THE BURNING OF THE EASTERN CITY.

Full details of the burning of the Eastern City, an Australian steamer, have arrived. She left the Mersey for Melbourne in July with a heavy cargo, 180 passengers, and 47 officers and men. Her run was successful as far as the equator, when on August 23d, it was found that a fire had broken out in the hold. Captain Johnstone at once ordered the passen- gers and crew on deck, and all did obey except one. The fore hatch was nearly closed, holes being left for the passage of water, and immense quantities were poured down. For some time a hope prevailed that water was overcoming fire, but this was delusive. Next an attempt was made to smother the flames by covering the hatch with blankets, plaids, shawls, sails. Not a ship was in sight; the sea rolled heavily ; night came on ; the land was six hundred miles distant. Everything seems to have been done to save the ship. Water was again vigorously applied, the captain cheerily superintending every operation. In the mean time the boats had been prepared and provisioned for lowering, and the women and children were removed to the poop. Morning broke and found pas- sengers and crew hard at work. Hopes of safety grew fainter every moment. The men were excessively fatigued ; the decks grew too hot to stand upon, some of the top hamper came down with a run. All seemed over when a cry arose of " a sail !" It proved an ark of safety. One of the saved recounts the scene.

"How I looked to windward, and how faint and ill I felt when I at first failed to perceive anything but the ocean and a few black clouds just at the edge of the horizon ; how we all at last saw the sail, just like a distant gull —she was coming down upon us—close by the edge of the sun's rays on the sea ; how we all cheered, and wept and prayed, and laughed and clasped each others hands and cheered again ; how great rough fellows hugged each other and wept like children • how men who had probably never prayed be- fore muttered sincere thanksgivings ; and how those who had preserved the greatest indifference when death seemed so near were now completely over- come, I cannot describe. I shook hands with at least a hundred—many of them rough, illiterate men, but who had worked with a high courage in the hour of danger, and who were now as sincere in their feelings of thankful- ness as the best of us. In less than half an hour from the time we first sighted her, the vessel, which proved to be the Merchantman, of and from London, with troops for Calcutta, passed close under our stern. How we cheered her, and she returned our cheer as only British soldiers and sailors can cheer. Our captain hailed through his trumpet, We are on fire, will you stand by us ? ' to which Captain Brown returned a hearty Aye, aye ; and send my boats to assist you.' First went the women and children, then the men, the captain, stead- fast man, being the last to leave.

" When we consider the heavy sea running and the way in which both ships rolled about, particularly the Eastern City, from the absence of suffi- cient sail to steady her, we cannot but admire the arrangements of Captains Johnstone and Brown ; and to have rescued 227 persons from a disabled ship in such a sea, without a single accident, speaks for itself. On board the Merchantman Captain Brown had provided everything that he could devise for relieving our wants and conducing to our comfort ; and well was he seconded by Captain Dawson, commanding the troops. They had pre- pared hot tea and biscuits for 400. The women and children were accom- modated in the cuddy and officers' rooms, and the crew and passengers mus- tered and told off to mess with the soldiers and sailors, without the slightest confusion. The Merchantman stood by the burning ship during the night, and at about 2 a.m. the flames burst forth over the topgallant forecastle - soon after the foremast went over the side, and in half an hour the main and mizen masts went, and soon after she was a mass of flames. We could see her still burning until about 5 a. m., when, the Merchantman having stood for Table Bay, the distance became too great for us to distin- guish other than a dark cloud resting against the dim horizon, which was the last we saw of our ship. We in the first cabin saved a portion of our luggage, but the whole of the other passengers and the majority of the crew lost everything. But we were all truly thankful for our preservation from a terrible and Inevitable death, and we all feel that the finger of Providence was in it, for had the Merchantman not been obliged to put into Rio de Janeiro, in consequence of the illness of her medical officer then in charge of the troops, she could not have been so far out of her course, and in a po- sition to rescue us.

" I cannot speak too highly of Captain Johnstone's conduct, and I am sure every one who was on board the unfortunate Eastern City will agree with me. He did all for our safety and the safety of his ship that man could do, and by his calm courage animated us all ; while by the ability of his arrangements everything was conducted in an orderly and systematic manner, at a time when the slightest confusion must have been attended with the most disastrous consequences. As the fire originated in the fore- hold, with which there was no communication from the forecastle and fore- steerage, and as the forehatch had been battened down for four days, it must have been caused by spontaneous combustion, or the friction of badly stowed packages during the previous day, when the ship rolled so heavily in the high sea. I cannot close my communication without bearing testi- mony to the calm behaviour of the female passengers. After the first half- hour they never complained ; and it was only when the ship took a more than usually heavy roll that some of the more timid uttered a few screams. Poor things, they were many of them resigned to their sad fate. The purser's wife, in particular, astonished me by her calmness throughout."

