22 APRIL 1843, Page 5

Itrtisceltaneous.

The Wesleyan Education Committee have issued a series of resolu- tions against the Factories Bill. They have come, they say, "reluctantly and painfully to the conclusion, that no adequate alterations or satis- factory modifications of it are likely at present to be effected " ; and therefore they call upon the Wesleyan connexion to petition against it.

Mr. Edward Everett, the American Minister, has written a letter to the New Farmer's Journal, to contradict the statement reported to have been made by Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P., at a meeting of the Anti-Corn-law League in Drury Lane Theatre,—naniely, that "at a public meeting held in September last, at which the Duke of Rutland presided, Mr. Everett, the American Minister, stated that bacon, which would bring 6d. per pound here, was actually used as fuel for steam-boats with them, having no other way of' getting rid of the superfluity." "If this remark is correctly ascribed to Mr. Hume," says Mr. Everett, "in the report of his speech, it must have been made in consequence of misinformation as to what was said by me on the occasion alluded to ; no such state- ment as that in question having ever been made by me."

The Gazette de Cologne and the Journal de la Huge, both papers under the influence of the Prussian Government, publish the following para- graph, under the head of Berlin, 9th April— it has been rumoured for some time in this capital, that the surveillance exercised over foreign newspapers will become essentially more strict, inasmuch as these journals contain articles on the internal condition of Prussia. These journals being thus forewarned, will consequently have no one to blame but themselves if they are no longer admitted into the Prussian dominions. The violent attacks which the English journals, and especially the Times, have al- lowed themselves to make for some time past against our country, have been read here with astonishment. These attacks are said to have been the object of certain remonstrances, and the more so because it is supposed that the article in the Times was sent to it from Germany."

The Times scoffs at this attempt to contend with the free press of England, the eye of which is feared by the King of Prussia.

The King and Queen of the Belgians arrived at Si. Cloud in the af- ternoon of Tuesday.

The report of the Commission, drawn up by the Duc de Broglie, on the best means of attaining the emancipation of the slaves in the French i West Indies, has been published. This Commission was instituted n May 1840, and was composed of the Due de Broglie President, and of Messrs. Passy, D'Audifret, Rossi, de Mackaw, de Tracy, Jubelin, Bignon, Wustemberg, De Tocqueville, De Sade, De Sainte-Hilaire, Galos, and Mestrow. The result of its task forms a large volume. The following are the conclusions of the report-

" The Commission proposes, first, a project of law fixing the 1st of January 1853 as the epoch of slavery ceasing in the French colonies. All their slaves to remain in their present condition, with the exception of the following modi- fications, to be introduced by Royal ordonnance. Civil rights are granted to slaves during these ten years ; but they cannot plead those rights in a court of justice without being represented by a curator ad hoc. Boats and vessels, arms and powder, are excepted from the kind of property which slaves may possess. The peculium and the right of a slave to purchase his liberty is esta- hed. Emancipated slaves are not to enjoy political rights. Children born free are not included in this. The emancipated are to be forced, for five years, to engage themselves to planters, and, of course, forced to reside in the colony. The Governor in Council shall fix each year the maximum and minimum of salaries. Disciplinary workhouses shall be established for the refractory. The indemnity to the planters will be 150 millions of franca, in Four per Cents. This sum will be distributed in 1857, with the accumulated interest, to the owners of slaves, those who.have old and infirm slaves agreeing to keep and feed them. Another law will provide for the emancipation of all children born of slaves since 1838. The indemnity to be 20/. for children who have reached *the age of seven, &c."

From time out of mind it has been the custom in Strasburg for the one church to serve Catholics and Protestants at different hours, one end of the church being devoted to one worship another to the other. It was a most touching example of how well the two religions could agree together, where the breath of politics refrained from inflaming them mutually. The present Minister of Public Worship, as great a bigot as ever disgraced the days of Charles the Tenth, has put an end to this harmony, which Charles the Tenth and his clergy respected. M. Martin of Nord has issued a decree brutally turning the Protestants out of these mixed churches.—Morning Chronicle.

