The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-04 00:00:00

PERSIAN GULF.

From information received from native merchants,,
, recipients of letters from Muscat via Kurracbee, we
understand that the steamer Sir Charles Forbes
(which left for the Gulf of Persia at so late a period;
; of the season as to render it a matter of doubt whetheri
she would succeed in getting across the Arabian Sea).
has reached Muscat safely, having taken eleven dais'
to run the distance of 860 miles, the weather having,
as anticipated, proved very rough and adverse.
She proceeded immediately to Bunder Abbas and
Bushire, being anxious to avoid the excessive heat
which prevails in Muscat at this period of the year.
By letters received from Bagdad via Syria and
Egypt, we learn that the Centaur, Captain Herring,
of and from Calcutta, with rice, indigo, and sundries,
had safely arrived at Bu.sorah, and was expected to
come down to Bombay on her return, with a large
quantity of treasure which had been for some time
awaiting an opportunity for shipment at Bagdad,
Bussorah, Mahumrah, and Bushire.
The want of speedier means of communicating be-
tween the provinces bordering on and to the north-
west of the Persian Gulf, was very much felt and
complained of, no vessel having left the Gulf for India
since April last. Commodore Porter, commanding
the Indian naval squadron in the Persian Gulf, had
paid a visit to Bagdad, as also to Nineveh, where,
amongst other visitors to the indefatigable and indus-
trious excavator, he had been made much of.
The cruisers in the Gulf were reported healthy by
the last advices from the quarter, as were the officers
of the Bushire and Bagdad residences.
Commander Jones of the Nitocris, surveyor-gene-
ral, Mesopotamia, had been making further explora-
tions in those provinces, and is stated to be preparing
some further most valuable and important papers,
tending to throw much light on our knowledge of the
geography, antiquities, and ethnography of the dis-
tricts he has lately been exploring. Colonel Williams
and the other members of the Commission for de-
fining the boundaries of the Turkish and Persian
dominions, were all in excellent health, and are oc-
cupying their summer vacation, during the excessive
heats of which they are unable to prosecute the la-
bours of the mission in the unhealthy southern low
provinces, in gathering such information as may tend
to elucidate the subject on which they are engaged.
—Bombay Telegraph and Courier, Aug. 1.

SUBMAL
hIyNGELATNEDL
AE
NG
DRAFPRE;NBCEET.WEEN
On Tuesday evening the first general meeting of
the proprietors of the Anglo-French Company esta-
blished for carrying out submarine telegraphic com-
munication between this country and the Continent
was held at Paris, Sir James Carmichael in the chair,
when a report was presented by the directors relative
to the works already executed, and as to the present
position and prospects of the undertaking.
The report commenced by stating that the experi-
mental wire was successfully submerged on the 28th
of September last, and that printed communications,
the original slips of which were now in the possession
of the President of the Republic, had been telegraphed
between coast and coast between seven and eight on
the same evening, thus securing to the company, in
conformity with the original contract, the concession
of the undertaking. Shortly after the communication
was suspended, and it was found to arise from the
rupture of the wire at a short distance from the
French coast; but this was not to be regretted, as the
wiro was purely for an experimental purpose. The
directors had since opened negotiations with parties in
Paris and London, having in view the formation of a
OpOerom/.,aninentorwdierrest,oalnayd
dcoomwnpaanysewriitehs oafeasptriotanlgofaLo'
when these arrangements are sufficiently matured the
shareholders will be further convened for the purpose
of coming to the terms on which they shall convey
their interest to the new company.
Mr. C. J. WOLLASTON, C.E., produced specimens
of the proposed permanent wire, which excited con-
siderable interest, and which he stated would be of
sufficient strength to resist almost any species of
oceanic accident, whether from rocks, drifts, anchor-
age, or otherwise.
Mr. F. EDWARDS, one of the directors, congratu-
lated the meeting on the success of the experimental
achievement, which, in its results, he ventured to
predict would be second to no undertaking of the age.
fie drew attention to the causes of the rupture of the
experimental wire, which was of no importance, as it
would not affect the experiment on the now proposed
larger scale. He also alluded to the exclusive privi-
leges the company enjoyed under the concession of
exclusive telegraphic'communication between France
and England for ten years, and augured the most fa-
vourable results from the completion of the enterprise.
Rosolutions were passed adopting the report and
giving thanks to the promoters of the project for
their enterprise and energy.
Experiments are being made at Dover with the
new cable, in which there will be four wires. The
cables, of tour or five inches thickness, composed of
gutty percha, enclosed in wire rope, all chemically
prepared, will cost 40,000/. Patents are secured for England,France, and Belgium. There will be two
of these cables, each twenty miles long, and three
miles apart, the whole weight representing 400 tons ;
completedswtrheonl
whole
t ofh
theby resist
iupermanent
ay, the
wa hnecnhi wiresotr
isf a
pa
rnl2o-gunis
works d
s w s
a r r
h pi
l The
e
t
e
Albert and the Duke of Wellington shall open the
communication on one side of the Channel, and the
President of the Republic on the other.

