The Express. — London, England, 1853-05-19 00:00:00

The ervrefsfs. I TO CORILESPON BENTE. •Owut r. t.no • " The Elvers," eautaimis the Curt:: i• &taillike! every asi siht. In S.! Z 4 air past. Ittett.antnt Inter.k4, “Tht Tapier." , TV' D! lig rain 111K4 be IR tbe Mook Ileavaiwitrwt. by Iwo Velor.k co the fig of ymbliimUlor MOH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. T All LT —Morality, 101. 5: _Aftentece. II t• ;kn. TuAol4oll—Konnag. Ilk. 49n Afterast.n, 0 On. LONDON, 27117:NDA1; MAY IS. the work of the vessel ; or sailing quietly 9 74 d statelily about in the Channel or in the Mediterranean with twice or thrice as many men as are adequate to do all the work of the ship ? Why, even in war time the crews of the royal ships are set to unless work to prevent them from rusting and souring in idleness. We affirm, therefore, that the mere training of a standing navy in a time of peace and making that navy wholly independent of the I mercantile marine, will not provide us with a navy superior to that which can be provided by France, and will expose the country to danger. While the seamen on board men-of-war are more than half idle, and are subjected only to an insincere and imperfect training, the seamen of the mercantile marine are continually brought up, whether there be peace or war, in a real strife and struggle with work and with the elements, in a short handed ship, and aro continually acquiring tha nautical skill, and that firm and hardy and daring character, which distinguish our seamen. The beat of the training in men•of-war is in half-idleness and gunnery ; the training in the mercantile marine— particularly in the ships that ply on our own coasts — is in actual and hard work; and that kind of training producing a great multitude of energetic seamen is much more efficacious in providing for the national security than the little, feeble, insincere, unreal training of a Standing Navy. In striving to make our Royal Navy a profession wholly apart from our maritime population we commit a mistake. It is perfectly clear that we arc mainly indebted for our naval superiority to the great number of our mari time population, trained in the hardy school of the mercantile marine. It is perfectly clear, also, that a measure, like the proposed one of en tering men for ten years and establishing a Standing Navy, will really effect, as it is intended, a more complete separation than ever between the two ser vices—reduce the navy to a mere creation of the Go vernment, like our wretched dockyards, which are kept from being worse than they are by importing into them energy and skill from private yards—and cut it off from the chief source of its life, its vigour, and its greatness. To-Nieler the House of Commons meets again for business, and amongst the new topics likely to come before it fur early discussion is one relating to the most popular, and most valuable, of our national cetabl:shments —our Wooden Walls. A Committee of Naval Officers has inquired into the subject of Manning the Navy, and has come unanimou.ly to a conclusion that it is expedient to place her MAJESTY'S Navy on a more permanent basis, upon a similar principle to that established in the army and the marines." The Admiralty propose to give efket to this by requiring bins who may here after enter the navy to engai,e for a period of ten years after they reach the age of IS; and they—with men, who are ,to be encouraged to enter for ten years—arc to have additional pay, from Id. to 3d. per day, in proportion to their merits and their ser vices. New ranks arc to be established, and greater rewards given to the men. Nobody can object to paying the seamen a little better than they are now paid, hut it may be reasonably supposed, when wages generally are rising, and more likely to rise than to fall, particularly the wages o' seamen, that the little increase proposed will be wholly insufficient to counterbalance the attrac tion of other services, and will cot lessen the diffi culty experienced at present of procuring men for the navy. That difficulty has suggested to the in quiring officers the pre priety of engaging the services of men willing to enter for the long period of ten years. At any rate, under present circumstances, we consider the proposed increase in the pay and altera tions in the ratings too trivial to require much notice; but the plan of establishing the navy on a mere permanent basis, similar to the army, by enter ing seamen for ten years, is of great importance. We have a permanent standing army, with a very permanent national debt, and now we are to have a standing navy and a permanent system of finance. There is evidently a disposition in statesmen—some thing like that of the drunken sailor who held fast by the iingbolts to prevent the ship running away from under him,—to keep society, which is running away with them, from going too last, by establishing what they arc pleased to call " permanent systems.' But one obvious effect of a standing army, to which we must now confine our attention, is to separate the mili tary more completely from civil life, and constitute it an exclusive profession. The tendency has been for some time to separate tho Royal Navy, in like manner, from the Mercantile Marine—to make the former wholly independent of the latter; to consti tute it more and more an exclusive profession ; and the proposition to extend the period of service is a step in the same direction. We do not intend to question the advantages of a peculiar professional knowledge. Wo readily admit that the duties of sea men are different in the Royal and in the Mercantile Navy, and that the discipline and rules of conduct in the two services must be different. There is • ' necessity for having men-of-war prepared,—a staff of officers ready—with a nucleus of men acquainted with the management of guns and trained to arms, for no knowledge of gunnery is acquired in the merchant service. Still it seems very unadvisablc to reparate the two services more and more by training a large body of men exclusively for the Royal Navy, and re taining them permanently in tho service. In our insular position lies a strong reason for not having a standing navy, which does not apply to a stand ing army. Oar maritime population is in proportion much larger than the maritime population of any . state In the world. Our mercantile main is estimated at more than four-tenths of the total mercan tile marine of the world. That of the•Cnited States is 3i-tenths of the total, but no inconsiderable pro- Srtion of the men who navigate the ships of the ates . - aro British born, and may, under ceitain cir cumstances. be relied on to contribute to the national defence. We shall not be far wrong, therefare, if we assert that half the seamen of the world are British born and bled, and willing in the main to perform all the duties required of British subjects. That fact is the true foundation of our maritime greatness. Other states can build