The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-16 00:00:00

SEPTEMRER 16, 1854. LONGITUDES OF GREENWICH AND PARIS. EXPERIMENTS have been for some time in progress, with the aid of electric telegraphs, to determine the difference of the longitude of the Greenwich and Paris Observatories in a more accurate degree than had been previously accomplished, or than was pos sible, before the two terminal points had been placed in instantaneous communication by means of the galvanic wires. The completion and result of these experiments are now announced by Professor Airey. After describing the character of previous endeavours to solve the problem by actual measurement through a series of triangulations; by chronometers ; or by interchanging a number of rocket•signals from station to station between Greenwich and Paris, the Astro nomer Royal continues : " No sooner did there appear to be a reasonable pros pect of success for the submarine telegraph, than the as tronomical authorities (the Astronomer Royal on the Bri tish side, and M. Arago and the Bureau des Longitudes on the French side) addressed themselves to the Submarine Telegraph Company, with the view of establishing a con nection by galvanic telegraphs between the two observato ries. By that company their applications were received in the most liberal manner. The company's wires were placed at the service of the observatories at the hours most convenient for them ; the connections of wires ( when necessary) were made by the company's officers, and no remuneration of any kind was expected. For the actual conduct of the observations it was necessary to employ in each observatory a considerable force of galvanic batteries, and the Electric Telegraph Company, forgetting all com mercial rivalry, supplied all that was required at the Greenwich Observatory. The observatories were, in fact, chargeable with no expense, except that of laying down their own short junction-wires to connect the observatories with the main lines, and that of employing their assist ants to make the observations. " The death of M. Arago delayed the French prepara tions so long that a series of observations, directed to a similar object, was first carried on with the observatory of Brussels. As soon, however, as M. Le Ferrier was estab lished in the superintendence of the Paris Observatory, the interchange of signals between the Greenwich and Paris Observatories was organised. It is not necessary to fp into details upon the method employed, or the extent to which it was carried. It will suffice to say that several thousand signals were interchanged ; so many, in fact, as to permit of the rejection of the larger portion, retaining only those (to the number of nearly 10,000) which were considered to be made under unexceptionable circumstances. The con trast of this number with that of the rocket signals on which the determination of 18211 depended is striking. But the difference in the quality of the individual signals is not less striking. The result of a single signal given by the galvanic telegraph is perhaps as accurate as the mean of all the results of the former operation. It is unneces sary, therefore, to say that no comparison can be made be tween the di&rence of longitude concluded from the for mer observations, and that found from the mass of the late signals. The former determination is now shown to he erroneous by almost a second of time* (a large quantity in astronomy), and this correction is nearly certain to its hundredth part For this gain of accuracy, this veritable advance of science, we are indebted, in the first instance, to the power of commercial associations of which we have spoken. The power, however, would have availed little if the possessors of it had not been willing to allow it to be used for the benefit of society, in the precise way which the professional men indicated. And it is most honour. able to our great commercial bodies that they have practi cally shown so much readiness to aid in enterprises of s:ientific character, that accredited men of science feel no difficulty in asking their assistance." SINGAPORE. Tim following intereSting account of the value and progress of Singapore as a commercial settlement is given by our contemporary the Shipping Gazette : Thirty-five years ago, when Dutch power was dominant in the Eastern Archipelago, and long before free trade was opened with China, or the Australian settlements had risen into their present importance by the discovery of gold and the production of wool, a shrewd and enlightened British governor, Sir Stamford Raffles, with great political foresight and admirable sagacity, took possession of the then unimportant and insignificant island of Singapore. His intelligence pointed out to him that, from its geogra phical position, it would be a centre of vast importance to commerce, to the extension of trade, and to the interests of civilisation. With a safe anchorage at all seasons, easily reached in a few days from China, the ports of the Malayan Peninsula, Indian Continent, and the surrounding islands, and blessed with a gond climate, it was all that could be desired for an emporium of British commerce, and a ful crum from which we might ex tend our political influence, and for securing the advantages of trade with the Eastern Archipelago and the Chinese empire through the Straits of Malacca. Two years after its establishment the fixed inhabitants of Singapore numbered 12,000; now they have risen to 70,000. In 18.26 the whole population of the united straits' settlements, Penang, Province Wellesley, Singapore, and Malacca, was but 101,510); in less than thirty years they have risen to 251,000 souls. The value of the import and export trade of the straits' settlements in 1526 was four and a quarter millions sterling. In 1553 it had risen, including the intermediate trade, to eight and three quarters millions sterling, Indeed, each sneet , eding year, from the foundation of Singapore, exhibits a most satisfactory and marked progress. Recently the trade has been augmenting at the rate of 1,000,0001. liter. • At the latitude of Greenwich the error of • second in time would cause a difference of •boat one•sizth of • geographical mile an measured distance. I THE PRESS. ling per annum. About 783,000 tons of shipping annually enter the ports of the straits' settlements; 