The Express. — London, England, 1853-12-30 00:00:00

Zia eyorr;ig. TO CJIMESPONDF.N •t l / 4 tct,1.1 L., 'ton of .• Tue Elpro.." contAitvntt Vie tilll, ..I.lit 1A., - a pall *Led earl Istglay It,‘Lty mitt I, it tam for I Mr. r!1-e rtent* is led hor "Tho tepees.," Levi gl rem Ar rmg, het tne tiel e, le, Busseriegenet, by Two g'..:tsa on , dry of pubsteatbOa. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE TIM WT--11 lemur, lb. 30a... Afternoon. lb. . Ikrimaarsir —nursing. fb. ss.. ..Afterno.a, 20. Moo LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER JO. Teti: latest news from the Danube i, that a Itusatan steamer had set two Turkish villages on Ere. In respect of (outage and humanity the exploit may be coma lend a repetition of the Sinope massacre, on a smaller scale. The instruments of the ('7 In, on the Danube and the Eosin', are identical in chime ter. The one bravely throws his red-hot bans, from a safe distance, till Ire burns the houses of hellhas and unoffendieg villagers about their ears ; the latter, with an equally large instinct of seltpreser station, collects an overwhelmingly superior force before he ventures to hear down upon the 'Turkish ' olilla. lie dues not indeed escape so easily as his yoke-know in sillany ; for the Turks, with a heroism not surpassed by that of Thermo. vela-, stand to their guns till the last, some blowing up their ship rather than surrender, ouly 1,000 I wen bring lilt alive out of 3,000, but making their enemies writhe under the dying efforts of brave and' devoted men. 'their dastardly assailants. not yen beteg to beard the one or two vessels that, contain. in only a few maimed and disabled survivors, had drifted on shore, cautinued to poor in their shot upon them till they were entirely destroyed. And yet the coward li.iettieot i (no epithet could add to the revolting images with which that name will hence forth be associated), by whose orders, and under whom. eyes, this carnage was perpetrated, has the caltou• audacity to pen, in the midst of the corpses sad blood of hia victims, by the light of the blazing houses of Sieve, a note that might have been written be a member of the Peace Congress. Ile prate, about the "deplorable necessity" of attacking the Turkish ships " at the risk of causing injury to the town and harbour;" he "sympathises in the sad tate of the town and the inoffensive inhabitants ;" Pit ere-like, he attempts to wash his bands of the clime, and attributes it to " the obstinate defence of the hostile inhabitants," and to " the burning wreck of the Turkish ships, set on fire mostly by their own crews." What an idea det-a such language, in the mouth of a man drenched and red with the gore of a weaker enemy and of unollending civilians, while surrounded by the wreck and ruin he had wrought, convey of the ref. gatlS employed by NteitoLas! The whole letter bum %bleb we have been quoting is a horrible irony,' more shocking then that of GOMM'S " Mephisto- Odes." The letter of the Russian Admiral combines a Lyon laugh of exultation over his butchery with unblushing mendacity (his superior force was able to prevent the Turks from proceeding to their desti- 1 ant ion without endangering the defenceless townsmen); with cowardice (he dared not attack them on equal terms); utter want of geueroeity and magnanimity (he is incapa ble of feeling the heroism of the men who offered such an " obstinate resistance," and set fire to their own ships rather than yield to so superior a force). But the climax of his savage, laughing cruelty has yet to be noticed. The Greeks of Sinope implored him to take them on board, fearing the Turkish in habitants, in the madness of their rage and despair, might wreak their losses upon them, but NA( lII IOW I refused—" my instructions being solely to act _ _ against the Turkish men-of-war, I recommended these unfortunate persons to the European Consuls." He left them in the hope that their fears might be realised (to the honour of the Turks, be it remem bered, they have proved groundless), and that he might thus have au excuse for returning to commit greater outrages and havoc at Sinope. To find a parallel for the sayings and doings of the Russian Admiral, we must go back to the times of Ttit.v and WAELEN , CEIN t or those of TAMERLANE and ATTILA. He has discarded the chivalrous huma nity of the modern European soldier. Sir WILLIAM NAI It it indulges in a natural and energetic expres sion of horror at the cruelties committed on French soldiers by Spanish guerillas in the Peninsular war; but these were rude peasants, possibly Contra bandists, whose homes had been plundered and de stroyed, avenging themselves on the instruments of a lawless conqueror. But the Russian is a cool-blooded soldier, a polished gentleman who can write as senti mentally as Ho t: ssem: —yet being himself the invader, out-Herods the guerillas even before hostilities are well begun,—before the passions of the combatants are roused. Here, then, we have a specimen of the way in which NICUOLAS and his savage mer cenaries make war ; and let it be kept in mind that the main object of these barbarians in ex tending their te tritory to the west is to enable them to act with more effect against the liberties and the wealth of civilised Europe. The sinking of ships and burning of houses at Sinope—the incendiary destruction of peaceable villages on the Danube—the sound of these things ia the noise of the Cossack knocking at our own door. la Ischia and Asia Mioor the Russian soldiers ; and sailors are playing on a grand scale the pert that usedoto be played in Ireland by peep-of-day boys, K ipparees, and other sanguinary, rapacious, skulking i outlaws. They are not waging war as it is I waged by generous and civilised nations : tbey are committing burglaries, assassinations, arson. The great chief of the robber horde is boasting that he will not now agree to a pence unless 'furkey makes great concessions, as a Roman or Apulian brigand sends word to the frieads of his captive that unless a large ransom is paid he will pet them to death by peculiar torments. And in the face of these horrors we are told the " nego tiations on the peace project have commenced" at Constantinople. If this be true—if the two great Western Governments have again obliged their luck less ally to go through the farce of negotiating with lawless marauders, who have not the decency to in termit their atrocities while they parley—remon strance is in vain. To our owe Government, in particular, it may be said