The Brussels papers are filled with the trial of M. Caumartin, a young advocate of Paris, for the murder of M. Sirey, another French gentleman, at Brussels ; the prisoner having voluntarily surrendered to take his trial in a foreign country. The proceedings began on the 12th instant, and lasted four days. The following may be gathered from the conflicting statements of different parties. M. Caumartin formed an acquaintance with Mademoiselle Heinefetter, a young actress twenty-two years of age, so intimate that they lived in one lodging at Paris. He had had some intention of marrying the lady, but seems to have demurred. Meanwhile, she had other admirers ; but N. Cau- martin, though he would not give her his own hand, would not allow any other to do so, and he evinced a violent jealousy. To escape from this disadvantageous position, in September last she proceeded to Brussels ; but he joined her at the diligence-office in Paris, accompanied her, so far recovered her good graces that on the voyage a fellow-passenger took them for a newly-married couple, and actually engaged the lodg- ings in which she lived at Brussels; where he left her. His family soon afterwards arranged a marriage for him ; and in November he proceeded to Brussels to recover from Mademoiselle Heinefetter cer- tain letters and other mementos of which she had possession. He arrived on the 19th, and went to her lodging at night. The lady soon afterwards returned from a concert with a party, among whom was M. Sirey. M. Sirey was a married man ; but he is said to have offered Mademoiselle Heinefetter a fortune of 400,000 francs; a charge which she indignantly repelled in a letter to the news- papers, but not at the trial. Mademoiselle Heinefetter, or a female friend who lived with her, pressed M. Caumartin, against his wish, to stay to supper. He sat apart, talking with the female friend ; and after the meal, N. Sirey approached him, and abruptly told him to withdraw, as his company was not wanted. 'A quarrel ensued : Sirey struck Caumartin with a cane ; and after agreeing to postpone further contest to a fitter occasion, pursued him with another violent attack —probably, though the fact is doubtful, having some knife in his hand, for Cau- martin's trousers were cut on the thigh. Caumartin defended himself with a cane containing a sword ; Sirey tried to wrest it from him ; the sword part remained in Caumartin's hand; and in the struggle Sirey watt pierced with a mortal wound, his antagonist alleging that he precipi- tated himself on the point of the rapier. Caumartin himself pro- cured a surgeon, and was then induced to fly. Both men are accused by their opponents of violent disposition : Sirey is said to have killed a cousin in a duel ; and Caumartin's family are said to have hushed up a former charge against him of killing a man. The Jury returned a verdict of acquittal ; but as he had been proved to be in possession of unlawful weapons, the defendant was adjudged to pay the costs.

Advices from Madrid to the 12th April relate chiefly to a debate in the Chamber of Deputies, which resulted in the defeat of the Ministry. The subject was the returns for Badajoz ; which the Opposition con- tended were invalid, because officers in the Army and some of the Pre- ventive Service had voted for the successful candidates. In the course of the debate, S. Sanchez Silva laid on the table an original letter, written by S. Cardero, the political chief of Badajoz, to S. Infante, one of the candidates, informing him of what he had done to promote his return, and that of his friends, Messrs. Jose Maria Calatrava, an ex-Minister,) Gonzales, and Lujan. The Opposition were aware that S. Jose Calatrava would be proposed as President; and, fearing that if he were, many of their own friends would support him, they were anxious to disqualify him. After a fierce discussion, the elections were declared illegal, by 80 to 55. The Infante Don Francisco de Paula voted with the Opposition. It is said that Ministers sent in their re- signation to the Regent. The correspondent of the Morning Chronicle, however, says that the election was clearly illegal, and that the upshot "leaves things in the Chamber pretty much as they were before"; the actual election of President being the real test of the Ministerial strength.

