The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-18 00:00:00

THE RIVER PLATE.

From the River Plate important advices, datel Monte
Video, June 14, had been received at Baltimore by the barque
Creole, arrived from Corrientes. We extract the following
from the Baltimore Patriot:—

" Monte Video, June 14.

" On the 4th instant, at nine o'clock in the morning, the
fleet weighed anchor about three miles above the Burancas
of St. Lorenzo, in the river Parana, where there were placed
25 pieces of cannon, belonging to Buenos Ayres, to stop the
expedition from passing. At half-past nine the fort opened
a fire on the five steamers, the English steamers Gorgon,
Firebrand, and Electra, the French steamers Gacende and
Fulton, which took their position abreast of the batteries,
whilst the English brig-of-war Dolphin led the van of the
merchant-vessels, amounting to 100 sail.
" From the time the Dolphin passed, being the first vessel,
at half-past ten o'clock, to the time the last vessel of the
convoy passed, after sundown, made seven hours and a half
firing. It appears very singular that in such a large fleet
of vessels, in passing so many pieces of cannon, and within
musket-shot of the infantry, which played their part,
not a man was either killed or wounded ; and still more
strange that no accident should have happened of either
killed or wounded on board any of the vessels of war,
amounting to twelve sail, especially the five steamers, which
were under the fire from the batteries eight hours.
" The only accident that happened was four vessels getting
on shore abreast of the batteries, which the English and
French naval commanders set on fire to prevent them falling
into Rosas' hand, one being the English barque Caledonia,
of Hull, the other three being schooners from Corrientes ;
their cargoes consisted of amber, hides, wool, verbs, and to-
' bacco.
" There are as yet but a few of the convoy arrived at
Monte Video ; only the large vessels. The weather being
boisterous, all the smaller vessels were lying at the island of
Martin Garcia. . .

"There is not such a large quantity of hides come down
as was expected, but there is a larger quantity of verba,
tobacco, and wool. Salt hides none. Small quantity of tal-
low, packed beef, one cargo horse hair, a great deal of tim-
ber, &c.
(From the Philadelphia North American.)
The following is an extract of a letter from General O'Brien,
dated Monte Video, May 26 :
" General Gilarte, accredited Minister from Bolivia, is now
here for the sole purpose of attempting to arrange a free
communication with that extensive and important country.
You are aware that though by nature Bolivia has the means
of communicating with the Atlantic, by being permitted to
make use of her own rivers and those they fall into until they
reach the Plate, she has never yet enjoyed anything of the
*kind, but has been entirely isolated from the rest of the world,
save and except by the poor port of Cobija, on the west coast,
whence all goods have to travel over a desert of 500 miles,
without a drop of water therein existing.
" The Minister's instructions are to build or procure four
iron steamers drawing three feet water, to be sent out (with
false keels) for the purpose of navigating the rivers Vermejo
and Pilcomayo. If this be effected, the trade of Bolivia,
which is now little more than a trifling addition to that en-
joyed on the west coast of South America, would become
really valuable by its natural channels, and a most important
advantage to the trade of the River Plate.
" Our own Minister, Mr. Ouseley, will doubtless have kept
his Government well-informed upon this subject, but I have
thought it well to let you know what is going on ; I fear that
Rosas may be too strong for us. He unfortunately can issue
as much paper money as he likes. His enemies on this side
are toe poor for him."
--- - - -

