The Press. — London, England, 1854-01-07 00:00:00

• 14 TO CORRESPONDENTS. Iris impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive. Their insertion is often delayed, using to a press of matter; end when omitted, it is frequently (ruin reasons quite inde pendent of the merits of the communication. We cannot undertake to return communications of which we do not avail ourselves. Ceininunications should always be legibly written, and on one side of the paper only. If long it Increases the difficulty of finding space for them. Whatever is intended for insertion must be antitentiosted by the name and address of the writer, not nec eob,tril y for ton, but as a guarantee of his good faith. irtv LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 1854. POSTSCRIPT. THE EASTERN QUESTION. Yesterday's Moniteur contains an (Alicia' circular, dated December tlO, addressed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the legations of the Emperor in foreign countries, on the Turkish question. This document, whose tone is moderato but firm, after narrating the difi'erent phases of the question, de• Glares that Frame, England, Austria, and Prussia, have recently, by their agreement concerted at Vienna, solemnly recognised that the territorial in tegrity of the Ottoman empire was one of the con ditions of their political equilibrium. It proceeds t— " The affair of Sinope took place against all pre vision, Russia having declared that she only desired a material guarantee for the fulfilment of what she demanded. To prevent the Ottoman territory or the ottoman Hag from being the object of a new attack on the part of the naval forces of Russia, the French and English fleets have received the order to enter the Black Sea." The circular terminates by express ing the hope that !inside will not expose Europe to new convulsions. It is said that the French Government, dissatisfied with the evasive conduct of Austria, has addressed to that Cabinet a strong remonstrance, intimating that any further secession on her part from the proceed ings of the other three powers will be taken as an indication of meditated hostility, the results of which she must be prepared to abide by, whatever they may be. The Patrie and Bulletin de Parts concur in stating that the Empeo or of Russia had issued orders for immediate preparations to be made for crossing the Danube. The last advices from Odessa report that eight hundred Turkish prisoners of war were collected there, and a cartel for an exchange was spoken of. The camp, within five leagues of the city, had been ratsed on account of the inclemency of they weather. The troops are distributed among the towns nearest the Turkish frontier. The corps under Sacken, destined to act in the principalities, was unable to advance, the roads being absolutely impassable. For the purpose of correcting 'hat it states to be the " very general misconception " hitherto prevail ing in regard to the recent negotiations at Constan tinople, the Chronicle of Friday publishes a true and particular account of these transactions. Ac cording to our contemporary, " It is au error to suppose that those negotiations have had any reference to the note agreed to by the represen- tatives of the four powers at Vienna on the titlt of De cember. All the recent discussions at Constantinople have hail reference to a note already framed, a considerable time ago, by Lord Stratford de ltedcliffe, and which, after being modified and approved by the Western Governments, was presented to the consideration of the Sultan's Ministers. When the collective note of the Mil December reached Constantinople, the negotiations on this scheme of Lord de Redelitte were so far advanced, and were proceeding so favourably, that it was wisely resolved by the ambassadors of the four powers not to break off, in ravioli of a new prsiect, an arrangement which had already nearly reached maturity. Accordingly, the Vienna note was withheld, and the negotiations on that of Lord de Itedelifie were continued. It is, therefore, this note which Turkey is said to have accepted, and which will be presented to Russia with the sanction of the four powers. It is understood, however, that Austria considers that the chances of the project being accepted at St. Petersburg would be greatly improved were it presented to the Emperor by Austria and Prussia alone; and, as the Western Governments have, it is stated, after some dis• cussion, acquiesced in this view—being a no-re point of form—it will be presented by the two German powers only. it is considered, however, highly improbable that this or any other proposal to which Turkey and the four powers can accede will meet with the acceptance of the Czar; and before the note can r e ach St. l'etersburg the question of peace or war will, in all probability have been &ready decided. "It may be right to add, lest unfounded inferences should be drawn from the decisive orders recently sent out to the English and French Ambassadors, that the physical obstacles to the effective action of the fleets in the Enxine at this season of the year arc far more serious that is THE PRESS. c ommonly suprsed ; and, in executing the insructions of the Govennnents, much must of course be left t