The Lisbon mail of the 10th instant has brought intelligence of the loss of the West Indian mail-steamer Solway, off Corunna, on the 7th instant. The following statement has been supplied by Mr. Lane, the purser of the steamer, who was one of the last to leave the ship, in the life-boat- " The Solway left Falmouth on the 3d April, with the usual mails on board, and arrived at Corunna at twelve o'clock on Friday the 7th ; having experi- enced heavy south-westerly gales in crossing the Bay of Biscay. She took in eighty-one tons of coal at Corunna, and left the harbour on her outward voyage at half-past nine o'clock the same evening. They passed the lighthouse about ten o'clock p.m.; and were proceeding at full speed, when, at about twelve o'clock, midnight, the vessel struck on a sunken rock. The passengers were all in their berths at the time, but Captain Duncan and several of the officers were on deck. The shock was of the most tremendous character, and created the utmost consternation. Immediately on the vessel striking, Captain Dun- can ordered the engines to be backed ; and this having been done, she came off apparently easily, the violence of the concussion having probably caused her to rebound in some slight degree. Her head was now put towards the shore, and all speed made in the hope of grounding the ship, and thus saving the pas- sengers and crew. The injury she had sustained was, however, of too serious a character to allow this to be accomplished; and within a very few moments of the ship striking, it became evident that she was settling fast by the head. Mr. Lane was asleep below at the moment the calamity occurred; and, in common with the passengers and crew, was awoke by the shock. He immediately ran up the forecastle-ladder, and found the vessel sinking fast The scene is described by him to have been at this time of a most heart-rending character. The female passengers were all on deck, in a state of mind more easily conceived than de- scribed, every person expecting the ship to go down instantly. She had still good way upon her, the engines having apparently suffered no injury; when, while pro- ceeding towards the shore as described above, a general rush was made to the pinnace, which hung at the davits on the larboard side : twenty-five persons got into her, and having seated themselves, cried out to those on board to "lower away." Captain Duncan, who evidently foresaw the great danger of lowering the boat while the vessel was proceeding at full speed, endeavoured to prevent this; but the confusion was so great on board, and his own attention so entirely devoted to the great object of getting the paddle life-boats afloat and making the shore, that his opposition was of no avail, and the forward tackle was let fly by the run, and the bows of the boat dropped in the water. The situation of the poor wretches who had made this their hope of escape was now perilous in the extreme. A cry of ' For God's sake, let go the after- tackle!' was answered by spine of the crew as soon as possible, and the pinnace fell into the water. The ship had still full speed upon her, and a heavy sea struck the boat as she floated for an instant, and swept every soul into the water ; one or two sailors only, who hung on the tackle, succeeded in again reaching the vessel. Ten minutes only had now elapsed since the vessel first struck ; during which every exertion bad been made by the officers of the ship, with Captain Duncan at their head, to get the larboard life-boat afloat. While thus engaged, the boiler suddenly collapsed, and an immense quantity of steam, dust, ashes, and flames, burst from the engine-room. All on board thought that the vessel was now about to blow up, and two or three persons were so much alarmed as to jump overboard. Throughout the whole of this trying period, Captain Duncan is described to have acted in the most cool and seaman- like manner, endeavouring, while giving effect to his orders, to keep up the spirits of those on board less accustomed to the dangers of the ocean. By great exertion the larboard paddle life-boat was eventually capsized over, and in righting half filled with water. The gig had previously been lowered, and ten persons had got into her, and rowed away. The first and second cutters were also afloat, each filled with the passengers and crew. Mr. Wilder, the chief officer. with Mr. Lane and two or three other officers, now lowered themselves into the life-boat, and brought her alongside the gangway. The engines had entirely ceased working from the moment the boiler collapsed. The water had now reached the fires, and the ship, it was evident, could not float many minutes longer. Captain Duncan and the other officers now handed the passengers into the life-boat, exerting themselves to the utmost to save all the female passen- gers. Fifty-two persons were already in the boat, and Captain Duncan was still handing in others, when a general cry rose of 'She is going!' and, giving one tremendous plunge, she went down bead-foremost, leaving the life-boat already half filled with water afloat. This fact is represented as perfectly miraculous ; the suction arising from the vessel being abundantly sufficient to swamp a boat in a much more seaworthy condition than the life-boat was at this period. The screams of those on board were awful as the ship went down; and Mr. Lane states, that the last seen or heard of Captain Duncan was an order for all on board to 'fly to the rigging,' towards which he appeared to be making himf; and it is supposed that in getting up the companion-ladder alp towards the er deck he sunk with many others. His conduct appears to have been noble : be appeared to have no thought for his own safety ; and when called to.by some of the officers who told him that the ship was founder- ing under them, he refused to leave. The life-boat now drifted away ; and se great had been the confusion arising from the hope to save all on board, that it was only then discovered that she had neither oar nor rudder. Shoes-rind hail were used to bale out the water with which she was more than half filled ; and after drifting about for a quarter of an hour, she fell in with the second cutter, having Lieutenant Hemsworth, the Admiralty Agent and several others, on board. From this boat they obtained one oar, and Lieutenant Hemsworth then returned to the wreck with the cutter : shortly after, they fell in with the first cutter, which was greatly overloaded. They took several persons from her, and obtained a bottom-board ; Mr. Wilder, the chief officer, going on board the cutter, and taking the life.boat in tow. The single oar obtained from the second cutter was now rigged over the starboard quarter of the life-boat with a grummet made of braces ; and the bottom board was similarly arranged on the larboard-quarter with a silk handkerchief, by Mr. Lane. Mr. Bevis, the third officer, rowed the boat, while Mr. Leigh and Mr. Carlile, of the Thames, steered. By this means, the boat was kept tolerably free, and drifted before the wind; Corunna hill being all the time visible. It was still quite dark, and daylight was looked forward to with the most intense anxiety. The conduct of all on board was most praiseworthy; not a syllable of insubordination escaped, and all appeared to be resigned to the worst that might happen. The ladies especially (seven of whom were in the life-boat) behaved most heroi- cally: some of them had merely time to escape in their night-dress; and, although seated in water up to their knees, not a murmur was uttered. At daybreak, the mast from the first cutter was stepped in the life-boat and her lug-sail set, when she steered towards Corunna ; and:on entering the harbour, was met by a Spanish launch, which was coming out in search of the boats. having heard of the catastrophe from those who escaped in the gig, which had made Corunna so early as five o'clock in the morning. The launch took the life-boat and cutter in tow, and brought them safely in ; when the survivors were landed, and every attention paid to them by the authorities. Mr. Lane speaks in the highest terns of the admirable qualities of the paddle life-boat, through the instrumentality of which alone nearly sixty lives have been saved under circumstances of the most extraordinary difficulty and danger.

