The Express. — London, England, 1853-11-09 00:00:00

;;fl 4Liyvreg..g. TO CORRESPONDENTS. ai Awn 1 Editinn of .Tbe Kiprev," eostaisimtA. .tno ~Core ••(.. A . publaked item Ikbettty aid Vriday zlint, u :um tor p.m. klverussyst. tne n. Eimer," Lawton Fe ,, isst IMO , he •1 'se 4 04" SO, Itenieeric..trset, b Tll4O o • l isik es Sie Jay 01 pab:inaks. :WM WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. Mt. Day—Murales, sl. Afterserrn, T. * rt. Gwiusauw—.ll.ralas, Anersoos. kb. NS. LONDON. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9. " fat: LORD MAYOR'S carriage stops the way"" This is literally true at the time we write. 'flat lumbering house upon wheels, iu which the Loan March is jolted into office, will be crawl ing through the streets of the metropolis to-day like a sick snail, with an outlandish troop of fu.lowers wriggling behind it, and putting a stop to the whole of the serious business of a city, of which business is the %cry life-blood. What is the reason for con tin ui rig such precis:hien' as this, now that all the meaning which farm.etiy attached to the exhibition has passed away P nit! base been times when the thing had a meas. NIAIILAND, writisg a century ago, at:scribe* Lord Mayor's Show on the river as "such an august and majestick aqueous procession as probably le se where to be paralleled except in Venice." He speaks in raptures of the " dare.ling navy" on its return to the City, " when, landing at Illackfriare, most of the compaules come en shore, the liverymen whereof, by the reake and sumptuousness of their robes, appeu like many z•-tiators. That ;mind ani poweclie officer the • Mavott is preceded in the march by the Arta 'try C impany of Citiseus, a military body which for men acid discipline of exercise is scarce to be excelled by the best veterans. This solemn and stately show may he justly said to vie with the coronation of some prince." This might have passed tolerably current in Ma: 11 . s time, when the boundaries of London did Li- . differ very materially from those of t heCity— when the traditionsof the work the City had performed in the cause of advancing the liberties of the nation were tolerably fresh in the minds of men, end when the great men of the City lived within its walls, and look,: forward to civic honours as the great reward of a :de of labour. Then the procession smacked of reality; now it is an useless and troublesome sham. However well it may be managed, scarcely any one except the idle, who are glad of any opportunity of making a holiday, will view the show in any other light than that of a blunder, in the commission of which the circulation of the population of the greatest city in the world is stopped in deference to un antique tradition which has lost all its significance. The movements rendered necessary by tee gigantic operations of a trade and commerce surpassing in magnitude everything of the kind in the ancient and modern world, are to be suddenly checked because the chief magistrate of a small fraction of the town requires the streets to himself, t hat he may fill them with mimes and mountebanks. Thi so streets are nut sufficient for the ordinary traffic. If they were tre bled iu breadth and number they would not more than satisfy the demands made upon them, mid yet we allow them to be made absolutely impassable during the busiest time of the day. And this too at a time when the inconvenience of crowded streets is so grea4 that subterranean railroads are being planned to tare off part of the pressure, and when a pro- . jector seriously proposes to construct two lines of railway running the length of Oxford-street. elevated above :he gas-lamps, as an easement to the traffic. Wails the City was doing the work ot consoli dating its own liberties, and helping on thus of the cuuutry, it was but natural that :ht• ceremony or the installation of their "great and powerful °dicer" should be accompanied with all due pomp and splendour. Any one who reads the nistory of the City from its earliest period, treeing its conduct through the middle ages, how the citizens forced Mop to bestow privileges upon them possessed by the few only, bow they beheaded bishops, seized on the Tower, extorted charters, bearded monarchs in days when nothing was to be gained but by the strong hand and stout heart, will not wonder at the fact of the inauguration of their chief officer being attended with all the magnificence they had at com mand. But this has all departed. There is no longer need of the old-fashioned mode of struggli ig to obtain liberties. The LORD MAYOR exercises but few et those functions which men required of him in the feudal times. The age of procession, too, is past. Even the SOVEREIGN Ins aside, in the majo rity of cues, all the tedious pomp which was supposed to be necessary whenever royalty made its appearance in public. The LORD MAWR is no longer the chief magistrate of London ; he only exercises his functions over a small central portion of it. Tem millions of the inhabitants of the metro polis have no municipal connexion with the City. They all, however, have an interest in the due pre- sercatiou of order and freedom of motion throughout the metropolis, and they know that the processions ia which the City magistrate indulges, of which Loci Mayor's Show is the mast important, are destructive I both of order and possibility of intercommunication. The pace of the world is getting much too fast for processions. Time is too valuable to be wasted in barbaric trivialities like those of the Show." A hundred years ago the ancestors of the City shop keepers regularly locked their shop doors in the middle of the day, that they might retire behind to eat their meals in peace and quietness. Now a tradesman complains that the day is not long enough for his needs. If he does not want to be outstripped in the race he must be for ever on the watch. We must not allow our increased energies to be impeded by cumbrous antiquities that have lost all their mean ing by the progress of time. We are all struggling to get on, and can have no Lord Mayor's carriages stopping the way. The dignity of the City and its chief