The Press. — London, England, 1854-03-18 00:00:00

244 died in the discharge of his duty,—in the field of his labours. He has died as he lived, uttering noble thoughts clothed in noble words, and feeling deeply all he spoke. His relatives, struck by the sudden shock, may remember that it is in truth a mercy to be spared the protracted misery of marking the fading of the lustrous eye, the faltering of the eloquent tongue, and, sadder still, the failing powers of the brain of genius. These they have been spared, and, if their distinguished relative died too early for their happiness, he had lived long enough for his fame. THE GUANO SUPPLY. THE following letter, greatly curtailed for the sake of its inconvenient length, is inserted on account of the practical importance of the subject, and the esti mation in which we hold the opinion of the writer: — TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." Sir,—Allow me a few more words on the guano ques• tion, although I am aware your columns are much en. gaged at this season. It appears that the debt contracted by Peru to our bondholders in 1822 was 1,800,0001., at an interest which was gradually as much as 8 per cent. by April in 18.13. This debt was reduced from 1822 to 1825 to 1,400,0 NU. An accumulation of interest from 1825 to 1849 created another debt of 1,900,0001., which wail to bear 3 per cent. interest. The entire debt was to be reduced by a sinking fund of 1 per cent. on the original debt, and of 8 per cent. on the accumulated interest, and also by half the sales of guano effected by Peru. That State has, therefore, to provide every year for the bondholders in interest and sinking fund 170,500/., besides half the sales of guano. It was supposed in 1851 that, at this rate, the debt could not be liquidated in less time than fifty years. Let us estimate if the guano deposits will afford the ne cessary quantity for that length of time. The interest and sinking fund will require 16,634 tons per annum at 101. 55., the price now demanded per ton. Admiral Moresby says that the deposits on the Chincha Islands will not last beyond nine years. I never gave credence to this state ment, although apparently circumstantially supported. A French engineer, M. C. Faraquet, employed by the Peru vian Government, reports that on the Northern Island are Central Island Southern Island In all This is the supply from the Chinches alone, indepen dently of that from the Lobos Islands. In so far, there fore, as the interests of the bondholders are concerned their debt seems amply secured to them, and it would be so were the importation of guano to reach 263,823 tons for fifty years to come. Our minds being thus made easy on the score of secu rity, it seems to me that if Mr. Disraeli had proposed in his budget to pay off the debt of 3,300,0001. by estimating its present value, at the rate and time for its redemption, the sum would not have been so great as to deter Parliament from agreeing to It, seeing that every party acknowledged that the agricultural interest was entitled to some favour. able consideration from the sudden and violent manner in which Parliament had chosen to deprive it of protection, and to expose it to unlimited competition. The Peru vians could not have objected to be freed of an incon venient debt. The bondholders would have been glad to receive their claims in hand at once. In making such a proposal Mr. Disraeli would have taken care to secure the cost of guano at a moderate rate to our farmers, say at 61. or 71. per ton, including freight and duty, for an unlimited period to come. Now, a full supply of guano at a moderate cost would be of immediate advantage to agriculture. It would greatly add to production and leave a handsome profit to the farmer. It is found that three cwt. of guano to the acre, in addition to onlinary manuring, gives an increase of five or six tons of turnips, and from six to nine bushels of wheat. The average value of the three varieties of turnips in common use, the white, the yellow, and swedes, may be taken at 71. the ton. The increase may then be estimated at from 335. to 425. the acre. Wheat at ss. the bushel would give an increase of from 30s. to -Os. an acre. At present prices wheat would yield double those amounts. It is thus evident that guano at I ls. per owt. leaves no profit worth the trouble of procuring it. Make the price Os. or 7s. per cwt., and the inducement to use guano is increased in a great pro portion. The main object of our Government ought to be to make as good a bargain as possible with Peru for a specified sup ply as, the least, every year, at a more moderate sum than has been paid for some years past. I observe that indig nation is expressed by some parties at certain alleged ad vantages denied to the country being given to the Ameri cans in the sale of guano. What these may be we are not told, but should they receive guano at a cheaper rate than we do it need excite no surprise, since the Peruvians have no debt to liquidate with the Americans. They can, there fore, trade with them on natural grounds, whilst the trade with us is trammelled with debt, and this is the position of every transaction we have with every nation. Debt, for or against us, interposes in every matter of business, and hence the impracticability of a genuine free trade. H. S. The French and Emglish Ambassadors had an audience of King Othoon the 3rd, and communicated to him their instructions; at the same time promising assistance in case the insurgents should foment dis turbances in the Greek territory. The King engaged to observe a strict neutrality, and