The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-04 00:00:00

VALPARAISO.

A Valparaiso correspondent writes :—" If we are
to believe what everybody says and every one is
talking about, we are undoubtedly approaching a

crisis, and the immunity which Chili has enjoyed
since 1851 from the evils of revolutirns is about
drawing to a close.
" The fact that the spirit of revolution is rife
throughout the whole country is evident to all.
The Government received information from Copiapo
on February 12 of the revolt of the police of that
place, and the complete overthrow e.nd even im-
prisonment of some of the Government officers.
The opposition party, or revolutionists, headed by
one of the Gallo family, achieved an easy and
bloodless conquest. The Government having no
troops there, the hero took uninterrupted and
quiet possession of the public buildings and
palace, and at once proclaimed himself intendente
of the province. This news you can well imagine
created some commotion at Santiago, and indeed
throughout the country, and it spread like light-
ning over every portion from Atacama to Chiloe.
The Esmeralda, the only available vessel in the
Chilian navy, was ordered in immediate readiness,
and on the morning of the 13th she left for Caldera.
She had on board about 300 troops, a portion of
whom were intended for Coquimbo, at which port
she would touch and close it against commerce.
Caldera likewise is to be put under blockade until
the difficulties are terminated. No vessels, not even
the mail steamers, will be allowed to enter. The
a
steamer which leaves to-day had on board freight
for those places,
but they
is takingthey very decided
were obliged
tland
Every one leaving the country now is required to
procure a passport.
" The Government
active measures to suppress this attempt at revolu-
tionising the country, and it is thought that the
d and i t.
leaders will be dealt with in the most summary.
manner if captured.
" The feeling is decidedly in favour of the Govern-
ment—at least as far as can be observed in this
city, particularly among the foreigners. The in-
fluence of this class, which is known to be nonosed
to all revolts and revolutions, operates as r 04,
upon the malcontents of this portion

republic.
" The Government is more apprehensive of the
south, for in all previous revolutions the strongest
and most determined resistance was made by the
southern opposition—it is the stronghold of the
enemy. They have resources and means, and it is
known that a large amount of arms and ammuni-
tion was surreptitiously conveyed some weeks since
from this port to Conception.
" The whole republic, with the exception of Val-
divia and Chiloe, is declared officially in a state of
siege. Talcahuano, or rather the port and harbour
of Conception, will be, it is thought, blockaded as
soon as the Government can secure a vessel for that
purpose.
" It was also currently reported that this port is
to be blockaded also. This I doubt, for Ido not see
the necessity. We hear and read of revolutions—
it is the theme of conversation from the autocrat
of commerce down to his apple vending colleague
in the market ; but there arc many sceptics who
won't believe in insurrections until they smell
powder or taste blood, while there arc others whoso
fears have led them to all sorts of precautionary
measures and to perform many foolish things.
" The only thing which looked at all like war
was the embarkation of the troops a few days since,
The scene was very lively and exciting; the Ex-
change rooms, which overlooked the mole, the
point of embarkation, were crowded for seven hours
with merchants who were apparently glad of an
excuse to get away from their dull counting rooms.
I mention this fact to show the condition of mer-
cantile matters here, and I need not add that we
have but little hope of an improvement,"
The following is from the Panama Star and
Herald correspondent at Callao :
" CALLAO, Jan. 27.

