The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-31 00:00:00

TEE STRAITS OF BANCIA

We are indebted to the commander of her
Majesty's surveying schooner Saracen for the sub-
joined particulars of the new and safe passage dis-
covered by the Saracen. This navigable channel
is nineteen miles in length, and nearly three miles
broad in its narrowest part, with a depth in mid-
channel increasing gradually from seven fathoms at
its south-eastern entrance to twenty fathoms near
the other extreme—thereby offering a safe channel
to vessels of the class of the Great Eastern. We
may mention that the channel is bounded by nar-
row banks extending in a north-westward and
south-east by east direction, all partaking of the
same formation (sand) in the shoalest parts, with a
mixture of mud and sand between. The following
brief remarks have been prepared to show the ad-
vantage of this passage over the Lucipara Chan-
nel :—" The disadvantages which the Channel of
Lucipara offers to seamen may be mentioned in a
few words—the whole coast of Sumatra about the
straits of Banca consists of low, muddy, mangrove
shores, and varies from 50 to 60ft. in height ; it is
unmarked by a single conspicuous object. A mud
flat extends from the shore along its entire length,
and which a few miles out of Lucipara reaches to a
distance of eleven miles from the laid. There is
also but little variation in the depth of water be-
tween Sumatra coast and Lucipara shoals. Luci-
para is a small island, half a mile in length and
only 164 ft. in height, with rocks extending a con-
siderable distance southward and eastwards of it,
and to clear which no marks can be given. From
the above circumstances vessels frequently get
ashore in using the Lucipara Channel, and in re-
ference to the tides to be met with the late Lieut.
Smits, of the Dutch navy, in his "Seaman's Guide
for the Straits of Banca," remarks that during the
months of January, February, and March, when
the north-west monsoon is at its full strength,
the southern current continues from fourteen to
eighteen hours successively with a velocity of
from 2 to 31 knots, which renders it almost im-
possible for vessels to make any progress in beat-
ing up against it. And I have been informed
that during the latter part of the south-east mon+,
soon it frequently blows hard from the south west,
accompanied with much , rain, which would con-
siderably retard ships going to the southward
through the Lucipara Channel, and offer a fair
wind to .the opposite channel. The advantages of
the new channel are as follow :—The approaches
are marked by the well defined mountain of St.
Paul's and conical hills of Gadong and Tabo Alie
Lama, and in fine e!ear weather the more dis-
tinct range of Padang. These cannot fail to
point out this channel, and the deep water within
half a mile of the Dapur P. will give strangers
confidence in steering for the land. The water
also being much deeper than in the Lucipara
Channel causes banks which are mostly sand to
be easily recognised by the-'light colour of the
water on them. The tide flows more regularly
in this channel and also sets directly through it,
which enables vessels even in calms to drop
through; whereas ships are often, in light airs
and calms, set over among the dangerous banks
while rounding First point in their endeavour to
get through the Lucipara. The wind in the
north-west monsoon blows off the land on the
Banca shore, and throughout the year land breezes
generally occur during the night. We have often
experienced a strong land breeze from the north-
east even in the south-east monsoon, when the
wind was blowing directly through the Lucipara
Channel from the south-west. Prominent hills
and points are to be Nen along the Banca coast,
b bearino-s of which will enable a vessel at any
time to ascertain her position. The channel is
also three miles broad in its narrowest part, while
the Lucipara is but two miles, and a depth of not
less than seven fathoms will enable vessels of the
largest size to pass through at any time or tide.
This channel, therefore, possesses many advan-
tages over the Lucipara, and the late Lieutenant
Smits of the Dutch navy, whose greater experi-
ence in these seas gives more force to my own
observations, states, in his direction before refer-
red to, that the passage between Lucipara and
Banca would have great advantages in entering
or leaving the Straits of Banca (were it not en-
cumbered so much with shores and banks), the
position of which is now, by the recent survey,
correctly known."—Singapore Straits Times.

Viscount and Viscountess Grey de Wilton have
left Kenilworth for Melton Mowbray.
Viscount Uflington has left town for Windsor.
Lord Crewe has left town for Crewe Hall,
Cheshire, where his lordship will entertain a select circle of
friends.