they have made their choice with their eyes open; they know how matters stand between Russia and Turkey, how the interests and honour of this country are thereby affected, what the national feeling is. They will of course follow their own devices: it were sheer waste of time to persist longer in attempts to rouse their puny spin's, or teach them the duty' they are scandalously neglecting. The day of reck oning will come when Parliament meets ; or if not then, as soon as the real voice of the people is beard in Parliament. The duty of Ministers is too plain to admit of their shuffling off responsibility by any equivocation or fallacy. It is clear that the peace and liberties of Europe alike demand that the pro gress of Russia should be checked. It is equally clear what it is that encourages Russia in its rapa city and arrogance. The traditions of Pultowa and Moscow have inspired the Russian Government with the belief that they arc beyond the rev+ of a foreign foe. They count upon being able, after having wrought all the destruction, plunder, and havoc they have a mind to in neighbouricg territories, to take refuge, if they find themselves in danger of being worsted, in their wide and thinly-peopled country. They imagine they are as secure against invaders as the people of the Ch,ittd States. They are utterly mistaken. It would indeed be vain for any Power to dream of conquering and holding the Americans in bondage ; but this is nut merely because the extent of territory and the scantiness of popu lation would enable the inhabitants to evade it; it is much more owing to the circum stance that the American State or Government is identical with the people ; that though New York, or New Orleans, or Washington, were to fall, where. ever American citizens remained there would be an enterprising, wealth-accumulating community, effi cient government, self-recruiting armies. The American people or State is all heart and all head, vital in every part, incapable of receiving lethal wound. Not so the Russian State, which consists of government employes alone; for the great mass of the people is an inert mass. The depots of Russian wealth are few and all upon or near the seaboard : the mach:- nary of Russian Government is concentrated in St. Petersburg and Moscow. With Rigs, Odense, and some halt-dozen of other towns, block ' sded or captured, and with St. Petersburg and Moscow in the hands of an enemy, the whole State machine would stop of itself, the population of Russia would resolve itself into a heap of isolated, poor, anarchical hordes. And fleets and armies, to equip and maintain which would he a trifling effort for France, England, and Turkey, would find easy access to these vital parts—on the north by the Baltic, the Gulf of Finland, the Neva, and Lake Ladoga ; on the south by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azoff. Russia can and ought to be made to feel that after ravaging the territories of its neighbours, she is not to be allowed to escape to its den and there lurk in safety till another opportunity of renewing its outrage' presents itself. PARLIAMENT is to meet on the 31st of January. A proclamation to that effect, we learn from the Court Circular, was ordered at yesterday's meeting of the Privy Council. The day of explanations approaches. Lord ABERDEEN will have to explain (if he can) his policy in regard to the Eastern ques tion. Lord PALMF.USION will have the double task of explaining at the same time why he went out and why he came in again. Lord Jons RUSSELL will have to explain whether his Reform measure is to be produced, and if not, why not. And after these noble lords, and such of their colleagues as may think it necessary to speak, Lave had their say, it may appear whether there is among themselves, or between them and a ma jority of the Commons such a unity of sentiment and such reciprocal confidence as will enable them to , keep their places. It is indeed affirmed in credible quarters that this question has already been solved— it might be too much to say "to the satisfaction " of the parties moat immediately concerned—in some thing very like a negative. If this be the case, it is to be hoped that the really Liberal members of the moribund Coalition will take care so to dissolve the partnership as to keep themselves right with the coon try on the two card inal points of Parliamentary Reform at home and resistance to despotism abroad. There are in fact only two phases of the same question, whether an effete aristocratical influence, by refusing to open its ranks to recruits from the energetic, intelligent, and aspiring among the people, is to continue to dawdle instead of governing—obstructing or inef fectively trying to promote necessary reforms in our domestic institutions—sinking or ineffectively attempting to keep afloat our old reputation among the nations of the world. The various sections of the exclusive caste which has for centuries ruled this country are now so equally balanced in their incapacity, that unless one or other of them honestly ally it self to the people, and by so improv ing the constitution of the representative Legislature as to admit of the people's voice being heard in it with effect, render the admission of new and able men to a participation in Administrative Government possible, the machine may shortly stop of itself. The only chance for the present Ministry, or for any portion of them, rests on their practical admis sion of the fact that the House of Commons must be made to reflect more literally than heretofore the sentiments of the people. If they, or the best section of them, are content to trust the good sense of the bulk of their countrymen, they may either continue in place, or, if put out, may hereafter return to office with new and greatly increased power. But the only real source of new legislative vigour is in the people. The cliques of the governing party are too narrow for the times we live in. That " flood of democracy" which was Lord DERBY'S horror, and which Stems to be Lord PALMERSTON'S dread,—that " public" which does England's work and wins England's wealth, must be permitted to have its fair and honest share of Parliamentary representa tion. In short, the Cabinet has but one chance of national support, and that chance consists in the production of a rational and honest measure for the improvement of the representation of the people in the House of Commons. For the Cabinet to go out of Downing•street upon such a measure would give them a position