The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-22 00:00:00

Commence at 7 o'cicx3r;

CANTERBURY HALL CONCERTS.—
EVERY EVENING. The Vale of Verdi's Opera of
DILACEETH (now first made public in England at these Con-
ilerte), the extraor linary Violin Performances of the cele-
Vested Infant DELEPIERRE FAMILY, and the usual
Tcoal Concert.
Comte Vocalists —Messrs. George Hodson (the Irish Come-
dian and Mimic), W. T. Critchfield, and E. W. Maclmey.
Several interesting Pictures are added to the Fine Arts
Gallery. The suite of Halls have been re-decorated and
beautified, and constitute one of the most unique and brilliant
sights of the metropolis.
Will shortly be produced, a Grand Selection from Meyer-
beer's new opera of DINNORA.

VIE WEATHER.—Sun OFFICE, SEPTEMBER 22
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
63—highest einoe noon yesterday.
32—lowest this morning and during the night.
69—this day at noon.
__ __

__ _
BAROMETER-29.70.
WIND, South-Westerly; fresh, with fine sunshiny weather,

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tara DAY.—Morning, 912. 12m.—Afternoon, 10h. 2ra.
To-MossoW-Morning, 10h. 50m.—Afte1oon, 11h. 30m.

THE SUN.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1859.

The dreadful explosion of that water jacket of
the paddle funnel on board the Great Eastern
seems to be echoed back just now very remarkably
and very frightfully by a variety of similar fatal
catastrophes. It is like—what is sometimes notice-
able—the periodical epidemic of suicides. Or like
—what is also sometimes noticeable—the occa-

sional contagion of inhuman murders, whether by

personal violence or by secret poisoning. It seems
inexplicable this simultaneous blowing up of boiler
after boiler, of one steam engine after another—the
noise of these deplorable casualties coming upon
us by a sort of choral detonation. There were six
unfortunate firemen, we all know (and in the man-
ner we all know), scalded to death the other day
on board the Great Eastern either off Hastings or
off Dungeness—another poor fellow (also fearfully
scalded) being driven in terror over the side of the
giant vessel, beaten into a state of insensibility
by the revolving paddlewheel, and washed away
beyond recovery in the waters of the Channel.
Hardly have the public generally got over the first
shock of this most lamentable intelligence the
Great Eastern is still lying off Portland, in one
compartment at least seriously damaged, and
actually yet in the midst of undergoing £5,000
worth of repairs—when whirr-clang-boom ! off the
coast, near Shirehampton, there is a little steam
tug (the Fury of Bristol) " literally blown to atoms"
by some unaccountable explosion ! While another
appalling accident of a like kind takes place upon
the very same afternoon (yesterday afternoon,
Wednesday, the 21st of September), by the explo-
sion, no less incomprehensible in its way, of a little
four-horse steam engine in the midst of a sheep fair
at Lewes, a fair in which farm implements and
machines in actual operation are exhibited for the
inspection of the assembled agriculturists. In
both of these lamentable accidents yesterday

several persons were instantaneously killed, and
others frightfully mutilated. As to the steam-tug
Fury, that, as we have already stated, was abso-
lutely shivered "to atoms " by the explosion.
Fortunately for himself the Captain chanced
at the time to be on board another vessel
hard by (the Ant) at the moment of the
fatal occurrence. The engineer is " missing "
no doubt destroyed. The fireman also " missing "
—he also, no doubt, having perished. The
mate, by a marvellous freak of good fortune,
is picked up on a fragment of the wreck, compara-
tively uninjured. A stripling of sixteen (completing
the little crew of five souls) having been, mean-
while, blown on board the Ant—where, as we have
seen, the captain of the Fury happened to be at the
time of the explosion. And from the Ant, on to the
deck of which the poor boy has been blown, we are
• not surprised to find, from the report, that "he has
since been conveyed, in a very precariousstate, to the
Bristolßoyal Infirmary." When we have collected
together all the particulars of the accident, we can
only learn at the end of all, that—the thing is done
—and that nobody can account for it. Nobody, in
this instance, even can conjecture how the explo-
sion could possibly have happened.
It is pretty much the same in regard to the other
more fatal, and if possible more bewildering occur-
rence—viz., that fearful steam-engine explosion at
Lewes, during the local sheep fair, while the farmers
and the farm labourers were standing about
there in groups exercising the farming-machines
and the agricultural implements. While they are
thus standing there, and looking about them, we
geed in the reporter's vivid account of the catas-
trophe "The engineer was attending the
engine, and getting it in readiness to work a chaff-
cutting machine, and was altering its level,
when suddenly there
was a tremendous re-

