The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONEON, MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 1, 1857

mand of Lieut. Davies to cut her out. When about
10 yards from the junk a battery, which had up to
that time reserve its fire, opened upon the advanc-
ing boacs with grape and canister. Lieut. Davies
immediately ordered the second cutter and gig,
under command of Lieut. Philbrick, to take pos-
session of the junk. whilst he proceeded with the
launch and first cutter to storm the battery. The
Chinese stood well to their guns whilst the party
were wading on shore, wounding Mr. Williams,
the purser (a volunteer), and three seamen, severely.
A volley of musketry, however, dispersed them,
and the party took possession of the battery, and
held it until the junk was observed to be under
weigh, when they embarked and assisted to tow her
out. During this time three other batteries kept
up a heavy fire on the junk and the two boats
towing her, which was returned by the junk's guns
and with small arms. Unfortunately Mr. Lowis,
midshipman, received a severe wound in the leg
by a musket ball, and which it is feared may lead
to amputation of the limb, whilst turning the junk's
guns on the shore batteries. The Chinese were re-
markably well armed. Several spent shot struck
the boats, but without doing any material damage.
One shot took an oar out of a seaman's hand whilst
in the act of pulling. The following is a list of
wounded : Mr. Williams, purser, severely in the
face ; Mr. Lowis, midshipman, severely in the leg ;
Edward Lund, A. 8., severely • T. Welsh, A. 8.,
slightly ; Wm. Unwin, A. 8., slightly ; C. Brown,
A. 8., slightly • E. Yeomans, 0.5., slightly.
The Auckland has since left this station, having
sailed on Monday for Singapore. It is scarcely two
mouths since her arrival, yet in that short time she
has done good service, and has always been ready
for work. She helped to destroy a fleet of five
war junks, carrying 64 guns ; and to disable a bat-
tery of 30 guns—defeated the Imperialist fleet of
from 80 to 100 junks, at Second Bar Creek—as-
sisted in the capture of eight pirate vessels and 72
prisoners—took and burnt a pirate at Chung-chow
Island—and ended, as above mentioned, by cutting
out a junk of seven guns from under several batte-
ries in Tung Chung Bay, on the north side of Lan-
tao, a place admirably adapted for a mandarin sta-
tion, commanding as it does the passage from the
Cup-any-moon to Macao. She has, in the perform-
ance of these services, had one sailor killed and
three officers and ten seamen wounded. Yet neither
promotion nor honours await her captain or officers
—they belong to a seniority service.
We hear also that the Sampson had assisted in
destroying a fleet of 13 sail (three ]orchas and ten
junks), in Deep Bay. This fleet, it was understood,
had ben stationed there to intercept the market
boats bound to or from Hong Kong, and the Ad-
miral sent Commodore Elliot with the Sampson,
Hong Kong, and the Sir Charles Forbes to destroy
them. But the bay was found so shallow that the
Sampson had to anchor at a distance of eight miles
horn the junks ; and even the small steamers could
not approach within four or five miles of them. The
work had therefore to be done in boats, and was
performed, we are told, in gallant style, though the
shore and the hill-side close to the beach were co-
vered with matchlock men.

The following account of the affair has been sup
plied to us :

securities has decreased from Rs. 1,38,88,939-11.3 to Re.
1,28,90,245-6-4. _

LIABILITIES.

Proprietors' capital 1,07,00,000 0
Reserve fund
Current accounts
Cash credits undrawn 10,57,034 3 10
Other claims
Bank notes and post bills 1,49,85,635 6 8

Total Company's rupees 3,38,51,184 9 6
ASSETS.

Government securities
Dues from Government 1,46,798 7 9
Mint certificates, undue 8,24,452 12 0
Cash 1,11,34,597 12 0
Loans on depoit of securities 1,28 90,245 6 4
Accounts of credit on ditto
Government bills discounted 38,07.244 1 8
Mercantile bills ditto 8,17,766 14 11
Dead stock

VAIN FEARS OF ADIIIIRAL SIR CHARLES
NAPIER.

Total Company's rupees 3,38,51,884 9 6
Sbares—There has been a fair amount of business,
Coal Company's shares having sold at 1,325 r., India
General's at 1,180 r., and Steam Tug's at 1,140 r. The
value of other joint-stock shares are well supported, but
no transactions reported. The Ganges Steam Navigation
Company have declared a dividend at the rate of 24 per
cent. per annum.

