mission from Mehemet Ali), seems to be con-
firmed by the Confiance, which arrived here on the 2d
iastant, and brings the same report. If this be really
confirmed, a speedy termination of the Eastern question.
may be expected, as Mehemet Ali, abandoned by
France, will find it necessary to succumb to save
Egypt, which the Allies may consent to allow him to
retain the hereditary possession of. Indeed, M.
Couhelet, after the arrival at Alexandria of a French
sreamer from Toulon, on the •_>4th ult., intimated to
Mehemet Ali that France and England would soon be
"aaccord."

LATEST INTELLIGENCE FROM SYRIA.
We are indebted to a gentleman on board th e Aus-
trian steamer Ludovico, arrived this morning fr.r,m Bey.
rout, which she left on the 23d, for the follo•Wing :
Beyrout was at this period resuming some mea-
sure her commercial activity. A Turkic, custom-house
haul been established, and many famirxes who had fled
from it to Cyprus had retarned.
The English and Austrian the Commodore,
and Rear-Admiral Walker, cr,r,tinued there with their
ships.

Tripoli has fallen. T.ne Austrian frigate (;lemenza,
remains to protect and, effect the landing of a small body
:.)f troops. 'Unto ,vernents were daily expected. It is
very difficult for. the garrison to operate a junction with
the main Pinay, being entirely surrounded by the moun-
taineers.

St. Jean d'Acre had not been attacked as yet, but it
was expected that a force would be immediately sent
there for that purpose. Ibrahim Pacha was, it is said,
at Marsaka, near Mount Lebanon, and Soliman Pacha
at Bilbeck, with a handful of troops. Desertions con-
tiane daily, and these Paellas are severely molested by
she mountaineers.
The Emir Bechir an his family were on the
23,1 inst., to Malta, from Saida, in her Britannic Ma-
jeaty's .reamer Cyclops.
About 4,000 prisoners remain to be sent up to Con-
stantinople ; from 500 to 600 are on board the Ludo-
vieo, prisorr.trs and deserters, under an officer formerly
in the service of the Egyptians. It was currently re-
ported '.hat the British ileet would winter at Nlarrnorice.
(From the Maßzary Shark Oct. 29.)
SMYRNA, OCT. 29.
The Porte is, we are assured, highly pieased with the
services of our gallant countryman Rear-Admiral
Walker, and, as a proof of her admiration of his courage
-and capacity, she is about to confer on him the rank of
Vice-Admiral. This brave officer has greatly distin-
guished
himself in every affair in which he has been
engaged, and where dangers and difficulties are the
greatest, there is he constantly to be found.
A Turkish officer has also behaved most gallantly
Captain Nlustapha (whom we hat,
ealready mentioned a:
in the British
having received his mil tart' education
navy), and in recompence for
,'his zeal he has been, or
is about to be, promoted to tae rank of Captain of a
%hip of the line. This spirited officer is ever foremost
in fight, and is as cool in entering a breach or scaling
a wall amidst a shower of bullets as in pacing his own
quarter-deck. Of the English officers we need
\saye•
tatlattig, they will have their own panegyrists. v
Clnnet, however, help adding a word with respect to
Commodore Napier, who plans his attacks with the
Sangfroid of a sage, and executes them with the re-
sisttass impetuosity of a hero. The friends of Mehemet
Ali have called him a pirate, because he seized the
Pacha's warlike stores. Would to heaven we had a
few more such pirates.
The barbarities of the cruel Ibrahim Pacha, we regret
to hear, are continued, notwithstanding the rene-wed
proofs he has of the impoliey of his system of
terror. We shall endeavour to collect a note of
tope of hi. most striking atrocities to present 1

hereafter to our readers, with a view of showing the
real character of the man. In the meantime, we will men-
tion what happened recently at the village of Beitzibab,
in the province of Data. The men having absconded,
not to be forced to take up arms in defence of the
tyrant, he ordered the women and children to be muti-
lated or shot, and forty-two, after having seen their
houses burnt and property destroyed, were actually
murdered in cold blood. Besides these many women
were mutilated, and some of them received into the
Turkish hospital for medical treatment. On the 30th
of September provisions were sent by the Turks to 600
old men, women, and children, whose village had been
burnt by Ibrahim. On the 3d October rations were
also furnished to 530 old men and 2,290 women and
children belonging to two other villages, likewise re-
duced to a mass of ruins by Ibrahim. At another time
he assailed a convent in which were 200 nuns, who,
after having been violated, were stripped and turned
out naked to seek shelter where they might. Such are
the acts of the " enlightened" ex-ruler of Syria!

