The Express. — London, England, 1853-12-20 00:00:00

Zit, erprtisis. TO CORRESPONDENTS. • PlllllllOll Madan al "Tad Lagwer." caaaaaataa Übe saw esteasi's oaaatto." M publambed every Tardy sad Vnday sip. al -ara tor post. - - - deeri seuaeale Weeded M" Tie V amis." Lender tame, paper, mot be at tbe lace, le. Ileueerverereet, by TIM lidos& oa ts.e •l el plabliestles. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE . Tun Ihr—Mormag, 4b. 46.• Owns." b. 14.14obenr—Illaralse. St. Us. -Atterfoos, 43e. LONDON, TUESDAY. DECEMBER :NI. Tut: American EitzslDENT's Message, brought by the steam-ship Canada, reports the prosperity which is the normal condition of that favoured country. Its , fruitful soil being still underpeopled, while its inha• bitsnts have the qualifications of the old European nations, with others of their own, the lot of its citi zens is in their own hands : and they have only to be wise to enjoy every attainable good. •The vast increase of their numbers, by immigration as well as b:7 birth, is a pure advantage in a material sense ; and in a moral view it can be nothing but a good, while the institutions of the country afford a sot& cient bond to constitute the various social elements a true community. 'lhe heterogeneous quality of society which is taken for granted to be the main cause of the supposed weakness of Turkey, is the chief ground of strength in the Western Republic. All nations and races contribute their powers and charac teristics to consolidate a nationality which there is no political despotism to repress. Under all changes of circumstance, there is always somebody ready to improve or mitigate the existing phase; and nowhere, therefore, is life made the best of with so persevering an economy. Some of the people like winter best, and some summer; some prefer the granite and barberry bushes of the north, and others the alluvious and tropical climbers of the south. Some live most prosperously on the prairie, and others on the riven; aid others again on the moun tain aides. In the whole prodigious extent and variety of the national territory, there is hardly a nook of soil or society which does not suit some resi dent of one constitution and character or another. This being the ease, the resourees of the whole coun try are sure to be made available ; and the conse. quince is a continuous prosperity such as the PRE• lIIDENT . B speeches always report, and as is reported in no other department of human history. Men of all nations being assembled or scattered there, with score which calls forth the ready and willing activity of all (except the negro) in their own way, every kiudof industry is sure to ILA nab, as season and circumstance permit; and it can be no wonder to any of the statesmen of the world that the surplus in the Trea sury is thirty-two millions of dollars. Thirteen of the thirty-two millions are devoted to the diminu tion of the debt, which is now only fifty-six millions, or eleven millions of pounds. The message recom mends a further liquidation with more of the Bur - plus; and that thete should not be so much surplus another year. To reduce it he advises that the tariff should be lowered—a proceeding for which there are other and yet better grounds. The functions of the general government of the United States are so few, the uses for money so restricted, and the popular jealousy of the power of wealth in the hands of the Executive so strong, that all parties are agreed in desiring that, while there should be little debt, there should also be little surplus. So taxation, in the only form in which it is imposed by the general government, is likely to be reduced; and the already lowered tariff will, no doubt, be lowered again. This will please the South, which has always been the Fres-trade interest in the United States—desiring u it does to have the manufactures of the world competing for its cotton : and it ought not now to displease the North, whose manufactures must be well established by this time, if they are ever to be so. If their " domestics" have found their way, ria Cabool, to clothe the Thibetiaos, and by sea and river to keep people cool or warm in the Malayan Archipelago and the neighbourhood of Lake Tchad, they cannot pretend to want protection any longer ; and they will presently find how much better they are without it. The favour in which one or both of the Pacific railroads are held follows of course. If the national industry is to sustain itself, its field must be laid open to the utmost ; and the PAESIDENT recommends that this great highway to that world which we call the East should be prepared by the aid of all the means that the constitution affords. Co- IA sr PUS did not disoorer the longed-for Cathay, nor kias the feet of Paurraa JOHN. It was not given him to do the at first hand ; but the country that he discovered is going to complete his project. In the geographical regions already laid down in our maps, the Ameri. cans are going to find the mercantile Cathay; and if Pnawraft JOHN is still to be found anywhere in China or Japan, they will get at him. Through savages, through buffalo, through Mormons, through gold regions, and dashing surf, and pacific seas, and coral islands, and spice islands, the Yankees and their bales of products will rush where Coixmaus dreamed of going, and will find a substantial market where he looked for a realm of the genii, or of outlandish men as well off in point of wealth. The Passioxxt does not say much of China and Japan, to which expeditions have, as all the world knows, been sent. Perhaps, like another sagacious oracle, "he thinks the more." There is no doubt that that matter fills a large space in the Ameri can mind at present; and others than Ame ricans see what important consequences may arise either from the opening of Japan, at last, or from collision with Russia in regard to any of the countries in that region of the globe. The one point in which the United States and Russia agree is in stealing a march upon the rest of the world; but in the one case it is for purposes of com merce, and in the other of conquest. If there is to be collision in those stolen