"In my last 1 wrote you that the bone of con-
tention between the Government and the people
(doors and windows) was announced to be landed
on the following day at all risks, but were not, and
for every day for ten days afterwards it was the
same; at last some troops arrived from the south,
and finally they were landed just as quietly as any
other goods have been; the Government have made
a great number of arrests on suspicion, and at the
present moment everything is still, but this unfor-
tunate republic is not.out of trouble. The French
Minister, Senot Huet, has hauled down his flag and
suspended all diplomatic relations with this one
man's government, and it is to be regretted that
other Ministers don't follow suit, with one hundred
times more reason than Senot Huet, and all foreign-
ers here justify him in the course. It appears that
a French subject some time ago was thrown into
prison and brutally treated ; he claimed damages,
and the Minister backed up his claim, and the coffee-
coloured Cabinet refused to admit it. Some sharp
language passed between the French and Peruvian
Ministers, which resulted as follows :—The Peru-
vian resigned, and the Frenchman hauled down his
flag. On the following day the French admiral
sent in bis ultimatum to General Castilla, who
played the same Jenny Twitcher dodge' with him
as he did with the American Minister in the Lizzie
Thomson and Georgina cases, viz., referring to
their Government at home. By this trick Castilla
gains time, and humbugs the Ministers. One
thing, however, is quite certain, Old Boots is going
to have a troublesome Administration—one that he
is not equal to. At this present moment an impor-
tant question has been raised by the importing
houses here, and it is reported that they have com-
bined to break up the present currency. A brief
sketch of the cause, and what is intended, will not
be out of place here.
" It is a well known fact that. the Peruvian Go-
vernment has at all times done its best to prevent
the exportation of its currency ; but all to no avail,
the freight merchants have sent it all out of the
country, and introduced the Bolivian currency.
The Government, finding all its own currency gone
to assist commerce, received it at the custom-house
and other public offices at its recognised value, and
not its intrinsic, and the result is, that there is no
other currency in the country. The merchants
cannot remit it, and they now try to throw the loss
upon the people, or involve the Government in the
matter, first by raising the price of goods, and then
putting exchange at 33. pence in the dollar.
" The greater part of the American fleet had
arrived at Montevideo, in which port they were
placed in quarantine, on account of having touched
at Rio Janeiro.
" From Peru the news continues anything but
satisfactory. In that republic, also dissatisfaction
is spreading, and every day tends more to endanger
the Government of Castilla. We are likely very
soon to hear of a general outbreak.
" The Froich Minister at Lima, on account of
the arbitrary imprisonment of a French subject,
M. Pablo Durhim, has hauled down his flag, and
withdrawn the Ministerial arms from his door,
and gone on board the frigate Andromede, lying. in
ithe bay of Callao. The doors and windows which
created such a row have at length been landed and
taken to Lima and Chorilla.
"Don Jesus Elias, son of Don Dominmo, was
imprisoned, but afterwards released on condition
that he would leave the country.
" Bolivia is in a very disturbed state. General
Cordova had advanced with a force on La Paz, and
President Linares had retired to Cochabamba with
his army.
Ecuador is getting more deeply involved with
Peru, the squadron of the latter country having
left Puna and anchored in the front of the city of
Guayaquil, with the intention, doubtless, of bom-
barding, should the slightest affront be offered, to
which effect the commander of the fleet had notified
the governor of the town."

The company's steam-shipsNV ere stationed as fol-
lows
:—The W
Trent, Capt. oolcott, on Spanish
Main route ; the Dee, Capt. Reeks, at St. Thomas,
from Spanish Main ; the Medway, Capt. Hole, at
St. Thomas ; the Clyde, Capt. Heenan, at St.
Thomas, from Gulf of Mexico ; the Conway, Capt.
Moir, at St. Thomas, from Jamaica ; and the Eagle,
Capt. Hammack, at Jamaica.
STATIONS OF HER MAJESTY'S SHIPS.—The Indus
and Atalanta, at Trinidad; the Tartar, Arachne,
and Devastation, in the Gulf of Mexico ; and the
Caesar, Diadem, and Valorous, at Greytown. All
but the Caesar are expected to be at Jamaica to
meet the admiral the first week in March.

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.—A Parliamentary return
has just issued showing the number of accidents to railway
trains in England, Wales Scotland, and Ireland, and of
persons killed and injured thereby, during the half-year
ended Dec. 31 P5B. The number of accidents was 29 ; of
passengers killed, 15; and injured, 322. There were also
7 servants of companies killed and 21 injured ; and one
person killed and another injured who were neither passen-
gers nor servants of companies. The total killed was 23,
and injured 344.
[ApvEwrisEmLNTl.—Holloway's Ointment an
Wdilliams , Pills
again successful in Curing a Bad e.
of Dylife Mines, Machynlleth, states that a friend of his in
Flintshiro suffered for two years with a dreadful bad leg,
which defied the efforts of several persons to cure, notwith-
standing various means were tried ; he endured excruciat-
ing pain for several months. A friend casually paying him
a visit, recommended him to use Holloway's Ointment and
Pills, from the effects of which a change for the better was
quickly produced, and ultimately his leg was soundly cured.
He now enjoys excellent health. Mr. Williams will satisfy
any party of the truth of this statement, which the subject
himself with heartfelt gratitude will be too happy to verify.

