The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-31 00:00:00

" AT PHILADELPHIA.

" There are no vessels at Philadelphia worth the
cost or trouble of conversion. The St. Lawrence,
Jamestown, and Saratoga are in good order, but
are not at all adapted for being propelled by steam.
The arduous process of cutting them in two could
hardly be successfully accomplished. They will
therefore remain sailing ships.

" AT BOSTON.
" Twelve years of exposure to the deleterious
influences of a navy yard ship-house have not
ruined the line-of-battle ship Vermont, which never
performed a service that could ' point a moral or
adorn a tale.' She has been considered well qua-
lified to become a propeller, and will doubtless
make an efficient one.
" The Virginia, also an 84 gun line-of-battle ship,
that has never yet been launched, may be num-
bered among our future steamers. She is or was
destined to be 2,633. tons burden.

u If the Ohio is sound there are no objections to

" Thus ends the list.
you as follows :
" Vessels recommeni, 3rsion :—The
Alabama, the Franklin iylvania, the
Delaware, the New York, the North Carolina,. the
Vermont, the Ohio, the Virginia, and probably the
New Orleans, or every line-of-battle ship in the
service.
" You will observe that no frigate Or corvette has
passed muster. The cause of this is, they have not
beam enough, and are, to use a maritime phrase,
too dead' to undergo the operations incident to
conversion. If Congress approve of commencing
the proposed change early in the ensuing year, look
out for lively times at the Navy-yards, particularly
at those of Norfolk and Boston."

(From aCI ,nndent Pr 111 e Times.)
ZICE, OCT. .22.
I wrote you but a short note from Ferrara to
acknowledge your letters, which reached me a fter
I had posted mine from Verona, and now I can ;tell
you many experiences reNtive to Austrian Italy,
which could not be written c
the other side of the
Po, as you are well aware that
the Austrian police is
much given to open and inspec,f letters. The next
ten days will be days of intenst.` anxiety for the
fate of this newly reviving country, since, kidging
from all appearances, the Austrians love eve,"3" in.
tention to cross the frontier and attack the St Ira-
nian territory ; at any rate, they are making all the
necessary preparations for such a move. The rail-
road through the Friuli to Venice was almost el.
tirely appropriated to the carriage of troops ani:
military stores, one train a day only, and that pre--
carious, being allotted to public traffic ; and we
found the other railway, on the Verona side, occu-
pied in the same manner. Enormous 'Waggons full
of ammunition, &c., encumbered the stations and
thundered through the streets. Fresh bodies of
troops poured into the towns by night—tramp,
tramp along for hours, and were dispersed' Ant
the country. Every village and farmhouse in the
remotest corners swarm with them. New fortifica-
tions have risen on the Lido and in the lagunes
around Venice; the Lido, indeed, is completely
metamorphosed, and turned into a vast fortress.
As for the country itself it is becoming a desert ;
towards the frontier especially the aspect is most'
strange. A young man is scarcely to be seen--
they ' emigrate to the other side 00.4

to check
this exodus, their tyrants have invented
within these last two months a new tax ; they
exact 2,000fi. from the commune from which any
young man is missing, but in the ruined state of
society they are not likely to get much by this last
specimen of insane oppression.
They act as if they were inspired by the demon of
extermination, crushing and trampling out every
germ of possible prosperity. Directly a man is
known to be a clever workman, like the artificer I
mentioned in my last, he is watched and persecuted
and bullied in every act of his life ; thus suatess-
ful trade is impossible. The landlord of the --•
at V-, told us he was fined 6 florins a-day direet
on the proceeds of his inn. The spirits of the'
people rise and fall as they think the prospect of
joining their liberated brethren is near or remote.
Hope has buoyed them up during the summer, but
lately their chances have looked very black. They
say it is impossible things can continue as they
are, but Austria will not relinquish her diminished
Italian possessions without a fierce struggle, even
if she does not attempt to recover what she has lost.
The Austrian Tyrol is growing more and more dis-
affected, and the Hungarian soldiers are a constant
source of perplexity. During our sojourn at Venice
there was great alarm in high quarters in conse-
quence of all the guns at the Lido being found.
spiked one morning, by some Hungarian regiment
it was said, and desertions are frequent. We met
outside Padua two fine young men, who had been
caught in the act, on their way to be shot ; they
looked proud and sullen, but not a bit cast down or
ashamed. At Verona we used to be very mrich

amused at the table d'hote, which was like a mews

composed entirely of Austrian officers, very aristo-.
cratic-looking men, tall, and some of them hand-
some. The siege of Ancona was a frequent topic
at table; they seemed to have a great idea of the
Sardinian fleet and of the Admiral, Persano, who
stands high in their estimation. If they can only
get up an efficient fleet in time, the Italians may
yet be able to cope with the double-headed eagle,

