The Press. — London, England, 1854-01-28 00:00:00

Tranquillity prevailed at Canton, and at Amoy the eottstituted authorities have been restored. Shanghai was still in the hands of the rebels. The mercantile advices both from the East Indies and China represent trade to be in a worse state than at the date of the previous despatches. The Russian squadron returned from Nangasakih to Hong-Kong on the Ilth of November. It brought a report of the death of the Emperor of Japan. WEST INDIES. Jamaica advices have been received to the 27th There was scarcely any new feature in the political news of tl4 colony, the Legislature being in re. oess. The weather was cool and pleasant, and the public health very satisfactory. SANDWICH ISLANDS. The last intelligence from these islands is of the llPth November. The subject of annexation to the United States continued to be agitated. The mass of the peoEle were favourable to it. The smallpox still lingered in the islands, but was far less fatal than previously. AUSTRALIA. The Hurricane, which reached Portsmouth on Wednesday, left Sydney on November 3, bringing 54,000 ounces of gold, besides the private hoards of the passengers. The only news of interest which has arrived relates to the discovery of another gold region about 100 miles north of the Burra Burra mines, supposed in the neighbourhood of Mount Arden, and which was reported as likely to surpass the delbourne fields for richness and wealth. The gold found in the new ground is represented also as of a finer quality than any other yet turned up. The monthly return of the Fictoria gold fields gave a total for October of 156,166 ounces, showing the enormous decrease of 200,006 ounces as compared with the yield in October, 1852. court anb lastion. THE QUEEN has received a succession of visitors at Windsor Castle during the past week, of whom a large and distinguished party were honoured with invitations to the dramatic performances given on Thursday evening. The pieces represented con sisted of two modern farces—Tender Precautions, by Mr. Serle ; and The Bengal Tiger of Mr. C. Dance. HER MAJESTY will come to town, as at present arranged, on Monday next, in order to open Parlia ment on the day following, and will return to Wind sor on Wednesday. The Court is expected to come to London for the season on Monday, Feb. 13. PRINCE ALBERT, with the Duke of Cambridge, accompanied by t he Marquis of Exeter, the Earl of Malmesbury, Earl Bruce, and the Right Hon. the Speaker, went out shooting on Thursday, attended by Viscount Torrington. HER MAJESTY honoured Mr. J. E. Jones with a sitting on Thursday for a bust about to be executed by her Majesty's command for Mr. William Dargan. Tux construction of the Windsor Castle, her Ma jesty's new yacht, has been commenced at Pembroke Royal Dockyard, and will be pushed forward with all possible despatch. She will be built of solid maho gany upon the diagonal planking system. LORD JOHN RUSSELL gave a banquet on Wednes day, to which the French Ambassador and Countess Walewska, the Austrian Minister and Countess Colloredo, Count Stralytsky, the Sardinian Minister, the Duchess of Inverness, Lord Castierosse, M.P., were invited. Lady Russell subsequently had an evening party. SIR CHARLES AND LADY MARY WOOD received at dinner on Wednesday evening the Duke of Bedford, the Earl of Aberdeen, Earl and Countess Grey, Earl and Countess of Clarendon, Earl Granville, Sir David Dundas, and Mr. C. Greville. THE RIGHT HON. B. DISRAELI and Mrs. Disraeli have arrived at Grosvenor-gate for the season. THE HON. CHARLES A. MURRAY, her MAjesty's Minister at Berne, arrived in London on Wednesday from Switzerland. HONOURABLE mention has been made in the Por• t uguese Cortes of the memory of Lord Beresford by the Duke of Terceira and other officers who served under him, and his death has been recorded upon the journals of both houses, with the same senti ments of regret as in the case of the Duke of Wel lington. Tux report that the eldest son of the late Major- General Sir Denis Pack, K.C.8., has inherited a con siderable estate from the late Viscount Beresford is incorrect. It is the second son of the above distin guished officer, Captain Denis William Pack, of the Royal Artillery (Lord Beresford's godson), who is the fortunate individual. He is to assume the arms and take the name of Beresford. THE personnel of the embassy of the C40.4*, in Chesharn-place, have been much engaged by the arrival and departure of couriers from and to St. Pe tersburg. It is stated that, should the Russian Am- THE PRESS. . bassadors in Paris and London be obliged to quit their respective Courts, they will retire to the Hague, where they will wait for further orders. anb aural. THE EASTERN QUESTION. Viscount Ponsonby has intimated his intention of proposing for adoption by the House of Lords the following series of resolutions respecting the Russo- Turkish question : " 1. That the maintenance of the independence of the Ottoman empire is of great importance for the security of some of the greatest interests of the Queen's subjects. " 2. That attacks have been lately made upon that inde pendence. " 8. That those attacks were made with greet advantage to the attsokere, derived from positions they had obtained upon the eonfinew of the Ottawa' empire by various treaties. " 4. That, a war having taken place between the Sultan and the Emperor of Russia, the