The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-08 00:00:00

SYRIA.

BEYROUT, Nov. 7.--Syriais at length delivered of
Mustapha Pacha, who has left the affairs in a state of
confusion which it is impossible adequately to describe.
When he arrived in Syria he found the hatred which
the Druses and the Maronites reciprocally entertained
for each other, so great as to have. extinguished all
animosity towards the Turks. The result of his ten
months' mission has been to create such a degree of
animosity against the Turks as has almost extin-
guished the reciprocal hatred which the Druses and
INiaronites entertained of each other.

Aluxtapha Pacha's venality was unbounded, a cata-
logue of his acts under this head would fatigue your
readers ; I may, however, instance the distribution of
the Iltizams of the Jerusalem and Jaffa district, for
hich he received donceurs to the amount of 1,200
purses, or between 5,0001. and 6,0001. sterling. Da-
mascus was too valuable a district to be omitted. Not
long ago he sent Rifaut Bey, his muhardar, or seal-
keeper, to Ahmed Paella to saythat hewould shut his eyes
to his speculations if he would allow him to go " snacks '
in the "exploitation" of the Pachalic. The late
DTuefrtke,rdoparpo(s;eedntea his arrangement, l of Syria, an unusually honest
but without success.
Ahmed racha went to Bevrout on the pretext of
taking leave of Mustapha racha, but in reality to
settle their private (alas ! too public) accounts. When
Mr. WoOd, our able Consul at Damascus, a short
time ago found out that a fraud had been practised on
the Sultan in the Gaza district, to the amount of
30,0001. sterling, MustaphaPacha engaged to quash
all inquiry on coolly receivingfrom Sheikh Said Mus-
tapha of Gaza 17 capital horses. - •

Ibrahim Pacha conquered Syria by the sword, and
he ruled it by the sword, without an attempt to
conciliate public opinion; his despotism was charac-
terised by blunt honesty and straightforward un-
bending rigour. The morality of the Turkish Go-
vernment is far inferior.

The Druseg continue to irr ercept the high road
between Beyrout and Damascus. A Russian and
a Prussian nobleman, who came from Constantinople,
applied a few days ago for an escort to go to Damas-
cus, but were plainly told by the local authorities of
Beyrout that by taking 'Turkish soldiers the danger
of travelling would be increased ; indeed, on Monday,
the 31st ult., 40 of the best irregular cavalry attempted
to force their way through, but got back in a miser-
able plight to Beyrout—those who were not killed
were plundered. Ahmed Pacha arrived at Damascus
from Beyrout on the 4th inst., having first spread the
report that he intended to go by way of St. Jean
d'Acre, and then, taking the opposite direction ar-
rived at Damascus, after making a considerable detour
to the northward, escorted by 400 men.
There are two ways of governing Syria—
either by brute force, or by honesty and common
sense ; but with the Syrians, semi-barbarous as they
are, fraudulent expedients, concocted by a com-
mander-in-chief who never encounters any fire or
smoke but that of his own chibouque, can only suc-
ceed for a brief period.
It will cost the Turks much trouble to get out of
the scrape this time. The Druses are too much com-
mitted to recede, nor have they any confidence in the
offers of pardon made by the Government.
Sheik Hussein Suleyman and Harind-el-Begh,
the Mutuali chiefs of the mountain district between
Sidon and Acre, received a friendly invitation to go
to Beyrout, but they are too old birds to be caught
by chaff.