and equip, and hare built and equipped, men of war ; and can man and send them to sea by forced conscriptions. Ent they have not had so large a maritime population at their command as England, and have been, in con sequence, inferior to England, and when opposed to her have been beaten. It is well known that to a recent period, if it bo not now the case, French ships of war were in some respects superior to our ships of war. They were more svmmetrically shaped, sailed better, and were altogether such superior vessels, that a great many, and, indeed, the best of our ships—the famous Victory herself—were modelled from these French ships. The want of skill in the shipbuilders in the royal dockyards, of which we have of late heard so much, is nothing new. It has been noticed for up wards of a century. Nor were the skill and of our naval officers superior to those of the F c° r u en i ct The true source of our naval superiority was the great number of fine bold and skilful seamen, bred up in the mercantile marine, who were always seized on the breaking out of a war and sent on board the royal ships, and who never forgot (however vilely they were treated) couiagcously to perform their duties to their country. Our freo maritime popula tion must continue to be the source of our naval superiority. Its place cannot bo supplied by any art. The French Government can train fighting seamen as well as our Government can. Probably from having a more despotic power it can more readily command their services and train them better. The possession of such a power creates alarm here, and hence the proposition to place our navy on a more permanent basis. Bat whether we look at our administration of justice, the forma tion of our army, the management of our dockyards, the collection of our revenue, or our system of education and church government, wo find no reason whatever to believe that our Government, as Tux inhabitants of South America take our manufactures at the rate of Ss. Bd. per head annually. This average includes the n at ives,civ ilised and barbaric, and the negroes in the slave countries. We do not consider ourselves remarkably familiar with South America, but there are some odd, long names in the interior which slip over the tongue of British mer chants as easily as any in the next county, while the Indian towns which are our own dependencies sound wholly foreign to them ; and well may it be so; for in India the purchasing power averages only Is. a head. If India purchased from us only at the South American rate, the amount of our total exports would be doubled. We should have the same export trade that would exist if half the population of the British islands were to migrate, with their present means, to a foreign country, and thence became our customers. The Bengal ryot lives on coarse rice, thinking vegetables and fish far too great a luxury for him ; and his clothing is in proportion. He ties a bit of cotton cloth about him and is dressed as well as he expects ever to be. He lays a roof of broad leaves on the top of some poles, and he is as well housed as he imagines will ever be possible. For his bed he has a coarse mat ; and this is all his furniture. He has a plough and bullocks, without which ho would simply lie down and die of hunger; whereas that one bit of property would give him a comfortable home, and make a good customer of him, if he were not now practically as far separated from Manchester and Sheffield as if he were living in the moon. If by chance any travelling merchant should open his wares somewhere near, either the specula tion is a bad one, from the people not having means to purchase, or, if it succeeds, others follow, and there is a glut; for the chance bit of road ends there—the goods cannot travel further, and they must go for what they will fetch ; and the losing merchant is not likely to come that way again after his fit of disgust. All over India there are isolated swarms of people full of wants. They produce a few things from the ground, and by hand. They have too much of these articles, and can get no others ; so, in this condition of want and glut, they sit down idle to talk over their discontents, or they go to blows. A little work, much idleness and much fighting, make up the history of their days. If there is, anywhere near, the site of some old seat of Indian government, the people go and sit among the ruins—ruins of palaces, ruins of tanks, ruins of barracks, very rarely of bridges, and with scarce traces of something like a road made for the convenience of government. If there are, any where near, public works of British origin, they are barracks, or some other kiln of military under taking. But only a forty-second part of the net revenue has been spent on even such works as these, together with roads and bridges; and out of that forty-second part 70 per cent. has often been spent in mere superintendence. If there is a tank, it is useful, of course; but if there is no road to or from it, its use is small. If there are irriga tion works, they make the fields fertile; hit where is the use of a double crop if there is no increase of buyers? All this was said many years ago; and first there was talk of railroads ; and then there was the beginning of a railroad ; and there is talk of the same railroad still : but, while it has been reaching its present extent, the Americans have been making ten miles of new road per day; and California has risen up like a golden exhalation, and hardened into the most wonderful golden structure that was ever seen ; and the Australian gold fields have been laid bare; and now, there is every chance that the Isthmus of Darien will be opened before the ghlts. This gold crop is a very serious matter to India in more ways than ore; and it would be well that our merchants should give a little thought to the matter, in order to compel the Government to do so. One view of the matter is, that the plenitude of gold would remarkably stimulate commerce in India if isommerce were rendered possible: but another view is that every annual accession of gold will make pub lic works in India more expensive. If industry and senceerce are not quickened in proportion to the in crease of gold, of course prices must rise. If the Winn Whorities were to set about managing their efildri wisely, using the plenitude of gold for improv e the means of transit all over India, and thus I lawring the new stimulus to spread and penetrate erbinever there are inhabitants to work and enjoy, they would at once retard the depreciation of their moneyed property, and transform a great propor tion of it into a property which would not deteriorate, but the contrary. But they will not do this ; and if they will not, and whether they will or no, British capitalists should do it, for their own sakes, and for the sake of the whole world. By setting to work now to make railways and other means of transit the authorities may do it more cheaply than hereafter, and be