marches, it will be in that region. It is known that some Russian ships are out watching the American squadron. Let us hope that they may not pick a quarrel with our cousins, but take a lesson from them in the virtuous arts of peace. There is, however, a sufficient conception of the possibility of war to induce a recommendation in the Message that both the navy and the army of the United State' should be looked to and improved. While new railroads and reductions in the tariff and debt are proposed at the same time, there can be no objection to this. The increase of troops is referred to the needs of the frontier. The American frontier is always extending; and the constitutional army is much too small to excite any apprehension in the most suspicious mind of any aggressive purposes on the part of the Government. The Cuban cue is expressly treated in the Message. The PRZSIDENT points out that no aggressive action has taken place since the last Congress, and pledges himself that if any unauthorised expedition should be set about, the whole power of the Executive will be employed to put it down. What the world has to watch, then, is, that no expedition against the Spanish colonies should be authorised. As to the Navy, it is evideotly desirably, for the interests of freedom, in the present critical age of the world, that American ships should be everywhere, within the beat of despotism, and always in an efficient state. The sympa thies of all Liberals were with the American com mander in the KOSSTA cue at Smyrna, and now the formal sanction of his Government is given to his conduct, and the complaints of Austria are rejected. The Americans cannot, as some people are wishing, march armies into the heart of Europe in the coming caused much embarrassment. While waiting to know what the proposed solution la, we ought to re member the service rendered by Lord ABERDEEN in 1842 in settling the boundary question, when wrath was high on both sides, and a war seemed almost inevitable. That question was a more serious one in itself than the present, and the international dis position far less favourable. Through Lord ASH BURTON'S mission the Americans gained rather the larger share of the disputed land, and we a better military frontier; and both an escape from a war which would have been a scan dal to civilisation. We hope that equal wisdom will preside on both sides in the present case, obviat ing all quarrel between the two nations which are the hope and stay of constitutional liberty. The PRESIDENT recommends the tracing and esta blishment of the boundary-line between the north western territory of the United States and our colonial lands. If this is properly done we should join in the recommendation ; for the former boundary quarrels, both in regard to the Oregon and the Maine line, originated in geographical ignorance, and were dangerously left unsettled, for want of knowledge, from one period of unsuccessful negotiation to an other. In CANNIXO'S time, the irritation was such that Lord CASTLEREAGH told Mr. RUSH, the Ameri can Minister, that war could be produced by holding up • finger. The art of surveying has improved since then ; and also, we hope, that of keeping temper under deficient knowledge. Let the line be traced; and if the neighbouring powers should I find themselves differing, let them consider betimes how such • castes belli looks beside some that are now under discussion in the world ; and quarrel if they can. The Message must be a satisfactory one to the American'. Let us heartily congratulate them on their general prosperous condition. Aware that the Southern States do not fully share in the prosperity, we can only wish that they did—which is the same thing u wishing that they would re. here themselves from the curse which blights struggle for political liberty ; bet they can do excel- the people. The interest of the recipients of the na lent service in the ports by watching over rights and tioual revenue is by such a tax brought directly into resisting wrong, and bearing a constant testimony conflict with the interest of the people. They might on behalf of freedom. Conquest may be and is too cheerfully give from abundance, but they may be ex prominent a desire of the American mind; but it is' pected to remonstrate against ever so small a piece the cor quest of neighbouring territories only, and for being taken from a small loaf. One of the the single object (however disguised) of sortsining alleged pretexts for the demand for higher the institution of slavery. Conquest elsewhere, and wages, and for the strikes that have ensued, colonisation, are wholly incompatible with the is the high price of bread ; and the law which both national constitution and policy; and, this being the , narrows the market for our manufactures and for the cue, the proposed improvement of the American supply of corn cannot be innocent of that evil. Until navy may be a welcome promise to everybody, but very lately, when the discoveries of gold introduced a the despots who may find it inconvenient. We do new element into trade, and widened three or four not imagine that Austria will go on with the dispute fold the margin of profit, when money was worth about KOS'TA. She will, probably, take the C 2 ileS only 11 or 2 per cent., people were constrained to do reported advice, and let the Republicans alone ;—for business at very small profits, and then a difference of they have things to say which she will hardly like 6d. per quarter, in the price of wheat might send it her subjects to hear. to very different markets. The profits formed under As for the relations of the United States to such careful trade are not extinct ; and the ls. duty England, the PRZAIDENT says the Fisheries ques- must have checked many operations, have prevented tion is likely to be settled to the satisfaction the import of food from various quarters, and have of his constituents, and that our Government very much contributed to make masters and men has proposed an amicable arrangement, now contend who shall have moot of the limited supply the subject of negotiation in London, on which the law allows both to