The rescued people met with the kindest treatment, both on board the

Merchantman and at Cape Town; which place they were for- warded to Melbourne in a bark chartered for the purpose. Mr. Amadio sends us a curiosity, of photography—a speck betve: two glasses, which, by help of the microscope, proves to be a delicate- and spirited portrait of Charles Dickens. The whole is nearly invisible to the naked eye ; the microscope discloses the details of the most fiaisihed portraiture. It is an example of photographic power interesting many ways. The Queen, it is said, has in a single ring a gallery family portraits. A book for the waistcoat pocket might hold the whole picture story of travels round the world. A scrap of paper indistinguiah, able from rubbish in the bottom of a pocket, might contain what under the solar microscope would become a great despatch.

The Prince of Wales will enter the Army as an officer in the Coldstream Guards.

The Governor-General of Canada, accompanied by Lord Radstock and one or two others, has been leading a hunter's life in the backwoods, on the shores of the beautiful river Severn, which empties into Lake Huron.

When the new Indian Council was formed, much clamour was raised at the appointment of Mr. Charles Mills, chiefly because his wealth rendered the salary a mere superfluity to him, and because it was not his intention to retire from the banking house of Glyn and Co., of which he is a member. Mr Mills has deprived these objections of whatever weight they might be supposed to possess, by declining to accept more than the 500/. per annum which he has received for twenty years as an East India director, tram_ ferring the balance of 7001. a year to the credit of the Indian revenue.

Mr. F. A. Carrington, of the Oxford circuit, has been appointed Recorder of Wokingham, vice Mr. George Clive, M.P., resigned.

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton has given a Ceylon writership to the success- ful candidate in an open competition of the students of Glasgow University, of which he is rector.

The Reverend Thomas White, M.A., of St. John's College, Cambridge, has been appointed to the Mastership of the Grammar School, Lynn Regis.

A letter in the Nord, from Berlin, states that the Minister-President, Baron 3fanteuffel, has just received from the Emperor of Russia, as a mark of special friendahip, a present of two magnificent porcelain vases, made at the Imperialmanufactory at St. Petersburg.

The Belgian Monlieur announces that M. Barret has presented letters putting an end to his mission as Extraordinary Envoy and Minister Plenipo- tentiary of the Emperor of the French at the Belgian Court.

The young Prince of Oude is still at Cairo, leading a very retired life, and but seldom seen abroad. He is residing at the house of an English shawl merchant, a Mahornedan from Lahore, who for several years has been es- tablished in Egypt.

Major-General Sir William Reid K.C.B., a notable man, died on Sunday last. He was an officer of Engineers, had been in the army since 1809, served in the great Peninsular sieges and battles, and was pre- sent at the attack on Algiers by Lord Exmouth. He had been Governor of Bermuda, Barbadoes and Malta, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Exhibition of 1851, and author of a book on the Late of Storms.

The Rev. V. Thomas, B.D., late Senior Fellow of Corpus Christi i

College, Oxford, died last week in the 84th year of his age, at his resi- dence in High Street, Oxford. According to Crodsford's Clerical Dieti

the Reverend gentleman at the time of his death held the following valuable preferments : "Vicarage of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, value 510/. ; popula- tion, 668 ; promoted in 1804 ; patron, Lord Leigh. Vicarage of Yamton, Oxon, value 290/. ; population, 317 ; promoted in 1803 ; patron, Sir George Dashwood, Bart. Rectory of Dunkbourne-Rouse, Gloucestershire, value, 243/. ; population, 160 ; promoted in 1810 ; patrons, Corpus Christi College, Oxford. It will thus be seen that the Reverend gentleman has, during the period he held the three livings, received the enormous sum of 55,1511., the aggregate of the population being 1145. Mr. Thomas graduated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in 1796, and rose to be one of the leading men of the College. He was formerly a shining light among the Oxford Conservatives.

The Baroness de Bourqueney, wife of the French Ambassador at the court of Vienna, died in that city on Saturday night, in child-bed.

Mr William Blagrove, brother of our moat eminent English violinist, died suddenly on Monday night, just as he was about entering Drury Lane Theatre to fulfil his duties in the orchestra, under the direction of Mr. Alfred Mellon.

Lord and Lady Muncaster recently narrowly escaped the consequences of a serious accident. While erosaing a narrow bridge the leading horses of their carriage leaped the parapet of the bridge. Fortunately, the pole and harness broke, and no one was hurt. M. Emile de Girardin has had the misfortune fortune to put hie shoulder out of place while coming downstairs.