"The French national steamer L'Erebe, Captain Castaigne, was coming out of the harbour for the purpose of proceeding to the wreck as the life-boat entered. The chief officer, Mr. Wilder, went on board to accompany them ; and at a short distance from t'm mouth of the harbour a signal was observed. The steamer bore down immediately towards it ; when it proved to be the pinnace, described above as having been swamped at an early period of the catastrophe. It contained a young man named Michael Bradley, a waiter on board, and the corpse of poor Hall, the midshipman. Bradley states, that on the pinnace getting clear of the ship, he observed something floating, and called out, 'Who is that ?' He was answered by Hall ; and after much difficulty suc- ceeded in getting him into the boat. The poor fellow lived during the night, though in a very exhausted state when picked up. Towards morning, he inquired where Mr. Lane was and Captain Duncan ; and while Bradley was en- deavouring to support him, be fell dead from his arms. His body was brought into Corunna, and he has been since buried.

"The steamer afterwards proceeded to the spot where the wreck took place, and succeeded in recovering several packages and trunks which were floating about. It appears that the ship sank in about fifteen fathoms of water, and about four miles from the shore. Eight or ten persons succeeded in reaching the rigging before she went down ; and as the upper portion of the main and mixers masts wereseveral feet above the surface of the water, they were enabled to hold on until daybreak, when their situation was observed from the shore, and some boats put off to their assistance. The fate of one passenger, the Rev. Mr. Bascom, is described to have been most distressing. He had maintained his hold during the night, and until the first boat had reached within a few hundred feet of the wreck ; when his strength entirely failed, and he fell back- wards into the water and was seen no more. Lieutenant Hemsworth, the Admiralty Agent, had remained in the vicinity of the wreck during the night ; but his boat was quite full, and he was totally unable to render any assistance to the unfortunate creatures who still clung to the rigging. The weather was tolerably moderate, or the lives of the whole crew must inevitably hays been sacrificed. Had any attempt been made to reach the shore, also, there can be no little doubt that the boats would have been swamped by the breakers, and every soul lost."

The local authorities, the British Consul, and the agents of the Com- pany, behaved in the best manner to the survivors. The following is an authentic account of those saved and lost-

" A list of passengers, officers, and crew, saved from the wreck of the Royal Mail steam-packet Solway, which took place on Friday night at twelvey. m. of the 7th April, about twenty miles to the westward of Corunna; viz.

"Passengers—Captain and Mrs. Wentworth, three children and servant;

Mr. and Mrs. Davies, three children and servant ; Miss Crawford, H. Kieswitz, Mrs. Levy, H. P. Thomas, Susanna Clark, Francis Savory, Mr. Geddes, Mr. Sugbrue, Mr. Adamson, Mr. Ancratn, Mr. and Mrs. Pell, Mr. Campbell, Hon. Mr. Dalzell, Mr. Watley, and Mr. de Savallos.

"Officers—Lieutenant Hemsworth, Admiralty Agent; Mr. Wilder, chief officer; Mr. Leigh, second ditto; Mr. Bevis, third ditto ; Mr. Lane, purser ; Mr. Carey, midshipman; and Mr. Carlile, (of the Thames.) "Engineers—Mr Thomson, chief engineer ; George Angus, second ditto; Thomas M•Muthrie, third ditto ; James Robinson, fourth ditto ; Mark Pao- worth, fifth ditto; R. Irving, boiler-maker ; A. Steadman, apprentice.

