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

THE WET DOCK OF VILLAFRANCA

(From Galignani's Messenger.)
A correspondent sends us the following amusing
letter from Nice, dated the 16th. The portion
which gives information to persons seeking that
seaport for the autumn months is well worth
attention :
" The inhabitants of this town and of the whole
line of coast as far as Genoa are in a wild state o
excitement in consequence of a report being cur-
rent that the negotiations pending for some time
past between the Sardinian Government and the
Russian , Mediterranean Steam Navigation Com-
pany,' for the cession of the wet dock of Villa-
franca, have been at length brought to a satisfac-
toiy conclusion. One journal of this town goes
so far as to name the amount which is to be paid
by the Russian company (four millions), and it
further announces that a monument will be erected
by the inhabitants of Villafranca in honour of the
Russian General Baggawoodt, who is said to have
brought hie negotiations to a happy issue. These
are, I believe, irresponsible statements ; and, al-
though no doubt exists with regard to the cession
of the dock, it would be imprudent to consider the
question definitively solved until the presence of
the company's steamers shall have placed the matter
beyond all dispute. There are political views mixed
up with this cession which I will avoid discussing,
particularly since it is not certain whether the ad-
vantages of the excellent port of Villafranca will be
exclusively enjoyed by the commercial company, or
be shared by the Russian vessels of war which may
enter the Mediterranean waters. It is more satis-
factory to look at the practical features of the ques-
tion, and to feel assured that the welfare of the
population of the coast will be greatly promoted
by the presence of the Russian vessels. Where
inaction now prevails, commerce and its healthy
results will be introduced ; and the stimulant to
industry which now fails will then become uni-
versal. As a proof of this, I may mention that
hopes of facilitating the above cession inspired
Lie municipality of Nice with the idea of forming
a road along the coast to Villafranca. This idea
was warmly embraced by the owners of the pro-
perty which the road would have to traverse ; and
they willingly consented to waive all claim to
pecuniary compensation. Villafranca stands at
the extremity of a magnificent bay formed in por-
tion by the promontory which partly shelters the
bay of Nice. The port is capacious and safe, and
is at times visited by Sardinian war
_vessels. The
town is small and uninteresting ; it is at present
garrisoned by a regiment some two thousand
strong, whereas a couple of companies held it in
former days. The bay is tolerably well fortified,
but no very effectual resistance could be offered
to heavily-armed gunboats. Villafranca is con-
nected with Nice by a road open to carriages, but
the hilly character of the country renders that
mode of travelling most distressing. It is far
more agreeable to walk the distance, which may be
effected in a good hour and a half. The new road
projected by the town of Nice will place the two
ports within easy distance of each other, and Nice
will naturally profit largely by the neighbourhood
of the Russian company. _ The season has not yet
commenced in Nice, and the few strangers who
have already arrived feel themselves uncomfortable
in the midst of the bustling, gesticulating popula-
tion of lodging-house keepers who fill the streets,
chattering. over the winter .prospects and awaiting
with feverish anxiety the arrivals of diligence and
steamer in the hope of entrapping strangers. To-
wards the end of October the arrival becomes
numerous, but long before that period the im-
patient lodging-housekeepers have despaired of the
season and are willing to let their apartments at
reduced prices. I should, therefore, recommend
persons who intend passing the season at Nice to
take their departure from Marseilles early in Octo-
ber ; they will stand the chance of finding a sea
sufficiently calm to permit them to take the steam-
boat instead of incurring the martyrdom of a dili-
gence. Very rough weather can alone justify the
adoption by travellers of the latter mode of travel-
ling. It is, however, only fair to add that the
steamboat accommodation is most unsatisfactory,
and speaks little for the commercial enterprise of
Nice or Marseilles. The traveller would do well,
on arriving in Nice, to look well about him before
he engages apartments ; he must remember that
it is the winter mistral he has to provide against,
and not the heavy autumnal heat which oppresses
him on his arrival. Let him, therefore, select a
spot well favoured by the sun, and resist the
blandishments of over-pressing house-owners. No-
thir g can equal the perserverance with which this
class e_rive their business, as the following instance
may prove :—On the steamboat which conveyed
me from Marseilles were two members of the in-
terest in question—husband and wife. The lives
of the passengers were rendered miserable by the
incessant appeals of this couple. If a particularly
beautiful sweep of the glorious coast excited the ad-
miration of some passenger, a voice at his elbow
pre2laimed that the view from her windows was
immeasurably superior. At a very moment-
or. period I asked for a basin ; the same voice in-
stantly offered me two furnished rooms and a kitchen.
There was no escaping the nuisance, for the husband
took up a formidable position afore, while the wife
vigorously carried everything before her aft. A
rival to Nice is starting up in the principality of
Monaco, which enjoys a climate perhaps superior to
Nice, and offers the pleasing recommendation of
novelty. A sail from Nice to Monaco is delightful ;
the native bark flies over the azure water in view of
the most beautiful line of coast that can be desired.