receiving ever-increasing profits on such works ; and, if they will not do it, private enterprise should. If any body, public or private, will do it, that change will take place to the most advantage which must take place, sooner or later, if we aro to retain India. If not done now it will be infinitely more expensive and difficult hereafter. If not done at all, the consequences will one day be most startling. India has always been a wonderful example of debt. In old times her own princes were always in debt; and, when pressed very hard, they went forth to pillage somebody. The age is too late for that remedy. Our Government in India gets deeper and deeper into debt every year. The age is too late for that to be borne, considering that the means of re trieving its affairs is now opened, in a most singular manner, to all the world. If the Indian Govern ment will not retrieve its affairs, British capitalists must retrieve the country that that Govern ment professes to rule and guard; and those British capitalists will, fairly enough, pocket the profits. They will make railroads, and bring some part of the interior into connexion with some favourable spot on the coast. The inhabitants will first sell anything they can grow or make, azd then buy; and, for this, money will be elated. As the commerce increases, and the process et communication extends, more coinage will be wanted; and when we consider that even now an increase of purchasing power to equal that of the mixed population of half-barbarous South America would make our exports to India amount to sixty millions (60,000,0001.), it will be evident how the fall in the value) of gold would be mitigated by the re quirements of such a commerce as this. ' This is the lowest possible estimate of what would foil .w upon an opening of means of communication in India. Nothing has been said of the saving of waste, damage, and delay. Nothing has been said contradistinguished from the people, does anything, or can do anything, superior to the French Govern ment. English national superiority, in all respects, resides in the English peopt', not in the English officials. What our Government does, or can do —except as the nation is more maritime or more wealthy than the French—the French Government can do equally well. If we rely, therefore, on a standing navy—the offspring of the Government— exclusively for the national security, we may tremble for our future safety, for the French Government may be able to prepare, at some additional expense, a standing Government Navy equal to any mere Government force of our own. Those who propose to place our Navy on a perma nent basis, similar to that of the army, must be re minded that it is only in actual and active service an efficient army can be formed. In India, at the Cape of Good Hope, and other places, some of our troops arc almost continually engaged in warfare—as some of our ships are engaged—and there both officers and men are formed into efficiency. Mere drilling and mere parade service will not accomplish it. The I)ukc of WELLINGTON had first to make his army. The efficiency of the French army is more kept up by the possesaon of Algeria and by the conflicts continua ly carrying on there than by . skir mishes with the Parisians or reviews in the Champ de Mars. Although we have yet amongst us Peninsular veterans, and men trained in active ser- vice in India and Our colonies,, were we called on to wage a European war tommirrow, our standing army would require many i modifications, and would commit many faults and blunders. All this s quite 5 spplicablc to a Navy as to an Army. Artificial training is not equivalent to actual service. There is a want of heart in it. It is an unreal thing. It is never done with uniform spirit and energy. What kind of preparation for active warfare is to be found on board • three or two-decker lying quietly in or Lisbon, the men practised now and then in airing Binh or ' , inning in and out the guns, and being actually four or five times as numerous as are required to perform all THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 19, 1853. of the margin left for increase of population and improvement in the variety and modes of agricultural and mechanical production. Nothing has been said of the material improvements which arise out of the abolition of idleness, of warfare, and of political dis. content, and from the introduction of civilisation- These are further results which would put the finish to the work of interesting the English people in the condition of India. At present, about 1,500 Euro peans, besides clerks, are employed in the civil government of India. Each of these has been made on purpose—trained for that scene of life in which he must stay, whether he succeeds or fails—whether he spreads good or evil around him. The friends of each of these arc nearly all, in this island, who care at all about India. Each of these officers is the cen tre, on an average, of 100,000 natives, to whom he may do some good or an infinite deal of harm. If the country were completely laid open, there would scarcely be an individual of our mer cantile and manufacturing classes who would not have an immediate interest in the natives of India, and the officials who were not equal to their business might turn to some other, and free the Government from their damaging presence. The natives would speak, and we should hear. They would say a hat they want, and we should supply it. They would grow comfortable, and we should grow rich. They would grow strong; and there would be no objection to that, if we had taken care that they should become enlightened in proportion. And if the time should arrive when they should choose to govern themselves, they and we should have become too necessary to each other to quarrel about it ; and our children will remember, reverting to the history of former depen dencies, how much better this is than the only alter native in such a case—severance by a desolating explosion. If we neglect those fellow-subjects of ours now, all the passions of all their idols will some day or other blow up our eastern empire about our ears. We may obviate thi; shock, and inaugurate all manner of welfare, there and at home, by the very simple process of making roads as the first great step towards Indian improvement. FRANCE. PARIS, WEDNESDAY EVENING. The Ilfunitcur contains the following official ver sion of the latest news from Constantinople : There was reason to apprehend, at the moment when Prince Menschikoff was proceeding to Constantinople u Ambassador Extraordinary of the Emperor of Russia, that one of the effects of his mission would be to annul in part the concessions obtained by 81. de Lavalette in favour ot the Latin lather, of the Holy Land in 1862. It may be remem bered that on the application of the French legation the government of the Sultan had consented to restore to the patriarch of Jerusalem, the delegate of the Holy See, the key of the