Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1861-01-12
NO. 10.
MISCELLANEOUS READING.

The U. S. STEAMER IRooUoIs.- s.-The Trenton
Gazette, in letter from Genoa, dated Dec.
10th, gives the following account of an acci
dent to the u S. steamer Iroquois: At $50
z. NJ. the Genoa light was in sight; fifteen
minutes afterward the order was passed for
all hands on deck to bring ship to anchor
which was too soon done. Il was pitch dark,
and wind blew directly in our faces and 1t
rained very hard. The light, from being on
our port bow, became changed to nearly
abeam. The entrance to the harbour is not
more than one hundred rods wide, and arti-
fcially formed by two moles, without which
it would be only an ndentation of the shore
and exposed to the sea.
Suddenly the light disappeared, and at the
same instant the pilot, who was standing
on the top-galant forcastle, made an outcry
which startledevery body-"Stop her" "Back
her." Though the engine was reversed in less
than twenty seconds the ship struck with
heavy thump, giving everybody an invol-
untary start, then u less violent shock, and
though the engine was backed with full power
we were firmly fixed on arock-the ship had
run on one-third her length; at the time We
struck our ship asrunning atfull speed-ten
nots On hour. The shock was not 80 violent
as might be supposed, owing to the fact that
the ship is two feet deeper in the stern than
the bow, and the keel touching lightly at
first, ran upon the rock as upon an inclined
plane That rock was our salvation; 1t was
not more than one hundred and fifty feet from
the shore, which was solid wall Of ragged
rocks, forty or fifty feet high Had not that
rock happend te be just where it was, We
should have unavoidably run plump upon
that shore of noarly perpendicular rock, and
we should haye been wreck. The vessel
fortunately got off without serions injury,
after several hours detention. s....
Hon. A. II. Stuart. Secretary of the in.
terror under Mr.. Fillmore, has written a
letter to gentleman in Chicago. recommending
that division line be run along the par
allel of3G0 30/ to the Pacific excepting Cali
fornia-that the normal condition of all the
territory we now have or may hereafter ac-
ouire north of that line shall be free, and
all south of it slave, until it shall be admit
ted in the Union as States, and that then it
may be changed at the pleasure of its 7inhab-
itents- This with the repeal of the Personal
Liberty bills. the amendment and enforce
ment of the Fugitive Slave law, und guaran-
tees against interference with the inter-
State slave trade, and with slavery in the
District of Columbia, he thinks would restore
peace to the country.
Hon Robert McClelland, ex-Secretary of
the Interior, is out with letter on the pres
sent crisis. He reviews the causes that have
led to the present state Of affairs, reciting
the grievances of both the North and the
South, and recommends, as a solution of the
difficulty the withdrawal of the slavery ques-
ton both from Congress and local Govern
ments until the people of Territory shall
form State Constitution, and also modi6-
cation of the Fugitive Slave law. He
thinks disunion will be as o destructive of
the interests of the North as of the South,
and entreats the Northern people to so act
as to strengthen the conservative men of
the South who are making constant appeals
to our magnanmity and patriotism.