A dwarf named Richebourg, who was only 60 centimetres (234 unfits) high, has just died in the Rue du Four St. Germain, aged ninety. He was, when young, in the service of the Duchess d'Orleans, mother of King Louis Philippe, with title of " butler," but he performed none of the duties of the office. After the first revolution broke out he was employed to convey de- spatches abroad, and, for that purpose, was dressed as a baby, the despatches being concealed in his cap, and a nurse being made to carry him. For the last twenty-five years he lived in the Rue du Four, and during all that time never went out. He had a great repugnance to strangers, and was alarmed when he heard the voice of one ; but in his own family he was very lively and cheerful in his conversation. The Orleans family allowed him a pen- sion of 3000 francs.—Galignani's Messenger.

Letters from Rome state that the Pope "has resolved to modify the exist- ing regulations relative to the baptism of Jewish children." One of the murderers of Pechard, the watchmaker of Caen, was a Jew named Gugenheim, who being allowed the benefit of "extenuating cir- cumstances," was sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour for life. This man had several illegitimate children by a Jewish mistress, who was else found guilty as a participant in the murder, and was sentenced to sr term of

imprisonment. When the parents were arreated, the prefect of Calvaries, according, as it appears, to be the custom in such circumstances, sent the children, all very young, to the Hospice of Caen. The Sisters of Charity at- tached to that establishment made them learn the Christian catechism,. and had them baptised. M. Isidore, the Grand Rabbi of Paris, lately claimed. the children in order to have them educated as Jews, but the Sisters, u were very proud of their converts, strongly objected give them up. The prefect of the Calvados thought it right to refer the matter M M. Belong the Minister of the Interior, and he has just sent a very short but veil Pe:

remptory order that the baptised children shall be handed over to the Grew Rabbi.

The statue of Charles Albert, executed by order of the municipaliti.60! Turin, was inaugurated under the portico of the Town-house on the 1 October. The extracting the following paragraph from the Globe, heads it, 64 g shabbv suggestion." " Colonel Perceval, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the nowe of Lords, has been for the last three years in bad health, so much so tit was for some time a matter of general surmise that he would be „eged to resign his office. The gallant officer, however, held on, un- „Tlijng to lets o good a piece of patronage fall into the hands of his old ies, the Whigs. We now learn that Lord Derby, anxious to make as ...lie, hay as possible while the sun shines, has persuaded Colonel Perceval reties, fort he purpose of enabling him to appoint his private secretary, w. P. Talbot, to the office. A very short time will, in all probability, ree this neat little job carried out pall nani'S Messenger prints a letter from Macon stating that the estate of miny, belonging to M. de Lamartine, has been sold to a landed proprie- tor at Bordeaux for 675,000 franca. The surveyors and appraisers of Macon bad valued it at 750,000 francs. The estate is large, and the vineyards ex- tensive, but the house is small and inconvenient.

The balance sheet of the General Committee of the India Mutiny Relief Fund shows that the sum subscribed was 433,620/. • and that the expendi- ture of all kinds has been 169,268/. ; leaving a handsome balance. The ex- penses for management have been 62231.

A Vienna letter states that considerable alarm has been caused in the com- mercial world by the discovery that notes of the Bank of Vienna for 100 florins each have been reproduced by means of photography, with such exactness that it was very difficult to detect the false from the true.

Under the head of ” sport" we have the following paragraph. " The Duke of Cambridge,. on a visit to the Duke of Rutland, last week, shot over the park preserves, in which 435 pheasants, 64 partridges, 55 hares, 18 rab- bits, and 1 woodcock, were killed. On the following day, his Royal High- ness, the Duke of Rutland, and Lord G. Manners, bagged 240 pheasants, 66 partridges, 73 hares, and 26 rabbits, in four hours, in the Links preserves. His Grace has also been visited by Lord G. Manners, Lord Alfred Paget, Earl Jermyn, Lord Keane, General Hall, and G. Norman, Esq. The game killed by has Grace and friends, with an average of three guns a day, for upwards of a fortnight, is 857 pheasants, 2700 partridges, 690 hares, 129 rabbits, and 2 woodcocks ; and the bag made by Mr. Bell, the park-keeper, during September, as presents for the tenants, &c., were 620 partridges, 81 hares, and 3 rabbits, making a total of 5082 head, which, in consequence of the unusual abundance of game, is scarcely missed."

The mortality of London, last week, 1133, showed a slight increase, and, by comparison with the average rate of mortality prevailing at the end of i October, it appears to be a little in excess even of the average. This is at- tributed to the low temperature. Scarlatina seems to be the most prevalent disease.

The Hudson, a fine iron paddle-wheel steamer, of 2500 tons, belonging to the Bremen and New York line, was burnt in the port of Bremerhaven on Tuesday. She was insured for 70;0001.

An extensive lanpslip has taken place near Yarmouth, in the Isle of Wight. Such a circumstance has not taken place for a number of years.

The German emigration to the Cape seems to be on the increase • a few days ago as many as 620 male and female emigrants embarked at Hamburg en one vessel.