The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 18, 185 g.

LATEST NEWS.

AMERICA.

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

GALWAY, DEC. 17.
The Prince Albert has arrived at Galway from
St. John's, Newfoundland.

She sailed on the night of the 10th inst., and
arrived off Arran Island last night, making the run
from land to land in five days 161 hours.
The Prince Albert brings telegraphic news from
New York to the 10th, six days later than those
per last arrival.

The President's Message is mainly 'devoted to
domestic topics. Regarding foreign relations, its
language is peaceable, except with reference to
Paraguay and Mexico. It expresses satisfaction at
the abandonment of the right of search by Eng-
land, itnd announces that the present new Minister
of Spain has full power to settle the Mexican ques-
tion. The President hopes the Liberals there will
soon regain power and establish stable Government,
otherwise the United States must take possession of
a portion of that country to indemnify its citizens
for losses. He proposes the military occupation by
the United States of Sonora and Chihiagua to prevent
hostile Indian incursions.

" Cuba ought to belong to America," says the
President, and he recommends its purchase. The
Munro doctrine heretofore announced by Secretary
Cass to be adhered to in Central America. Nego-
tiations are on foot for an anticipated settlement.
The Paraguay difficulty will be settled without
bloodshed. The President alludes to the co-opera-
tion of the American Minister with England and
France in the Chinese treaty. He proposes to
change the present tariff ad valorem to specific
duties.

The dates from California are to the 20th of
November, via Tehuantepec.

Business in San Francisco was improving. The
down steamer Panama took 2,250,000 dots. specie.

The ship Lucas, from Victoria, bound to Fras,
River, was wrecked. Fifteen lives lost.
BERMUDA, DEC. 1.

The British barque Columbia, from Quebec,
bound for Queenstown, was abandoned at sea ; the
crew had arrived at St. George. The ships Cerro
Gonda, from Liverpool, and the Star Queen from
Calcutta, put into the same port leaky.
The Prince Albert brings 180 passengers. She
signalled the Pacific, of the same line, on the 14th
inst., and the City of Washington on the 7th, off
Cape Race.

A despatch from Trebisond states that a serious
affair took place in the early part of Nov. between
the Russians and the Circassians in the neighbour-
hood of Anapa. A fort occupied by the former was
carried, after a sanguinary combat, by the Circas-
sians, under the command of Ibrahim Pacha, son of
Sefer Pacha. The Russian garrison, consisting of
200 men, were overpowered by numbers, and a
large quantity of arms fell into the power of their
assailants.

It is understood that the Court of Saxony and
those of some other German States have made
advances with a view to bring about more cordial
relations between Russia and Austria ; but it is
doubtful that these efforts hare as yet produced
any good result. The coolness between these two
Courts is very great.

sition of the legations, should form an exception,
and that their entry be authorised. To maintain
completely that custom in conformity with the
exception agreed to, it is necessary that the size and
strength of the vessels to which a passage is to be
accorded shall be known, so that the same be
clearly stated in the note of authorisation drawn
out at the Porte. I beg that, you will always keep
this regulation in view in future demands for au-
thorisation. " MElihmED FUAD."

SHIPWRECKS IN THE ROYAL NAVY.