DENMARK AND THE DUCHIES.
The following report to the members of the late
Peace Congress at Frankfort has been printed for dis-
tribution amongst that body by the deputation which
visited Kiel and Copenhagen :
" You are, Perhaps, generally aware that on the
morning of the last sitting of the Congress a gentle-
man of high respectability from Berlin applied to the
Bureau for permissionmiss!on to present a memorial signed
by several distinguished individuals of that city. This
memorial requested the Congress to investigate the
merits of the controversy now pending between Den-
mark and the Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. On
consideration it was decided that such an investiga-
tion could not be entered upon without violating one
of the rules which had been adopted for the regula-
tion of the proceedings, and which proscribed any
direct allusion to the political events
of the day.
Nevertheless, many of the members of the Congress
were inspired with an earnest desire that no favour-
able opportunity should be lost for interposing pacific
counsels with the hope of preventing the further effu-
sion of blood and of promoting an amicable adjust-
ment of the difference.

all in-
we yen-
_
" Entertaining this hope, and disclaiming
gcontest fur the purpose
on theremspeorintssiboifutthye, case,
whtoolepr.gocueees(tiiotno
thettt ehu in-
tention
et
cidoo, nn
theatretoefn solelydeoin
oft oge
tnrbi
poen
au
rr t i
eowns
of intreating
at issue to the decision of 'enlightened and impartial
to refer the
could never satisfactorily settle the
arbitrators, and thus to spare themselves the further
infliction of the calamities and horrors of a war, which
matter in dis-
pute, and which is contemplated with pain and sorrow
by the friends of religion and humanity
throughout
the world. -

" In order to prevent any
misapprehonension in re-
gard to the object of our voluntary missi, we embo-
died the views expressed in the preceding paragraphs
in a written statement, intended to be presented in
the first place to the authorities of Schleswig-Hol-
stein. We arrived at Kiel in the evening of the 2d
of September, and the next day waited upon
the the Pre-
sident of the Representative and several
members of that bod
LTn upon the Burgomaster, per-
sons connected with
in-
fluential individuals representing different classes of
the community, and explained to them the object of
our Visit. Although a' fixed determination was ma-
nifest to resist force by force to the last extremity,
yet, without a single exception, they expressed their
willingness to leave the whole question at issue to
impartial arbitration. ivAerssseity,bly,
and other rn
" On the following cleY we proceeded to Rendsburg,
the principal fortress in flolstein, and then the seat of
the Schleswig-Holstein Government, and waited upon
the Stadtbolders and other members of the c.l
eirovern-
ment. They received us with great courtesy, and
listened with serious attention to our written state-
ment and to the considerations and arguments which
we urged in favour of arbitration as an equitable and
practicable mode of settling the existing difficulty.
They replied that it was quite impossible for the
Government of the Duchies to make any proposition,
arid that we must distinctly understand that we had
no mission from them to the Danish Government ;
but they added that they should be willing to refer
the claims of the Duchies to the decision of en-
ligleened and impartial arbitrators, provided Den-
mark would also submit its claims to the same tri-
bunal, reserving for eventual arrangement the ap-
pointment, composition, and jurisdiction of the Court.
" We reduced this reply to writing and afterwards
submitted it to their examination, when they assented
to its accuracy.
`• Having obtained this declaration from the Go-
vernment of the Duchies we left the next morning
for Copenhagen, where we arrived on the 10th inst.,
after having been detained several days in quarantine.
" We readily obtained separate interviews with the

