The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-25 00:00:00

TILE RED SEA.

• (From the Correspondent of the Times.)
ADEN, JULY 4.
Her Majesty's ship Furious returned from the
Mooshedjerah Reef on the 25th ult., bringing down
about 100 natives and a few Europeans belonging
to the Alma, between 400 and 500 bales of damaged
silk, and a variety of other articles which have been
saved from the wreck. Captain Osborn, however,
entertained no hope that the stranded ship would
ever be rescued from her position on the reef. The
day after the arrival of the Furious Brigadier Coghlan
despatched the Lady Canning on a similar errand,
and she returned on the Ist with 40 additional bales
of silk, 39 natives, and five Europeans. Lieut.
Peevor, who is in command, reports that the Alma
is irrecoverable.- She is cracked on the port side
just before the funnel, and the fissure was seven
inches wide when he left. He is also of opinion
that her bottom is torn out, and that she will in-
evitably go to pieces on the occurrence of the first
strong southerly gale. Capt. Henry and the other
officers of the ship, with part of the crew and ten
marines, left there by the Cyclops, will remain on
the reef until the decision of the Peninsular and
Oriental Company directors is known. Arrange-
ments have been made to keep them supplied with
water from Mocha, and Lieutenant Peevor, with
kindly foresight, took them up two bullocks and a
quantity of limes from the same place, which were
very acceptable. The thermometer on the rock fre-
quently stands at 105 deg. The Madras and Bom-
bay have called at Mooshedjerah since, and report
that the crack in the hull has widened considerably,
and that the stock of coal was being hauled out
through it. Brigadier Coghlan has further directed
all the Indian navy ships on the station to touch at
the reef, in their trips to and from the Red Sea,
while any of the crew remain there.
The missing Columbian, from Australia, has not
made her appearance yet, neither had she been
heard of at the Mauritius when the steamer Nep-
tune, which arrived here last night with the
mails, left that place. The Malta is still here dis-
abled, waiting for her new machinery. So
many accidents happening to our mail steamers
within so short a space of time might reasonably
be presumed to occasion great embarrassment to
the public generally, but there is an elasticity
about the Peninsular and Oriental `Companyis
arrangements which obviates such results. In the
present most unusual concurrence of ill-luck, the
only serious evils are the loss of the Alma and the
non-appearance of the Columbian, The Bombay

has taken on the mails to Australia which should
hate gone by the Malta, and the Can dia will re-
turn from Suez with the Calcutta mails in lieu of
the Alma; so that, beyond the drawbacks just
noticed, no delay will be experienced either by the
mails or passengers.
The Cyclops left the Mooshedjerah Reef on the
23d ult., and a telegram received here yesterday
from Suakin reported her safe arrival there. From
Suakin she will proceed to Cosseir to repair the
damage done to the cable there. The injury has
been ascertained, and it is confidently expected
that through communication between Aden and
Suez will be re-established before the end of this
month.

Adverting to the notices on Abyssinian affairs
contained in my last, I have now to add that au-
thentic information has just been received of
20,000 muskets and an immense supply of per-
cussion caps having been sent into the interior
from Mirsa Moobareck, an anchorage about 60
miles north of Massouah. The Governor of the
latter place having been apprized of the arrival,
directed that inquiries should be made as to the ob-
ject of so formidable a consignment, and forbade its
landing until permission was accorded ; but the sus-
picious cases had been 3espatched inland long before
the prohibitive order reached its destination.
Rumours are afloat of collusion in this matter. Be
that as it may, there can be no doubt that these
arms are intended for the King of Tigre's party,
that they were forwarded through Cairo, and that
they are important accompaniments of the scheme
which has been set on foot by certain individuals
in Europe and in Egypt to dethrone King Theo-
dorus. It is to be hoped that our new Minister for
Foreign Affairs will have his attention drawn to
this subject. Tigre and Gondar are intimately con-
nected with Egypt, and such church-militant, fili-
bustering expeditions may have other objects
besides that of forcibly converting the heretical
Abyssinians.