get. the Central American questions which have lately One shilling appears a small sum, but, extended to all grain consumed in the country, it amounts to a very large one. The total quantity of grain and flour as grain imported in 1853, to within three weeks of the close of the year, was 9,487,893 quarters, and the duty en that amounts to 474,3941. We may assume to complete the year that 450,000 quarters will be imported in the last three weeks, which will give for the whole year 9,987,693 quarters, and 496,8941. revenue. Half a million of money taken by the State from the bread-eaters might suffice to give peace and industry in the manufacturing districts. But in truth this repre sents only a very small portion of the sum abstracted from them by the shilling tax. Of it the agricul turists and the landowners pay nopart. It is more than made up to them by the increased price of their pro duce and the enhanced rent of land. If we assume that the whole cereal crops of the empire amount to 70,000,000 qrs., the rise in the price of ls. per quar ter on them amounts to 3,500,0001. What proportion of this slim, in addition to the tax directly levied the corn imported, falls to be paid exclusively by the manufacturing and commercial classes cannot be cor rectly estimated, but assuming it to be less than one third, or only 1,000,0001., the ls. duty imposes on them the loss of 500,000/. When to that sum we add the limitation to their industry which the duty occasions, it seems very probable that this apparently paltry duty may be one of the immediate causes, if not the chief one, of the uneasiness and disturbance in the manufacturing districts. A country that pro- teases to be guided by the principles of Free Trade should not tolerate for a day any tax whatever upon that vital necessary of life—Corn. The shilling duty must be abolished. WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR ON ENGLAND, TURKEY, AND RUSSIA. THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 20, 1853. both their moral and material condition. It is a/so the same thing as wishing that the North did its duty in helping the South to throw off the incubus under which it chafes, and which it would not endure for a day if it were imposed by any arbitrary power. Tux price of wheat rose in Mark-lane yesterday from 35. to 41. a quarter above the prices of the previous Monday. On Friday last there was also a rising market, and the rise on that day was common both to home-grown and foreign wheat, but was rather more conspicuous in the latter than in the former, in consequence of the very active demand which has now existed in our market for several consecutive market days for foreign wheat for Bel gium and France. "In floating cargoes in the week a considerable business has been done," says Mr. Max- GREDIES in his circular, " and the quantity of such offering has lately undergor.e considerable diminu tion." The price of red wheat is now 695. to 765., and of white wheat 71s. to 635. The average.price of the week was 71s. 11d., and of the six weeks 725. sd. With these very high and rising prices, and with the fact continually forced on our attention that the wants of the Continent are causing higher prices there to attract supplies than we give —with the certainty that our crops are very short, as well as the crops of France, Belgium, and Prussia, and that our prices must rule higher than theirs ere we can obtain what we want, it is necessary again to call the attention of our readers to the One Shilling Duty still levied on corn, and to its effects in diminishing our supplies, now that we meet so many competitors in the markets of the East and the West. One Shilling a quarter appears a mere trifle to people accustomed to hear of duties of 20s. or 305., and accustomed in speaking of revenue to deal only with millions sterling. It appears at present parti cularly trifling when it is only about 1 2-10ths per cut. of the value, and it has been almost 3 per cent. Nevertheless the effects of this Shilling Tax on Food are very important. In many cases to levy Is. duty on foreign corn before it can be sold in our market suffices to tura the seals against us, and enables the foreign merchant to buy the cargo that has been shipped at Odessa for Falmouth or a market. It limits oar supplies, without limiting consumption ; for the foreigner gets I that to consume at a price one shilling below oar market, which, but for the duty, would have come to us. It makes no difference to this argument that the foreigner may impose on imported corn a similar and equal duty ; for whatever may be the effect of his duty, the effect of our duty is the same. Thus at a period when foreign wheat is selling to foreigners in our markets at 735. 6d., our people are compelled to pay an additional shilling per quarter before they can have bread to eat. A rise of price, it is calculated, of ss. per quarter enables a ship to sail 1,000 miles further in search of food. Oar Is. duty therefore limits our market, so far as ships can supply it, by a radius of 200 miles, extending all over every part of the globe. A price for wheat which would bring it from Marseilles might not bring it front Naples. But what is true of shipping is still more emphatically true of rail ways. At present a very large part of our supplies front the United States is brought to New York by them, and 3c. a bushel, which we could afford to pay more for American corn, were there no duty, would bring it from a larger surface of the far West. It is ex pected that a part of the supplies of corn from Podo lia, Velhynia, and the Ukraine will ere long be brought —as cattle are already brought by rail from Cracow to Berlin, and so come into the markets of Western Europe. In that competition with the people of the Continent we shall sutler by our duty to a consider able extent. A measure which thus limits the sur face whence we can draw our supplies in competition with other buyers is a great public injury. In like proportion and manner that it limits the surface whence we can draw our supplies it limits the sale of our manufactures, and so limits our purchasing power, and