The Press. — London, England, 1857-02-28 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publica- tion, but as a guarantee of his good faith. Advertisements sent from the country must be accompanied by a remittance or a reference for payment In town. Vbx Vritgo. LONDON,SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1857 POSTSCRIPT. A letter from Vienna, in the Nord, says : It was on the 10th that Count de Pear, the Austrian Minister, presented to the Cabinet of Turin the note already mentioned, which contains the complaint of the Austrian Government, I believe that I can confidently assure you that this note hints that a rupture of diplomatic relations between the two countries will take place, in case Sardinia should not give satisfactory explanations -to the Cabinet of Vienna. The grievances of the Austrian Go vernment are:-1. The abuse of the Sardinian press, consisting in violent diatribes against Austria and excite lions to her subjects to revolt. 2. The subscription made ■t Turin by Lombards for a monument in honour of the Sardinian soldiers who were killed in the campaign of 184 g ; and 3. The subscription for the purchase of cannons and muskets for a rising in Lombardy. Intelligence from Constantinople, of the 20th, states that Mehemet Bey (a Hungarian) lad ac cepted the command of the independent Circassians. Four hundred men of the now disbanded Polish Legion have embarked for Cireassia on board Eng lish (merchant) steamers, towing ships loaded with stores and arms. The English fleet will remain at Buyukdere till the 24th of Fehruary. . _ _ English functionaries have undertaken the management of the electric telegraph between Varna and Constantinople. The Russian fleet in the Caspian will disembark at Asterabad 2,500 irregular troops from Daghestan, with munitions of war. Intelligence from Vienna states that the question of the Danubian principalities continues to be the object of diplomatic negotiations between the Otto. man Porte and England on the one side, and Austria on the other. It is stated positively that Baron de Kohler, the Austrian member of the commission, has drawn up a report, the conclusions of which af firmed that the union of the Principalities could only seriously interfere with the legitimate interests of the powers most interested who signed the Treaty of Paris, of the Principalities themselves, and of Europe in general. This report is said to have been communicated in its most essential points by Baron de Kohler to Prince Callimaki for Turkey, as well as to Sir Hamilton Seymour for England, and these two diplomatists are said to have declared themselves perfectly in accord with the writer. The Madrid journals of the 22nd inst. have arrived. The Espana expresses the opinion that the 10,000 men who are about to be sent to Mexico will confine themselves to the occupation of Vera Cruz. The agent of M. Mires has paid into the Treasury 10,000,000 reals in anticipation of the instalment of the loan of:100,000,000 reels, which falls due in April. !The Peninsular steamer Madrid, conveying the outward Peninsular mails of the 17th, struck on a rock at the entrance of the port of Vigo on the 20th inst. Ail on board were saved. Some days must elapse before particulars of the accident can be re• ceived. The first clerk of the Admiralty, Mr. Dyer, Mr. John Barrow, F.R.S., Mr. Haughton, and Mr. Mid lane, senior clerks, have been dismissed ; or, if this term be unpalatsble, removed from their situations. The step token by the board is said to be of so ex traordinary a character that as yet it is scarcely possible to realise the truth.—Standard. LAST NIGHT'S DEBATE. HOUSE OF LORDS. THE CATTLE EPIDEMIC. Replying to Lord Polwarth, Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY stated that the Customs authorities possessed ample powers to take all requisite precautions, if any seemed necessary, to prevent the spread in this country of the cattle murrain, which was reported to have become epide mic in various districts of North Germany. The Government, he added, had received no special in formation on the subject. Their lordships adjourned after a brief sitting. HOUSE OF COMMONS. RUSSIA AND PERSIA. In reply to Mr. Layard, Lord •PALMERSTON cited the authority of the Russian Ambassador for the statement that there was no truth in the rumour of a new treaty, involv ing a concessi on of territory, h al i ng been concluded between itUssiii and Pent% THE PRESS. THE CRIMEAN INQUIRY• in answer to another question, The PREMIER said that. 1,0001. apiece bad been offered by way of honorarium to Sir J. Dl‘Neill and Colonel Tulloch, by whom, however, the proffer had been declined. THE CHINA DEBATE. The adjourned debate on the late transactions at Canton was resumed by Mr. S. WARREN, who, after an emphatic denial of all party prejudices, pronounced a heavy censure upon the British representatives in China, and, by implication, on the Government at home. The ostensible ground of difference was, in his opinion, nothing but a