INUNDATIONS on the CONTINENT.

The Courrier de rAin of the 3th inst. gives us an ac-
count of further disastrous consequences of the flood :
" Two-thirds of the houses at Beauregard les Fareins
have fallen, being previously deserted by their inhabi-
tants. All that remains of the town are two houses on
the quay and a narrow street of very humble dwel-
lings running up the hill. The houseless people of
Basuregard have been received, lodged, and fed by the
inhabitants of Fareins, although they themselves have
sustained great losses. Of eight houses at Port de
Frans, seven have come down. Not a dwelling of the
hamlet of Messiney on the banks of the Soane is left
standieg. At Montmerle 1.20 houses have been car-
ried away. The hamlet of Riviere is entirely destroyed.
The inhabitants were to be seen on the roofs of their
houses imploring succour. This morning only the top
of one house is to be seen. Two-thirds of the houses
at Coromanche are gone, but happily no life has been
lost. Near Amberiex, the Albarino has been higher
than at any time in the memory of man, and has
cut a canal upwards of 150 feet wide across the Chemin
des Cascades, overflowed the plain, and mixing its
waters with those of the Gordon and the Ain, forms
one wide lake. Great masses of earth have been un-
dermined, sunk, and removed, and the whole slope of
the bill between Vareilles and St. Germain appears to
have made a slip.

The subjoined further intelligence respecting the in-
uAations at Lyons is from the Courier of that city of
the 9th inst. :

" A new disaster occurred yesterday. The front of
a stone-built house, immediately above the bridge of
Ainay, and the basement of which had been breached
by the water, fell into the Saone. A portion of land
fell in the night before last, at the Balmes, which border
the Quai St. Clair, on the Rhone, near the Hotel
Henry IV., and so alarmed the inhabitants of the
neighbouring houses, that they fled without waiting to
dress themselves. No one perished. To-day (Bth) a
considerable improvement has taken place. The Rhone
it is true has risen three feet higher, in consequence
of the rain which fell the day befo're yesterday, and
currents have made their way from the Tete d'Or,
which is no longer protected by the embankment,
as far as La Goillotiere, where it traverses the Coors
Bourbon ; but the Saone continues to subside, though
gradually, and the inhabitants, who had been driven by
it from their dwellings, are returning. The only two
streams which are now running from the Saone to the
Rhone are those through the Rue Morico and the Rue
Port Charlet, which disgorge themselves by the Quai
Bon Rescontre, on the Port des Cordeliers. The de-
struction which the floods have occasioned is incalcul-
able. The greater part of the factories on the quays,
and the craft moored to them, have been carried away
and lost, wi:h all they contained. At Scrin immense
stores of wine have been lost, one merchant alone
having had upwards of 200 casks carried away. The
building yards at Vaise, near the Gere, have sustained
enormous losses in timber and other materials. From
the 2d to the 6th barges were constantly driven against
our bridges, and disappearing under the arches, to re-
turn to the surface shattered into thousands of pieces,
covering the torrent with beams and planks, articles
of furniture, casks, and other fragments. A looking-
glass warehouse on the Quai St. Antoine being broken
open by the force of the water, had numerous valuable
glasses, ready framed, carried away and dashed to pieces."
The following extract of a letter from Madame Dor-
val, the tragic actress, who entered Lyons from St.
Etienne on the night of the 6th instant, gives a vivid
illustration of the state of that city during the inunda-
tions :

