The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-20 00:00:00

WV, P4l'lll'o4

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—In The Sun of Thursday, the 16th, there
is a. brief paragraph announcing the departure of
the Prince Alfred from Neyland Pier, Milford
Haven, on the previous Monday, with passengers
for Australia and New Zealand. Short as that
paragraph is, it contains two inaccuracies ; one of
which, and the most serious, you will permit me to
correct. Your correspondent states that the Prince
Alfred left Neyland at 3.45, but " she only went so
far as Milford, where, on account of some certain
custom-house routine, she was detained until the
following day ; another proof of the inconvenience
to the trade and commerce of Pembroke Dock from
the want of a custom-house at that place." The
advantages of having a cust3m-house at Pembroke
Dock would be undoubted ; the necessity of retain-
ing the one at Milford is indisputable.
The issue raised here by your corespondent,
however, it is not now desirable to discuss ; but
it is important to state that the Prince Alfred was
clear of the Custom-house before two o'clock in the
afternoon—that she left Neyland a little after five
and steamed down to Milford in about half an hour.
She then slackened speed to allow her owners—
Messrs. Pearson and Coleman, of Hull—and about
150 invited guests and others, to disembark at Mil-
ford ; and after a detention of about five minutes
she left, and she had steamed outside the harbour's
mouth by seven o'clock that same evening. There
was no delay whatever at Milford, save the five
minutes to allow the owners and their friends to
leave the vessel. The detention for a day on ac-
count of some Custom-house routine was purely
imaginary on the part of your correspondent. I
went down from Neyland to Milford on board the
Prince Alfred, and therefore affirm only what I
know. I have, moreover, seen the Custom-house offi-
cers on the matter, and Mr. Patterson, the collector
of the customs, will, I am assured, corroborate my
statement, if corroboration be necessary.
I am, Sir, yours respectfully,
W. P. WILLIAMS.
Haverfordwest, Sept. 18, 1858.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—An article in your paper of yesterday,
copied probably from the Daily News, states that
the Prince Alfred steamship, which left Milford
Haven for Australia on the 13th instant, was de-
tained at Milford, after having started from the
railway terminus at Neyland, by some Custom-
house difficulty, which proved the necessity for
removing the Custom-house from Milford. Who-
' ever furnished the information for that article must
have known nothing of the facts, for I was one of
the visitors on board the ship, entertained by her
hospitable owners, Messrs. Pearson and Co., and
can vouch for the fact that the vessel only stopped
a few minutes in the roadstead off Milford, on her
way down the Haven, for the purpose of landing
the owners and those of their visitors who had re-
mained on board to that point ; and as I was
amongst them, I can also state that I saw the
vessel continue her course, after we left her, to the
mouth of the Haven, six or seven miles past Mil-

ford.
Perhaps *the key to the, story may be found
in the fact, that a party at Neyland is trying
to obtain the removal of the Custom-home from
Milford to that part of the Haven.
CA VISITOR.
Milford, Sept. 18, 1858.