treaties between those Sovereigns are thereby rendered void and null. " 6. That, for the purpose of giving more security to the Sultan against future attacks, it is necessary that the staid treaties should not be renewed between the Sublime Porte and t4e Imperial HUllitiall Sovereign. " G. That, moved by the above stated considerations, this ' House is of opinion that her Majesty's, Ministers, who may be engaged in any negotiations for a peace between the Imperial Russian Government and the Government ad the Sublime Porte, should employ aU the means in their power fur the prevention of the renewal of the treaties which have been rendered null and void by the existence of war between the Russian and the Tartish Sovereigns. " 7. That. in the opitdon of this Howe, It might be highly advantageous to the interests of her Majesty's subjects, and fur the future preservation of general peace, that her Majesty's Ministers, being engaged in any negotiation that may be on foot for the restoration of peace between the afureasid belligerents, should use their best endeavours that, in any new treaties made between those powers, it should be provided that the Sublime Porte should be put in possession of the territory between the River Prink and the River Dneistar—to the south of a line to be drawn front —, on the Pruth, to --, on the Monster. " 8. That the said Ministers should also support the Sublime Porte in the due fulfilment of any engagement his Majesty the Sultan may have entered into with the independent Caucasian chiefs." THE GOVERNMENT PROPOSAL to appoint and pay Roman Catholic priests as chaplains to the prisoners of their faith in criminal prisons was discussed at a public meeting held on Monday in Manchester. The Rev. Hugh Stowell presided, and the assembly numbered nearly 1,500. 'Various resolutions were unanimously adopted by the meeting, whose purport was finally embodied in the following memorial, ad dressed to the Home Secretary, from the Protestant inhabitants of Manchester : " May it please your Tordship,—We have seen with mingled feelings of astonishment and distress that you propose to appoint and pay Rumish priests as chaplains to the Roinish prisoners in the Government prisons. " We would respectfully, but most earnestly, submit to your ' lordship, that such a step would be alike unfair, inexpedient, and unhallowed. " It would be unfair to the National Church, as infringing on her privileges, and setting up—initiatively at least—a rival and most hostile establishment. It would be no less unfair to Chris tian communities in general, as giving a marked preference to Romanistn, and as not only extending State endowment, but ex tending it in the most objectionable forts. " The proposed measure would be no less inexpedient than unfair; it would enforce on Romish criminals the very system which must be held responsible for the most disproport ionate amount of crime which disgraces its adherents ; at the same time that it would impede the course of justice, es it is an unde niable fact that newish culprits deem themselves, and are deemed by their fellew.religionists, no longer guilty when once they have confessed to a priest and received his absolution. " Nor would the scheme which your lordship contemplates be lees unhallowed than inequitable and impolitic; for it would still more deeply implicate the country is the support of a system to rescue us from which our martyred forefathers shed their blood, and which our Queen at her coronation, sad our clergy at their ordivation, were required to abjure as uaurpiug and idolatrous. " We, therefore, urgently conjure your lordship to abandon a design which we conceive to be in every point of view inequit able, impolitic, and unholy." THE ARCTIC DISCOVERY SHIPS, " EREBUS " AND " TERROR," seem at length to be given up as lost by the Admiralty. The Gazette of the 20th inst. contains an official notice that the names of the officers will be removed from the Navy List, and the crews will be considered as " dead in her Majesty's service," if nothing is heard of their existence before the 31st of March next. The pay of all ranks will be issued to their legal representatives up to that date, after which the vessels and all belonging to them will disappear from the roll of her Majesty's navy. AN ERRONEOUS STATEMENT in the Times of Jan. 17, respecting the represntation of Shrewsbury, has called forth the following refutation : "TO THE EDITOD OF ' THE TPAES.' "In the Times of yesterday there is a paragraph alluding to the election for Shrewsbury in Dttl, which may bear an interpretation not palatable to the friends of Mr. Disraeli, and not just to that gentleman. I ask, therefore, of year courtesy and justice to allow me to state that the insinua tion respecting the cost of that election is unfounded " Orwell-park, Jan. lx." " GEORGE TOMLINE." THE LATE FREE TRADE MALL AT MANCHESTER, which has been shut and silent for many months, is now about to be reopened, for an exhibition of poultry. E. WODIAIOUSE, Esq., formerly of Ceylon, and now superintendent at Honduras, is to succeed Sir Henry Barkly in the government of British Guiana. SATURDAY, THE COMPARATIVE AMOUNT OF SHIPBULLDIN 0 in Su& derland and New York during 1853 is shown by th s following figures :—Sunderland: ships,ls3; t onn ". 