The Press. — London, England, 1853-10-29 00:00:00

THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. Extraordinary excitement existed in the Sandwich Islands at the date of our last advices, in conse quence of the awful ravages of the smallpox, and the utter neglect of the proper authorities to take any steps to check the pernicious scourge. The natives were being swept away like leaves ; in some districts over one-third of the population had died, and in the city of Honolulu there were tie:t inter ments between the !!ntit of June and the '2nd of July. The wheat crop of the islands had been harvested, and found to realise the most sanguine expectations of the husbandmen. Many mills and machine works were being constrneted, and great efforts were making among all classes so increase both the merhanival and agricultural productions of the ivlitioN. SOC Itl AFRICA. Cape Town papery of%el4.tlie 21st me hronght by the mail steamer Haile. The news from the Cape is not very satisfactory. The Cape Town Mail mays : " Minve the sailing of the last monthly steamer the aspect, of infairs beyond the cute border ha s h ec n gea. 41. tally becoming neone ebiwied and mitattisfart4iry. 'l'lle orders und..•rstood 111 114 ire been issued fur th.• withdrawal fr o m the colony of fo•str ' , diode regiments—the 71111, the 12th, the 13n1, and the 12th Lancers—have rt- awakened heel. ings of insecurity among the inhabitants of the eastem ilisuirts; while in the maihern, the arrival of Sir George Clerks, with instructions to prepare for the entire with drawal of British authority from tl►e Orange 'liver sove reignty, has exulted general dissatisfaction and alarm. "The tribes wreath' sidsbied have not, indeed, 11/1111i• tested any directly hostile spirit, lint it is known that the c hi e fs are discontented, and have 1A019064'11 ()Wit' indigna tion strongly to General ('athwart ut the limited extent of country he lies assigned tl u •ln. At a meeting whieli his excellency held with them, Muonno, on behalf of the other chiefs, declared that the land given them was ten small— 'it wan all stones, they email mit till it, and there wits no hush for firewod—they wanted the Aniatolas."ll' his General Catheart decidedly refused. giving them to under stand that their Issuiession of that locality would certainly involve another war ; w,d the liattirs, it is .tiled, lett the meeting not at all Natisticti with the result.' I'llese tolas—the Gibraltar of litiflirlatill—are belt in military occupation by a ittaiiett of the troops now about to le' re moved." The search for gold and for coal in South Africa has hitherto been entirely unsuceessful. For the former a reward of 1,00. has been offered by an association formed for the purpose ; and parties, it is understood, are still " prospecting " in various quarters. A public work of great importatwe to the western districts of the colony has just been completed. Ite• tween Cape Town and the rich corn. growing regions of Worcester there interposes, at a distanee about forty iniles, a vast range of maintains stretching across the country, and 'wally rutting oft' the capital from all communiention with the interior in that direction. These mountains are only passable at a few points, where it was foniwrly necessary to unload a waggon at one side, carry over the packages by hand, Or en the backs of horses, and reload them into another at the other side—in short, they perform as complete a burner to intereonme by wheel carriages as the Isthmus of Ihirien to ships. At an expense of 511,1N101., with the labour of the colonial convicts, this mighty barrier has been Nit through from one side to the other—upwards of IK miles—and a magnificent road constructed, by whieh the untold wealth of the interior mac pour flown un obstructed to the shows of 'Fable Bay. This road was opened for piddle rise in the course of Septem ber, amidst gnat rejeieings. The intro.luction, within the last few years of large numbers of tine.woolled sheep. for a hieb the natural grasses of the country art' pre-eminently suitable, ix rapidly (billeting wealth among the farmers of the sovereignty, and at the same time renders them less liable to depredations a t the b an d s of their uneivilised neighbours. sheep !wing much less convenient for " lifting " than cattle, and little esteemed as property by the natives. By this mail we have also the important intrlli genet , of another war liming broken out. at Lagos, o n the sth of August, between King Akatoi and the I're tender Kosako, and that, after some NkiraliKhhig, it was put an end to by Admiral Time, who landed a force of marines mot > , anieti from his squadron, and aided in the rent of the pretender's force. The boat operations were under the superintendence of Com mander Phillips, of the Potyphemus. Some slaugh ter of the natives took pbtee ; but the only casualties on the part of the British consisted i n a mar i ne bAng wounded in the shoulder, and a Kroomnan b e i ng shot. Lieutenant Strickland, of the Polyphemus, mill remained on s hore, s averimending „„m„ Held o i •erations. On the :Ird of September King Akatoi dted suddenly, and his son Docemo was played on the throne ill his stead. A letter dated Sierra Leone, Sept. '2•2, says :—" The Governor has paid his footing.' Ile was attacked with country fever on the 2:lrd of August, a nd got over it on the 4th of September, having had it se verely. lie has, however, had a rapid and complete, THE PRESS. recovery. The