One would imagine from the warm remonstrances
contained in the extracts from the journal des
Debats given in your Paris correspondent's letter of
the 16th ult., that France had some notion of send-
ing a fleet into the Red Sea, which it was
feared would be arrested by the perfidious
English at Perim. I do not know from what
quarter his information is derived, but this
I do know, that the statements referred
to are utterly without foundation. ' If the
editor will take the trouble to read two letters pub-
lished on the 29th and 31st of May, 1858, he will
learn how the English became possessed of Perim,
to which they have certainly as good a claim as the
French have to Mayotte and several other snug
little places among the Comorines, where immense
quantities of materiel are being stored for the civi-
lizatlon, doubtless, of the peoples in those parts.
We know nothing of the Sultan of Raheita,
neither have we ever had any relations with him
about Perim ; and as for the greater Sultan of Con-
stantinople, we conceive that he has as much right
to the island as he has to the Isle of Man. Further,
" the flag of England floating on a fort" is, as re-
spects Perim, just as correct as the other misstate-
ments of the Vebats ; and the "interesting and sig-
nificant experiments in gunnery," reported to him
as having been carried on in the Straits of Babel-
mandeb in 1858, are purely mythical. The for-
midable " fort," moreover, is a little house, without
parapet or ditch, and the armament consists of 20
muskets and three jingalls,—not too much to pro-
tect the material and other preparations which are
being made for the erection of the projected light-
house from the plundering Arabs of these districts.
Want of masons, owing to the great demand for
such labour on the new railroads in India, has
hitherto prevented the commencement of that use-
ful work. So great, indeed, is the difficulty expe-
rienced in this respect that the barracks at Aden
are at a standstill on that account alone. I hope,
therefore, that when the Debats next deems it a
duty to report on Perim " to France and Europe,"
the editor will be at some pains to test beforehand
the trustworthiness of his informants.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE
NEAPOLITAN EXILES FUND.

The committee formed for the collection and ap-
plication of a fund for the relief of the 66 Neapo-
litan exiles, who, after ten years' imprisonment in
the dungeons of Naples, were landed in Ireland on
the 6th of March last, have now to report the entire
amount generously subscribed, and the principle
and details of its distribution.

The object proposed by the committee was pub-
licly announced, immediately after their first meet-
ing, when so much had been ascertained of the cir-
cumstances of the exiles as that all were middle-
aged or old men • that the most part were enfeebled
and worn out by their cruel imprisonment ; that SOMP
were confirmed invalids ; that all were ignor nt of
our language, and nearly all were destitute. Such
being the case, the committee proposed to collect
such a sum as might be sufficient, not merely to
maintain frugally these men (very many of them
gentlemen by birth and education, and all of unim-
peachable character), until they should have some-
what recovered from the effects of their long and
unmerited suffering, but afterwards to afford to
each, according to his previous avocations and con-
dition, and his present necessities, such means of
starting in life afresh, either in this country or
abroad, as might render available for his future
support the talents and energies still left to him.
These announced intentions, in so far as they were
found practicable, have been strictly carried out.
,The subscription has realised L 10,760 Os. 9d. But
as it was necessary, before the entire amount could
be even guessed at, to begin the dittribution,
the latter had to be regulated from time to time
according to the sum which it seemed reasonable to
expect might finally be obtained ; and several large
contributions having come in towards the close, the
committee were enabled, even then, to make
material additions to the individual sums appro.-,
priated in their plan of relief.
From the £10,760 Os. 9d. collected, a deduction
of £1,302 is to be made under the head of expenses;
but in addition to such costs herein, incurre?.
strictly in collection, as the advertising of lists
of subscriptions, the printing and lithographing of
circulars, the employment of clerks and messengers,
the rent of committee-rooms, and payments for
stationery, postages, &C., this general sum of £1,302
includes the travelling and hotel expenses of the
majority of the exiles on their first arrival, the
necessary payments for interpreters and guides,
and, in some instances, small extra allowances
which circumstances rendered necessary.
The amount for distribution, therefore, is to be
stated as £9,458 Os. 9d., and from the numt er of
the recipients two of the exiles are to be excepted.
The Baron Poerio and M. Schiavoni, having some
means of their own, declined to receive any part of
the fund, in the application of which to the wants
of their fellow sufferers they took throughout the
deepest interest. The exiles assisted are in num-
ber 64.
The first provision made was for immediate
wants. To each person upon arrival £4 was
given for current expenses of living, and £5 for
clothing. The committee then at once turned their
attention to such arrangements as might ren-
der most perminently useful to each his share
in whatever sum sho.ild ultimately be realized ;
and as it was.evident that speedy employment for
so many persons was not likely to be procured in
this country, and that their requirements and com-
forts would be most readily and cheaply supplied on
the continent, the committee informed them that,
upon any one giving-intimation of a desire to quit
England for a specified place, £lO for travelling ex-
penses would be paid him, and, upon his sending
notice to the committee of his arrival at the place
selected, a further sum of £l2 would be remitted
for immediate necessities. Within a few weeks a
large majority of the exiles had availed themselves
of this arrangement.
The subscription had meanwhile been making
satisfactory progress; and when the committee had
no longer reason to doubt that a stated sum would
be certainly forthcoming, it was resolved to allot
to the exiles, in addition to the payments as above,
such respective portions of what remained of the
entire amount as each might seem fairly entitled
to. With this view their positions in life and other
particulars had to be taken into special considera-
tion; and it was resolved to divide and d:stribute
the amount under four classes, proportioned to the
social condition and circumstances of the exiles re-
spectively. In the case of each individual, the
most minute and careful inquiry was then made ;
and, according to the class in which it was found
manifestly most just to place him, he became en-
titled to £5O, to £lOO, to £l5O, or to £250. Of the
amounts so awarded, four were in the first or
highest class, nine in the second, 30 in the third,
and 21 in the fourth.
By the time the allotment had taken place, how-
ever, an appeal of the committee for further sub-
scriptions, publicly made by their chairman, Lord
Shaftesbury, had been so generously met, that they
found at their disposal a considerable further sum ;
and they were enabled to give effect to a sugges-
tion urgently pressed upon them by the committees
of some of the larger towns, whose exertions had
materially contributed to the success of the fund.
This was, to carry out still more completely the
principle of relief already acted upon, by setting
apart additional allowances for the-exiles who had
families, and for those who were advanced in years.
Gladly adopting the suggestion, the committee
assigned an additional £lO, in some few cases £l5,
to each child ; and to each exile over 59 years of
age, £lO for every year after he had entered his
60th.