magistrate is not increased by an exhibition at which most men laugh and all aro impatient. We do not wish the City to lose one fraction of its really use All municipal privileges. It is through our municipal institutions that we have gained and maintained much of the liberty that we enjoy. However cumbersome they may appear occasionally in their mode of ac tion, it is a price that we must willingly pay for the advantages they secure to us. But we want them to fling off all the tedious formalities that are nut ne cessary to their existence, and to make the City of Landon fit for its proper position in the year lea It must be thoroughly reformed, both in its institu tions and its "show." In former times the public mir.l might in some measure be educated by a great pageant bringing forward symbolically the meaning of old traditions. In the present day no one would think of doing the work of educa tion by so slow a process. In the feudal times, the nation loved processions—they were i feature of the age. Now few lore them but the idle and the thoughtless, and they are in striking contrast to the practical mode of our life. Anciently the trade of _ . . the City was neither so great nor of such importance as to be damaged by a proccuion; now ever). thing which impedel the traffic eauges loss and damage. Then the streets were wide ecough fur all the purposes that are required of ,hem. Now we arc torturing our brains to find devices to overcome the difficulties we suffer from the on. crowded state of the main streets. Abolish, therefore, the mediaeval mummery, which is not adapted to the spirit orthe age, and which is productive of the greateat kason venience, without prolucing any countarailing ad vantage. One innovation has bees Aida this Now in i the usages of Lord 3layor's Day. Are wo to regard the absence of the name of one of the Sheriffs in the invitations sent out for the dinner as a sign that the antiquated edifice of civic ceremony is tottering? The invitations are, issued this year in the name of the Mayor and one of the Sheriffs only. What does this mean? Is the one Sheriff standing aloof? If so, may we not expect that the example may be contagions, and that we may not have many more Ninths of Novem ber after the " show " fashion? Surely the City will make up its mind to alter its pace so as to keep up with the activity of the world around it, and look to the preservation of its dignity not by the continuance of absurd customs, but rather by the purification of antique abuses and the establishment of such institutions as will be alike honourable to the municipality and to the great free nation of which it farms a part. No SMALL amount of nonsense has recently appeared in the Times, on the subject of Beer. The complaints and reasoning it has lately printed, are far more fitted for the pages of a Socialist or a Protectionist publication than for the columns of a journal professedly of Free Trade principles. Cheapness is, of course, just as desirable in beer as in bread and in everything else, but all that the Legislature can do, or that a public journal ought to advocate, for the promotion of cheapness, is to take care that trade is open and free. Under a system of freedom and compet it ion, producers are quite justified in obtaining as high a price as they can for their goods. If purchasers deem that price too high, or if it is one they cannot afford to pay, of course they will not buy ; acd, should this be the case generally, the manufac turer must be content with his high price on limited sales, or will have to reduce his price to maintain his business. The Times argues otherwise about beer, and by its recent articles has been perhaps inten tionally playing the game of Metropolitan Monopoly, for the destruction of which as enormous effort ought now to be made. What we require and ought to insist upon in London (and the case is more or less the same throughout the country) is An Open Trade in Malt Lipmr. This we can only secure by a complete re formation of the licensing system. The law at present regulating that system is something much worse than the substitute of a bad sumptuary law for a good and effective police law, for it has enabled a set of great capitalists to subject to a large extent this huge town to their tribute, to destroy the independence of' an important trade, to keep up artificially high prim., and to force on popular consumption a bad article. Now, in the long run, these enormous public evils are really and truly profitable to no one concerned in them. To maintain bis monopoly the great brewer is obliged to employ a mach larger amount of capital' in his business than his manufacture requires, and over this extra capital there are always hanging risk and danger. To get into the trade the retailer is obliged either to give or to come under pecuniary responsibility for a. large sum of money which exhausts his capital. or reduces him at once to (lA:tallies ; consequently, he cannot live on the ordi nary profits of his trade. As a general rule his cat eer is one of embarrassment with the brewer who is his creditor, and of something very like fraud on the public. To force the retail trade, all sorts of custom is encouraged; vice, dissipation, and de bauchery are unchecked; and at last, after years o lei:, disappointment and injury to health, in a large proportion of cases, one licensed victualler,deep in the bre wer'sdebt and books, is ejected ruined; and another, wish a little ready money to reduce the account of the house at the brewery, takes his place. lu such a system, neither the manufacturer nor the retailer has any real interest; and if the great brewers and the licensed victuallers would only look the ques tion and their position fairly, honestly, and impar tially in the face, they would be foremost in advo cating a complete reform of the present system. But, whether they will or will not, a change in that system the public must have, on public grounds- The relaxation of the Beer Laws, in 1830, by pro moting competition, materially reduced the price of beer, as sold by the brewer. But the Licensing System continues to interfere with