The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-26 00:00:00

DES PERATE CONTEST BETWEEN
THE CI EY AUTHORITIES AND THE WA•
TERMAN'S GAM-BOAT COMPANY.
A contest of a liay dangerous character is rif,w being
carried on between t;,e water-bailiff's men, joined with
the police, under the City authorities, and the W4ter-
man's Steam-boat Company. It is, indeed, matter of sur-
prise that many lives have not been lost in the struggle
which has already taken place, and we have every rea-
son to believe that if a prudent course had not been
adopted in a remarkable emergency, we should now
have to record the particulars of many inquests, tormi-
nating, in all probability, in verdicts of wilful murder.
The Navigation Committee having succeeded in
their efforts to prevent the vessels of the Waterman's
Steam-boat Company from landing or embarking
passengers at the new pier constructed at Blackfriars-
bridge, the managers of that company resolved to have
a pier of their own somewhere in the neighbourhood,
and selected Paul's Wharf, which lies between Black-
friars and Southwark bridges, as the spot in which to
place floating barges for the accommodation of their cus-
tomers in landing and embarking. A warrant having
been procured from the Lord Mayor by the water-
bailiff for the removal of the barges, that officer went,
accompanied by some of the City police, for the purpose
of executing the warrant, to St. Paul's-stairs, and found
that the steam company were perfectly aware of their
intention, for one of their steamers lay there with seve-
ral men on board, apparently prepared to resist any at-
tempt to interfere with their pier, which they. considered
they were as well entitled to use in their business as the
corporation were entitled to construct a pier for the ac-
commodation of others of the public, and of which the
Company were debarred the use.
It was between seven and eight o'clock on Thursday
morning, when the water-bailiff's steam-tug approached,
carrying a number of carpenters and other mechanics to
remove the pier, and the moment the array appeared,
the company's steamer drew across the stairs, and the
captain, aided by several men, some armed with
hatchets, adopted violent measures to prevent the City
authorities from carrying their object into execution.
One of the barges having been removed the water-bailiff
proceeded to separate the other barge, fastened with
chains, which was more difficult to remove. He was not
long engaged in this job when the captain of the com-
pany's steamer drove her with considerable violence
between the water-bailiff's tug and the barge, and the
water-bailiff was then obliged to board the steamer with
some of his men and the policemen, and to seize upon
the wheel. Both barges were then taken off by the tug,
and deposited, as it was supposed by the victorious
party, in a place from which it would be no easy matter
to transport them. The opinion formed by the city
authorities was, however, rather premature. At about
twelve o'clock on Thursday nigh., which was excessively
dark, two steamers belonging to the company approached
the place in the neighbourhood at which the barges
which had been carried away in triumph were moored,
for the purpose of re-capturing the Waterman's pier.
There were between forty and fifty men on board these
steamers, armed with hatchets, bludgeons, and other
weapons, and they jumped from the steamers
into the barges, shouting and swearing that their
object was to carry- them away, and that no power should
Prevent them. The persAas who had been appointed to
watch and prevent a reprisal, if such an indignity could
be averted without danger to life or limb, finding that
tke enemy were not only powerful but desperate, aban-
doned the barges, which were, therefore, fastened by
the company's men to the steamers, and tugged back to
their old position at Paul's Wharf, to form once more a
pier for the accommodation of the customers of the
Waterman's Company's concern. Thus remain things at
the present moment. The business has been resumed
at Paul's Wharf with great spirit, and we understand
that the matter is to be submitted to the Government,
as it has assumed much too serious an aspect to
be meddled with by the city police, or any other power
under the control of the city authorities. It has been
asserted by men who witnessed the extraordinary cir-
cumstances of the recapture of the barges, that it was
evidently the intention of the captain who commanded
the men to drive his steamer between the tug and the
barge, to sink the police who were stationed upo.i the
barge in the Thames. The nocturnal expedition was,
we understand, conducted in such a manner as was cal-
culated to excite the utmost apprehensions for the lives
of any who should oppose the attempts of the captain
to regain the captured pier, and the success of his effort
was announced by shouts and roars of exultation, and by
the brandishing of torches, with which the steamers and
the barges were illuminated.

LOSS OF A FRENCH DIVISION
IN AFRICA, FROM A SNOW STORM.