port, said by bystanders to
greatly ex-
' seed that of the largest of the cannons
at the Artil-
_
lery Militia Depot." And the writer'thereupon, adds
1‘ Instantly the engine rose from the ground amidst
a cloud of steam and smoke, ashes and
water, and
,dashed a distance of above 30 yards in the direc-
tion of the sheep pens, when it struck the ground,
and whirling over, was forced with terrific violence
for a further space of ten yards, finally alighting in
corner of a pen of sheep." Then comes the list of
the killed and wounded—all in the twinkling of an
•ye either blown into eternity or horribly mangled
as by the detonation of an infernal machine. The
engineer," we read, " was lying near the engine'
ia a lifeless condition. Near him were three other
loon la a similar state, others were thrown down
-masid:imasor less injured and contused. The engine
illitaitfipetnous course had swept all before it,
arerything in its progress,and in addition
ita,the.anfortunate men whose lives have fallen a

sacrifice, a colt, which was being exhibited for sale
by the son of the owner, was struck, and the
animal as well as the young man killed.
There were also two sheep killed and several
others injured, the boiler part of the engine having
fallen on them." As evidence of the terrific violence
of the explosion, it is said that " large pieces of
iron " were scatterd about in all directions, some of
them as far as a quarter of a nnle from the actual
scene of the calamity. Of course, down at Lewes,
and again down by Shirehampton, we shall have
coroners' inquests sitting to inquire into the cause
of these explosions. And if the jurors emulate
their Dorsetshire compatriots down at that recent
inquiry upon the 'Crowner's 'Quest at Weymouth,
we shall have verdicts deciding—what we already
know perfectly well—that so-and-so perished in
the one instance by the bursting of a steam-engine
at Lewes Sheep Fair, and that such-a-one was
destroyed in the other instance by the explosion of
the steam-tug in Kingroad. It becomes a matter
of serious anxiety, however, to the general
community to examine a little more searchingly
into the veritable cause of accidents so fatal and of
such frightfully rapid recurrence. Are we not
" going a-head" a little too fast sometimes ? Are
we not " getting the steam up" a little too reck-
lessly ? The "pale" attained in the onward March
of Civilisation—it ought to be called the onward
Rush of Civilisation—is, no doubt, very fine,
very exhilirating : but is it not now and then
just a trifle too rash—whirling away at odd
moments into a very Dance of Death ? It
would be well at any rate to pause and see whe-
ther rational precautionary measures might not be
taken to prevent if possible repetition after re-
petition thus frequently of these disastrous catas-
trophes. Measures of precaution let us say, for
example, that should include among them more
stringent inquiries as to the qualifications of those
entrusted with the management of steam•engines of
all kinds—locomotive or stationary.

If ever there were a case in which a whole band
of men had nobly earned the Victoria Cross, it is
that of the survivors of the 350 who were precipi-
tated headlong as a storming party on the Chinese
forts at the mouth of the Peiho. Whether the
whole proceedings were well or ill advised, and the
strategy good or bad, we think all who have read
the accounts will agree that nothing in the Crimean
or Italian campaigns, or the Indian mutiny, can
have surpassed in cool bravery, and in undaunted
execution of an almost impossible duty, the beha-
viour of these 350. We have the accounts of sur-
viving eye-witnesses—surviving, when out of the
little band 64 officers and men were killed, and
242 wounded—only thirty-four uninjured, and that
by what seemed a miracle.
From the moment they left the ships' sides the
conflict with water, mud, and cannon balls com-
menced. Encumbered with ladders and weapons,
they leaped out into water four feet deep, wetting
their rifles and ammunition, and leaving them little
but their cold steel to rely on. They had more
than the third of a mile to pass over before they
could reach the forts, and 200 yards they had to
walk before the water became only knee deep. At
length, delayed by the adhesive mud and the
water, they succeeded in reaching the first ditch.
It would seem that by this time they had lost,
while slowly struggling along under a cross
fire, nearly one-third of their number; all the
ladder-party had been killed but two, and
many of the ladders smashed by round
shot ; but after an hour's deadly struggle
with the elements of nature and the shot of the
enemy, there stood the remnant of the 350 on the
brink of the first ditch, to combat the 300 cannon,
and perhaps the 20,000 Tartars of the Empire of
China; and had they had nothing but men to con-
tend with, they would have driven the 20,000 from
the walls.