Queen's Advocate is dead. A paid magistrate is dismissed. The Colonial -office is likely to be removed. Sierra Leone is quite healthy ; the rains are all over." Court anb fastion. MAst:stv has been entertaining the King of the Belgians, with his two suns, and new daughter in.law, at Windsor during the past week. The royal visitors will prolong their visit for some days more, and great festivities are promised, including a series of state banquets, of which the tirst was celebrated yesterday I Friday) evening. AcconutNo to present arrangements, the Queen intends to remain at Windsor Castle until the third week in the ensuing month, when the Court will remove to Osborne until a day or two before ltristmas. THE theatrical performances at Windsor commence on the loth of November with the Tempest. Mr. Orieve has been busily engaged for some time past in painting scenery for the occasion. Tim state apartments of Windsor Castle were elosod on Monday last until further orders. MAJEmTv and the Prinee Consort have re solved on having their tow yacht built of wood in one of the royal dockyards (pniltably l'embmke), from designs funtished by the Surveyor of the Navy. The new vessel will be commenced forthwith, and is ordered to be ready for her find cruise in the summer of 10455. The old Victaria and Albert is to be imme diately restored to her former state, to serve until the new ship is ready for the Queen. Volitual anb Count. THE ADDRESS ON THE TURKISH QUESTION adopted at the Finsbury meeting, on the Isith inst., was on the list presented to the Foreign Secretary. Mr. T. Duneombe headed the deputation whieh waited upon Lord Clarendon in Downing-street. The doettment halving been read, the following conversation en soils! : The Earl of 4 'Lem NPON : Vivre is 011 e portion of y o ur aoldreaa in which I am sure you will not expect MC to Con• ear, and that is the passage m which it is alleged that the character of this country for fair dealing has been damaged, and is in danger of being lost. Now, that assertion, in as far as this Goat 'at is concerned, I am prepared wilier to deny. You will not expect 111 e at this iteuttent to enter into any details as to the pulley a the I i nve rem e et but when the time comes tior BO doing 1 trust that the people Of England will consider t hat Ibe Guveniuent hue e thaw their duty, that they have flinched from no ololigetion. mid that the dattiodal honour hunt remained untarnished in tiwir hawk. ‘Vitli respect to the question MOM • 411atuly ut issue, 1 lisve no hesitation in telling you that a proteeful solution of this question has been the object of her Majesty's Government. It would be highly criminal if the tloteminent sought any other solution. Those who know idea are the calamities of war do not rush lightly into it, and it is our object. if possible, to guard ourselves. but more especially Turkey, from those calamities. blot, ton the other hand, 1 consider that them is one calamity greater than tear, tend that is national dishonou r, a price at which I can assure you peace will owl be pretwrved by her Majesty's Government. (" Hear, hear," and elieerx.) As I stud at that, I will not enter at any length into the details of the policy we are pursuing, but content myself with saying that we are too fully alive to the Itritish and Euro pean importance of maintaining the Ottoman empire that the deputation nosy rest assured that theta is not the slightest intentiou en the part of her Majesty's (invent anent of abandoning Turkey. (Hear, hear.) Mr. I b . sco may observed that the passage in the address to which his lordship had taken exception it fined nut par tieulariv to the present ()oven nu but to the general 'nue tier e g ilritish t tovernments of late years. The Earl of l'i.tarNDoN : I took it as referring tl the present liovennieit. Mr. ( 'ort.trtr : The public judged of the present from the past. They haul formerly supposed that all the negotia twits of onr tiovenoment were carried on in aid of the cause of liberty, but when the facts were disclosed it turned out that they had been on the opposite side. Mr. In Normal.: : The meeting expressed no 00111011 on the voluble'. of the present Goo ermuent. What they vow plaints' of was that they were etaitpletel) in the dark . , while the foreign papers constantly contained pieces of informa tion) respecting the Turkish question. The Earl of I'LetwsooN: lI never saw two words of truth in the foreign papers en that subject. Mr. SIREN said that what made a strong impression on the people of England was, that foreign Govermuents pub fished documents on the subject when it answered their ends, while we only saw them throoNli the medium of thonslatioms from foreign newspapent. The Earl of ClAttiooN: gs * most of those documents are written by me, I regret these translations more than any one else. In the ease+ of one of which I was obliged to palish a correct version, I Is it was thst translated from English into Greek, from Greek into Frenrii, and then from French into English. (.4 laugh.) kIINEY wished to obtain from his lordship a pledge that limier no possible combination o f circumstances would the British fleet be employed iu coercing the Turk ish people. The Earl of CLARENDON declined to discuss impro• liable a contingency. The deputation t h ‘‘itlitlrew. SATURDAY, THE RELEASE OF MISS CUNNINGHAME. A DErurrrioN, consisting chiefly of clergymen, but headed by Sir E. Culling Eardley, Bart., waited upon Lord Clarendon on