Lord and Lady William Powlett have left town
on a visit to the Duke of Cleveland, at Raby Castle, Dur-
ham.

Colonel and Mrs. Learmonth have arrived at
Fenton's note' from Meurieston HOMO, Midcalder, N.B.
Mr. James Baird, of Cambusdoon, and Mrs.
Baird have left Fenton's Hotel for Scotland.
DEATH OF THE MARCHIONESS OF BUTE.—We
have to,announce the decease, in her fiftieth year, of Lady
Sophia Frederica Christina, Marchioness of Bute, which
took place in Edinburgh on Wednesday. The deceased
lady was the second daughter of the first Marquis :of
Hastings, and was married to the late Marquis of Bute in
January, 1845. The late peer died in March. 1848, and
left at his decease the present marquis, who was born on
the 12th of September, 1817.
SPECIAL RELIGIOUS SERVICES.—The committee
of noblemen and gentlemen, having received the promised
assistance of 25 clergymen and 25 Nonconforming ministers,
purpose opening the following buildings :—The Garrick
'Theatre Leman-street, Whitechapel ; Sadler's-wells Thea-
tre, Cleikenwell ; Astley's, Westminster-road ; Royal Al-
bion-hall (late Rotunda), Blackfriars-road ; and the New
Concert-hall, Limehouse, for special religions services on
Sundays. All the seats are to be free, and no collections
made.

PLYMOUTH.—Greenwich, or railway time, is to
be adopted, instead of solar time, in the Three Towns from
and after the afternoon of Saturday, the 31st inst.—Ply-
mouth journal.

REV. H. E. HEAD.—We rejoice to hear that this
excellent clergyman has received great and unexpected re-
lief from the medical treatment which he received in Lon-
don. He was expected home this week. All who know
his sterling worth and true Christian charity will pray that
his life may be long preserved to his worthy family and
parish.—Plymouth Journal.
COMMERCIAL CLERKS' BENEVOLENT INSTITU-
TION.—The annual ball and supper of the above institution
were held last night at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-
street, under the auspices of the Lord and Lady Mayoress.
The company, which was most numerous, included among
its members Sir James Duke, Alderman and Sheriff Philipps,
Alderman Mechi, Dr. Carter Murphy, Mr. Yates, Mr. J.
Ades, Mr. Boothby, Mr. Holloday, and Mr. Storey, and
the heads of many well-known city houses. The spacious
room in which the dancing was carried on was very well
adapted for the purpose, and did not present the usual crush
of ball-rooms, where all try but few only succeed in danc •
ing. Mr• Adams's band was in attendance, and contributed
no littlo to the entertainment of the evening by its 'vivacity
and spirit, and by infusing the same qualities by sympathy
into the limbs and muscles of the dancers. A supper of
first-rate quality was served to renew the exhausted ener-
gies of the guests, after which the dancing recommenced,
and was kept up until a late hour. Mr. Frampton was the
effective master of the ceremonies, and Mr. Higgs was
toastmaster.