great gate of the church of Bethlehem, to give orders to have a star, bearing a Latin inscription, and which had disappeared from the grotto of the Nativity in 1847, replaced in its former posi tion, and finally, to accord to the Roman catholic com munion the right to celebrate its religious rites in a vene rated sanctuary, the church of the Tomb of the Virgin. The government of his Imperial Majesty could not allow any of these advantages to be withdrawn from the Latins. The cabinet of St. Petersburg, besides, soon transmitted to the cabinet of the Tuileries an assur ance that its intention was not to constrain the Porte to go back on the concessions which had been made to us. The last news from Conatantinplo of the date of May 7, brought by the Chaptal steamer, permit us to affirm that the status quo at Jerusalem, called fur by Prince Menschikuff, does not imply, in the state of possession of the Latins, any modification susceptible of affecting the arrangement agreed to with the Marquis de Lavalette. That was for us the essential point, and which could not be on our side the object of any compromise. As to our ancient treaties with Turkey, no diplomatic act, no resolution of the Porte, could invalidate them with out the consent of France. Prince Menschiksff also asks from the Divan the conclusion of a treaty which should place under the guarantee of Russia the rights and immu nities of the church and of the clergy of the Greek rite. This question, completely different from that of the sanc tuaries, relates to interests of which Turkey will have to ap preciate the value. Were it to lead to any complications, it would become a question of European policy, in which France would find herself engaged by the same title as the other Powers which signed the treaty of July 13, 1811. _ _ 1 understand that the official form of settling the question will be this—a firman will be •addressed to the Greek patriarch of Jerusalem, and at the same time a copy will be sent to the French and Russian ambassadors, accompanied by a note couched in identical terms for each of the two powers. A despatch from Malta of the 12th announces that the English squadron was still at anchor there, all the vessels having been detained in port b y the admiral in command, who had just received des patches from London and Constantinople. The first division of the army of Paris is under orders to march to Versailles to-morrow morning, to form the camp at Satory. All camp materials will be carried with them by the troops, who will take u p their quarters on the plain in the course of the A ay. bill has been presented to the Corps Legislatif for putting the Cumptoirs d'Escompte, which since 1851 have only existed provisionally according to their original constitution, upon a permanent footing. These establishments, you are aware, were created by a decree of the provisional government, on March 7th, 1848. They have succeeded beyond all antici pation, so much so that M. Parien in the expose des motifs of the bill states that the comptoirs, with one or two exceptions, are now so firmly established as to bo able to dispense with the guarantee for their operations hitherto given by the State and the towns where they are situated. They will, therefore, in future, be mere private establishments, enjoy ing no privileges beyond other soeietes anonyme, except certain facilities for the speedy realiza tion of securities deposited with them ; and a diminution in the registration duties. A suspicion is entertained that government in withdrawing the support hitherto given to the comptoirs, upon the pretext that they are able to go alone, hopes to force some of them to break up in order that more recently founded credit establishments may profit by their fall. Business at the Bourse commenced heavily this morning. An improvement, however, eventually occurred. Final quotations : For cash, Three per Cents., 81f. 35c.; Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 104 f. „,,. . . There were not many transactions effected in the railway share market to-day, and yesterday's quota tion in several cases remained unchanged. Closing prices:—Northerns, 9271. 50c.; Paris and Orleans, 1,110 f.; Paris and Strasbourg, 9471.; Paris and Lyors,96Bl. 50c. ; Paris and Itonen, 1,155 E ' • Lyons Ito the Mediterranean, 83L 50c.; Western of France, 7901. GERMANY. The King of Belgium and his eon continued at the date of the last advises to be the objects of most lavish attention at the court of Vienna. On Monday the Emperor, with his brother, visited King Leopold, and in the evening the royal guests again dined at the imperial palace. The ministerial Iniepentlance Beige publishes a letter from its Vienna correspon 1, dent containing the following passages, which, mar rying off King Leopold and two of his children, may ho said to be curious if true : " People talk confidently of an approaching union, tho parties to which are to be the Duke of Brabant and the Archduchess Marie, daughter of the late Palatine of Ilungary. It must be admitted that this supposition seems almost justified by the appearance of the duke at one of the recent enter tainments in the imperial box by the side of the young archduchess. A brilliant future is also spoken of for the young Princess Charlotte, daughter of King Leopold, and it is not simply on the steps of the throne that her spouse is found. And as if these two bonds were not enough to unite the impe rial and royal families, a third union is spoken of, in which the beautiful widow, the Archduchess Eliza beth d'Este, would be one of the contracting parties." ITALY. The Milan Gazette, cf the 12th, contains a notifi cation by the commandant of the fortress of Mantua, announcing the sentences passed upon 16 inhabi tants of Ostoglia ; nine of them, who, with only one exception, are youths of from 13 to 16 years of age, are condemned to periods of imprisonment -varying from a year in irons to three months without that aggravation, for having made a political demonstra tion—of what kind is not stated. Of the remaining nine, accused of subversive conversation, one has been condemned to a year's imprisonment in irons, three more to two months of the same punishment, while the other five have been acquitted for want of sufficient proof. The eight youths have since been pardoned. The Venice Gazette publishes a sentence pro nounced at Udine, on the 7th, condemning a man to a year's imprisonment for subversive observa tions on the occasion of the attempt on the life of the Emperor of Austria, and two others to six and three months' imprisonment respectively, with two fasts per week, for having made disloyal demonstra tions. THE WEST INDIA MAILS. ANOTHER OUTBREAK OF YELLOW FEVER. A summary of the following appeared in our pub lication of yesterday : Yesterday the Royal West India Mail packet Orinoco, Captain Hast, R.N., from the West Indies, arrived at Southampton, and landed her mails, under the charge of Lieutenant Barrow, R.N., Ad