The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-08 00:00:00

I JULY El t 054. Say 130,0001. or 140,0001.—just fifteen months' hire Ten•thousand French troops, on the other hand, are to be sent to the Baltic for the purpose, it is conjec tured, to take possession of the Aland isles. The troops are to be ready at Calais in the course of next week, and the English Government has undertaken to provide for their transport to the scene of opera tions, For this purpose a squadron under the com- Mend of Commodore Grey is under orders to proceed to Calais. This squadron comprises the Royal Wil liam, 120; St. Vincent, 101; Hannibal (screw), 111; Algiers (screw), 91; Termagant (screw), 24,Captain Hon. Keith Stewart; Gladiator (paddle), 6 ; and Sphinx (paddle), O. The French troops will be conveyed from Calais in steamers to the English ships-of-war, and when the troops are all on board they will pass through the Downs for the North Sea and the Baltic. It is expected that one of the companies of Royal Sappers and Miners at present at Chatham will be sent to the Baltic ; and Colonel Jones, commandant of Royal Engineers at Chatham, will also proceed to the same destination. It is not intended that the transport squadron shall remain in the Baltic. They will return to be completed and fully manned for service, and will most likely go to the Black Sea. The 21st Regiment, stationed in Richmond Barracks, Dublin, received orders on Sunday to be in readiness to proceed, at a moment's mice, to Turkey. Thirteen railway-waggons filled with swords and ammunition for the Turkish army arrived at Southampton on Saturday, to be forwarded to Con stantinople by the Manila steamer, which leaves on the 15th inst. THE WHITE SEA. The combined sqnadron intended to blockade the White Sea, and which arrived at Hammerfest on the 30th ult., is composed of one English frigate and nine steam•corvettes, and nine French steam corvettes. Admiral Stirling has sent despatches to Admiral Laguerre, commanding at Reunion, requesting his co-operation to effect the capture of the Russian ships in the Eastern seas. The French frigate Jean d'Are, 50, was at the Mauritius on May 8 , to repair some trifling damage. She was to sail for China in search of the Russians as soon as her repairs were completed. IMPROVEMENTS IN SMALL ARMS. The Board of Ordnance have appointed a commis sion, consisting of an °Meer to be selected by the Commander-in-Chief, an artillery officer, and Mr. Westley Richards, jun., of Birmingham, to carry on experiments at Manchester, under Mr. Whitworth, the eminent machinist, for the purpose of ascertain ing the best construction for a rifle-barrel. The in stitution of these experiments, and the award of 1,0001. to Mr. Pritchard fur his new bullet, have stimulated scientific ingenuity in discovering the faults of the existing system, and suggesting improvements. Among other subjects, that of, perhaps, the chief importance is the quality of the gunpowder emplo)ed in charging the new rifles. The serious inconveniences attending the use of the present powder are well elucidated in a communication from a gentleman of high chemical and mechanical attainments residing in Birmingham. The powder now made, he says, "has one important objection when used in small arms, viz., upon its explosion an incombustible deposit is formed on the inner surface of the barrel, which each discharge augments. This deposit somewhat resembles red sealing wax, is apparently as hard, and adheres to the inner surface of the barrel at the breech end with such tenacity that the passage of the succeeding bullet up the barrel by the next explosion does not remove the previous deposit, but increases it, forming one layer upon another till, after fifteen or twenty shots, the shape of the tube for the guidance and passage of the ball is considerably altered. The bullet, which may have been put into the muzzle a perfect sphere, is blown out again, frequently not at all resembling the shape it was—the deposit being hard enough to cut pieces of lead from it and otherwise distort it, Various scheme s h ave b een contrived to remedy this objection, but the simple one is undiscovered, because gun powder is imperfect. The gunpowder-manufacturers may be aware of the defects I poiut out, but enable to afford a remedy. They are, however, not the only chemists in Great Britain and Ireland, and there is little reason to doubt, if a suitable reward were offered, that many a chemical mind would be exercised to produce the required improve ment; and, although all the conditions may not be fulfilled, something superior would be discovered, and the investi gation be of great advantage to the nation. What is really required for the use of small arms is a gunpowder with its equivalents so arranged. that th e c o mb us ti o n shall be per fect without the access of atmospheric air, leaving no deposit, '4 as far as possible, generating as much gas as that now to use, but no smoke. The gases generated by the coinbus non to be