the quality of beer as sold by the retailers; for houses licensed by Justices of the Peace have a fictitious value given to them. A magistrate's license increases the value of a house, say 1.0001., and it frequently does so to twice or thrice that sum. The interest of that money must be raised, in addition to the profit which would be sufficient were no artificial value given to the house; and it is too frequently got by adulteration hurtful to health. Now, the retailers, if freed from this fictitious premium consequent on a magisterial license, might still be restricted as to where they purchased their beer, but having no extra profit to find for the I discharge of the interest on the extra capital re quired, they would at least be able to vend pure beer, and nothing would tend more to increase their trade than its purity. If the victualling were thrown open entirely, pub lic demand would then regulate that trade as it dose all other trades. Not more houses would be kept permanently open than would pay their owners and supply the public. It is quite possible that under the present system the number is greater than it would be under an open trade; for many houses are carried on at a loss to the brewers, who keep them going in the expectation of regaining, one day or other, their outlay. But if in supplying public demand, public-houses should increase, that increase would tend, in all probability, to the decrease of immorality; and for this plain reason, that the fewer the number of persons assem bled in each house, the less the chance of drunken ness and vice. Free Trade in grain has not, it is now clear, injured farmers ; nor has Free Trade in ships hurt shipowners. Why, then, should Free Trade in beer damage licensed victuallers or brewers? There are, it seems, in London some 6,000 licensed houses. Of them Mr. HANGURS, the head of the ex tensive establishment that bears his name, told the Commons Committee over which Mr. C. VILLIERS last session presided, only 1,000 were in the power of the great brewers. If this statement be correct, it follaws that the interest of these so-called monopolists in the licensing system is, comparatively speaking, small ; for 1,060 houses divided nmoogst the twelve larger breweries, would not give 'JO to each of them ; whereas many of these manufacturers serve upwards of ;00 public-houses a piece in London alone. Thus, it I would appear from Mr. HANSI:ItI'S calculation, the number of brewers' free and voluntary customers is infinitely larger than their compulsory " friends." But this statement of Mr. H iNnt:ltti is flatly contra dicted by Mr. ASHLEY, the solicitor of the Beer Dealers Association. He, on the contrary, assured the committee that it would be much more correct to say, that of the 6,000, full 5,000 were under the control or influence of the great brewers. Nor is this die. empanel of statement at all irreconcilable ; for the prabability is that Mr. HAN/31:11T limited his esti mate of 1,000 to houses whereof the larger brewers had either the freehold or t' a leasehold, and the licensed victuallers occupying them were their immediate tenants; whilst Mr. AMIILET, in raising his figures to 5,000, included therein all that were either directly or indirectly under some pecuniary obligation to the -- -"--ers. And the probability of the accuracy • • ~ THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, - NOVEMBER 9, 1853. latter proportion ii fully borne , oat by the of otber towns furnished to the Committee. iserpool, Mr. ROBERTSON GLADSTONE 'alerted or eoi4ates to Li d* a great part of the public-houses—if we recol lect aright not less than I,ooo—either belonged or were under the control of the brewers; in Norwich, another witness stated, out of 566 licensed houses, there were only 18 free end independent; and in South Shields it appears that more than twc-thirds were what is there roughly but expressively called " tied." Now in what other trade in the kingdom is there any such dependence and subordination of retailers to manufacturers as this? To assert that such re lations can be beneficial to the public in an econo mical point of view is quite of • piece with the most exploded bread-monopoly fallacy. It injures the public in a hundred various ways. For example, the license is at the bottom of badly-served, ill-furnished, and high-priced hotels ; it is the cause of beer houses now being in inferior and poorer hands ; i- prevents the flow of capital both into the mildew ture and the vending of malt liquor; it raises the price of beer, and by limiting its consumption injures both the revenue and the agriculture of the country, and by giving the friends of the magistracy and the great power over licenses it interposes between the police and their duty, and so protects vice and im morality. But, as a general rule, what is economically hurt ful to the public cannot be profitable to retail trade. To contend that the subserviency of 5,000 out of the 6,000 London licensed houses to the great metropoli tan brewers, or that the dependence of 548 Norwich public-houses out of 566 on the wholesale trade, can be advantageous to the retailers, amounts almost to c. contradiction in terms. It is true that Mr. HANBURI denies that in London any difference is made in prices to free or to dependent customers. But even it this be true as to prices in London, it is not the cue in country towns ; fur at Norwich, beer. it is distinctly proved, is 6s. a barrel cheap: to the free than it is to the bound publican ; and while at South Shields " tied" houses are compelled to pay 21e., the price of the same commodity to their free rivals varies, according to credit, from 20s. to 225. It is, indeed, in the very nature of things that a man free to purchase where he pleases, and having, as freedom from control indicates that he has, money to pay promptly for his purchases, must buy at ad vantages, in the open market, which are denied to those confined to a single wholesale house. Such a man, at liberty to go with his money where he pleases, must be able to give his customers a cheap:is and a better article, and in the long run to conduct his business