in the country they could in no other way hope to secure. " Reform" and " Progress" may be taken to be synonymous terms—progress meaning the cultivation of all those civilising influences to which reactionary despotisms like Russia are the great antagonists. Let us, therefore, have on the opening of Parliament at least such a scheme of Re form as shall redeem the pledges on that be half of Lord JOHN RUS,ELL and the Cabi net of which he is a member; and let us find in that scheme such a measure of justice to the people as shall offer &practical compensation for Ministerial shortcomings in other respects. The Ministry that offers to revivify the House of Commons by strengthening the popular party within its walls will be the ono to deserve and to receive the support of the best and largest section of the whole commu• nity. MEETING OF PARLIAMENT. - Yeaterday at the Privy Council held at Windsor Parliament was ordered to be further prorogued from the 3rd of January until Tuesday, the Stet of January, 184, and a proclamation waa issued sum moning Parliament to meet on that day " for the despatch of public business." SABBATH AND RAGGED SCHOOL BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.—Mr. Henry Vincent delivered a lecture last night en the School.room,Cowper•street, in aid of the futile of the above society, Mr. T. Challis occupying the chair. The subject of the lecture was on " The Progressive Ten dencies of the Age." The first greet agent in developing the work of civilisation, raid Mr. Vincent, was industry fur with the advance of industry the vilifies of the feudal lord decreased, whilst the busy hives of labour increased As the necessary result of labour, first the rude waggon, then the coach, and, lastly, the railway and the stiamship were successively invented in order to exchange the pro duets of that labour. As industry was the great agent in developing the material interests of man, so the pct.'s was the great agent in opening up his spiritual and intellectual faculties. Before the inflation of printing the spiritual power was completely monopolieed by a cute, and if the printing press had done nothing else than to give them the Bible as it was, leaving it to tell its own tale, it would have conferred incalculable benefit on mankind. Public meet ings, the diffusion of Itnuwle•lg •. arid free induetry natu rally succeeded, leaving to he sail acc,.mplished the nohlest work of all—the oriral and It.•! swim reFeneratiln of the people. Mr. Vincent illustrated his text with a happy va riety of historical references, and with a warm colouring of language, which drew forth treTaent applause from his lie tenon. THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 30, 1853." LATEST FROM ABROAD. - • -- (Ol• SMINIARINE AND EUROPEAN TELEGRAMS.) FRANCE. PARIS, TIIVRSDAY. The restrictions imposed on the importation of raw cotton from ( cat Britain by the ordinance of February 8, 1626, are abolished. The Emperor has decided that with respect to yarn no change shall fur the present be made. At the Bourse to-day the Three per Cent. Rente closed for money at :4.35, and the Four-and-a-Half per Cents. at 101.25. After the fall of yesterday these prices exhibit a rally of 25e. to 33e. THE WAR. RUSSIA AND TURKEY. - Telegraphic despatches from Constantinople of the 19th inst., announce that the meeting of the Grand Council, originally appointed to be held on the 20th, had taken place on the 18th, for the discussion of the collective Note communicated to Reachid Pacha by the ambassadors of the Fuur Powers, pursuant to the agreement of Dec. 5. The collective Note, it will be remembered, merely expressed the regret of the Powers at the outbreak and continuance of the war, and invited the Porte to state upon what condi lona it would be ready to ne gotiate a treaty of peace. The result of the delibe rations on the 18th inst. is embodied in Reschid Pacha's answer to the ambassadors on the following day. The Porte has accej?ed all the advice which the Powers formally undo took the responsibility of ten dering it, i. e. all the re commendations embodied in the " Instructions to the Ambassadors," but by its reso lution it hes condemned one of the bases of the Vienna protocol, and the very one which had been previously condemned by public opinion in England. The Porte refuses to come again under the obligations arising out of the treaties which Russia has first abused and then broken, and while proalaimiug that policy, no less than duty, enjoins the maintenance and even the extension of the rights with which the Sultan has at various times invested his Christian subjects, declares that driven to defend its very existence with the sword it will not exist for aught lower than full sove reignty within its dominions. 'f he Porte is ready to send a plenipotentiary to treat in some neutral city with a minister similarly empowered by the Czar. It will adhere to its original sine qua nun of the evacua tion of the Principalities, but will not renew th e broken treaties of Kainurdji and Adrianople. It is thus equally incorrect to say with one ministerial contemporary that the Porte has " accepted the project of accommodation" recommended by the Rau Powers, since the Powers this time recommend no such project, "but leave it to be elaborated by direct though not unassisted negotiation, and to say with another ministerial journal that the Porte has ac cepted the collective Note, since that Note merely asked for information. All that the Powers recom. mended in their instructions to the ambassadors Iteschid Pacha adopts ; hut the abject compliances which the fortunately published Vienna protocol• shows they were prepared to recommend are dis posed of in advance. A despatch from the Danube states that the Rus sian war steamer Pruth, in passing down the Danube, had set two Turkish villages on tire with red hot balls. Incandescent missiles appear to be greatly in favour with the Russian sea captains, having been plenteously showered upon the Turkish vessels at Sinope. Their employment against villages, however, is a now and particularly Russian feature in recent warfare. A rumour prevailed at Constantinople on the 16th that the Russians had made an attempt to set fire to the allied fleet at the entrance of the Bosphorus. A fireship, it is said, was sent, but it was seen from the forts, and stopped by their artillery. Numerous letters of the same date have been received from Constantinople, and make no mention of such an attempt. Probably the story