The Press. — London, England, 1854-01-14 00:00:00

JANUARY 14, 1854. SPAIN. The accouchement of the Queen of Spain took place on the sth inst., when a Princess was born, w ho, however, lived only three days. The Queen's condition is reported to bo satisfactory. Indisposi tion prevented both the English and French Minis ters from being present., according to etiquette, at her Majesty's delivery. Lord Howden was repre sented on the occasion by Mr. Loftus Otway, first s ec retary of the Legation ; and M. Turgot by M. Montherat. Sartorius, the President of the Ministry, has quite recovered. M. de Turgot, at the date of the last advices, continued to go on well. PORTUGAL. It is stated that the young King is about to marry his cousin, the Princess Charlotte of Belgiuni. RUSSIA AND TURKEY. A collective " note" from the representatives of the four powers was presented to the Divan at the Grand Council held on the 20th ult., and accepted, as forming the basis for possible negotiation. This note was conceived in the following terms : "1, the undersigned Ambassador of her Britannic Majesty, in accordance with the representatives of France, Austria, and Prussia, have the honour to make known to the Sublime Porte that the Governments of the four powers, having still reason to believe that his Majesty the Emperor of Russia does not consider the negotiations broken and put aside by the declaration of war and its con sequences, and knowing, moreover, from the declarations made by his Imperial Majesty, that he is anxious merely ti see ensured an equality of rights and privileges conceded (octroyes) by his Majesty the Sultan, and by his glorious predecessors, to the Christian communities, subjects of the Sublime Porte ; " The Sublime Porte having answered such declarations by saying that she would consider it her decorous duty to continue to maintain the said rights and privileges, and ti be always willing to put au end to existing differences be tween the two empires ; "The proposed negotiations to be based : " First: On the evacuation of the principalities as soon as possible ; " Secondly: On the renewal of the former treaties ; " Thirdly : On the communication of the firmans relative to the spiritual privileges conceded by the Sublime Porte to all her subject. not Mussulmans, which communication, male to the powers, would be accompanied by proper declarations given to each of them. The arrangement already made to Wing to a close the question of the Holy Places, and the religious establish. ments at J-misalein, would be definitively adopted. ( This arrangement concerns the construction of a church and the furatation of a Russian ospezio at Jerusalem.) " The Sublime Porte would make known to the repre sentatives of the four powers a readiness to name a pleni potentiary, to establish an armistice, and to negotiate on the above-mentioned basis with the concurrence of the lowers, in a neutral town. " The declaration made by the powers in the preamble of the treaty of the 13th July, 18-11, would be formally confirmed by the same powers interested in the integrity and in the independence of the Ottoman empire, and in that of the European convention. "The Sublime Porte would declare her firm resolution to give a further development to her administrative system, and to her internal improvements, such as will meet the wants and just expectations of her subjects of all classes. " Vera, Dec. 12, 18:113. (Signed) " STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE. BARAOVAY D'HILLIERS. L. DE WILDENBRUCK. B. DE BRUCK." The reply of the Porte was conceived in the follow ing terms :—Turkey, moved by a regard for its allies, consents to treat for peace, but on condition that the independence of her sovereign rights and the inte grity of her empire shall be guaranteed both for the present and the future. _ _ The Paris Moniteur on Wednesday published a despatch from Constantinople, dated the :31st ult., announcing that the Divan adheres to the proposi tions suggested by the representatives of the four powers. A private despatch received yid Trieste from Constantinople, dated the 2nd of January, an nounces that an imperial irado had been published announcing the acceptance of the propositions. Alustapha Paella, commanding the Imperial Guard, had resigned. Two I'oles have been appointed generals of bri gade in Asia. It was anticipated that a firman would shortly be Published accurately defining the privileges of the Christian subjects of the empire, as likewise their civil rights. A great fire had occurred in Constantinople which consumed several houses in the Greek quarter. An army has been concentrated on the Persian frontier, under Amadi Osman Pitch a, commander of the Turkish squadron destroyed at Sinope, has died of his wounds at Sebas topol, after having suffered two amputations. The Sultan has founded an hospital for wounded and decayed soldiers and Bailors, upon the plan of Chelsea and the Invalides. The men who have