The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-14 00:00:00

THE TRIP OF H. M. S. CURACOA TO
AMERICA.
We have been favoured with the following
extract from- a private letter, dated April 18 :
"Annapolis, U.S., April 18.
" Accoed:ng to promise I now sit down to try and give
you a small oncennt of our proceedings since we left Ply-
mouth insipid and uninteresting as they are. On the 22d
February, having taken Lord Lyons and his suite on board,
we started for Washington. Steaming along the misty in-
clement shores of the west country, and through the bois-
terous chops; we shaped our course to the south, the
weather now becoming deliciously warm and pleasant.
After a week's occasionally steaming- and sailing, we came
to an anchor at Madeira. I was greatly surprised at the
altered appearance of this island; the mountains, instead'
of being clothed in the rich Irish looking verdure, which I
formerly remarked and admired, now seemed parched, arid,
and barren looking, owing, I suppose to the failure of the
' wine-crepe— the chief cultivation on the island now
being made, I understand, for the regeneration of the grape,
the falling off of which, as well as the visitors, the natives
loudly complain of. There were about 200 invalids on the
island then, chiefly ladies, many of whom that insidiously
fatal scourge, 'phthisis; had set its seal upon. It made
one melancholy to see them riding about on mokes'—so
delicately fair and pallid, and so sadly in contrast with
the,bronzed and swarthy appearance of the alliaceously,
redolent, soap-and-water abhorrent Portuguese. Having
coaled, and moderately participated of the liquor of
the country, and hospitality of the inhabitants, we
again proceeded to sea—circling away to the south,
far into the regions of flying fish, white ducks,' and
sangaree, in the hopes of falling in with the south-
easterly ' trades,' the tail end of which gently fanned
our sails for three weeks, as far as Bermuda, which, as a
matter of course, we entered and left in a gale of wind.
Between these islands and• the Chesapeake' we encoun-
tered strong north-veesterly gales, and after a tedious but
pleasant passage of sis. weeks from England, we came to an
anchor off Annapolis. The following morning Lord Lyons
disembarked, the frigate manning yards and firing a salute
of 17 guns. On his lordship landing a salute was also fired
from the battery at the naval academy at Annapolis, the
principal men of this ancient little place presenting him with
an address -and invitation to a soiree, which, however, his
lordship declined, and started immediately for Washington.
The trial of ' Senator Sickles' for taking the trifling
poetical licence bf riddling sleith a revolver Attorney-
General Key,' for-raying rather marked attention to his
wife, forms the chief topic of scandal and conversation at
Washington, as welt as pabulane for the penny-a-liners
in gexeral. The popular -feeling in favour of Sickles is so
great that the enlightened jury' have already formed an
opinion,' i.e., that they should be lynched' if they were
to convict him ; while on the other hand, the, friends of
Key' swear they shall shoot him in case of an acquittal.
Washington is a large, strwr?-lin,r, though net very populous
city; the streets are vsi uu7)aved avenues, with
trees on each side, giving the place quite a rural ap-
pearance ; there are cease fine public buildings, the capitol
being'the largest and most prettily situated. The ladies,
I must say, are rather good-looking, but the male por-
tion of the population are about as sinister and reckless-
looking a set of desperadoes as I have ever seen. Strange
to say, though gencraily well dressed, the, all sport most
infern-illy-battered, outlandish-looking 'tiles,' being, in
fact, shocking 'bad hats' in .every sense of the word. I
have made a pilgrimage' to all the places, and seen all the
relics so interesting to travellers : the tree under which Mr.
Key was shot ; the chair and desk where Senator Sumner
was cow 'skinned in Congress, also, the very identical
stone spittoon which the venerable South States member,
with such admirable presence of mind, hurled among the
irate and riled members during the late row in the Con-
gress, :thereby quelling the disturbance and establishing
the pe4co of the assembly. I have not seen one soldier,
policeman, or peace officer, since I came here. • Everyone
goes about armed to the teeth, even to 'our contractor; a
fine specimen of a free and independent American, who
speaksnof the President familiarly, as Jim -Bee,' delivers
his tobacco juice on the carpet with the force and accuracy
of a syringe, and 'reckons that no tarnation coon or critter
never 'found him Without his doceymints; the aforesaid
documents being a six-barreled 'shooter' and a formidable
bowie-knife, ingeniously- secured in a pocket cunningly con_
trived en the inside of his coat, extending- from the nape of
the neek to the small of his back: Lord and Lady Napier
have been staying at Annapolis for some time. They
intend to embark to-morrow (19th), when we Shall set out
for Old England, and in a month or so you may-expect txs
at Plymouth again, Mr. Irvine, the Secretary of ..,ega-
ton, who came out with Lord Lyons, returned again in the j
Curaeoa on account of ill-health."—Pleanottek Maid.

THE ARMY.

The- Commander-in-Chief, his Royal Highness
the Duke of Cambridge, arrived at Bates's Royal
Hotel,•Plymouth, ea Wednesday night, and early
on Thursday-- morning proceeded to the Brick--field
at DevOn port, where the fol low ing forces were assem-
Wed —viz.. a field battery of Artillery, commanded
• by Major Hawkins ; the second battalion of the 17th
Regim,nt, under Col. IL D. Crofton ; Royal Ma-
rines, Col. Mitchell ; 96th Regiment, Lieut.-Col. E.
W. Seovell ; and the 2d Warwick Militia, com-
manded by Major E. Galion. The Duke of Cani-
bridge, was attended by Major-Gen. G. M. Eden,
Commander-in-Chief of the Western Division ;
Major-Gen. Foster, D.A.G.;. COT. Pester, Royal Ar-
tillery ; LOrdßUrghersh;A.D.C.; 'Col, Crofton,l7th;
Col.-Commandant Dwyer, Royal Marines ; Col.
Wright, Royal Engineers; Vi:iecunt Valletort, Capt.
of Cornwall Rangers, and several other officers
The field battery was not detained long, and the
horses did not excite the Duke's strong admiration.
'the chief cause of the inspection seemed to be the
actual condition of the 9,6 th Regiment, and the dis-
eiphne-and proficiency of the 17th, a newly raised
battalion which has for some time been expecting
orders for kldershott. His Royal Highness was
received by
Ituhaerttroons formed in 'line of contiguous
columns at
marched past in:o:peconndand
distance, and after saluting they
quarter-distance column
in quick time.
, reformed line of contiguous
- columns at quarter
coed
battalion of the distanceil and advanced—,the se-
Col-uh Regiment directing.
Third, formed mass of
columns the 96th Regi-;
went. Fourth, wheeled intelogedifnmeng contiguous
.. columns as before:Fifth,chan
Wheel,
and countermarch of subdivisions round the
Sixth, advanced, halted, and formed squaree
front companies of the battalions. Seventh, re-
formed e
quarter-distance column and wheeled to the