arose out of the incident recorded in our correspondent's letter. CONSTANTINOPLE, Dec. 15. For the !ast two or three days the representatives of the Four Powers have had frequent conferences, a! several of which Resilid Pasha was present, for the purpose of elaborating a new and last note which shall sufficiently safeguard the interests of Turkey, and at the same time contain such concessions as should satisfy all the reasonable expectations of the Czar. Not that much hope is entertained that at the eleventh hour the Czar will show himself reasonable, but the ministers of the Sultan wish to be consistent through out the course of negotiations, and to manifest to the lest moment that cow :History and moderate spirit which has characterised their entire proceedings. Should this last effort fail, the Porte will have de monstrated its pacific disposition, and the powers will be irrevocably engaged to lend their energetic support to Turkey. They will have the more reason to do this, since the unfolding of Russian designs in Asia and the entrance of Persia into the quarrel. Various disquieting reports have been in circula tion, and it has been said that an important re-con stitution of the ministry has taken place. All these rumours are untrue. The appointment of a new Capudan Pacha is the only real change in the high departments of the imperial service. A Russian war schooner has this very evening been driven by stress of weather to tale refuge in the Bosphorus. The captain took the precaution to throw his guns overboard, thinking to make the Turks believe that the schooner was a trading vessel. The Turks have taken provisional possession of it, placing forty men on board. General Prim has dealt very sharply with the famous Gortschakoff bulletin of the battle of Olte nitza, which he says will be laughed at by every corporal who may read it. The General says: " I have just come from the head-quarters of Omer Pacha, where I have passed four months. I am a mere soldier, and I went to &builds simply in the character of an amateur. I consider, therefore, that I am an impartial observer of what goes on under my eyes. The question of orthodoxy and Holy Places does not interest me the least in the world, ' but Ido feel desirous that my fellow-soldiers of all nations should know in truth what is taking place on the Danube, and not be misled by the reports of the Russian generals." General Prim then takes up the assertions of Prince Gortschakoff one by one, and refutes them. I need not follow him, but I may observe that he convicts General bannenberg of great incapacity, and General Gortschakoff of boldly attempting to foist on the world a story as absurd as it is untrue. He says:—" At the moment when the Russians com menced the attack (on the 4th Nov.), the redoubt was open on both sides, for want of time to complete the works, so that twenty men might have entered on the left and fifty on the right hand. Had the general commanding given himself the trouble, as he ought to have done, to make a reconnaissance, he would have discovered the weak points of the Turkish position, and might have attacked with great chance of success, and without losing so many brave soldiers as he did. But General Dannenberg doubtless thought that he had only to advance his infantry and artillery to drive the Turks into the Danube." The following is the result of the Spanish general's observations on the Turkish army : "The troops of Turkey are no longer such as the Russians had to combat in former wars. Then incon testably the Turkish soldiers were individually brave, but the army was an undisciplined multitude, ill armed, each fighting according to his own notion, without unity, without concert, advancing or retiring at will, in a word, without the least military organi sation. To-day, without having lost any of their traditional courage, they are, thanks to the reforms introduced into the army, disciplined and well-taught soldiers, and constitute an army le•rfectly organised according to the principles of European armies, and consequently in a condition to match with the Rus sian'. I ant convinced that in the spring—for I see no chance of au honourable arrangement—the RUB slang will find that with equal forces they have not the least superiority over the Turks." Where Sinope once stood, there are now but ruins; the fortifications, which were most inferior, are rased ' to the ground, and not a vestige of the eleven Turk ish vessels remain, but a solitary dismasted frigate lon ground. The following are the official details of the deplorable event in question : -The Turkish cap-1 tains fought with the greatest heroism against the' vastly superior strength of the Russians, and blew up their own vessels when all hope had vanished. Hussein Pacha, the Egyptiaa Admiral, sustained the honour of his country, and when crushed by the overwhelming fire of a Russian three-decker moored aside him, he gave orders for his crew and officers to leave the vessel, which they obeyed; then remaining alone, he sprang the powder magazine, sad perished with his ship. On the 29th November, a Russian fleet of twelve vessels appeared before Sinope, and cast soundings. The 30th, at 10 in the morning, three ships, three three-deckers, and three two-deckers, entered the port, whilst four frigates and two steamers guarded the entrance of the gulf. The Turks were not even in line of battle, so little did they expect an attack. They fought bravely, and not one ship surrendered or was captured. lie low I give a list of all the particulars. The conflict tasted three hours. The Russians set fire to the town, destroyed the fortifications, and left the day after, towing away a three-decker in a sinking state. Another of their three.deckers, The Twelve Apostles, was sunk early in the actin by the cannon of the fortress. She was the finest vessel in the P.ussian navy, and formerly mounted 110 cannon, which had been reduced to 120. The inhabitants of the town, along with the sailors who had escaped the explo sions, fled to the interior of the country. The following are the names and armaments of the Turkish ships destroyed at Sinope : I. Nevic, 52 runs; crew 500 ; ship blown up; Ali Pacha, the captain, li,hed. This vessel was opposed by a Russian two-decker. _ 2. Vesir, is gun.; crew 500; ship destroyed; Hassan Ili", the captain, killed. This vessel also was opposed by a Russian two-decker. • 3. Farsli-ittah. 38 guns; crew 400; ship destroyed. Ali Slahir Bey. the captain, token prisoner. 