The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-07 00:00:00

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_ .
coilati,:p•N OF /Ilene:lC.3.—We k
with considerable pain that, during the last w,
toms have manifested themselves of a co,
amongst the journeymen carpenters and joiners,
bourne, for the purpose of obtaining from t,
ployers a higher rate of wages. We have ever avowed
ourselves the warm friends of the mechanical portion of
our fellow colonists, and we are strongly of an opinion
that it is to them we are principally indebted for the
rapid advancement of colonial prosperity—it is for Vaal
very reason that we are anxious to advccate their cause,.
We are informed that on a previous occasion there
was a similar strike, and that the masters had to yield
and give them two shillings per day additional, and that
the same rate of advance:is at present demanded. With
out entering upon the question whether twelve shillings,
the rate at present given, be a sufficient remuneration,
if they persist in refusing to work unless upon the se-
ceipt of fourteen shillings per day, will not many of the
employers be forced to give up their business altogether.
or to execute their engagements at a ruinous loss ? As
a public journalist, having had such ample means of
knowing die evils of combination, we consider it our
duty to raise our voice in condemnation of the present
attempt.
PORT Pitman, I3aNa.—At a general half-yearly
meeting of the Proprietors of the Port Phillip Bank,
held yesterday, it was resolved that there should be no
limitation to the number of shares held by any ono iry
dividual. -Other radical changes we arc informed are
in contemplation.
MERCANTILE ADVANCEMENT.,--It is astonishing •to
those who, recollecting Melbourne in Jute, 1837, ae
date of its foundation, a collection of mud huts, forming
a rickety hamlet, visited once a month by some coast-
ing schooner, now see a large and daily extending town-
ship, consisting of 5,000 inhabitants, and possessing a
trade equal to many sea-port towns of a much older
growth. An example of this amazing increase, bringing
into view a comparative statement of our commerct;
in
1838, and that of the present year, strikes us at
this
moment as aptly illustrative of our observations: One
mercantile house alone during the six months which
elapsed since 1840, has received eleven ships, whose
agregate burden amounted to 60,200 tons, and im-
ported 2,000 emigrants, besides freight, at a value oc
30,000/.
Witaaus.—On Sunday last four fine whales made.
their appearance in our bay. Captain Bowden imme-
diately fitted out two boats, and made chase, but with-
out success. Here there is another source of wealth
without trouble or expense.

PRICE 6d.

PORTS OF FRANCE.

ST. SERVAN, JAN. 2.—Besides the great military
ports of Toulon, Brest, L'Orient, Rochefort, and Cher-
bourg, the French navy has establishments at Dunkirk,
Havre, St. Servan, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Bayonne.
The establishments at Dunkirk are on an exten•
she scale. They consist of a sluice dock, a slip for
building ships, houses wherein the workmen are lodged,
and workshops sufficiently extensive for the building and
arming of ships of war. Formerly Dunkirk was the chef
lieu of a maritime prefecture, and frigates were
built there neatly as well as at L'Orient or Roche-
fort, but the difficulty of the navigation of the
channel which communicates with the sea has
induced the French Go-. invent to confine the
building operations to cor,,ttes, brigs, and smaller
craft. These arc now ia good state, and, so long as
the pair armee continua, they will probably be kept
in perfect repair. Tf a merchants and marines are also
talking of taking immediate measures to render the
commercial port easier of access, as well as deeper ;
and, judging from the present temper of mens' minds,
this work will soon be set about in right earnest. From
either of the, wooden jetties there is an excellent view of
the Nadstead. Beyond it is a sand-bank, in the middle
of which a canal has been perfected. This canal is in
reality the port, which is filled at high tide, but becomes
considerably more shallow at ebb. It would easily con-
tain 30 ships of war. Both the jetties are defended by
batteries—the one called Fort Risbau, and the other
Le. Rivers. They are advantageously placed. and have
recently undergone the inspection of a celebrated en-
gineer.

During the continuance of peace, the military marine
(as the. French navy is'ealled) has made but little use
of the port of Dunkirk, but it war should break out, it
would become a formidable_atation of steamboats and
privateers. During the Ministry of Thiers, several ap-
plications were made to the Minister of the Marine for
letters of marque, and all these applications, it is said,
met with prompt attention.
Gravelines is about equidistant from Calais and
Dunkirk. In two short hours you reach it from either
the one or the other town. Since the peace of the
Pyrenees, Gravelines has always been under the do-
minion of France. The town has been successively
visited by Philip Augustus, by Louis XVI., Louis
XV., and Napoleon Bonaparte. The latter, like
Vauban (who here conducted his first siege), laid
much stress on the fort of Gravelines, for they both
alike saw it might be formed into a harbour of refuge,
either in a period of war, or when vessels could not
make Calais, Dunkirk, or Boulogne. For some years
back public attention has been directed very much to
this point, and the military and commercial importance
of the place is now more than ever felt. From 1831
to 1836, 122,000 f. have been expended on the harbour
of Gravelines, and the inhabitants of the vicinage still
call aloud for a fresh outlay. Heretofore they have
been ably supported in the Chamber by M. de Lamar-
tine, menaced as they were by continual inundations.
Whether ihe will support them now, when their voices
are almost unanimously raised for war and conquest, is
another question. The bourgeoisie in general talk in
the stilted style of Louis XIV., and dream of making
Gravelines one of the great keys of the kingdom. Vau-
ban, say they, was directed 180 years ago to render
our town inaccessible on the side of the sea, and im-
pregnable by land. By means of sluices we could in-
undate, as was then proposed, the surrounding country,
and defend the place against the English with a garri-
son of 3,000 men.

