The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-09 00:00:00

MR. SMITH O'BRIEN.

A copy of the following letter has been received at
the Colonial-office from Ur. Smith O'Brien :

" Darlington Probation Station, Maria Island,
Van Diemen's Land, Feb. 28, 1850.
"My dear Potter,—l would have written to you
sooner if I had had anything agreeable to communi-
cate, but I have been unwilling to grieve you by
telling you that your worst anticipations with re
spect to the sort of treatment which I might possibly
experience in this colony have been realised. During
a period of about two months I suff,-red as much as
the inhumanity of the Governor of this colony, Sir
William Denison, aided by the Comptroller-General,
Dr. Hampton, could inflict. My health at length
began to give way so rapidly under the solitary con-
finement to which, during this period, I was con-
signed, that the doctor of the station became seriously
alarmed, and his representations produced such a
relaxation of the restrictions under which I was
placed as has had the effect of restoring my strength.
I shall abstain from distressing you with a detailed
narrative of my experience ofthe magnanimity of
British functionaries as illustrated by my treatment
in this island. I shall rather impress you with a
persuasion—happily well founded—that I bear with
wonderful cheerfulness all the privations to which
lam subject. Every other source of suffering ap-
pears to me to be so insignificant compared with
that of separation from my family, that I re-
concile myself to the minor vexations incidental to
my position as to matters of comparative indiffer-
ence. Yet, though I could terminate the pains of
this separation by allowing Mrs. O'Brien to come to
Van Diemen's Land, I feel more strongly than ever
that it would be the greatest injustice to my children
to bring them to a country the present condition of
which I will not trust myself to describe. I therefore
can see no definite termination of the calamities of my
lot except that which you and other friends took so
much pains to avert, the deliverance which will be
effected by death ; and I confess that I deliberately
think that my death would be more advantageous to
my children than that they should follow me to this
colony.

" cam afraid that some cf my fellow exiles, though
enjoying the ' comparative liberty' which a ticket
of.leave confers, find their lot little more enviable
than mine, and the more reflect upon the circum-
stances of their position the more do I rejoice that I
have kept myself unlettered by any engagement, even
though my resolution in this regard very nearly cost
me my life. Considered as a prison, Maria Island is
as little objectionable as any other spot that could be
chosen. The scenery is very picturesque, and the
local officers have been as kind as they could venture
to be under the inhuman regulations laid down for
their guidance by the Comptroller-GenerPl. lam
therefore sorry to learn that this station will soon be
broken up. Upon the abandonment of this station I
shall probably be removed to Port Arthur—a change
which will, I fear, be .productive of neither benefit
nor satisfaction to me. Tell my Limerick friends
that my recollection of their kindness is as vivid as
if I were still their representative, and believe me
your very obliged and attached friend,
" WILLIAM S. O'BRIEN."

IMPORTATION OF PINE APPLES FROM SOUTH
AMIRICA.—A vessel which has just arrived from Buenos
Ayres, has brought nine cases of pine apples, consigned to a
firm in this country as a portion of her cargo.

FIRE is LIVERPOOL.—During the prevalence of
the gale on Monday night, a fire broke out in the windmill
in Chadwick-street, Liverpool. In consequence of the light-
ness of which the structure was composed, and the violence
of the gale which was then blowing, it soon became evident
that nothing could save the building. Fortunately for the
men who were usually engaged in working the mill, an
operation which is frequently carried on by night as well as
by day, the violence of the storm precluded their working
on this particular night, although it was originally intended
that they should have done so. Had they been in the mill,
so rapid and so violent was the conflagration, and so destruc-
tive in its effects, that no earthly power could leave saved
them. Four of the most efficient engines belonging to the
town brigade, together with a large posse of firemen, were
on the spot within a quarter of an hour after the fire was
discovered, but too late to be of any service. The extensive
mill and adjacent warehouses were totally destroyed within
a short space of time. We understand that neither were
insured.

