The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-18 00:00:00

THE GORGON STEAM-SLOOP.

The following letter has been addressed to the Editor
of a Morning Contemporary
have this morning received a letter from an
officer on board her Majesty's steam-vessel Gorgon,
Captain C. Hotham, and you and your numerous readers
will be glad to learn that, on the 13th October, that ship
was hove from off the beach of Monte Video, and during
the following week was dragged through the mud a dis-
tance of half a mile, in seven feet of water. The perse-
verance and exertions of the officers and crew in this
trial of seamanship and nautical skill, appear to have
been truly surprising ; during five months their work
was continual, by night as well as by day, not only
forming a complete wet dock, but also in —excavating a
channel, 100 fathoms in length, through which to haul
the ship clear of the sand into the mud.
It appears the Gorgon was left, after the gale of the
10th May, nearly dry ; at a very high tide there were
eight inches water round the bows, and four feet on each
quarter, she being buried in the sand to the depth of
thirteen feet on the starboard, and nine feet on the port
side. To extricate an 1,100-ton ship from this situation,
and perfectly to fit her for active service, was an under-
taking which reflects the highest credit on all connected
with her, and will prove to the numerous foreign officers
who were spectators of the undertaking, that thirty years
of peace have not deprived the British navy of that
energy and spirit for which it has always been distin-
guished.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
36, Strand, Jan. 16. GEORGE GILLOT.

P.S.—I expect we shall hear of her arrival home some
time in April.

MYSTERIOUS CASE OF POISONING AT SHEERNESS.
. _ _

—Within the last few days, a painful degree of sensa-
tion has been felt by all parties in and about Sheerness,
arising from the affecting circumstances of an accom-
plished and very handsome young Jewess, named Esther
Russell, the daughter of a respectable tradesman in that
town, having died from the poisonous effects of arsenic,
in rather a mysterious manner, after giving birth to a
female illegitimate infant, since dead. The inquest on
the bodies of the young mother and child was held on
Tuesday, before Mr. flincle, one of the Coroners for
Kent, and the principal facts connected with the deplora-
ble affair, as given in evidence, have already appeared.
The jury returned, after a lengthened deliberation, the
following verdict :—" That the deceased Esther Russell
died from the effects of arsenic, but how administered
there was no evidence to show, and the jury were unani-
mously of opinion that a great want of attention towards
the deceased had been shown by her parents and family.
Respecting the infant, they were of opinion that it had
died from excessive hemcerrhage caused by the navel-
string not being tied."
A FEMALE PEBACHEIL.--On Thursday Mrs. Lydia
Pinder, a middle-aged and rather respectable-looking
female was charged at the Lambeth Police-court with
creating a great disturbance, in the Westminster-road, on
that morning. Police-constable, L 31, deposed that about
three o'clock, in the morning he heard a disturbance in
the Westminster-road, and on going to see what was the
matter, he found the prisoner in the midst of a crowd of
night walkers and others preaching a sermon, partly re-
ligious and partly blasphemous. He endeavoured to get
her one way or the other, but she refused, and kept
abusing him, so that he was compelled to take her to the,
station-house. In reply to the charge the prisoner said
she had been up a number of hours with her daughter,
who was in a dying state, and having taken a glass of
rum it affected her head very much. She was discharged
,ish as admonition to abstain from rum for the future.

345.

FRENCH PLAYS.

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.