otedis- cretion and judgment of the ambassadors and admirals. There is, however, every reason to believe that the instruc tions recently sent out were of so positive a nature as to leave little room to doubt that the fleets must, by this time, have entered the Black Sea—unless, indeed, the weather has been so tempestuous as absolutely to prevent them from leaving the Bosphorus, which is, besides Sebastopol, the only port In the Entine in which ships of war can had refuge. In the meanwhile, the Governments 6f France and England were never more cordially united than at this moment, nor were they ever more firmly de tenanted to offer efficient and active resistance to Russian aggression ou Turkey." LETTERS FROM VIENNA announce that a reduction in the Austrian duties, both on pig and railway iron, was to take effect from the Ist inst. The re duction in pig iron is to the extent of 10s. per ton — that is to say, from the existing rate of about 255. to 153.; while on rails it is to be 21. per ton, or from about 11. to id. FROM HAVANNAII we learn that the late Captain 6eneral Canedo took his departure for Spain, in the steamer Conde de Reyki, on the 11th ult. No re gret was expressed on the occasion of his leaving the island; but, on the contrary, the hope that he will never return invested with authority. General Pezuela had yet done nothing, except make the necessary appointments to office. He had begun well. Tar: TRIAL ov Joint H►NtnY for the murder of his cousin, the lion. James Hanley, in St. Clnisto idler's, had taken place, and resulted in the convia tion of the unhappy prisoner, who undentent the extreme penalty of the law. THE FROST AND THE SNOW. THE weather has furnished the great staple of the news during the week. For the first three days the intelligence which reached us from this source re lated to frost, and was accompanied by graphic descriptions of the amusements which attracted thousands and tens of thousands to the various or namental waters in or near the metropolis, varied by an occasional record of some accident on, or under, the ice, though none of the latter were happily of very serious character. Sunday, as a holiday, was of course taken advantage of by a vast but plebeian crowd of skaters and sliders, the aggregate number being reckoned by the industrious chroniclers of these events at 79,000. On the two following days the throngs were more select, though still exceedingly numerous. The frost also grew more intense. Monday night was the coldest known for many years, the thermometer marking a lower degree than has been on record since the close of the last war. The river had also become clogged with floating ice, and by Tuesday evening the blocks had grown so large and were aggregated so thickly above the bridge-piers and round the wharfs that traffic on the Thames was altogether suspended. Next day, however, witnessed a different scene. The cold relaxed, and public in terest thenceforth has been centred in the snow, and its many striking influences developed not only in London but the provinces. In the metropolis there was a heavy fall during Tuesday night and Wednes day forenoon. The streets were covered several inches deep, and when the side pavements were cleared according to law, and the snow from them shovelled into the roadways, the latter, with the fur ther additions received from the roofs of houses, presented a mass of frozen material in many places far more than knee-deep. In this state of things a slow thaw supervened, not enough to carry off the snow vitt the gutters, but sufficient to reduce it in the course of a few hours to the condition of " slush." The surface of the road below was exces sively slippery from the previous frost, so that the progress, whether of man or horse, wag rendered as precarious and disagreeable as could well be con ceived, from six to eighteen inches of a sort of ice-pudding having to be floundered through with a most unstable footing beneath. The street traffic has accordingly undergone an almost total interrup tion. The cabs disappeared from the ranks, and when summoned out of the yards demanded in some instances five shillings a mile, and deserved it too. Omnibuses appeared in scanty numbers progressing slowly with the aid of four horses, and charging double fares, or sometimes more. Half-a-crown was asked on Wednesday evening for an inside seat from the Bank to Bayswater. On Thursday matters mended a little by the diminution of the snow-heaps from natural causes, but with no thanks to the authorities, who persisted in their system of leaving London and the elements to fight it out between them. Travelling was now possible, and vehicles were obtainable in the streets, though under conditions of extreme difficulty and discomfort. In the country, along the lines of railway, the snow has produced almost everywhere most serious embarrassments to intercommunication. On the Great Northern line the rails were impassable be tween Peterborough and Normanton during the whole of Wednesday and Thursday. The North- Western route was blocked up for Tring and at Crewe ; and for the tt the only tidings that passed betweei cheater, and the metropolis were graph. The London papers of W did not reach Liverpool until Morsel' cumstance