4. Oul-Befit, 21 guns ; crew 200; ship destroyed ; the fate of 8.11 Bey, the captain, is unknown. 5. Asmi-ifi ih, 36 guns; crew 400; shin destroyed; Redshiol Bey, its captain, escaped, but Osman Pacha, the admiral, who was on board, was t ken prisoner. 6. Damietta—(this and the two following vemiels belonged to the Egyptian 14 , et)-56 guns; crew 500; shipdestroyeil ; the tate of the captain unknown. 7. Nedji.l4.han, 24 guns; crew 200: ship run attroundi and 114esara Bey, its capt taken prisoner. 8. Kaid, 50 guns ; crew 500 ; blew up; Hussein Pacha, the Egyptian Admiral, with Kull Bey, captain of the Kaid, killed. . . 9. Nizemich, GO guns; crew GOO ; blew up ; the captain, Ehdr Bey, escaped. 10. Haim Marhout, 22 guns ; crew 240 ; destroyed; fate of captain, het Bey, unknown. 11. Eregli (,termer), 4 guns ; crew 130 ; destroyed; captain's fate unknown. 12 Tait (steamer), 1G Runs; crew 300; escaped. Taish ' B-y is now under court-martial, fur having f 1.4 during the action. _ _ . ...... . The Turkish possessed 431 cannon, less those of the Taif (16), which escaped without fighting, against 632 Russian of superior calibre. The Turkish crews numbered 4,490 ; the number of ltussian unknown. The following has been the fate of the former:—Conveyed to Constantinople by the Mogtdor, 62 ' • by the Retribution, 50-112 wounded. fly the Mogador, 57; by the Retribution, 34-91 not wounded. The Russians took 120 pri soners; the men who contrived to escape on shore, 1,000; crew of the Taif who escaped, 300-1,623 ; which shows the number killed in the action to have been 2,607 ; total, 4,490. The loss of the Russians is of course unknown, but must have been most severe from the severity of the lighting. The steam-frigate which escaped is one of the finest afloat, and was constructed at Liverpool, I think, at a cost or 300,0001., and would have proved a valuable prize could the Russians, as they at tempted, have been able to capture her. The Turkish admiral fought with great courage against immense odds, and his having been captured. Anuses great concern here. SMYRNA, DEC. 17. Thousands of troops have been through here since the beginning of the present difficulties with Russia, and there has not been a single instance of their having behaved improperly. Even the volunteers, who were in past wars so refractory, and whe could be tracked by marks of desolation, now behave with the greatest propriety. The excitement, however, is so great, that not a Nlussulman able to bear arms will remain at his home, should this war continue. !tussle has excited a brave people to the defence of their religious and political existence, and energies still lie dormant which will be roused against the Czar, and which will ultimately thwart the ambi tious projects he may have in view. Count Pourtales, formerly Prussian Ambassador at Constantinople, is at present in London on a special mission relative to the Eastern question. A letter from Vienna of the 23rd, in the Augsburg Gazette, says :—" Several foreign journals have pro pagated the intelligence that the Moldo-Wallachian militia was to be incorporated in the Russian army. We learn from a certain source that the general-in • chief has given the two hospodars a formal assurance that these troops should not be employed against the enemy, avid that thy!" should be sent back to their own towns if the Turks should make an incursion. Up to the present titse these troops have only been used as police. The Wallachian artillery, however, hu not been kept in the Russian quarter-general, but has been sent to Braila, where they are placed under the orders of Russian officers." EGYPT. Intelligence has arrived from Alexandria to the 17th. The preceding fortnight had pasted over with the greatest calm, nothing having occurred of importance either in political matters, or in commercial affairs. Business had been active in corn from the time that M. Sabatier bad ob tained the measure of separation from the Viceroy. Abbas Pacha had returned to Cairo, where the caravan of pilgrims from Mecca had arrived, even more numerous than in pre ceding years. All the packet boats were taking their de parture, crowded with Algerians, Tunisians, and Moors. The Grand Cheri( Abdeualam was to embark on the 18th, on board the Albatros, steam frigate, which was to take him either to France or to Tangiers. The packet of the Mena geries of the Constantinople line due on the 12th, had not arched on the 17th. The dreadful weather which prevailed in these latitudes mint have forced that vessel to take refuge in sum apart along the toast. FRANCE. PARIS, WEDNESDAY EVENING:. The official part of the Moniteur is unusually crowded to-day with matter of considerable import ance. I informed you some time since that the mu nicipality of Paris, frightened at the vast amount of responsibility imposed upon it, had clamorously peti tioned to be relieved from the obligation of paying the bakers a sum amounting to upwards of half a million per month, representing the difference be tween the natural p rice of bread and the max imum at which it is now allowed to be •sold. It was also urged on behalf of the city of Paris that the unparallelled amount of expenditure in public works now going on ought in common pru dence to be checked for a time. The Emperor having taken the representations made to him into deliberate consideration personally resolved that he would not under any circumstances allow the price of bread in Paris to exceed 80c. the 41b. loaf, and that public works should be carried on upon the same scale as heretofore. It being however test necessary to relieve the municipality from an insupportable pressure, the following decree is the consequence of the Emperor's decision: A new bank is created under the guarantee of the city of Paris, and under the authority of the Prefect of the Seine, for the use of the bakers of Paris. This 1 bank is to be charged to pay for them the amount of their purchases of corn and flour, and to that effect a I credit will be opened to each baker on the deposit of proper securities. All payments for corn and flour without any exception are to be made through the bank, and bakers who do not desire to avail them selves of their credit must pay into the bank the amount of their engagements on the eve of their be coming due. Every baker is bound to send to the bank, within three days after each acquisition, a de claration of the corn or Hour purchased by him, and these declarations will serve as elements to make out the otticad prices for the