The Press. — London, England, 1853-08-20 00:00:00

A military execution took place in the Russian imp was saw anus* the frontier. General taadmmised Captain Milklssefhki to be shot. W the ezassiks unsasdiatsly took place. The woo of this severity is a mystery. The culprit was •MO of good family, and the brother of an officer Omani to the service of the Princess of Leuchten- • him* Menschikoll has declared the coast of Cir • cassia, from Naopa to Sukam-Kale, in a state of siege, with a view toprevent the importation of arms. A despatch from Smyrna, of the :Ird, says--" The Ciresuisians have taken by storm the ltussian fort Charpuk- Kale." In 1te.04, Turkey, with her raw undisciplined levies, beat Leek the first invading army of Russia, and although in the ensuing spring she was worsted by an immense • army of Russian veterans, headed by the Emperor himself, • yet the Turks are coureled by the recollection of the over whelming disparity of forces at that time. In IMf2D the Turkish artillery• amounted to 30 field•pieces ; in 1863 the number of field•pieeus in the camp at Schmula alone amounts to 280. In 182 W the whole force of su.called dis ciplined troop. amounted to about 2b,000 men, who had nut been under arms many months. At this time there are $O,OOO regulars and 30M00 irregulars concentrated in Hamada. The Egyptian soldiers are arriving, and as the preparations c►ntinue, and lava daily more formidable, the alternative is presented to a people not unmindful of their earlier military history, either to disband their army, brought together at an enormous outlay of treasure, and thus prepare themselves for future encroachments and in• tend disorders, or by a bolder policy take the chance of inflicting a blow on their aggressor, and recovering some of their ancient prestige. THE CAPE. By the General Screw Steam-shipping Company's ship Harbinger, news from the Cape to July 7th has arrived. The intelligence is of some interest. Ow* to the great inducements thrown out by the gold-fields of Australia, many persons were leaving, End all kinds of merchandise commanded extraordi• nary prices. General Cathcart had announced his assumption of the dike, conferred upon him by her Majesty in April last, of " High Commissioner for the settling and as ustment of the territories► in Southern Africa, ad jacent or contiguous to the eastern and north-eastern frontier of the Cape colony." Sir George Russell Clerk and Mr. Owen had also entered upon the du ties assigned to them as assistant commissioners to his excellency for these important purposes. The complete re-establishment of peace had en abled the farmers on the frontier districts to return 'with confidence to their farms, and agricultural operations were resumed with spirit—sheep-farming in particular. Ou the Ist of July the order in council establishing the new constitution was duly promulgated ; and steps have already been taken, in all parts of the colony, for carrying the measure into operation. The inhabitants have entered with alacrity upon the ex ercise of their new privileges. The tribes beyond the colony appeared to ho peace fully disposed. Of the Kahn+ little was now heard, but they were gradually settling down upon the tern - tory assigned to them by General Cathcart. Some unwillingness was at first reported on the part of the younger and inferior chiefs, but Saudilli and Maco►uo having surrendered the arms demanded of them, and given the " word " for peace, hostilities have ceased at suddenly as they commenced; and the Caika tribes, lately so formidable, are now spoken of as ex cellent customers to the traders iu their neighbour heal. Two important Government notices had appeared. One announces a regulation for preventing Tam bookies from entering the colony without passes from persons authorised to grant them, on pain of imprisotunent with light labour, and the imposition of a fine on the chiefs to whose community the in truder may belong. The other provides in detail for the support of armed men, on all the frontier farms lately granted, or to be granted, on quit-rent. The Harbinger is the first of the company's regu lar line of steamers which has accomplished the return voyage from Australia. She left Port _Phillip on May 22nd, bringing 73 passengers, the heaviest moil ever known from the colony, and gold-dust, in cluding the private hoards of the passengers, esti mated to be worth from 0414 1,4 NN V. to 71 N 1,4 N SU. Her news from Australia has been anticipated by the overland mail. KST INDIES. The West India mail arrived at Southampton on Wednesday. The islands were reported to be much healthier. The yellow fever had almost disappeared, though it still prevailed at Trinidad and at St. Louis. Lord Harris was recovering from a severe attack of this malady at the latter place. In Jamaica public affairs remained as before. The population were anxiously expecting the arrival of the new governor. Sir C. Grey had, it was stated, released no less than 160 prisoners on the alleged ground that there were no means of supporting them in gaol. The new Chamber of Commerce wee to THE PRESS. commence operations on the Ist of August. It pro mises to be a valuable institution. Trade was dread fully bad, little being done except for immediate consumption. Mining operations throughout the island were engaging much