I have so recently written to you from Havre that
I shall merely say that in the event of war precautions
have been taken for the defence of the embouchure of
the Seine. The sensible, the intelligent, and the
wealthy portion of the population view the present tem-
per of the public mind with equal apprehension and
regret, but they are overborne by the giddy, gabbling,
feather-brained fools who have the word glory in their
mouths, but the thirst of gold and plunder in their hearts.

I mean to close this letter with a few words on Ser-
van, where the naval establishments are very consider-
able. During the war a number of good frigates were
constructed here, and the flotilla of Boulogne was hence
reinforced with canonnieres and peniches.
The dock-yard of Solidor contains five slips, three
of which are appropriated to the construction of frigates.
A very considerable expenditure has lately been incurred
to group around this establishment all the means and
appliances necessary for the construction and armament
of ships of war. A large depot of timber has been es-
tablished in the creek of Troquetin, and precautions
have been recently taken to place the vessels in slip out
of the reach of the spring tides, from the influence of
which they had been hitherto unsheltered. Three fri-
gates and a corvette have been on the stocks for some
time. A vote of the Chambers in June, 1836, sanctioned
the project of establishing a floating dock between St.
Malo and St. Servan, by means of a sluice dike, which
will henceforth unite the towns, giving to them a
common port of greater extent than either heretofore
possessed. This work is now in progress of comple-
tion, and may be finished before the end of next year.
I need not say that in time of war the navy of France
and the Government steamers would, by means of
this basin, be enabled to afford to the coasting trade a
protection which they could not always give during
the late war. Nor would its use be simply defensive,
for it might be made offensive too, all the auxiliary
maritime resources of the old establishment of Talard
being incorporated with those of Solidor.
The Baron Tupinier, Councillor of State, Member
of the Council of the Admiralty, Director of the Ports
of France, and Deputy of the Charente Inferieure, has
exerted all his influence to infuse fresh activity into
these operations. In his report to the Minister of the
Marine he recommends, during peace, the practice of a
strict economy in all the smaller ports, in order that in
the event of a war the navy of France may be enabled
to avail itself of resources augmented by a wise and
prudent frugality.
The Malouins still drive a profitable trade with New-
foundland, still stand in the first rank of French sea-
men, and hunger and thirst for the opportunity of rival-
ling those exploits which are carefully handed down
from father to sin. They one and all tell you that the
records of the Admiralty of their town prove that from
1688 to 1697 they captured 162 vaisseaux desrorte
from the English and Dutch, and 3,884 merchant
vessels.

" And," say they, " why should not we, who pro-
duced a Labourdonnaye capable of making head against
the military power of England in India, and a lluguay
Trouin capable of meeting Englishmen on their own
peculiar element, fear Great Britain now, when her
navy is neglected, and when a long peace has unaccus-
tomed her to wield the trident of Neptune ?"
These are the sentiments which pervade every breast,
which arc fostered and encouraged by the local autho-
rities, a❑d which would have glowed in a fierce a❑d ir-
repressible flame under the Ministry of M. 'niers. The
flame is not now certainly so violent as it was six weeks
ago, but it still burns steadily, and a breath will fan it
into a far•extendi❑g fire. Under such cirmnstances it
behoves England to be vigilant, awake, and prepared.

LIVERPOOL, DEC. 31.—We had a terrible
journey last night, or rather this morning. About two
o'clock I was alarmed by feeling the carriage in which I
was sitting jump in a most extraordinary manner ; it threw
me with considerable violence against the roof of the e•lr-
rings. A series of the most hideous jerks followed,
throwing the unfortunate passengers in our carriage from
side to side like tennis.balls. The alarm was infinitely
worse than the jolting. Knowing that there is no me-
dium in railway accidents, I at once set myself down, in
common with the rest of the passengers, for the subject
of a " frightful accident" paragraph in the newspapers.
At last they stopped for a moment at Blisworth sta-
tion. I called out to a porter, who delayed to look to
the state of our carriage till it was just time to start; he
then saw too late the accident that had happened, and
used all manner of expedients to stop the train, which was
once more in motion, but in vain, and we were doomed to
be dragged fifteen miles by t..e remorseless engine in the
utmost fear that the carriage would
,be dashed to pieces. I
never rode fifteen mi!c, so nervously in my life—the
minutes seemed hours. At last we stopped at Weedon,
and on examination we found the "break" (a heavy in-
strument for stopping the carriage) was lying across the
rail, and still attached to the carriage, so that we rode over
it on the rail several times ; how it happened that we were
not thrown off the line is to me a mystery • the carriage
was so shattered that we were obliged to leave it on the
road, and get a fresh one at Birmingham. It delayed us
at an unfrequented station two hours. lam not much the
worse, but am as 80r* as if I had been well heaten.—Cor-

respondent of a Morning Paper.
On Sunday morning, between five and six o'clock,
this town and neighbourhood were visited by a storm of
unusual violence. A strong wind from the north west,
accompanied by snow and sleet, had been blowing during
the night, and the atmosphere the whole of the preceding
day had been thick and oppressive. A little after five on
Sunday morning the wind increased to a perfect hurricane,
rain and hail descended with incredible force, and in a
torrent-like body. The darkness became dense and im -
penetrable. Lightnirig of a peculiarly lurid and forked
cot,en mpneg stioii was,ger
description continued for some time incessant, and the
deafening roar of the thunder added not a little to the fenr•N
ful horrors of
t heeene.
duration, T ha
singular
not cont ui
however, happily of short
than half an hour. We have not heard of any mischief
having attendecO in this neighbourhood, though there is no
doubt that other parts of the country shared in the visita-
tion, and its effects may have been elsewhere worse than
we have here reason to deplore. —Cambridge Adult, tiser.
A singing school for the instruction of the
schoolmasters of day-schools and Sunday-schools, is shortl
to be opened at Exeter Hall, under the patronage of the
National Education Committee.