The Press. — London, England, 1854-11-25 00:00:00

1118 TO CORRESPONDENTS. ft is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receiv Th :ir insertion is often delayed, owing to a press of matter and when omitted, it is frequently from reasons quite hide pendent of the merits of the communication. We cannot undertake to return communications of which we do not avail ourselves. Communications should always be legibly written, and on one aide of the paper only. If long it Increases the difficulty of finding space for them. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publica tion, but as a guarantee of his good faith. Advertisements sent from the country must be accompanied by a remittance or a reference for payment in town. --,-, , b z 21P rfOg+ LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25,1854. POSTSCRIPT. THE WAR. AT the most urgent request of Prince Menschikoff, General Annenkoff has sent to the Crimea all the disposable cavalry from Odessa and Kimborn. There are now at Odessa but three and at Kimborn one squadron of cavalry remaining. In Sebastopol, at the date of the 14th, the Russians admitted that they lost 150 men daily. Reinforcements for the Crimea were continually arriving at Constantinople. The Porte sends 10,000 I'II tents to Balaklava. Four vessels with ammunition ad been lost. The English troops have left Greece for the Crimea. 500 men from Malta take their lace. Only 2,400 French troops are now in Greece. 'The division of General Dulac had commenced em barking at Toulon. The Milan, Vengeance, and Chandernagor have sailed. Prince Napoleon has recovered from his attack, and received a visit from the Sultan on the 16th inst. Suliman Pacha, who commanded the Turkish forces in the affair of Balaklava, and who had been de graded, has been reduced to the ranks as a private Moldier. The steamer Ensu arrived at Marseilles on Thurs day, having left Constantinople on the 13th. She , brings General Bentinck and Colonels Fitzroy, Dal !rymple, and Carlton, who were wounded on the sth. General Torrens remained at Malta. Galignani's Messenger believes itself entitled to announce that the French Government had resolved to send two divisions into the Danubian principali ties, in addition to the two French divisions now em barking at Toulon for the Crimea. According to accounts from Vienna, Count Coronini bas been ordered not to interfere in any way what ever with the movements of the Turks in their march towards Bessarabia, and at the same time he is to avoid all collision with the troops of the Czar. The British Government have determined to send out twelve gentlemen to act in the capacity of dressers in our hospitals in the East. They are all students of medicine, and are to receive pay at the rate of Os. Od. a day, with the allowances of assistant surgeons. A large library of books, as well as an adequate supply of newspapers and periodicals, have been despstcbed for the use of the sick and wounded in our hospitals in Turkey. The Rev. Robert Watson has been appointed an officiating Presbyterian chaplain to the forces in the East, and is under orders for immediate embarkation. The Rev. S. J. Parsons, the Rev. W.F. Hobsons, and the Rev. W. Whyatt, have been provided with passages in the Charity, which will sail early in the ensuing week. A considerable increase to the staff of nurses now at Scutari is about to be made. From letters which have lately been received, we learn that nothing can exceed the sedulous kindness and attention of Miss Nightingale and her noble corps and the public wili re joice to know that everything is being done which can minister relief or afford comfort to our suffering countrymen. An Athens letter of the 17th inst. states that the cholera is raging in Greece. The King, it is said, refused to sanction the formation of the commission of inquiry relative to the money subscribed for the insurgents. The Chambers will assemble on the 4th December. His Serene Highness Prince Ernest of Leiningen arrived in London on Thursday afternoon, from Constantinople, and immediately proceeded to Windsor. IT is reported that Rear-Admiral Bruce, lee com mander-in-chief on the west coast of Africa, will succeed the late Rear-Admiral Price as commander in. chief in the Pacific, and .will proceed at'once, vii Panama, to hoist his flag in the President, 50. THE PRESS. Da. JACOB, the newly-appointed Head Master of Christ's Hospital School, has triumphed over the Committee of Almoners to whom he was opposed, as might have been anticipated from the moment his sermon was published in the Times. The "row" is not very creditable to any of the parties concerned. Whatever defects existed in the school might, one would think, have been more appropriately pointed out in a memorial or statement to the committee than in a sermon preached before the governors and full school, at the annual festival, on St. Matthew's Day. But by this plan the doctor would have missed the notoriety of which he seems to have been ambi tious. On the other hand, the committee, when these statements of defects in the school were made on authority, would certainly have done better to closely investigate them, than pass an absurd reso lution that " the sermon do lie on the