Vindranott, Bennitn, Marko, with its &mono
bouillabaisse, and Mount Gres are successively seen—
their white walls emerging from groves of orange and
lemon-trees, large, and heavy with fruit. Fig-trees
and immense tracts of olive rise above these groves,
and higher up still tower singularly-shaped rocks
and mountains relieved by a sky of surpassing love-
liness. Monaco stands on a bold rock which rises
abruptly from the sea. Fortifications venerable with
age, and impregnable in 'days of old, frown on the
traveller, who doubles the iock and enters a captiva-
ting little port. The ascent to Monaco is so steep that
a new town, with excellent hotels, is springing up for
the accommodation of visitors in the valley bathed by
the port. A bathing establishment and a magnificent
cursaal have been commenced here by a Societe de
Jeux' on the Baden-Baden and Homburg principle.
But this establishment over-estimated its strength,
and entered into building enterprises above its re-
sources. The consequence is that the buildings
are deserted by workmen, that the bank has been
compelled to close, and that the croupiers—in
order to avoid the endless inquiries of the in-
habitants as to when the debts which arc
owing to them will be liquidated—retire into
sheltered nooks of the rock, where they angle for
fish, en attendant that the arrival of funds shall
permit them to cast their nets for more profitable
prey. It is said that these funds will shortly be
supplied by the shareholders of the Wiesbaden
establishment, who apparently find this species of
investment more profitable than old-fashioned three
per cents. with the guarantee of the State. At a
short distance from Monaco stands the town of
Menton, equally beautifully situated ; this town
formerly belonged to the Prince of Monaco, but it
is now m possession of Sardinia. Further along
the coast rise the towns of St. Remo, Oneglio, with
a good port, twice ravaged by the French in the
first invasion of the republican army ; Alassio,
Finale, famous for its apple and its orange trees
(some of the latter beat as many as 8,000 oranges) ;
Savone, noted for its wine, its fruit, and above all for
its flowers ; and then the traveller arrives at the
bee-hive and treasury of the Sardinian monarchy—
Genoa." • I
, -

THE CHERBOURG ALARM.

At the annual meeting of the Royal Ilsley Co
tagers' Society, held at Langley. Hall, near New
bury, on Wednesday, Captain Leicester Vernon, in
proposing the toast of the " Army and Navy," ob.
served :—" He could assert, without fear of contra.
diction, that the united services have always, how.
ever adverse the circumstances, realised the expec
tations of their country. England ought to be
proud of her army and navy, for they are second to
none in the world. That being so, he would ask
how came it that the bold Britons were liable to
periodical, he might almost say constitutional, fits
of terror and alarm ? It was because the people
were always conjugating the verb of sell-alarm into
every mood and.. tense. (Laughter.) Their first
bugbear was Russia, and people were angry when
Cobden said Russia could be crumpled up like a
sheet of paper, and considered such an expression
little short of blasphemy ; but yet he was right.
After a two years' war her armies were destroyed,
her stronghold ruined, her fleets imprisoned or
sunk, her finances crippled, and her resources ex-
hausted. In fact, Russia was crumpled up like a
sheet of paper. That alarm passed, and then came
the terror of French invasion, which, however, by
dint of geography and by dint of history, was over-
come. The first assured the people that England
was still an island, and the second taught them that
it was the habit of England to invade France, and
not France to invade England. They also recol-
lected that they had once military occupation of
Paris, and that no foreigner ever trod on British
ground except as a prisoner or a guest. No doubt
London would be a capital plunder, but the ques-
tion was, how to get it ? When the allied sove-
reigns were in London, they were taken to the top
of St. Paul's to see the panoramic view of the' Me-
tropolis. Blucher accompanied them. " Fine
sight, marshal," said an attendant. '" Ya, ya,"
replied the old Prussian, with his keen eye firmly
fixed on Fleet-street, and the wealth of the world.
" Ya, ya, it is a" very fine sight, but what would
it be for one plunder !" The next alarm came
from America, and there was a "difficulty" with
cousin Jonathan (laughter) which, however,
passed away. Cousin Jonathan's red hot politicians
sometimes fire broadsides at us, but the sensible
mercantile part of his community took care not to
have their guns discharged against their best cus-
tomer. Glory was a fine thing, but they saw no
great harm in the almighty dollar. All that was
passed and gone ; they were now called upon to be
frightened to death about Cherbourg, for that being
finished the French have a famous ambush in which
to hide a fleet. He remembered that Louis my.
began Cherbourg, not the harbour, but the fortifi-
cations ; France had then a fleet, but he recollected
that it was destroyed by Russell and by Rooke at
the battle of La Hogue, which battle was fought so
near her shore that a French. army, intended for
the invasion of England, saw the destruction of the
fleet. He (the chairman) also remembered that in
the reign of Louis XV. Cherbourg was besieged by
the English ; it surrendered at dircretion, and there
were 27 ships of all sizes in the harbour, all of
which were taken, and the batteries and forts were
blown up. Louis XVI. recommenced the works
and harbour of Cherbourg, and the French had a
fleet there, but he recollected that a Rodney had
destroyed it for them in the West Indies. Napo-
leon the Great carried on the works with vigour ;
the French had a fleet then, but he (the chairman)
ag:ain recollected it was destroyed by Nelson at the
Nile and Trafalgar. The works were now finished
under Napoleon. 111., but he had not, as yet, any
fleet to occupy it. They were, nevertheless, told to
be alarmed ; he confessed that he felt none. When
he looked down the English list of seven or eight
hundred men-of-war, and saw it filled with scores
of French names, .he saw what nation built the
ships, and what nation took them. (Laughter.)
He concluded that what British sailors had done
before, British sailors could do again. It was the
fashion to say, " things are altered; battles will
now be fought by steam," but that was simply
absurd. Battles would always be fought by men,
and their battles would be fought by Englishmen ;
therefore he felt no doubt or alarm as to the result.
God forbid that there should be war either
with France or America. The interests of
commerce, the interests of humanity, the interests
of civilisation, and, above all, the interests of Chris-
tianity, were opposed to it. But should such an
unfortunate event take place, then with such an
army and navy as they had, England may say with
the poet—
The mind we sway by and the head ws bear
Shall never sagg with doubt, nor shake with fear,"
Reading Mercury.

