THE CAUCACUS.

Wellington Independent, Volume II, Issue 80, 18 July 1846, Page 3

THE CAUCACUS.

ErzerouM, Sept. 24.— We have seen a private letter dated Tiflis, 18th'Sept., from a person pliced in a situation to be well informed, which contains the following information :—!*.' Prince Woronzow, General-in-Chief of the army of the Caucacus, arrived in this town on the 16th of September. He was saluted at his entrance by salvoes of canon and the ringing of joy bells.. The Russian, Armenian, and Georgian population went to meet him, and received with loud acclamations. The General returned thanks with his' accustomed grace, but the expression of profound melancholy was to be remarked in his features. The report of the General having received a severe wound was unfounded, but his health has suffered much from the fatigues of the late campaign, akd still more from grief at the tjad success during tfe war, and from the death of so many brave warriors and friends attached to his staff. Four of General aides-de-camp were killed during this hardy march through the district-of ltchkeri, to the east of the great Tschetchaga. Several of his orderly officers and others attached to his staff were severely wounded ; amongst others, General Benkendorf, son of the celebrated General of Police, who died list veir. The total loss of the several divisions of the Russian army during the campaign of the present year, amounted to 8000 soldiers ancl 200 officers, according to the returns made by General Tresskin, the chi fof the staff. The hospitals are filled with more than 20 iO wounded soldiers. The divisions which suffered most were those of the General-in-Chitf,, and of General Freitig, against whom Schamyl, the celebrated chief of the Tscbetachenses, fought in person. The moveable columns of Gen. Schwa iz and Prince who had acted on the southern side of the great chain of the Caucacus, from Sakatal to Nucha, suffered less. The campaign is teiminated for this year. The rtins of autumn are beginning to fall in Georgia, and the great chain of the Caucacus is already covered with snow. The Russian moveable columns are on all sides returning to their winter quarters. The number of sick has increased dreadfully, and never did the intermittent fevers commit such ravages in the ranks of the Russian army, and even of the civili ana. The rainy weathej during the summer contributed as much to this result as the extreme fa'uup of the campaign. The number of Russian soldiers who died of fever during the last six months may be estimated at 5000 men, and the progress of the malady is far from being checked. Thus the tola] loss of the Russian army during the last campaign may be estimated at more than 13,000 men. without counting the wounded. Prince Woro:iz>w proposes to pass the winter in Tiflis. In the beginning of next spring he will visit the southern provinces of Russia on tbe Black Sea. The Princewhen he accepted the chief command in tbe Caucacus, preserved his place of Governor-General of Little Russia, of Bessarabia, and of the Crimea. He is now the most influential nun in the empire, after the Emperor.—Dispatch, November 2.

«. We have been informed that Sir Andrew Agnew ' was detected by a gentleman a short time since travelling i n a railroad trajn on the Sabbath-day ! T ie saint wus sadly out of countenance when discovered.—Dispatch. Security against Forgery —The £5 notes °f the Dudley and West Bromwich Bank have the words " Five Pounds "printed upon each of them "o fewer than 1905 times, and the whole is clear and distinct, and may be read with the naked eye. -Ibid.

AMERICAN NAVY.

