The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-12 00:00:00

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'l4 A lt;tter fiom Rome, dated Nov. 2, s
ddeu storms of this week base momktarili
shut us out from all communication with the rest
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of the civilised world. Steamers have

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 12, 1861.

layed, railways have been rendered impassable,
and telegraph wires unserviceable, by the same
hurricanes and deluges of rain which have flooded
rivers and carried away bridges on the post roads,
preventing the usual land mails and couriers from
approaching the Eternal City. About noon on the
29th inst. the storm, announced for several days
before by the barometer, burst over the north-west
part of Rome with thunder, lightning, and hail;
whilst a water-spout traversed the district extend-
ing from the Vatican to the Parioli Hills, leaving
disastrous traces of its destructive course. The
magnificent glass corridors enclosing the painted
loggie of the Pontifical Palace, towards the piazza,
were driven in during the first two minutes, with
the loss of nearly all their panes; tiles and gutters,
sheets of lead and slates, were torn from the roof

PRICE. 4d.
STAMPED sd.

OPENING OF THE SPANISH CORTES.

211 E NAVY.

Conqueror, on Sunday, one company Royal.Artil-
I ftl
aehnreyt tworpyaonrfdtrsonimo
uwt choomod
wvai
inscii
hoe s.n ofla,nh
de infantryaorntei artillery
or bmyeplcoaonnngys
consists
nto to
colonel, 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 4 sergeants, 4
corporals, 4 bombardiers, 59 gunners, and 1 bugler
—total 67 ; and the infantry of 3 captains, 6 lieu-
tenants, 16 sergeants, 15 corporals, 210 privates and
3 buglers ; total, 253. The grand total of artillery
and infantry is 734. The squadron continued in the
Sound yesterday afternoon. The wind was rather
to the northward of west, but there is a heavy sea
in the Channel, caused by the recent stormy
weather, and the ships will not sail before to-day.
A circular memorandum was yesterday received
by Col. Campbell, commanding the Royal Marines at
Woolwich, from the Deputy-Adjutant-General, an-
nouncing that the Lords of the Admiralty have been
pleased to approve of the gratuitous issue of a blue
serge tunic biennially, to be worn only on board
ship or on foreign service, and an additional pair
of half-boots annually to non-commissioned officers
and men of the Royal Marines. The tunics are not
to be delivered except when a detachment is under
orders for embarcation, and then only to non-com-
missioned officers, drummers, and privates. Seven
hundred of the above-named tunics have been issued
for the battalion under orders for Mexico, as part
of the annual clothing for 1862-3.

MADRID, Nov. 6.
On the opening of the Cortes her Majesty the
Queen pronounced the following speech :

The following is an extract from a letter received
from the Espoir, 5, screw, Commander Douglas,
dated at Lagos, Nov. s:—" We have just arrived
on our return from the exploring expedition up the
Niger. The Prometheus is lying here, inside where
she got with some difficulty. Bedingfield is senior
officer protecting Lagos, where we have hoisted our
flag, making it a British possession. We are ordered
to Ascension to recruit health, having now 20 sick
out of our crew of 60. We had a dispute in the
Niger with five villages or towns, situate on each
side of the stream, and known by the name of the
Kjetoma. We destroyed them in about an hour,
with the loss of two men on our side killed in the
commander's gig. Our victory had an excellent
effect on many other hostile places near the river,
and rendered their chiefs and occupants exceedingly
civil, except at a large town about 140 miles from
the sea, sometimes termed Eboe. Here they were
excessively insolent; but as the town mustered over
10,000 inhabitants, it was deemed advisable to allow
their insolence to pass without notice for the pre-
sent. The highest point we reached in the river was
a place called Onitcha. We remained there for a
month. Our convoy in the meantime (the trading
ship Sunbeam) went on to the confluence of the
rivers, and communicated with Dr. Baikie, the Af-
rican explorer, who has been in this part of Africa
for some years. On the return of the Sunbeam we
came down the river again as quickly as possible,
and are very glad to find ourselves here, and under
orders for Ascension. We were in the Niger alto-
gether 81 days. Our commander is about knocked
up by his cruise, and for the past week has lived,
as, indeed, some others 6f us have done, upon a cup
of arrowroot and a bit of dry toast daily."
The Himalaya, screw troopship, Commander
Seccombe, will embark to-day, at Portsmouth, the
troops for Halifax and the West Indies, as already
detailed in The Sun.