month. The bank is authoriled to advance to the bakers the amount of the deficiency which may exist between the price of bread, as fixed by the municipal council, and the price resulting from the official returns of corn and flour for the month. In order to receive back such advances, the hank is to take as a compensation the sums arising from the surplus ex isting between the price of bread and that at which ought to be sold according to the official returns. If advisable, the operations of the Bank are to be extended to the bakers in the other communes of the Seine. The bakers' bank can, with the authorisation of the Municipal Council, borrow the funds neces sary fur the service with which it is charged. and the expense of i s administration is to be borne by the city of Paris. The Patric announces that, accord;ng to letters ' brought by the Leonidas, the Porte makes no diffi culty in accepting the new proposed note of the Four Powers. This announcement seems to ignore the fact that the Four Pow:rs proposed nothin. , except that Turkey should name her own terms, an d in the meantime consent to an armistice. Private letters which I have seen confirm what I said yesterday that an armistice is out of the question. Rescind Paella gavo it as his opinion that the Porte, which has never ceased to desire peace upon hunourablo terms, would not refuse to send a plenipotentiary to negotiate, but the affair was to be submitted to a Council of the Divan on the 20th. We must, there fore, wait for the next packet before any positive result can be known. The Constitraiunnel sacs: " The accounts receivcd by the family of the Marquis de Turgot from Madrid continue to be satisfactory nature. Ills state has much improved, and the wound which he received is now advanced towards a cure." The English mail is again delayed up to 6 o'clock this evening. The London letters and evening papers had not arrived. There has again been a smart reaction at the Bourse. The want of any official confirmation of the favourahle interpretation of yesterday's telegraphic news produced a fall of 60c. in the Rente. The rail ways nearly lost the rise of yesterday. FRENCH EximarioN OF 181./. The Mon/leur contains a decree, dated Saturday, enacting that the Universal Exhibition of Agriculture. Manufactures, and Fine Arts, which is to commence at Paris on the let May, 1555, shall be under the direction and surveillance of a commission, which shall be presided over by " our well beloved cousin, the Prince Napoleon, and the following shall be members of the Com mission : M. B troche, President of the Council of State ; M. Elie de Beaumont, Senator, Member of the Institute ; M. Billault, President of the Legidative Body ; M. 'Bangui, Member of the Institute, Director of the Superior School of Commerce; M. Eugene Delacroix, artist, Member of the Departmental Municipal Commission cf the Seine; M. Jean WIN', Manufacturer ; M. Arles Dufour, Member of the Chamber of Commerce of Lyons; M. Dumas, Senator, Member of the Institute; Baron Charles Dupin, Senator, Member of the Institute ; M. Henriguel-Dapont, Member of the Institute; Count de Gasparin, Member of the Insti tute; M. Orkeren, Councillor of State, Director-General of Customs, and of Indirect Taxes ; M. Heurtier, Coun cillor of State, Director-General of Agriculture and Com merce ; M. Ingres, Member of the Institute ; M. Legentil, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Paris; M. Le play, Chief Engineer of Mines : Count de Lesser.% Director of Consulates and of Commercial Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; M. Merimee, Senator, Member of the In stitute ; M. Michel Chevalier, Councillor of State, Member of the Institute; M. blimerel, Senator; General Morin, Director of the Conservatoire Imperial des Arts et Metiers; Count de Morey, Deputy of the Legis lative Body, Member of the Superior Council of Commerce, Agriculture, and Manufactures; de la Moskoive, Senator; Duke de Mouchy, Senator, Member of the Supe• rior Council of Commerce, Agriculture, and Manufactures; Marquis de Pastoret, Sulator, Member of the Institute ; M. Emile Pereire, President of the Council of Administra tion of the Southern Railway ; General Poncelet, Member of the Institute; M. A.gnault, Member of the Institute, Director of the Imperial Manufactory of Sevres; M. Sallan. drouze, manufacturer, Deputy of the Legislative 'lady ; M. de Saulcy, Member of the Institute, and Keeper of the Museum of Artillery ; M. Schneider, Vice-President of the L• gislative B3dy, Member of the Superior Council of Commerce, Agri:vinare, and Manufactures ; Baron Achille ; M. Seydoux, Deputy of the Legisla tive Body; M. Simart, Member of the Institute ; M. Troplong, President of the Senate, First President of the Court of Caseation, Member of the Institute; Marsha; Count Vaillant, Grand Marshal of the Niels, Senator, Member of the Institute ; IC Visconti, Member of the In. stitute, architect to the Emperor. The decree enacts that the commission shall be divided into two sections—one o► Fine Arts, and the other of Agriculture and Manufactures ; that the section of Fine Arts shall consist of M. Baroche, IC Eugene Delacroix, M. Henriquel-Dupont, M. Ingres, M. bletimee, Count de Moray, Prince de la Muskowa, Duke do Mouchy, Marquis de Pastoret, M. de Smiley, M. Simart, and M. Visconti; and that the section of Agriculture and Commerce shall be composed of M. Elie de Beaumont, M. Billault, M. Michel Chevalier, M. Jean Dollfus, M. Arles Dufour, M. Dumas, Baron Charles Dupin, Count de Gasparin, M. Grslterin, M. Heurtier, M. Legentil, M. Leplay, Count de Le‘sepe, M. Mimerel, General Morin, M. Emile Nreire, General Pon celet, M. Regnault, M. Sallandrouse, M. Schneider. M. Sdlliere, M. Seydoux, M. Troplong, Marshal Count Vail loot. The decree further enacts that, in case of the absence of Prince Napoleon, the commission, in' general assembly, shall be presided over by the Minister of State or by the Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works ; and, in their absence, by a vice-president, who shall be nominated by ballot in the first sitting; that the section of Fine Arts shall be prisided over by the Minister of State ; that of Agriculture and Manu factures by the Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works ; and that each section shall choose a vies-president. The decree concludes by appoint ing M. Ales-Dufour, Secretary-General of the Commission; M. Adolphe Thibaudeau, Assistant Secretary-General ; M• de Mercey, Chief of the