STUD HORSES IN FRANCE, 1860.—The stallions
in France for 1850, are as fellows :—At Paris, The Flying
Dutchman, Cossach and The Baron. At Chantilly, Nuncio.
Each will serve 40 mares at 200 f. per mare.
AN HONEST THlEF.—Frederick Douglass tells
the following story :—When he was a slave in Maryland,
he observed that an old negro named Sandy had the appear-
ance of being always well fed, and looked very fat. He
asked Sandy if he could explain how it happened so.
" Wall," says Sandy, " I steals it." Douglass remonstrat-
ing on this point, Sandy replied (pointing to a pig), "D'ye
see dat ere animal dere ?" " Yes." " Wall, dat ere and
I massa's property; dorefore put dat dare property in dis
property, and it's all right."—American Paper.
CHRISTMAS FARE FROM TILE EASTERN COUN-
TIES.—In how largo a proportion East Anglia contributes
to the creature comforts of London may be inferred from the
following authentic statement of the Christmas fare carried
on the Eastern Counties Railway, from the 17th to the 24th
December, inclusive :—Fish, 213 tons ; meat, 297 ditto ;
poultry, 243 ditto ; oysters, 16 ditto ; 11,166 turkeys, 13,660
geese; 1,600 pheasants, 560 hares, 650 ducks, 93 sucking
pigs, 1,111 oxen, 4,141 sheep, 1,892 sacks potatoes, 14,259
sacks flour ; 69 hogsheads, 1,979 barrels, 2,159 firkins, 2,2.53
kilderkins of beer ; and 40,916 quarts of milk.
LORD PALMERSTON AMONGST HIS TENANTS.—
On Thursday the mortal remains of Dr. Beddome, who
was much respected at Romsey, and‘who was six times
mayor of the borough, were conveyed to their last resting-
place. The shops of the town were closed, and a large
number of persons followed the mournful procession.
Among the chief mourners was Lord Palmerston, who ex-
pressed deep sympathy on the occasion, and won the re-
spect of all present by tho tribute of affection to the memory
of the deceased.
POOR-RATES AND PAUPERISM. The usual
monthly comparative statement' of pauper statistics for
November was published yesterday by order of the hon.
the House of Commons, on the motion of the Earl 01
March, M.P. The decrease of pauperism cont;nues.. In
the last week of November the number of persons receiving
relief England and Wales amounted to 800,457 (plus 674
at Alverstoke), against 837,291 in 1858, thus exhibiting a
decrease of 36,824, or 4,10 per cent. This decrease ex-
tended to all the 11 districts of England and Wales, and in
the metropolitan was as high as 6.88 per cent. In the
third week of November the general decrease of pauperism
was 3.84 per cent. ; in the second week, 3.71 ; and in the
first week, 3.79 per cent. Thus the returns of pauper sta
tistics happily continue to be in the highest degree satis
factor-

WASHINGTON IRVING AND WASIIINGTON.—But
Mr. Irving had himself seen General Washington. He
said there was some celebration going on in New York,
and the General was there to participate in the ceremony.
"My nurse," continued Mr. Irving, "a good old Scotch-
woman, was very anxious for me to see him, and held me
up in her arms as he rode past. This, however, did not
satisfy her; so the next day, when walking with me in
Broadway, she espied him in a shop; she seized my hand,
and darting in, exclaimed, in her bland Scotcl,:,ft• -r ;77
your Excellency, here's a bairn thee
General Washington then turned
he
enFioldaeundt
gfaeacvee.imit he
upon me, smiled, kkiiiiitcrendr.uVvning-, earnestly, I have
his blczirear gtr.,r
ve has attended me through life. I was bu t
aye years old, yet I can feel that hand ma now,".—Ong
Pek,

---
ENGLISH 00LONISATION.