Gentlemen Senators and Deputies,
No change has taken place in our friendly relafons with
the Powers of Europe since the last suspension of the
labours of the Cortes.
The Holy Father, ever an object of tender and profound
veneration amongst all Catholics, excites my constant inte-
rest and my filial solicitude. I have succeeded in obtaining
this point, that the Governments of those countries which
are placed under his holy direction should unite to find the
means of giving him, within his own states, that peace and
security which are indispensable for the independent exer-
cise of his holy ministry. My sentiments stimulate me to
continue these exertions. Thus I satisfy the wishes of my
subjects, who nourish in their hearts the religious faith of
their ancestors. _ _

of the palace by the violence of the hurricane.oThe
coloured glass of the new staircase was also damaged,
but fortunately no personal injury was sustained
by the inmates of the Vatican. At the arsenal
behind the palace several stone pillasters were
thrown down and also a garden wall, the force of
the electric fluid losing itself finally in the ground,
where it excavated a great hole. Outside the city
a country house was levelled, as were several walls
and trees on the Parioli Hills, which extend from
the Porta del Popolo northwards to the Tiber. It
appears that the storm, before arriving at the Vati-
can, passed near the Monte Testaccio, for the
summit of the ancient pyramid known as the tomb
of Caius Cestius was struck by lightning. The
conductors of the neighbouring powder magazine
also attracted the electric fluid, and the shock knocked
down two soldiers on guard without damaging the
magazine. Forty millimeteres of rain fell in the
course of the day, and the direction of the tempest
was from the south-west, the wind known in the
Mediterranean as the libeccio.

You will be happy to learn that our difference with
Venezuela has ended in a satisfactory manner. A just re-
paration has been made to our country for offences perpe-
trated against it, and important guarantees will prevent the
repetition of similar misdeeds.
Disorder and excess have reached their height in the un-
fortunate country of Mexico. Treaties having been violated
and rights forgotten, my subjects having been exposed to
serious attacks and continual dangers, it became indispen-
sable at length to make an example of salutary rigour.
With this object my Government had made the neces-
sary preparations, when two great nations found that they
had to complain of acts of violence on the part of the Mexi-
can authorities. Our wrongs were common; our action
should be joint. My Government desired as much. Proper
steps for this purpose were at first favourable, but the re-
sult did not correspond with the desires of the ether two
nations.

Subsequently France, England, and Spain arranged toge-
ther to obtain that satisfaction which was due to them, and
to prevent the repetition of offences which scandalised the
world and outraged humanity. Thus the design will be ac-
complished, the execution of which has been the constant
object of my government. At the proper time an account
will be rendered to you of the convention which, with this
object, has been signed by the representatives of the three
power.

Old Father Tiber immediately felt the influence
or the rushing mountain torrents, and emerged
from his habitual bed to inundate the lower parts
of the city, giving them quite a Venetian aspect,
and obliging the inhabitants to use boats to get to
and from their houses. The damage at the Vatican
is estimated at 20,000 scudi. The repairs on the
Civita Vecchia Railway line will require several
days to complete, and meanwhile our letters must
be sent by via di terra.
We have no details of the lives lost during the
storm, but a distressing case is mentioned as having
happened near the Colosseum. A woman and her
daughter, who had taken refuge in a doorway, were
both struck dead by the lightning.
A party, consisting chiefly of English travellers,
left Civita Vecchia by the railway on Wednesday
morning, 30th ult., for Rome, but had not got more
than 12 miles when they found the rails inundated.
The train proceeded notwithstanding, bpka.pudden
shock soon indicated that the line had been damaged
—in fact, the locomotive sank through a broken
bridge over a shallow torrent, the tender followed,
and a luggage-van tumbled on the top of them, but
fortunately the remaining carriages were checked
by the incumbrance before them, and kept on the
line. Some of the passengers got out into the
water, breast high, and waded back about two
miles to the wretched station of Santa Severe, where
they got accommodated with straw to sleep on, and
others remained in a second-class carriage, whence
they were only liberated at past 10 o'clock at night
by the railway authorities of Civita Vecchia. They
reached Rome eventually by road conveyance,
braving the torrents which had carried away most
of the bridges.
Lieut.-General Macintosh and Col. Caldwell, who
were amongst the detenus at Civita Vecchia, tele-
graphed to Rome yesterday for horses. Twenty
posters were despatched to their aid last night. The
mail for the last two evenings has:gone round by
Viterbo, and that telegraph line also is the one
which has kept us in communication with Civita
Vecchia. The French direct steamer from Mar-
seilles got in about six hours later than due on
Wednesday, but the Isere, from Leghorn, did not
arrive till nest day, having taken shelter at Santo
Stefano, where several of the passengers disem-
barked and came to Civita Vecchia by land. A
poor Belgian third-class passenger, who had taken
refuge from the storm in the hold, was stove in by
some chests which got loose there. He was killed,
and the Isere was, strangely enough, put in quaran-
tine for three hours in consequence, as if accidents
were contagious.