Villafranca, Beaulieu, St. Hospice, with its famous
bouillabaisse, and Mount Gros 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 rock 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 are
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 in possession of Sardinia. Further along
the coast rise the towns of St. Remo, Oneglio, with
a good poit, 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 bear 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."

THE CHERBOURG ALARM.

At the annual meeting of the Royal Ilsley Cot-
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 tinited services have always, how-
ever adverse the circumstances, realised the expec-
tations of their cotmtry. 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 self-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 XIV.
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
wiere 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)
again 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 we bear
Shall never sang with doubt, nor shake with fear."
Reading Mercury.

THE AMERICAN STEAMSHIP ARIEL

SOUTHAMPTON, SATURDAY,

The United States mail steamship Ariel, of the
Vanderbilt line, Captain G. D. Ludlow, passed
Hurst last night on her way to this port, with the
mails, &e., 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 Arid, 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 Arid had
run on shore at the place named, which is about
ten. miles 'inside Hurst and five from Calshot. She
was.in chargeof an Isle of Wight pilot 'at thntime,
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.
As soon as -possible two steamtugs were de-
spatehed 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 Arid from the beach,
but unsuccessfully. Messrs. Dunlop and Hedger
then went to Portsmouth to obtain the assistance of
a Government tug, and Admiral Greyimmediately
granted the use of the Echo, which ms despatched
with a couple of stout hawsers. At high tide in
the evening another attempt ivas made to float the
Arid, which was fortunately successful, the com-
bined exertions of the Echo, Aid, and Phoenix,
getting her off intodee p water, and she was towed
into Cowes-roads, whence she sailed subsequently
for 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:

TILE

'EIR.

The Athencennt of Saturday contained the fol-
lowing paragraph :—" William Weir is a name
which may not be known to the world at large ;
but, three days ago it was worn by as honest, truth-
ful, and genuine a man as that world at large could
produce ; and now he who answered thereto an-
swereth no more, and again one of the great intel-
lectual labourers has gone to his rest, dying, as it

were, at his post, leaving to those who survive him
for a while, much sorrow and a bright example.
Mr. Weir was editor of the Daily News ; he had

occupied that honourable position since the death
of Mr. Hunt in 1854, and he had maintained it with

such straightforwardness of spirit, such honesty of
principle, such vigour and such courtesy, as to win
for himself not only the affection of his friends and
colleagues, but the respect and admiration of his
political opponents. He was a man of great en-
dowments, of strong natural sense, of gentle heart—
a learned, a modest, and a wise man—in the ranks

of literature there was no nobler or more unassum-

ing soldier than he ; and if the nearest and
dearest to him may look on his grave with weeping

eyes, they may turn from it too with a mournful
pride in their aching hearts."
In the Spectator of Saturday we read :—" The
death of Mr. William Weir, the editor of the Daily

News, is a public loss. He died on Wednesday last,

after a short illness of only four days' duration ; its
fatal conclusion created little surprise, as many had
noticed the effect of wear and tear in his aspect,

and previous illnesses had been sharp and not un-
frequent. Born in 1802, Mr. Weir, we believe, was
originally educated at one of the Scottish univer-
sities ; at Gottingen, with the prosecution of his
classic studies he laid the foundation of his know-

ledge of Germany and its literature; afterwards ex-
tending his studies to the languages and literature
of France and Italy. He was destined to the bar,
and with a rare industry he had made progress in
the law, with excellent prospects; for to his other
qualifications he added those of a fluent and
eloquent speaker. But his course of life was
changed by an infirmity which attacked l im. early
deafness that increased with his years; and
he transferred his great abilities and multiplied
attainments from the bar to the journal. He ob-
tained a distinguished position as editor of the
Glasgow Argus, a journal set up by the Whig
party with a view of conciliating the support of the
liberals in general. Mr. Weir succeeded admirably
in that object, but at the expense of " going fur-
ther " than the Whigs ; and in 1839, in the thirty-
seventh year of his age, he resigned his post, and
came up to London. For some years he was a
valued contributor to our own journal ; he was, we
believe, amongst the earliest to be engaged on the
Daily News, and on the death of Mr. F. Knight
Hunt, Mr. Weir accepted the Editorship. He
brought to his office an extraordinary array of
qualifications, for on many branches of law, history,
geography, literature, biography, and bibliography,
his active and retentive memory served him like
a cyclopcedia. Our readers scarcely need to be re-
minded of the manner in which he conducted his
journal as the most independent of the daily press
in the guardianship of popular rights, needful
reforms, and social improvement. Weir was a man of
strong personal sympathies, but his mind was essen-
tially above party politics, and the most constant
aim of his life was to recover for mankind what
others had given up to party. Of late he had applied
his influence to the difficult task of considering
how to rescue the Liberal party from its compli-
cations of inertia, and how to reconstruct it
for renewed and healthy action. We had hoped
that the weight of his authority, and the influence
of his well-known and spotless integrity, might have
contributed to the success of that needful but trou-
blous work. The task remains for other hands ;
but, in common with all the best interests of the
country, it has received services from William
Weir, of which the useful influence will long sur-
vive. A great artist has said, that even the tran-
sient performer • aids in developing the resources
and spirit of art, and thus the perishing executant
survives in an immortal service. How well may
this rule be applied to a man who, master of what
intellect had done for the world thus far, contri-
buted so powerfully to keep other minds right, and
confirm the lasting encouragement of patriotic
aokon.'