Mr. Mitchell has just issued his programme for the
season, which will, we opine, prove even more brilliant
than any of its predecessors. The subscription is for
forty representations, which will take place on Mondays
and Fridays. There will also be a performance on
Wednesday evenings, which will not be included in
the subscription ; but the arrangement of last season,
by which subscribers were enabled to exchange either
the Monday or the Friday evening for the Wednesday,
will be continued. This is a most liberal arrange-
ment on the part of Mr. Mitchell. It gave general
satisfaction last season, and we hope that it will
be met in the spirit in which it ought to be
met, and that his list of subscribers will be
materially increased. The season opens on Wednes-
day, the 22d instant, with Monsieur Lalont of the
Theatre des Variete, his first appearance at this thea-
tre, and Mademoiselle Nathalie, from the Theatre
du Gymnase, will appear conjointly with M. Lafont.
They will be succeeded by Frederic Lemaitre, and
Mademoiselle Clarisse, who will remain with
us until Easter. During their engagement
Don Cesar de Baran and Ruy Blas will
be produced. After Easter Madame Albert
will appear for a few nights, and her brief en-
gagement will be followed by that of Monsieur
Ravel, an actor new to this country. Made-
moiselle Plessy and Monsier Regnier, of the
Theatre Francais, will follow Monsieur Ra-
vel, and during their engagement a new comedy
by Alexander Dumas, written expressly for Mr.
Mitchell's company, will be produced under the su.
perintendence of the talented author. Achard, who
created such a sensation last season, is engaged for a
few nights towards the close of the season; and
Monsieur Arnal, from the Theatre du Vaudeville,
closes the season. Monsieur Arnal we expect
will be a great favourite in this country. He is the
original L'Honzme Blasé, which admirable vaudeville
will be produced during his stay amongst us.
The permanent _company includes that excellent
actor, Cartigny, Lienard, the quaintest of low
comedians, and all the favourites of last
season. Mademoiselle Eliza Forgeot still continues
directrice, while Monsieur Burotte, late second chef
d'orchestre at the Vaudeville, assumes the command
of the musical department. The company, taken as
a whole, will be the strongest French company that
has ever performed in London, and we anticipate for
Mr. Mitchell a brilliant and successful season.

WESTMINSTER LITERARY,
SCIENTIFIC, AND MECHANICS' INSTITUTION,

On Thursday evening Mr. West, of the Royal
Academy of Music, gave a lecture at this institution
on the ancient love of music and a plan for a national
musical education. The lecturer took a clever cursory
view of the real and traditionary evidence of the love of
music, and its influence among the ancients. He
showed its intimate association with the exercise of
devotion in all ages, Pagan and Christian. If Mr.
West's opinion be well-founded, and we fear it is so, his
remark is worthy of attention that, whereas in the pri-
mitive days of our Church the music often drew Pagans
within the pale, now it is more calculated to drive
Christians themselves out of the temple—indeed, a
good organ, tolerably well played, and loud enough
to stifle the dissonant uproar of the charity boys
and congregation would be an inestimable comfort.
Mr. West paid due homage to the masters of the
divine art, and selected Handel's passionate recitative
and air from Jephtha, " Deeper and deeper still,"
which was sung by Mr. Field with nervous
power and great tenderness of expression. The
lecturer himself exemplified the richness of
Mozart's musical imagination in " Non piu
andrai," and subsequently the brilliant fancy of
Rossini, as it bounds and sparkles in " Largo al fac-
totum," and in each of these trying pieces Mr.
West evinced the liveliest sense of his author,
and in the first elicited an enthusiastic encore.
Mr. George Buckland sang Russell's strange yet
powerful song " The Maniac," with much judgment,
and at the conclusion of the lecture contributed
largely to the entertainment of the audience
by giving with much humour John Parry's
songs " Mama is so very particular," and Blue-
beard." Mr. West brought his lecture to a close by
referring to the wonderful effects of popular music
teaching in Switzerland, and expressed a hope that a
similar impulse might diffuse the spirit of song
amongst our countrymen.

BANKRUPTCY ANALYSIS TOR 1844.-Ale merchants
4, apothecaries 9, attorneys 3, auctioneers 9, bakers 9,
bankers 4, booksellers 10, boot and shoemakers 10,
brewers 8, brickmakers 5, brokers 8, builders 44,
. butchers 14, cabinet-makers 11, calico printers 4, car-
penters 21, carpet manufacturers 4, cattle dealers 7,
cheesemongers 6, chemists and druggists 15, clothiers 5,
cloth manufacturers 4, cloth merchants 2, coachmakers
5, coach and omnibus proprietors 5, coal merchants 11,
commission agents 10, contractors (road, railway, and
gas) 3, cooks and confectioners 4, corn merchants and
dealers 17, cotton manufacturers 3, curriers 10, cutlers
3, dairymen 3, dealers 15, earthenware dealers 3, eating
and coffee-house keepers 3, engineers 6, engravers 2,
farmers 7, flannel makers 2, fruit merchants 4, furriers
4, glass merchants 3, grocers 53, hatters 6, horse dealers
3, hosiers 4, innkeepers 22. ironfounders 11, iron-
mongers 19, jewellers 7, lacemen 3, leather sellers 3,
lime burners 2, linendrapers 23, linen manufacturers 2,
livery-stable keepers 7, lodging-house keepers 5, ma-
chinists 2, maltsters 7, market gardeners 2, mercers 2,
merchants 38, millers 19, milliners 3, money scriveners
5, musical instrument makers 2, nail manufacturers 2,
oil merchants 3, painters 2, paper hangers 2, paper
makers 3, pawnbrokers 3, plumbers and glaziers 13,
printers 5, printsellers 2, provision merchants 4, saddlers
10, sail-cloth manufacturers 3, ship brokers 3, ship-
owners 7, shipwrights 4, silk manufacturers 4, silk
throwsters 4, silversmiths 4, soapmakers 2, stationers
12, straw-bonnet manufacturers 2, surgeons 13, tailors
28, tallow chandlers 7. tanners 3, tea dealers V, timber
merchants 3, tobacconists 4, toymen 2, trimming makers
2, upholsterers 9, victuallers 47, warehousmen 10, watch-
makers 4, wheelwrights 1, wine and spirit merchants 36,
woollen-drapers 8, woollen manufacturers 3, woolstaplers
2, worsted manufacturers 3, worsted spinners 3, various
76.-Total, 1,064.