"Seamen—Smith, Taylor, (quartermaster,) Gappy, Fletcher, Fenton, Snel- ling, Lamb, Browning, (apprentice,) Richards, Ladner, Rose, (apprentice,) Bell, (carpenter,) Woxall, (boatswain,) Gardner, Hemer, Smith, (quarter- master,) Davis, Meshood, Nobes, Morgan, Read, and Taylor.

"Firemen and Coal-trimmers — Whitaker, Wilson, Stevens. Shepherd, Sweetingham, Gallagher, Maddox, Coleman, Ballantine, 111•Millan, Logan, Wallace, Robertson, Sinclair, APLaghlin, T. Sinclair, T. Ward, lire, Frost, Cannady, Darrell, and J. Ward.

"Steward's Department—Mr. Kitson, head steward ; Harding, waiter ; Ram- say, apprentice; Simpson, storekeeper; Duncan, waiter ; Banks, head-waiter ; Kirkup, ship's cook ; Brown, second cook; Pascoe, Admiralty Agent's servant ; Bradley, waiter ; Read, butcher.

"N.B.—Mr. Goicouria and Mr. Franks, passengers, stopped at Corunna.

"A list of passengers lost—Mr. and Mrs. Fitzjames, four children, and servant ; Mr. Haly, Mr. Montefiore, Miss Beadon, Reverend Mr. Bascom, Mr. Le Main, Mr. Blake, R.E., Mr. Burtchell, R.E., Mr. Hunter, Mr. Nicolle, Mr. Cartwright.

"Officers lost—Captain Duncan ; Mr. Dicker, surgeon ; Mr. Hall, midship- man, died in the boat.

"Steward's Department, lost—Brown, bedroom steward ; Westhorpe, saloon cook; Eager, boots ; Read, captain's servant ; Snibsou, officer's servant; Anson, baker ; Noel, purser's steward ; Isabella M‘Gurn, stewardess."

Mr. John Scott, the commander of the North Briton, one of the Company's coal-ships at Corunna, states that the Solway was wrecked on a reef off the island of Sisarga ; and it lay in water of such depth that the mixers-mast was just out of water. When last seen, the vessel 'was rolling very much, and was expected to go to pieces. Mr. Scott says- " I deeply lament that Captain Duncan is not spared to give his own report. It appears to me that he had, in running to this island, considered his dis- tance up, consequently altered his course a little too soon. It is evident, or it appears to me that he would steer the same coarse be had done on former occasions. "I was this morning conversing with two or three of the crew who had been taken from the rigging, and asked them why they did not jump from the pad- dle-box boat ; she was the last which left the ship, or rather the last which the ship left, as it appears she sunk. The captain, they said, would not let them go until all the ladies and their families were in ; and that he was at the them standing on the sponson, up to the middle in water, handing in the ladies ; and when all was done he leaped on the spar-deck, telling those about him to fly to the rigging : that instant the ship went down, and now Duncan was no more. " The ship is about three miles from the main : the agent has a guard abreast of her, in order to pick up the dead, or any property that may come ashore ; and when the gale abates, I will, if the agent deems it necessary, proceed to the spot in a boat."

A correspondent of the Times, a passenger in the Solway, fully ad- mitting all the merit accorded to Mr. Duncan on the score of humanity and devoted intrepidity, intimates that there was something wrong. The course of the &Away from Corunna, he says, was W.N.W.; whereas, to clear the island, it ought to have been N.W. by W. It is doubtful whether the best means of saving those on board were chosen- " The whole period which elapsed from the time she struck until she went down did not exceed twenty-five minutes, and certainly she did not move a hundred yards from the reef on which she originally struck. I would here re- mark, that although I give Captain Duncan every credit for endeavouring to allay the fears and alarm of the passengers, I am hound to state, that had a different course been pursued, and the life-boats instantly lowered after the vessel had struck, every soul who could be roused from sleep would have been saved."

The capacity of the subordinates is doubted-

" Captain Duncan, the commander, had been duly trained to a sea life ; he evinced a knowledge of his profession ; his manners and deameanour bespoke him a kind-hearted man; while his deportment after the occurrence of the catastrophe proved that he esteemed it his first duty to protect the helpless women and children committed to his care. Whether or not the officers serv- ing under him were men of sufficient skill and experience, and whether they had been appointed to their various situations entirely on account of their merit, is another affair, and one well worthy of investigation."