suffered amputation in consequence of the wounds received at Sinope are already designated as the first inmates. The iacha of Egypt, on bearing of the affair of 'SHE PRESS. Sinope, ordered the immediate armament of six fri gates, three corvettes, and three brigs, in order to fill up the void thu: made in the Turco-Egyptian fleet. Ten thousand Egyptian troops were concentrated on the 22utl ult. at 'Cairo, under El Il amin l'acha, for military exercises. In Servia two firmans were on the Ist instant im• mediately expected from the Porte. In one the rela tions which exist between Servia and Russia are, it is said, suppressed. The Sultan declares that the Ser vians have no need of a protectorate from Russia, since his highness has confirmed the liberties which they have never ceased t • enjoy. All the conventions made heretofore with Russia are consequently an nulled, and the Servians ought henceforth to con siderate Sultan as their only Suzerain. The second firman confirms all the privilegts conceded to the Servian people, of which an enumeration is given. The Servian Government would, it was believed, seize upon this opportunity to place the political ex istence of the land under the protection of the great powers, so as to Establish it on a firmer basis for the future. It is stated that the Sultan has promised Prince Alexander, if he should observe a suitable attitude in the present war, that his title would be made horiditary. _ _ The peasants of Lesser Wallachia, assisted by the Wallachian soldiery, have risen against the Russians. The whole country in the environs of Kalafat and along the left shore of the Danube is in motion. The Russian functionaries have evacuated Tunnel. I'rince tieorge Stourdza, son of the ex-Hospoilar of Moldavia, has offered his services to the Sultan, who has accepted them, and the prince was to set out for the army of Omcr Pacha, where lie will command a brigade. The Montenegrin Primates compromised in the late plot arrived in Trieste on the 3rd instant. The Austrian Cabinet having transmitted to St. Petersburg an inquiry whether Russia would consent to the establishment of a European protectorate over the Christian population in Turkey, the Czar, it is said, has answered that he will never allow any foreign intervention in his differences with the Sultan, and that he will admit no participation in a right which he has so well acquired. The sailors of the Baltic fleet who are on leave are summoned to return for service by the month of March. All the Russian ships-of-war in the Black Sea have orders to return to Sebastopol. The Rosalcoff, P2O-gun ship, was lost after the en gagement at Sinope. According to a letter from Berlin of the 4tii inst. the Russo-Polish authorities have announced to the Prussian Government the discovery of a political plot, which had come to light through numerous arrests in the ex-kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Posen. The Emperor Nicholas has expressed a desire that the Prussian papers should abstain from all communications on the movements of the Russian army. The Nourelliste of Hamburg publishes a letter from St. Petersburg, dated Dec. 34), stating that the Livonian nobility and the burghers of Riga have sent in a declaration of their readiness to submit to all imaginable sacrifices in order to sustain the war against Turkey. The Medical Press of Bucharest says that there are 1 1,000 Russians on the sick list in the prin cipalities. PERSIA. The resumption of diplomatic relations between the English Ambasador and the Court of Teheran is confirmed by the latest intelligence. The original ground of the difficulty was the wish of the English Ambassador to take under his protection a man who was claimed, on the other hand, as a subject of the Persian Government. The Trieste Zcituny announces that three Persian corps were marching against Erzeroum, Bagdad, and towards the Persian Gulf. UNITED STATES. The principal event recorded in the American journals received during the week is the occurrence of another disastrous conflagration in New York. This catastrophe happened on the morning of the 27th ult. The fire commenced at a large bakery in Front-street, East liver, and soon raged with fearful violence, spreading, under the irresistible influence of a heavy gale from the north-west, to several flour stores, a belifoundry, and other warehouses, all of which were destroyed. For hours it was impossible for the firemen to obtain any control over the de structive element, owing to the fury of the wind. Presently the flames impelled by the gale seemed to leap towards the shipping ; and a noble ship, the Great Republic, of 4,0(X) tons burden, with nearly full cargo, was on fire. She was scuttled, but the water proved too shallow, so she continued to burn, her masts going by the board. The packet-ships Joseph Walker, De Witt Clinton, Red Rorer, and White Squall, also fell a prey to the flames shortly _ 31 after. The air all around was filled