The Press. — London, England, 1854-04-29 00:00:00

398 Letters from Copenhagen say that an agreement has been entered into between the British Ambas sador and the Russian Consul, by which all the crews on board Russian vessels captured by the British cruisers shall be released, upon their en gaging not to serve against the belligerent forees during the war. An ordinance has just appeared at St. Petersburg respecting the treatment of prisoners of war. Tule, Orel, Think, and Kaluga are named as the central depots. Renegades and refugees are, if officers, to receive only the treatment of common soldiers, and have also a special place of kiwir assigned to them. Such prisoners as shall prove to be Austrian subjects are to be delivered over to the nearest frontier station of the Austrian empire. The Russian Government has published ukases for the formation of a fleet of armed row-boats for the de fence of the coast of the Gulf of Finland. They are to be manned by volunteers in the governments of Petersburg, Novogorod, Olonetz, and Twer. From the day of their enrolment the men will receive pay at the rate of eight silver roubles (about 32f.) a month. It is stated that Kossuth and Mazzini were ex pected at Constantinople, and that Reschid Pacha had declared that he would not allow them to set foot on the Turkish territory. The Governor of Gallipoli, a quiet old Turk, is dead, fairly worried to death by the French aux iliaries. The exact and organising intellect of the Gallic race has already made a revolution in the place. Before the troops had been there three days they had named the streets, numbered the houses, and established a police. The quiet routine of the good Bey's life was broken through : he was inces santly assailed by generals and colonels, and was held responsible for all that was done or left undone within his jurisdiction. He took to his bed, and has not survived to see the changes which threaten his native country. The Turkish Consuls have left Greece. The sub jects remain. French vessels were blockading the Gulf of Corinth on the 21st. An official notification has been sent to the Greek Government that ammunition for the in surgents will be seized and sympathisers taken. England threatens to blockade, and to take further measures. _ _ . The Greek marauders who attacked Armiro on the 7th inst. were completely routed, with great loss of life and booty. The measures against Hellenic sub jects continue to be enforced with great severity in Constantinople. The number of Greeks that have been repulsed is 15,000, and it is calculated that 3,000 to 4,000 more will receive their passports. About 1,500 have become Rayahs, giving securities for their good behaviour. The Greek merchants ad dressed a memorial to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, requesting a further term of fifteen days. This has been granted, on condition that the parties desirous of enjoying this respite shall give securities. A letter from Stockholm of the 10th says :—" Yes terday the Prince Royal and Prince Augustus re turned from inspecting the fortifications of the for• tress of Wanholm. The blockade of tho Russian ports by Admiral Napier has been officially notified to our Government." Yesterday noon her Majesty, Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and the juvenile members of the Royal Family, attended by the noblemen and ladies of the Court, proceeded in seven carriages to the Royal Academy, to have a private view of the paint ings for the Exhibition. A considerable crowd was collected in front of the National Gallery, and as her Majesty and the Royal Family alighted they were greeted with the most enthusiastic cheers. It is announced from Berlin that the resignation of Chevalier Bunsen has been accepted by the King of Prussia. Count Bernstorf, now Prussian Minister at Naples, is appointed to succeed M. Bunsen as Envoy in this country. AN improved system of ventilating the House of Commons has been introduced during the brief recess by Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney. The new plan appears to be fully successful. IT is with great regret that we learn the death of Henry, Lord Cockburn, one of the Judges of the Court of Session in Scotland, which took place in Edinburgh on the '2Bth inst., after a short illness. The attendance at the Papal Easter ceremonies this year was unexampled. The drought occasioned fears for the growing wheat. The Austrians in Ancona had a figure of a Turkish officer set up to practise firing at. The trial of Rossi's supposed assassins had been suspended at the request, as supposed, of the French Government. THE PRESS. MINISTERIAL CONDUCT OF THE WAR. As the practical measures of the Ministry for carrying on the war develop themselves into results, itbecomes not a little interesting to collect such facts and opinions as may help towards forming some judgment of their wisdom or the reverse. We have accordingly culled the following fragments from articles, letters, &c., that have appeared in different journals, some of them Ministerial organs, during the past week. ( From the Times.) Seeing that the situation of Gallipoli has been selected entirely on strategical principles, it is useless to lament that on the spot chosen for the abode of a large army f,r we