miralty Agent. Her dates of sailing are as follow : Carthagea, April 25th; Chagres, 23rd; Grey Town, 21st; Colon, 24th; Jamaica, 28th; Demerara, 25th; Trinidad, 23th ; Barbadocs, 27th; Antigua, 28th; i Martinique, 28th ; Grenada, 26th ; Porto Rico, May 2nd; St. Thomas, 3rd ; La Ganyra, April 3rd ; Ber muda, 3rd; Jaemel, April 20th; St. Martha, 10th. The Orinoco brings 98 passengers, among whom are Mr. Grey, son of the Governor; Mr. Porteous, M.C.P, and lady ; Mr. Davidson, M.C.P., Jamaica ; I Mr. Shortland, - Resident of Nevis, and lady ; Captain Boyle, Military Secretary, Bar badoes ; Mr Lark, Vice-Consul of Hayti, and lady. 79 saloon passen gers, and 19 deck and second-class. The freight on board consists of 1,621,886 dole. from Panama, &c., on account of merchants and pas sengers; 6 Barons of indigo, 60 packages of mer chandise, 65 bales of sarsaparilla, 7 packages of sue cadees, and 130 bales (quinine) bark. Yesterday, for the first time, the West India mail steamer was telegraphed to Southampton while off the Isle of Wight. The Orinoco passed the Needle rocks at half-past 10 yesterday morning, and in a few minutes afterwards her approach was known in Southampton. At a quarter-past 11 she hove in si,ght at Southampton, and at 12 o'clock mid-day she dropped anchor off Netley Abbey. In a few minutes afterwards she was surrounded by boats, which how ever were kept at some distance by the Custom-house authorities. In the Custom-house boat were Doctors Wiblin and Harvey, the health inspectors. In con sequence of fresh instructions from the Privy Council, a long examination of the captain and surgeon of the Orinoco took place while she was at anchor. By that examination it was ascertained that the Orinoco had only been so far as St. Thomas, that fourteen had been ill on board of yellow fever, and that two had died of that disease, viz., Henry Dunken, fireman, on the sth, and James Duke, scullion, on the 7th inst. There were two invalids on board who were brought to the gangway to be seen by the health in spectors—one, the boatswain, named bmith, appeared still very ill. At one o'clock the examination of the officers of the ship terminated, and the Orinoco was placed in quarantine. The mails were, however, allowed to be thrown on board a small steamer lying alongside; and the despatches, after being fumigated, were also allowed to leave the ship. Telegraphic despatches were then forwarded to the Privy Council, and also to Sir William Pym, of the quarantine de partment, announcing the state of health on board the Orinoco. Tho Orinoco was subsequently released from qua rantine in the course of the evening. BRITISH GUIANA. The Boyd GaeUc, in its review for home readers, Bays : - Since the sailing of last mail we are sorry to report the continuance of excessive drought. An occasional shower has refreshed the city and put water in the vats of the poor ; but in the rural districts everything is parched, and mischief has been already done to the growing crops, which we are afraid is past remedy for the season. The plague of rats still continues, but in a mitigated form. We have ob served lately that, probably for the purpose of convincing incredulous owners and mortgagees, large specimens of canes have been shipped home to show the mother onetandi of this destructive vermin. The two causes combined will, we are afraid, seriously affect the year's exports, which a month or two ago were so promising. The labours of the Combined Court have terminated in a manner unprecedented for its satisfactoriness. The civil list has been debated and settled without immediate change for another term of seven years. Certain reductions are proposed to be effected as offices become vacant—a prospec tive measure of economy which may alter with circum stances—but the principle was universally recognised in the court that the early settlement of the question was for the general interest—fair to the individuals interested, and re spectful to the home government; and placed on this bads as a guide for the future, the question of time becomes com paratively of little consequence. Resolutions were passed by the court recognising the pro priety of a system of local taxation and of local boards for its management. The carrying of the resolutions into effect, however, appeared to be surrounded with so much diffi culty, that although their principle was admitted to be rea sonable and correct, they arc to await the further considera tion of the colonial legislature. city gave a dinner to Captain William Knocker, KN., who has held the office of agent at this port to the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, and that of marine superintendent to same company since July, 18.50. The entertainment was presided over by William Perry, Esq., her Majesty's consul at this port, and Captain Knocker was highly complimented l on the very just, gentlemanly, able, and energetic manner in which he fulfilled the duties of his post during his residence here, by the chairman and many others _ present. General Blanco, the Chilian minister to France, will arrive here on the 3rd proximo, en I (Mee fur Europe. The Royal Mail Steam-packet Compan3's steamer Medway, leaving Chagres on the 24th, will take treasure as follows :—Ex lltedalue, from Mexico, 931,344 dole. ; ex California, from San Francesco, 238,577 dots. ; ex Bogota, from South Coast, 328,438 dots. 98c ; from Panama, 33,822 dots. 52c. ; Total, 1,534,282 dole. 30e. Tho Isthmus is very healthy. CHILI. Everything is quiet in Chili. The President is expected at Valparaiso on a visit. At Valparaiso— three old hulks had sunk at their anchors, in a northerly gal?, and some damage had been done to the mail steamer Bogota by one of them. Great complaints arc made that, in consequence of want of concert or punctuality, the mails take 58 days to reach Valparaiso from Southampton ; while they reach Southampton from Valparaiso in 46 days. At Payta, and bound to Guayaquil, the French frigate Forbe, GO guns, Admiral Fabrier Despontes: steamer, Proney ; brig, Obligade. PERU. The political minister from this state to Bolivia, after being warned to quit that country in 21 hours, and not having complied with the order, was ex pelled by military force ; but it was tho impression that the affair would be settled without recourse to war. HAYTI. Fanstin the First's coronation has been cele brated with great festivities, and a large expenditure of powder in salutes. (fur Corernerelal Intelligens*. see page 4.) AMERICA. (BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.) ARRIVAL OF THE HUMBOLDT. SOUTHAMPTON, THVILSDAY MORNING. The Humboldt has arrived off Cowes, on her way to Havre. She brings 180 passengers, and specie to the value of live hundred thousand dollars, eighteen thousand of which are for the Colon sank, London ; the rest for Havre. She left New York on the ith inst. A train of passenger cars on the New Haven Rail way was precipitated into the Norwalk River, and 43 