THE FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE
• VERSAILLES RAILROAD.
(From Galignani's Messenger.)
The important trial arising out of the awful railway
accident on the Bth of May last, and which, in fact, is
a grand inquest taken on the causes and consequences
of this lamentable event, commenced on the 22d ult.,
and was continued de die indiem, with the lapse only
of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday last, to enable the
Judges of the Correctional Tribunal to take a judicial
view of the spot on which it happened, until Saturday
last. The Chambre de Conseil having, after mature
consideration of the previous examinations, declared
that there were no grounds for including the Council
of Administration of the Company of the Paris and
Ver-ailles Railroad (Left Bank) in the prosecution,
decided that M. Jules Bourgeois, Administrateur De-
legue ; M. Bordet, Provisional Director; M. Henri,
Chief of the Paris Station; AL Bricogne, Civil En-
gineer, Directeur du Materiel; M. Lamoninare,
Chief of the Station at Versailles ; and M. Alilhau,
Inspector of the Service, should be arraigned
as guilty of hothicide through imprudence.
The act of ac: sation or indictment, gave a full
and minute recapitulation of all the disastrous
circumstances attending the accident, enumerat-
ing the persons who became its victims, either by loss
of life or severe mutilation. Of these, six were found
dead in a condition to be immediately recognised.
Ten were afterwards identified upon more minute exa-
mination ; and twenty-one, though so entirely burnt
and disfigured as not to be recognised, were afterwards
identified by certain objects belonging to them found
among the ashes and fragments, and from their having
been known to be among the passengers; and two
more bodies were found dead, but in such a state as
to defy recognition. In addition to these thirty-nine
sufferers, fourteen more died subsequently, either in
different hospitals, or at their own houses, making the
total loss of life amount to fifty-three. To these must
be added one more, whose death was made known to
the Court during the trial. The number mutilated
either by the flames or by the crushed fragments of
the carriages amounted to 109. In this last category,
we must notice the dreadful case of a M. Apiau,
who appeared on the trial as a party claiming
damages. This gentleman and his two sons were
together in the train. The eldest son was burnt to
death, and irrecognisable ; AI. Apiau was so severely
injured in his lower limbs that he has had the left
leg amputated, and his younger son was so fright-
fully disfigured in the face, that it has lost all traces
of the human countenance, and, although only
eighteen years, of age, he can never be seen in
society. He also made a most painfully affecting
appeal to the Tribunal for the restoration of the body
of his eldest son, which, he said, the Company had
buried obscurely at Meudon, and would not tell him
where it was. In fact, the distresses of this sufferer
seemed to have almost shaken his reason. The
Court sympathised with the heart-stricken man,
and said all in its power to console him,
but, of course, could not in any way meet this
part of his complaint, as his son was unquestionably
among those whom it was impossible to identify. The
points•of accusation insisted upon by the prosecution
were—the insufficiency of the number of engines for
the service of the road, so as not to allow time enough
between their respective journeys to be properly in-
spected and repaired, when requiring repair; the un-
fitness of the four-wheel engine, the Matthew Mur-
ray; the want of judgment and prudence in placing
it before the Eclair, a six-wheel engine of much greater
force; and lastly, the imprudence of running the train
with too great velocity, whereby the accident was
caused. To enter upon the evidence and arguments
in support arid in .defence of these several charges,
would lead us far beyond our limits, nor, indeed, would
they be interesting to the much greater portion of
our readers, as they consisted, in part, of technical
details and conflicting opinions of scientific men.
On the question of the fitness of the Matthew Murray,
the testimony, was so various and so contradictory,
that we conceive it is extremely difficult for any one,
who has no actual acquaintance with that engine
itself, to come to any conclusion. It certainly ap-
peared from the evidence that its peculiarities required
a skilful conductor, but it was declared that, with such
conductor, it was an effective machine. On the sub-
ject of the opinion of George, who guided it on the
Bth of May, and who was among those who lost their
lives on that day, who also is acknowledged by every
one to have been both skilful and zealous in the ser-
vice, the evidence was very contradictory. Some
Witnesses deposed that he had frequently denounced
it as incompetent and dangerous, and others de-
claring that it was a favourite with him, and that he
took great pride and pleasure in guiding it. The
charge of want of skill and judgment in placing the
weaker engine before the more powerful one was
rebutted. This was proved by men of experience to
be the universal practice, and the suggestion that the
strongest engine must over-run the weakest was
shown to he false and unfounded, as the swiftness
did not depend upon power of traction, and further
that if the stronger machine, by drawing with greater
force, took the weight t,f the train, the weaker, by
being thus relieved would go the faster, and thus
keep out of the way of the other, and could not be
overtaken by it. The last charge, that of the trait
being urged to an inordinate degree of velocity,
was, like the others, a subject of strongly conflicting
opinion. Many witnesses, as well from among the
persons who were passengers as from others who ob-
served it from the road-side when passing Sevres
and Meudon immediately before the accident, tes-
tified that the train was Mien moving with a degree
of rapidity that excited in their mind the most
witnesses, however, affirmed
serious alarms. Opposing
that the train was not going at any greater
rate than it usually ran when going direct, that is to
say, without having to stop'at the intermediate ,
sta-
tions, as was the case in the 'present instance; and
others deposed that a much greater velocity is con-
stantly kept up on many railroads without increase of
danger. Upon the whole of the evidence it should
seem that this deplorable disaster was occasioned by
the breaking of the axle-tree of the hind wheels of the
Matthew Murray, but the cause of this breakage
could not be accounted for, and most certainly did not
arise from her being over-run by the Eclair. What
the impressions made on the minds of the Judges were
remains yet to be known '•• for on the conclusion of
the trial on Saturday, the President announced that
the Court would take time till Saturday next to con-
sider its judgment.