flimsy pretext for proceedings which Sir J. Bowring would never have undertaken if he had not felt assured of support and countenance from his official superiors. The LORD ADVOCATE remarked that when appeals were made to justice, the house should remember that some justice was due to the functionaries who were required at a great distance from home, and under very serious responsibilities, to do their best in vindication of British honour and interests. Two charges he said had been alleged against them—that they had committed a breach of international law, and inflicted an unjustifiable punishment for a slight wrong. On the former point he contended that the right of protection claimed for the Arrow was founded upon an ordinance which the Chinese them selves had recognised for many a year without re monstrance. The Chinese authorities had from the beginning placed themselves in the wrong, and ob stinately refused reparation under circumstances that led step by step to all the consequences that followed. The pretence founded on the expiry of the lorcha's register did not apply. The character of the outrage depended upon the animus with which it was committed. The Chinese evidently designed to perpetrate an insult on the British flag, and there was no course left but to take prompt notice of the wrong, and require a fitting measure of redress. With respect to the alleged severity of the retribu tion inflicted, he urged that it should not be merely measured by the final cause of disturbance, which might be of' insignificant proportion in itself but was the crown to a long series of injuries, and the exponent of issues of the greatest possible importance. Mr. WnrrEstnE rebutted the legal assumption of the Lord Advocate, referring to the " supplementary" treaty with China; the terms of which, he urged, necessarily overrode any mere ordinance of a colo nial governor, and the purport of which, as he inter preted and applied it, fully exonerated the Chinese, and left the British functionaries responsible for the atrocities subsequently perpetrated. Contending that the proceedings of Sir John Bowring and Mr. Parkes were wholly unwarrantable, be called upon the House of Commons to mark its indignation at a crime which outraged humanity, and cast discredit on the national profession of Christianity. Mr. HORSFAI.I. opposed the motion, believing, that the British Commissioner had kept strictly within the bounds of international law. He proceeded to defend the Liverpool merchants against certain charges that had been thrown out in the course of the debate. Lord ROBERT CECIL enforced the necessity of put ting some check upon the representatives of England abroad, to prevent the recurrence of events which, like that under discussion, entangled the country in crime and peril. Sir C. 14APIER urged that Admiral Seymour had done nothing but his duty. The British flag was insulted, and his course was clear. Lord GODERICH considered that Sir J. Bowring had seized an inauspicious moment to urge a very questionable claim. That functionary, in his opinion, deserved the censure of Parliament. Mr. BENTINCK could not vote for the motion, although approving it upon abstract principles, because he apprehended the complications that must ensue in China if Parliament interposed by a vote of censure with the serious questions now pending between the British and Chinese authorities. Sir M. BERKELEY eulogised the forbearance and humanity displayed by Admiral Seymour. Sir J. GRAHAM also vindicated the admiral, and extended that vindication partially to Sir J. Bowring, whom, however, he characterised as more remark able for the honesty of his intentions than the dis cretion of his acts. The 116 n. baronet then reviewed the recent transactions in detail, arriving at the con• elusion that the lorcha Arrow possessed no title to be treated as a British vessel. He believed that the colonial licence granted to it was invalid from the beginning, but, if not, bad certainly expired. He repudiated the whole principle upon which this licensing system was based, commenting on the evils that would be produced if aliens, by a species of quasi naturalisation, were to be enabled to shelter themselves under the protection of a British flag. But the transactions were worse in policy than in law. Sir J. Bowring had evidently seized the oppor tunity to solve the rexata vuestio of access to Can ton, and for that purpose had pressed to ortrowitioa SAtrRDAY, a claim which successive Secretaries of State had, after deliberate consideration, deemed it expedient to leave dormant. Lord Granville, Lord Alaliiies bury, and Lord Grey had positively prohibited all aggressive operations against the Chinese; and the partial relaxation of this prohibition by Lord Claren don did not suffice to relieve the Commissioner from the charge of having exceeded his powers. In a national point of view, he inquired whether it would redound to the honour of England, that, after saving Odessa and Helsingfors, her admirals had