The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-14 00:00:00

SCANDAL IN HIGH LIFE.

The following letter has been addressed to the
Observer of yesterday, and in giving it insertion we
have only to remark that the report to which it re-
fers has been prevalent for three weeks, and that
the distance between Leeds and London can be per•
formed in less than ten hours :

" Sir,—His Royal Highness Prince George of
Cambridge's name having appeared in the Observer of
the 30th ult., connected with certain infamous and Ca-
lumnious reports, reflecting upon the honour of a
member of a Noble family, I am commanded by his
Royal Highness to give his most unqualified and
indignant contradiction to them, and to request that,
as you have (though doubtless without any ill-feel-
ing) assisted in giving currency in your paper to
these reports by a quotation from another paper, you
will, in common justice, give insertion to this letter
without delay.
" His Royal Highness Prince George's absence
with his regiment at Leeds has prevented this con•
tradiction being sent to you in time for your paper of
last Sunday.
" I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
"'JOHN PARKINSON,
" Solicitor to H.R.H., 66, Lincoln's Inn-fields.
" 11th Nov., 1842."

We have good reason to know that a confidentia,
agent of the Government is at this moment engaged in
examining the speeches delivered at the various Anti-
Corn-law meetings, and in selecting and arranging
what appeared to him to be the most violent passages.
This compilation will contain the names of the several
speakers, the places at which they were delivered, and
the dates of their delivery. Care will be taken to set
down the names of the members of the various Com-
mittees over the country, the position they hold in sc-
ciety, whether magistrates or town-councillors ; but,
above all, whether they were in any way connected
with the late Government. Strict orders have been
given that the most violent passages shall be printed
in italics or large type. It is not for us to say what
the object of this proceeding is, but we should not he
at all surprised to find that these elegant extracts
should some night be produced in the House of Com-
mons as a justification for some coercive measure,
which the Government would lay at the feet of the
Corn-law Lords as an act of homage to those mono-
polists, to whom the Duke of Richmond declared the
Tory Ministers owed their origin, and to whom alone
they were indebted for continuance in office.—Observer!
Two days ago the landlady of a lodging-house in
the rue de Clery, surprised at not having seen for se-
veral days two young females (sisters), one 26 years
of age, the other 21, who lodged in the house, went
up to their room, and finding the door locked,
called on the commissary of police, who broke
open the
two
suicidesisters
by werethe
ufound
f
thheaviudgooru.
charcoal at least ten days before, as was evident
omrmrhiteted
from the advanced stage of decomposition of the
bodies. A new-born child was also found lying
dead by one of the females. A letter was left stating
that they had both quitted their places in consequence
of pregnancy, and had resolved to destroy themselves
in order to hide their shame.
The piercing cold which has so suddenly followed
an almost tropical summer, that rendered all the
rivers nearly dry, seems to threaten us with a long
and most rigorous winter. We see with no small
uneasiness the impediment this lowering of the
waters of the Seine has thrown, and will continue to
throw, in the way of the navigation of the river. When
we observe the emptiness of the wood-yards in the
neighbourhood of the Boulevard du Temple, and of
the coal-stores at La Villette, and see that the coke
from the gas-works is carried off as soon as it comes
out of the retorts, there is every reason to fear that
the supply of fuel for Paris will become inadequate to
its demand for consumption.—Paris Paper.

SHIPWRECKS.