Prime Minister and with the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, who received us with gre at cordiality and kind-
ness. We presented to them a written statement of the
object of our mission and of what had transpired at
Rendsburg. We invited their especial attention to
the treaty ,of alliance between Denmark and the
Duchies bearing date 1533, which was renewed in
1623, and confirmed at Travendahl in 1700, by which
' the contracting patties bound themselves mutually
to assist each other, and, with respect to any differences
that might arise between them, they agreed to adjust
-them, not by means of arms, but by means of coun-
cillors constituted as arbitrators, on the part of each,
and disengaged from their oath of allegiance.' We
conclude our statement in these words :
" We come as private individuals, invested with
no political authority; but we know that we repre-
sent the convictions and sympathies of millions, both
on this and the other si,ie of the .Atlantic; and we
intreat the Danish Government, in the name of our
common Christianity, to arrest the further slaughter
of those to shorn God has united them, not only by
the ties of the universal brotherhood of man, but also
by close affinity and neighbourhood, and whom they
even consider as their ow a countrymen. We earnestly
appeal to them to put an end to this unnatural and
deplorable war, and to accept a mode of settlement
which sill!' recognise and establish the just rights of
both parties and heal the breach which the sword has
made between them. We added a few verbal re-
marks, and among others to the effect that Denmark,
by this mode of settlemen', would release herself
trout those obligations to foreign diplomacy which
might obstruct the full development of her free insti-
tutions.
"Both the Ministers expressed their desire to effect
a satisfactory and pacific arrangement. They said
they were sensible of the evils of the war, and were
anxious to bring it to a speedy termination by an
amicable mode of adjustment. At our last interview
with the Minister of Foreign Affairs he said sub-
stantially, that if the Government of the Duchies
would authorise a plan or basis of arbitration the
Danish Government would take it into immediate
consideration. We subsequently received the decla-
ration that they accepted the principle of arbitration
to the same extent that it was accepted by the Shies-
wig-Holstein Government at Rendsburg.
" Having received this reply we returned to Kiel,
to communicate it to the Government of the Duchies,
and to endeavour to induce a direct negotiation on the
composition, appointment, and jurisdiction of the
Court of Arbitration. On the 23d and 24th inst. we
met the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who authorised
6 plan of arbitration prescribed by the treaty between
the two countries to which we have referred. He
also appointed a gentleman to meet any one the
Danish Government should be willing to commission,
for the purpose of agreeing upon the measures requi-
site to carry this plan into effect. Steps have been
to bring these parties together as early as possible ;
and one of our number (Elihu Burritt) will remain
at Hamburgb for a few weeks with a view of doing
all in his power to facilitate and expedite this preli
minary stage of negotiation.
" Although you were in no way responsible for our
voluntary mission, yet as it originated in the memo-
rial addressed to the Peace Congress from Berlin, and
knowing the deep interest felt on the subject, we have
deemed it right to lay this statement before you.
There may yet be difficulties in the way of a final and
satisfactory settlement between the contending parties,
but we have great confidence that those with whom
it now rests will be able to bring it to a speedy and
successful conclusion ; and indeed, it has filled us
with astonishment, as well as sorrow, that this un-
natural war, in which brother is arrayed against
brother, and even father against son, should ever have
been declared or have continued so long with men at
the head of both Governments who appear to feel
strongly those obligations of humanity and of the
religion of Christ which impose upon them the solemn
duty to settle the difference by reason and justice, and
not by an appeal to brute force. If such an arrange-
ment be not now effected we believe that it will be
mainly attributable to the interference of the great
European Powers contrary to the wish of one of the
contending parties, as indicated in the London proto-
col of the 2d of August—a document which has
excited strong dissatisfaction in the minds of the in-
habitants of the Duchies, and in which millions in
other portions of Europe largely participate.
"If the steps now in progress shall result in a
pacific solution of this aggravated difficulty we hope
that the friends of peace will be encouraged to labour,
with renewed zeal and activity, to substitute in every
case of international controversy, the arbitration of
reason, justice, and humanity, for the cruel and bar.
barous decision of the sword.

" JOSEPH STURGE, England.
" Eunti BURRITT, United States.
" FREDERIC WHEELER.
" Hambargh, Sept. 25."

VISIT OF THE LOADS OF THE ADMIRALTY TO THR
BRITANNIA-BRIDGE.—On their arrival at Holyhead in the
Black Eagle Admiralty steamer, from Pembroke, the Lords
of the Admiralty landed and minutely inspected the various
extensive works now in course of progress there. The dock-
yard, the new harbour, with its immense seawalls and break-
water. the stages, and quarrying, wiother operations were
examined by their Lordships, who then started in a special
train to visit the stupendous Britannia-bridge, over the
Menai Straits. The members of the board were—Sir F.
Baring (the First Lord), Admiral Berkeley, and Captain A.
Milne, attended by Captain Eden and Mr. John Parker, the
private and public secretaries. They were conveyed, accom-
panied by Mr. Edwin Clark, the resident engineer, through
the tubes, after which they alighted and inspected the
gigantic erection and the approaches thereto. Their Lord-
ships expressed themselves much gratified with their visit,
and afterwards proceeded by the Chester and Holyhead Rail-
way to Chester.