EFFECTS OF TILE INCOME-TAX.—At. a recent
meeting of the Board of Guardians, the guardian
for Lostock, who is not of the school of Diogenes,
appeared in an exceedingly ill humour, its ebulli-
tions continually bubbling into all the business
of the Board. The Chairman, an Income-tax
Commissioner, at length said —"I think, Mr.
Saw must have been before the Income-tax Commis-
sioners."--" Why ?" said Mr. Shaw.—" Because," re-
plied the Chairman, " you are so cross." The Chair-
man often speaks of the beauties of the new Poor-
law ; to put people out of temper appears to be one of
the beauties of the Income-tax.—Bolton Free Press.
FOOT RACE.— On Tuesday afternoon, between three
and four o'clocks a most amusing race took place on
Porchester-terrace, between Mr. William Bushell, the
worthy host of the " Carpenter's Arms," Adam-
street, West, and a young man 'yclept "The Running
Butcher." Considerable interest was excited among
the licensed victuallers, as, in addition to a very con-
siderable sum, a dinner and wine was also dependant
upon the result of the match. The latter compe-
titor
was to run backwards a distance of one hundred
yards in the same time that the other did the same
distance in the usual manner; and notwithstanding
this great advantage, bets were very even, the youth
and lightness of the first being opposed to the age
and obesity of the last. At the word, both went off
in good style, the butcher getting over the ground at
a rattling pace, and Mr. Bushell making 'very. strong
play to keep up with him. .The pace was killing, how-
ever, and after getting, over about half the distance,
Boniface gave in, alleging as a reason, a great com-
motion in his inward man in consequence of the un-
wonted exercise. The different parties then adjourned,
and the evening was passed in the most harmonious
I manner.

GOVERNMENT AND THE. SCOT-

TISH POOR-LAW.

(From the Glasgow Courier.)
The follon;ng correspondence is of importance, as
it possesses more than a local interest :
" COPY OF A LETTER FROM MR. WALLACE TO SIR

R. PEEL, DART., DATED KELLY, Nov 17, 1842.
" Mr. Wallace presents his compliments to Sir
Robert Peel, and begs to request his early and par-
, ticular attention to a memorial sent herewith from
the unemployed in the town of Greenock to Sir R.
Peel ; also a letter from Provost Baine, the Chief'
Magistrate of Greenock, to Mr. Wallace, on the
matters set forth in the memorial; and by the same
post by which these will be sent, Mr. Wallace sends
a copy of the Greenock Advertiser, in which Sir
Robert Peel will find an account of the proceedings
which took place at a public meeting of this county
on the 10th of this month ; in which Sir Robert Peel
will see the resolUtions which were come to respect-
ing an assessment for the relief of the unemployed,
and also for an application to the Executive Govern-
ment for a grant of public money, and an issue of
clothing for them and their families.
" Mr. 'Wallace would fr-ther request Robert
Peel's
.special attention to the 'application of the un-
employed in Greenock for work instead of money, by
causing to be built and furnished, in the excellent
dockyard 'and foundries which abound in that town,
steam-ships with steam-engines for the navy or for
any other Government purpose. Mr. Wallace takes
leave to say that, were this suggestion to be gone into,
it would be the immediate happy means of getting all
the trades, and many of the unemployed labourers, in
the town of Greenock to work ; and, therefore, he most
earnestly implores Sir Robert Peel to submit 'this
proposal to her Majesty's Ministers, as one means, if
not the only mans, of giving employment, which
eventually.would not be attended with any pei.via-
neat outlay or loss to the country.
" Mr. Wallace takes this opportunity of thanking
Sir R. Peel for the reply be made so proMptly to a
late communication, and begs earnestly an answer to
this and the enclosed memorial, at his earliest con-
venience."