persons lost their lives. The Asia had arrived. The markets generally were flat ; cotton down. Ex change 1091 to 1091. Freights dull. CALIFORNIA. The Alta California of April 1 supplies the follow ing news: Mining operations are in the highest degree prosperous. Nearly all the principal placers, old as well as new, have been yielding handsomely through the past month, while the low prices of provisions and the increased facilities for transportation have turned the advantages and profits to the miner. A month ago the merchant and the trader reaped the larger proportion of the fruits of the mining labour by the enormous prices paid for provisions and other necessanes of life. The proceeds of hard labour in the placers were in many instances more than counterbalanced by tho cost of living, and nothing left at the end of a month to the credit of the miner. A different state of things exists at present. The Foreign Miners' Tax Bill for the levying and collect ing of taxes upon foreigners working the mince of this state parsed the legislature on the 19th. The inhabitants on the frontier of Sonora are about emi grating to the arable lands on the banks of the Gila, near its junction with the Colorado. Accounts from Lower California represent that state, like all the rest of the Mexican confederacy, as in a state of hopeless anarchy and confusion. The news from the Sandwich Islands down to the 26th ult., offers nothing of striking interest. Improvements in the port of Honolulu were to be made, and all habour dues and restrictions to be removed. Agricultural enterprises were on foot. . . A terrible steam-boat explosion occurred on the 23rd inst. on the Sacramento River, by which several persons lost their lives. The steamer, a small one, named the N. K. Page, was on her trip from Marysville to Sacra mento. The tows of Weaverville, recently destroyed by fire, is fast rising from its ashes. Intelligence received last night from the northern part of the State is of a painful character. The Indians in the neighbourhood of Shasta, Colusa, and Trinity have again become troublesome, committing the most savage depreda tions wherever an opportunity oilers. Lieut. Edward Russell, of the 4th Infantry, was killed by the Indians on the 25th inst., near the head waters of Thom's Creek, near Colusa. l ie was ordered by Colonel Wright to that :portion of the county for the purpose of protecting the ranch-men and others from the torments of the Indians, and was murdered while on this duty. A perfect mania exists in the mining towns for routs and balls. Our interior exchanges teem with the accounts of tho pleasures enjoyed at these places of amusement. ' Mire Hayes has given her allotted number of concerts in this city, but remains here for the present. _ JAMAICA. Oa the lath April the Council rejected the Im port Duty Bill (the principal revenue of the colony) in consequence of the House 'of Assembly having inserted clauses of appropriation, binding the Re ceiver-General to the payment of the salaries of one class of public servants in preference to the judges and clergy. The Governor prorogued the house until the 23th April, in a speech condemnatory of its proceedings. On its re-assembling an address was voted to the Governor, to bo presented tho morning the steamer sailed, said to be so offensive in its language that a dissolution of the legislature was expected. As the Import Duty and Rum Duty Bills would expire on the 30th April, the principal revenues The San Francisco papers contain particulars of a would be cut off. terrible catastrophe : the wrecking and burning of the The withdrawal of the government supervision of American steam-ship Independence, and the consequent the customs revenue of the island is viewed with loss of one hundred and twenty lives. The following is the considerable distrust. captain's statement, as given in the San Francisco Daily Herald: Copper has been discovered in various parts of ~ lam under the painful necessity of reporting the loss of the island. Several passengers in the Orinoco bring the steamer Independence, lately under my command, on excellent samples of copper ore. The prospects of her passage from San Juan del Sul to this port, and about pimento growers were encouraging. la Trelaw- one hundred and twenty-five lives, consisting of the pas ney and St. Ann's the sugar crop will be above sengers and fifteen of the crew. She was lost n the Island of Margarita, off the coast of Lower Cal ifornia.ithe average. After leaving Acapulco, we experienced strong breezes Influenza prevailed on the north side. Yellow- from N.W. to N. Passed Cape St. Lucas on the morning fever of a most malignant type at Kingston, and of the 15th February. At twelve o'clock, M. of the extensively among the shipping. It was also raging 15th, we were in lat. 23.04 N., long. 110.42 W. ;steered at St. Lucia and at Trinidad. The coffee fields about N.W. by W.W.i 1 1" c°l7".. intending to go to the westward of argarita Island. On the morning Port Royal were in full blossom. of the 16th, at one o'clock, a.m. made the main SPANISH MAIN. lead to the eastward of the Island, having been set Affairs at Grey Town were quiet. Her Majesty's in-shore by the current. Altered the course to S.W. t o t ar i n al i. m b ade s the r l o s o lan m d of . T o r n ga a r lt i o te r , o p t e ho south poin t t ship Alban and United States steamer Cyane were lying there. At Colon houses were rising fetidly. W. 6.4. I in S . to I;ive 'the point a berth w ergre o e The railroad to Panama had been completed or 25 miles, but owing to a haze over the land I was deceived in miles to Barbacoa, ou the banks of the river Chagres, the distance. At fifteen minues past five, just as day was where the piers are finished for the bridge, but un- beginning to break, she struck on a sunken reef, extending fortunately the framework for laying the bridge has shore . i from the route oe. j: s o point of smootht he i island d t ; i i e b about time, mile not from rook t he n been washed awey, which will cost 12.0001. to re- on the reef at all. Backed the engine, and came NJ; place from America, and delay the' completion of the examined the hold and found that she was filling rapidly ; road in some degree, although they are pushing on know that I should have to beach her to keep her from energetically with the embankment for the rails be- sinking ; got a sail ever the bow (under her) to try to stop tween the west end of the bridge and Panama. the leak, and set a gang of men at work at each hatchway The construction of this enter rising work has cost bailicg, and ran along the west side of the island, close is, p 5,000 lives, but the line is at present tolerably healthy, to find a good place to put her ashore. Told the engineer to let mo know five minutes before the water would be up and the portion most fatal to human life was finished. high enough to put out the fires. When we had run Much competition exists for the conveyance of about four miles, the engineer came up and reported the pamengers to California. Four steamers from two ter 'extinguishe di u n p a to f t o h w e ini fir n es n ,d that they would be to tr Put the helm hard different companies in America rival each other in &lion. sad ran her ashore in a small cove on the S.W. speed and reduction of fares. site of the island, head on. Lowered a boat, and sent the PANAMA. mate and two men in her to run a line ashore to the beach, On the 13th April arrived her Majesty's ship swamped Lag e s s d u tan , b n u o t r ? 