section of Fine Arts is the Ministry of State, Secretary of the section of Fine Arts; M. Audi ganne, Chief of the bureau of Manufactures, and M. Chemin-Dupontes, Chief of the bureau of Navigation in Foreign Commerce, Secretaries of the section of Agricul ture and Manufactures. By a separate decree Lord Cowley, the British ambassador at Paris, is appointed a member of the commission, and in explanation of the appointment the following remark is made in another column : " It will be remembered that at the Uui I Exhibition of London M. Drouyn de Lhuys, at that time ambassador at London, was nominated by the Queen member of the commission presided over by H.B.H. Prince Albert." GERMANY. BADEN. The Carlsruhe Gazette of the 23rd says: The government has been informed that the Archbishop of Friburg has ordered the cures of his diocese to explain to their parishioners, for three consecutive Sundays, the differences which have arisen between the Episcopacy and the temporal power. The government has no intention to oppose those explanations being given in a calm and tem perate manner; but if the priests should profane the churches, and excite their hearers against the government and the authorities, either by distorting the truth or by false statements, the punishment which they merit hill un. doubtedly fall on them. MURDEROUS ATTACK BY BURGLARS.—On Safnr evening last a daring burglary was committed at the house occupied by Mr. Richard Thomas, a butcher, at Penco 'se, near Penryn, Cornwall, accompanied by treatment of a most brutal nature towards the uneffending residents. Mr. Thomas being Irons home, the only persons on the premises were his wife and daughter. Between eight and nine o'clock on the above-named evening, while Mrs. Thomas was sitting alone in the kitchin, the heard the front door open, and sinsultaneousiy three men, having masks over their faces and sacks over their clothes, walked into the kitchen and surrounded her. The foremost of the villains told her not to be alarmed, as they only wanted money, and would not hurt her if she delivered up the keys. Mrs. Thomas hesitated to comply with the request, when one of them threw a handful of pepper in her eyes, and then bound her, a third giving her several kicks, and telling her that if she stirred hand or foot, or made the slightest noise, they would return to her and murder her. Miss Thomas, who was in an adjoining room, en hearing the voices began to scream for help, whereupon one of the burglars rushed into the room, and, having felled the young lady with a tremendous blow on the head, he knelt upon her, and, drawing forth a large knife, wounded her severely, at the same time threatening that he would have her life it she did not keep quiet. Two of the men then kept guard over Mrs. Thomas and her daughter, while the third proceeded up stairs, and, having obtained the keys, he took from an escritoire a bag containing between 500/. and 600/. Ile then CMe downstairs., and, giving a shrill whistle as he pissed through the room whete his two companions were stationed, got clear off with his accomplices. Mr. Thomas and her daughter can hardly as yet be considered out of danger.—Local paper. The South Wales Railway was opened on Wednes day from llerefurd to Haverfordwest. RUSSIA AND SWEDEN. [ln complying with the request of the writer of the following letters, we would rema r k, t h at o f the rooted antipathy of the Swedes to Russia, and their friendl y disposition towards England, no on e acqua i nted with that country can doubt. As to the sentiments of the royal family, it is devoutly to be wi s h e d, f ur t h eir own sake and that of the country, that they may indeed be as is represented in E.'s communication. Any truck ling on their part to Russia would undoubtedly alienate the affection the Swedes now bear them •, and this, if it had no other immediate effect, would render them dependent upon the Czar for countenance and support. AVltat the nature of that support would be is obvious enough. On the north as on the south Itu:sia is labouring to reach the Atlantic. It can be shown by unquestion able evidence that she has fur years been seeking to work round by the extreme north, behind Norway, as a preliminary when she had done so to seize the first pretext for turning her arms southwards. Rut a vassal king on the throne of the united kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, would open to her a shorter and more expeditious road to the Atlantic. The puppet-monarch would be allowed to keep his scat only so long as a screen was deemed neces sary. The royal family of Sweden will do well to ponder these things. And, what is of more importance, the brave people, descendants of the nation which once turned the balance in favour of the cause of civil and religious liberty in Europe, will do well to be on their guard, lest the enemy which has robbed them in succession of Liefiand, Carland, Esthland, and Finland, now lay its hands on what is left them of their heritage. Peter the Great declared that the Swedish generals had taught him how to beat themselves ; the Swedes might learn from his descendants how to reconquer their own.] TU TILE EDITOR OF TILE D.tILY !NEWS Sir,—Yesterday, I addressed the following letter to the e ditor of the Times, in contradiction to statements made in that day's paper, by its 4 ccasioanl correspondent in Stock holm. The letter has not appeared. Will you give it cir culation ? I have no doubt but that Russia would, by any means, procure the aid of See '.en or any other country if she could, and that she has tried Sweden pretty hard, but that she will succeed with the royal family or the people of Sweden is au absurdity, and of which a very little know ledge of the history of Sweden and a perusal of the Kit g's speech at the recent opening of the Swedish Diet, alone must be convincing. I am, sir, your obedient servant, City, Dec. 2), 1863. RUSSIA AND SWEDEN. TO THE EDITOR OF TUB TIMP.I. Sir,—Under the above head, in your paper of to-day, appeared an article from " Au Oeca•ioaal Correspondent," which, in one important particular, I am anxious to correct. It may, or it may not, be true, t!, it Russia has command e d Sweden to close her ports to English and French vessels and subjects, us your c , nroposident cates, but, as I have just returned from Stockholm and know from undoubted authority that the King and Crown Prince, as well Ils the nation, arc in favour of England, and opposed to Russia, I at once send the fact fur laser:ion in your piper, in con tradiction to the statement of your correspondent in respect of those royal personages. There are, I believe, some few yersons in Stockholm who wish your correspondent's version were true, for purposes well known, and to them may be attributed the circulation of so erroneous a statement r,,pecting the royal family of Sweden. I may add, that my letters from Stockholm are three days' Liter th-n your correspondent's, and no mention of the command of Russia is muds. I am, therefore, inclined to think that even this is a mistake, and that no :emend has actu4lly taken place. 