THE AMERICAN STEAMSHIP ARIEL

SOUTIIAMPTON, SATURDAY

The United States ;nail steamship Ariel, of the
Vanderbilt line, Captain G. D. Ludlow, passed
Hurst last night on her way to this port, with the
mails, &c., from New York, of the 4th inst., but
unfortunately got ashore off Stone-point, at the
mouth of the Beaulieu River, on her way up the
Solent, where she remained till this evening, when
she was got off, and resumed her voyage to Havre
and Bremen. She brought £16,000 in specie for
England, and a considerable quantity for France ;
also 70 passengers for this port; 50 for France, and
60 for Bremen—in all 180.
A telegram received last night from Hurst
stated :—" Apparently- the Ariel, from New York,
passed at 8.50 p.m." Nothing being seen of her, in
the river up to half-past 11, a steam tender was
despatched from the docks, which, on getting round
Calshot into the Solent, found that the Ariel had
run on shore at the place named, which is about
ten miles inside Hurst and five from Calshot. She
was in charge of an Isle of Wight pilot at the time,
and had gone considerably out of her course or she
could never have got into such a position. The
tender took out the mails and passengers for this
port, and arrived in dock about half-past three this
morning, those for Havre and Bremen remaining
on board.
were de-
possible two steamtu s g
As soon as
spatched to render assistance, followed early in the
morning by a third, with the necessary towing
applicances. Mr. Dunlop (of the firm of Dunlop
and Schoales, agents of the Vanderbilt line at this
port), accompanied by Captain Wm. Vincent (the
superintendent of the Royal Mail Company) and
Mr. Philip Hedger (the dockmaster), went down
to the vessel, and attempts were made with the
morning tide to release the Ariel from the beach,
but unsuccessfully. Messrs. Dunlop and Hedger
then went to Portsmouth to obtain the assistance of
a Government tug, and Admiral Grey immediately
granted the use of the Echo, which was despatched
with a couple of stout hawsers. At high tide in
the evening another attempt was made to float the
Arid, which was fortunately successful, the com-
bined exertions of the Echo, Aid, and Phoenix,
getting her off into deep water, and she was towed
into Cowes-roads, whence she sailed subsequently
fo • Havre and Bremen, it being found on examina-
tion that the hull of the vessel had sustained no
injury.
How the steamer -came to be so far out of her
course is a mystery to every one who is at all ac-
quainted with the locality, and we presume that an
inquiry will be held by the proper authorities to
ascertain the fact. The night, it appears, was
clear, and not thick and hazy, as at first stated.
The vessel was going at full speed at the time, and
' she ran with great force on the beach, which is a
gravelly shingle.