increases the injury it does to those— which in this case are the nation at large—who must sell cloth to buy corn. Of course a larger quantity of corn will come in as our prices rise, so that the duty becomes onerous and the State gets enriched, as our produce is scanty. The wealth of the State increase, with the distrait of TO TIM EDITOR OF THE DAILY NEWS. Stn,—l would lose no time in supporting, as far as the weaker can support the stronger, the manly, just, and noble sentiments you announce this morn ing. Therefore Ido not wait another week to com municate with my friend the Examiner, who some- times has inserted ieji opinions when at variance to some degree with his own. By our procrastina tion and indecision the bultan has lost many good ships and brave defenders. But there is a country which at the same time has lost even more than these : there is a country whose helmsman has gone down, and submerged with himself its incal culable we alth of honour. Never did England sustain so grievous and irreparable a loss. He came forward under false pretences to assist the Osmanli in case of aggression and attack; he vio lated this engagement ; he permitted and aggra vated the wrong; and knowing the naval force of Russia in the Euxine, he advised the ministers of the Sultan to send no more vessels of war into that sea. The consequence was the carnage of several thou sands, the slavery of as many, the annihilation of a fleet, and the loss of the best harbour in the Ottoman dominions. Is this no treason ? Is the resignation of office an indemnity ? Insult after insult had the Czar heaped upon us, knowing what men he had to deal within the cabinet. He might have called them liars, for liars they were practically ; and the most mendacious of men did accuse of mendacity in a public manifesto the most honourable prince exist ing upon earth; the most confiding and the most injured. Here is a christian who violates every ordinance of christianity !—here is an infidel who religiously observes them all! Sanctimonious men have beguiled and deserted those who trusted in them • and younger jockeys have driven a nail into the h oo f of the Sultan's horse; led him into the field, and when the enemy came down on him, slunk away. It France were still our enemy, she could never have anticipated such a piece of good fortune as we have thrust into her hands. We have placed her foremost in power by giving her all she wanted, the confidence of Europe, and unintentionally we have followed the Scripture' i " Let him who would be highest take the lowest place." We have scrambled tor it, have at tained it, and keep it. The servants are now trying to pull the chairs from under the masters, and the butlers at the sideboard are contending which of them shall get possession of the plate-chest. This shuffle diverts our attention from what really inter eats us. Changes in the servants of the family are much talked about : bat of what importance are they ? Much, forsooth, have we benefited by them lately. We push away a clever novelist and adroit debater, a porcupine whose bristles make his body seem larger than it is, to make room for a cringing slave who tries the glass slipper on a foot afraid of moving. We tie up a rash, un broken setter, and bring into the field an old pointer, very stanch, but pointing as stanchly at a tomtit as at a pheasant. We have, indeed, no Chatham, no Pitt Minor, no Burke, no Wyndham, no Wellesley : but have we nothing better left in parliament than Palmerston, and Russells? If not, let us run to any range of wash-tubs, and try to find another old woman who may, at least, send us home clean linen. Oars has been sadly soiled in the East. Your opinion, sir, of Lord Palmerston coincides with mine : never did mountebank play such a variety of tricks in the market-place, or slip jacket on after jacket with such rapidity. We have not forgotten his feats at Oporto in the Cobourg Theatre ; and how on the morrow :he bravest men of the nation, defenders of the constitution we had sanctioned, were sent aboard crazy and pestilential transports to perish on the coast of Africa. Another such exhibition is an nounced, under the patronage of Russia Austria, Prussia, Belgium, and perhaps under the e:dscititious branch of the Cobourg climber. As the eggs of snakes are not laid singly, but are held together by a glutinous string, so are the spawn and seedlings of despotism, and are hatched in like manner by the heat of ordure and putridity. Some constitutional princes are of opinion that by changing to the un constitutional they are more exalted in station, and more secure; but when the unconstitutional are bard pressed they shake off the incumbmnce of such adherents, and seek their own safety by the surrender. Perhaps the time is not far distant when a memorable example will be given. Ono royalist, it is reported, has received the first warning from a powerful neighbour, who sometimes strikes without any warning at all, and never misses his aim. When he has restored by his arms what has been torn away from other countries, he will recover what has been torn away from his own ; and he has sow the plea. When Power leads in a straight path to Honour, then welcome Power, and God speed her; but if, coming through dark and tortuous ways, she leads only to a bad and barren emi nence, then blessed be they who arrest her in her course. There is a potentate who may consolidate his power by drawing nations round ' him, and certainly not otherwise. He may do now what we did formerly; he may gain what we have forfeited. The Czar is less formidable to him than to us. What, in fact, is the Cur? A god in Mus covy ; out of Muscovy not even a man ; but merely a steel instrument eachased with gold; a manifold revolver of diplomatic lies. WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. gDe court. OSBORNE, Die. 19 . . _. . The Queen and Prince, the Prince of 'W‘lee, the Princess Royal, and Princes+ Alice, attended morn ing service at Osborn* yesterday, which was performed by the Rev. G. Prothero. The ladies and gentlemen in waiting were also present. Sir Junes Graham is expected to-day en a visit