attention, and they had every appearance of proving very remunerative. From British Guiana dates to the 14th ult. have been received. The Chinese immigrants had proved to be docile and laborious. The weather had been highly favourable to the crops. AMERICA. The New York Herald states that the British Mi nister, Mr. Crampton, and Messrs. Marcy and Cush ing, left Washington on the 30th ult. for Berkeley springs, at the request of Mr. Marcy, who desired to proceed with the fishery and reciprocity negotiation in a quiet manner, and free from official interruption. At New Orleans the yellow fever was raging l►e yond all precedent ; there were 54K) deaths during the week ending the 28rd ult. ; on the 29th the deaths were 120; and on the 30th, 100. St. John's, New Brunswick, papers of the 30th ult. state that fires were raging in the woods near Mediae, and had already destroyed a large quantity of valuable timber. Ten men bad been killed, and several others se riously injured, by an accident on the Belvedere and Delaware Railroad. The British ship Pa►ama, of Glasgow, from New Orleans for Liverpool, with 1,3:11 bales of cotton, went ashore on the 26th ult. on Kurdwery breakers, took fire, and was burned to the water's edge. The captain and the remainder of the crew reached Charleston in safety. Thomas Connor was executed at Baltimore for the murder of Captain Hutchinson. The rope broke, and the etiminal fell to the ground, a distance of 2►5 feet. He was taken up insensible. On the second trial the strength of the rope was tested, and again broke. A third attempt was made, and Connor was launched into eternity. A duel was fought near Charleston lately between John Dunovant and J. I). Legare, in which the latter was killed at the first fire. An earthquake has destroyed a great portion of the city of Cumana, in Venezuela. More than 500 per sons were buried in the ruins. THE CHINESE REBELLION. The China mail which arrived at Bombay on the 24th of June brought no news from Shanghai, owing to the North China mails having been lost at sea on board the Laur4tou. The Hongkong papers, how ever, contain some further particulars regarding Sir G. Bonham's trip up the Yang-tse-Kiang. It appears that the unsuccessful attempt of the Susquehanna to get up the river to the assistance of the Impe rialists at Nankin was thought at Shanghai to have irritated the insurgents greatly against the foreign community in general, and it was, therefore, deemed advisable to despatch the interpreter to the British Consulate to the rebel head-quarters to explain that the English were neutral. On arriving at Nankin Sir G. Bonham at first intended to meet the rebel leaders in person, but, considering that such an in terview might be misconstrued, he eventually only sent the consulate interpreter and some of the offi cers of the Hermits on shore : one of the latter, who is said to be unlikely to form an erroneous estimate, mentions that the insurgent army encamped at Nankin numbers 80,000 men, well equipped, and, from what was seen of them, in a state of very proper discipline—officers paying nightly visits to outlying pickets, and observing all the formuke of regularly drilled troops. It is a significant fact that the English papers in China no longer talk of the "rebels" or "insurgents," the present phrase being "the patriot army." The insurgents captured Amoy (one of the five ports, and situate about cio miles north of Canton and 700 south of Shanghai) on the 18th of May: " The citadel was taken at',: p.m., and order immediately restored. The British mereh►mts went through the city afte►wards, and wen' well received by the insurgent chiefs, who sent a guard of MO men to protect the foreign facto ►ies, and another guard to the Br►tish Consulate. Had the insurgents behaved as troops generally do after the capture of a town by storm the lives and property of the Europe►u► community would have been seriously endangered, espe cially as the►e was not a single vessel of war on the spot. lt. is also observed that the European communities at two other of the the ports, namely, Sing-po and 'l'aleehow•fuu, are similarly ►wproteetcd." It was expected that Canton would be next at tacked. " Reports are current that, within a day's march of the city, large bodies of rebels are ready for attack at a given signal ; and it is greatly to be re gretted," says the Friend of China," that we have not such a steamer as the Phl►'yethon or Nemesis moored off the factories." The capture of Amoy, 700 miles in rear of the nearest of the two grand armies of the insurgents, together with the conduct of the inhabitants and local authorities on the occasion, has manifested the extended organisation of the rebel power and the hopelessness of the Tartar cause : and the orderly behaviour of the captors of Amoy immediately after the storming of the town, and the civility of the rebels SITUBDIY, to the Europeans, both on that occasion anti also at Nankin, have justified the expectations now gene rally entertained, that the establishment of the Miug dynasty will terminate the vexations restrictions to foreign trade and intercourse that have hitherto pre vailed. AUSTRALIA. By the overland mail some later intelligence has arrived from Melbourne and Sydney, reporting a con tinued receipt of gold from the various diggings, but at the same time