The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY'EVENING, MAY 21, 1859.

judgment to determine he moment when she ought
to assume the initiative in whatever course may be
definitively decided on General Willisen was
received with great disfinction, and dined with the
Emperor Francis Josepi.
The Commercial Ga:ette of Berlin says :-
"We know upon good authority that the Prince-
Regent has ordered ci•culars to be addressed to
the local authorities to secure horses for the army
in case it:should be molilised. The horses are to
be selected and markal at once, but returned to
their owners, who wil keep them until they are
wanted, but may not sell them under penalty of
100 thalers. All persois having horses are obliged
to bring them to the committee appointed to make
the choice."
The Suabian M'crcmy states that the Austrian
port of Pola is ecmpletely deserted. It is
considered the best mlitary port in Austria, and
the general opinion vas that the Austrian navy
and Lloyd's steamers would be placed in
safety there. It appears that Pola was aban-
doned because the fortifications were con-
structed by a French engineer, and it was feared
that the French Goverment might possess accurate
information as to all tie defences of the port.

MARSEILLES, MAY 19, 8.30 p.m.

The Descartes, which has just returned from
Genoa, is loading rEpidly with gun-limbers and
ammunition waggons, to sail to-night or early to•
morrow morning. The horses are also shipped at
the same time, with their drivers ; the gunners
appear to have gone in a separate vessel. The Ville
de Paris started recently; and several large steamers,
as well as sailing vessels, which were towed out to sea
by steamtugs, left to-day, heavily laden with artillery
stores, limbers, waggons, and drivers, train wag-
gons and their conductots, besides supplies of all de-
scriptions. The horses nearly always accompany the
limbers and waggons. The grain, forage, flour,
wine, and brandy, which are now being shipped,
are what have been collected from the Black Sea,
Egypt, Algiers, Spain, and France, during the last
four months. They have been stored in warehouses
in different parts of the town, and give curious evi-
dence as to the veracity of the official declarations,
made only a few weeks back, that France was not
arming, nor preparing for war. The limbers that
have passed through to-day are without their
pieces, which would lead one to suppose that they
were spare ones, intended to replace those that
might be damaged during the campaign, were it
not for the following circumstance :

Along the quays may be seen here and there
stout deal cases, carefully nailed up and branded
" Fragile ;" one part • is painted with the word
" Haut," and another " Bas," which is equivalent
to the recommendation. " This side upwards."
People naturally enough imagined that-they con-
tained dinner services, or china, or glass ornaments
of a frail nature, intended for the decoration of
the quarters to be occupied by the Emperor and
his Generals. The idea was strengthened by
seeing a few chairs and sofas, with the legs and
backs carefully swathed in packing, scattered
about. But in hauling up one of these cases
the sling broke, and it came down with a run
bursting the woodwork open, and revealing the
" fragile" contents to be a very formidable-looking
gun. This is only one of the many attempts made
by the authorities to mystify the public.
The siege fleet is fitting out with hot haste at
Toulon. Independently of screw liners and frigates
it is to consist of 10 screw gunboats, drawing very
little water, and intended to operate in the shal-
lows of the Adriatic. Each is to be armed with a
heavy gun, working on a pivot, on the fore part
of the deck, and behind a semicircular shield
of rolled iron plates, stout enough to resist the
heaviest shots, and so to protect the men work-
ing the gun. The vessels themselves are said
to be constructed of iron plates, possessing
the same force of resistance, so that they are, in
fact, shot-proof floating steam-batteries. It is diffi-
cult to ascertain the exact ealibre of the pivot guns,
but they are believed to be 50-pounders, similar to,
what have been of late years introduced into the
French navy. It-is also said, with what-truth I'
know not, that they are rifled ; if so, they will be
very formidable instruments of war, rendering the
land batteries and forts of Venice and the coast open
to attack with comparative impunity; for it will
be almost impossible to hit them from the shore, as
they will fight the gun steam on, and present
a small surface, which will be kept constantly
in motion. It appears pretty certain that both the
French army and navy are provided with rifled
guns of much larger calibre than the 4-pounders
mentioned in my letter of yesterday week. Five
of the gunboats are made so as to admit of their
being taken to pieces and conveyed overland, with
a view, it is asserted, of their being ultimately em-
ployed on the Lac de Garda, which forms a portion
of the Austrians' great line of defence, extending
from the famous rectangle of Mantua and Verona
to the Tyrol. Should the French be able to launch
the gunboats on the lake they would doubtless do
good service, but to get them there will be the
great difficulty, for they will have to pass through
the whole of the Austrian army, which occupies
the country between the lake and the shores of the
Adriatic.

The equipment of the fleet is proceeding with
such rapidity that merchant vessels are left without
crews, except the superior officers, or so short-
handed as to be unable to put to sea. The captains
are entering seamen of all nations, and in some
cases Englishmen. How far British seamen, who
enter French vessels employed in the conveyance of
munitions of war, will offend the Queen's declara-
tion of neutrality it will be for the authorities to
determine. But the men do not enter willingly.
Jack does not relish sailing on a French bottom,
nor obeying orders in a " foreign lingo ;" with
many of them, poor fellows, it is little better
than Hobson's choice. Marseilles is the chief
receptacle for English seamen who have left
their ships from illness or any other cause.
They gradually work their way down here, and
rarely find means of entering a homeward-bound.
Under these circumstances, if orders were sent out
here from the Admiralty to post notices of the
Queen's bounty at the different Consulates, accom-
panied by the despatch of a few small craft to
cruise from one port to another, I think it pro-
bable many able-bodied seamen and usealands
might be picked up, that a few weeks on board a
troinin,g ship at Malta would make into smart
smart menrof-w.ar's men.

A letter has been received in the town from a
sergeant of the 78th Regiment of Infantry, sta-
tionedat Gari, in which it is stated that the rains
ceased on the 12th, and that the French advanced
troops are within four or five hour; march of the
Austrians.

FRANCE.

PARIS, FRIDAY.

A Council of Ministers, at which the Empress
Regent presided, was held yesterday at the
Tuileries, Prince Jerome was present.

The Moniteur publishes a decree establishing a
Prize Court in Paris composed of the following
members :—M. Duvergier, Councillor of State,
President ; M. Bouree, Minister Plenipotentiary,
unemployed ; M. Quern, Commissary General of the
Navy ; M. de Largan, ex-Minister Plenipotentiary ;
Captain de Selva, of the navy ; and MM. Ernest
Baroche, and de l'Hopital, Masters of Requests at
the Council of State. M. de Clercq is to act as
Government Commissioner. The duties of this
court will be to decide on the validity of all prizes
taken by ships of war, and to decide all disputes
relative to the quality of neutral or enemy's ve3sels
wrecked or stranded on the French coast, and on
prizes carried into the ports of the French colonies.
The sittings are to be private, and a decision can
only be come to by the vote of five members. The
awards of the court c innot be carried into execu-
tion until one week after they have been officially
communicated to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs
and of Marine. The decisions of the court may be
referred to the Council of State either by the Go-
vernment Commissioner or by the parties interested,
within a delay of three months from the date of
notification. Foreign consular agents have the
power of making observations to the court in any