68,735. New York : Ships, 88 ; tonnage, 46,47 g: The excess of vessels built at Sunderland being q vessels and 22,256 tons of shipping actually more than the entire number built on the Wear in 1841. SIR ROBERT PEEL, BART., M.P., delivered a Indus on Monday, in the Mechanics' Hall, Derby, in aid the funds of the Midland Counties Association a Mechanics. The subject was, "The Progreu Society, Social and Intellectual." THE COMMAND OF THE INTENDED Nom Su FLEET, it is now rumoured, will be offered to the Rai of Dundonald, who will have under him Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Napier and Rear-Admiral Fanshaw Mar tin. THE HEALTH OF LONDON has experienced a i s . vourable change. A milder atmosphere has Ipi the deaths from 1,492 registered in the week to 1,195 in the week that ended on The rise of the thermometer has been about LO grees on the average, from 29 deg. to 4244. No s . heit, in the last fortnight, followed by a damns i s l tn es o s rt.t; :.y lit h o th f szt abo th ut e 300 calc . ui l ate 'h d e Te u r retm age gi fo ve a for tea tar g p si ceding years. A SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING OF TEX UNION BANN or AUSTRALIA was held on Monday. ills supplementary report of the directors was wandered exceedingly satisfactory. It stated that the advice( received from the branch establishments, since the last annual report, afforded strong evidence of the expansion of banking transactions throughout the Australian colonies, while the profits of the bank have fully kept pace with this enlargement of business. The cessation of large profits in gold purchases had been, in a great degree, compensated by an increase in the ordinary profits of the bank; and the establishment had not sustained any loss the altered state of commercial affairs in the colonies. The accounts submitted presented a profit of 164,0931. 14s. 3d. for the six months, wbich admitted of 164,0001. being appropriated as dividend on the paid-up capital of 820,0001., or at the rate of 20 per cent. for the half-year. The report was unsnimousll adopted, and a dividend at the above rate declared. The chairman stated, with respect to the local trade, that whilst the deposits of the establishment were 1,500,0001. on the 30th Jane, 1852, they were - 30th June, 1858, 8,700,0001., giving satisfammy evidence of the confidence which the bank enjoyed is the estimation of the colonial public. As a proof also that the bank had fully participated in the ex• tension of trade between the mother country and the colonies, it was mentioned that whilst the amount t bills drawn by the various colonial establishments, and accepted by the home office of the hank, was f , the six months ending December, 1852, 64‘1,8001., • was 1,028,0001. for the six months ending June, 1858, and 2,111,0001. for the six months ending 3' December last. Admiral Corry's squadron, which has so long , mained a comparative fixture in the Tagus, put 1 sea on the 19th instant, upon the receipt of Admiralty despatches by the Banshee. The admiral was lathe Prince Regent ; and the Duke of Wellington, imp/virtue, iiniphion, Tribune, Valorous, and Desperate, seem panied him in his cruise : the Odin, Captain See n, being the only ship of the squadron left behind port. The destination of the fleet was unknown ta. the spot, but we learn that the fleet may be expected at Spithead in a few days. The Banshee accom plished the transit from England to Lisbon in three days, and then proceeded to the Mediterranean. THE NEW PLAN FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE, SetOrti• ing to the Civil Service Gazette, may be very Niel/ described. It is proposed to appoint a Boards ( Examiners, who should not only examine candidates on their first admission into the public service, bet should review the record of conduct kept for esti! public servant in the several departments; ° heal l xamine the public servants after probation, in order to pronounce upon their fitness for continuance the service ; should again examine candidates for pa .. motion, and by a continuing series of n otes shou ld furnish the means of estimating the character o f each functionary in his career from the subordinate to the highest grades • thus supplying an index secure the best men 'for staff appointments, or apportion the pensions of those public servants wheel age or infirmity might compel to retire. It will ' once be seen how important a department, of public service this Board of Review would become But by far the most important innovation on the " sent system consists in a grand step towards _, consolidation of the service, not only ni the Priln,.% examination, but su b s equent promotions. 0 , - proposed that clerks should be transferred from department to another, thus enabling them Lo am their exPerienee , and to acquire a roun d of prectufi, knowledge which would be highly use ful to any sl s hould ultimately reach the highset eppointo lew This would, of course, at once get over that soire e of inefficiency in public servants wilt& 1 4 550 the centinassent of saalt shell to .116 44101111" to re ire of of 114 El ref SE N M NO• [ON he red ea the the the ink of old bed oil; in of fled the Per rere oe tory dm roof ex. the it of mtE, for it 31st re it to reit) , a the mist, corn• d in a on gtei oom - three rota• riely rdof date !, bet eget heula order ace le r pre- hould ter of haste len to or to vhorn rill et )1 the w o we le pre - is the rimsrf It in toe nlerfe sctial y siW DINO' Wag e I'