with much greater profit to himself. Restricted and dear ;whets are not however the only evil the licensing system inflicts on retailers. A license in London, it is generally admitted in the evidence taken by Mr. Vlutrats' committee, suite= the value of the house licensed by 5001. at least to an in-coming tenant. Here then is at once a large amount of extra capital unnecessarily required for this trade; required, not to carry it on, not to pur. chase front the manufacturer, nor to pay for fixtures or good will, for all these form additions to the mini mum of 5001., but needful to obtain permission to enter a trade subjected to such artificial restric tions as a magisterial license. And this it it.. which in nine eases out of ten reduces the liecnsLil victualler to the control of the brewer, which gene rally embarrasses him, and too often at last ruins hint. In a law, productive of these consequences, the retailer, wo confidently assert, has no real interest. On the contrary, his prosperity would take a new ►tart from the opening of his trade; for in a state ni freedom he would have all the advantages of at, established business requiring less capital. Let him put no faith then in the idle fears of Mr. Alderman WIRE; but believe that freedom to his trade is the best basis on which it can be established. For there is no necessary connexion between unre stricted competition and a multiplication of drinking shops, nr an increase of iminoralioy. At first, more houses might, indeed, be opened, but their continu ance would of course depend on the rate of profit. It from a large increase the rate fell below that to be obtained in other trades, the number of houses would quickly be reduced again. If the number were maintained at the higher figures, it would be because the profits were amply remunerative of the capital embarked. Of this canon of trade the beer-houses are perhaps one of the most telling examples; for, ac. cording to two witnesses, we find that the number of licenses, which in 1838 was 43,717, in 1849 Lad fallen to 38,200. And as to morality, what says Mr. DANIEL WHITTLE HARVEY ? "I do not con sider that, if Me number of Licenses in the' City ?cos doubled, it would require the addition of a constable." Larger experience or keener observation than those of the City Commissioner of Police it would be diffi cult to bring to bear on the subject. VICTORIA TO WIT.-MORALS AND POLICY OP COLONISATION. The return of the immigration agent for the colony of Victoria, for year 1832, is both curious and in teresting. The addition to the population of the colony, in 1852, by immigration was in all 94,664; the dimi nution by emigration was 31,038 ; the balance of immigration in excess was 63,626. Of the immi grants 74,812 were males, and 19,792 females; of the emigrants 28,620 were males-2,118 females. In other words, tho proportion of males to females leaving the colony was as fourteen to one, while the proportion of males to females entering the colony was only as four to one. If the ratio between the sties, in the additions to the colonial population by immigration in future years, continue the same, the excess of males over females—one great source of the vice and rudeness which still taints so large a proportion of the population—will be gradually dimi nished. The total number of immigrants from the United Kingdom was 44,763, of these 30,032 were males and 14,731 females. The unassisted immi grants from the United Kingdom consisted of 22,270 males and 7,016 females ; the assisted of 7,762 males and 7 ,715 _ females. The immigrants into Victoria from New South Wales were 12,523 males and 1,264 females; from Van Diemen's Land 17,107 males and 1,396 females; from South and Western Australia 12,908 males and 1,940 females; from New Zealand and the South Seas 843 males and 60 females; and from foreign parts 1,457 males and 191 females. As the return embraces only the arrivals in the colony by sea, the immigration from New South Wales and South Australia is probably stated at too low a figure. The most important fact elicited by this return is the greater facility with which men are induced to change their homes than women. This shows in the first place the necessity of assisted emigration for a young colony. The number of males and females among the assisted immigrants into Victoria from Great Britain is almost equal, while even from the immediately adjoining provinces of New South Wales and Vain Diemen's Land the proportion of males to females is as twelve and seventeen to one. It is coin , partitively easy fur an attractive colony like Victoria . to obtain a sufficient supply of male emigrants, but it costs some exertion to get females. In the second place, the excess of male over female emigrants from , all the countries included in the retain of the Vic toria immigration agent, shows the ad% outage of hoeing a large proportion of females among the set tlers of a new colony. If men proceed alone or with few feinaks to a new settlement, slight difficulties ur mere whim may make them fly off again and aban don it ; but set women down in a country, new or old, and they will cling to it, and keep a sufficient number of men with them. LETTERS FOR TIIE ARCTIC SUlPS.