1 n it Ibedalus, Capt. G. 0. Wellesley, R.N., from :Mexican ;rrhoiacchh:vda;oaabon and was their boat, and sent three men in her 'with another line, ports, and landed 931,544 dols. in specie and bullion, which they succeeded in getting ashore. I now ascertained for transit to Itoyal Mail steamer, at Navy Bay, to that the ship was on fire. Told the engineer to take his England. Left on the 16th inst. for Valparaiso and men, and put out the fire if possible. Ordered the other two boats to be lowered, and to come forward, England, having still over a million on board. The wo men and children to come to the forward gan gwayand the ; loaded purser lost his life in one of the Mexican ports. both boats with women and children and sent them ashore. On the 15th arrived tho Cortes, from San Fran- The ship had now swung round broadside on. The mate CisCo, with a largo number of passengers and 100,000 and two men came off with the boat that took the line dole. on freight in gold dust. ashore, and she was immediately loaded with women and On the pith arrived the Pacific Mail Steamship children, and went ashore with them. The fire origina ted from the furnaces. It was necessary, after the company's steamer California, from San Francisco, steamer struck on the reef, to use wood end boards for with United States mails, a largo number of pas- fuel, in order to keep up steam until she struck on senors, and 2,306,970 dole. 04e. in gold dust, of which the beach, when the water was so high as to stop the draught 238,377 dols. arc for England. Brings 110 news of from the lower flues, which forced open the furnace doors, importance, except the total loss of the United States and the flames rushed out and caught the woodwork in the fire-room, and also around the smoke-stack, thence spread steamer Independence. ing very rapidly. Every effort was made to get the fire On the 19th, at 74 p.m., arrived the Pacific Steam un d er' but of no avail. The flames were new coming up Navigation Company's steamer Bogota, Hall, from from t he hatchways, fire-room, engine-room, ventilators, z o om in ne p sn let T el h y o be s w oo i n ld o e w re as d, p a e n r d . i wom wo me n , and children Valparaiso, Callao, &c., with mails, 33 passengers, and around the smoke-stack : everything was consternation and 238,577 dohs. in treasure for England. ;andreee7 jumpingdismay;horrible t h a e nl people e.wr overboard a r s dr e i e b m ia, t ed i d o o e Business [is dull, the weekly line of snail steamers between New 'York and California, which is now scree Y ching, crying, and drowning. ordered the spars, running, makes no improvement. batches, tables, and everything that would float to be thrown The merchant ship Lady Gough, which has been overboard, which was done, and they were immediately at anchor in our bay some 18 months or more, sailed covered with people. About an hour after the ship struck the she bin a t of e w..s on the 19th lust ., for the l'earl Islands under chart er ' no on each, e on board of her rfect except shet flame, one ut the and coal ther -pardcrs, to load pearl shells, named Beaumont, and myself. The smoke-stack had fallen, On the 7th instant the resident merchants of this and the promenade deck forward bad tumbled in ; the WRECK AND BURNING OF A S GREAT LOSS OF LIFE. dames were coming out of the side I.ghts, and it was inop 4 Bible to stay on board any longer. A boat came off from the shore with two of the deck hands in her. Beaumont, we e was near the fore rigging, jumped into her, and 1 jamp td overboard, swam to her, and commenced picking up rhea who were afloat. After picking up three bad loads, To c ,„ was Herren, the steward, succeeded in launching auother boat and saving some of the people. When all that s em , alive had been picked up and some of the baggage, 1 landed and had the spars which had drifted ashore hauled tip into a ravine and with one old sail that had washed ashore, made a tent large enough to sh e l ter the women and children. The ship was still in flames, so that was impossible for any one to board hcr. 1 gave do e mato and engineer orders to have the dead taken up abov e high water mirk and buried, and to beard the wreck as soon as possible, and to save all the provisions and watcr that they could. I then took a boat and four men, and started to pull round the north end of the island to % g a y . lens Bay, in search of assistance, expecting to find som e ships there. We pulled until 10 o'clock that night; when, not being able to see any vessels, and not knowing iu wha t direction to pull, I landed on the north shore of the ea. trance to Magdalena Bay, hauled up the boat, and w a i ted until daylight, when I started again to pull across the bay, After pulling aa hour and a half, I diserm.red a vend close in to the main land, pulled for and reached her at 11 o'clock cm. ; found her to be the schooner A. Em ery, Captain Gordon. The captain and most of the crew were ashore looking for water ; set a signal, an.. they Cam e o , hoard. " Capt. Gordon said that he had been in the bay five dap, and that there were no other vessels in the bly. After stating the circumstances of the wreck to him he clammed to get under way (although he had but sixty Redoes at water on board at the time), and take the survivors to sal Jose or Cape St. Lucas, where they could get ike access. ries of life, until other assist:meo could be rendered them —and he immediately g et under way and commenced besu ing out. At daylight of the U;tb, it being calm, and the schooner being a long dietauce from the wreck, I took 4 gallons of water and a sack of bread in the boat ac d . started for the camp, expecting to find the people sat. faring for water, as there was none on the island tit to drink. Arrived abreast of the wrack at 2 rm , ing been gone from there 51 hours. The Ru t was breaking very heavily, making it daeacroa o to land. The mate came down on the bench anti said tt,,t the passeng ers had gone across the fdand, ud that I had btter pull round the south end of the island!, the other aide, which I did, and found the boats and crews from the whale ships Omega, James Maury, Meteor, and bark Clement, busily at work taking the passengen Da board the ships, which lay about twelve mile s di stant from the point of embarkation in the lower bay. While l eas away in the boat the mate and engineer had gone acmes m e island, seen the ships and boats, and signalised to them, and so obtained relief. I then took a boat and crew and started cif to meet the schooner and take her back into the bay, where we arrived on the morning of the twentieth. I then went on board tho ships and mustered a parry o f men and went across the island to the wreck, to save and bring over all the provisions we could find. " While at work getting provisions from the wreck, we saw a steamer hound down the coast, about six miles Ma. tant. We made signals for her, but she did not notice them. Launched a boat and took two men is and atemptcd to get off to speak her, but the surf, which was bre Hang very 11. 