That Spanish island the first discovery of which immor-
talised the name of Columbus forms once more a part of our
monarchy. The inhabitants of St. Domingo, menaced by
foreign enemies, wearied by internal disorders, invoked in
the midst of its conflicts the august name of the nation to
which it had been indebted for civilisation and life. It
would have been unworthy of us to contemplate its suffer-
ings without emotion, to disown its appeal, inspired by
great recollections and by an inextinguishable love for Spain.
Convinced that this appeal, that these wishes were sponta-
neous and unanimous, I did not hesitate to welcome them,
more attentive to honour than to the convenience of my
people.
The inhabitants of St. Domingo have seen their wishes
realised. The elements of riches which their fertile soil
contains begin to be developed in the bosom of profound
peace, and the zeal as well as the justice of my government
and of the authorities will efface the traces of past discords.
The execution of the stipulations of the peace of Vad-ras
which has terminated a glorious war, has met with serious
difficulties. In order to remove them, the Sultan of
Morocco sent to my court his brother, the Prince Muley
Abbas, in quality of ambassador, and in a fow days satis •
tory arrangements were made.

The Firebrand, 6, paddle, Commander lames M.
Bruce, sailed from Spithead yesterday afternoon
for the westward. The Phaeton, 60, screw, Capt.
E. Tatham, remained at anchor last evening. Mr.
Bonner, chief engineer, is ordered to join the ves-
sel prior to her departure.

The Stromboli, 6, paddle, and the Vigilant, 6,
screw, in the first class of the reserve at Portsmouth,
are both completing their sea store of fuel for com-
mission. The Stromboli is reported as about to be
eommissioned by Capt. Wilmot, late of the Ship
Ventilating Committee, for special service on the
coast of Africa.

Yesterday Admiral Johnstone minutely examined
the Wellesley, 74, guardship at Chatham, and all
the alterations in progress for adapting her to the
purpose for which she is intended—that of a training
ship. The number of boys now on board is 96, but
as soon as the alterations are completed that num-
ber will be increased to 250. After inspecting the
vessel the whole of the boys were assembled on the
quarter-deck, where they went through the cutlass
drill in presence of the Admiral. After spending
nearly two hours on board the Wellesley, Admiral
Johnstone proceeded to the dockyard, where he
transacted business with Capt. Fanshawe, the super-
intendent.

The convention which will be submitted to you effects no
modification of the treaty of peace. All the rights acquired
by that treaty preserve their primitive force. In fixing the
manner of paying the war indemnity, I have consulted the
sentiments of the Spanish nation.
Grave events by their tendency to alarm society have dis-
turbed public order in some parts of the province of Anda-
lusia. In order to establish peace, and to punish the
authors of so criminal an attempt, it has not been necessary
to resort to any extraordinary measure.
My Government has left the repression of these offences
to the tribunals established by law.
The definitive organisation of the public administration
claims a prompt inquiry, and the vote of the projects of law
presented in the previous legislature. The people and the
provinces will obtain, by means of the law in harmony with
their remarkable progress, that considerable share which
belongs to them in the directi)n of their affairs, and in the
care of their interests, but these measures will not diminish
the means which authority requires to preserve public order
—that prime necessity of states.

Orders have been received at the Convict Esta-
blishment, Chatham, for a party of 140 convicts to
embark at the Nore, on board the hired convict trans-
port Lord Dalhousie, for Gibraltar, where they will
be employed on the Government works, which are
being executed at that station. A military guard,
selected from the 6th Regiment, will proceed in
charge of them.

Yesterday, the Admiralty transport Sinbad arrived
at Chatham Dockyard, from 'Woolwich, and landed
the funnel and a portion of the machinery for the
paddlewheel steamer Salamis, 4, building at Chat-
ham.

My Government desires that the liberty of the press
should be protected by a law which, in leaving the field
open for the expression of thought, may repress the excess
of passions.

The repairs of the screw steam frigate Emerald,
Capt. A. Cumming, at Plymouth, are ordered to
be completed forthwith. She would have been
placed in the basin at Keyham Steamyard yester-
day, but for the boisterous state of the weather.

To give certain pledges to individual liberty, by conciliat-
ing it with order and with the tutelary principles of society,
this is the grand problem which political laws have to re-
solve, in order not to provoke absurb reactions or fatal dis-
orders. •

The crew of the Centurion, 80, at Plymouth, are
ordered to be paid off. The ship will be placed all
standing in the first division of,the steam reserve.
She is fully stored for foreign service, and will, no
doubt, be recommissioned with a picked crew.
Admiralty orders have been received at Chatham,
directing none of the gunboats belonging to the
steam reserve at that port are to be reported fit for
foreign service unless they have been fitted with a
condenser and air pumps.

