The Sun.
London, England, 1827-05-14 00:00:00

SHOALS IN THE STRAITS OF GA-SPAR

Extract of a letter from Captain de la Vega, of the
Spanish ship Velox Pasagera, to Captain Drum-
mond, of the Hon. Company's ship Castle Hunt-
ley, just arrived from China, dated the 9th of
January :
" On the 24th of August, when in the Straits of
Gaspar, at three-quarters past four in the afternoon,
we touched the ground upon shoal in the lat. of
1. 10. S., and the long, by the meridian of Lon-
don, of 106. 33. 30. E. This latitude and longi-
tude is quite accurate, and may be relied upon, the
first having been observed at 12 o'clock, and reckon-
ed by estimation to that hour; and the second cal-
culated by the chronometer, and compared with the
reconing at Pulo-Gaspar. The depth of water of
this bank or sunken rock is that of a ship of large
burden. The shallowest part is from 18 feet,
Burgos measure, to 28, and gradually increases
from eight to 18 fathoms; the bottom is rocky.
Our ship's draught was 20 feet. We remaine.l a-
ground a quarter of an hour. The weather was fine,
and the sea very calm, with the wind at S.E., steer-
ing N.W. We got off by carrying a press of sail,
and forcing over the ground. When at five miles
distant from the bank, we dropped anchors : I sent
out boats in order to take soundings from S.E., out
could not discover it again, which proves that it is
not`of any great extent. Upon arrival at Manilla,
the ship was hove down, when it was found that the
rudder had lost the lower pintle, the copper sheath-
ing of the keel was gone, and the false keel on the
stern was broken."

Extract of a letter from Captain Coriz, of the
ship Asia, of Providence, to Capt. Drummond :
"On the 20th of September, 1826, on our
voyage to Canton, the Asia struck and grounded on
a shoal, when she remained fast five hours, with
three feet under the bows, and five fathoms under
the stern, soft coral. The shoal extended about half
a mile from west by north, half north to east by
south, half south ; and is as near as possible in let.
8. 38., north long. 110. 50. east."

Mr. PEEL.—Mr. Peel owes the popularity he
has gained entirely to the principles he had in common with
the men he has deserted. His Bill for Restoring Cash
Payments was confessedly founded on the doctrines of
Messrs. Horwer and Brougham, to which Mr. Peel avowed
himself a recent convert. llis Jury Bill, a most meritori-
ous measure, had the approbation both of Whigs and
Radicals, because it applied a remedy to the grievance of
packing, which many Tories regarded as the palladium of
Church and State. We need not ask what would ht ve
been the fate of the same Bill if it had originated else-
where, for Mr. Peel's Bill was almost a literal transcript
of one introduced the year before by Mr. Kennedy, and
which, through the exertions of Lord Melville, was rejected
by the House of Peers, as a dangerous innovation. Peel
lent his support to all the liberal commercial measures pro
wtihthe the
visionary W igl , a t
hned o
r burrowingitheorists,"
and
arms posed by Messrs. Robinson and Huskisson. But in doing
this,
as het et
Int ts
clacting
the " politieel economists," to overturn the systems of
whom ?—of the Pitts, the Liverpool*, the Castlereaglis,
the Bexley', and all the financiers held in veneration by the
Ultras ? His amendments of the criminal code are a monu-
ment to his honour. But can it be denied that, in carry-
ing forward these, he was giving effect to the maxims of
Bentham, and treading in the steps of Romilly and
Nlzcintosh ? It is known that the Lord Chancellor spoke
lightly of them as effusions of juvenile zeal ; and probably
only tolerated them because they proceeded from a mind
deeply saturated with prejudices akin to his owu.—
Scotsman.

We hear that a spring has been discovered at
Stanley, a pleasant village one mile frorri Wakefield, of
great importance to the sickly valetudinarian, which bids
fair to rival Harrowgate in its medical virtues.—Doncas-
ter Gazette.

The Newspapers in the interest of the com-
bined illiberal:, now happily out of office, are very much
in the habit of boasting that the public voice is de-
cidedly in favour of their patrons, and of expressing an
ardent wish for public meetings in the principal town? of
the kingdom, in order that their assertions may he proved
beyond dispute. Upon a point of this nature it is difficult
to speak with certainty, but we will venture to say, that if
the persons who entertain this opinion in Leeds will take
the usual method of obtaining a public Meeting, by address-
ing a requisition to the Mayor of the borough for that pur-
pose, the result will prove to them that a large majority of
the inhabitants are favourable to the late changes in the
Administration, and that the ultra Tories are as insignificant
io numbers here, as they will soon be proved to.be in Par.
liament. --Leeds Mercury.