to the Queen. The Chevalier Bunsen, Prussian Minister, had an inter• view with the Earl of Aberdeen yesterday, at his official residence in Downing-street. Dispatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-ofilee hos the 'overuses of the North American provinces. Despatches were sent last evening from the Colonial office for the Lord High Commissioner of the lonian Islands, and also for the governors of Malta, Ceylon, and Hong Kong. The intention to send the 27th, 35th, 82nd, and 90th Regiments to the East Indies has, for the pre sent, been abandoned. Troops are also being with drawn from Ireland. Yesterday, pursuant to notice, the letter addressed by the Home Secretary to his Royal Highness the Chan cellor of the University of Cambridge, and by the latter forwarded ►y the Vies-Chancellor, was placed in the dace of the Registrary for the inspection of members of the Senate. The letter is a lengthy one, but its purport is simply to esquire information as to the steps resolved on by the university and colleges with reference to the recom mendations contained in the late report of the Royal Com missioners. The exciting speculations which have been circulated on this subject fall thus to the ground. The Rev. A. M'Canl, D.D., is elected to fill the chair of Beeleshatical History at King's College, lately held by the Rev. F. D. Maurice, in addinoa to th►t of Hebrew and the Old Testament, which he has hitherto held. Mr. G. W. Daunt, of Magdalene Hall, Oxford, Doctor of Civil Law, has been elected to the chair of English Literature I I and Modern History. Namik Pacha, who was formerly ambassador from the Porte to this country, has arrived at Loag's Hotel, via Paris, for the purpose of negotiating a lean to enable his country to carry on the war vigorously against Russia. Mr. Dion Bourcicault is lecturing at New York on " European Society." The London Sacred Harmonic Society is to perform Handel's " Mesaiah" on the Thursday before Christmas Day. DEATH OF LADY Emir:Torr.— Coming so soon after Lord Eglinton's appearance at the great meeting of Thum day night, the intelligence of the sudden demise of Lady Eglinton, received yesterday in this city, had • startling and solemn effect. We believe her ladyship had been for some time put suffering from aneurism. Her state, how ever, was not considered dangerous when her noule husband left Egli•ten Castle on Thursday afternoon.—Glasgow Paper. THE REAL REASONS FOR THE RESIGNA. TIONS. TO Thil EDITOR OP THE DAILY NEWS. Blit,—We are invited by the ministerial prints to believe that Lord Palmerston has resigned his office in consequence of a dispute with his col leagues on the subject of reform. It is gratifyieg enough to observe that the easy going public, readily enough led into error, have on this occasion clearly enough seen the imposture which certain writers would practise on them. There is an easy answer to be given to all such pretended revela tion■ from authority. The leaky minister who could be guilty of such a crime is not to be be lieved on any terms. " Authority," then, in this case, means only that the writers have received suggestions to urge this belief on the public. It is no secret to the friends of ministers that they have been ill-satisfied with each other. They who can observe small signs of great events have h❑d no doubt on this subject. I will not tell you what reasons I have for writing this, because I should point too clearly at indiscreet talkers, which is not my intention. But I am indignant when I perceive the public thus misled by the worst section of the Cabinet. I have better than Government authority for assuring you that Lord Palmerston re-s signed on the Eastern question, and nothing else. It is perfectly well known that Lord Palmerston never has been an ardent reformer. No man of fashion ever is. It is against all rule of fashionable life to have an earnest feeling of any kind, unless it be against the people. But it is just as well known that Lord Palmerston never has opposed reform with any kind of eagerness. It is strange that a man of his penetration should not be able tens that the cor ruption of the House of Commons is the cause of a feeble foreign policy, and places power in the hands of courtiers. The waywardness of certain supporters of pacific impossibilities has perhaps much to do with this; but, however accounted for, the fact is Lord Palmerston has not great faith in reform, yet will never oppose it with any kind of temper. When I assure you that the Reform Bill has already passed the Committee of the Cabinet of which Lord Palmerston was a member, and been con sidered also in the Cabinet itself—that it has been approved of in its principles and details, and has for many days been in the hands of those formal gentle men who lick such things into the shape of a bill, you will know what faith is to be attached to the impudent explanations foisted on us. I dare the red-tapists who write in the Times to deny this. But do you, air, inform them that the people of England will not take such small change. A REFORMER Who would not sacrifice the honour of kis country. London, Dec. 13. WHAT A SHAME! TO THE EDITOR OP TIIE DAILT NEWS. But,-14;41 Palmerston V his own single person the posse condtatus of boys with whom the frogs in the fable so pathetically remonstrated for pelting them with stones. He threw up his office and quickly proceeds to epjoy his Christmas festivi ties at Bowood. But while he is thus pleasantly engaged, his late colleagues have the prompt of being obliged to substitute long, anxious, and dreary Cabinet Councils for Christmas balls and dinners; and be dal minores gentium—the subs in office have a for lorn prOspect of their last quarter-day. As the frogs said, it may be sport to the noble viscount, but it is death to us.