The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-21 00:00:00

THE WEATHER.

NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, TUESDAY NIGHT.—The snow
storm continues here with unabated severity, and with
every appearance of being prolonged still further. Last
night a very heavy fall of snow took place, and lasted
throughout the night, and, with intervals, during the
greater part of today, of course deranging all the
ordinary means of communication. Yesterday morn-
ing's papers, which should have been delivered here at
six P.m., did not reach until two this morning ; and the
mails have been quite as much beyond their time. Letters
usually delivered early in the forenoon were not in the
postman's hands until about four o'clock, and the delay
has necessarily occasioned much annoyance to business
men. On the North Shields Railway no train run this
morning until eleven o'clock ; and a serious delay again
ocourred on the Carlisle line. On the Newcastle and
Darlington no trains have run, except the mail and one
or two expresses, so that we are nearly completely cut
off from neighbouring towns. The frost continues intense,
and tells seriously on the navigation. Altogether, we
have not suffered so severely in these respects for many

years.
A sad result of the inclemency of the weather has ec
cursed on board the Londonderry steamer. She left
that place on Thusday morning, but was detained in the
Loch by the strong gale that was blowing
shours,ege: 0 andn
Saturday
a toonrldyay
m arrivedoro i
ohge,r e, afterbetween
a sevenver3,
and eight
condition,
on sen
o'clock.
board, Sh
alle
of
dhae
them in
great numbermost
wretchedof st steerage
a ego
ne forse r e
r e several
r as -
these suffered very much from hunger and cold. Al and
lng
them was a tolerably well-dressed man, apparently about'
sixty or seventy years of age, who was discos ered to have
died on deck from the severity of the weather. A little'
child. two or three years of age, also died on the passage.
The body of the latter was brought ashore here, and the
former was carried on to Glasgow. A circumstance of
this kind is very rare, and not more rare than strange is
it that such a fearful affair should happen on board a Cargo
roomy vessel, where means might have been taken to
prevent it. The authorities will, of course, inquire into
the matter, to see that all proper means were adopted to
to prevent the fatal result. The passage across was
tremendously severe, and very likely all the crew were
required to look after the vessel.—Greenock Advertiser.
The frost continues with unabated rigour, our ther-
lbaerlgoewmfarseecersinegf
t point.oo
mometer having indicated for the last few nights a point
the Severn, render the navigation very dangerous. The
varying The canal from
r ' being over, degrees
and
condition of the abject poor must now indeed be wretched,
l2frotoz4ll6
while that of many artizans, who are obliged to suspend
their work in consequence of the cold, is scarcely any
better. The relief committee, it will be seen, have come
to a resolution for the distribution of soup at a penny
bad note think
commenced per quart in the first week of January, and also for the
omm it is
o en
sale of rice and coal at greatly reduced prices. These
measures will prove most beneficial, and the subscription
listot w
will undoubtedly be soon crowded with liberal sums;
ed a
t
hun-
dreds of the with
all the horrors of
fireless grates, empty cupboards, and uncovered bids.--
0
Worcester tronzele.
DELAY
or
NEws —The frosty weather continues to
y
cause all the railwa •
trains to be late. On Tuesday the
morning mail train from
from the slippery m London was about an hour late,
state of
the rails; and, owing to the
same cause, the train which
past six A.m. freighted, leaves London at a quarter-
past amongst other things, with the
morning papers, was an hourbeyond its time in reaching
Birmingham; consequentl
town for Manchester aboutYth e train, usuallyleaving that
N twenty minutes after its ar-
rival, proceeded without vi
were brought on tahting for it, and the news-
papers Manchester just one byhourande mail-train, which reached
t three minutes at ter its due
time.—Manchester Guardian.

---
We are informed that Mr. Cannan, son of the late
Mr. Cannan, official assignee, is appointed to fill the
same berth in the place of the late Mr. Alsager.
ALARMING FUZE NEAR TIIE WEST INDIA DOCKS.
—At a few minutes before six o'clock on Friday evening
a fire, which, whilo it raged, occasioned much anxiety in
the vicinity of the docks, broke out on the premises in
the occupation of Mr. Silvester, beer-shop proprietor and
lodginghouse•keeper, situate adjacent to the West India
Dock station of the Blackwell Railway. Though several
engines were in attendance the house was wholly de-
stroyed, and damage done to two of the adjacent houses,
though not to any considerable extent. It was late when
the fire was entirely subdued.