DEATH FROM POISON.—MANCHESTER, TUESDAY.—
Considerable surprise was excited on 'Change on Satur-
day, by a report that Mr. Louis Schwabe, the celebrated
manufacturer of figured silks by the jacquard loom, had
met with his death, under circumstances which led
to the suspicion that he had been poisoned. For a con-
siderable time the rumour met with but little credit, but
unfortunately it proved too true. The deceased was a
gentleman much respected in this town, and was well
known throughout the commercial world for the ener-
getic perseveraece with which he pushed forward the
improvement of the silk manufacture by means of the
jacquard loom. It appears from the inquiries which
we have been enabled to make, that Mr. Schwabe
had recently lost a valued relation, and appeared de-
pressed in spirits in consequence. He was taken ill on
Friday night, or early on Saturday morning. and in con-
sequence of the symptoms which exhibited themselves
medical assistance was called in, and the stomach-pump
used, but he died at about half-past seven o'clock in the
morning. An inquest was held on the body yesterday
at the house of the deceased, but out of respect to the
feelings of his family the coroner (Mr. Chapman) deter-
mined that the proceedings should be private. We can,
therefore, merely state the re lult, which we believe to
be, that the deceased came to his death in consequence
of having taken oil of vitriol, being at the time in a state
of temporary insanity. The deceased, we understand,
was about 44 years of age.
EXPERIMENTS IN WOOLWICH MARIIHES.—Lieut.-
Colonel Dansey, C. 8., Assistant Director of the La-
boratory Department of the Royal Arsenal; Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Chalmer, Assistant Director-Gene-
ral of Artillery; Major Hardirge, Assistant-
Director of the Carriage Depaz tment, attended in
the Marshes on Thursday afternoon, t) witness experi-
ments with an invention submitted by Lieut. Pen-
rice, of the Royal Engineers, as a substitute for the
present cases used for shot fired from field battery
guns. The invention consists simply of a coil of wire,
of about half an inch in thickness, formed similar to the
elastic coils of wire introduced in easy chairs and cushions.
The diameter of the coil is made equal to the bore of the
gun from which it iit to be fired, and the outside covered with
strong brown paper pasted together. The inside is
then filled with musket-balls embedded in sawdust,
and attached to the usual wadding with wire. A light
six-pounder gun was brought within two hundred
yards of the target, and a number of rounds were fired;
but in almost every instance the balls, or a great
they struck the ground before they went
Two rounds of the common case
shot were fired to compare the effect, axnpderihreyenta were
pthoerti wohnoolef length.them
appeared
to answer far better than the invention submitted for
experiment on this occasion.
E
afterwards carried on with shot fired from the same
gun to test the efficiency of marine
glue, used
as adhesive power to attach 6-pounder shot to
wooden wadding, instead of attaching them, as at
present, with slips of tin, which are apt to get
rusted by the action of salt water, or broken by
rubbing
on each other when used for field service. Twelve
rounds were fired with this invention, and they appeared
to answer the purpose remarkably well, and the aim
was so well taken by Lieutenant the lion. C. Devereux
that every one of the twelve shot entered
the target at
two hundred yards' range.
The Dowager Princess of Hohenzollern. liechin-
gen died at Vienna on the 7th inst., after a long illness.
Prince Frederick of Nassau, uncle to the reigning
Duke, and a general in the Austrian army, died lately at
Viouus of a disease of the heart, aged 46.