(From the Miming Chronicle, Dec. 31, J We printed on Monday, amidst the voluminous correspondence which reached us by tbe Cambna the report of the Secretary of the Navy of th* Uni' ted Siates. The naval force spoken of in this document is formidable, both numerically and with regard to the efficiency of the ships, as ascertained by the report of gentlemen conversant with the subject. Mr. Bancofc account satisfactorily for the proceedings of forty-nine ships of various force which are distributed in the diff rent quarters of the globemainly off Brazl, , n the P.cifh, on the African coast, and, above all, on the home station. It would appear that on this last there are ten ships (including the Vandal a) in commission, under the command of Commodore Connor, and ready to act at n moment's notice on any point required. Turning from this document to their Navy List, we find, all classes of ships in whatever condition as follows:— Line of baffle ships 10 Frigutes of the flrst-cl iss \ \'l second-class 2 Sloops of war 23 Bigs .'...'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'!' 8 Schooners t g Steamers s 5-toie ships and brigs 4 Total 75" On this list of 75 we have ssen that 49 are in commission, that is io say, about two-thirds; of the remainin/r third there is little doubt that many could quickly bi got ready for sea. We have taken no account of the mercantile navy. This document, then, should give matter of serious thoutht to our Admiralty ; but is not only t ie number of the ships which should be considered, but by whom they are manned. It is a startling fact to find that at the present moment, out of the total number of sailors by whom the .United States navy is manned, 6,100, that not above 960 are native born Ameiicans; with the exception of a ftw Swrliis and HanHeatics, all the rest are Englishmen. Their pay is fifteen dollars a month, and two dollars per month additional if they do not draw any grog ration. In other words their pay is equal to £Z 10s. per month. An able seaman in our navy receives but 30s the lunar month. This difference of pay is not, however, sufficient to account for the fact, although, of course, it must be taken as one of the main elements in the calculation. For we b-lieve that in our merchant service there never has been found any difficulty in procuring an abundance of good hands, able and willing to do the work. Now, the pay of an able seaman on board a merchantman varies from 40s. to 50s. the calendar month, and wheu on shore he is off pay. In the case of the royal navy, as a set off to this slight difference, there are these facts to be taken into account—continuous pay, promotion, pensions for wounds, and, finally, Greenwich Hospital. Limited service (and the same remajk will apply to the army) woulo bs one of the great change which render the service more popular, it is idle to that this would be an alteration for the worse, inasmuch as you would lose a man's services as soon as practice and discipline had made him invaluable. Once a seaman always a seaman : and when free to change, we hav e li t].> doubt that Jack would remain content'diy where he Was well off. But a sailor is just like ano her man ; he does not li<e to find himself cribbed and confined for an indefinite period— Difitis a morte remotus Quattuor aut septem. Although the strong probabilities are that once out of his hammock, he would never be quite easy till he was back in it again. Increase of pay, at any rate to the level of the merchant service, is obviously a necessary alteration if we would wish to retain the services of our sailors in our own fleet. We are justified in supposing that the owners of merchant vessels do not give the seamen they employ more than rhe market value of their labour. How can it, then, be supposed that a seaman should acquiesce contentedly in so very arbitrary an act as that the Government should .'tep in and say—•• N•>'. whether y v like it or not, you shall serve us for a smalar sum 'han you can earn elsewhere ; surely you would not dream of refusing your service to your native land at the price the chooses tt fix." But, unh ippily, the sailers do dream of refusing, for in 1840, although we had 200,0C0 rrgistered seamen in active service in royal and mercantile navies. 700 000 men living on the sea and by the sea, the greatest difficulty was found in manning a few ships for a summer cruise. What, then, must be the resoUices of the Government in c-ises of a sudden emerg-ncy ? To grant press warra its as before. Surely it is time that this inhuman and useless practice were done away w.th ; at least that we should have recourse to it but in last resort, when other means have been tried and f >i'ed. In no claes of men is there a higher or nobler spirit of patriotism than amongst Bricish sailors, nor is it of their o*n choice th it they fire on English ships instead of from English ships— this is the result of cruel mismanagement on the part of their rulers. " Sailors," as Sir Charles Napier nobly and justly observes, "are mads of rough materials, it is true f but still they have some feeling, and their families still more; and it can easily be conceived how these feelings are outraged by such shameful treatment." (Sir Charles is speaking of impressment.) Can it be supposed that an Engli h sa.lor would not rather go a oft to haul down the stars of the United £ta ! es than the union jaGk of his own country ? In the first case he (eels that at the hazard of his life he hud done his du'y to tbe land of his birth ; in the second, he has es caped beiug run up to the yard-arm, and that is just all." Increase of pay is the first thing needful; limited si rvice the next; and be sure that the odious and unwarantable custom of impressment could then be 1 >id aside. We invite all our readers to cast their eyes over Sir Charles Nipier's account of how the practice operates, and we will answer for it, if they have one spirk of right feeling left, they will not grudge the miserable addition to the debit side of the budget which would be required to place matters on a right footing. Other alterations of less moment have been ; such as a just share of "prize-money, pensions earned while serving, &c.; but these are evidently, however just and politic, of less consequence than the cha.iges which we have suggested. A few Ac!s have been passed of late years, such as tho Merchaut Seamen's Fun