less d estruct i ve to the iron of the barrel, and, if possible, without affinity for iron. It is also desirable that the gases generated should not support combustion ; at the seine time they must not be destructive to human life such quantity as soldiers and sailors would be likely to he exposed to. It should be granulated, and combustion take Place at a similar rate to the powder now in use. The Introduction of such a powder for small arms would enable THE PRESS. a musket to be used, like any other machine, as long as it was supplied with material. Although there may be room for improvement in the mechanical construction of small arms, the mechanical objections to the small arms are by no means so great as the chemical objections to the gun powder." Adv.loes from San Francisco state that the Russian 04- gun frigate Diana had left Valparaiso, and was spoken Ist 10 8., long. 93 W., by the Isabella, from Glasgow, arrived at San Francisco, which had been seventeen days in company with her. Her destination was not known, nor had the declaration of war against Russia arrived at Valparaiso before she sailed. A number of Russian hussar regiments are immediately to be armed with lances. It is stated that a smith of Bu charest is making 6,000 lance•heads under orders from the Russian general. An officer of the fleet in the Baltic has communicated with his friends in Edinburgh in rather a novel way. When cruising about he throws his letters into the sea in a bottle, trusting to their being picked up by some English home•going vessel and forwarded to their address. Two of his epistles thus consigned to Father Neptune's direct custody have come to hand without delay, and it is questionable whether if sent by regular course they would have arrived at their destination within the same period. Amongst the midshipmen n of the ill-fated Tiger was Mr. Henry Eglinton Robinson, whose father, Captain Charles U. Robinson, R.N., commanded her Majesty's ship Shear. water in 1847, then engaged in the survey of the coast of Scotland, and had the honour of conducting his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Constantine amongst the West• ern Highlands. This fact having become known at Odessa, it appears, procured for the youthful prisoner the most marked attention, more particularly from the Baroness Osten Sacken, the lady of the Governor-General, who at once made Mr. Robinson a guest at the palace, where, it is understood, he remained until his departure for the Uni versity at Moscow—an institution under the especial patronage of the Emperor. THE FRENCH ADMIRAL OF THE BALTIC. VICE-ADMUIAL PARSEVAL DESCHENES, who commands the French squadron in the Baltic, was born in 1790, He made his first voyage in the Buceilleur line-of•battle-ship, in which he was present at the battle of Trafalgar. In 1814 he served iu the Scheldt squadron. In 1815 he was charged with special missions to the coast of Brazil, to the Amazon, the Antilles, and Guiana. During this last voyage his vessel was wrecked, and he escaped almost by a miracle. A most favourable report was made of his con duct by Admiral Itosamel in lit 44, on the occasson of the capitulation of Barcelona. In 1830 he was promoted to the command of a frigate, and went to Algiers with the expeditionary army ; and in 1833 ho commanded the Victuire, which was the first that cannonaded the fortified town of Boudjeiah (Bougie), when taken by the French. He was soon after promoted, and commanded the Iphiglisie line-of-battle-ship at the seige of Ulloa. In his report on that compaign, the late Admiral Baudin spoke of Captain Parseval Deschenes as one of the first among the officials to whom he owed gratitude for their cordial devotedness, their skilful arrangements, and the excellent spirit they had infused into their crews. In 1841 he was named Maritime Prefect of Cherbourg. In 1844 he was decorated with the cross of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour; in 1840 he was promoted to Vice-Admiral; in 1847 named member of the Mixed Commission of Public Works, in place of Vioe•Admiral de la Susse, and in the same year Maritime Prefect of Toulon, in place of Vice• Admiral Baudin; in 1848 he was appointed luspeotor•General of the forts of lirest, Loriont, and Cherbourg; in 1831 member of the Admiralty Board ; and finally, in May, 1854, he was named to the command of the third squadron, that of the Baltic. He is said to be very popular with the men and officers that have been under his command. A BRITISH BRIG CAPTURED BY PIRATES. THE capture of the Cuthbert Young, a British brig, by Ruffian pirates, is related in the Gibraltar Chro nicle of June 24. The brig was from Newcastle, John G. Marshall commander, of 293 tons register. She was out twenty-five days from Malta, in ballast, beund to Falmouth for orders, and was unfortunately becalmed and driven by the current to within ten miles off Cape Tres Forcas, on the coast of Riff, on the night of the 21st of June, when, to the astonish ment of the master and