There is no more melanch,
a large public clock which w
London appears to -be the cm
clock at Westminster, the largest a fi. _ 01.
kind in the world, and for the regular working
of which the public have waited so long and pa-
tiently in vain. To those who pass and repass the
tower, and who have gazed any time these months
past upon the motionless hands of the dials, it may
appear a very natural idea that the clock is in fault,
and won't go. This, however, is not the true state
of the case, the real fact being that it has not come,
and is not in the tower at all. It is necessary to
speak of this clock with considerable caution, for
probably since time began no horological piece of
Mechanism of the kind has ever given rise to so
many dissensions and cabals. Its history now ex-
tends over a period of more than 15 years, and dur-
ing that time it has been the subject of no less than
four official correspondences published in parlia-
mentary papers, as well as legal opinions, petitions,
resignations, and intrigues innumerable. Involved
in the history of the clock is that of the great bell
and its four chiming satellites, and during the long
dispute which at one time waged between the
Board of Works and Mr. Denison, and which in
some mysterious manner seemed to involve all who
approached the subject with either advice or assis-
tance, the building of the clock tower went steadily
forward. In this long crisis either the clock shaft
of the tower was built too Small for the bell or the
bell was made too large for the clock, for when the
dimensions of the first Big Ben were fixed it was
suddenly discovered that he could only be got up
the tower on his side, a mode of ascent that mate-
rially increased the risk and difficulty of getting
him up at all. Every one knows how the first Big
Ben came to an untimely end and the disputes
to which that disappointment gave rise: The clock
was then ready, and going well in Mr. Dent's fac-
tory by the river side; but, as it was to be stationed
over the clock-shaft through which the bells were
to pass up, it could not, of course, be fixed till Ben's
successor had been recast and was securely hung in
the belfry above. This was at last successfully
effected,but,as the impression has gone abroad that
the delay in fixing the clock no arises front the
great bell requiring additional supports, it may be
as well to state the manner in which Ben is sup-
ported, to show that, from whatever else it pro-
c,-eds, it is not due to this. Above the clock room,
wher,, 4' .c only show the public that

sow,: is losing a great deal of time, is
the bell chamber. The mechanism by which the
bells are hung is very simple, vet admirably
adapted to its purpose. A massive collaeof wrougft-
iron hoiler plate goes round the chamber, about 14
feet from the floor, and two from the side walls.
This is supported by 12 cast-iron standards—two
at each corner, and a main beam in each side of the
tower, and each of these, resting in the masonry of
the walls, leans out at an inclination of about 15
degrees to meet and support the collar. Pads of vul-
canised India rubber between the collar and the
standards check vibration to a certain extent, while
iron collars at the base of the standards themselves
allow the whole frame to play freely. In order to
prevent the great weight on the standards thrust-
ing the walls outwards, the ends of all are firmly
bound together crosswise with wrought-iron tie-
rods of great strength. Crossing the collar at right
angles, and firmly bolted to it are two massive
wrought-iron beams, one of which has been tested
to 75 tons weight, and only deflected the fifth of
an inch. To this the great bell is bolted, and is as
rigid as part of the tower itself, a manner of fixing
it which is declared by all to, be not only injudi-
cious, but even injurious, both to the tone of the
bell and the stability of its supports. Mr. Denison
is, no doubt, one of the best judges of what a bell
should be in regard to tone, thickness, shape, &c.,
but his notions of bellhanging seem to be scarcely
so developed, or else the great bell would never
have been bolted up in the rigid manner in which
it is hung at present. All sound is vibration, and,
of course, this manner of rigid fastening stops one
half of it, and to this circumstance is it attributed
that the full tone of the great bell has never been
elicited since it was so screwed up. Certainly_ its
notes is not now equal to that which it gave forth
when suspended in the bell foundry of Messrs.
Mears, at Whitechapel. This method of hanging
also caused other inconveniences. When its tune
was tried in November last the bell, when struck,
acted like a lever upon the collar to which it was
bolted, and made both that and the cast-iron
standards work to a degree that was unpleasant to
witness. When the clapper was struck in a direc-
tion parallel with the main beam the concussion
was even worse, and made the standards vibrate in
the centre like tightemed cords. it was then at
once resolved to put additional supports to the
iron framework, and this has accordingly been done
by bolting in wrought-iron brackets between the
collar and the standards so as to bing the whole
together and reduce the vibration. At no time,
however, did this work, which was done in the bell
chamber above the clock room, at all interfere with
the clock going up. Why it has not been fixed long
before this none can tell, for whatever secret
there is about it is locked in the breast of Mr.
Denison. One fact, however, is well known, and
that is, that the clock room is and has been
ready for the reception of the clock since last
Christmas, but still the clock is not there. The
weight of the clappers, too, for the quarter bells,
it is said, has not been decided on, or the manner
in which the great clock is to be wound, unless by
hand labour. In the meantime harrowing rumours
arc afloat respecting the clock itself, and the small
probability there is that it will be fixed even for
some time yet to come. Only three things are
known beyond a doubt—namely, that the clock
room is ready, the clock ought to there, and it is not
there. Both Mr. Denison and Mr. Dent, as great
clockmakers, should know, above all other men,
that there is no excuse for waste of time ; and some
supporter of punctuality in the House of Commons
may now fairly ask how it is 'that the clock, which,
some two years since, was going regularly in Mr.
Dent's -factory, is not ready to do its duties, when
it is so much wanted in Palace-yard.