Act of 1834, the Register Act of 1835, and another bearing date the same year, to encourage voluntary enlistment; but all these are but drops of w t-r in the sea. Now, we arc far from being war alarmists. On the contrary, ou- opinion is that in some fashion or other this black cloud on the western h irizon will be dispersed, without having recourse to the fearful alternative of war For a fea ful alternative it wonld be, as it would hav K for obj ct to settle, once for all, every dispute with the United Sta'es, and to draw our boundary lire so wide and co deep that no one should dare to quibble a /out it for the future. We have in this case been writing against a standing grievance, which tLe circumstances of the time force upon our notice perhaps a little more distinctly than usual. What is certain is this, that our Government, and we think rightly so. are overhauling our military and naval resources. Jersey, we see, is bristling with fortifications, Guernsey is emulating her warlike sister, and even poor Alderneyis making dire preparations against any cattle raid, should ths United states be foolish enough to b nu di ating njonp de main again*t her choice breed of co*s. Win-n ail he minor points are thus carefully attended to, why should the manning of the British navy, the important of all, be the only one lost sight ot ? Wellington and his coxTEMPiRARrEs.— Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington was b>rn on the Ist May, 1796. His father was the Ear] of Mornington, and he was descended by j the mother's side from an ancient and noble family. His elder brother, who succeeded to the hereditary honours, afterwards was creat d Marquis VVellesley; so that one family enjoyed the rare felicity of giving birth to the statesman wh se energetic councils established the empire of England in the Eastern, and the salvation of Europe in the Western Hemisphere. The young toldier was regularly educated for the profession of his choice, and received his first com. misdon in the year 1737, being then in the 18th year of his age. Napoleon had entered the artillery two years before, at the age of sixteen, and was then musing on the heroes of Plutarch ; Sir Walter Scott, at the age of seventeen, was then relieving the tedium of legal education by wandering over the mountains of his native land, and of Ariotto and Amadis in the grassy vale of St. Leonard's, near Edinburgh. Viscount Chateaubriand was inhaling the spirit of devotion and chivalry, and wandering, in anticipation, as a pilgrim to the Holy Land, amidst the solitude of Li Vendee; Goeihe, profound and imaginative, was reflecting on the destiny of man on earth, like a cloud which " turns up its silver lining to the moon;" Schiller was embodying in immortal verse the shadows of history and the creations of fancy ; and the ardent spirit of Nelson was chafin; on inaction, and counting the weary hours of a pacific West India station. Little did any of them think of eacd other, or anticipate the heart-stirring scenes which were so soon about to arise, in the course of which their names were to shine forth like stars in the firmament, and their genius acquire immortal rfnown. There were giants in the earth in those davs.—Alison. Extraordinary Discovery.—For some time a Mr. Smith, the proprietor of the Hope Tavern, Blackmore-street, Clare-market, has had in bis possession the portraits, painted by Thornhill, of Jack Shepherd and his mother. Ou Saturday they were sold to Mr. C. H. .Merivale, of Gray's Inn, for 97 guineas. In removing tbem, between the moulding of one four guineas were found, and ultimately three more, together with a number of copper coins of the period, The other frame which is of great thickness, was consequently opened, when within the lining and the moulding was found a number of papers end documents relating to the rising in 1745. Some of them are extremely curious, aud all bear the post mark of the time. There is also a portion of a note for .£lO, and a check for £17. One of the printed bills is an order for turning the Lincoln's inn Theatre into a gaard-house (an historical fact,) and that a performance announced must be put off. The whole of the papers are in Mr. Smith's possession, who proposes presenting them to the Museum. On Monday morning, as Mr. Betts, o< Stowmar ke', was about to repair an oid chest of drawers he had purchased at an auction a day or two before, to bis agreeable surprise he found money to the amount of £240, all in Bank of England notes of different sums, upwards of 110 years old.—SuH'olk Herald. A Railway Lullaby.— The fearful lull in the Share Market has given rise tp trie fo lowing Lullaby, which is now bsing sung by the Stags of Capel C mrt, as they pace the deserted purlieus of the Stock Exchange :— Hush-a-by, broker, at Capel Court top, When the wind's raised the premiums will stop ; When there's a breeze the pr miums witl fall— Down come the holders, the brokers, and all. England's Penitentiary.—A penny subscription is being raised for the Nelson Column. Englishmen are requested to put their heads together, in the shape of postage stamps, so that the Column may be delivered to posterity, at least, ' prepaid !' Laiely in t r e Duke of Hamilton's Colliery at Wallace Town near Falkirk, a living frog was founil embedded in a small piece of cual, abut three inches lone, and two and a halt' broa I, at :he depth o'T rt.y two fathom* from ihe surface, and 300 y.irds from the bottom of the shift. It \va< seen by seven men when taken out or' ihe coal; it does not appear to have any mouth, but s eraed by the mo'i >n of the throat to be breathing rapidly. It is small in size ; its limbs longer than usual, and are of peculiar conformation ; and what is not a little singular considering the placj in which it was f.Mind, it was provided with a pair of large an>l brilliant eyes. Sir Hugh Monro, of Foulis, has given liberiy to his tenantry to shoot all kinds oi game, on condition that they guard his (.state against poachers. Di'an Swit says, a woman may knit In-r stockings, but no> her brow ; she may darn her hose, but not her eyes; curl her hair but not her lips ; thread her needle, but not the public streeis.