But now their colonel sounds the advance—they
leap down into the; ditch instead of finding it knee-
deep,they are out of their depth in mud and water.
Some swam for their lives—somehow,—such as are
not shot down get across. Pushing onward,—still
knee-deep in mud, they reach the second ditch ; it
is dry—but, the mud is soft, it takes an hour, under
fire, to get across it. The narrator was almost
smothered in its mud, it was at least 80 yards from
the wall, and the officers, distinguished by the
colour of their clothes, are picked off by riflemen,
wherever they come from.
And now the mud ditch lies before them, not
fifty yards from the walls. Three ladders only
remain! Their rifles were wet, and would not go
off; with nothing but swords or bayonets to fight
with, it were useless for fewer thaii three to mount
the wall at once. A few, by the help of the ladders,
got over this last ditch, but too many pressed for-
ward, sad the ladders broke! And there they
were, the enemy picking them off at leisure,
only 35 yards off. Their ladders broken, their
powder wet, before them mud full of
spikes, and a chevaux de (rise under the
walls, and their two superior officers badly
wounded—they had done all that men could do,
and now there was nothing for it but to retreat,
and a retreat it was. No Xenophon will describe
it ; but nothing recorded in the Anabasis outdoes
this work of kind, cool, soldierly courage. They
would not leave them wounded. For an hour and
a half they had to protect the return of the
wounded through all the perils they had faced in
coming; and they helped their wounded to the
boats under a fire, to which an officer who had
been in the Redan told them that the fire there was
not to be compared. Thus fought ber MAJESTY'S
troops at the Peiho. We again ask is there
an individual who survives that murderous
day, who ought not to wear in future
the Victoria Cross ? Balaklava and the Redan
were but a rush forward amid a hail of artillery,
but at the Peiho the dreadful mud, water, and
ditches, infinitely more depressing than any fire—
though this was fast and furious, a feu d'enfer,
as GORTSCHAKOFF would say were the most
deadly enemies. Had it been a land run of 700
yards, in a few minutes not a Tartar would have
stood to his guns. _ _

Let, then, these brave troops have their due.
Let their reward show that England's Sovereign
will not coolly look on such service. Let other
forlorn hopes know that they do not die or dare
death in an unhonoured service. Dispute with
brave admirals, if need be, the merit of their places,
but give to brave men the reward of bravery.
Let every English soldier know that not success,
but duty bravely done shall never miss its reward.
The more fortune denies to merit, the more let
justice reward it !

The Duke and Duchess of Montrose and family
have left Belgrave:
the winter. square for Buchanan Castle, N. 8., fur

The Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch have left
town for Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfriesshire, to entertain a
succession of visitors.

The Earl and Countess of Devon are passing the
autumn at Powdetham Castle, Devonshire.
On the 13th inst., at Castle Forbes, the Countess
of Granard was delivered of a aon, still-born. We are gra-
tesets
Pqruerteessiug favourably.
recovered from the
tifiLedotrodstacteouthrte countess
has
effects of his accident a:, Bognor during the race
week
at
Goodwood.

SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

ARRIVAL OF THE FOX.

Captain M'Clintock landed yesterday at Ports-
mouth from the Alarm pilot-boat, which vessel had
brought him ashore from the Fox screw discovery
vessel, arrived off the Isle of Wight from the Arctic
Regions.
On landing Captain M'Clintock at once proceeded
by train for London, taking with him two cases
containing relics of the long missing expedition of
Sir John Franklin.

Captain M'Clintock stated that he was in posses-
sion of papers that would fully elucidate the mystery
which has so long hung over the fate of these brave
men.

The Fax proceeded up Channel.