unprecedented since rail tion was first opened between Mid shire. In Manchester affairs were A telegraphic message received night gave a melancholy picture stoppage and stagnation:— " There is no express train from to-night, as the line is closed by . papers have arrived in Munches' train which should have brought' in the snow between Crewe and th, train arrived here from Birmingham the early mail this morning. Sew south and west are stopped at CI been no communication from Mt London beyond Stockport. On ti Yorkshire lines passenger trains Middleton, and another beyond Roci on the Bolton line is stopped ; and shire line is blocked up beyond Bur the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lit stopped at Guide-bridge; and On are embedded in snow at Glossop. port and one on the Staleybridge 1 Staffordshire line is blocked up at snow in some places on the line is feet deep. In many places in ' yard deep. The trains on the line ern are all snow-bound. The t deep between Retford and Newark, been impassable all day and nib' and Lincolnshire trains are also snow line impassable." Railway matters are, however, more energetically than civic, and succeeded in digging out the half clearing the encumbered lines. ing, accordingly, almost all the row the trains arrived, with some deli order, at their appointed termini. ' new snow has fallen, up to the hour to renew the embarrassments 'nurse. In consequence of the frost Billingsgate has been supplied manner. Almost all the fish brougi been by rail : the supply was limited and the prices asked were exorbitant charged from 15s. to .255. statement was published 1) that two of the metropolitan poi frozen to death at Hounslow, br coatradieted. The various theatres and othi ment have suffered to a great e: the weather—most of the houses seating little more than empty nesday Evening Concert at Ex► discontinued this week, it being for the carriages conveying the the building. LORD PLUNKET, ex-Chancell l / 4 ... Wednesday morning, at his reside) of Wicklow. William Conyni D.C.L., of Newton, co. Cork, w. nurried, in 1791, Catherine, onl: M'Causland, Esq., of Strabane, Donegal, by whom he had a large filled successively the offices of ' Oeneral in Ireland, he was ads•& of the United Kingdom in June, pointment to the chief justices' Common Pleas. He became . Ireland in 1830, and held the office At the time of his death he was and is succeeded by his son, the ' Killala. FROM THE LONDO, Tuesday, Jae. BANKRUPTS.—Wu. Brusitrr ANL City, inerchant—Trionas WARD, GOSWiI WARD THOMAS LODGE, Throßlllolloll.l3l.le —War. Sims, Itedrutb, Cornwall, lin Cross-hills, Keighley, Yorkshire, tairo= 7 tield Moor, Yorkshire, diver—lsm: Lancashire, licensed victtudler—Ozorto Cheshire, grocer—Jolts GRAY. 'tubas, - RICHARD Buoy:mow, Ardwick, Lancashire, manufacturer. SCOTCII SEQUESTEATIONS. and South letlaig, Arplcshire, fartner,t Grentown,bank agetit—THosus Mutat Hainilton, Ltutarskhire, contractors. Friday, January BANKRUPTS.—CHARLEY R‘TNIOP New•road, statuary—Jo*apn Balms, JoIIN TII.NURY, jun., tilouermterTac;), GROROZ WREN LS GRAND, LllMbetheiwalk, EVANS and 0 EOROIR DAVEY, IiISINOrgRD, Irv= WlLKniaox, Eatou-sluare : coal-merchant. SATURDAY, r hours together at two days mentioned en Liverpool, Man- e conveyed by tele- Vednesday morning ursday night, a cir- ailway communica- Idlesex and Lanca- e quite as stagnant. late on Wednesday e of the universal , m here to London snow. No London ester today. The t them is embedded kafford, nor has any tam or London since veral trains from the Crewe. There has Manchester towards the Lancashire and s are embedded at tochdale. All traffic nd the East Lanca- lury. The traffic on Lincolnshire line is hree luggage trains p, one on the Stock- branch. The North at Macclesfield. The is said to be sixteen Manchester it is a e of the Great North- e snow is eight feet irk, and the line has light. The Midland snow-bound, and the er, managed rather nd strenuous efforts alf-buried trains and By yesterday morn- routes were open and days, but in proper ti. Fortunately little hour of writing this, of traffic and inter- tt the fish-matket at LI in a very limited •rought to market has mited in the extreme, rbitant, cod-fish being by an evening paper police force had been but was subsequently her places of amuse- extent on account of es on some nights pre • r benches. The Wed- xeter-hall was entirely 1g found impracticable company to approach for of Ireland, died on esidence in the county igham Plunket, P.C., was born in 1785, and only daughter of John e, M.l'. for the county large family. Having ' Solicitor and Attorney vanced to the peerage le, 18'27, upon his ap- eship of the Court of e Lord Chancellor of office for several years. was in his 89th year, to Bishop of Tuam and )N GAZETTE. s. 8. ANDaRIIOI4, Billiter-street, Goswell-street, hosier—Za- n-street, City, stockbroker sendraper—Enweao Ham., ador—JOHN Howrrr, Shef- IJWARD bUNNEIL, Waterloo 10 ROE rEA Rso x, Birkenhead, time, I Attic/Wine, butcher— aneasbite, gum and starch AT.T.AY Rornr.n, ?diddle ler, deceased—Wm. ooWns, and 111011A8 WLIIDROP, wry 6. SMITH, Gloucester-piste, as, Nottingham, lumen— kc_ New-road, coachinaker -- inhale-walk, grocer—Jamul wilan,insuaasters—Taosas