—Yours, AN UNDERSTRAI'PER. THE RESIGNATION AT THE HORSE- GUARDS. TO THE IDITOI Or THZ DAILY NMI. Sir,—ln your journal of Thursday, your corre spondent D. uks the following questions : " So the Adjutant-General has resigned ; did be too con scientiously perform his duties ? Did he exert himself to check undue influence ? Did he aim to give a high mili tary tone to the army ? Did he attempt to stop the abuses by which idle persons sought to use the army sea conveni ence ? Ilow is it that an officer junior to the Deputy-Adjutant General is to be put over the head of Major-General Wei therall 2 Is it that he would not be a party to the removal of his valued superior by accepting the higher poet when offered to him ? Was it so offered in order to make room fur 'relative 2" First, as regards General Brown, the simple monosyllable is in the affirmative ; as regards the second, a more import ant question arises, being of a constitutional rather than of a personal nature—vis., who ith her Majesty's advisers in a ease where the established rules of the service are de parted from? I apprehend, the public, civil and military, will not rest satisfied with the probable official reply of Lord Aberdeen—that it was an exercise of her Majesty's prero gative ; for in no case affecting the army as this does has her most excellent Majesty during her reign exercised it, to the prejudice of one of the mo,t deservir.g, loyal, and efficient officers in the service, by placing a junior over his head. I cannot believe that a deputy adjutant-general who carries out his duties in so efficient a way as General Weatherall, could refuse the appointment of head of the department, which it must have been his natural ambition to have suc ceeded to. Responsibility must rest somewhere for such an appoint ment, and the public will demand with whom. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, L. S. Dec. 19, 18.53. LATEST FROM ABROAD. RUSSIA AND TURKEY. VIENNA, Esc. 17. The official Vienna Gazette publishes the follow ing on the subject of the sending of two French and English ship* of war into the Black Sea after the news from Sinope had been received at Constanti nople : " We are empowered to state that the despatch of these ships is unconnected with any design of hoeti titles, and should a further portion of the combined fleets enter the Black Sea after the return of these two vessels such expedition would only have for its object the prevention of any further collision between the Russian and Turkish fleets." It is understood that the Austrian government offers this assurance to the public on the authority of the English cabinet, as communicated by tele graph. It may be safely asserted that the professedly good understanding between Austria and England would not outlive the moment when the Vienna cabi net could not make such a declaration. The Sielkenburgen Bolen announces the arrival of General Budberg at Bucharest on the 7th. The Danube at Widdia is covered with boats. Daniel Vukowitch, adjutant of the Vladiks of Montenegro, is again here, and has frequent inter views with the Russian ambassador. The Russian salvers have been employed in forming entrenchments at the convents of Kitruzeni and Panteilimon, each about four miles in front of Bucharest. PARIS, MONDAY EVIIIIINO. At the Bourse the Three per Cent. Hen tea closed for money at 74.60 ; the Four-and-a-Half per Cents. at 101.10; and Bank shares at 2,940. Accounts have reached Paris from Constantinople of the 9th inst. : The steam frigates which were sent out to Sinope by Admirals Dundaa and Hamelin, on the 4th, had returned with details of the action. The Russians have not attempted to occupy Binope. The Turkish ships when attacked were opposite the government dock, and between the battery and the quarantine office, thus to the south of the Penin sula. The Constantinople correspondent of the Debrab says the rupture of diplomatic relations between Persia and England is officially confirmed, and that Persia has concluded a treaty of alliance offensive and defensive with Russia against Turkey. Mehemet Rusdi Pacha, the General Commander in-Chief of the Sultan's guards, had tendered his re signation, in consequence of a difference of opinion with the Seraskier Mehemet Ali as to the plan of the campaign. The Pa ris Constitutionnel says it has reason to know that news has reached Paris that the Emperor Nicholas has adhered in principle to the idea of treating for peace in a conference to which he would consent to send a plenipotentiary. ATHENS, Dn. 7. The elections have terminated in thirty-eight dis tricts. Thirty-six ministerialists and two members of the opposition are returned. INSTRUCTIONS OF THE POWERS TO THE AMBASSADORS AT CONSTANTINOPLE. The D4ate gives the following despatch as that by , which the ambassadors of the Four Powers have been instructed to act in execution of the protocol of Dec. 5: " Monsieur,—The governments of their Majesties, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of the } reach, the Qui en of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the King of Prussia, have seen with great regret the outbreak of war between Russia and Turkey ; and with the object of abridging hosti lities as much as possible, and of effecting a rap prochement between the belligerent parties, so im portant for the interests of Europe, they have thought it necessary to give a collective form to their efforts. " The note which the representatives of the Four Powers at Vienna have received orders to address directly to his Excellency Iteschid Pachs, and of which they have had to transmit a copy to you, is a new and complete evidence of the identity of the views of their courts, and of their warm desire to contribute by their union to the re-establishment of peace. I rely upon you, Monsieur, to second this conciliatory endeavour, by your exertions, and have only further to indicate to you the counsels which you, with your colleagues, will have to give to the ministers of his Majesty the Sultan. " The various documents which have emanated from the Sublime Porte and the character of moderation with which they are marked, authorise us to hope that you will find Reschid Pacha disposed to admit that the propositions of the four courts are as much conformed to the interests as they are to the dignity of the Ottoman empire. We pace candidly before the Sublime Court a question to which it will respond in the same spirit. We are convinced that it will circum scribe the contest