THE COMET.

Mr. J. R. Hind, in a letter dated Mr. Bishop's
Observatory, Regent's-park, Sept. 10, says :—I
availed myself this morning of the first opportunity
that has offered for several days past of viewing, the
comet in the N.E., shortly before daybreak, when
the sky in London is usually verr much clearer
than for some hours after sunset. About 4 o'clock
a.m. its appearance was fine in the extreme. To
the naked eye the nucleus far exceeded in bright-
ness any of the stars in Ursu Major, and, indeed,
was little inferior to Procyon, the bright star in
Canis Minor. The tail would be traced 7 deg. or 8
deg. With Mr. Bishop's large refracting telescope
it was a grand object, and when attentively
examined was found to present several of those
singular irregularities of form which have beeit
previously remarked in great comets, particularly
in those of 1680, 1744, and 1835 (Halley's) and
are doubtless to be attributed to the action of the
sun upon the matter of the nucleus when the comet
is near its perihelion. The luminous gas-like jet
thrown out therefrom, which was indistinctly per-
ceptible on the 13th, was steadily visible this morn-
ing ; it appeared to foim the origin of a second tail
interior to the main one, and which could be traced
about half a degree from the nucleus. The tail
itself was sensibly curved, the convexity being,
as usual, on the preceding side. The ray of light
thrown off the nucleus in the direction of the
sun, to which I before alluded, was tolerably
distinct. As viewed , with the naked eye the
tail exhibited coruscations (of course due to atmo-
spheric circumstances) which at moments appeared
to lengthen it considerably. High magnifiers could
not be used so advantageously as on the 13th.
Calculations founded upon the observations of
the past week show that the comet will continue
visible in the evening to the naked eye in this coun-
try until the middle of October, though it will 4113-
appear from the morning sky at the beginning of
that month. Its brilliancy will be nightly on the
increase until October the 9th, or thereabouts, when
the maximium will be attained. Judging from its
present appearance there can be little doubt that
this comet will shortly rival the celebrated one of
1811. On the sth and 6th of October it will be
situate near the bright star Arcturus, and will pro-
bably bear comparison with it on the score of bril-
liancy.
In a few days I shall be able to furnish positions
which I hope will render daylight observations
easy to the numerous amateurs in this country who
are provided with powerful equatoreally-mounted
telescopes. Meanwhile, I would suggest to those
who desire to see the comet to advantage, to be on
the look-out between 3 and 4 o'clock in the morn-
ing during the next few days, before the moon
approaches it. _ _

On the 20th of September the comet will rise at
1 10 a.m., and set at 10 30 p.m. ; on the 24th it
will rise at 1 40 a.m., and set at 10 20 p.m. ; and on
the 28th it will appear above the horizon about
2 30 a.m., and set at 10 p.m.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, SATURDAY MORNING.

THE DEFENCES.

The Dublin Mercantile Advertiser learns that it
has been determined greatly to extend and
strengthen the defences at Spike Island, which
occupies so commanding a position at the entrance
of Queenstown harbour. For a long time there has
been a convict depot at Spike, but it appears that
some of the convicts have already been removed to
other establishments, and that it iS 'in contempla-
tion ultimately to break up the depot there, It
understood that all the defences at Queenstown,
including Carlisle and Camden Forts, are to be
placed in the highest state of efficiency.

THE HARVEST.
The great heats of the-early part of the week were
suddenly dissipated last night by a change of wind
from south to west, when a heavy gale sprung 1113
which lasted till this morning, leaving a pure and
cool atmosphere. On Thursday there were sharp
thunderstorms all over the country, followed, as
usual, by torrents of rain, but, happily, as yet there
are no reports of any damage being done to the
outstanding grain crops. • All this day's accounts
are as satisfactory as could be expected.