" On entering the streets the water flowed into the
carriage, and I thought it prudent to take a boat to
carry me to the Hotel de l'Europe, near the Place
Bellecour, but I found it surrounded by water eight feet
deep. It was midnight, and, having demanded admit-
tance, was answered from the second floor. On making
myself known a ladder was let down to me, and by this
I ascended to a window on the first floor. I found
therein nothing but famine—spoiled meat and mouldy
bread. The proprietors were gone, taking with them
most of their valuables, leaving only two servants to save
the furniture if they could. The weather was frightful.
The wind blew a hurricane—the rain poured down in
torrents—the Rhone and Saone raged on every side—
cries of distress were heard in all directions, and occa-
sionally musket shots were fired from the heights, whera
the unhappy creatures, dying with hunger, had taken
refuge. It was, in truth, a sad spectacle, the streets
being traversed in boats lighted by torches, filled with
wretched people, escaping from the deluge, while every
moment were heard the cries of the still more unforw-
nate who wore drowning. But I can give no just idea
of the desolation and horror."

A Lyons letter recalls to mind the circumstances that
in May last, when the Saone was lower than it had
almost ever been known, there was a stonq found in
the bed with the inscription on it—
" Qui m'a vu a pleure ; -
Qui me verra pleurerae_
a prediction now unfortunately "coo well fulfillei It is
added, that in 1830 Prince Hohenlohe foretold that
in 1840 Lyons would be r'...estroyed by water.
" In the cantons of I4ri, St. Gall, and the Grisons,"
says the Courrier Sv,isse, " frightful ravages have been
caused by the torrents and river floods. At Atting-
hausen and Erstenfeld the roads have bee-4 rendered im-
passable, and all the rich meadows at Schatidorf have
have been submerged and destroyed. The Splugon
road I'.as been much damag'Jd. The force with which
the Plessure rushed over ',ts banks has uprooted one of
the finest forests of Grisons. The loss in timber
alone is estimated 100,000 f. The Rufa has com-
pletely filled the -,alley through which it runs, and car-
ried away tree-,„ houses, barns, and everything it met
with—even villages seated on tolerably high ground
have be ,n injured. The convent of Disentis has nar-
rowly escaped. At Theinecke, Hochat, Vild, and Mels,
the. Rhine has overwhelmed mills, houses, and farm-
.
'Attldings. The floods are everywhere carrying along
trees, planks, fragments of houses, and dead cattle."
The Courricr de Lyons, of the 10th inst., says—
" The Saone gradually but sensibly subsided yesterday
and last night, so that this morning the transversal
streams which ran from it to the Rhone have ceased ;
the Place Bellecour is become nearly free from water,
and the streets traversable. Still the water continues
cover the quays to a great height, and a greater portion
of the streets which abut upon them. The Pont du
Change has suffered great damage ; the squared stones
which covered the upper part of the spurs have been
washed down, and the bricks have evidently sunk near
the middle piles. The thieves continue their depreda-
tions, but the police is vigilant and active, and it is to
be hoped that those iniquities will be totally suppressed.
The Minister of the Interior, upon the representation
of M. Sauz[d, one of the Deputies for the Rhone, has
granted 100,000 f. for the relict of the sufferers by
these disasters.

" Many bills due at the end of October," says a
Lyons !utter, " could not be paid by several merchants
on account of their houses of business being invaded
by the floods, and a great many protests with fines
have been made on bills issued without stamps, which
could not be obta;ned from the Stamp-office for the same
cause. The Chamber of Commerce having been as-
sembled expressly to deliberate over these circum-
stances, has addressed an application to the Govern-
ment for a remission of all these charges, as the result
of an irresistible necessity."

The Council of the Bank of France have given
5,000 f. to the relief of the sufferers from the inunda-
tions at Lyons, and 10,000 f. to those in the adjacent
departments.