The reform of the electoral law will soon require your
serious attention. The extension of the suffrage will cause
every legitimate interest to be represented in Congress.
Those measures which experience counsels will prevent
fraud and pressure from impairing the purity of elections.
The law which represses violence and fraud guarantees the
free expression of public opinion.
My Government will present without delay the budget
of the State for the ensuing year, The produce of existing
taxes will suffice to cover our oriinary expenses ; those oc-
casioned by the extension of public works, by the increase
of the navy, and of war materials have been provided for
by funds already voted. It will not, therefore, be necessary
to require new sacrifices from my people.
The prosperity of my colonial provinces is the constant
object of my solicitude. Their administrative organisation
is improved every day by institutions and reforms already
preyed in the Peninsula, and which I have resolved to
establish in conformity with their special requirements.
We must hope that foreign events which have produced so
fearful a disturbance in the industrial and commercial rela-
tions of the world will but momentarily affect the progres-
sive development of the great riches which they contain.
The mission of legislators and of governments in this age
of strange changes is arduous and thorny. Vain would it
be to attempt to fulfil it without the assistance of God, and
the practice of those virtues which sender people worthy
of the blessings of freedom. It is by pefirming these with
perseverance, and by devoting all our efforts to the inte-
rests of our country, that we shall advance daily in the
esteem of other powers, and that Spain will march forward
protected from all disturbance, under the fegis of constitu-
tional laws, to that high destiny which Providence has re••
served to her.

Government engineers have been sent along The
Florence and Perugia roads to report on the extent
of damage produced by the storm. It is said that
the magnificent bridge at Civita Castellane has
been partially carried away.
We have little other news this week beyond the
fury of the elements. A despatch is stated to have
been received at the French Embassy, announcing
that Gen. de Goyon will not return to Rome, and
mentioning the name of his successor. The four
Piedmontese Bersaglieri captured by the French on
the Pope's territory, near Viterbo, have been sent
back and set at liberty, after having been well
treated here in the Castle of St. Angelo, and shown
the lions of Rome by courteous gendarmes, the party
being dressed en bourgeois.

ROYAL COLOSSEUM.—" Paper : its sources, manu-
facture, and various applications," is the title of a lecture
now in course of delivery at the above institution by Dr.
Bachhoffner, the lessee, and for so many years the principal
lecturer at the Polytechnic Institution. It is impossible to
fix upon a subject of more importance, or more apropos to
the present period; as the abolition of the paper duty is
likely to open up a new erea—if not in the trade, at least
in the fibrous materials employed in the manufacture of
paper. Commercially speaking, paper holds an important
position as a branch of the manufactures of the United
Kingdom, and was, until the last budget, a source of con-
siderable revenue; this will be fully apparent when we
quote the doctor's figures, who stated that during the last
year no less than 223 millions of pounds weight of paper
was made in Great Britain and Ireland, and upon which
nearly one million and a half of money passed into the Ex-
chequer as duly. The subject was most ably treated by Dr.
Bachhoffner, whose pleasant conversational style of impart-
ing information will be well remembered by the old fre-
quenters of the Polytechnic Institution. The lecture is to
be given every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and will
be followed, we understand, by one on cotton and its appli-
cations.

LITTLE SWITZERLANDS.—Dotted over the map of
Europe, there are sundry districts more or less known
which, from some picturesque features in their respective
neighbourhoods, are fondly compared by their inhabitants
with that grand combination of mountain, lake, and forest
met with in Switzerland. The Saxon Switzerland, on the
banks of the Elbe above Dresden, is one of these. The
Franconian Switzerland is another, much less visited, but
not at all less worthy of a visit. The former of these is
well enough known; but, considering the extent to which
Europe is now intersected by railways, it would be difficult
to mew ion a corner of the Continent less resorted to by
tourists than that part of Bavaria in which the other is
situated. This is still more singular, since the district
alluded to is coasted on two sides by railways, connecting
the important cities of Frankfort, Leipzig, and Munich.
The absence of English trrvellers is especially remarkable,
since the well-known and interesting cities of Nuremberg
and Augsburg are on the same lines of railway, and Dresden
and Berlin may be reached by them. A trip from Frank-
fort to the eat as far as the town of Bamberg, and then
into the Franconian Switzerland, accomplished in a short
time and at no very frightful expense, will introduce the
traveller to more interesting towns and scenery than would
be thoughtpowsistihble.
the
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and can practise
t high-road such accomplished in-
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but away from the greda
aswe
gradually increase our dis-
may be met with
are rare
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and their abeence is RPM y
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tance, and apphatahe hills and f.orests, they die out alto-