We have been favoured with the following :
" To THE SECRETARY OF THE ADMIRALTY.
" YACHT FOX, R.Y.S.
" Sir,—l beg you will inform the Lords Commis-
sioners of the Admiralty of the safe return to this
country of Lady Franklin's Final Searching Expe-
dition, which I have had the honour to conduct.
" Their Lordships will rejoice to hear that our
endeavours to ascertain the fate of the Franklin
Expedition' have met with complete success.
" At Point Victory, upon the northwest coast of
King William's Island, a record has been found
dated the 25th of April, 1848, and signed by Cap-
tains Crozier and Fitzjames. By it we were in-
formed that her Majesty's ships Erebus and Terror
were abandoned on the 22d of April, 1848, in the
ice, five leagues to the N.N.W., and that the sur-
vivors—in all amounting to 105 souls, under the
command of Captain Crozier—were proceeding to
the Great Fish River. Sir John Franklin had died
on the 11th of June, 1847.
" Many deeply interesting nlies,S-Jar lost:coun-
trymen have been picked up upon the western
shore of King William's Island, and others ob-
tained from the Esquimaux, by whom we were in-
formed that subsequent to their abandonment one
ship was crushed and sunk by the ice, and the
other forced on shore, where she has ever since
been, affording them an almost inexhaustible mine
of wealth.
" Being unable to penetrate beyond Bellot Strait,
the Fox wintered in Brentford Bay and the Search,
including the estuary of the Great Fish River and
the discovery of 800 miles of coast line, by which
we have united the explorations of the former
searching expeditions to the north and west of our
position with those of James Ross, Dease, and
Simpson, and Rae to the south, has been performed
by sledge journeys this spring, conducted by Lieu-
tenant Hobson, R.N., Captain Allen Young, and

myself.
" As a somewhat detailed report of our proceed-
ings will doubtless be interesting to their lordships,
it is herewith enclosed, together with a chart of our
discoveries and explorations, and at the earliest op-
portunity I will present myself at the Admiralty to
afford further information, and lay before their
lordships the record found at Port Victory.—l have
the honour, to be, &c.,
" F. 1,. M'CLINTOCK, Captain, R.N."

THE 11AYMA.RKET THEATRE.

MISS AMY SEDGWICK.

The lovers of good old English comedy have the
prospect before them—if they so please—of a treat
this very evening. For to-night, for the first time
upon the London boards, Miss Amy Sedgwick im-
personates the character of Miss Dor•illon in Mrs.
Inchbald's celebrated comedy of "Wives as they
Were and Maids as they Are." Our accomplished
and popular actress is certainly just now bent upon
giving us a taste of her versatility. Her reward
can hardly fail to be—judging from the recent
effect of her Rosalind—an increase of her popularity
proportioned to this widening display of her ac-
complishments.

CLARA- NOVELL° AND BORRANI.

(CRYSTAL PALACE-YESTERDAY.)

Madame Clara Novello made her last appearance
in England (previous to her departure for the Con-
tinent) at the Crystal Palace, yesterday afternoon ;
and her interpretation of Medelssohn's inspired
aria, " Hear ye, Israel,' produced an impression on
her audience that few of our vocalists could hope to
imitate.

Her execution of Benedict's rondo, " Prendi
per me," was as perfect a gem of brilliant
vocalisation as it has ever been our lot to listen to,
and, but for the length and arduousness of the task,
would have been redemanded. Her naive rendering
of the Jacobite air (which she substituted for "The
beating of my own heart ") was rapturously re-
demanded.

Mr. Borrani made his first appearanoe at the
Crystal Palace, and sang Ms song, "The heart
bowed down," as he alone can sing it.
The full power and flexibility of his rich bass
voice was, however, more fully displayed in Ros-
sini's grand aria " Sorgete," which was as faultless
in execution as his coadjutor's, Mme. Novello—
a greater compliment it would be difficult to pay.
" The Wolf" (though in our opinion too dramatic
for a concert room) was a most charming perform-
ance, full of expression.

We hope to hear this favourite artiste on the
stage—English or Italian, n'importe which. We
should prefer the latter.
We have to thank the spirited management of
the Crystal Palace Company for adding Mr. Bor-
rani's name to their repertoire, thus largely adding
to the pleasure of the public, for whom they thus
provided a rich musical treat.

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