The public are called upon to suspend their judgment until they have the evidence of the experienced Captain Sughrue and Lieutenant Hernsworth, who were on board.

Widow Santos and Sons had undertaken that the shipwrecked passengers should have a passage in the next steamer for the West Indies.

The Solway was a Scotch-built boat ; and her total cost, when pat into working trim, amounted to 80,000/. She had only one box of specie on board, which contained about 1,300/. A singular circumstance is related of the surgeon, by a writer at Southampton- " Mr. Edward Dicker, the surgeon, was also wrecked in the Medina, and after- wards in the Isis; and now the poor fellow, in the prime of life, is, without warning and in an awful manner, called to his account by being wrecked in this ill-fated vessel. It is also a singular circumstance, but which shows a me- lancholy foreboding, that Captain Duncan immediately he heard of Mr. Dicker 's appointment to the Solway, remarked, half jesting., that if harm came to him or his ship, he should attribute it to Mr. Dicker 's .presence, that gentleman having met with such unfortunate results in his previous voyages." The extraordinary preservation of nearly sixty persons in one over- crowded life-boat of the Solway suggested a letter from Captain Chap- pell, R. N., Secretary to the Royal Mail Steam-packet Company, to the inventor of the boat, Captain George Smith, R.N., late Commander of the Excellent gunnery-ship at Portsmouth ; in which he says- " If time had permitted to get the other p e-box boat over before her pinnace was swamped, it is certain every one of assengers and crew might

have escaped, in the same manner that your two le-box boats alone rescued

the whole crew of the Isis, amounting to above one hundred persons, during a . gale of wind and a heavy sea. I have long ago frequently given my opinion, with others, that no steamers should be permitted to go to sea unprovided with boats of this description ; and, after their having thus saved one hundred and fifty lives, surely the public will insist upon their being universally adopted."

The Globe announces an important reduction in the quarantine at Malta- " The quarantine from the Ionian Islands has been abolished ia toto, although arrivals from Athens or Syria are not included in the exemption. " As regards arrivals from Egypt, the quarantine imposed on vessels and cargoes has not been reduced ; but that inflicted on passengers has been re- duced from twenty to sixteen days. "No reduction has been made as regards Turkey, either in passengers, vessels, or goods; but we have little doubt she will be shortly included in the list of exempted places. "From Greece, some indulgence is granted to merchant-vessels ; for on their arrival in Malta, provided they are furnished with a certificate from her Bri- tannic Majesty's Consul to the effect that no disease reigns in the country, their quarantine is reduced to seven days, nor are they under the necessity of discharging their cargoes."

The Columbia, which left Halifax on the 4th instant, arrived at Liverpool on Saturday, with papers from Quebec to the 24th March; and from New York to the 2d instant.

Sir Charles Bagot had had a serious relapse, and was understood to be again past hope of recovery. A movement was extending, to present him with addresses on departing from his government.

Preparations were making for the arrival of Sir Charles Metcalfe. Sir Charles had met with honours due on landing at Halifax, and been most courteously received in the United States ; through which, at the date of the last accounts, he was proceeding.

The Columbia brings intelligence from New York to the 2d instant. Several of the States, by a resolution of their Legislatures, had refused to receive their proportion of the proceeds of the public lands, which were ordered lobe distributed while the Distribution Act was in force; Among others, the Legislature of New York had taken up the subject, and a resolution to that effect was pending before the House of Repre- sentatives.

Very little business was doing. The season was uncommonly back- ward. Specie continued to flow into the country from various quarters, particularly from England and France ; but there was no employment for it. Large sums had been shipped to the Southern States ; not- withstanding which, the exchanges were against New York, and rising.

The West India mail-steamer Medway has arrived with mails from St. Thomas's to the 26th March. Three severe shocks of an earthquake were felt on the morning of the 22d of that month, off the east end of St. Domingo. The Queen's steam-vessel the Megtera, Lieutenant Old

mixon, was totally lost on the 4th March, at Bare Bush Key, off Old Harbour, Jamaica ; and one boy was drowned. A court-martial had been held on the commander, which resulted in his being simply re- primanded.

Just as the Medway was quitting Jamaica, the Queen's brig Scylla arrived there, having on board General Boyer, President of Hayti. There was no time for the particulars relative to his visit to transpire ; but it was understood that the insurgents had conquered, taken posses- sion of Port-au-Prince, and compelled his deportation.