which is now pending between itself and the cabinet of St. Petersburg within its true limits, and that all its cares will tend to resolve it without importing foreign elements into the actual war. " In this hope, and acknowledging that it belongs to the Turkish government to reply to the communi cation which is made to it in such a manner as its wisdom shall suggest, we at the same time consider that we may be permitted to call its attention to the points on which it will be sure to find us in agree meat with it. " The governments of the Four Powers would be glad should the Sublime Porte declare in the first place that Austria, France, Great Britain, and Prussia have not too much presumed on its concilia tory intentions in believing it to be still animated with the desire to terminate on favourable conditions the difference which has arisen between it and Russia, and still ready to come to an understanding for this purpose with the other powers. That, re cognising the assurance which Russia hu on several occasions given, that it demands no new conces sions nor rights infringing noon the sovereignty of the Sultan, the Divan is ready to renew its offers and to discuss the form in which peace shall be re-established, subject to the condition of not being Galled to accede to any of the demands which have been already refused, and to conclude an ar rangement for the evacuation of the Principalities. "This discussion would naturally take place be tween an Ottoman and Russian negotiator, each fur nished with plenipotentiary powers; but in order to facilitate the agreement of the two parties, the pleni potentiaries so designated would not treat apart, but in presence of representatives of Austria, France, Great Britain, and Prussia. " We can understand the reasons which doubtless would not permit the Sublime Porte to negotiate with Russia in a part of its territory, occupied by the arms of this power. Russia, on its side, would have objections to negotiate in any town of Turkey. , It would be proper then to leave the two parties to make choice of a neutral territory, and we abstain therefore from designating any particular place. The object which the four courts propose would not be completely obtained if the open ing of the preliminary pourparlers of peace were not at the same time the signal for the cessation of hostilities; but we believe that the Sublime Porte will have no good reason to oppose the conclusion of an armistice the condi tions of which might be afterwards debated, if it obtained from us the assurance that the terms in which it should declare itself disposed to treat would be equally accepted by Russia. It is in any case a demand which it might addreso to us; and on the hypothesis that the terms proposed by the Ottoman government should not be such as Russia should at first consent to, we would yet advise the sending of a Turkish plenipotentiary, and the appointment of a town where the plenipotentiartusati Turkey might meet the representatives of the f o2 a , courts. under Therevie various and the points observations b I have jus which w t paw, are accompanied, have the complet e conaeat ; Austria, France, and prism .; and It is therefore to be desired that Reschid Paella will look at theta this light, and make them the groundwork of t a communication which we all expect f rom him. yu, will inform us 'he reception which w ill be given 0 this communication; but we can hardly think that tl. e Sublime Porte, weighing the advantages which su c h a combination offers to the Ottoman Empire at the risks which always wait war, will hesitate ta enter into the path opened for it by an amicable it. tervention. • " I ask you, Monsieur, to repair w ith your c c ', leagues to Reschid I'acha , to read this despat c h,... ) him, and fortify it with the authority o f y° ,, advice." THE WAR. RUSSIA AND TURKEY, CONSTANTINOPLE, Dec ..5 On Friday, 2 p.m., the Tail war -steamer ar . n ; e4 from the Black Sea with bad n ews . O n the ;liph ult., 11 a.m., a strong division of the Russian St. consisting of three or four ships of the line, k m ; frigates and steamers, entered the port of Sinope, sz ,d destroyed, it is feared, partially or totally, a sisal Turkish squadron stationed there. The loss of the Russians, as well as the general details of this Is aster, have not yet reached Constantinople. It sp. pears, however, from the statement of the captain of the Taif, which was signalled to quit at the cots. mencement of the action, that it was blowing fresh from the north, and the fog thick, when all of a sad• den the Russian three-deckers sailed into port, and opened instantly a tremendous fire on the Turkish ships, which were awkwardly situated, and so a s completely to obstruct the guns of their own fortress. Whether from accident or other. wise several of the Turkish ships blew up, and the crews, it is stated, had sworn with one voice on the Koran never to strike. The destruction of some Turkish ships having cleared the way, the fortress at length opened a destructive fire on the enemy, and two ships of the line, it is stated, were already dee abled and going down when the Tail escaped from port. She suffered, therefore, little injury in passing by, but was chased by the Russian ships in the offing, and received several shots in her hull ; but disabled, it appears, with her paixhans, one of the enemy s steamers. Six of her men were killed, and five wounded. The action must have lasted long, for she was enabled to hear distinctly the cannonading for some hours after her departure from Sinope. The other steamer, Eregli, belonging to the Turkish squadron, which at the outset had been ordered to depart with the Taif, was unfortunately sunk, in attempting it, by a broadside, before tho Russian liners had sustained any injury. The Taif had great difficulty, owing to some circumstance, in get. ting up her steam, and to this delay, in a great mea sure, perhaps may be attributed her wonderful escape. The exact details of this event are not as yet known, but the English Trebizond steamer is hourly ex pected in port. It is, however, conjectured that the Russian vessels—the wind blowing