A MAN DROWNED IN THE IRWELL.—About eight
o'clock on Sunday morning last, four young men, named
Walter Worrell, Edward Oldham, Robert Robinson, and
Pickford, with a boy, hired a four-oared gig from a man
named Bailey, near Blackfriars-bridge. They rowed to
Throstle Nest, and then returned up the river; but, when
oppusite the Pomona-gardens, Worrall's oar caught against
something in the river, and the jerk threw him on his back,
upsetting the boat.. Pickford, Oldham, and Robinson swam
to the shore; and the, boy, who was acting as coxswain,
saved himself by holding on to the boat, until Pickford, who
was an expert swimmer, jumped into the river, and dragged
it to the river-side. Worrall, however, not being able to
swim, sank; and, as he did not re-appear, a drag was pro-
cured; after about 20 minutes' search his body was found,
and a surgeon was sent for, but animation could not be re-
stored. The body was taken to the Bridge Inn, Regent's-
road, where an inquest was held on it on Monday last, by
Mr. Rutter, county eoroner, when the above facts were
stated, and a verdict of t‘ Accidentally drowned" was re-
turned. Several members of the jury, who live near the
riverside, complained very much of the great nuisance
created on Sundays, on the river, by large numbers of boats,
filled chiefly with boys, who, during the whole day, are
shouting to and swearing at each other • and the coroner was
desired by the jury to take some steps for the suppression of
the nuisance, by applying to the proprietors of the river and
the authorities of Manchester and Salford. The deceased,
who was a dyer, was about 20 years of age.—Manchester
Guardian.

THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES IN MASSACHU-
szrrs. —The late minutes of the General Association show
that the statistics of these churches are as follows:
Churches, 458; pastors, 355; stated supplies, 56; vacant
churches, 54; ministers without charge, 92; male members,
20,022; female, 43,649; total, 63,649; admissions in 1849,
2,695; excommunications, 109; baptisms—adults, 429—in-
fants 1,239 ; Sabbath•school scholars, 59,332.
ROYAL. WESTMINSTER OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL.-
Yesterday a quarterly general court of the governors of this
institution was held in the board-room of the hospital, at
Charing-cross, L. Powell, Esq., in the chair. It was re-
ported that in the present year there had been 3,696 out-
patients, and during the past quarter 58 patients had been
received into the wards. The secretary announced a dona-
tion of 1001. by A. H. Bradihawe, Esq., 101. from the Earl
of Dartmouth, and 501. legacy (free of duty) by the late
Mr. James Lucas, of Fulham, "as a mark of gratitude for
benefits received by him at the institution in July, 1841,"
and the Corporation of the city of London 1051. The state-
ment of the past year showed there had been 4,870 admitted,
of whom 240 were in-patients, and 4,630 out-patients, making
a total of upwards of 80,000, who since .1817 have partici-
pated in its benefits.

FIRE AT GREENOCK.—Yesterday afternoon, about
two o'clock, the extensive joiners'-shop, wood-yard, and
engine-house, belonging to Messrs. Thomas Lamb and Son,
situate between Market and Buccleach-streets, and Cow-
gate, Greenock, were almost completely destroyed by tire. It
is supposed to have originated in the stove-house, and on the
alarm being given the books were saved by the promptitude
of some gentlemen who happened to be in the' neighbour-
hood. In the course of little more than half-an-hour the
premises were a mass of burning ruins. Happily the wind
was low, and the adjoining houses and shops, though several
times on fire, were preserved, as was also an extensive range
of new shops, which the Messrs. Lamb had just completed, on
the east side of their property. The engines were well
worked, and did much to save the contents • but from their
inflammable nature it was evident from the beginning that
much loss would accrue. It is impossible at this moment to
state the amount of loss; but it is covered by insurance.
North British Mail.

DURHAM AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.—DURHAM,
THURSDAY —The annual meeting of the Durham County
Agricultural Society, for the exhibition of steck and imple-
ments of husbandry, took place yesterday
neighbour-
hood of this city. After the proceedings in the show-yard had
terminated, nearly two hundred land proprietors and tenant-
farmers dined together in the New Hall, in the Market-place.
Lord Harry Vane, M P., presided; and there were present
among others, the Duke of Cleveland, Mr. Granger, M P., the
Rev. i)r.T.wnserid, Canon of Durham, and the Its.v. Dr. Gilly.
The proceedings were characterised throughout by a consi-
derable degree of despondency, but there was nothing in any
of the speeches to call fur a detailed report. The Duke of
Cleveland recommended the adoption of an improved system
of farming as the only way of meeting low prices, the ex-
tinction of antiquated notions, and the establishment of far-
mers' clubs.
The Bridgewater Times recommends the removal
of the Somerset assizes to that town, as the most central
place in the county. It adds, as another reason, that " but
a few years since, we subscribed and laid out 10,000/. in the
erection of a mansion for the judges, a grand jury-room, and
an hotel, and which has made no direct return. whatever to
the subscrihers."
THE CLYDE TRUST.—The revenue of the River
Clyde trustees for the last quarter was 16,327/. 2s. 7d.,
which, as compared with 16,252/. 6s. 7d,, the revenue of the
previous quarter, shows a small increase.
ROXBURGHSHIRE.—The Earl of Minto is enter..
taining a family party at his reidence in this county, com-
prising Colonel and Lady Elizabeth Romilly, Lord and Lady
John Russell and family, Vice-Admiral George Elliot, M.P.
besides the members of his Lordship's family.—North Brnisit