—Letters for officers and men serving on board the Enterprise, Rattlesnake, and ('lover, in Behring Straits, to be sent to the Admiralty on or before the 31st December. LATEST FROM ABROAD. INDIA AND CHINA. THE OVERLAND MAIL. (BY ICANARIND AND EUROPEAN MIZORAM) TRIESTE, TCILSDAY, Nov. 8. The steamer Calcutta arrived this morning at 8.30 in 113 hours from Alexandria. The India mail had arrived at Alexandria, with dates from Calcutta, October 3; Bombay, October 14 ; Burmah, September 17; and Hongkong, Sep tember 27. Our troops in Burmah are in a state of siege, and the country in possession of the followers of Meaton and other chiefs of equal rank, who give out that they are acting under the authority of the King of Ara. Our steamers are fired upon in going up and down the river, and the country is becoming a desert. Mr. James Thomason, the celebrated Governor of the Agra Presidency, is dead. Reports are current that a Russian army is invading Shiva and Bokhara; that Rush has entered into an alliance with Dust Mahomed and with Persia, and that a large Persian army has been collected in the valley of Sultanieh, for the purpose of co-operating with Russia against Turkey. Trade in India fair. Exchange at Calcutta, 2-1. Shanghai has been occupied since the ith of September by a band of insurgents. At Amoy, on the 12th September, the insurgents completely routed a body of government troops. Mexican dollars are to be current in China. Exchange on London, 7a. 2d. to 71. RUSSIA AND TURKEY. According to telegraphic eespatches received in the city, direct from St. Petersburg, the Emperor of Russia has formally declared war against Turkey. This intelligence is believed in well-informed quarters. For its effect upon the money market wo refer the reader to another page. VIENNA, TCRSDAV MORNING. The Consul of France at Bucharest writes as fol lows to M. de Bourqueney, under date the 6th of November : "On the 2nd and 3rd of November the Turks crossed the Danube from Turtukai to Oltenitza, to the number of about 18,000 men. " On the 4th, General Parlof attacked them with 9,000 men, and, after a brisk cannonade, a combat ith the bayonet took place between the two armies. "The Turks maintained their positions at Olte nitza, and have fortified them. " The combat lasted three hours. " In it the Russians loot several officers and 136 privates killed, and 6 superior officers, 18 subal terns, and 479 privates wounded. " The loss on the Turkish side is not known. " 4,000 Turks occupy Kalarache, 2,000 have esta blished themselves on an island in front of Giur gevo, and 12,000 are in Lesser Wallachia." TUESDAY NIGHT. From the 4'h to the sth the Turks occupied the island near Oltenitza, and crossed unobserved to Wallachia at dawn. When seen, a battle ensued, which lasted 28 hours. The result is unknown. It is rumoured that Giurgevh was taken by storm. WEDNZIIDAY MOUNING. Accounts from Bucharest report a battle and 14 superior Russian officers killed. The Turks remained masters of the field, and the Russians were retreating on Bucharest. A report wu current at Vienna on Thursday that Russia had renewed direct intercourse with Turkey, and that negotiations of peace had commenced. Ac cording to another version, the negotiations were of a preliminary character, and had an armistice for their object. The news, which had no pretensions to official authenticity, was said to have been received from Bucharest. The rise of the rumour in ques tion coincides with the appearance of an article in a well-known continental organ of Russia, in which fresh negotiations are announced, and Bucharest is designated as their centre. VIENNA. Nov. 7. The government Gazette announces that Prince Ghat', hospodar of Moldavia, resigns his regency to a council of administration, and is on his way to Vienna via Czernowitz. The Russian General Um roff, it is said, will take on himself the government of the principality. Prince Stirbey left Bucharest immediately after being summoned by Prince Gortschakoff to take an active part on the side of Russia. The Bucharest Zeitung, printed under the eyes of the Russian military authorities, states the number of soldiers sick and in hospital to be 12,000. BERLIN, Nov. 6. Upon the failure of the English note, the Prussian government has resolved to attempt a mediation, and has transmitted definite proposals for that pur pose to London and Paris. FRANCE. PARIS, TUESDAY EVENING. At the Bourse the Three per Cents. improved i per cent., and the Four-and-a-Half per Cents. 15 centimes. Closing prices : For money, Three per Cent. Renter, 74.35 ; ditto Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 100.5 ; Bank Shares, 2,840. AMERICA. (BY ELECTRIC (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) ARRIVAL OF THE ATLANTIC. LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY. This morning the United States Mail steam-ship Atlantic, Captain Comstock, arrived at our port, with the usual maihi from the United States and British North America. The Atlantic sailed from New York on the 29th ult., and has brought, besides the mails, about 100 passengers and 500,000 dollars in specie on freight. The Royal Mail steam-ship Niagara, from hence, arrived at Boston on the 26th ult. The United States Mail steam-ship Hermann, from Bremen and Southampton for Now York, had put into Provincetown short of coal. By the arrival at New York from St. Juan of the United States mail steamer we have advicee from Califotuia to the Ist of October. The steamer had 3,000,000 dole, on freight, and in the hands of pas sengers. 'the principal topic of Californian news, apart from items of a kindred character to those published on the arrival of each mail from thence, is the intel ligence that a private expedition had been organised, ' and was preparing to start from San Francisco, to take forcible possession of the province of Sonora from the Mexicans. The condition of business matters at New York was far from satisfactory. Money continued very tight, and was quoted at 12 to 24 per cent. Stocks were also feverish and uncertain. The cotton market is reported brisk, with a good average amount et business doing, and prices hare slightly advanced, as will be seen by the following `quotations: —New Orleans mid. fair to fair, 114 c. to i 12c. per lb.; Uplands, 101 e. to 11c. The market for breadatuffs was quiet, with little change from former prices. Western Canal flour ruled steady at 6 dole. 62 to 6 dole. 63c.; Oen ncssc prime wheat, 1 dol. 54e. to 1. dol. 60c. per ; Indian corn, round yellow, steady at 78c. to 80c. per bushel. Provisions had experienced a fair demand, and prices continued to maintain themselves with firm ness. Little change had taken plan either in the de mand or the rates of freight. The asking rates at the steamer's departure were :—uotton, to Liverpool, Id. to 5-I6d. per lb.; grain, Is. Id. to Is. 11d. per bushel ; flour, 3s. 6d. to 3s. 9d. per barrel. Exchange os London was firm at 1091 to 1091; Paris, 5.111 to 5.131; Hamburg, 361 to 37. RUSSIA AND TURKEY. Letters from Paris state that neither the