HORRIBLE TREATMENT OF THE

POLES IN SIBEiZIA.
We borrow the following recital of the cruelty exer-
cised by the Russian Government on the Poles exiled
to Sib-ria, for political causes from one of the Polish
, journals published at Paris. Europe too often re-
-1 mains ignorant of • the mock in which Muscovite
tyranny displays itself; at intervals, however, seine
victim escapes, and denounces to the aivilised world
the frightful barbarity shown by this Government of
savages towards those of its subjects whose crime is to
aspire to liberty. Our readers may recollect that some
months ago the journals contaitied a paragraph, stating
that a Pole had been arrested at licenigsborg by the
Prussian police, who found him asleep on the steps of a
church. This Pole, who at first attempted to pass him-
self off as a Frenchman, of Languedoc, on being closely
questioned, confessed that lie was a political exile who
had escaped from Siberia. He was immediately thrown
into prison, and, by an order from 13i•rlin, was about
to be delivered up to the Russian authorities, when,
fortunately, he again succeeded in escaping. This
fugitive, by name Rufin Piotrowski, a native of
the Ukraine, has now reached Paris ; he is known
to several of the most honourable members of the, Polish
emigration, who attest the loyalty of his character, and
his perfect sincerity. During his stay in Siberia, Pio-
trowski had the opportunity of conversing with many
political priscners on their road to the place of their
exile ; he was also acquainted with many inhabitants
of the district where he was (Tava, near Ekateriesk)
and even with persons attached to the Govern-
ment ; hence he learnt many facts from men the
best informed on the subject, and ocular witnesses
of the greatest credibility. The number of Poles
exiled in Sib( ria exceeds fifty thousand. Several are
condemned to hard labour in various establishments;
the majority are colonists ( n land belonging to the ad-
ministration of transports. A Catholic church has been
erected at Tomsk, and two priests of that belief are
annually sent to give religious consolation to the exiles.
The following accounts throw light on the fate of some
of these unhappy men. Colonel Peter Wysoshi,
chief of the insurrection of the 29th of November, 1830,
who was wounded and taken prisoner during the attack
on Warsaw in 1831, was condemned in 1834 to hard
labour in the mines of Nertchinsk, situate in Eastern
Siberia, on the confines of China. Here, finding a num-
ber of countrymen in a similar position, an attempt was
made to escape, in which, however, they were disco-
vered. Wysoski, the hero of so many battles, was con
demned to receive 1,500 blows of a stick. He under-
' went his punishment with the firmness of a martyr, and
after being cured, was sect to the fortress of Akatui,
more to the east, where he still is. Another attempt
to escape by a Polish priest, named Sienacinski, and
a number of other exiles confined at Omsk, in Sibe-
ria, having been likewise discovered,- about 400 Poles
were arrested. After an inquiry which lasted three
years, the Abl-6 Sienacinski, a Captain Gorski, and four
others, were sentenced to receive seven thousand blows
each; and two hundred others accused to from 500 to
3,000 blows, together with hard labour for life it they
survived. The execution took place at Omsk, in March,
1837, a General Galiafiayeff having been sent expressly'
from St. Petersburg to preside over it. General Prince
Kortehakoff was Governor-General of Siberia at the
time. On the day fixed for this sanguinary act,
two battalions, of 1,000 men each, were drawn
up on the place of execution, every Pole in the
battalions having been previously replaced by Russians,
One of these battalions was to inflict the punishment of
the condemned sentenced to 7,000 blows; the other con-
demned were reserved for the second battalion. Ac-
cording to the military penal law of Russia, the sticks
used in punishing soldiers should be of such a size that
three will fit the barrel of a regulation musket; but each
of the sticks employed in the execution of the Abbe
Sieracinski and his accomplices were so large that a
single one would scarcely go into the musket. According
to the same law the soldiers ought to remain in close
order, and not move the elbow from the side in
striking ; for this special case, however, an order had
been issued to leave the space of one pace between each
soldier ; they were also commanded to advance the
right foot, and raise their arm when giving the blow, in
order to strike with their whole force. The execution
commenced with those condemned to receive 7,000 blows,
the Abbe hieracinski being last. Each of the con-
demned, naked to the waist, was led f:,tirteen times be-
tween the ranks (two soldiers striking at once only cc:not-
ing as one blow). When the sufferer fell from exhaus-
tion he was placed on a sort of sledge, in order that he,
might receive the full complement of his sentence..
When the turn of the Abte Sieracinski came, a surgeon,
approached him to make him take a strengthening
drink, but he refused it, and walked towards his,
executioners singing the psalm, Misere Mei Deus..
As he was of a delicate constitution, and exhaust( d by-
long privations, he fa after receiving one thousand'
blows. lie was then seined, and placed in a kneeling.
position on the sle(lge, his arms being bound behind