1,028 square rigged vessels, of 347,000 tons, arrived at Singapore in the year ending March last; and of these 041, measuring 225,878 tons, sailed under the British flag. Of the re mainder, 179 were Dutch, 47 American, 2.5 Siamese, and of French, Hamburg, Swedish, and native craft there were about twenty each. This was exclusive of twenty-three men-of-war. The native vessels (prahus and junks) ar riving numbered 2,810, and their aggregate burden was 75,859 tons. This was an increase of 24J3 vessels and 5,065 tons over the previous year. They came chiefly from Bally, Borneo, Celebes, Sumatra, Java, and the neighbour ing islands—from China, Siam, Arraean, Maulinain, and other ports of the continent. A large increase has taken place in the direct trade with the Australian settlements, from whence ninety-three vessels arrived of 35,000 tons, against thirty-six of 13,258 tons in 1852.53. The commerce with Great Britain and with Java has also greatly increased, twenty-five more vessels from English ports and thirty from Batavia having arrived this year. A very large pro portion of the population of these settlements consists of Chinese, who have usually been industrious and orderly At least 45,000 are located in Singapore, and of the 70,000 souls in Malacca there are a great many Chinese. Having no customs duties, the revenue of the straits' settlements, which is chiefly derived from opium and spirit licences, or farms, market dues, fkc., is at present inadequate to the payment of the incidental Government expenses and charges. The gross receipts are about 77,5401., and the expenditure, including charges for military and convicts, 104,7501. Viewed in its commercial relations, Singapore is of great advantage to this country ; it produces annually 5,000 tons of gambler, 6,950 tons of pearl sago and sago flour, and 1,250 tons of black and white pepper. It also receives and ships 29,000 cwt.of gutty percha, 23,000 cw•t. of tin, besides antimony ore, sapan•wood, mother-of-pearl, and tortoise shell. Penang is the great seat of our spice culture for nutmegs and mace, and Malacca bids fair to succeed in sugar cultivation. Rut it is in its vast relations as a store house for the extensive supply of British manufactured goods to the dense native population of the archipelago, and as a mart of exchange for the various goods brought by native junks from hundreds of little-known and unfre quented ports, that Singapore is so important. As a naval station, also, for the protection of British interests, the suppression of piracy, the advantages of a coaling depict for the Peninsular and Oriental and Netherlands India Steam Companies, it is of great utility. And as commerce and civilisation extend their beneficial influences, a more marked progress will become evident in the native races who are thus brought into connection with European cus toms, arts, and manufactures. British colonisation is making such rapid strides in the East, and British com merce has become so important in the archipelago, that new fields are opening up to enterprise day by day. Japan is no longer a sealed kingdom, and the Chinese empire will most probably become ere long entirely free to com merce. Steamers will shortly run thence to California ; and our own islands on the north-west coast of America, with possibly Sitka and other possessions now belonging to Russia, may then be deemed worthy of attentive consider ation. THE following is the account of a correspondent of the New York Daily Times of one of the multifarious American sects—the Shakers. Their meeting-house is a large yellow building, about eighty feet long by sixty feet wide, without a single pillar therein, and no galleries. The service is somewhat as follows :—The females enter at one door and seat themselves on plain wooden benches, without backs, and the men do the same on the other side of the house. They are all dressed alike—the men in blue pants and long waisted blue jackets, with white shirt sleeves, and the women in long white robes, with lace caps for the head, each having a large bordered tassel hanging over her arm. They often remain seated on these benches for over half an hour in perfect silence, with their hands crossed, and, I believe, are not allowed to whisper or speak to one another. At a given signal they all rise and remove the benches, piling them in the corners, and take their positions on the floor facing each other. Then the orator of the day comes forward and impresses upon the audience the solemnity of the occasion. Those that have often witnessed the ceremony are no doubt impressed with some feelings of solemnity ; but to a first visitor I think it often affects him, but more often gratifies his curiosity by its singularity. After this discourse they sing a song, to be sure without ac companiment, but several of the voices are quite powerful, and they sing in good time. They then dance backwards and forwards, and turn and march around the room—the men three by three one way, and the women three by three the other way—all of which is done to the music of the singers. After the first dance comes the sermon, which, i believe, is always extemporaneous ; and then, to conclude all, they have another dance, which is much more lively than the first, in which they dap their hands, and jump up and down, to the great delight of those who have never before witnessed them. THE new works lately executed in the neighbourhood of the Bois de Boulogne have necessitated very considerable expropriations of ground both within and without the Arc de Triomphe. All the waste lands above the Champs Elysees, known by the name of the Promenade of Chaillot, are to be turned to account by the erection of handsome dwelling-houses, whilst such parts as can be spared are to to be sold to private individuals. The same is to be the case with the ground on the opposite side. Outside the Arc de Triomphe the new avenue to the Porte Dauphine will be 800 metres or half a mile long, having a road for carriages forty metres wide in the centre. All the buildings to be erected on the Place de l'Arc de Triomphe are to be built on a regular and similar plan. The total cost of the new works is estimated at 2,000,000 f., of which expense the de partment of the Seine bears 300,000 f. 871 PRINCE ALBERT AT BOULOGNE. THE BATTLE OF BOULOGNE. ALL Boulogne