in that direction— cannot possibly have all escaped unhurt, and the fortress, it is to be hope', will have done them ample justice, unless indeed the Russian force may have been sufficient to disable it, in which case Sinope must have fallen into the hands of the enemy. At all events, it is hoped that this will be a severe and profitable lesson to the Turks. A powerful Russian squadron, you are aware, had been for some time blockading the coast in that direction, and their having left so small and inadequate a force in the neighbourhood is a matter utterly inexplicable, more especially as the counsels of Admirals Dandies and Hamelyn are supposed to direct their movements. It is true that on the day of tho Tait 's at rival in port, six steam frigates under the command of Ad miral Kaiserli Ahmed Pacha, were on their way for Sinope, but countermanded luckily by the Capitan Pacha on the receipt of this intelligence. On Saturday last, 3rd inst., a conference was held at the French Palace Pere, at which assisted Lord Redcliffe, M. Baragusy &Millers, Admirals Dundao and Hamelyn. and Nluchaver Pacha (Slade),lnd con formably with the resolutions adopted, the Retribu tion and Mogador started that evening in the direc tion of Sinope. One of the most remarkable features in this un toward event, as Reschid Pacha is said to have ob served, is that it has occurred at the very moment when the Czar professes—as in his last proposal through M. de Bruck, of which I transmitted a copy —to be animated with the most sincere intentions of negotiating with the Porte, and had conse quently issued strict orders to his military and naval armaments to remain entirely on Ithe defensive. Another proof also of the truth of these professions is that a Turkish merchant steamer was captured by his cruisers on the 18th ult., and piratically captured, it is quite evident, inas much as the term stipulated by himself did nut ex pire till the 22nd. He ought to learn morals and 'humanity from the Turks; for I may mention that on the 30th ult. a Russian merchantman, haring been driven by a storm into the Bosphorus, and obliged to anchor at Kayak, every possible assistance —provisions, money, &c.—were supplied to the ex hausted crew, and the vessel, although to all intents and purposes a lawful prize, dismissed on the follow in,r day. A portion of her cargo, it is even said, consisted in ammunition and other warlike stores. CONSTANTINOPLE, DEC. 5. In a former letter I announced that the Ottoman fleet had gone into the Black Sea in two, divisions, one under the command of Mustapha, ordered to conduct a convoy of munitions of war and arms to the coast of Circassia ; the other, under the orders of the English Captain Slade (Muchaver Pacha), des tined to cruise in the Black Sea, and to protect the other division in the execution of its mission. The English captain returned after a few days' absence without having encountered any Russian vessels. Mustapha Pacha also arrived after having ful filled his mission. He saw the Russian fleet, but in number so imposing, that he did not think it prudent to offer battle; but the two chiefs left several of their sailing vessels and two steamers in the port of Sinope. Information reached the Turkish Admiralty from several quarters that the Russians, informed at Sebastopol by the captain of a steamer belonging to 'a neutral power that the Ottoman flo tilla bad been seen at Sinop, had left Sebastopol to attack the Turkish fleet. The information was not regarded with so much seriousness as it deserved. Public opinion was in favour of sending a steam flotilla to bring out the ships at Sinope, but the coun cil of the Admiralty, influenced by Mustapha Pacha, opposed this measure. On the Thursday following& steam frigate, the Taif, arrived, bringing news that the Russian fleet, composed of three vessels of the line, having an admiral on board, four frigates, six corvettes, and six steam frigates, and a dozen other vessels, had attacked the Turkish flotilla at the port of Sinope. The Taif received the first tire, but cut her cables and passed through the Russian fleet in the direction of Trebizond. She was pursued by two Russian frigates, and lost six men. Having got some distance off, her crew saw flames rising very high on the coast of Sinope. It is stated that yesterday evening, a courier arrived by land, with intelligence that a Russian ship and two Russian frigates had been scuttled; and that a small Ottoman steamer had suffered the same fate; that two Turkish frigates had been burned, and five others destroyed by the Russian guns. The town was said to be burned. The Russian fleet withdrew, having completed the work of destruction. The Ottoman fleet, under tho orders of Ahmed Peelle, went out yesterday evening from the Bosphorus. On Sunday, two French and English steamers, the Nlogador and Retribution, went out, probably to examine the theatre of the disaster. Mu chaver Pacha is at present on board an English frigate commanded by Capt. Drummond. The Greeks, malevolent as ever, cry that England has brought about this petty Navarino to make sure of peace at any price. People ask, What are the French and English fleets doing here? And the answer is, their crews are getting drunk in the streets, insulting the women and violating the sanc tity of houses. These fleets enable the ambassadors to menace the Turks, and constrain them to such an arrangement as the Two Powers choose to dictate. TO THE EDITOR OP THE DAILY NEWS. Sia,— I. the dissolution of the Horse• Guards at hand ? Further resignations are announced, so that Lord Her dings may sison be left alone to carry out his peculiar system, in which few, if any, can concur. It is confidently said there is a " job " concocting, and, unless a stop is put to such things, the majority of " employes " at head quarters may soon belong to Lord H.'s own family. ' Tis a very fine thing to be son-in-law to a rather unscru pulous three-tailed bashaw.—Yours, &c., UNITED SERVICE. Botrrn EkSTERN ItllLWAY.—Traffic for the week ending Dec.l7, 18.53, 12,8191. 19e. dd. ;1 ditto Dec. 18. 1352, 12,3291.3 e. 2d. Ineresio in 1853, 4901. 181. 3d.