know not how fang there is but scanty water, no shelter, and neither tree nor blade of grass. Those inconveniences are common to us and our allies. But the management on our side, we are told ,is " infamous," and the contrast offered by our proceedings to those of the French most painful. Will it be helieved,—and the character of our in • formant does not permit us to doubt,—the sick have not a bed to lie upon? " They are lauded and thrust into a ricketty building, without a chair to sit upon or a door that will shut. The French, with their ambulances, excellent commissariat staff, and boulangeries, are in every respect immensely our superiors. While no attempts are made to rectify these deficiencies, Sir George Brown," we are told, " seems only anxious that the men shall be clean-shaved, their necks well stiffened up, and their waistbelts tight." As the French have got all the best houses and all the best attendance to themselves, there is all the more reason why we should make it up out of our own resources ; but re sources we have none adapted to the emergency. No serious harm is done yet ; but, if things are no better on landing on a spot familiar to every schoolgirl, how will it be when our fine, full-fed regiments have entered many days' march into the heart of a desolated and miserable country? If this is all we have learnt since the beginning of the cen tury, and if this is all the aid our civilisation can offer us, that aid is but equivocal. (From the Daily News.) Strongly as we have been led to criticise the administra tion of the navy on certain points of detail, we have plea sure in bearing testimony to the readiness with which the present board have adopted many sound suggestions offered them by the press. It must not be forgotten that during the rule of Sir James Graham and Mr. Bernal Osborne over the navy we have sent forth the finest fleet that ever sailed from the shores of England, and that if Admiral Pundits, who has charge of another noble collec tion of our ships, has not yet been so energetic as the public in their anxiety have wished him to be, the fault is not fairly chargeable on the Admiralty as a department, but rather on the Cabinet as a whole. Compared with the Horse Guards the Admiralty Board is a perfect company of Crichtons. Sir James Graham is worth a dozen Lord Hardinges, at all events. The slowness with which the troops have been landed in Turkey is also a sin at the door of the Ministry, rather than of its naval branch. The troops themselves have been most anxious for active service —the carriage of the men and the steam-ships which have been employed has been prompt. It was not the Admi ralty who originated the plan of droppingthem all at Malta as a kind of half-way house. The Cabinet must bear that blame. Whilst blaming the Admiralty for their own sins, therefore, let us be just, and not visit them with the sins of others. (From the Chronicle.) The uppermost feeling in the mind of every one here (Constantinople) is, that the allied powers are taking it very coolly, and that the Russians are stealing many marches upon them. Whether the same ignorance is found in official quarters that prevails among the public I cannot say, but i believe it does, for we are sadly deficient in any details concerning the corps d'armee that has crossed the Danube. All we know for certain is, that no resistance of any importance was made at the crossing, and that since then the movements of the Ottoman army have been characterised by much uncertain shifting and retreating, and that several bodies of men, some say regiments, have been cut to pieces. Meantime the Russians are rapidly advancing. THE PITT CLUB. TO THE EDITOR OF " THY. PRESS." Sir,—Permit me, as an old member of the Pitt Club, to inquire why it is that the members are now never called together to celebrate the birthday of the illustrious statesman in whose honour the club was formed? It is particularly desirable at this time that the memory of the man who lived, "not for him self but for his country,"* should be kept in public remembrance; yet, so entirely have the officers of the Pitt Club separated themselves from their members, that I really am not aware who is the secretary ; but I call upon him, whoever he may he, for an explana- tion of the conduct of the executive. A MEMBER OF THE PITT CLUB. April 24, 1854. • Pitt's motto, "Non sibi, sfq NAHA, visit." THE ART UNION OF LONDON. THE annual meeting and prize drawing of the London Art Union took place on Tuesday at the Lyceum Theatre. Mr. Godwin, F.R.S., read the report, which stated the gradual and satisfactory progess of the association : " During the first year the society had with difficulty raised 4901. The subscriptions, however, increased suc cessively to 7501., to 1,3001., 2,2001., 5,5001., 13.0001., 14,0001., 15,0001., 17,0001., and in one year to nearly 18,0001.; ultimately subsiding to an annual income of SATURDAY, from twelve to thirteen thousand a year, and furnishing in the whole up to this time nearly 200,0001. in aid of art and artists. The subscriptions for the year amount to the sum of 12,9101. 