(Extracts from letters dated Monte Video, May 15.)
The state of the war and the undecided character of the
intervention are bringing ruin and misery upon all, and I
don't know how or when it will end. It seems to be the
plan of the interventionists to carry out the object by means
of shipping alone. This is a great error. Rosas and Oribe
will defy them, and do as they like, if nothing else be brought
against them.
An English officer, Wardlaw, was assassinated in a most
barbarous manner by Rosas' people. He was cruising in a
boat on duty near to Ensenada, and was driven on shore by
a storm ; as his boat got aground, they fired at him, and then
beckoned him to go ashore : he then hoisted a flag of truce,
which was apparently answered in a friendly way. He
went on shore to them with the white flag, when they made
him a prisoner, and commanded him to order the boat's crew
on shore. However, in place of doing that, he ordered his
men to take care of themselves, and get away as well as they
could, telling them that he was a prisoner. Rosas' people,
finding the men would not come, sent an armed whale-boat
with ten men, and ordered the crew to surrender, firing some
shots at them. The crew had loaded a small swivel gun
with a round ball, and filled the gun up to the muzzle with
musket bullets; they waited till the whale-boat came within
20 yards, when they fired and killed eight men; the other
two tied, and the Racer's boat got away undisturbed. Poor
Wardlaw was afterwards deliberately murdered with most re-
fined cruelty, being cut, scored, and mutilated in a most
dreadful manner. Mr. Lodge, the English chaplain at Buenos
Ayres, applied for his body, but did not succeed in getting it.
I fear many scenes of this kind will occur before the war is
over. Rosas has just issued a decree declaring all English
and French officers and men incendiaries, and ordering all
the commandants of the different districts to take them, and
instantly apply the punishment appointed by law against
that offence, which is death, so that condemnation is pro-
nounced upon them all; and they only require to be
caught, and without further process put to death. Although
the intervention is so miserably dilatory, they are daily
getting deeper into it; and it is evident to every one here
that they cannot withdraw from the contest if they wished.
It is incomprehensible to all to see how much the two Go.
vernments are misled with regard to the local circum-
stances of this war. If they had come forward boldly with
an overwhelming land force, the war in the Banda Oriental
would have been over now. But they seem to think that
partial means will do, and thus they are losing the sympa-
thies of the people, who begin to think the intervention will
end as the Frcnch question ended in 1840. There are re-
ports in Buenos Ayres of strange doings in Corrientes and
Entrerios; it is said that the Maderiagas, with the Corren-
tinos, have leagued with Urquiza and the Entrerianos, and
they have discarded Paz, who is gone to Paraguay, with the
troop. of that country. The coasting vessels that have
arrived here from Entrerios all state that the league or
new order of things in Entrerios and Corrientes is to esta-
blish peace. There is no official news from the vessels of war
in the Parana, therefore nothing certain is known of what '
has taken place. But the report which gains most credence
here is that Corrientes and Entrerios have declared them-
selves a separate state, and independent of all parties, and
resolved to maintain peace if possible. What gives great
weight to this report of peace is that Urquiza had dis-
banded a great part of his army, and had liberated all the
Correntino prisoners. The people in Entrerios are marking
their cattle, and pursuing their rural occupations ; there is
also a free trade between Monte Video and Entrerios,
from whence a great deal of produce is arriving here
every day. There is now a convoy of 50 or 60 vessels (mer-
chant) loaded with produce, on its way from Corrientes. By
the last accounts they were at the Bajada, waiting th• de-
struction of a battery that Rosas has constructed at San
Lorenzo, which is so high (300 feet) above the water, and the
river at that part so narrow, that the vessels of war cannot
touch them with their shot. It is understood they are going
to attack them by land and destroy them. I hope they may
soon succeed, and bring down the convoy. Rivera left this
some time ago ; he was taken by the Apollo to Colonia with
from 500 to 600 men. The first essay of his new campaign
was successful, having taken 1,500 horses and 1,000 head of
cattle from Oribe's people. He will have very good assist-
ance and great advantages from the squadrons, and is ex-
pected soon to have on foot a respectable force in the interior.
May 26.—We observe more activity in busines,, particu-
larly in the produce market. The supply of produce from
Entrerios is very extensive, chiefly dry hides, and this causes
a visible change in business generally. As regards politics,
we remain in the same painful state of suspense, without
advance or retrocession, and nothing has occurred worth
noticing.
May 27.—We have no further news to communicate, ex-
cept a rumour that negotiations for peace are going on be-
tween Oribe and the interventionists, on a basis independent
of Rosas. This wants authenticity ; but, if true, we may
soon expect a satisfactory settlement. At present we only
mention this as a report. The convoy has not arrived from
Corrientes. Rivera has commenced operations at Las Vacas,
but nothing of importance has yet taken place.