6 , vily at the time, swamped the boat and broke on: of the oars, and when I reached the shore again, 1 was so made exhausted that I could not make another attempt. "After getting all the p rovisions that had been saved, which occupied two days, I chartered the ship Metear, Captain Jeffiies, to take us all to San Francisco, to sail at soon as the vessel could be made ready. While the ship was being fitted I took a boat and crew from the ship Owe. go, and lay off and on the island on the look out for a steamer, hoping to speak one on her ;image up and get some assistance from hoe, hut none came in sight of us. "On the 3rd of March, everything being ready, and the passengers all on board (except a few who chose to co to the Sandwich Islands in the other ships), we sailed for this port. " I was on the larboard paddlebox when the steamer struck, and had been on deck the whole night. If tee steamer had not taken fire, not a Foul would have been hat. for they could all have been landed safely if there Lad bees time. ' The reef on which the steamer struck is about two miles long. making off in a south-easterly direction, aal is not laid down in any of the charts that I have ent seen." INDIA MAIL. SOUTHAMPTON, WT:DNV.FDAY EVENI`; , :. The Oriental Company's steam-packet Indus, Car, Soy, has arrived, and landed her mails under the charge of Lieut. John Bro - ,vn, 11. N., Admiralty agent. Iler dates arc t Alexandria, May 6; Malta, 10; Gibraltar, 11; Bombay, April 11; Madras, 14; Cal cutta, 7 ; Singapore, 4 ; Penang, 6 ; Hong-Kong, March 2S; Ceylon, April 17; Aden, 26; Costs, May 6. Her cargo consists of 110 bales cotton, 11 wool, 64 flax, 367 salt, G cases silk, 10 corals, 111 shawls, 30 boxes lemons, 11 boxes blood-stones, 210 packages sundries. Her news has been anticipated by our overland express. H.M.'s ships Britannia, Ceylon, Trafalgar, Rodney, Albion, Bellerophon, Vengeance, Arethusa, RetriLu tion, Sampson, Wasp, Oberon, Caradoc, Niger, and Inflexible were at Malta. The Furious and the Antelope were at Gibraltar. The United States corvette, St. Louis, 20 guts, and the United States steamer, St. Jacinto, guns; and the Dutch frigate Doggersbank, 61 guns, were at Alexandria. The Oriental Company's packet Sultan left Malts fur Marseilles at 9 r.m. on the 9th May, with the Indian mails. The Madrid and Haddington were at Gibraltar on the 11th May. CV: court. OSBORNE, WEDNESDAY. Prince Albert, accompanied by Sir James Graham And attended by Lieut.-Col. the llon. A. Gordon, embarked in the Royal 'Yacht Fairy, yesterday morning, and pro ceeded towards the Needles. The Prince married about half-past one o'clock. The Queen and Prince, with the Princess Helena aad Princess Louisa, attendid by the Hon. Col. Grey, drove oat in the afternoon. Sir James Graham nod Captain Shepherd, who arrived from Landon, had the honour of dining with her Majesty yesteruay. The Duchess of Kent and the Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe, arc expected to-day on a visit. The Duchess of Kent and the Princess Adelaide of Hohenlolie, left town yesterday morning by the London and South Western Railway, for Osborne, Isle of Wight, us, visit to the Queen. The Royal Duchess was attended by Lady Anna Maria Dawson and Lieut.-Col. F. Seymour. The French Ambassador transacted business yesterday at the Foreign office. The Earl of Clarendon hu arrived in town from his scab the Grove, Watford, Herts. Mr. Layard, M.P., was to leaTe Constantinople for England on the sth init. A MAN KILLED BY HIS WIFE. Early on Tuesday the inhabitants of St Leonard's on-Sea were thrown into a state of excitement by the I report which was circulated that during the night t man named Stephen Smith had lost his life in an altercation with his wife. From inquiries it appears that the deceased man was a shoemaker, living with his wife, in a room, forming one of a suite of rooms over some coach houses in Harold-mews, St. Leonard's-en-Sea. On Tues day evening, about nino o'clock, deceased and his wife went into ]listings ; at eleven o'clock they were seen in a beer shop iu West-street, known as the Queen Adelaide ; they then appeared to be on friendly terms, and thiniong part of a pot of porter. They left in about a quarter of an hour, and were seen returning towards tit. Leonard's shortly before 12 o'clock ; this was the last time the parties were seen together. In twenty minutes after this the wo man (Sarah Smith) was proved to have fetched a pin: of beer which she did not take home. Shortly after one o'clock the woman called a neighbour, named Mary Cope, stating that she bad stabbed her husband ; this person ran for Mr. R. C. Gardiner, a surgeon, who was quickly on the spot. On entering, the wife exclaimed, " I have kilted my husband—l knew it would come to this." She further said that the deceased was always jealous of her ; they had been out together to Hastings, and in coming home sha " gave him the slip," and did not get home until after him; that he spoke to her, and she threatened to "do for him," upon which he opened kit waistcoat, and said " Do it," and she took up a knife having a very sharp point from thi de ceased's work-seat, and stabbed him in the chest, throwing the knife out of the window on a dung heap. From this wound the unfortunate man ilkd in about a quarter of an hour. The woman was at once removed in custody to Hastings gaol. At 10 o'clock yesterday morning the accused wa.ex amined before the Mayorllickes, Esq.) and T.1.1;c" hunt, Esq., and remanded until the following day. Yesterday afternoon a coroner's inquest took :Ave at th Horse and Groom Inn, when a verdict of " Wilful minder' against Sarah Smith was returned. The accused woman has been of a loose character, of drinking habits, and possessing an ungovernable temper. DUBLIN AND DROGHEDA RAILWAT.—EXTENSIOIE TO KBLLs.—On Tuesday the chairman, J. W. Mur laadr Esq. ; Evans, Esq., Manchester, deputy chairma n ; Alderman Hoyt, Thos. Hutton, Esct.., Thomas F. Gresh am , Esq., W. I'. Eckersicy, Esq., It. NN ight, Ely , and J. I'. Culverwell, Esq., secretary, inspected the Extension works Nof the hue from avan to fleas, now approaching to com pletion under the direction of Mr. Harty, resident engineer, and iu the hands of Messrs. K Ik it and Moore as contractors. The works are in a very forward state, awl the line 60 fir is got up in a very creditable manner.