The following letter from Sir Robert Peel, in reply,
to a Memorial from the Unemployed of Greenock,
soliciting aid from Government, has been received
by Mr. Wallace, of Kelly, M.P.:—
" COPY OF A I ETTER FROM SIR ROBERT PEEL, BART.,
TO MR. WALLACE, DATED DRAYTON MANOR, FAZE-
LEY, NOV. 22.

" I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your
letter of the 17th of. November, transmitting to me
a letter, from Provost Baine, the Chkef l'Allgistrate of
Greenocl:, and a Memorial addressed to me by the
unemioyed in the town of Greenock.
"As this memorial has been forwarded by you, I
request that you wall have the goodness to infoisn the
memorialists that it has been duly received by me.
" That the state of the law in bcotland in respect to
the relief of the destitute has attracted the serious at-
tention of her Majesty's Government, end that mea-
sures are now in progress for instituting a full and
comprehensive inqe iry into that iniportant subject, with
a I, iew to the amendment of the existing law.
" That I deeply regret to hear of the distress end
privations under which the memorialists end their
families are suffering; but that I hare not authority,
and do not consider that it would be consistent with
my duty, to advance money from the public funds for
the relief of that distress.

" That I feel a strong confidence that there is
an alternative, in reference to the state of distress,
other than that which the memorialists contemplate ;
namely, that the sympathy and kind feelings of those
who are possessed of property will, by voluntary con-
tributions, supply any defect which there, may be in
the ox;sting law in respect, to the assessment of pro-
perty, and will provide relief in cases wherein it may
be absolutely necessary to afford it.
" This confidence, which I should feel on generil
grounds, from my respect for the character of the peo-
ple of Scotland, is strengthened by the resolutions of a
publie meeting to which you coil my attention, in re-
ference to a voluntary assessment of propeity for the
relief of the destitute.

" That I will transmit to the Lords Coirmissioners
of the Admiralty that p?rt of the memorial which
prays for the transfer to the port of Greenock of a
portion of the work which maybe required for the
public service, in the building and equipping of steam-
vesels, or any other description of shiprig.
"This is a question which must be in a 4; :eat mea-
sure decided by considerations of public'ecoooinv, pint
of the comparative cost to the public of executing the
works referred to at Greenock, or other places.
" I have the honour to be, &c.,
" ROBERT PEEL."