Our ordinary a notice of the de»tli of James Smith, Esq., of Inverness, wh"se private character and worth were no, less honourab'e thm the eiiter|iri*ino* genius and vast architectural skill t'mtdis' finf/iiished him ; and while the noble structures of Barrahead, Tarbatness, Lismore, and Coresea Skerries stand to warn the mariner of his approaching danger, th»-y will a'so be a lasting monument to his name. Mr. Smith was sole contractor for Gray's Hospital, and for the interior decorations of our handsome Church. Mr. Smith was a native of Buehan, Aberdeenshire. Died —At 32, Shore-street, Inverness, on tbe 3ri] insiant, James Smith, E<-q.. Arobi ect, ag-d 74—Elgin Couranf, De< cember 12, 1845. An Irish labourer, named M<>rley, who harl nearly £2 in his pocket, «•. s s'arved to dea;h by the cold in a g. a <s fieUj in which he slept for economy, one night lately, at Rotheriiatn. Jonathan Outiuvalled.— t sle op Wight.—The inh-.ibitanis of the eastern part of our island have lorn? be-n celebrated for their sagacity, an I the natives of Saint Helens have recently discovered a success'ul method of catching rabbits in the which c rtainly by no means diminishes their previously acquired celebrity. It app"ars that having secured a numb r of ihe c.ustacean swedes, which are vulgarly in the island * 4 <'rab«," 'hey affix about an inch of candle to their backs, a-id senl them crawling into the rabbits' barrows; the auimals being alarmed ai the app-arance of their enlightened visitors, make a speedy exit and are immediately capture I by the invaders. The plan is far preferable to the old method whicm i s practiced on tbe southern coast. The Nitton gentlemen •catter a quantity of snuff at the mouth of their h >les, covering it with grean parsley, of which the game is remarkably fond. On partaking of the delicious herbage, they are seized with such a fit of sneezing that they invariably beat their brains out against the rocks, but are by these violent means rendered unfit for market.—Hampshire Independent. The wharfingers and others holding property on the banks of the Regent's Canal, met on Wednesday, at the Ano-el Inn, Islington, and resolved to resist the conversion of the canal into a railway. Mr. Henry Grissell, of the firm of Grissell and Peto, said'that he had expended more than £30,000 on the verge of the canal, and that is conversion' into a railway completed his ruin. And Mr. Lake solicitor to Mr. R. B. de Beauvoir, said that his client had laid out nearly £300,000 in the construction of a basin ; a property of which the value would be destroyed if the water were drawn off". Captain Freemont states that, on reaching the highest summit of the Rocky Mountain?, which is 14,500 feet above tbe Gulf of Mexico, he found b common humble bee in the icy region, which he captured. It is the highest flight of the bee ever known. Cere for Diarrhoea.—A certain cure for tbis complaint is found in rice water. Boil the rice, t*ke the water make it palatable with salt, and drink it copiously while warm. We never knew this simple thing to fail. To Core a Wart.—Scrape a carrot fine, and mix with salt, and apply as a poultice five or six nights. A Monster Baptism —On Sunday afternoon last, the Rev. Mr. Hill, of St. Barnabas, King Square, baptized no less than 445 children and adults, introduced by the members of the District Visiting Society.— Dispatch, Nov. 2. Barcelona.—A young man of the name of Fontanalleras, the son of a iich merchant here, has disappeared within the last few days, and the father has since received a let er from his son, stating that if the sum of 100,000 pias'res (£21,020 sterling) be not deposited in a certain place on a certain day, he is to be assassinated. Immense Fire, Montreal.—We have been favoured with the following extract from a private letter.—'• Montreal, Oct. 13.—We had a very titensive fire here last week, by which about 60 houses, exclusive of other buildings, were destroyed, all owing to a fire catching in a small house where they had been burning coffee. It swept away everything off lour or five acres, except the chimneys. We have a great many wooden houses in the outskirts of the city, and when one takes fire it is nlinost impossible to s:op ii."—Dispatch. Gretna-Green Marriages.—By a recent act, all marriages performed at Gretna-green cea-e to be leg*l after the Ist January, 1546. Cato the Censor only repented of (hree 'things during his life; to have gone by the sea where he could go by land ; to have passed a day inactive; and to have told a secret to his wife. Society, like the natural world, hods in its bosom fearful elements.