SPORTING MATCll.—Yesterday a match came
off on Blackheath, between Bill Gazelee, and a yokel of
the name of Tom Cooke, for 151. a lido, to pick up a hun-
dred stones, at a yard apart, the former giving the latter
the extreme stone from the basket, being a diffetence of
two hundred yards in favour of Cooke, out of a distance of
five miles and three-quarters, short twenty yards. There
were at least three thousand persons on the ground, and
the odds, at starting, were five to four in favour of Gaze-
lee, and at three o'clock the men stripped, and appeared in
fine condition. Upon the word " go," both stepped off in
quick and confident style, but before half the match was
over it was evident that Gazelee had his work to do, and
betting fell to even, notwithstanding his friends wished it
tl be understood that he had not then come up to his b •st
running. The yokel (Cooke) kept up a steady race, at d
although a small man in appearance, he possesses grt at
muscular powers, gradually gained upon his competitor,
when the odds became five to four on Cooke, who ulti-
mately won the match in thirty-seven minutes and ten se-
conds, Gazelee having at least twelve stones, at a consider
able distance from the basket, to bring home.
FATAL ACCIDENT.---Yesterday, while Mr.
rtohoef olafdaderhouosne
WinhieCnalm;irl:
Duffey, a master bricklayer, and one of his labourers, were
repairing
the
and knocked down the man
was killed on the spot, and the un-
De buildings,
if aeg yedwasi nOf
ercllh Orchard-street,
idt-hs t
him,re ct
labourer as carried to Middlesex llospital,
fortunate
also. Mr. Duffey
expired.
where he shortly afterwards
of
The Duke and Duchess Richmond intend j
receiving company at
the month, when they
Gordon Castle until the close of I
leave,
accompanied by their family, i
for Goodwood Park, Sussex.

ISLAND OF CHUSAN.

As any account of the place fixed upon for the land-
ing of the English expedition against China riailiat bc cu-
rious at this time, the following extracts from letters,
forming part of the Ayscough MSS. in the British
Museum, arc given. It appears that an English fac-
tory formerly existed there :

PART OF TWO LETTERS FROM MR. JAMES CUNNINGHAM, F. R.S.
AND PHYSICIAN TO THE FACTORY AT CHUSAN, IN CHINA.
"(Sine Die.)
" SIR,—My last to you was from the island of Borneo,
is which I gave you an account of our arrival there the
17th of July, where we stayd but two days, the season of'
the year being so farr past, and thence made the best of
our way through the Straits of Banca with favourable
winds and weather till we came on the coast of China, the
13th of August ; then we had variable winds, which caryd
us abrest of Emuy the 19th following. At which time
the north-east winds setting in fresh, putt us in great fears
of loosing our passage, whereupon we were forc'd to turn
it up against wind and current all the way, the weather so
favouring us that we were never but by our topsails, else
we should have lost more ground in one day than we could
have gain'd in eight. The last of August we came to ene
anchor under the Crocodile Islands, both to shelter us
from the bad weather (which is generalte expected on this
coast at new and full moon, and has been fatal to a great
many ships), and also to look for fresh water, which
was now grown scarce with us, not having recruited
since we came from the Cape of Good Hope,
There are three small islands lying in the latitude of 26
degrees, about six leagues from the river of Hooksion, on
two whereof we found very good fresh water, with a con-
venient watering-place on the south-west side of the inner-
most of the three ; and by the assistance of a few Chinese
fishermen we procur'd some fresh provisions from the main.
land, because we did not reckon it safa to adventure our-
selves thither, lest we should have been brought into trou- I
ble by the Government there. While we lay here on the
bth of September we had a sudden short shift of the mon-
soon to S.W., the fury whereof Captain Munk has felt by
loosing of his mainmast in coming upon the coast of China
at the same time, which made him bear away for Mae_
caw, as we have been informed since by an express from
him. The Bth of September we putt to sea again, turn-
ing to windward night and day without all the islands,
which are very numerous along this coast, to which we
were altogether strangers beyond Emuy, and the hydro_
graphic thereof is hitherto so imperfect that there was no
trusting to our drafts, which made our navigation some-
what more dangerous : however, on the Ist of October
we got into the latitude of 30 degrees, where we came
to ane anchor near the land, until we found the
way by boat to Chusan, about twelve leagues within the
islands, from whence we had a pilot who carried us safely
thither on the 11th of October. Upon this island the
Chineses have granted us a settlement and libertie of
trade, but not atNing-po, which is six or eight hours'
sail to the westward, all the way amongst the islands ; this
being the largest is eight or nine leagues in length from
east to west, and four or five leagues in breadth, about
three leagues from that point of the main land called
Cape Liampo by the Portuguese, but Khi-tu by the Chi
nese. At the west end of this island is the harbour, very
safe and convenient, where the ships ride within call of
the factorie, which is built close to the shore on a low
plain valley, with near 200 houses about it for the be-
nefit of trade, inhabited by men whose jealousic has not
as yet permitted them to let their wives dwell here,
for the town where they arc is three-quarters of a mile
further from the shore, environ'd with a fine stone wall
about three miles in circumference, mounted with 22
square bastions placed at irregular distances, besides
four great gates, on which arc planted a few old iron
guns seldom or never used. The houses within are
very meanly built. Here the Chumpeen, or Governour
of the island, lives, and between 3,000 and 4,000
beggarlie inhabitants, most part souldiers and fisher-
men ; for the trade of this place being newlie granted
has not as yet brought any considerable merchants hither.
The island in general abounds with all sorts of provi-
sions, such as cows, buffeloes, goats, deere, hogs wild and
tame, geese, ducks and hens, rice, wheet, calavanchcs, cole-
worts, turnept, potatoes, carrots, beetes, and spinach. But
for merchandise, there's none but what comes from ?sling"
po, Hang-cheu, Nankin, and the inland towns, some of
which I hope to see when I have acquired a little of the
Chinese language. Here also the tea grows in great
plenty on the tops of the hills, 'out it is not in that esteem
with what grows on more mountainous islands. Although
this island is pretty well stored with people, yet it's far
from what it was in F. Martinis his time when he describes
Cheuxan ; and this putts me in mind that the superstitious
pilgrimages thereto menti ,ned by him, must be mcan'd of
the island Po-to, which lys nine leagues from hence, and
three miles to the eastward of this island, whither they
say, the Emperor designs in the month of May next (being
his birthday and the 40th year of his age) to come for to
worship in one ancient pagode there famous for sanctitie,
having sent one of his bonzes already thither to get all
things in order, which, if we live to see, may be the sub•
ject of another epistle." • .