Goernment Securities—The improved aspect of our
money-market is gradually affording more confidence
to capitalists and native dealers, although we have
scarcely experienced any alteration in our quotations,
Company's Four per Cents. only being a shade better.
Our closing rates are for this description of paper 15r.
4a. to 15r. 6a , for Sicca Fours 17r. to 17r. 4a., and for
Company's Fives 2s. to 4s. per cent. discount. Other
securities are nominal at our quotations,
Exchange.—On London —The rate for the present
mail opened at 2s. lid., for first class six months' sight
bills, and at this figure considerable business was trans-
acted, when the rate fell to 2s. which may be con-
sidered the closing quotation, with perhaps a slight
downward tendency.
On China, some transactions in CO days' sight bills
took place at 216 r., but the rate has advanced to 219 r,,
at which we hear business was done last,
Freights.—A. further improvement has taken place
since our last, and, although the arrivals during the past
fortnight have been more numerous in proportion to the
preceding period; yet some of them being American VOts•
eels and others whose destinations had been previously
fixed, the available tonnage has not been sufficient to
meet our requirements. Favourable advice., moreover,
for rice from China caused an increased demand on the
part of shippers, and consequently higher rates have
been paid. We hear as yet only five ships of about 4,000
tons capacity have been taken up by Government for the
conveyance of coals and hay to the Persian Gulf, not-
withstanding that 10,000 tons remain still to be engaged
or not hereafter, according to the turn circumstances
might take, The rates to China have advanced from
1$ per bag to 1$ 25c., and to Mauritius from lr. Ba, to
2r. per bag, and to other ports on the east and west of
the Bay of Bengal we observe a proportionate rise. Our
quotations for London are 41. 12s. 6d. to 41. 155., and
for Liverpool 41. ss. to 41. 7s. 6d. per ton, at the close
the market showing an upward tendency. Viewing the
present aspect of affairs, and the prospect of produce
being abundant on the opening of the rivers, combined
with the expectations of a moderate amount of inward
tonnage during the next three months, we might rea-
sonably look forward to a further advance in our rates
to all ports.
The following charters have been effected since our
last
The Forfarshire to convey coals and hay to Bushire
at 50r, per ton ; the Pearl, for the same voyage, at 52r;
the Segoff at 54r.; the Hamlet at 55r., and the Cana'la
at 57r. (One or two tenders we hear at 60r. are still
pending acceptance by Government.) The Anne Mary,
to carry 15,000 bags of rice to China, at 1 dol. 173/4c.
per bag ; the Morrie England, 18,000 ditto, at 1 dol.
20c. to ditto ; the Lockett, 10,000 bags ; the Iskeu-
derea, 3,000; and the Colorado, 20,000 bags, all at
1 dol. 15c. a bag ; the Frederes Area (F), for Mel
bourne, 41. 15s. ; the Winslow (F), for Mauritius, at
2rs. a bag ; the Shepherdess, to take 20,000 bags to
Havre, at 51., and if to Bordeaux, 5/. 10s. per ton.

(From the Examiner.)
"In case of a sudden war with France and
Russia, the Queen's throne would not be worth six
months' purchase," says Admiral Sir C. Napier,
whose special delight it is to exalt foreign naval
forces and to disparage our own. But what puts
the throne of our Sovereign in so much danger ?
Simply the fact that France and Russia can man
their fleets more expeditiously than we can, but
how do they man them ? True, the Czar marches
regiments on shipboard and calls them seamen, and
France, with better resources, can command the
services of 40,000 seafaring people. But does no-
thing depend on the quality of the crew so pro-
vided ? The Gallic cock has no aptitude for water.
The Frenchman is not web-footed. He is born and
bred to strut and crow ashore. The parade is his
place, not the deck, where there is no public to ad-
mire him. We are a nation of the duck kind.
Wherever there is a pond or a puddle you see chil-
dren swimming boats in it, or if there be no boat
to swim, they will be paddling in it from the sheer
love of water, quite apart from, and irrespective
of, its uses for drink and cleanliness. In France
you would see the urchins of the same class playing
at soldiers. Nevertheless Frenchmen serve at sea,
and perform the duties of seamen, but it is without
that aptitude which seems to belong by breed to
the Englishman, and consequently, when diffi-
culties occur in French ships, there is always a
want of resource, readiness, and contrivance. They
do very well as long as the routine continues un-
disturbed, but let that be deranged and a rare con-
fusion follows.