The committee have moreover to add, that when
the subscription finally had closed they were in a

position still to enlarge the sums thus successively
apportioned, by a payment of 20 per cent. upon the
entire receipts of each person ; the effect of which
may be illustrated by the instance of one of the
exiles in the fourth class, to whom originally only
£5O had been assigned, but who, happening to be
62 years old, and the father of two children; re-
ceived ultimately £l2O.
Gratefully acknowledging, in conclusion, the
ample means thus afforded them of giving practical
expression to the public feeling for the Neapolitan
exiles, the committee have the greatest pleasure in
stating that the conduct of these gentlemen, in re-
ference to all the questions that arose in the pro-
gress of the subscription, has been in no respect
unworthy of the sympathy their misfortunes have
awakened. _ _

By order of the Committee,
SHAFTESBURY, Chairman.
A. KINNAIRD, Treasurer.
A. PANIZZI, Hon. Sec.

The accounts of the fund have been regularly'
audited from time to time by the Recorder of Lon-
don and Mr. M. J. Higgins, and as soon as all the
vouchers shall have been received from abroad a
final audit will take place, and the statement
thereof will be published in the newspapers.
118, Pall-mall, S.W., July 23.

LIIT ERATUBB.

Helen Lindsay : or The Trial of Faith. By a
Clergyman's Daughter. 2 vols. Hurst and

Blackett.

There is much to attract in this story from its
genuine earnestness, and it commands respect from
the admirable principles it inculcates. There is a
life-like description, in George Weston, of the fatal
effects of evil companions in youth, and the sad re-
sults that too ofen attend an ill-advised course of
study on serious subjects. Important as such facts
are, and ably as they have been delineated, it is not
with these that we have so much to do, as with the
trials of Helen. She was the daughter of a wealthy'
man, and at the commencement of her career all
seemed to smile upon her. As frequently occurs,
however, there was a dark and dreary passage be-
fore her, and all at once her troubles came. It was
well for her that in the hey-day of her prosperity,
she had learned to dwell on the only sure source of
happiness, so that when her worldly prospects
failed, and her hopes of happiness were cruelly sub-
verted, she was enabled to battle courageously with
the storm of adverse fate, and to meet with resigna-
tion the sharper sting of hope deferred. There could
be no greater trial, for one so true as Helen, than
to entertain doubts of the object of her
affections, but when those doubts involved
questions of vital importance to the inte-
rests of religion, it may be imagined what she
had to endure. In the trying scenes that followed
on the discovery of Weston's atheistical doctrines
the authoress displays great skill ; she does not
exaggerate and make Weston appear intolerably
bad, or Helen seem a miracle of faith, but she fairly
represents them. He is shown as a man of excel-
lent intentions, but as one who has been led astray
by erroneous notions, and, wrapt in the mysticism
of abstruse ideas, has lost sight of the true land-
marks by which to steer his course. She is fairly
represented as a passionate and wayward girl gra-
dually toning down into a reflective woman, and
led to contemplate more attentively the beauties of
the faith she professes. Shortly after she has been
engaged to Weston she is informed of his lament-
able unbelief, and the struggle to renounce him was
a severe one. It was done, and they parted. Her
sufferings were great for a time, but in new scenes
she had a chance of regaining an outward calm-
The interest of the story from thence remains with
Weston, as it is shadowed forth in a brief but im-
pressive manner how, under a pure influence, his
natural good feelings emancipated themselves from
the thraldom in which they were held. It is
touching episode in which his conversion is related.
There is something solemn in the idea suggested
of a little child being the means of restoring the
wanderer to the fold from which he bad strayed.
The few but striking dialogues that took place on
the vessel in which Weston met with his blessed
young friend are replete with interest; and when be
was called to read the impressive words that con-
signed her body to the deep till the sea should
give up its dead, he felt the first delight of his
newly regained faith in the conviction that of such
was the kingdom of heaven. After so many trials
Weston and Helen could not meet with the bright-
ness of undimmed spirits, or the elasticity of hopeful
youth ; but they were better prepared to face a life
of care on their second engagement than on their
first, and those who have followed their weary'
way, and watched the sharp struggles, and heavy
calamities which they have had to encounter will
rejoice to find they had at last entered upon a
serener course. In this narrative some of the
secondary characters are well described. Mrs.
Norton, the governess of Helen, is a model of piety
and unobtrusive kindness. Her services to Helen
were of great benefit to her, and it was mainly
through her instrumentality that the distracted
girl was enabled to go through her heavy task.
Mr. Weston, George's father, is an instance of s
good. man making goodness disagreeable by his
harshness, and thus rendering miserable the Ves
of all around him. Had he felt half the force of
the truths he preached to others his son would
never have made that grievous error which
led to his renouncing the church of which his
father was a minister. On the whole this story
will be found well deserving of perusal, and all
must be impressed with its lofty aim, and pure per'
pose, while they must acknowledge its object ha°
been attained.