expressed a hope that there would be no necessity for aid. THE PRESS. toutVings 111 ilatlinutent. RUSSIA AND " THE TIMES." On Monday, in the Peers, attention was called by the Earl of DERBY to an article extracted from the Journal de St. Petersbourg, as well as to the comments on it which appeared in the Times of Saturday last. It was evident, he said, and no disclaimer on the part of Lord Aberdeen would convince him to the con trary, that the information contained in these com ments could only have been furnished to the Times by some person in an official position. How was it that documents of so confidential a nature that they were withdrawn from the papers on the Eastern question presented to Parliament had now come into the possession of the Times for publication; and what became of all the asseverations of the Govern ment as to its having been deceived by Russia, when it appeared that this confidential correspondence con tained proof that the secret designs of Russia on Turkey had been revealed to the Government even before Prince Menschikoff's mission? He wished to know whether the Government had any knowledge as to the means through which the Times derived its information, and whether it was prepared to lay the correspondence in question before the house, to gether with any other communications which might have passed between the Emperor of Russia and the British Government on the subject. The Earl of ABERDEEN assured Lord Derby that he knew nothing of the article in question, that he had never even seen it until that morning, and could not guess by what channel the information it con tained could have reached the editor:— " In reference to the comments upon the extracts from the St. Petersburg Journal, as published in the Times news paper, the noble earl may be surprised, considering as he does that there is some connection on the part of her Ma• jesty's Government, and particularly of mine, with the Times, to learn that until this moment I never read or heard of those comments. (Hear, hear.) I never heard of them either directly or indirectly; moreover, and 1 find some advantage in approaching this subject in the fact—l have neither directly nor indirectly the remotest conception of the origin of those communications—(loud cheers from the Ministerial benches)—and am perfectly free, therefore, of the source from whence they emanate. I don't know that I can say anything more than that. Being in total ignorance of the matter, of course I cannot form any con jecture, unless it be, as I have recently heard, that a clerk in the office over which my noble friend (Lord Clarendon ) presides—but who is now no longer in that office, but who was, I believe, introduced by the noble earl opposite (Mal mesbury)—was the means by a scandalous breach of duty of making these communications to the Times of Cabinet secrets which came to his knowledge in the course of his official duties. (Hear, hear.) Ido not say positively that this is the case; it is only what I have been informed. I have myself no means of knowing how this correspondence has been made public, or the comments made upon it to which the noble earl has referred. All I can say of it is, that neither directly nor indirectly have I the slightest knowledge upon the subject. (Hear.)" As to the recent correspondence alluded to by Lord Derby, the Government had already resolved upon laying it before the house ; but withrespect to certain earlier communications, and a memorandum drawn up by Count Nesselrode ten years since in reference to the conversations held with British Ministers by the Emperor Nicholas when in England, he must reserve his decision, and take time to consider whe ther their production would be judicious. The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH and thei Marquis of CLANRICARDE joined in recommending the immediate and full publication of every document, the Nesselrode memorandum among the rest. This, said the noble marquis, was the more necessary because of the im pression so prevalent in other countries of Europe that the British Ministry had formerly used language very different from that in which they now described the aggressions of Russia. The Earl of MALMESBURY protested against the charge brought by the Premier that a gentleman in troduced into the Foreign-office under his auspices had betrayed the confidence reposed in him : " The noble earl had no business to make such a state ment, of the accuracy of which he was not fully aware. It was inconsistent with the manner and usages of their lordships' house, nor did it agree with the custom which, not only as peers, but as gentlemen, their lordships were supposed to respect and value. (Hear, hear.) The noble earl had spoken of him as having appointed a man who had betrayed his trust and character. He wished to know who that gentleman was ? (Hear, hear.) And this led him to a much more serious consideration. Great and important political secrets had been betrayed by public servants. It was necessary that the house should know who it was that betrayed these public secrets. (Hear, hear.) Their lordships ought to know how it was that Cabinet secrets had oozed out to the public for some time past, on subjects upon which information was refused to Parliament; for this system was going on, and the Prime Minister did not know how himself and his Government were betrayed. After what had passed, he thought he had a right to ask the name of the public servant who had thus betrayed his trust, and whom the noble earl had said that he . (the Earl of Malmesbury) had appointed. He should seriously consider