French government nor the Turkish and Austrian embassies know anything of battles having been fought be tween the Russians and Turk.; on the Danube; only slight skirmishes of outposts had taken place. Some particulars transmitted from Constantinople were given yesterday in our columns respecting an engagement said to have taken place between the Turks and Russians in Asia, in which the Turks were victorious. We notice the same event recorded in several foreign newspapers, in all of which the victory is ascribed to the Sultan's troops. The failure of negotiations is fully confirmed. The vaunted Olmutz concessions were from first to last illusory and unreal. In truth, however, as has re peatedly been shown in these columns, they never pretended to the extent assigned to them by the organs of Russia in London and Paris. Hitherto the Turk only has offered to make real sacrifices for the sake of peace. Letters from St. Petersburg state that the Czar is incessantly repeating that the present quarrel concerns Russia and Turkey alone, and that he will permit the interference of no other power, a view which, it is needless to say, will not be taken by the statesmen of Europe while the terri torial bilauce remains deranged by the presence of Russian soldiers in a Turkish province. The Oat Deutsche Post of Vienna, of the 3rd, says: "News has just been received by an electric despatch that an European congress is to meet in London, and to deal with the Eastern question. In addition to the plenipotentiaries of the five great powers, there will also be an Ottoman one present. We have not read the despatch, but place entire reliance on it." This is a very old story, and probably as veracious now as at any previous moment of the dispute. The Vienna Presse learns by a letter of the 30th October, from Orsova, that a very smart affair has , taken place between the Turkish vanguard and about 2,300 Russian lancers. The conflict occurred at no great distance from Krajova, on the road between that place and Kalefat, and after two hours' fight ing the Russian vanguard fell bask towards Slatina. The Lloyds of Vienna, of the 3rd, says that there has not been any combat between the Russians and Turks near Kalefat. On Sunday the 30th ult. the Russian head-quarters were at Krajova. The Turks have not advanced beyond Skripez. A letter of the 24th from Jassy, in the Trieste Zeituny, shows that the strength of the Russian army io the Principalities has been much exaggerated. Instead of the 120,000 men which, according to the standard number of the occupying corps, ought to be there, we learn that there are 75,000 men in Walla chia, and of the 6,000 in Moldavia the greater part is in the south, at Burled, Tekutsch, and Fokshan. In Jassy and its environs are about a thousand men, but none in the west ; that is, in those districts touching on Transylvania. About 20,000 men are concentrated at some few English miles from Bucha rest, and there Pricce Gortschakoff still has his head quarters. Particulars retail: gto the localisation of the troops in Wallachia aro given by the same jour nal, but they are rendered inapplicable by recent events. The Bucharest correspondent of the Breslau Ga zette states that passports and other forms employed in Wallachia are made out in the name of the Emperor Nicholas. CONSTANTINOPLE, Ocr. 26. The report of a defeat of the Russians by the Turks, which was denied yesterday, is to-day asserted to be true; it took place near Batoun. The English and French fleets have each advanced four ships and some steam frigates; they are within eight of Constantinople, in the Sea of Marmora. We are expecting the new note which the Vier na conference has prepared, intended to embody the primitive one, and to contain the modifications of 'Turkey, and Russia's adhesion thereto. The Emperor of Russia, wished to retain the original note, adding the alterations as appendages. The Porte desires to have only one note. Today public opinion is alto gether towards peace. As regards the new loan, Namik Pacha will not leave Constantinople yet. Mehemet Ali is the ruling power with the Sultan at present. DENMARK. •- - According to the new constitution proposed by the Danish ministry, Holstein will have, like Schleswig, her special administration and legislature. Like the other duchy, however, it will be placed under the uuchy, ....•.,r, . regime of a legislation common to all parts of the monarchy, in what concerns matters of general in terest, reserved by the rescript of the 28th January, 1852, as matters of state; namely, the Sovereign, diplomacy, the general finances, the army, and the navy. Thus Holstein will participate, like the kingdom of Denmark properly so called, and like Schleswig, in the common expenses of the state, that is, in the civil list, the apanages, the Privy Council of State, and the four ministries common to all the monarchy. The Con stitution of Holstein presents, in several respects, a certain analogy of form with the constitution granted to Schleswig. However, there are marked diffe rences at bottom between the two. Thus, whilst Schleswig is declared an inseparable appendage of the Danish monarchy, Holstein, on the contrary, is designated in Article 1 of the new constitution as an independent portion of the monarchy, subjected to the royal sceptre, and united for ever to the other parts of the State by the law of succession of the 31st July, 1853. Holstein remains attached to the Germanic Confederation, in so far as the rights and obligations of the King of Denmark as member of the German Association are concerned; the decisions of the Diet will have legal force in the Duellies from the date of their promulgation (Arts. 2 and 4). Holstein, in case of the insu ffi ciency of the resources for supplying the expenses common to all the mo narchy, is to supply to the deficit a sum to be fixed by the common constitution. The bill does not esta blish, as the ordinance relative to Schleswig does, the amount of the provisional contribution to be placed at the charge of Holstein en attendant the promulgation of the common constitution ; this share, however, is provisionally