bom barded Canton. For his own part he would wash his hands of innocent blood. The ATTORNEY GENERAL examined the question in its legal bearings, addressing his arguments chiefly to the speeches in the House of Lords, and justify ing the course adopted by the British representatives at Canton. On the motion of Mr. R. PHULIMORE, the debate was then again adjourned to Monday next. The house adjourned at half-past twelve o'clock. THE PERSIAN NEGOTIATIONS. The i‘ord of Brussels publishes the following, under date of Paris, 22nd instant : I have only just time to add a few words to my despatch of yesterday, respecting the Anglo. Persian difficulty. As I telegraphed to you, that question is settled. You ate are aware that one of the claims advanced by Lord Strat ford recently at Constantinople, and which Feronk Khan thought exorbitant, was a demand for the dismissal of the Prime Minister of the Shah, the Sadr' Azam, Mirza Aga Khan. . . . . England has relinquished this demand. The Sadr' Azam will remain in office. The second claim of England, upon which the London Cabinet strongly insisted, was still more exorbitant. The English Government desired that, on Mr. Murray, the Britibli representative at Teheran, resuming his office, he should receive twice the visits of the Persian authori- ties before returning them. This demand could not he complied with by the Shah. This also has been set aside. Mr. Murray will be received with all the honours due to his rank, but the Persian Government will not have to perform an act which would have lowered it in the eyes of the people, and to the humiliation of which it never could have consented. But Persia has consented to receive English Consuls in all the towns where there are Russian Consuls. Herat will be restored on the one hand, and Bushire on the other. Such are the more important points which I have to communicate to you on a question which the English Government was very anxious to bring to a settlement. On the 24th, Le Nord's Paris correspondent adds The arrangement between England and Persia is not finally concluded, as it has hot yet been signed. Advices from London are waited for. .T: e Times Paris correspondent, under date of the 25th, writes : The proposed convention with England specifies that England shall henceforth be treated as the most favoured nation, that is, as Russia, with respect to commercial advantages ; and, moreover, that she shall have a right to found an establishment in the Isle of Barrack and another in Ormuz. These conditions would appear to be inde• pendent of the evacuation of Rent by the Persians, and the abandonment of liushire by the English. The English Government had demanded the right to appoint a Consul at Balfrush, a port of the Mazanderan on the Caspian Sea, but the Persian Envoy alleged that the existing treaties with Russia contain a clause prohibiting foreign diplomatic agents from residing on the shores of that sea, and no other foreign power has an agent there. But she may enjoy the right of having Consuls on several specified points in the interior of Persia, and ou the shore of the Persian Gulf. If the conditions to be submitted to the English Government be accepted, Ferouk Khan will probably go to London, merely for the ratification of the treaty between us and Persia. On the day following the Times Paris correspon dent writes : The summary of the conference with the English Am bassador has, I doubt not, been regularly despatched to London, and the last which was more conclusive—if the term " conclusive " can be safely applied to it—promises, RS I have said, very favourably. The draft may have by this met with the approval of our Government, and, for aught I know, the treaty may be signed in Downing-street; but the important point is the ratification at Teheran—and of this no man can be certain. It is but an act of justice to state that throughont the whole of this affair the Emperor Napoleon has acted in a straightforward, disinterested, and honourable manner, and, so far as can be judged by his words and acts, his earnest desire has been to remove every obstacle, and to facilitate a satisfactory solution of the question. I learn that the Russian Ambassador in Paris, as well as the Persian Envoy, deny the existence of the treaty between Russia and Persia, said to have been ratified at Teheran on the 18th of Janua•y ; and the Nonl gives a similar contradiction. I need hardly say that the non existence of that treaty requires some authority less interested in keeping it secret than either of the parties just mentioned. The existence of the treaty is neverthe less affirmed in other quarters, and it is even whispered that, for the cession of the portion of the territory in question, including Mount Ararat, by which Russia would command the pass of Ilayszid, and which had been long coveted by Russia, the latter has engaged to give Persia the assistance of a corps d'arrni:e and a permanent gar rison of 5,000 men at Ijent, iu 080 the War With g li g" 4 COUtinUed