" Chus-an, Nov. 22, 1701.
. : I formerly told you that the
Emperor designed to have come to the island of Pou-to
(a place of great devotion) to worship, in the month of
May last, being the 40th year of his age-_I should have
said of his reign ; but, all things being prepar'd there for
his reception, he was dissuaded from his purpose by some
of his rnandarines, who made him believe that the terrible
thunder there was very dangerous.
" This Pou-to is ft smftll ahn.it Eve Lzagues
...no, .... .v tts,a kstand, famous for the super-
stitious pilgrimages made thither for the space of 1,100
years : it's inhabited only by bonzes to the number of
3,000, all the sect call'd Sloshang, or unmarried bonzes,
who live a Phythagorean life ; and there they have built
about 400 pagodes, two whereof are considerable for
their greatness and finery, being lately covcr'd with
green and yellow tiles brought from the Eroppror's
Palace at Nankin, and inwardly adorned with statelyidols,
finely carved and guilded, the chief whereof is the idol
Quon-eur. To these two great Pagcvi,es belong two chief
priests, who govern all the rest. rfhey have several ways
and avenues cut through th-;e island, somo whereof are
paved with flagstones;.an''.. overshaded with trees planted on
each side : their dw
P.,tings are the best I have yet seen in
these parts, all "...nich arc maintained by charitable devo-
tions, and ..tie junks which goe from Ning-po and this
place to Japan touch there bothe going and coming to
"'le their offrings for their good success. There's an-
other island called Kim-tong, five leagues hence in the
way to Ning-po, whither, they say, doe retire a great
many manderines to live a quiet life after they have given
over their employments ; on that island are said to be
silver mines, but prohibited to be opened. The rest
of the circumjacent islands are either desert or meanly
inhabited by a few fishing people, but all of
them stored with abundance of deer. For it is not
long since this island of Cbusan began to be peopled :
it is true, in Martini's days, about fifty years agoe, it
was very populous for the space of three or four years,
at which time the fury of the Tartarian conquest was
so great that they left it desolate, not sparing so much- as
the mulberrie trees (for then they made a great deal of
raw silk here), and in this condition it continued till about
1 years ago ; that the walls of the fort or town which
now is were built by the Governour of Zing-hai for a gar-
rison to expell some pirate who had taken shelter here.
About 14 years ague the island beginning to be peopled,
there was a Chumpeen or General sent to govern it for
three years, to whom succeeded the late Chumpeen (who
procured the opening of this port to strangers), whose go-
vernment continued till April last, being translated to the
Chumpeen of Tie'n-cing- Wee, near to Pekin ; and was
succeeded by the present Chumpeen, who is sone to the
Chunkoon of Emuy.
" They have no art or manufactories here, but making
of lackrd ware, a particular account whereof I cannot as
yet send you. They begin to breed up wormes for the
production of raw silk ; and they make some tea, but
chiefly for their own use.