his back in such a manner as -not to protect,
him from the bloody flagellation ; his head
was fasten( d, face downwards, to beams at the back o!':*
the sledge, and in this posture they continued to,
bear him along before his executioners. He stilt
breathed at the four-thousandth blow ; but soon after
yielded up his last breath. His inanimate corpst-
received the remaining two thousand blows. The,
others sentenced to seven thousand blows, died dur-
ing the execution, with the exception of one alone, %he,
was spared, because he Ras ill, and after recovering
from his wounds, was sent to Nertchinsh. There,
however, he became insane, and killed himself the day
after the infliction of his sentence. The bodies of th.e
five martyrs were buried near the town of Omsk. Those
who were to suffer from five hundred to three thousand
blows, received neither pardon nor ummutation. Of
three persons, through whom the projected at-
tempt at escape had been discovered, one was strangled
and another drowned; the authors of this act of
vengeance have never been discovered. The third .'ass
been promoted to the rank of an officer (he was before a
private soldier), but has the air of a lunatic. General
Galiflayeff has been named commandant of the city of
Stavropol, the chief place of the province of the Caucasus,
and now resides there. Other scenes of the same nature
have occurred, and still occur in Siberia. The publi.2ity
given to such facts will at least serve as a chastisement
to the executioners.

THE RAILWAY PIONEER.
A claimant to the invention of the railway system has
lately risen from the obscurity to which his want of suc-
cess seems, unfortunately, to have doomed him. It ap-
pears that so early as 1816 a project then in contempla-
tion for making a canal from Charleroi to the mining
districts of Belgium, first suggested to one Mr. Thomas
Gray the superior alternative of a railway, a proposal
which, it is curious to observe, has lately received the
sanction of the Belgian Government, as "
the Entire
Sambre and Meuse Railway." From this period (1816),
the idea of general railway communication took entire
possession of Gray's mind ; and he shortly afterwards
published a volume of " Observations on a General Iron
Railway, or Land Steam Conveyance, to supersede the
necessity of horses in all public vehicles." This publi-
cation was followed by several petitions from the author
to the various Ministers of State, from 1820 to 1823;
yet, although the book went through five editions, the pe •
titions were disregarded both by the Government and the
commercial and mercantile interests to which they were
addressed. Gray's first recommendation was, to make the
railway experiment between Liverpool and Manchester;
which shows how well he appreciated, both the meritsof his
scheme, and the want of rapid communication between
manufacturing and export towns. In his work he mi-
nutely details the advantages derivable from railway
transit for cheap supplies of fish, and other pe-
rishable produce, to the interior of the country
—the regulation and acceleration of post-office
carriage, by morning and evening mail-trains,
so as to insure two deliveries and dispatches in each day.
Yet poor Gray's book was ridiculed by a writer in the
Edinburgh Review, and the author pronounced to be a
madman, who ought to be shut up in Bedlam !
The book, however, penetrated into Germany ; and,
not long since, a well known German writer re-
marked of it as follows :—"There was l‘lr. Gray,
who wrote upon iron railways—how exact his prog-
nostications of the immense advantages turd the
sure progress of his railway system. Twenty years ago
I read this beck, sad I often turn to it to see how truly
his predictions have been veuified, rot only with regard
to England, hut to the whoole of the civilised world."
Gray's idea was a grand trunk system between all the
large towns, and branches to the smaller places, which
the best railway authorities have since asserted would
have constituted by far the best system, bud it
been originally adopted ; his plans show locomo-
tives as now used, with six wheels, the centred ones
being toothed to work into racks, to ascend steep in-
clines ; but this portion of the project has been perfected
by Mr. George Stephenson, the great practical improver
of the locomotive engine. Poor Gray is, however,. left
without any reward for his ingenuity ; Mr. Thomas
,N,VGilrsaonnd c
,
(r)frulniak grlemto whom he communicated his
System" as early as 1816, has, however,
lately placed Gray's claims before the public in such a
light as, we trust, will insure the inventor's requiatal.—
Penzencc Gazette.