1 _ I enclose my card. I am, sir, your obedient servant, City, Dec.2B, IS i 3. EXECUTION OF A MURDERER AT GHENT. Leopold Lachacrt, the man who was recently con demned to death by the Calm of Assizes of Ghent, for the murder and robbery of a collecting.clerk, named Van damme, was executed on Saturday, in that city. An im. mense crowd assembled to witness the execution, and a great number of them, to be sure of good places, passed the whole night on the ground. After his condemnation, La chaert became very penitent, and frequently expressed his hope to ern rit the pardon of Heaven by his Christian death, But he often said to his keepers, " Men are not executed now-a-days, are they ? " On Saturday, the chaplain and chief turnkey went to him at an early hour, 'and told him to prepare for death. At first he would not believe what they said, but on its being re. peated, he rose murmuriry, " Let God's will be done " He then asked if be could be pet mitted to see his family. Ilia brothers were sent for, and a meat painful scene took place, all weeping bitterly ; but the condemned seemed firmest of the three. He demandtd their pardon it th e dishonour he had brought on them, and for the danger to which he had exposed them by causing them for a time to be suspected of being his accomplices. He often sobhtd " poor father !" After his brothers bad left, he heard mass and received the sacrament. Ile then partook of food, sad remained in communication with the chaplain for about an hour. Shortly after the magistrates arrived, and the papers relative to the rejection of his appeal to the Court of Cessa tion, and to the King for pardon, were read, but he paid no attention to them, appearing absorbed in prayer. It was ex pected that he would make revelations compromising his brother Grancis; but he declared that he had nothing to say except that he merited the punishment he was about to receive. When the executioner proceeded to cut off his hair, he made no remark, but when he was told to place his hand s behind him that he might be bound, he refused, saying, " What is the use ? I shall make no resistance." But on a remark of a turnkey, he yielded. After this he appeared to pay no attention to what was taking place, but continued to pray fervently. OL, however, being placed in the cart, he thanked the keeper and the turnkeys of the prison fo r their attention to him ; and his face assumed a smiling ex. pression. lie ascended the steps of the scaffold without assistance ; but on seeing the knife suspended above his head started with horror. A moment after, however, he fell on his knees, and murmured a prayer. A priest then gave him a crucifix to kiss, and pronounced his absolution ; after which he was placed on the fatal plank, and the knife fell. it was noticed that the majority of the spectators were women, and that many Of them were carrying their children on their shoulders. APPOINTMENT OF NATURALISED CITIZENS TO Outer: —A correspondent of Le Republic:Jen, the evening French paper in New York, says that M. de Lamartine has written a letter to one of the cabinet at Washington, eulo gising the policy of President Pierce in sending naturalised citizens as diplomatic envoys to European courts, thus " demonstrating that, under democratic institutions, neither rank, nor fortune, nor social position, nor political ante cedents, can prevent a man of energy and talent from arriving at the highest dignities; that the republic esta blishes nu distinctions between men, and that, whether native or of foreign birth, they are equal in its eyes." WEATHER IN PARIS.—The cold was very :severe in Paris on Tuesday. At six o'clock in the morning the thermometer marked 12 deg. 1-10th below zero of centi , grade (101 of Fahrenheit), and the Seine was full of error ' mous blocks of ice, and in many parts frozen hard at the edges. There was, however, a great change next day. At seven o'clock the thermometer stood at only 1 of centigrade , (about 49 of Fahrenheit.) SERIOUS CHARGE OF MURDER.—The Wolverhamp ton magistrates have committed John Quarlter, an Irish labourer, for trial, charged with Me wilful murder of Thomas Price, butcher, of Little's-lane, in that town, who died on the Bth of August, 1852, and whose death was occasioned uuder the following circumstances:—On Satur day night the 19th of June, of the same year, he was returning home from Nurth•street, through Tin-alley, when he saw a woman and a young child ill-treated by two or three men, and he interfered, upon which he was attacked by three Irishmen, who professed themselves aggrieved by Ms interference, and was being so much injured by them, that he begged for his life. Before he reached home, however, they attacked him a second time, and early on the Sunday morning, he was found by his wile lying at the door of his house, with Isis clothes saturated with blood, a jaw bone broken, his right eye destroyed, with a severe cut on the back of the head, and other marks of violence about his body; and he died of the &tete of the injuries. During his illness he gave a description of the man by whom he was mast severely assaulted, and the description corresponds with that of the prisoner, who is identified by Margaret, the wife of Miles Roden, as one of the three men who en the night in question knocked down a female friend of her;, who, with a child in her arms, was scolding an Irishman she called her husband. The three men, after they had assaulted the woman and child ran into the alley where l'rice said that he was first attacked. Quarlter absconded immediately after the time of the attack upon Price, and was n.it seen agaAi in Wolverhampton until Sunday, the Ilth inst., when he wit; apprehended by Seigeant Cordon in the public house in North-street. At the inquest upon Price a verdict of manslaughter against an unknown person was recorded. The prisoner denied all knowledge of the occur rence.—Worcester Chronicle. Al II th to