Major Uniacke, of the Royal Ill2rines, who was
killed at Ching-Kiang- foo, whilst gallantly leading
the Marines of the Cornwallia agamst the walls of
the city, formerly resided at Stonehouse. Major
Uniack.e Was a gallant and distinguished officer. He
wes in the general action with the combined fleets-of
France and Spain July 23d, 1805. The Spanish
ship of the Pie, l Firm e, having struck, he boarded
and took poisession of her with forty Marines, having
charge of several hundred prisoners. He was pre-
sent at the siege of Cadiz, and the expedition to Ma-
laga, and was in the Sea Horse when she captured a
French frigate. He was at the capture of Alex-
andria, and in all the affa;rs on the Potomac, as well
as at Baltimore and New Orleans, where he was se-
verely wounded in the knee-joint; at the capture of
the flotill_a with Captain Lockyer, in the barge of the
Sea Horse, when every individual on board was killed •
or wounded. He was reworded by a sword from the
Patriotic Fund.' He had been repeatedly engaged in
the Chinese expedition, and led his men to the walls
ith undaunted' courage. He has left an amiable and
accompliShed widow, and . a young and talented
daughter, to lament their loss. —Devonport Telegraph.
GIIUZNE*Pnizu IpoLs.—Some of the papers men-
tion the bringing away the celebrated gates of Ghuznee
by General Nott, as if it were the General's own idea
carried into effect ; but we are informed that it was one
of Lord Ellenborough's instructions to him to bring
them back. to India, whence, as many of our readers
lulow, they were taken upwards of eight hundred years
since, by Alahmood the First, on his return from his
twelfth and last invasion of the Hindoo land. All our
home " Overland " readers may not be aware that
they were taken from the famous Brahmin temple of
• Sumnat, in Guzerat, of which Malnamod having broken
up a huge Idol, notwithstanding that its priests offered
him several crones of rupees (or millions sterling) to
forego his iconoclastic design, discovered in its belly
such store of diamonds, pearls, rubies, and other. pre-
cious stones, that the sum offered as ransom was a
mere nothing in the comparison—a regulerßelly-God
that ! What the particular purpose of the GoveFor-
General is, in having the gates brought back, we do
not yet well know, but it is probably to send them to
•England as curiosities end mementos, for he cannot
design to bestow them on any Hindoo temple of the
present day (he would raise a loud religious outcry if
he did), but it may be intended as a political mark of our
late triumph in Central Asia, and one which will exalt
the British name in libido° estimation, fOr depriving
the Mussulmans of such a trophy of their conquest
over the follOwers of Brahma. Mahmood's mace also,
with which he struck off the Idol's nose, is being
brought away from its placein the mosque at Ghuznee
at which the gates were fixed.—Englishman, Oct. 13.
QUALIFICATIONS OF A MISSIONARY TO TILE SOUTH
SEA IsLANDEas.—The object of missionary exertion
in Polynesia is unquestionably important, and no
means, separated from religion, seem adequate to the
accomplishment of it. Simple - instruction in letters
and the arts will not suffice. The iriiid must be
reused and -alarmed by revelations which respect the
eternal state of roan; the savage must be made to
feel that the eye of heaven is. upon him; and that
there is a powerful hand ever stretched out to punish
or to protect. To effect these ends, the learned and
refined are not the best qualified, for there is a delicacy
of feeling induced by literary habits, which shrinks
from the familiar description and bold remonstrances
indispensable to the success of the missionary. An
illiterate artisan, if animated with zeal, and not igno-
rant of the first truths of his. religion, is, for breaking
up the ground of pagan superstition, an instrument
better suited than the brightest ornament of a univer-
sity, or the most eloquent expounder of doctrine in
the city pulpit. Such men as went forth in the Duff
act as pioneers; they prepare the way for the advance
of a more regular force ; they .cut out a path in the
wild thicket or morass by whicl their successors may
proceed to complete the work begun with so much
labour; they sow the seed, with an unskilful hand
perhaps, and on ground little cultivated, but whence,
at no 'distant day,. a crop will spring to enrich and
beautify the whole land. The missionary in due time
is followed by the churchman, who systematizes the
elements which the other has created. Like a wise
master-builder, the latter polishes the materials, al-
ready in some degree prepared to his hand, and erects
with them an orderly edifice, complete in all its parts,
and having for its foundation the lively stones of an
apostolical priesthood, qualified to offer the oblation of
a spiritual sacrifice. We must look to the next ge-
neration for the full effects of the exertions made in
the present.- The warmest advocates of South Sea
missions are most ready to acknowledge that the work
is still imperfect ; that much evil is yet to be cor-
rected, and all that is good still needs improvement.
But it must not thence be denied, that a great benefit
has been conferred, in which the Christian and phi-
lanthropist may rejoice. The leaven of the gospel,
indeed, has not hitherto leavened the whole population,
so that many are still found who profess not to believe
in it, and amongst those who do, numbers are
Christians only in name, and by their conduct fre-
quently dishonour their calling. Who that is at all
acquainted with the progress of, our holy faith in past
ages, could expect it to be otherwise ? The directors
of missions are not such enthusiasts as to look for
miracles.--Edinburgh Cabinet Library, No. 111.
Polynesia.