estimated in the accounts of the state at ono twenty-third of the re venues of the duchy. We find in the bill the enact ments of the Schleswig bill as regards religious and administrative matters. The government reserves to itself the right of rendering the laws provisional in case of urgency, laws on the opportuneness of which the states can, as iu Schleswig, pronounce ; and they can, according to circumstances, summon the minister f the duchy before the High Court of Justice. The bases of the electoral law of Holstein are not the same as those of the corresponding law in Schleswig. The conditions of age are different; the property qualification is higher; the class of farmers holding simple leases is not called, as in Schleswig, to take part in the elections. The number of deputies is also more considerable. The Assembly of the pro vincial states of Holstein is to consist of 51 members. I. The present proprietor of the estates of the trus teeship of the Princes of Hessenstein. 2. Five mem bers of the clergy. 3. Four members of the Reiter shaft, chosen by the order. 4. Nine deputies chosen from amongst the proprietors of noble estates of nopoo reichsthalere—and chosen by them. 5. Sixteen small proprietors of estates of the value of 800 reichsthalens at least. 6. Fifteen inha bitants of towns and burghs, possessing in property or by lie , editary lease an estate of WO reichsthalers. 7. A representative of the University of Kiel. Every elector must enjoy the rights of citizen, or have been established for ten years iu Denmark, be 2.) years of age, enjoy a good reputation, possess the free dis posal of his props rty, and have resided two years in his electoral district. l'ublic functionaries must, as in Schleswig, have the authorisation of the King be fore they can accept the post of deputy. Deputies are elected for six years. The Assembly of the Pro i vinciul States of Holstein shall meet every three i i :ci t t h •s e , like same that at Schleswi g. d ° ll t. o m i modification l t i ri b b u e ti m on a s de will • 1 the legislation of Holstein without its consent. The 1 law of 1831 is also abrogated as far as regards the Duchy of Holstein. vbe Court. WINDSOR Nov.B. There was no addition to the royal dinner pa r t y yesterday. PAM* Albert, attended by Col. the Hoe. Chas. Grey cad Lieut. Col. the Hun. A. Gordon, left Windsor this morning by a sped fl train of the Sruth Western Railway for Lee. don, and returned to the Castle rt hi minutes to 3 o'clock. Lieut. General Sir Frederick Storm has been succeed e d by Lieut. Colonel the lion. A. Hood as Groom in W.iitiog to the Queen. Prince Albert presided yesterday at a committ ee of the Royal Commission for the Exhibitton of 1851. Hi s 1 , 3 . 4 highness, attended by Col, the -ton. C. Grey and Lieut. Colonel the Hon. A.. Gordon, a:rived at the new Palace at Westminster, at half-past ten o'clock, and inspected the works of ..rt, Sir Charles L. Eistlske, P.R.A., attending the Prince. The committee sat in the new Palace at Melva o'clock, and was attended by E irl Granville, the Right Hon. E. Cardwell, ld I'., Sir Wm. Cubitt, and Mr. Coulson, (d.C. Mr. Edgar B )vering, Sesxst.iry to the Royal Com mission, , a , as is ism niauce. Prioce Albert left at a quarter before two o'clock on his return to Windsor Castle. The Commissioners for Inquiring into the State of the Corporation of the City of Loud in held a meeting, yester day, at the Privy Council office, iu Downing-street. The Commissioners present were the Hight lion.ll. Labouch• re, the Right Hon. Sr John Patti son, and U. Coruerall Lewis, Esq. The Marquis of Lansdowne arr:red in town yesterday morning tr his seat liowoud-park, Wilts, in order to attend tl.e C.ihioet C. 1111161. . . The Duke of Argy:F;rived in town yesterchiy morning from Seotiatil. The ChineMor of the Exchequer arrived in town yester day m ning from Liserpool. Sir Charles tad L oly Mary Wood arrived in town from Yorkshire on Monday night. Dispatches for the Governors of Ceylon and Hang 'icing were sent off last evenirg from the Colonial-office. A cabinet council was held at two o'clock yes. torday afternoon, at the Foreign-office. The minis ters present were the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord John ltuesell, the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, the Duke of Argyll, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Clarendon, the Duke of Newcastle, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir James Graham, Sir Chalks Wood, the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, and Sir William Molesworth. Viscount Palmerston arrived at the Foreign•oftice at four o'clock, from his seat Broatllands. It ints, and jqined his colleagues. The council broke up at six o'clock. THE Paiscr: OF WALES'S BIRTUDAT.—At an early hour this moraing, the belle of the metropolitan parishes u:hered iu with merry peels the birthday of the Prince of Wales. The, boya of the Duke of Turk's School enjoy a holiday and Lee admission to the day performance at Drury-lane T::eatre. The royal standards arc hoiated at the Tower and Somerset House, and from the various breweries, the shot tower, and other high buildings along the river Thames, large flags are displayed in honour of the day. PORTSMOUTH, Nor. 8.-11. R. IL The Duke of Brabant lett the residence of the Commander-in-Chief at this port, Vice Admiral Sir I'. J. Cochrane, K.C.8., and embarked on bo,:rd the Fairy, sari: w tender to the Royal yacht, at an early hour this morning, proceeding down the Solent water to Sconce Point, to inspect the new tortilla tions there. He was accompanied by Major General Simpson, Col. Sir Frederick Smith, Commanding Royal Engineer of the district, ur.d std. At ten o'clock the Duchess of Brabant, accomranied by Sir Thomas Cochrane, emb ,rhed on board the Fire Queen, steals v. esel, end went over to 0.