The Press. — London, England, 1858-08-14 00:00:00

'B2 TO CORRESPONDENTS. Coinmunicatlons should always be legibly written, and on one aide of the paper only. If long it increases the difficulty of finding space for them. rtx vvvl:39 g+ LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1858. POSTSCRIPT. TURKEY. CONSPIRACY FOR THE MA•it'ACRE OF THE CHRISTIANS. Msnstm.t.r:s, Aug. N. The Conrilr de Constantinople of the 4th instant Rta tes that the late collisions ut Bosnia, in Turkish Croatia, and in Montenegro, have caused a sort of panic in the capital. The Mussulmans and the Christians were living in mutual fear of one another. The Sultan, to show his own contiilernle, hail gone in the fleet on an excursion to Smyrna and the Archi pelago. A plot, having for its object the massacre of the Christians, had been discovered at Smyrna. The Governor had made a seizure of arms, and sent the guilty persons to Constantinople. A scandalous rise had been effected in the exchanges; but, the Divan having given orders to the bankers to reduce them, a fall had begun. The Turkish Government has announced that a pension of 12,000 francs would be allowed to the heirs of the Page family, and that 1,000,000 piastres had been granted to the other victims. THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH. The following message wai received last night at the office of the Atlantio Telegraph Company, from Valentia, by British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph:— - • The receipt of a niPsange of twentysix words yesterday evening from Newfoundland, relaive to signals and instru ments, has satisfied me its to the cititse of delay in the full and free interchange of messages. They now read and ac knowledge oar words accurately. We can receive at very good speed frotu them, while they con as yet only receive from us slowly. 1 hope to be able to transmit the message from her Majesty • to the President this afternoon. SIR JOHN LAWRENCE, BAWL'., 0.C.8. Sin JOHN LAIRD Matti LAWRENCE ' G.C.8., Chief Commissioner of the Punjano, wh o has been em phatically styled the man who has saved India durine, the recent mutiny, is a brother of the late lamented Sir Henry Lawrence, K.C.8., who was killed in the siege of Lucknow. This pair of distinguished officers of the Honour able East India Company's Service are of Irish blood and extraction—like Wellington, Wellesley, fil‘Nagliten, and a host of other distinguished names—and they are children of whom the sister island may well feel proud. Their careers have run to the last most wonderfully parallel to each ether, and we may add that they have been followed at no long distance from each other by a third brother, though one less known to public tame, Colonel George St. Patrick Lawrence, 2nd 8.L.C., at present holding a command in Itsjpoolana. Of this tamily, the late Sir Henry Lawrence was one of the elder sons, and Sir John Lawrence one of the youngest. Their father was the late Lieut.-Colonel Alexander Lawrence, an officer of the King's service, sometime Governor of Upnor Castle, and who gained consider able distinction in the Mysore campaigns, under the Marquis Cornwallis, and in the siege of Sering apatam. Their mother—a second Cornelia, the mother of the Gracehi—was a daughter of the late Captain Knox, a member of a highly respectable family of the north of Ireland, which long held landed property in the county of Donegal. Sir John Lawrence was born in India in 1810, and received his early education, like his brother, in Lon donderry, and subsequently at the East. India College, ll.iileybury. He obtained his nomination to India as a writer, April 30, 1829, and was sworn in on the following 3rd of June. On the Ist of July he received notification of his actual appointment, and arrived in India on February 0, 18:30. In the early part of his career, in January, 1831, he became assistant to the Chief Commissioner and Resident at Delhi ; in December, 1833, we find him promoted to the post of officiating magistrate and collector at Delhi ; from which, a year later, he was traesferreil to a similar appointment at Pamput. In July, 1836, he was appointed joint magistrate and deputy collector of Goorgaon, and the southern division of Delhi, anti in the November of the same year, offi ciating magistrate of the southern division only. In 183.,3, h e was transferred to the sole cha rge of Goorgeon. Before the close of the same year we find him conilnciing the settlement ditties in Zillah El aw al l . In February, 1840, he proceeded to Europe on the usual Ntioughi taud didi g m return to lndia until Doneraber, 1842. F• v T 1 - 1 E PRESS, AUGUST 14, 1858. Up to this time Mr. Lawrence had been almost exclusively engaged in the collection of revenue ; and, owing probably to the absence of great oppor tunities, his value and ability were little known ex cept to his immediate superiors. By them, however, we know that he was duly appreciated from the first. Having held one or two temporary employments, in 1816 we find him already engaged as judge magis trate and collector over the important district of the central division of Bengal, where his administrative ability attracted the attention of the Governor General, Sir Henry Hardinge. It wag not long before he had an opportunity given of making for himself a name. In 1811 he was appointed to the important post of Commissioner of the Trans- Sutlej Provinces, which had been recently added to our Indian empire, as the result of the Slit cam paigns. Here he had new ground to break up, and a chaos of disorder and confusion, political, fiscal, and agricuhural, to reduce into system, shape, and form. In this work lie showed a masterly power of administration, and a perseverance, energy, and industry which were beyond ail praise. Nor was h.: long in looking for his reward in the shape of pro• motion to a more important and better paid, and (what he valued more highly still) a more laborious post. As our readers will doubtless remember, the assassinati an of the British envoys in 184 M at Mooltan, the capital of a petty State between the Indus and the Sutlej, was followed by the capture of that fortress, and the subsequent union of the forces of Shere Singh and Chucker Singh. After a long and obstinate contest, the Sikhs and Atfghans were finally crushed by Lord Gough at Ferozepore anti Chillianwallah, and surrendered into our hands. The issue wag, that the Affghans were obliged to fly beyond the Indus, the Sikh forces were disbanded, and the Punjaub was declared by Dord Dalhousie as thenceforth annexed to the British territories in India. Sir Henry Lawrence had already filled the post of British Resident at Lahore, and he and his brother Mr. John Lawrence were nominated as two out of the three members of the board, for the administra tion of the Punjaub. The first step undertaken by the hoard (Sir 11. Lawrence, Sir John Lawrence, and Mr. Marsh), on receiving their plenary powers, was to appoint an executive qua of civil officers, and to cause a tho rough investigation to be made into the rights of such lands as claimed to ho free tenures, and to settle a complicated fiscal system. They next proceeded to enforce for civil judication the rules current in the Sutlej provinces, as being " calculated to insure sub stantial justice unfettered by legal technicalities." Next came the settlement of a new penal code, and the organization of a body of polite, for the purpose of disarming the people, and the dismantling or forts and strongholds, which only served as the fastnesses of thieves and freebooters. And, lastly, the re sources of She country had to be developed. Trade, agriculture, and commerce were to be fostered. Surveys had to be made, canals to be cut, levels to be tak:m, and roads constructed. The mineral resources of the Alpine regions bordering on the Himalayas had to be explored, and the internal communication by navigation of the rivers had to be opened up. In addition to this it Was found necessary by the board to disband the Sikh soldier!, though many of them subsequently entered the British service, whilst they were empowered to raise en irregular force consisting of ten regiments— five of cavalry and five of infantry,—for the protection of the western frontier. As to the results of these movements, we may state that, within the first year, the administration of the country was reported to the Governer-General as having been " lairlyset, in train" —civil and criminal courts having been established, and no less than 8,000 marauders and other offenders having been lodged in custody. During this time a new sy stem of excise and customs was projected, submitted to Government, and carried into effect ; municipal and conservancy arrangements were made, attention was paid to public improvements, scientific surveys were conducted for the greatroad to Peshaw•ur and fur the Baree Doab Canal, and cross-roads com- menced in all directions through the country. During the succeeding year, the entire currency of the Pun• jsub was reformed, a new coinage was introduced, and the roads and canals, designed in the previous year, were actually commenced, to say nothing of a new system of excise being fully established. The consequence of these efficient services was, that, at the end of the second year, the board were able to report to the Governor-tleneral that " the entire British system and its institutions were thoroughly introduced into the Punjaub." The board add the following comment :—" The