165., and each subscriber of the current year has received an engraving of Mr. Stanfield's picture, Tilbury Ford—Wind against Tide '—worth in ordinary commerce a guinea and a half. The subscribers of last year have also received their engravings, ' The Surrender of Calais' and • Christ led to Crucifixion.' For the ensuing year it is proposed to offer to each subscriber an impression of a plate by Mr. Willmore, A.E.R A., from the picture, A Water Party,' by Mr. J. J. Chalon, R.A., together with a volume containing thirty wood engravings illustrative of Childs Harold.' One hundred and seventy-eight works of art were put ehased by the prizeholders last year from the various public exhibitions of the season, ranging in value from 250/. downwards. The number of local secre taries and agents it has been seen has now reached 500 ; besides those in the United Kingdom, the society hss repre sentatives in Australia, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Cape of Good Hope, the Channel Islands, China, Egypt, the East Indies, France, Holland, Italy, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Nova Scotia, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United States, the West Indies, and Venezuela. The reserved fund now amounts to the sum of 5,7641. The following is a state ment of the receipts and expenditure :—Amount sub scribed, 12,910/. 16s. Set apart for the purchase of pic tures and other prizes, 8;248/. ; cost of engraving, 1,8221. 15s. 3d.; printing and other expenses, 2,840/. Os. 9d. ; total, 12,910/. Ills. The sum set apart for prizes, to bo selected by the prizeholders,will be-25 works, at 101. each ; 20, at 151. ; 30, at 201. ; 30, at 251. ; 30, at 401. ; 14, at 501.; 20, at 601. ; 12, at 801. ; 6, at 1001.; 2, at 1501. ; 1, at 2001. ; 1, at 2101. To these are added : 5 bronzes of her Ma jeaty ; 2 bronzes of ' Satan Dismayed ;' S bronzes in relief of ' The Duke of Wellington entering Madrid ; 40 tazzas in iron ; 60 Parian statuettes, Solitude ; 80 porcelain sta tuettes, The Dancing Girl Reposing;' 30 saver medals of Flaxman ; and 500 impressions of the lithograph, ` The Three Kings ;' making in all 913 prizes, being about one to every fourteen members." (1) bi tu a r g. The melancholy death of Captain J. Foori, of the corvette Conflict, a most meritorious officer, is reported from Memel. Captain Foote came on shore on the morning of the 19th, with another officer, on business connected with the prizes. About five in the afternoon he wished to return on board. A fresh north-wester had been blowing for some time, right against the stream of the Haf, where it debouches. There was a heavy surf, especially between the moles. The head pilot at Memel strongly advised Captain Foote to take a larger boat for his return, but in vain. The captain, with his lieutenant, got into a long narrow gig that was manned with five sailors. In less than ten minutes after the boat suddenly dis appeared. In an instant the life-boat was launched and manned with pilots, but it came too late to save all ; the lieutenant and one of the men were still alive and clinging to the thwart-straps of the boat, but half frozen ; the captain, with four of his men, had already found a watery grave. MIL EDWIN Axxixs, who for several years, in con junction with his brother John, the present pro prietor, had the management of the Liverpool Zoo logical Gardens, died in Africa in January last. In order to procure some new and curious specimens of the animal world he started, in 1852, for the purpose of exploring the almost unknown tracts of the interior of Africa. He had been most successful in his ad venture, having secured several specimens, when death overtook him on a small island on the White River, a branch of the Nile. The melancholy intel ligence was communicated to his family by a letter from her Majesty's consul at Cairo. Dox PACIFICO, who for some time caused so much sensation in the political world, and especially in this country, died, after a short illness, at an ad vanced age, on the 12th instant, at his residence, Bury street, St. Mary-axe. His funeral took place on the 14th : he was interred in the burial ground of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, Mile -end. FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE. Tuesday, April 625. BANKRUPTS.—ToIIs STAPP, Snow-hill, wholesale cheese roonger—Duscax MEARNB MAITLAND, Finchley, Middlesex, wine merchant—MAßY lose, Bristol, hotel keeper—Johtsit Tows, Exeter, builder—Wu. SBUTTLEWORTH, Bradfork, York shire, stuff manufacturer. SGOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS. —J. HORN, Greenock, painter —4. A. Ross, Glasgow, china merchant. Friday, April 28. BANKRUPTS.—Ewo. GROUND, Levrington Parsondrove, Cambridgeshire, grocer—EDWlN ALFRED THEOBALD, Bath, stationer—STEPHEN THWAITES. Hastings. grocer—JOHN THO. MA9 HOLLOWAY, Arthur-terrace, Victoria-road, Stoke Newington, silk agent—CHARLES DOVE, Chorlton•upon-Medlock.Manchester builder—Wm. TRERILCOCK. Plymouth, boot and shoe maker— JAMES WATTS, Birmingham, tobacconist—HENßY LUDTORD, Gloucester. bookseller—Josspu J. WELLS, Coventry, haber dasher—Wiwax Curt', Ulting, cattle and sheep salesman— JOHN DUCKER, Bliston, railway contractor—BEN PEARSON, Golcar, Yorkshire, cloth maker—JOHN HAWORTH, Haywood, Lancaster. plumber—JEssa JOYCE, Bolton-le-Moors, bookseller. SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS.—GEoRoE GUNK, Glasgow, art is ge hirer.