whether it was not his duty as a peer, SATURDAY, and as a member of their lordships' house, to move that some searching inquiry should be made before Parliament, and with all the power with which the house was armed, to discover who it was that betrayed the secrets of the Government to a public newspaper.' The Earl of ABERDEEN replied that nothing more than rumours had reached him. He had no definite information, not even a name, to communicate. After some remarks from the Earl of Derby, Earl Grey, the Earl of Ellenborough, and Earl Fitz - william, • The Earl of MALMESBURY rejoined by saying " I do not think I have received the justice I had a right to expect at the hands of the noble earl opposite. I ex pected that after such a charge the noble earl would have named the Government officer to whom he alluded, if not for my sake, who must naturally feel anxious about an ap- pointment I had made, at least for the sake of those other gentlemen over whom the charge must now hang. I made three or four appointments of clerks in the Foreign-office, and, as long as the noble earl refuses to communicate the name of the person to whom he referred, this stigma must attach to all those gentlemen. I beg your lordships to re• mark one thing. I am told that this gentleman was appointed by me, but, if the custom which prevailed at the Foreign-office when I had the honour of holding its seals is still in force, those gentlemen who are very young in the service must be quite at the bottom of the list of clerks, and must necessarily be occupied in copying papers of a merely formal and unimportant character, so that it is hardly possible they could have become acquainted with a correspondence of the very important and confidential nature to which the noble earl has alluded. The noble earl refuses, or is not able, to give me any further information on the subject; but, looking at the circumstantial evidence in the case, it is almost impossible that the very young men apppointed by me two years ago to situations in the Foreign-office could have become cognisant of this corre spondence, or could have revealed it to any other parties. (Hear, hear.) " The subject then dropped. The publication of the reserved correspondence having been also urged in the Commons by Mr. I)ib- RAELI, Lord J. RUSSELL explained that, according to diplomatic usage, no communication that might pass between a British envoy and the Sovereign to whose Court he was accredited ought to be laid before I'ar liameut. In the present instance, however, the St. Petersburg Journal had already infringed the rules of reserve. The Government accordingly felt them selves entitled to publish the correspondence, whose tenor, he was assured, would completely disprove the statements of the Russian organ. THE REFORM-CLUB DINNER. The farewell banquet given last week to Sir C. Napier at the Reform Club, and the speeches of Lord Palmerston and other ministers who were present on that occasion, formed the subject of a vivacious con versation in the Lower House on Monday evening. Mr. FRENCH opened with a question to Sir J. Graham. " The right honourable baronet is reported to have stated that he then and there, in his official capacity, gave Sir Charles Napier liberty to declare war on entering the Baltic. (Hear, hear.) Now what 1 wish to ask the right hon. gentleman is this—first, by what authority he delegated this power to declare war to Sir Charles Napier, or to any other person, that being a power which, by the constitution of this country, is vested solely and exclusively in the Sovereign. (Hear, hear.) Secondly, I wish to know, did he mean that that authority thus delegated to Sir Charles Napier should be acted on in anticipation of the arrival in this country of the Czar's reply to the ultimatum recently forwarded to St. Petersburg by the Govern ments of England and France. (Hear.)" Sir J. GRAHAM felt almost inclined to dispute the right of any member to ask him questions respecting his after-dinner speeches at the Reform Club. However, from deference to the house he would state what occured, and its meaning : " Following Sir Charles Napier, and replying to the observations made by him, I stated that when he entered the Baltic I hoped there would be no difficulty on his part in declaring war. (Hear.) But I have to state further, that there is at present no declaration of war—( Hear )—that no orders have been given to Sir Charles Napier to enter the ltaltic—(Hear)—and that when war is declared a proper intimation will be given of the fact. (Hear.) " Mr. BRIGHT chimed in with the subject, and, to put himself "in order" for a speech, formally moved the adjournment of the house, a question which admits of the discussion of any topic ad libitum. He then proceeded:— " I cannot say that the answer which the right honourable gentleman has given is such a one as meets the case, or as would justify me in saying nothing more upon it. ( Hear, hear.) There are matters connected with this question which affect the Government as a Government, and not the right honourable gentleman alone. (Hear, hear.) It has been currently reported that sometime ago it was proposed by the Lord Mayor of the city of London to give a dinner at the Mansion-house to distinguished officers of both services. (Hear, hear.) I understand that application was made to the right honourable gentleman as head of the navy, and to Lord Hardinge as head of the army, with a view to carry out this object, and everything went on swim- mingly, until at length, in consequence of an intimation from some higher power, either the Cabinet or the noble I