A letter from Setif, dated 10th instant., gives the
following details of the disaster which has befallen the
column under General Levesseur :
" On December 12 or 13 Colonel Herbillon, of the
61st, Commandant of the circle of Batna, left this point
with two battalions of his regiment, to put a stop to
the insurrection which threatened to extend to this
country. He moved into the middle of the Ouled Soltan,
and his presence alone was sufficient to impose respect.
He arrested twelve chiefs, and sent them to Batna. The
Ouled Salems, neighbours of the Ouled Soltans, refusing
to listen to the voice of the Caid placed over them by the
French, retired into their most inaccessible mountains,
fancying that they would thus be sheltered from the
action of Colonel Herbillon's column, which contented
itself with allowing the goums of the submissive tribes to
plunder until the arrival of General Levasseur, who has
the command of the province of Constantina, in the ab-
sence of General Bedeau. A few days after General
Levasseur arrived from Constantina with 1,200 men, and
effected a junction with the column of Colonel Herbillon.
He was afterwards reinforced with a battalion d'aite
from Setif, which increased the force to 2,500 men,
which were divided into two corps, one under Colonel
Herbillon, and the other under Colonel Conelle of the
43rd, and the cavalry commanded by Lieut.-Colonel
Bouscarins, of the Spahis.
On the 16th all the troops, without their knapsacks,
excepting a few companies left in charge of the baggage,
were sent in pursuit of the Ouled Salems, and came up
with them by twelve o'clock. By two all their herds
and baggage were captured, the Arabs, after 1 using abou t
100 of their men, having fled to the crests of their moun-
tains, leaving part of their women and children behind
them. The success was complete, and the chastisement
severe. The troops returned to their bivouac without
having sustained any loss. From the Ouled Salems the
troops moved upon the Bou Thalebs, at the entrance of
the plain of the Oued Na, in order to punish the Ouled
Tebennes, who had risen at the voice of the Scheriff
Sisaad. On the 25th December they entered the moun-
tains, slew about twenty of the revolted Arabs, plun-
dered a village, and emptied
.the silos. Captain Bes-
siere, of the tirailleurs of Constantina, received two
balls in the thigh. In the nights of the 26th and 28th
the Arabs made attacks upon the bivouac, but were re-
pulsed in both. On the 29th Bou Thaleb, a chain of very
steep mountains, was traversed, and the column esta-
blished itself on the north side of them, with the
design of reaching the centre of the villages of the
Ouled Tebennes. Here the column was awaited by
the Arabs with a standard. But a few howitzers
put them to flight, and being pursued by a batta-
lion they lost their flag. On the 30th these villages were
burned and their silos emptied by the auxiliary goums.
The enemy lost at least thirty men. On the Ist Ja-
nuary the battalions moved on beyond the burned vil-
lages, and carried all the positions of the Kabyles. This
lesson was the more severe as this tribe has no tents,
and is therefore not only entirely ruined but left with-
out a shelter. No one could foresee, however, the mis-
fortune that was about to fall upon us. On the 2d
January, at ten in the morning, the weather being
beautifully fine, the column marched towards the Do-
nairs of Nisaoud, our ally, where they were to encamp ;
but about three o'clock the snow began to fall, blinded
our eyes, and rendered the ground wholly impassable
for the mules. At five a bivouac was, formed, but the
baggage did not come up till eight o'clock, and then a
part of it had been left behind in some of the narrow
defiles. On the 3d, after a night of continual snow,
the column renewed its march. As it went on
the snow still came down, and covered the roads
to the depth of eighteen inches, so that the troops
could no longer find their way. At midnight they
were in the middle of a vast plain without a morsel of
wood for firing, the men dying with cold, and the Arab
guides completely lost. We ought to have been with-
in a league of the smala of Msoud, but he himself was
obliged to abandon all hope of reaching it. The men
continued to sink under hunger, cold, and fatigue till a
feeling of desolation pervaded all hearts, and order and
discipline were at an end. The few tents there were
became so crowded that the men stifled each other, amidst
the groans of the dying. Never was so afflicting a spec-
tacle seen since the Russian campaign. The dawn of the
4th came on at last, and all the men and baggage that
could be mustered and toll acted moved on, the cavalry
taking the lead, towards Setif, which was about 10 leagues
off. The men had been two days without food, and fell
every moment from weakness, and became frozen. At
four in the afternoon the cavalry reached Setif, and gave
the sad news to the inhabitants, who hastened out to the
assistance of the exhausted men; taking all their cattle
and conveyances to bring in those who were no longer
able to march—finding at every step unfortunate soldiers
without shoes, and dying with cold and hunger. From
the 4th up to the present day, we are every minute seeing
men brought in by the inabitants, but between two and
three hundred are still missing. To find and recover
these every measure is taken. The inhabitants have
shown a noble humanity, but the Arabs of the plain have
stripped the helpless sufferers."

THE QUEEN'S
S FEECIL—A DIFFICULTY SOLVED.
There is in her Majesty's speech a passage of great im-
port, the exact purport of which, however, has given
rise to some discussion, and considerable speculation.
Her Majesty, after an allusion to the failure of the po-
tato crop in Ireland, says, " I have adopted all such
precautions as it was in my power to adopt for the pur-
pose of alleviating the sufferings which may be caused
by this calamity." The nature of those precautions has,
it is believed, now been ascertained here. There are off
the port of Cork 30,000 quarters of Indian corn, which
are understood to form a portion of 100,000 quarters
which have been ordered by the British government for
the relief of the Irish people—a proof that her Majesty
and her ministers have not been altogether insensible
to the threatened destitution and starvation of the poor
of Ireland.—Manchester Guardian.
ACCIDENT TO LORD MOSTYN.—This venerable and
venerated nobleman met, we deeply regret to state, on Sa-
turday last, with a most serious accident, whilst engaged in
that manly sport, of which his Lordship is well known-to be
a warm patron and active participator. He was, as usual,
amongst the foremast in the chase, and close at the death of
poor Reynard, when the horse stumbled and pitched his
Lordship over head, rolling over him and kicking him se-
verely. We are, however, glad to state that no bones are
broken, and that his Lordship, though much mangled, is,
owing to the native vigour of his constitution, not only out
of danger, but rapidly convalescent. The inquiries at Peng-
wern, of the neighbouring gentry, during the course of the
eek. wOro Anst muuer9wie—Carnarvon Zierald.