Thursday, to express their grati. tude for the promptitude of his lordship's interference with the Grand Duke of Tuscany on behalf of iNliss Cutininghame. Also they wished to acquaint the Foreign Secretary with some circumstance% relating to the religious persecution now prevailing in Sweden. An address of thanks having been duly communi cated by Sir E. C. Eardley, Lord CLAttENnos modestly denied having had any official share in the final release, that is to say, the release, of Miss Cunninghame. A despatch had, indeed, been transmitted to Tuscany, but before its arrival the lady was released through the representa tions of Mr. Scarlett. The Tuscan Ministry had been told that Miss Cunningham acted in ignorance of their laws. So far as Mr. Scarlett's reports went, the conduct. of the ministers of the Grand Duke was highly creditable ; and, except in the privation of liberty, there was nothing of which Miss Cunning lame herself had to complain. She had even been allowed to remain in Tuscany for a while, on account of the,illness of her mother, who was in that country. Some conversation afterwards ensued touching the laws and practices of nations towards proselytising foreigners. The Earl of Crew:Nilo?: pronounced his opinion that no British subject had a right to go into another country and • not observe the hews in force in that country. Those low s might be ar cruel and as barbiwous as possible, but if British subjects went of their own accord, and lived under them, they could not disobey those laws altogether. Sir C. EAtuarier suggested that there was a difference between expelling from a territory people who disobeyed the laws of the country, and putting them in taison. The Earl of ('LAILENDoN thought it was not quite apposite to be discussing these points now. The question was, whether the law existed. and whether the law could make exceptions in favour of foreigners. We should not do it, for instance ; and whoever was in this country was expected to obey the law. Ile had said to the Tuscan liovernment that it was nielanclail) to think that persons in high places should conscientiously bring themselves to believe that such persecutions could be acceptable to the Almighty or in harmony with the mild deetrinem of Christianity. The deputation then inquired whether it was cempetei t for the tiovemment to make a representation by way of petit . or otherwise to the Diet of Sweden which was aloeut to meet in the course of the ensuing month, with reference to the religious persecutions carried on by the iovernenent of that country against all persons not pio fessing the religion of the State, sclera] instances ofwhich were mentioned, the Swedish law bearing very hanl upon all persona professing another religion than that of the State. The Earl of CLARENTAIN could not on the instant gi% e an answer to the question whether her Majesty's tim em inent could approach the Swedish I fur the purpose, since it dejoendel upon the regulations as to whether foi eign• cm could come before the Diet by way of petition. If they would give him time to consider the question, as he bail the means of making the inquiry, he would give them the best advice in his power. The 'levitation thanked the noble earl for his courtesy, and retired. AT THE PRIVY et li*NrlT. held on Monday by her Majesty, at Windsor, Parliament was ordered to be further prorogued until the '29th of November. The official ceremony of rrorogation took place on Thurs day in the House of Lords. THE JUBILEE OF TILE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE Soctury was celebrated at the Mansion-house. on Tuesday, by a public meeting. The chair was taken by the Lord Mayor; and the Earl of Shaftesbury, with Mr. Spooner, M.P., Messrs. Gurney, Bevan, Mills, the Hon. and Rev. G. Brown, and a numis r of clergymen, assisted in the proceedings. The general audience, which was very numerous, con sisted chiefly of ladies. In his opening speech the Lord Mayor stated that during the fifty years of its existence the society had established or formed a nucleus for no fewer than 5,33:2 branches. When the association began its labours the translations of the Bible were not more than fifty; there were now one hundred and fifty languages in which the society had promoted the distribution, printing, and transla tion of the Scriptures. By its means also an im mense increase had taken place in the circulation of the Bible, not less than 45,000,000 copies having been distributed, a number equal to eleven times the whole quantity which were supposed to be in exist (lice at the time of the formation of the society. The Rev. Mr. Frost afterwards read a report showing the past exertions and present state of the society : " It appeared that the total aunt expended by the soviety .inee its formation had been 3,9541,9;41i., and 4,70011,01 copies of the Setiptut es hail been circulated. of whieh num 1r4,4010,t w.O had been distributed in t;teat Ittitain and Ireland, 17.01Wystl1 in Europe, P 4,000.0011 in America. and '2.1110 0 1,004 1 among Jews, 1 1 41allonietana, and heathens in other yetis of the world. The itoeiety proposed to estal limit a ' Jubilee Fund ' for special objects. towards Hii aggregate bUill of 3.2,0c0i. bad been already sul•suritt d. The objects contemplated by this fund were, the aduptit u. as far as practicable, of an extensive and t fficient t• stem of colportaikr throughout Great Britain, in the year of jubilee; the supply of emigrants, together with special