It is no wonder that the " Shipwrecks in the
Royal Navy" should have reached a third edition.
It is a very simple and unpretending little book,
but there could hardly be a more interesting one.
Its fault, a fault almost inseparable from its plan,
lies in a certain monotony which pervades it. Forty
successive stories of shipwrecks rather pall upon
the reader, especially as the main features of each
story have a considerable resemblance to those of
the rest ; but almost every account is in itself inte-
resting in the very highest degree, and when all
are taken together, they combine to give an impres-
sion of heroism and of adventure which can hardly
be equalled by any other work of the same kind
with which we are 'acquainted. It is also due to
the author, or rather to the compiler, Mr.
Gilly, to say that the style of the book is very
good. It has an air of candour and authenticity
which to us is very winning :
Between 1793 and 1857 no less than 424 ships of
the Royal Navy were lost at sea. Mr. Gilly gives
a table of these events, showing the size of the
ships and the number of men lost. Some of them
were•awful catastrophes, as, for example, the burn-
ing of the Queen Charlotte, of 100 guns, off Leg-
horn, when 673 men out of 859 were lost—the
wreck of the St. George, of 98, and the Defence, of
74 guns, on the coast of Jutland, in December,
1811, out of whose crews, consisting together of
1,331 persons, 13 only were saved—and more ap-
palling than all, the destruction by lightning of
the Resistance, of 44 guns, which was blown up in
an instant, in the Straits of Banca, four men only
surviving to tell the tale. Most of the calamities
recorded by Mr. Gilly gave occasion for the display
of the qualities of courage and subordination,
though occasional instances of bad conduct are also
to be met with ; and some of them brought to light
a kind and degree of resource, endurance, and
moral and physical courage altogether wonderful.
We will give the substance of a few of these
stories. The following is perhaps as striking a case
as could be mentioned of the triumph of discipline
an dpresence of mind :—ln 1804, the Hindostan store
ship, of 64 guns, was sent out with supplies for Lord
Nelson. On 2d April, at 7 a.m., about 13 leagues
S.E. of Cape St. Sebasti' was discovered to be
on fire. In ten minutes n +he fire
was first discovered the
deck, and the ports opened to give light and room
below. The boats were then got out and taken in
tow, the marines being under arms with their
muskets loaded with ball to prevent any person from
entering them without orders. Till about noon,
large numbers of men were employed in attempting
to empty the magazine, in which duty they per-
sisted, although the smoke was so dense that many
of them were taken up insensible. This occurred to
Lieut. Banks no less than three several times. By
degrees the men were driven on deck, and at last
the fire burst through the hatchways, notwith-
standing all their efforts, and rose as high as the
lower yards, but at about 5 p.m., after more than
10 hours of the most incessant and daring efforts,
the ship made the shore, and was run aground in
the; bay of Rosas, within a mile of the beach. All
the crew except five were save g... Discipline; per-
haps, never won a greater triumph. Lord Nelson
said that the preservation of the crew seemed little
short of a miracle, and that he had never read such
a journal of exertions in his life. The fire was sup-
posed to have originb.ted in the spontaneous com-
bustion of some hemp.
The awful nature of the catastrophes which
sometimes occur at sea is -well illustrated by the
loss of the St. George and Defence in a storm which
took place off the coast of Jutland in December,
1811. The preceding month had been extremely
tempestuous, and on the 15th the. St. George was
overtaken at her moorings by a tremendous gale.
All hands were summoned to give the ship cable,
but, whilst they were veering it out, ,a large mer-
chantman drifted through the darkness against the
bows áf the St. George, cut her cables, and instantly
sank. The St. George drifted on to a sandbank,
where she lost her rudder and all her masts, but
she got off in the course of the next day, and
reached Gothenburg in safety. After partially re-
pairing damages, she set off again with her convoy,
and was again overtaken by a storm, and again
driven on' to a shoal. The scene which ensued was
horrible beyond all the horrors of sea-fights or even
fires. The complement had originally been 750
men, but the wash of the sea and the falling of
the masts rapidly reduced their number. " Mingled
together were the living, the dying, and the dead.
The bodies were piled up by the survivors in rows
one above another as a shelter from the violence
of the waves which broke over them." In the
midst of all this misery discipline still prevailed.
Three or four of the men asked leave to try to
reach the shore in the yawl. It was at first granted,
but afterwards recalled, and the men were directed
to return to their posts. They did so without a
murmur. Seven men only were saved, being washed
on shore by the waves. All the rest were lost.
The Defence, of 74 guns, and the Cressy were in
company with the St. George ; and when the St.
George went on shore, the Cressy, seeing that it
was impossible to give her any assistance, veered
and stood off to the southward, by which she was
saved. The captain of the Defence, with romantic
heroism, refused to follow the example of the
Cressy, because " the admiral had not made the
signal to part company." The consequence was
that the Defence shared the fate of the St. George.
She struck; the guns broke loose, killing and
maiming the crew; a spare anchor was thrown up
on end by a sea, and falling on the forecastle killed
about thirty men, and ultimately the whole of the
officers and men, except six persons, perished.
The loss of the Saldanha frigate, on the 3d of
Dec., 1811, is perhaps even more striking. On that
day a tremendous storm broke on the east coast of
Irelan'd. The Saldanha had been sent from Cork
to relieve the Endymion at Lough Swilly. "About
ten at night, through the darkness and storm, a
light was seen from the signal towers passing ra-
pidly up the lough, the gale at the time blowing
heavily right into the harbour." Next morning the
Saldanha was discovered a complete wreck at a
place called Ballyna Stokerbay. Every soul on
board had perished. In the August of the follow-
ing year a gentleman's servant shot a parrot in a
tree near Byrt. It had round its neck a gold ring,
with the inscription "Capt. Pakenham, H.M:S.
Saldanha."
The stories of individual gallantry contained in
the little book before us are, • perhaps, the most
pleasing part of its contents. They are very nume-
rous, and all of the: have a strong family likeness.
The most wonderful of all is unquestionably one
which relates to the fate of Lieut. Smith, who com-
manded the Magpie sloop. She was sunk by a
hurricane off the coast of Cuba, at nine p.m. on the
27th of August, 1826. A gunner's mate named
Meldrum swam off as the ship sank, and after
swimming about for a time, hearing voices in the
darkness, foUnd Lieut. Smith and six others cling-
ing to a boat which was floating keel uppermost in
the water. Lieut. Smith gave orders, which were
promptly obeyed, to get the boat righted, and the
men got in to bale her out. Whilst thus engaged an
alarm was given that sharks were coming, on which
the men lost their presence of mind, capsized the boat,
and more than one was drowned in the confusion.
Lieut. Smith still retained his self-possession, and
persuaded them to recommence their 'operations,
and by ten in the morning, after thirteen hours
passed in the water, the boat was 'nearly cleared.
Just at this moment the sharks did really come.
For a few minutes they rubbed against the men
without hurting them, but soon two men were
seized. Lieut. Smith still cheered on the remainder
to provide for their safety, but whilst he did so one
of his own legs was biten off. He restrained him-
self from any exclamation for fear of discouraging
the men, when the second leg was bitten off, just
as the sailors cleared the boat and raised him into
it. When placed in the boat he gave a message to
the admiral, about the loss of the sloop, to be de-
livered by the survivors, and said, "I have but one
favour to ask, and that is, that he will promote
Meldrum to be a gunner." After a time the boat
was again 'upset on another alarm of sharks, and
Lieut. Smith was released from his tortures by
drowning. More heroic fortitude is nowhere re-
corded. The survivors contrived to right the boat
again, but two of them jumped overboard in deli.
rium. The other two were ultimately rescued.
Meldrum saw a brig within about half a mile of
the boat, swam towards her, and was taken up.
Mr. MaClean, his companion, was living in 1857,
and was then a lieutenant in the coast-guard.
The wonderful fortitude of Lieut. Smith was per-
haps equalled, or almost excelled, if possible, by the
heroic self-devotion of Capt. Baker, of the Drake, a
10-gun brig, which was lost on the coast of New-
foundland on the 20th June, 1822. She struck at
the foot of some cliffs which the boatswain suc-
ceeded in reaching with a rope. The ship was
thrown by the force of the sea close to an isolated
rock, between which and the cliff a communication