- borne, to view her Majesty's marine residence, tr:ing joined there by her consort on i is return from Sconce l'oint. Their Royal Highnesses then went on board the Fairy, the Fire Queen returning into harbour, and came up to Spithead, the Belgian standard being saluted by the Duke of Wel lington, 131, screw steam-ship, Commudore Martin, C.B. the other ships at that anchorage, and the Victory and Neptune in harbour. Their Royal Highnesses went on board the Prussian men-of war frigate Getion, 44, Comm. dore Schroeder, the Belgian standard being hoisted at the main of that ap ; and on their Laving a royal salute was fired by her. The Duke and Duchess returned into har bour in the Fairy, and partook of luncheon at Sir Thomas Cochrane's official residence in the dockyard, after which they left in Sir Thomas's carriage for the railway terminus. A guard of honour, furnished by the Rifle Brigade ' was in waiting with the baud of that c or p s , an d received their Royal Highnesses with the customary honours. The military:commander-in-chief, Major-General Simpson, was in attendance at the terminus, and saw the Duke and Duchess off. They let by the 2.15 train, South Western Railway, in one of the royal carriages, the Prince of Wales's, which had been sent down from Waterloo- bridge for their accommodation, and they would take the Great W.-stern Railway at Basingstoke, en route for Wind sor. M. Vau de Weyer, the Belgian minister, returned to town by the same train. THE LOIW MA FOR'S PROCESSION. This day, according to custom, the civic procession of the newly-elected Lord Mayor passed through the City to the stairs of Billing.gate, attended by at !east 10,600 persona . - At about half past eleven the corhge started under such favourable auspices as fine weather and general excitement can supply. The weather, in fact, was much more nue, and the ten thousand much more orderly, than usual. What they did not admire sirved for amusement at any rate. But they really did admire the ears, and the horses from Asticy's, and the alleiprical young ladies in the cars— from Astley's also, we presume—and they more especially admired the gold digger, who represented Australia iu the assemblage of countries, and who realised that enterprising country most unmistakeably to their imaginations. About half-past twelve the precession reached the church of St. Magnus, London Bridge, where the bands of the let Lite (inertia and the 17th Lancers played some effective music. The guard of honour consisted of squadrons of the above named regiments. Oa the river was equally an attractive view from the steamboats, those of the gtizeu Company decorated with their city barmen'. All the boats on the river wore crowded with a respectablo company. On the procession taking water several of the company's barges had taken up their positions near their respective balls above London-bridge, and this proved a very judicious step on the part of the river authorities, thus preventing any interruption to the usual steam-boat business on the river. At Westminster his lordship went through the usual ce remonial formalities previous to entering upon the responsi ble ditties of his office. No serious accidents were heard et, but the moat daring robberies were committed in the streets near Cheapside, es pecially on the property: of lsdioa ; several of the thieves, however, were captured HEALTH OF LONDON. --.- The report of the Registrar-General states that the number of deaths from all causes registered in London in the week that ended on Saturday was 1,112 ; in the pre vious week it was 1,144. In the ten weeks corresponding to last week of the years 1843:52 the average number was 1,001, which, with a correction for increase of population, becomes 1,101. Hence it appears that the mortality of last week slightly exceeded the estimated amount. Cholera continues to make progress, though its rate of increase is not rapid. The deaths referred to it last week were 102. In the last four weeks the numbers rose as fol lows :-45, li3, 90, and 102 ; in the same periods diarrhosa and dysentery were fatal in 55, 48, 43, and 42 cases, show ing a constant decrease. 01 the 102 death by cholera 11 occurred in the west districts, 9 in the north, 3 in the cen tral, 21 in the east, and 59 in the south districts. London is situated in a basin, through the bottom of which the Thames flows ; and it was discovered during the epidemic of 1848-9 that the rate of mortality by that disease was nearly in the thy , rse proportion of the elevation of the ground on which the dwellings of the inhabitants stood. The same relation between the rates of mortality at dit ferent elevations, though the deaths have been compara tively few, has hitherto been observed in the present epidemic. The mortality from cholera in the districts at an average elevation el less than 20 feet above Trinity high water mark has been 31 in 100,000 inhabitants; iu the districts of an average elevation of 20 and below 40 feet (20-40 feet) the mortality has been 16 in 100,000; at an elevation of 40-60 feet the mortality has been 11 in 100,00; at 60—SO it has been only 4 ; at bO-100 only 3. Mat ylebone at an average elevation of 100 feet is the only exception to the law ; the mortality has been :here 13 in 100,000. At Hamp stead, where the elevation may be put at 3.10 feet, there has hitherto been no death tram cheers. Exceptional cir cumstances disturb the average in patticular districts; but it is a general rule that the danger of dying of cholera and of all plagues, diminishes within certain limits in pro portion as the dwellings of the population are raised above the level of the sea. Last week the births of 817 boys and 811 girls, in all 1,648 children, were registered in London. The average number in eight corresponding weeks of the years 1845-32 was 1,428. At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean height of the barometer in the week was 29 . 833 in. The mean temperature of the week was 48.9 deg., which is 2.8 ilea. above the averasc of the same week in 38 years. The mean daily temperature rose above 52 deg. on Tuesday and Wei:- nesday, which is about 6 deg. above the average. The wind blew from the south. cast. Nltt. JOHN EVERETT 241ILLAis, the most successful mmber of the " Pre-Itaphiclite" School of Art, has b e es elected an Associate of the lt•:ye1 Academy. Mr. Molt as llunt will probably be the next " 'atom a similar 119 4911; Rillin worded.