was astir by five o'clock in the morning of the Nth inst. The Emperor Napoleon and Prince Albert left the Hotel Brighton at six, in an open carriage drawn by four horses. The Emperor wore the undress uniform of a general of division, and the grand cordon of the Legion of Honour. Prince Albert wore the undress uniform of a field marshal, and the grand cordon of the Legion of Honour, conferred upon his Royal Highness by the late K►ng Louis Philippe. A second carriage ►onveyed his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Seaton, M. Drouyn de Lhuys, Marshal Valliant, and General the Duke of Monte belle. Two imperial chorsql-basic were occupied by naval officers of the royal yacht and squadron, and two others by the officers of the household of his Majesty. The splendid cortege arrived at Marquise about seven o'clock, where the whole of the party mounted horses which had been pre viously sent forward to meet them, and rode a short dis tance out of the town to the ground where the operations were to commence. There was nothing in the nature of a programme of the proceedings to be obtained, everything connected with the mamkuvres having been kept with the most jealous secrecy within the Emperor's own breast. The orders necessary to be given to the generals and commanding officers were conveyed to them separately. The following outline will, however, correctly represent the state of things preparatory to the commencement of hostilities. A foreign army had landed at Calais, which may be supposed to have been brought by some Russian fleet, escaped then► Helsiugfors or Cronstadt. The army of the Czar has not only sue ' ceeded in establishing a footing within the fortified town of Calais, but has also formed a series of encampments along the heights near the coast. The most advanced of this enemy's corps (ramie is ordered to attack Boulogne, pro bably with the view of holding it as " a material guarantee." The Emperor of the French has information of the move• ments of the enemy, ►.nd takes the field this time as the protector of Boulogne. Commanding in person, he brings up an army corps of about 10,000 men from Equihen, a camp about five miles south of Boulogne, and takes up a position a short distance from Marquise, with the view of arresting the advance of the invading Cossacks. The Emperor's force bivouac for the night in a strong position, the right of which rests upon the small village of Hidre quent, and has its left upon the hamlet of Ledquent. The main road from Calais to Boulogne runs through nearly the centre of the line. There are two roads which branch off from the main road, that on the right leading to Land rethun, and on the left to Bazinghen. The invading army occupies on the high ground, about a mile distant from the advanced posts of the Emperor, a position the right of which rests upon a small farm called the farm of lilac count, the left upon the village of Bermes, and the centre upon the high road to Boulogne. The cavalry and reserves are upon the low to the rear. Both armies had marched into the ground on the previous night, and all were bivouacking in their tents except the outposts, when the Emperor arrived to lead his troops to action, and when General Schramm arrived at the head of the Russian forces. Long lines of military equipages and waggons, laden with provender for horses, wood for the bivouac tires, am bulance-waggons, and piles of litters for the conveyance of the wounded from the scene of action; the small, white, Arab.looking tents scattered far and wide over the country, groups of soldiers round the rudely-constructed fireplaces, and the smoke of the bivouac fires by the roadside, piles upon piles of hay and straw, and sacks upon sacks of grain ; could not fail to convey to the mind of the traveller the notion that he was in the neighbourhood of a spot where some great action was imminent; and as he looked with astonishment upon the vast materiel required for the use and subsistence of a small army for a day, he would be enabled to appreciate to a trilling extent the difficulties with which a commissariat is required to contend in an enemy's country and during a protracted war. immediately on the Emperor and the Prince arriving upon the ground the rappel was heat and the troops were shortly under arms. General Schramm commenced the action with some artillery on his left. A feint attack was immediately made by the Emperor, with the view of turning the enemy's left. The right wing of the Emperor engaged in this attack fell back upon the approach of a large force of the Cossacks. Having drawn the enemy to some extent from their position, and succeeded in diverting their attention from his left wing, the Emperor rapidly threw forward his right wing, and, supported by artillery, caused the Russians to fall back to their first positions. The Emperor's left, having reformed, pushed forward with the whole line, and after an ineffectual struggle, supported by two well-reserved batteries of artillery, the Cossacks retired upon the wood of Inglevent. The attempt to dis lodge the enemy from this position was a long and pro tracted one, and artillery played in and around the wood in excellent style. The enemy's left wing, which extended beyond the wood, was ultimately turned by a part of the Empetor's cavalry—the regiment of " Guides." General Count de Schramm bravely but unavailingly resisted the opposing force, and with much exertion and great ability succeeded in accomplishing that most difficult and dan gerous of movements, changing a front in the face of an attacking and superior force, and successfully resisted for a time this flank movement of the Emperor. Some re serves of the French were now brought up, which com pelled the Cossacks to fall still further back in the direc tion of Calais, near the mill of Hervelinghen, and towards some rising ground called Mont Couple. While the enemy were retiring a charge was made by a regiment of dragoons. As the cavalry advanced, some guns of the enemy poured in a shower of grape, and the infantry imme diately formed square, with the artillery inside, and sent a volley of musketry into the squadrons, who were charging in considerable confusion, probably in order to show the effect of the warm and unexpected resistance which they had met from the artillery of the enemy. he their advance