two first years were years of originating, the third year has been rather one of perfecting ;" and they conclude by referring to the appendix to the report all who desire to know the step by which the general administration had been advanced up to the poin! at which it then stood. To give a detailed account of these results, equally solid and splendid an their character, would he to give an epitome of an East Indian " }tine Book," of npwarda of :300 pages, includine, many important tables l $ talk OW we opus inthotius on ourselves or our readers; the more willingly since Indi an Blue Books " are printed at present without marginal summary. The rest of Sir John Lawrence's career is i nn fresh in our reader' memorier to nerd rep.rninm here. W e may, however, mention that, in Is3n, h e was made a in reward for his service, as Commissioner of the Punjaub, and way advanced to the dignity of a G.C.B. last year, for zea l , intrepidity, and energy in supporting liis decriLsed brother and the military anthorities in sUpprei.miiig the Indian mutiny. He is now farther rewarded with a baronetcy, and a seat, by nomination of her Majesty's Government, in the new Indian Council, in which capacity he will enjoy a salary of 1,2001. a year. The following's Order in Gam:o," recently istlei by Lord Canning, will speak for itselt The 3overnor-General in Council will not postpone Ms grateful acknowledgment of the services which have !. t . ea rendered to the empire at this juncture by the Chk Commissioner of the l'uttjanb. To Sir John Iswrener• it is owing that the army before long u o eat aff from all direct 'support from the lower provinces, has been continually recruited and Krengthened so effectually sr to enable iis commander not only to mr.intain Ms position unshaken, but to achieve a great success. To Sit John Lawrence's unceasing vigilance, and his energetic and judicious use of the trustworthy twee at his dispels], it is due that Major-General Wilson's army has not Is" harassed and threatened on the aide of the l'unjattb, Rol that the authority of the Government in the I'unjuub itself has been sustained and generally respected. It will probably be remembered that, in November last, Sir John Lawrence, when he received the dis tinction of the Grand Cross of the Bath, at the same time received the thanks of Parliament by resolution of both houses. Shortly afterwards a despatch was sent out by the directors of the East India Company directing that his salary of 7,2001. a year as Cleo' Com rnis:%ior er should be increased to the same animal'. as that of lieutenant•governor—namely, 10,0001. a year, and that its receipt should date from the Ist January, 185 m. The.e circumstances show that the distinguished and invaluable services of Sir .1.14:1 Lawrence have not been overlooked, though the nation will not think that his services have been adequately rewarded until they are crowned with 3 peerage ; and it is generally expected that a peerage is in store for him, when the Indian mutiny has been fairly quelled, and Lord Cannilyg has been advanced to an earldom. We learn from Ilardwielte'A "Sid Kni;litar " that Sir John Lawrence married, in 14-12, a daughter of the late Rev. R. liamilton.—Court Circular. SI'CONI) EI)LFI(►\. SATURDAY AFTERNOON. L TEST INTELLIGENCE. AUSTRIA. VIENNA, Aug. 1:;. The official journal publishes the result of the budget of 1857. The Government is under the necessity of niltnitting a deficit of 4'2,000,00 0 dorms 005,000,000 francs). The deficiency for the rear 1856 amounted to 60,000,000 florins (150,000, 000 francs). CHINA. PAras, Aug. 13. The allied admirals in China hare taken poises' mon cf Takow. They are completely masters of the ccurse or the Peilto up to the point at which it ceases to be navigable, some miles beyond Tiensio, the important granary of Northern China, where are stored the immense supplies of rice from the southern provinces on which Pekin depends for as sub. sistence. THE QUEEN'S PROGRESS. POTSDAM, Aug. 12. The Queen and Prince Consort arrived bac at ten o'clock this evening, all well. SIR J. LAWRENCE. TILE Times of this morning says : We are enabled to state that Sir John Lawrence will not leave his post in India until the tranquillity of the conatry is restored, though he is most so:loins to return to Ent,- land, and though, but for the insurrection, he would hare returned last winter. It is in contemplation of b which is so far contingent, that the offer of I place. in the N return, Council will be made him, conditional on his ability to accept it, and with the option of his remitting or resigni n g it if he should hereafter desire to resume tan present pod in Indio. FItENCH FUNPB—CLOSING PRICES. FARM 00 8 . Three per Cats, • • • • • 0ti.94 ..- , • I