with sparks and blazing flakes, thick as a snowstorm, and at one time the pier at the foot of Dover-street was at least a foot deep in burning coals. Several sloops and brigs were much injured, but were generally fortunate enough to haul out in the stream, with partial loss of sails anti rigging. An extensive boat-building yard and shops belonging to Messrs. Newman were burnt, and there were many other sufferers, whose muses and amounts of loss could not immediately be ascer tained. The Great Republic is believed to have been the largest merchantman in the world. The luau rance-otfices will suffer seriously, as the amount of property destroyed is estimated at from one to two millions of dollars. Nearly all the vessels destroyed were from 1,000 to 1,300 tons ltnlen. During the gale of the same night an immense hotel at Cape May, calculated to accommodate Hon or 1400 persons in the bathing season, was blown down, and several of the other hotels were much injured. Cape May is a city of hotels and boarding houses. The railroad excitement at Erie had not subsided, and one or two more persons had lost their lives. It is said that some persons of Baltimore have discovered new guano islands ehich ere not within the jurisdiction of any Government, and therefore open to American enterprise. The New York Herald states:— " The Government has received information, which they deem of a ►eliable character, that a formidable expe dition has been organised, and is about to sail from New York and New Orleans, for the purpose of landing in Unlia, with a view to the independence of that island. The es. peJition is represented as being in such a state of forward. fleas as to render it probable it will sail within a few days. Orders have been despatched front here for the immediate apprehension of the p arties said to ►w implicated in the movement. It is believed by well-informed per.ons, hew ever, that the efforts of the Government in this respect may lw a little too late, and that a portion of the expedi tion will, at all events, get away." San l•'rancisco advices to the Ist of December, and about 2,000,000 dots. in gold dust, hail reached New York. The Californian intelligence generally is un important, if a few eases of murder and Lynch law be excepted. The miners were doing well, public health was good, and business solve. The public delft of the State of California is :1,197,6Kkd015. Two shocks of earthquake had been felt, but no lives lost, WEST AFRICA. The mail steamer Forrrunnrr has brought des patches from Lagos to the 6th ; Liberia the 10th ; and Sierra Leone to the 10th of I►eeember. The coast generally was healthy. The President of Liberia, Governor Roberts, vered, on the Bth of December, a voluminona and satisfactory message to the Senate and House of Representatives. He assured them of the support of England and France. The Emperor has sent 1,000 stand of arms and accoutretuents for a native At Lagos affairs continued in an unsettled state. Kossoko, with about 10,00 men, was in the rear of the town, threatening a descent. Mr. Carr, second master of her Majesty's ship Myrmidon, was murdered by the natives at Kan zaboe, one of the Ilijoinga Islands, between Sierra Leone and Bathurst, on November 2N, having been shot while fishing. The Antelope, Myrmidi n, and Britomart have gone there to seek satisfaction tor his death. Grand Tabou, a large village, thirty miles eastward of Cape Palmas, has been destroyed with shot and shell from the I'enelope, in consequence of the brutal murder that had been committed there last Jul? on the captain and the whole of the crow of the British merchant schooner Heroine. Mil EAST INDIES. The overland I►eee m ber 11th from Calcutta arrived in London nn Thursday. There is little news of importance from the three Presidencies. An affair had come off in the neighbourhood of the Kohat Pass between the Afreedies and a small force under Capt. Coke. The former were defeated, but the captain was wounded in the face by a bullet. A series of military operations were afterwards carried on against the Afreedies, who maintained their ground for some time with great spirit, but afterwards aban • donedthe contest. The Bengal Government has published a report on the administration of the Punjab for the years V 449-50 and Isso-51. From this document it appears that in the year 11449-50 the Punjab yielded a revenue of 1,3414,0001., while the civil expenditure was only m2/4,0001 ; and that in 11450-51 the revenue was 1,510,000/., and the cost of administration f 472,010/. This calculation is, however, exclusive of the cost of the 00,(KX► fighting men quartered in the Punjab, their pay alone amounting to 1,6541,000/. per annum ; but a very small portion of this frontier defence of the empire can fairly be charged on the Punjab, and the surplus of the revenue over the administrative charges would certainly more than pay for the aug mentation of the army that has taken place in cone. =II - "...*lik _ -.j