In the recent torrent of abuse which has been
poured forth from so many vials on England and
everything English, we have been over and over
again reproached with the most greedy and bound-
less ambition, andwith a lust for domination which
nothing short of the empire of the whole World can
satiate. Robbers on land, pirates on the deep ;
crushing all rival interests by monopoly, and'when
the policy of monopoly is worn out, crushing all
rival interests still more successfully by free trade ;
plundering India, seeking for a footing in China,
first exhausting then deserting the West Indies,—no
object is too large for the ambition or too small for
the cupidity of perfidious Albion. The same maw
that has swallowed up the Empire of the Great
Mogul can condescend to make a meal on such
petty daintiss as Gibraltar, Malta, Corfu, and the
singularly hard and dry morsel of Perim. It is in
vain we protest that, if our censors have not outlived
the illusions of territorial ambition, at any rate we
have. Our censors do not believe in such modera-
tion, probably because they feel incapable of it
themselves, and cannot imagine how we cen be
proof to temptation which to them would be per-
fectly irresistible. When France is lavishing her
millions of treasure and thousands of valuable lives
to add to her dominions the poor and sandy wastes
of North Africa, or to subdue the fierce and blood-
thirsty savages who crowd her possessions in the
South Pacific ; when Spain, after having lost
during the present century the whole continent of
South America, and no inconsiderable portion of
the North, is seeking to indemnify herself by a
raid on the barbarous hordes of Mauritania ; when
Austria, with a bankrupt treasury and half-a-
dozen provinces on the point of rebellion, prefers
to encounter the ruin which stares her in the face
rather than abandon the alien province of Venetia,
the revenue of which is quite unequal to its extra
military expense—how can France, Spain, or Aus-
tria believe us when we tell them that we are sick
of territorial acquisition, that we would gladly
diminish the limits of our sway, and that we hold
our vast territories in a very different spirit from
that in which our ancestors acquired them ?
Yet we ought to be believed notwithstanding:
We disclaim conquest, not from any particular
disinterestedness, but because we have discovered a
simpler, a surer, and a more innocent way to na-
tional prosperity. We are the fortunate possessors
of an art of which, although we make no secret, no
other nation has proved able to avail itself. We
have shown that we can conquer, but so in its turn
has every people in Europe, from Sweden in the
north to Spain in the south. But that which we
have done, and which no othe; nation since the
days of ancient Greece has been able to do, is to
plant colonies, to raise up in distant landi commu-
nities which, secure under the aegis of oar power
from invasion or insult, devote their whole energies
to the arts of peace, and govern themselves by
spontaneous, choice, according to the laws and
institutions of the parent State. At a very small
expense of•money, and at no expense at all of blood,
we have placed in the Northern and Southern Tem-
perate 'Zones 'numerous communities whose free
commerce repays us it hundredfold the expenses of
their foundation, whose broad lands offer an asylum
to men whose enterprising spirit is discontented
with the slow progress that can be made in
an old and thicklypeopled country, and whose
successful settlers, returning home with accu-
mulated wealth, very perceptibly increase the
riches of the mother country. 'Why should we em-
bark in the uncertainties of war when we can
secure peaceful yet glorious triumphs as thew ?
We have given to our colonies the means of mak-
ing such laws as please them, we have relieved
them from all commercial restraints, and in great
measure from the necessity of incurring expendi-
ture for self-defence. With the English money
market to draw on for loans, with the English army
and navy to defend them from attack, they are
placed in a position as happy and as prosperous as
ever fell to the lot of any large number of the hu-
man race. We have given them, besides, perfect
religious equality. What wonder, then, if our colo-
nies have been able so far to outstrip communities
nursed in the doctrines of monopoly, of centralising
interference, and of intellectual and religious sub-
servience ?
As a signal instance of the success of this method
of colonisation we may point to our Australian
group of colonies, and more especially to that pro-
vince which has so far outstripped its neighbours
and competitors, the noble colony of Victoria. it
is now just 22 years since this colony was founded,
and the first kangaroo gave place to the inroad of
the first civilised man. The balance-sheet of the
colony for the year 1858 is now lying before us. The
receipts for that year amount in round numbers to
£3,000,000, the import duties alone amounting
to £1,318,000, the export duty on gold to
£316,000, the sales of public lands to £628,000,
the rent of public lands and licences of different
trades to £331,000, and the postage to £89,000.
It seems absolutely incredible that such a fabric
of prosperity can have, been raised in such a short
time by the entirely unaided exertions of a com-
munity a considerable portion of whom have been
brought to their present position by a voyage nearly
equalling in extent two-thirds of the diameter of
the globe, without pecuniary assistance from the
mother country, -and with nothing but their own
good sense and energy to guide them. It is indeed
impossible to say how much more prosperous Vic-
toria might have been had England more rigorously
abstained from interference with her concerns, had
she not by ill-advised meddling raised up within
the colony a land monopoly, and checked the pro-
gress of agricultural settlement by throwing diffi-
culties in the way of the acquisition of the soil.
This fatal legacy, of Imperial meddling still re-
mains, and it is indeed wonderful to think what
has been done in spite of so serious a drawback.
This revenue has been raised by taxes imposed
by the votes of a freely elected Assembly, and
will be appropriated in like manner. It is
pretty nearly equal, if we mistake not, to the
revenue extracted by the Papal Government from
three millions and upwards of unfortunate sub-
jects; but no part of it is raised by a lottery, and
no part of it is wasted on the disorderly police
misnamed the Papal Army. We very much doubt,
with all reverence be it spoken, whether the Pope
would expend the money as well as the Assem-
bly elected by the rude adventurers who have
crowded ,to this remote corner of the world.
£114,000 for education, £24,000 for scientific pur-
poses, £25,000 for sanitary improvements, £769,000
for useful public works, £25,000 towards the relief
of sufferers by the Sepoy mutiny, £7,000 for a pub-
lic library, £B,OOO for an University purely secular,
and, above all, a cash balance of £458,000, are items
of Victorian expenditure which might well make
infallibility blush, if infallibility 'had not long
lost the habit. Strange that it should be so easy
for a community consisting, for the most part,
of needy and adventurous exiles, to raise up in 20
years a fabric of prosperity which it would take the
successors of St. Peter at least a single generation
effectually to destroy.