ao4tllitai subbiurßosi
rnhi
edgfl
which
1,5 e,
hl,4ni6cfdirioa
an anbracrNriorN
r,eeenwl ,
barrels
PROVISIONS FROM TII E UNITED ST ATES.---The
af
ilNyltooourLnrkt,i,ev4zaelunr,mpodo9attl,,hl NebVoucnt:hht eeet rini
Ilscoa
now,glho7aeinahfdti,
instant,
n3slsten,alonl
100 barrels Indian corn meal, 300 barrels biscuit, 42
casks rice, 4,547 boxes and 83 casks cheese, 208 firkins
and 242 kegs butter, 63 barrels and 1,050 kegs lard, 50
barrels and tierces baef, 241 barrels pork, and 16 hhcls..
bacon.
ALARMING AND DESTRUCTIVE FlRE—Saturday
morning, shortly before three o'clock, a fire broke out
en the premises of Mr. Nablett, currier, 24, Drury-lane,
which at one time threatened destruction to the densely-
populated neighbourhood adjacent. The premises: con-
sisted of a dwelling-house in Drury-lane, and workshops
extending to a considerable depth, entirely built of -wood,
for the purposes of tanning and currying the leather.
The fire originated in the front of the building, a.ul was
speedily communicated to the wooden workshops above-
mentioned. At cue time considerable fears were enter•
tained for the safety of the building adj.ining, in the
occupation of Mr. Durien, tallow-chandler and inciter,
bu
peedy arrival of the engines from the vazious
stations, together with that belonging to e,igss•
Comte
Co,assisted with a plentiful supply of
and
together with the stock hi trade,furniture, &c. The firemen, w ith their wonted water, speedily :topped Old progress of the flames, but
not before the whole of Mr. Noblett's premises were
entirely
s
consumed. Y.
per-
severance, combatted the flame.; at no lees than. lour
several pointc, viz., at the rear of the premises, in
Brownlow-
street, in Brokers' alley, in Charles-street.
and in the front in Drury-lane. The fire, we are happy
to state, was nearly extinguished within an hour alter
the outbreak. Mr. .
Noblett, we understand, is insured
in the Sun-office. We could nosescertain the cause of
the conflagration, but the l certain
be very con-
siderable.

FOUEIGN AND COLONIAL COM-

MERCE OF FIIANCE IN THE YEAR, 1845.
The French Customs' authorities have just published
a general statement of the foreign and colonial corn
coerce of France during the year 1545. It is somewhat
remarkable that the publication of this statement should
have been delayed until the middle of December. 1846,
and does not speak much for the industry of the French
employes. We shall now proceed to give as brief and
compendious an analysis us possible of the details of
this huge volume :