PASSAGES OF ATLANTIC STEAMERS.—The Asia, on
this occasion, for the first time in the history of the Cunard
service, steamed to Liverpool direct from New York, aban-
doning the usual detour to, and call at Halifax, en route.
Much interest, therefore, attached to her arrival; and nume-
rous bets were risked upon her performance of the run in a
shorter period than has yet been recorded in the history of
steam navigation on the Atlantic. From the log it appears
that the Asia has performed this feat, having steamed from
port to port, reckoning the difference of tisne, in precisely 10
days 7 hours; being 5 hours and 26 minutes less than were
occupied by the Europa in her fine run of June last from
New York, and about 8 hours less than the America's run
last month. The Europa, however, made the detour to
Halifax; and, allowing the usual period occupied in pursu-
ing that route, the Asia stands virtually below the Europa
in point of speed. The Asia's run out to New York,
however, still wins for her the palm, having been accom-
plished, via Halifax, in a mean steaming time of 10 days 11
hours and 36 minutes; or, allowing five
.hours for the de-
tour, about 10i days. From her run we deduct, it must be
mentioned, 13 hours, during which the Asia lay to off Hali-
fax in a dense fog and heavy gale. The Asia's homeward
run, it may be added, is but slightly superior to the home-
ward run of the United States mail steamer Atlantic, in
July last, which occupied 10 days 8 hours, and 20 minutes,
being the quickest sun to the eastward yet made by the
American steamers. The Asia's westward run, usually the
longest passage, exhibits, however, capabilities which will
yet enable her, we are confident, to steam the entire distance
in ten days or under; and we anticipate that she herself will
ultimately yield the palm to the newest ship of the squadror,
the Africa. The Asia's first gun was fired about four
minutes after the clock of the Town-hall had sounded the
hour of midnight on Saturday. She encountered througheut
easterly winds, which considerably retarded her progress.—
Liverpool AMion.
SOMNAMBULISM EXTRAORDINARY.--Shortly after
two o'clock on Sunday morning the pedestrians of the New-
road and the neighbourhood of West. street were thrown
into a state of great excitement and surprise by the extra-
ordinary freaks of a female somnambulist, who was
parading, dancing, and acting in the middle of the road,
with nothing on but her chemise. Miss Mary Ann Evans,
a young girl, residing at 40, West-street, had from her in-
fancy been troubled with' somnambulism, but her walks
were generally confined to her sleeping apartment, though
at times she would make the circuit of the house in which
she might be staying. It appears that on Saturday evening
she was accompanied by a gentleman of the name of
Davenport to Sadler's W ells Theatre, who, after seeing her
safely home, bade her adieu. A female friend, who was
sleeping in the same apartment, affirms that she was
undressed and in bed about ten minutes, and then she
rose and went down stairs. The young lady not being
acquainted with the fact that her friend was a somnam-
bulist, took no notice of her quitting the room, but some 30
minutes passing away and Miss Evans not returning, she
was induced to go down stairs also, when to her astonishment
she discovered the street-door wide open. Search was made
for the missing young lady, and in about a quarter of an
hour afterwards she was brought back in the care of one of
the constables of the G division, who had kindly divested
himself of his great coat to cover the somnambulist with.
From his statement it appears that a long distance down the
New-road he saw something white flitting about the read,
and hastening to see what it was, discovered Miss Evans
acting before an astonished audience of some BO persons in
the most tragic manner, and at intervals exclaiming "My
own Davenport—he or his life I will have," and it was with
the greatest difficulty that she was awakened, and the mo-
ment she became conscious she burst into a fit of crying,
which lasted several hours.

EMILY SANDFORD.—The Adelaide papers give the
following detail of an attack upon Miss Emily Sandford,
whose unhappy connexion with Rush, the murderer, is
doubtless in the recollection of the public :—Mr. R. \V. Ben-
nett, a resident in Adelaide, was charged at the police-court
with threatening the life of Miss Sandford. The case, at the
request of the Bishop of Adelaide (Dr. Short), who has acted
as guardian to the unfcrtunate woman since her arrival in
the colony, was gone into privately, the local reporter being
excluded. " The nature of the charge," says the
Adelaide Times, "implied numerous threats held out by
the defendant, declaring that if she did not pay
him money he bad advanced her brother he would
blow her brains out, and his conduct was so vio-
lent that she apprehended he would carry out his
threat. Her brother, who accampanied her to the colony,
lost his life at Port Philip a few days after their arrival.
During his stay the defendant, ascertaining he was in want of
money to discharge some debts that he had contracted, ad-
vanced him the amount, the defendant asserting that he did
so on her security. This Miss Sandford denied. She knew
nothing of the affair until Mr. Bennett made the demand
upon her. The defendant, in answer to the charge, per-
sisted that he advanced the money to her brother on her
security. He had waited on her several times, but the only
reply he could get from her was,' Well, sir, is that all?'
Ile was so exasperated at her conduct that he certainly
made use of harsh words and threatened to shoot her. The
magistrates bound the defendant over in heavy securities to
keep the peace towards Miss Sandford for six months."

- -
DEATH OF COLONEL lIOLMAN CUSTANCE.-011 the
4th instant this officer died at Edinburgh. In 1808 he en-
tered the service, and the next year accompanied the ex-
pedition to Walcheren. He subsequently served in the
Peninsula, and was present at the repulse of the French troops
at Bejer, the affair in Ronceevalles Pass, battle of Nivelle,
attack on Cambo, crossing the Dive, action at St. Pierre
d'Arube, near Bayonne (where he was twice severely
wounded), action of Sauveterre, passage of Gave d'Oleron
and Gave de Pau, battle of Orthes, affair at Tarbes, action
at Aire (again wounded), and the battle of Toulouse. The
late Colonel Custance had received the war medal with four
clasps, for his services in the Peninsula, where he was a sub-
altern in the gallant 50th Regiment.

There are four persons now under sentence of death
,n Connecticut.—New York Paper.

Miss Cushman is playing with great success at
Boston, says a New York paper.

- -
Mrs. Wood, the vocalist, re-appeared in Dublin
last week, in a concert for the benefit of Mr. Levy, the
leader of the Theatre Royal orchestra, and was received
with as warm an enthusiasm as in her palmiest days. Time
has but very little deteriorated her vocal powers, and not at
all her exquisite taste and pathos.
MEXICO.—Accounts from Mexico, via the United
States, state that the Mexican Congress was discussing, in
extra session, the tariff reduction projcct of the Cabinet, but
with little hope of a friendly
result. Congress, in secret
session, it was reported, had passed a resolution appropria-
ting 2,500,000 dolls. of the indemnity money towards the
payment of arrears due on the foreign debt of Mexico, and
reducing the interest to three-and-a-hall per cent. Accord-
ing to another report, the negotiation of ,a loan of half a
million had been sanctioned. The primary elections were
favourable to the Republican party.
COURT OF ALDERMEN.—A Court of Aldermen of
the city of London was held yesterday at the Guildhall,
when the several reports of the state of the various prisons
of the metropolis were handed in by the Sheriffs. During
the sitting the Lord Mayor intimated his-intention of calling
a special court before the 21st inst. for the purpose of :wear-
ing ui the IMP