Sir C. Napier has given an account, Nye believe,
greatly exaggerated, of the state of things in which
he found him.,elf on his way to the Baltic with a
newly-manned fleet. Does he believe that a French
fleet, suddenly manned by naval conscription, would
be in better or in equal order? The French, it is
true, would not have landsmen, of whom Sir Charles
complains he had too many ; but, on the other
hand, are their beat seamen to be compared with
our thoroughly able seamen, competent to every
duty of a ship, except the navigation—leadsmen,
helmsmen, riggers, &c., and the handiest fellows
aloft at making, shortening sail, and reefing in the
world ? Confident we are that an English fleet,
newly manned, with its portions of landsmen and
able seamen, will in the aggregate of skill be more
than a match for a French fleet with its comple-
ments of regular but inferior seamen. The English
landsman, be it observed, is improving with every
day's practice, and with an aptitude, which we will
call national, for the work. With the Frenchman,
at best, the thing is all malgre. He hates the sea
and all belonging to it.
The English love for the thing favoured by
wealth manifests itself in gentlemen's yachts pecu-
liar to the Anglo-Saxon race in these isles and
America. A French admiral observed to the
wife of an English consul iu France, that if all
other evidence of the madness of English people
were wanting, the single fact of rich and great
English lords and gentlemen leaving their beautiful
places to go sailing about in small craft was enough
to prove the national insanity. Upon which the
lady replied, that if all other evidences of the in-
aptitude of the French for the sea were wanting,
the sp sech which the admiral had just made, im-
plying that there could be no comfort and no en-
joyment in a sea-home, was enough to prove the
elemental incapacity.
When Zadig hurt his eye, the surgical authorities
all settled that he must lose the sight of it, but
when it was so uncivil as flatly to contradict them
and to get well, they wrote unanswerable treatises
to demonstrate that, according to all scientific prin
ciples, it ought to be stone-blind.
Sir C. Napier's naval fortunes have been as per-
verse as Zadig's eye. He ought to have been beaten
on several occasions when he was not :

- "At daylight, on the 6th inst., the Hong Kong
and Sir Charles Forbes, with the boats of the Samp-
son, Hornet, Sybille, and Nankin's launch in tow,
proceeded up Deep Bay ; but when within 5 miles
of the junks it was found there was not sufficient
water to permit the steamers to proceed, and Com-
modore Elliot ordered off the boats. It was ob-
served on nearing the junks, that preparations for
action had been made, iu their having the mast-
heads crowded with men provided with stinkpots ;
the bills and beach were also lined with soldiers,
some bearing white flags ; and one large red flag
was far in advance of the others, apparently bidding
defiance. On rounding the point, the lorchas
opened fire from their guns, but were soon silenced;
the firing from the bushes, rom gingals and rockets,
was most terrific. Immediately the junks com-
menced firing, the crews cheered, and proceeded
up the creek, taking the 13 junks in succession.
At about 1 o'clock, Commodore Elliot gave orders
for the boats to go further up, to search the upper
part of the creek ; but on arriving at the place
where it was supposed there were more mandarin
junks, those at anchor were found to be trading
boats. The commodore, after examining them,
ordered the boats to return, but in consequence of
the tide having fallen very low, the Niger and
Sampson's launches got on shore, and the boats
were detained until they floated ; as soon as the
tide rose, the boats passed down the river, burning
and destroying all the junks, and throwing the guns
overboard. The commodore endeavoured to save
three heavily armed lorchas, but in consequence of
their grounding, ultimately ordered them to be
burnt. After completing the work of destruction
the boats directed their course for the steamers,
and being taken in tow, arrived at their respective
ships about 6 p.m., after a hard day's work, the
men having been in the boats fully 10 hours. One
man, only (a marine) was seriously wounded."

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.
HONG-KONG, APRIL 15.
ARRIVALS FROM GREAT BRITAIN.
At Hong-Kong.—April 9, the Neva, from Liverpool;
April 11, the Chrysolite, from London.
DEPARTURES TO GREAT BRITAIN.
From Hang-k ong —Mar. 29, the Jupiter, for Falmouth ;
March 31, the Chieftain, for Falmouth ; the Johann
Christopb, for Cowes ; April 13, her Majesty's steamer
Barracouta, for England.
Shanghai.—March 24, the Confucius, for London.
SHIPS OP WAR.
At Hongkong.—Her Majesty's steamer Calcutta ; her
Majesty's brig Bittern ; her Majesty's steamers Coro-
mandel, Hornet, and Sampson ; the gunboat Starling ;
the French frigate Capriciense ; the French steamers
Catinat and Marseau ; the Spanish steamer Magallauas.
Macao.—The Portuguese brig Mondego ; the French
frigate Virginie ; the Spanish steamer Jorge Juan.
Canton River.—Her Majesty's brig Acorn ; her Ma-
jesty's sloop Conine ; her Majesty's brig Elk ; her Ma-
jesty's ships Nankin and Sibylle ; her Majesty's steamers
Encounter, Inflexible, and Niger ; the chartered
steamers Hongkong and Sir Charles Forbes.
Amoy.—Her Majesty's brig Camilla.
Foochow- —Her Majesty's sloop Racehorse.
Shanghai,--Her Majesty's steamer Pique.