crew, they were suddenly alarmed by the fire of musketry, and immediately afterwards observed a number of boats approaching, which proved to be full of pirates. By ten o'clock, finding little chance of escape, the night being rather dark, and the pirates increasing their fire and closing upon the brig, the stern-boat was lowered, six of the crew got in, and pushed off in the greatest confusion : twenty minutes elapsed ere the remaining portion of the crew could launch the skiff, when they jumped into it and made away as fast as they could, hotly pursued for three hours by two piratical boats, who kept up a constant fire on them until they were out of reach. It was not until five p.m. on the following day (seventeen hours after leaving the brig) that the skiff was fallen in with by the Austrian barque Vincenzo, whose captain took them on board and treated them with every kindness, they being in a state of great exhaustion, not having tasted food during that time. The stern-boat, with the other six, has not been heard of. Her Majesty's steam sloop Prometheus, which arrived on the evening of the 25th, received instructions to take on board the master of the Cuthbert Young, and proceed to the Riff coast in search of the captured vessel. Customs Excise SLaagos Taxes Property Tax Post °Mee Crown Land* 1114cellauLeou% Total Ord. Rev. Imprest and other Moneys Repayments of Advances Total Income .. The Amount ap plied to Consoli dated Fund, ex clusive of Ad- Tarim; Ditto applied as .. Advances Do. ay part of Waysand Means of Year Tot *1 Customs Excise Mumps Taxed Property Tax Poet Office Crown Lands Miscellaneous... Total Ord. Rev. Im_pregt and other Moneys Repayments of Advances Total Income .. July 5, 1a53. 4,94i,337 8,796,617 1,875,18 1,610,483 1,063,027 951,000 A/0"B 90,587 113,520,07 256,759 424,573 114,201,369 3,239,1135 999,027 7,962,407 114,201,369 48,076 435,165 166,0041 649,241 68,477 707.718 I Deduct 1 Increase {Decree. on the Year. Court anll cfastion. HER MAJESTY held a Court at Buckingham Palace on Saturday last, at which his Highness the Maharajah Duleep Sing was presented to her Majesty by Sir Charles Wood, President of the Board of Control. On Monday the Queen held a Privy Council. On Thursday morning her Majesty, accompanied by Prince Albert, the Princess Royal, and Princess Alice, visited the Sydenham Crystal Palace. Today the Queen will probably be present at the last Chiswick fête of the Royal Horticultural Society. PRINCE ALBERT presided on Tuesday evening at a meeting of the Society of Arts in the A delphi, and on the following day went to Cambridge to attend th e meeting of the Archaeological Institute at that University. LAST week the Queen visited Albert Smith's enter tainment of Mont Blanc, and has since sent him, through the hands of Coldhel Phipps, a diamond pin as a mark of her royal gratification. • THE KING OF PORTUGAL returned to London from his provincial tour at a late hour in the night of yesterday week. His Majesty, accompanied by his brother, left England on Monday afternoon, embark ing at Woolwich for Ostend on board the Portuguese steam-yacht Minde/o. It is rumoured that theyoung King is not unlikely to offer his hand to the Princess Charlotte of Belgium. HER Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge gave a grand assembly on Tuesday evening at her apartments in St. James's Palace. COUNT BERNSTORF has left Berlin, yid Paris, to assume his functions as Prussian Minister at the Court of St. James's. LORD HOWDEN, British Minister at Madrid, is ex pected to arrive in town early in the ensuing week from the Continent. A CABINET COUNCIL was held on Saturday after noon at the Foreign-office in Downing -street. The Council sat two hours and a half. THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER bas been in disposed from au attack of chicken-poi for some days, but is now recovering. Valituai and Ottani. THE REVENUE. The Quarterly Returns showing the net produce of the public revenue, with the increase and decrease thereof, for the quarter and year ending on the Bth instant, were issued on Thursday last. The items are as follow : Quarter ended July li, 1u54. 4,576,843 3,024,098 1,705,638 1,435,927 1,101,594 879,000 G 5,000 55,8138 112,942,893 139,716 305,971 113,388,8A40 8,022,479 210,452 5,155,649 113,388,580 45k1,524 435,936 33,004 132,8m8 26,967 1,079,617 102,470 1,149 Od7 707,718 474,389 LPARATIVE STATE: Year ended July 5, 1854. In - crease. Year July 3, 1033. 18,914,382 13,737,499 0,477,447 3,201,047 5,589,079 1,988,000 492,868 139,802 149,578,184 758,789 1,322,469 161,659,442 17,209,735 1,P83,628 122,464,079 51,659,442 LENT. ;I my Increase. 80,485 48,567 12/1,000 207,032 207,052 Deduct Increase IDecree. on the Quarter. ended 18H. 633 July 5, 114 M. 13,503,838 13,302,263 6,646,428 3,167,145 6,024,244 1,232,000 200,1100 132,1425 19,147,808 817,266 1,219,999 i1,1t15,1173 !33,527,242 1,410,5i8 !10,247,2A3 .51,155,073 4 367,494 171,009 74,568 135.888 34,649 784,106 117,043 118602 1,0190341 207,052 6L9,789