the ."
general commerce" of France, with her colo-
nies aed ieith foreign countries, for the year 1845,
amounts to 2,427,000,000 fr. By the term general com-
merce we would be understood to mean every thing
which has been exported or impwated, whether by land
or by sea, without regard to its destination, or to any
other matters of detail ;-special commerce including only
that which enters into the internal consumption of the
kingdom, and whatever has been exported of the actual
produce of the soil and manufactures of France. Of the
2,427,000,000 fr. above-mentioned, the imports are stated
at 1,2,10,000,0001 r., and the exports at 1,187,000,000 fr.;
and if we divide the fifteen years from 1831 to 1845 into
three periods of five years each, and compare the com-
mercial °pc:aliens of the respective periods, we shall ar-
rive at some curious results. During the first period,
from 1831 to 1835 inclusive, the general course of
French commerce involved a total of 6,969,000,000 fr.,
for the second period, from 1836 to 1840, a total of
9,339,000,000 fr.; during the third, from 1841 to 1845, a
total of 11,215,000,000 fr. Thus the third period, as com-
pared with the first, exhibits an increase of 61 per cent.;
and, as compared with the second, an increase of 20 per
cent. The returns for 1845 present, when compared with
those of 1844, an increase (on imports and exports united)
of 88,000,000 fr.; and compared with the average of the
five preceding years, an increase of 257,000,000 fr. The in-
crease has occurred chiefly in sea-going commerce. In 1845
the marine commerce amounted to 1,736,000,000 fr., while
that by land reached only 691,000,000 fr. Of the
1,736,000,0001 r. forming the total of the marine commerce,
the proportion of 808,000,0001 r. is set down as having en-
tered or departed under the French flag; but deducting from
this the sum of 284,000,000 fr. representing those opera-
tions, wherein the competition of foreign flags is pro-
hibited, the actual independent proportion of France is
only 524,000,000 fr. against 928,000,0001 r. for which
foreign flags must get credit. Let us now set down, in
the order of the importance of their relations to France
in this respect, the names of the principal countries with
which the French hold commercial intercourse. In the
first list we shall consider imports and exports together,
and in this view the order of the respective nations is as
follows :-1, the United States ; 2, England ; 3, Bel-
gium ; 4, the Sardinian States ; 5, the States in-
cluded in the German League ; 6, Spain ; 7,
Algiers ; 8, Switzerland ; 9, Russia. If we take
only imports, the order of relative importance
changes, and runs thus :- 1, United States ; 2,
Belgium; 3, England; 4, the Sardinian States; 5, the
German League; 6, Russia ; 7, Turkey, 8, Spain; 9,
Switzerland. And the order again changes if we confine
our view to exportations-for instance:-1, England; 2,
the United States; 3, Algiers; 4, Spain; 5, the German
League; 6, Belgium; 7, Switzerland; 8, the Sardinian
States; 9, Guadaloupe. It appears from this that the
United States and Belgium occupy the first rank as im-
porting countries. The United States have sent to France
the value of 146,000,0001 r. of their produce, and Belgium
the value of 117,000,000 fr.; while France has sent to
the States no more than 96,000,000 fr. worth, and to Bel-
gium only 57,000,000 fr. It is necessary to remark here
that the United States are nearly the only country in the
world which produces in sufficient quantity the great
staple raw material which is indispensable to the opera-
tions of the manufacturers of France; and it is further
necessary to advert to the action of the restrictive tariffs
enforced against France by the United States since 1842,
for their late commercial relaxations are exclusively in
favour of English produce. About Belgium it is enough
to say that she produces like a great, and consumes
like a :mall, nation-a circumstance which, in the
opinion of many, must always detract frcm the advan-
tages of any treaty that the French may form with
her. Algiers has already arrived at the third rank
amongst the consumers of the produce of French in-
dustry ; but this is accounted for by the well-known
fact that the French themselves constitute the principal
consumers. A reduction of the army would probably
be immediately followed by a reduction in the ex-
ports of France to the colonies. It is well to remark,
however, that the English and other foreigners will
no longer have the advantage of supplj ing Algeria with
most of its necessaries, and of occupying the market
there at the expense of French industry. This is put an
end to by law, and French producers and workmen will
henceforth enjoy benefits of which they were for along time
d. prived. Coming now to the subject of " Special Com-
merce" we find the total under this head amounts to
856,600,0001 r. ; cottons and silks occupy the first rank,
being 108,000,0001 r„ and 65,000,000 fr. respectively ;
wools at 50,000,000 fr.; oils at 36,000,000 fr. ; and under

the head of exports, which amount to 845,000,000 fr.,
silk tissues hold the first place, reaching 140,000,000 fr.
The export of cotton manufactures was 127,000,000 fr. :
of wool manufactures 104,000,000 francs ; of wines
54,000,000 francs ; and of linens and hempen cloths
24,600,000 fr. These are the most interesting general
facts deduciWe from the bulky documents before us.