" The chief employments here are fishing and agri.
culture.

‘' In fishing they use several sorts of netts and lines as
we do; but because they have large banks of mudd in
some places, the fisherman, to go more casilic thereon,
has contrived a small frame about three or tour foot long,
not much larger than a hen trough, elevated a little at
each end, in which he rests on one knee, leaning his arms
on a cross•stick raised so high as his breast, and putting
out the other foot often upon the mud, he pushes forward
his frame thereon, and so carys himself along in it.
" As to their agriculture, all their fields (where any_
thing is planted), whether high or low, are made into
such plots as may retain the water on them when they
please. They plough up their ground with one buffelo
or one cow. Whero they are to sow rice, they prepare
the field very well, i 37 clearing it of all manner of weeds,
moistening to a pulp and smoothing it with a frame
drawn across, on which they sow the rice very thick,
and cover it only with water for two or three inches
high, and when it has grown six or eight inches long, they
pull it up by the roots, and transplant it by tufts in a
straight line to fields overflown with water ; and where a
field subject to weeds, when the water drys up, they pre-
vent their growth by overturning the mudd with their
hands in the interstices where the rice is planted. When
they sow wheat, barley, pulse, and other grains, they
grub up some superficial earth, grass, and roots, and with
some straw they burn altogether ; this earth being sifted
fine, they mix with the seed, which they sow in holes
made in a straight line, and so grows up in tufts, as the
rice does—the field being divided into beds, and so har-
rowed over, both before and after the seed is sown. This
makes them somewhat resemble gardens. Altho the me-
liorate their fields where they sow rice only by letting water
on them ; yet for other grains, where the ground requires
it, they make much use of dung, human excrement, ashes,
&e. In watering their fields here they use the same in-
strument mention'd by Martini in the preface to his atlas,
being all of wood, and the contrivance the same with that
of a chain pump.
" Their method in making salt is this—All the shores
here being mud instead of sand, in the summer season they
pare off the superficial earth which has been overflown with
the salt water, and lay it up in heaps for use ; when they
i
are to usa it they dry it n the sun, ru';:hing it small ; then
digging a pitt, they cover the bottom thereof with straw,
at which, through the side of the pitt, they pass a hollow
cane that leads into a jarr which stands below the level of
the pits's bottom ; they fill the Pitt almost full with the
foresaid earth, and pour salt water thereon till it be co-
vered two or three inches with water, which drains through
is
into the foresaid jarr, and afterwards boyl'd into salt.

The marriage between Couut Demidoff and the
Princess de Montfort was celebrated at Florence on the
Ist instant, as we learn by a letter from that city, first ac-
cording to the rites of the Romish and then of the Oita
Church. The corbeille de note presented by the Count
to his bride is estimated at 2,000,0001 r. (80,0001.) ; and
he is said to have presented to the Pope on this occasion a
breviary of great price, and to the Archbishop of Florence
a magnificent crucifix.
Str Robert Peel, Bart., M.P., and Lady Peel,
left Whitehall-gardens on Saturday last for Drayton
Manor, where they iett,-.nd btayipg until January.
• ~, •