The Vicissitudes of Italy since the Congress of

'Vienna. By A. L. Gretton. Routledge.

At the present moment, when the public Elden'
tion is directed so earnestly to the affairs of the
Italian peninsula, when its divisions and its dynaer,
ties, its past and its future, are the theme of daily
discussion, a little volume like the one before us lei
of the greatest value. It sets forth clearly an
succinctly the chain of events in Italy since the
Congress of Vienna, dwelling especially on the oe:
currences of the last twelve years. While me"
persons are acquainted with tbe outlines of the
history of the Italian revolution of 1848, few are
familiar with the details which recent events ha"
elevated into importance. Such a work as the pre:
sent, therefore, which enables them to refresh their
recollection, and is readily available for reference:
will be of great service. The author, who is a'
present in Italy, published part of this work in the
British and Foreign Evangelical _Review, in the
form of an analysis of . Ranalli's Istoric Italians.
He has since been urged by some Italian friends to
extend and enlarge his narrative, bringing it down
to the present day. One of them, who had visited,
Engla
wouldtoldnd, read
himtihtlt
adding, his work"
ymouusrt
cboeunshtroyrmt,
eolif
nobody
have. too many books to take up their attentioo
upon subjects that immediately concern them, to
have much time to bestow on the lengthy recital
of our misfortunes.' At the present epoch, how'
ever, when these misfortunes are awakening weir!
than usual sympathy, the title of this work is likevi
to attract immediate attention. The portraits
Count Cavour and the Marquis D'Azeglio are Pre
fixed to thevolume, showing, in their respective /ea,'
tures, the firm sense and practical power of the title
financier and man of science, contrasted with
the
more ,imaginative countenance of the author an
artist. The careers of these eminent men, arldfo
many others, are interpolated, and the reader
is anxious to be thoroughly conversant with the
history of Italy during the last few years, shell
immediately avail himself of this brief but comPre'
hensive treatise.

Lord Byron's Poetical Works. Part VI. Murrill'
The popular edition of Lord Byron's works 13LI'g
reached the sixth part, and will consequently a
completed in three months time. The type $120,,
paper are both of excellent quality, and the nub
rous admirers of the poet will thus have an orpo-t
tunity of obtaining a complete set of his works v'
a very moderate sum.

The Art Journal. No. LV. Hall and Virtue!

.
The first of the large engravings in this ntn, u"
of the Art Journal represents the " Alms deeds „f
Dorcas," and is taken from Mr. Dobson's pletil
in the Royal Collection. The second is entitle..
" Prayer in the Tyrol," and is engraved frog
picture by P. Foltz, also in the Royal Collectli
Two peasant women are kneeling before a 0, Tt
cross in the mountains ; the water is seen belp
them, while the rugged rocks around seem scarc4lo
to offer. footing to the ibex or the chamois.
third plate is engraved by W. Roffe, from a be, tip
tiful figure entitled "Purity," from the arbscia
chisel of Mr. Matthew Noble. The grace 4.10-it
ideality of the figure are all that might be arl„i.
pated from a sculptor possessed of so much inial're
nation and refinement. The illustrated articles ar,
as usual one of the chief attractions of the nu iv,
ber. Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall's " Excursions
South Wales" are continued, with numerous char
ing vignettes. Mr. Redgrave's artistic caree.rtio,
considered in the forty-fifth number of Brit
Artists, and some samples of his delightful 1u7,4,
stapes are given. Mr. Walter Thornbury ecT,io
butes a graphic 'prose sketch of Reynolds at
rest,
easel; and there are various other papers of late
and ability.

The Bishop of Exeter (says the St:Older 111400111;
Herald) is now "in residence" at the College, nnr„stio4
His lordship appears to be in the enjoyment of DiS
rood health, and takes daily carriage exercise.