was established by means of the rope. Capt. Baker
ordered the men to leave the ship for the rock,
which they refused to do unless he would go first.
He, insisted, however, that they should do so, and
was the last man to leave the wreck. When they
reached the rock, it was found that it would be

shortly covered by the tide. Capt. Baker again
refused to leave the rock whilst a single man re-
mained upon it. He stood by the rope, and each
man in turn passed to the shore as he gave the
word. No man offered to move till he was ordered,

and each in turn pressed his commander to precede
him. Forty-four out of fifty persons succeeded in
passing safely. Of the remaining six one was a

woman, and one of the sailors offered to carry her
across, The rope broke under the double burden,

--ADULTERATION OF EGGS..__ he public has latel
heard much about the adulteration of various kinds of food,
and yet it is not aware that a large proportion of the eggs
that are now being eaten in London are what is called by the
cheesemongers "pickled eggs." - This "pickling" is done
during summer, while eggs are at a low price, mixing lime
and water in casks and filling the casks with eggs, permitting
them to lie four or six months in this hot lime mixture, thus
destroying all the natural flavour and nutritive power of the
eggs, rendering them insipid to the taste and impregnated
with 'a
strong decoction of lime, which is injurious to the
stomach. Pickled eggs look very white and clean, resem-
bling new laid eggs, and are sold in winter, when good fresh
eggs are scarce and dear. They may be known by the fol-
lowing signs :--The feel of the shell is rough, from some-
times part of the lime not having been quite washed off;
they feel cold and damp, as the lifesof the eggs is destroyed
and partly wasted inside, where a good egg is always dry
to the touch, life existing in it. Through lime-gas in
pickled eggs they often burst when put into boiling water,
and will always be found partly empty, or with a few drops
of lime-water In them, when cooked.