but every moment is of consequence.
We travelled in a wretched diligence from Padua
to the Po, through squalor and misery; the change
across the water is magical ; a well-appointed
vehicle was in waiting for the passengers, end
never was any scene so completely metamorphosed
as Ferrara, which of course you remember as the
dullest and stillest of towns—a city of the dead.
Now it is full of life and bustle, bidding fair to

become, as it was in old days, one of the richest of
Italy's rich trading marts. Mr. L— having sundry
acquaintances, we stayed there a day and heard all
the news. Directly the stifling duties on trade
were repealed an enormous traffic instantly sprang
up in the staple produce of the surrounding marsh---
hemp. Their country, the Ferrarese say, with im-
proved modern agriculture, is capable of growing
any amount of this necessary article, and their visions
of future wealth are golden—" When we have Padua
and Venice," they say. Meanwhile, there are no
more prisoners in the former crowded gaols ; no
more beggars in the former grass-grown streets, of
which they used to be the only occupants. All are
contented and thriving, and they are well pleased to
send their sons to the wars. They say it is better
than keeping them at home to starve, as they used..
" We will die sooner than return to the old
yoke," is the universal sentiment. At Bologna we
heard somewhat of the shadows as well as the

lights of the new regime; there must be dark as
well as light in all pictures of life. Great sacrifices
have had to be encountered for the patriotic cause
in fortifying the city, and many other ways.
The beautiful villa you have heard me describe

of our friends the Gozzadinis, at the summit of one
of the hills overlooking Bologna and the plain to
the Adriatic, has been taken, with many others, to
form a series of fortifications which they have been
busily throwing up the past year. The Marchese
Gozzadini had spent his life in embellishing this
place ; he had planted rare trees, which were grow-
ing to perfection ; his house, his garden, his trees,
his park, are all levelled or cut down. Altering
the laws is also a great stumbling-block and cause
of offence. Nevertheless, the tide of vigorous life
and energy is evident equally at Bologna, aW nd will
bear down all obstacles to future prosperity. e
remained there over Saturday- to see Marliani and
other deputies, just returned from attending the
Parliament at Turin.
Almost all the available troops are gone down to
the South. These northern towns are defended by
the National Guard alone. They have only one
y dep e completed;
depends
srtioonn theo
f
t
corps d'arntee to watch the Austrians on the side
of;theMincio; their fortify the
fiectaeteiofnlstaarl e
Neapolitan not
h, eii
sr i fin e
disorder.e , that
The sa
cast of a die—on the will of Louis Napoleon. If
the Italians can escape the
presentaidnvehreseocpoennjunfocr-
ture of affairs, a glorious future w
them. Nothing can exceed the prospect of material
prosperity liberty has brought them, but they want
railways, before all things, to connect the dissevered
States. Of course, the necessity of applying all
their resources of men and money to war purposes
prevents their carrying on the lines with energy.
They are working at them, however, as fast as their
means permit. The line between Bologna and
Florence is greatly needed to obviate that tiresome
transit of the Apennine.
The weather is magnificent—quite hot still. The
summer in these parts has been remarkable warm,
and the vintage first rate; the vine disease has dis-
appeared, and the wine made is unusually rich ; the
common people think much of this, and consider it
a good omen. At Ferrara I was told by Professor
Benzoni that records exist in the archives of a simi-
lar visitation 150 years ago, when the malattia
lasted 10 years. This has only lasted seven. Among
the sights and sounds of free Italy are newspapers
cried about the streets, two bajocchi the sheet,
very
well written and moderate, generally containing
their own
long extracts from English papers
' affairs, and often the leading articles from the
on
Times.

-
A SEAMAN DEVOURED BY A SHARK.—while the
brae
ftolri e.
barque Jessie, from Quebec and Fernando Po, was lying at
the latter port, a seaman, named William Looney, a native
of County Cork, went on shore for a few hours. 'laving
gi
nt lui t ferso
missed the return boat he script off his jacket and waist-
coat, tied them up in his handkerchief, which he carried
in his mouth, and plunged into the sea, intending to swim
which lay about three ships'
ts(h)otrhee. slhiir had been in the water but a fewlen%
a large shark was seen approaching. A cry was raised -
the seamen on board, and two gallant fellows ' by
the boat and made every effort to extricate theirintaPed into
from the awful fate which awaited him. Lo companion
swam for life, straining every nerve t Looney literally
monster, which drew nearer and nearer 0 escape from the
was, however, all in vain ; the shark every
instant. It
ex-
hausted seaman, and those on deck overtook the
seeing a companion swallowed by were horror-stricken at
The shrieks of the poor fellow this monster of the deep.
,within a few yards were h when seeing
his
assailant
heartrending.—Cambrian.