counter." Dr. Jacob is said to have acted in entire disregard of the counsel of the under• masters, and, if so, has hardly set the best way to work to effect the im provement he desires. The subject once mooted, however, should not be suffered to rest. The governing body should at once appoint a competent committee of inquiry, and devise means to elevate as high as possible the moral and educational character of this noble foundation. There are sound truths in Dr. Jacob's sermon, and we cannot wonder that some indiscretion should be forgiven in favour of so much zeal. BY THE DEATH OF VISCOUNT LORTON, an Irish representative peerage is vacant, and it has been already announced that Viscount Donerail is a can didate for that honour. Lord Lorton was brother to the late Earl of Kingston, and was created a viscount in 1806. He was one of the witnesses present at the romantic incident of his father shooting Mr. Fitzgerald, under extraordinary circum stances, 'which led to the trial of Lord Kingston before the House of Lords in Ireland, when he was acquitted. The quarrel arose out of a love story, in which one of the ladies of the King family (a pupil of Mary Wolstonecroft, who had been governess in Lord Kingston's family) was concerned. On Sun day, the Ist of October, 1797, the late Lord Lorton (then Colonel King) fought a duel with Fitzgerald in Hyde-park, in which each party fired six shots without effect [vide Gentleman's Magazine for 1797, p. 1121]. Lord Lorton was an excellent landlord, and received lately addresses of congratulation from his Roman Catholic tenantry. In his last address to his constituents, he wrote : "I do not think that I shall be long away, but if I think the war is likely to be a prolonged one, or that I am killed, the seat is at your dispo. , ,al." Simple and touching words, instinct with soldierly eloquence ! Elsewhere we have alluded to this officer's gallant death. Fer managh county has lost Sir Arthur Brooke, a con sistent supporter for many years of the Earl of Derby. THERE has been some lively discussion about town in the fact of two young noblemen having been ga zetted to commissions in the Guards, without pur chase. In the care of Viscount Hood, who belongs to a family of naval and military renown (one of whose members, the late Colonel Hood, perished before Sebastopol) no popular objection has been made, but many have asked, what are the special claimes of the wealthy family of Molyneux, that the Earl of Sefton's son and heir should be gazetted without purchasel—a pecuniary compliment (as well RR a personal one) worth 1,2001. It is very possible, however, that the circumstance bears an honourable explanation, anti we should like that it were given publicly, as when so many families throughout the land, with many claims on the War office are glad to pay for commissions to serve the country (for which several of their kindred died), it is not right to give even pretexts for clamour amongst censorious persons. The gazetting of Viscount Mob neux has been much talked of in the most opposite circles, and we are in clined to the general feeling that explanations should be given. But none such have yet been given. In the case of Astbury and Henderson yesterday, in the Court of Common Pleas, the Conservative Land Society, which have fought for the principle of the franchise being extended to all persons who have purchased plots of land proved to be of the value of 40s. per annum, have gained the unanimous decision of the four judges (the Lord Chief Justice Jervis, and Justices Mettle, Williams, and Crowder) in their appeal against the decision of the revising barrister on the Putney estate, who refused the right of voting to seventeen allottees, on the ground that the land was not let, and did not yield 40s. per year. This important judgment decides that a plot of free hold land may he of the value of 40s. per year, and thus confer the county franchise, notwithstanding that the land may not be actually let on building lease or otherwise, and is for the time unoccupied and wholly unproductive. SATURDAY, THE TOLL BRIDGES OF LONDON. SOME curious details respecting the original con- struction and financial position of the several toll bridges over the Thames in or near London ha% lately been collected by a select committee and pub lished in a voluminous report for the use of Parlia ment. From this document the following summary has been prepared :- Southwark-bridge was opened in 1819, at a cost of 666,0001. Its income at present is about 2,9001. per annum, and its outgoiugs 1,2001. Before the opening of New London-bridge, in 1831, it had an income of 7,0001. but from that period the receipts rapidly declined. The original shareholders have never received any dividends. but 150,001)1, of the capital consists of 1,700 preference shares of 501. each, and 5,000 of 131. each, on which 1 per cent. is at present paid, as much as 31 per cent. having been paid in 1830. At the time of the project to bring the North Kent Railway over the Thames there was an in tention to purchase this bridge for 300,0001. Waterloo bridge was built ou the authority of an act obtained in 1808 or 1809, at an aggregate cost of 1,050,0001. The sum originally subscribed was 