revealing a sadly disorganised and distressed state of society in the colony, principally among the newly-arrived emigrants, whose uninkr mittent influx was occasioning much embarrassment and no little apprehension : '• So great is the suffering of the hundreds who land in a state of destitution, that the residents, though till now vet) , indifferent, have at last made au attempt to relieve it, by preparing some place of temporary shelter for the new comers. There is sonic difficult• in comprehending haw positive penury can exist where every kind of labour is well paid; but a large proportion of the immigrants are neither labourers, nor mechanics, nor domestic servants; the diggings failing, they soon spend all they have, and fall into a most miserable condition; at last they are coin• palled to become labourers on the road or anything; but the struggle with pride is often long and painful. One of the Mel bonnie journals has published a solemn exhortation to this gener►►lly useless class, imploring them to descend c h ee►. fully, and ' like Christians,' to the menial occupations for which there is a field; at the same time lecturing em ployers on the folly of entertaining a prejudice against taking gentlemen and ladies for household servants—an additional difficulty with which the educated destitute have to contend. There is, it seems, something embarrassing to a waster in having a graduate of Cambridge to black his boots or groom his horse; and, even if a gentleman offered to undertake those duties, he would be rejected for one who could not be accused of mathematics or manners, Yet, if the advice of the writer could be followed, it would be a benefit on both sides—that it should be so earnestly given is one of the indications of the anomalous state of society." Wages, it is said, have probably reached their highest rate. This cannot be predicted of house rents, as there is comparatively little building going on. Capital makes a quicker return in other invest ments, and skilled labour cannot be procured in sufficient quantity to construct rapidly. Some few stores and offices are being pushed on to com pletion, but few dwelling-houses are in course of erection. To those not actually making money life is a struggle with expensive discomfort; many per sons who were independent of trade are leaving the colony altogether and returning to England ; pro fessional men, Government officials, and others are driven from the city, finding it impossible to pay the rents demanded, and are compelled to find resi dences in the country.• Those who are employed at fixed salaries, or who hold Government situations, are the worst off, as they can neither quit them, nor, like professional men, increase their income by higher charges, and this unfortunate class is fast sinking into debt. At the diggings many of the miners now use gun powder to loosen the bed of conglomerate from five to ten feet thick, which has to be cut through in some of the most productive works. The " cradle," the first and simplest contrivance for washing the stuff, is being superseded by machines that wash greater quantities more thoroughly; the "long Tom " is an enlarged cradle, and the " sluice " is a still more effective arrangement for parties sufficient in number to work it. The whole process is gradually becoming one that requires a certain degree of skill, and that of a kind which must be acquired on the spot; even in discovering the most likely places for claims, geological knowledge is often baffled where a sort of local instinct succeeds. It is the re- commendation of one of the scientific authorities of the colony that persons who have read up their geology for the article "gold," with a view to the diggings, had better, on arriving there, "lay all their science on the shelf as soon as posible":— " Sydney is no home for the arts and sciences. The all engrossing pursuit of money-making excludes almost every other. Music, however, is cultivated to a considerable ex tent, and pianos, fiddles, flutes, and guitars may be seen in most respeetable houses. There are two choral societies; one, called the ' Sydney,' is exclusively Church of England ; the other, St. Mary's,' is nominally Roman Catholic, but admits all religions. Both are private societies, but they give periodical concerts, which are usually very fully at tended, and at which many of the best compositions of old and new masters, both in sacred and profane music, sue given with very great ability and judgment. A mecluucies' institute and school of arts also exists, but it is scarcely worth• of the title, and is but very moderately useful. Re peateti effierts have been made to raise the character of ti e institution; but whether the people are careless of literacy and scientific knowledge, or whether the lecturers and n.a. nagers have been incompetent, the effret produced is vs ry small. Sydney boasts, however, a theatre, which is very well conducted, and has been a fortune to its lessee. lu size, decorations, and general character, it resembles the Lyceum. The performances are very creditable. Some of the English versions of favourite Italian operas hare been got up, such as Norma. La Sonnambuld,ite., and, as far se the vocal music is concerned, with very good effect ; but the orchestra is a miserable collection of fifth-rate fiddlers and