LOSS OF THE ABERCROMBY ROBINSON
AND THE WATERLOO—GREAT LOSS OF
LIFE.
By the arrival of her Majesty's ship Hyacinth from
the Cape of Good Hope, we have advices from the
colony to the 19th of September. The prominent in-
telligence is an account of the wreck of the Aber-
cromby Robinson, and the ship Waterloo in Table Bay,
on the 28th of August—the former with upwards of
500 troops on board, bound for Algoa Bay, and the
latter with upwards of 300 convicts, bound for Van
Diemen's Land. The Abercromby Robinson was for-
tunately driven ashore on the sandy part of the beach,
which enabled the vessel to hold sufficiently long to-
gether to save every. person on board; bat the
Waterloo, on being driven from her anchors by the
gale, ran ashore upon the rocks, and the ship went so
soon to pieces that a dreadful catastrophe followed.
Notwithstanding that every possible exertion was made
by the persons assembled in numbers on the beach,
it is to be regretted that fifteen soldiers of the con-
vict guard (her Majesty's 99th Regiment) four women,
13 children, and 143 convicts, in all 189 persons, met
a watery grave. Some strong reflections are made in
the Cape papers against employing such old vessels as
the Waterloo in the conveyance of convicts, it being
assumed that if she had-been a stronger ship she would
have held out sufficiently long for all the people to have
been saved. There seems at the same time to have been
a great deficiency of boats calculated to live in such
a tremendous sea as is brought into Table Bay by a
north-west gale.
The following are extracts of a letter received on
Saturday by her Majesty's ship Hyacinth, dated
"Cape Town, 29th of August:"—
" I have now to relate one of the most awful events
which has occurred in the memory of the oldest in-
habitant of this town. Saturday night, the 27th
inst., it blew a very heavy gale in Table Bay, which
increased in force until Sunday morning, and about
four o'clock, during the interval of the claps of thun-
der, the inhabitants of Cape Town were aroused by
hearing minute guns of distress from a vessel in the
Bay. I immediately dressed, and proceeded to the
beach, and by the blue lights soon ascertained that
two or three vessels were ashore at the head of the
Bay, close upon Salt River. It was raining in
torrents—the forked lightning was blinding—
the thunder was stunning—it was as dark as
pitch. The distance of Salt River from Cape
Town is between two and three miles, and upon my
arrival, day was fast breaking. Although so early,
I found numbers of people assembled, and at about
six o'clock it was ascertained that the name of the
unfortunate vessel was the Abercrombie Robinson,
1,415 tons, from London, with 500 rank and file of
her Majesty's 91st regiment, to relieve the 75th re-
giment, ordered home. She had also on board a band
for the Cape. The Abercrombie Robinson arrived at
Table Bay on Thursday last, and after landing some
of the officers, was to proceed to Algoa Bay to land
the 91st. She was a splendid vessel, fitted up expressly
as a transport ship. About seven o'clock his Excel-
lency Sir George Napier arrived, and the beach
now presental a very animated appearance, every
officer not on duty being present, besides those
of the 91st who had obtained leave to go on
shore. The vessel having been driven on shore at
high water, we soon were able to communicate with
her ; and although this fine ship will become a total
wreck, not a life was lost, and every soldier was
landed during the day. About 300 yards from the
Abercrombie Robinson' was the convict-ship Water-
loo, which had arrived during the week for the pur-
pose of provisioning, on her way to Sydney, with
about 240 male convicts, a guard of thirty soldiers,
five women, and forty-three children—with the crew
about 330 souls. She lay in a very precarious situa-
tion. She was within a very few yards of the breakers,
but it was thought she might hold on until the
weather moderated, when she might be towed off.
Under this impression the vast multitude which
had assembled on the spot began to sepa-
rate. About 10 o'clock, however, the Waterloo
gave a sudden lurch, and parted from all her anchors,
and came broadside in amongst the breakers. The
scene which now took place I shall remember to the
day of my death. After two or three heavy rolls the
three masts went over the side with a dreadful crash.
The hatches were now opened, and the convicts rushed
on deck. The sea was now making a clean breach
over her. Immediately on the convicts arriving on
deck about 50 jumped overboard ; about 15 or 20
gained the shore. The remainder were drowned.
The cries of the poor wretches on deck were now
heart-breaking. Each sea, as it made a breach over
the unfortunate vessel, carried a dozen or so into the
water, who, of course, were drowned. Thousands of
people were on the beach, but could render not the
least assistance. Oh ! it was a dreadful sight. There,
within a stone's throw, 200 or 300 of our fellow-crea-
tures were drowned before our eyes.
" But now comes the awful part of my tale. About
eleven o'clock, within half an hour after she struck,
the Waterloo parted in two. Some who had never
thought of their God, or if they had, it was only to
take his name in vain and break his laws, were now
seen with their hands clasped, and heard loudly calling
upon Him to save them. Soldiers' wives were seen
clasping their little ones to their bosoms in agonies.
One woman I shall never forget, she was holding on,
with one hand, to a piece of plank ; with the other
she held, pressed to her bosom, a little infant. Her
cries were piteous ; at last a sea came and
washed the woman and the little one off ;
they were seen no more. The water was now full
of the struggling and the dead. A boat was employed
to pick up all it could. It could not approach the
wreck on account of the heavy sea. I have neither
time or heart to write further particulars. I saw one
man embrace his wife and little one, then jump into
the boiling serf. He never rose again. I could
repeat hundreds of similar occurrences. Suffice it to
say, within an hour and a half of the Waterloo
striking, not a particle of her was to be seen. She
had literally gone to pieces, and; horrible to relate,
out of 330 souls 250 met with a watery grave. It
happened yesterday (Sunday), and while I am
writing, the carts are passing the window crammed
with the dead. The vessel was 27 years old, and
must have been very rotten ; not a life need have
been lost if she had been of ordinary strength."