500,0001., and on this not a farthing has ever been paid. The remainder was made up by an issue of annuity shares of 81. per annum, for 99 years, at 601. each, to the extent of 300,0001., and others of 71. per annum, at 401. each, to the extent of 200,000/., There is also a mortgage of 54,0001., which takes precedence of every other claim, that amount having been borrowed of Lord Crawford, on condition that it should not be redeemed for 999 years. The average income at present is 18,0001. and the expenditure is about 3,5001. During the last three years the income has increased at the rate of about 9001. per annum. After payment of interest on the mortgage debt, the annuity holders are the only persona who receive anything, and the payment, even in their case, is not more than 4s. in the pound of their claims, or 325. for every 81. annuity, while the arrears due to them amount to 2,399,9371. 109. Charing-cross or Hungerford Bridge was opened in 1845, at a cost of 113,0001. The capital raised was 137,0001., including a small sum still in hand for an extension. The receipts and expenditure are not stated, but the average annual traffic is 3,121,980 passengers, ex clusive of that from the steamboat pier. The revenue has increased yearly by about 1001., and last year the augments. tion was as much as 8601. The company contemplate widen ing the bridge for a carriageway, st a further cost of 150,0001. by the issue of preference shares, and they estimate that the gross revenue would then reach 20,0001. to 30,0001. per annum. They propose carrying the Middlesex approach through Hungerford-market, widening Hungerford-street. Vauxhall-bridge was built at a cost of about 370,010/., the capital consisting of 5,840 shares of 64/. each, besides which the company owe about 7,000/. The receipts amount to 11,0001. per annum, and the expenses to 2,2501. enabling a dividend of 265. to be paid on each 64/. share. For seven years before the removal of the South-Western Railway station from Nine Elms the receipts were 12,7001. per annum, and for a short time a dividend of 21. per share was paid. Subsequently a great decline took place, but for the last four or five years there has been a recovery at the rate of about 15! per week. Battersea -bridge is eighty three years old, but in good repair. Its original cost seems not to be known, but it belongs to thirteen proprietors, who divide between them 4001 . or 501 ' 1 . per share. The last sale of one of these shares was about ten years ago, and the price obtained was 6,5001. The tolls were then about 5,000/. per annum, but for the last four years they have averaged 6,1001., and they are still increasing, while the expenses are only 7501. Putney-bridge was built in 1729, and cost about 30,0001., the capital consisting of thirty shares of 1,0001. each. The average gross receipts are about 8,5501., and the net receipts about 2,1171. The dividend paid for the last three or four years has been 641. or 1351. per share, and the last price per share was about 2,0001. Hammersmith-bridge was built in 1824, at a cost of 85,0001. The revenue, which increases at the rate of 1501. a year, was last year 3,7001., and the annual expendi ture is 1,5001. The company had a small debt, which has been paid off, and their entire capital now consists of 1 578 shares of 50/. each, on which they divide 28s. a share. Kew-bridge is a private one, and its cost is not stated. It belongs to a person who bought it some years ago for 20,7001.. subject to a tontine annuity cf 3301. on a life of 70. Its income last year was 2,7501., and the outgoings 2301 Richmond-bridge was built by tontine in 1774, at a cost of 30,0001, The receipts were about 8001. a year till last May, when the toll on foot passengers was taken off', and they are now about 600/. There is a fund of 14,0001. invested in Consuls for annual repairs, and the bridge will become entirely free on the death of an old lady of t-0, who originally put 1001 into the tontine, and who now, as the survivor, receives 1001. per annum. Kingston-bridge cost 48 . 0001., and was built about twenty five years ago. The money was obtained by the corporation as a loan from the Exchequer, at 3i per cent„ to be discharged out °ism - plus tolls, if any. About 81,0001, remains due, but the liquidation is going on at the rate of 800!. yearly. The bridge will therefore ulti mately be free. At present it is let at a rent of about 2,00 W. . to '2,2001. Hampton Court-bridge was built under authority of an act of the year 1749, with the condition that it should be redeemable by the t rows in twenty-six years at cost It was purchased by the present proprietor about twenty five years ago fur 7,0001., and is in very unsound repair but the tolls are exorbitant , and the receipts are believed to range from 1,0001. to 1,5001. a year. It is let by its owner at 7001., but since the lease was granted the t o lls have largely increased in consequence of the railway. Of Moulsey i -bridge nothing is stated, except that th e toll s a Is. each way for every waggon ; and of Walton-bndge all that appears is, that it is farmed to a person for 3001. per annum, that hie in good repair, and that the traffic, which would be great if it were free, is very small.