The Marquis of Lansdowne left town on Saturday
afternoon for his seat, Bowood Park, Wilts.
ILLNESS OF THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.—BIR-
MINGHAM, SUNDAY, ONE O'CLOCK.—This morning a special
messenger arrived here by the mail train from Liverpool, to
procure the immediate attendance of Dr. Hodgson, M.D., and
J. W. Whateley, Esq., solicitor to the above nobleman, who
is now lying very ill in his yacht, Wyvern, at Beaumarie.
His Lordship left Liverpool on Thursday afternoon at three
o'clock, for Cowes, but was taken ill, and the vessel, was put
back and medical assistance instantly obtained; but his
disease increasing, the Duchess ordered a messenger to be
dispatched for the above-named gentlemen, who will leave
here at two o'clock for Liverpool.
FATAL ACCIDENT TO A TRADESMAN IN THE STRAND.
—On Friday evening, about eight o'clock, Mr. George Buck-
ley, a paper stainer, of No. 329, Strand, expired in King's
College Hospital, in consequence of injuries he received about
six weeks since under the following circumstance :—lt ap-
pears that the deceased at the time of the accident was
when
standin
cream, g uponm
both a fromlad hiser at the
wife rearand child, of the abovesuddenly premises s
as-
sailed his ears; the child had hurt her hand between the
,
door, and the scream produced a similar ebullition from the
mother, and in hastening down the ladder to their aid he
fell and broke his leg near the ankle, the bones of each being
splintered in a most shocking manner. The medical gentle-
men of the above institution, into which he was at once ram
ceived, recommended, as a means of savinH h
g the patient's
life, immediate amputation of the limb. e, owever, re-
fused to undergo so painful an operation, until at length
urged by his friends he consented; but it would appear that
it was then unhappily too late, as, although everything
which human skill could suggest was had recourse to, he
continued, as before the operation, gradually to decline, and
expired on Saturday, as above stated. The cause of, as well
as the unfortunate accident itself, has, as may be con-
sGa an
mt
s e,
ceived, plunged the widow of deceased into the
boshmt poignant
grief. It has been stated that an inquest will eld upon
the body.
GAME IN THE ROYAL PRESERVES AT WINDSOR.—.
is
sf
morea ll descriptions,plen tiful th
iess especially p
tin t
the
t rrivd gale s
domains
np
sh e
aa t-
Windsor than at way former period,

CAPTAIN G. SMITH'S PADDLE-

BOX SAFETY BOATS.

Latest testimonials in favour of Captain G. Smith's Paddle-
box Safety Boats, with the Parliamentary Report of the
Select Committee on Shipwrecks.
United Service Club, Pall-mall, May 14, 1846.
My dear Smith—l am sorry to find it has been asserted
that paddle-box boats cannot be easily and safely got into
the water when the ship is rolling much ; now the contrary
of this was most apparent in the Growler, as well as the
Penelope, Eclair, and Hecate, off Shebar and Gallinas, on the
coast of Africa, where I have seen them used by each of these
vessels, at anchor on the open coast, and underweigh at times
when it would have been very inconvenient, and attended
with considerable risk as well as much loss of time, to have
hoisted out the pinnace, or other boom-boat, by the fore-yard
or other means; added to which, a paddle-box boat carries
nearly twice as much as a pinnace. I recollect an instance
of our supplying the Ardent with provisions and stores, while
rolling heavy off Shebar, by means of our paddle-box boats
(with which she was not fitted), in the course of an
afternoon so as to enable her to proceed that evening, instead
of being detained till next day. Many similar opportuni-
ties of benefiting the service, and, consequently, of proving
the value and importance of these boats, occurred on that
station. At Sierra Leone, for instance, coal-lighters could
seldom be obtained, and it often became necessary to ship
100 or 200 tons of coal in these boats only, while the pin-
nace and other boats were watering, &c. Without the
paddle-box boats the .steamers would have been detained a
week or ten days, instead of two or three, which, in the
sickly season, would probably have cost some lives. On one
occasion, while rolling off t ltebar, we received coals from
the Penelope without difficulty; on another, we supplied
the Hecate with them under similar circumstances,
or rather, when rolling still more heavily ; in short, with-
out these boats, the service must have been delayer',
and some of the operations could not have been attempted
It would be superfluous to advert to their vast utility,
might say, infinite value, in cases of fire or shipwreck,
and in carrying on war-like operations, lightening the ship
when on shore, laying out anchors, carrying guns, &c.
Finally, I do not see a single objection to their being univer-
sally adopted in all sea-going steamers; and they possess
advantages from their form and size which could not be de-
rived from any number of smaller boats that could be car-
ried by them ; and, as I have before observed, my experi-
ence (of nearly four years) has proved to me that they are
much more readily and safely got into the water than any
deck boats carried by steamers, as they only require being
turned over into the water, which is done by a few men.
I should have stated that the boats so frequently used by
the Penelope, are enormous boats: one of the Growler's could
safely carry 85 men, though considerably smaller than
Penelope's.
Believe me always yours very faithfully,
CLAUDE M. BUCKLE, Capt. R.N.
FROM CAPT. HALL, R.N., LATE OF THE NEMESIS.

Junior United Service Club, June 1, 1846.

My dear Captain Smith—My opinion of your paddle-box
boats is, that no steam vessel, large or small, belonging to
the navy or merchant service, ought to go to sea without
them. Very faithfully yours,
WILLIAM 11. HALL.