THE OCEAN MAIL SERVICE.—SOUTHAMPTON,
Dee. 30.—The North German Lloyd screw steamship New
York, Captain H. J. Von Santen, sailed hence yesterday
for New York, with the German and English mails, about
130 passengers, and 1,300 tons of freight. On leaving the
New York off the Needles, Mr. James Bowyer, who had
piloted her out had a narrow escape from death a heavy sea
breaking his boat to pieces and knocking him with great
violence against the ship, but ultimately Mr. Bowyer and
both his men were rescued. The following steamships are
expected to arrive at this port during the next fortnight The China, Captain Cook, with Bombay mails, now duo ;
the Plata, Captain Weller, with the West India and Mexi-
can mails, expected hourly ; the Euxine, Captain Hall, with
the Peninsular mails, on Saturday'; the Bremen, Captain
Wessels, on the 4th proximo, from New,York, with mails
of the 24th inst. ; the Delta, Captain Black, with. the East
India and China mails, on the 4th; the Tyne, Captain
Rivett, with the Brazil and River Plate mails, on the sth ;
the Sultan, Captain Vincent, with the Peninsula mails, o
the 11th ; and the Pere, Captain T. Jamieson, with the
Australia and Bombay mails, on the 12th. The outward
steamers during the same period are as follow :—The
Parana, Captain Bevis, with the West India, Mexico, and
Pacific mails, leaves on the 2d ; the Ceylon, Captain Evans,
with the India and China mails, on the 4th ; the Phoebe,
Captain Clark, for the Cape of Good Hope, ,on the 4th,
calling at Plymouth for the mails ; the Teutonia, Captain
lleusen. for New York, on the 6th, with German and
English mails; the Tagus, Captain Hall, with mails for
Vigo, Oporto, and Lisbon, on the 7th ; the Oneida, Capt.
Leeds, with mails for the Brazils and River Plate, on the
9th; the Fulton, Capt. Wotton, for New York, on the 11th,
with French and English mails ; and the China, Capt. Cook,
with the Bombay and Australian mails, on the 12th.
MEXTENSIVE FlRE.—Yesterday morning a fire,
attended with great loss of property, broke out between the
hours of one and two o'clock on the premises of Mr. W.
Warren, linen draper, 209, Whitechapel-road. The fire
was not subdued until the premises were destroyed and t 1
adjoining houses considerably damaged. The cause is un-
known. The loss will fall on the Royal Elchaugo and
other fire offices.

ANOTHER ELOPEMENT.—We regret to have this
week to record the elopement of the wife of Mr. Smith Ban-
nerman (a gentleman of large property living at Ilunton,
near Maidstone), with the Rev. A., W. Green, curate to the
9 his return, from a
Rev. Canon Moore, at Hunton I It seems that the painful
fact was discovered by Mr. Bauirerinan
day's hunting, and there can be no douot that the elope-
ment had been planned many weeks before, and only put off
for a favourable opportunity. The guilty couple were traced
to Gravesend, but they had got four hours' start of their
pursuers, and Mr. Bannerman only learned that they had
crossed the water in a boat that had been off Gravesend for
some weeks. It is stated that they had been seen with a
brace of loaded pistols, as if determined upon extremeties in
case they had been'overtaken. The affair has occasioned the
most painful feeling among all classes of the community in
the neighbourhood where it occurred. The curate, Mr.
Green, had always been looked upon with respect for the
faithful discharge of his clerical duties, and Canon Moore,
the rector of Hunton, had a particular regard for him. The
lady has property in her own right amovntipg to £lOO,OOO.
—Kfnttsh QosertCl* 41YCNtUdaY