The Press. — London, England, 1857-01-03 00:00:00

A- i part of the city was bombarded on the 3rd and 4th of Nov., and on the 6th the llarracouta destroyed twenty three war junks. Another interval of reflection was then granted to the Chinese Governor, but at the date of the last accounts from Canton, up to the 15► th, no signs of an accommodation were discer nible—a proclamation having been issued by Yeh declaring that with the entire concurrence of the in habitants of Canton he had flatly refused to concede the admission of foreigners to the city, and was de termined not to grant the zequest though " the bar barians might carry their feats and machinations to what length they will." Our fleet of war ships in the Chinese Seas consists of:— AT HONG MONO. H.M.S. Calcutta ti4 Captain Hall. Winchester Coromandel Hercules.... Hospital ships. Minden .... ) AT wicturoA. H.M.S Sybille Encounter Bittern Sampson Counts AT CANTON. H.M.S. Barracouta AT WOOSVNO. H.M.S. Pique .. Capt. Sir F. W. Nicolson. Hornet As in these matters there are always two sides to the question, we subjoin the CHINESE VERSION OF THE DISPUTE. The banditti that formerly existed in the interior having b3en swept away by our officers and soldiers, native and f oeign merchants have acquired peace to transact their affairs. What can be so good ? A. few days ago we heard that the English authorities had suddenly brought their steamers and war vessels to enter the river, fire on and injure the forts, and kill the soldiers, which is exceedingly perverse and unreasonable. Fortu nately our officers and soldiers in the forts did not resist ; thereby avoiding the infringement of the treaty. Having inquired, we learn that for some time many of the lorchas that have traded on the Canton river have infringed the laws very much—smuggled and sold salt; instances of their infringements are piled up. Not one of the native officials and people but has been much provoked. Now, this No. '27 lorcha, boldly dared to shelter the robbers Lee Ming T'ae and others, and to enter Canton. The English officials are bound, in accordance with the treaty, to find out vagabonds and hand them over to the Chinese officers for punishment. But in this affair the elptain of the lorcha has deceived the English Consul ; the wrong, therefore, rests with him (the captain), and not with our military authorities. This lorcha was em ployed by a native called Soo•Asing, the register was Ws honestly procured by the captain ; it is not an English lorcha; there is a great difference between it and the foreign men-of-war ships that arz of an honest character. The duty of our military is only to find out and capture robbers; they do not understand the treaty, at which we need not be astonished. Our officials have heard of this affair, and, being very merciful, have liberated the twelve men who were taken from the lorcha, in accordance with all love and reason. But, unexpectedly, the English officers, distinctly against the treaty, have fired on and injured the forts, killing the soldiers. We wish to ask if there is any love or reason in such conduct? We recollect that the forts on the banks of the river were formerly wade for the protection of the people, now they being suddenly injured the (neighbouring) country suffers also. Not ons who has blood and breath but will be engaged. We can only expose this perverse and unreasonable in fringement of the treaty by the English officers, univer sally informing the officials and merchants of all the honourable countries, as well as the large English mer chants (requesting them), altogether to investigate, and not to say we men of China speak against human prin ciple. THE PERSIAN EXPEDITION. No intelligence, up to the 3rd Dec., of the move. ments of the squadron in the PenAan Gulf had been received at Bombay, but preparations for extensive operations against Persia, should she retain Herat, are being carried out by the Indian authorities. A strong reserve force of 5,000 men was being organised at Bombay, and reinforcements were about to be sent to the expedition so soon as the transports returned. Meanwhile a division of 5,000 men under the com rdand of Gen. Chamberlain, accompanied by Sir John Lawrence, has advanced by the hills of Kohat, within fifty miles of Cebu], with the view of support. ing the advance of Dost Mohamed. The old chief, says the Bombay Times, is said meanwhile to be finessing—keeping up correspondence with both parties, to claim the friendship of that one which remains master in the field ; while negotiations have been opened with the Khans of Kelat and Candahar. 1 The fall of Herat was authenticated, and Murad M irza Khan, the serdar, or commander-in-chief, of the Persian troops, had sent a division of his army THE PRESS. to the southward, where he knew that Gonlab- Haidar, the son of Dost Mohamed, was at the head of a very numerous body of cavalry in an attitude of observation. The Shah's troops advanced as far as Ferrah, a town between Herat and Candahar, where they took up a strong position. On arriving at this spot, the Persian general learned that Goulab-Haidar bad fallen back upon Candahar. In pursuance of orders from the Court of Teheran, the Persian army is to remain at Ferrah to watch events and to keep up communications with Herat. At Bushire it was reported that a strong Persian force was collected, and the island off the entrance of the place to be strongly fortified. A proclamation had been issued by the governor directing the natives to retire into the interior, and declaring the deter• mination of the Shah to fight to the last should Persia be invaded by British forces. Upon the question of the prospects of an army advancing by Bushire into the interior, con siderable light has been thrown by a letter that has gone the round of the Indian press, signed C. F. The writer describes himself as familiar with the country, having served two campaigns with Persian troops, and traversed on four several occasions the road from Bushire to Tabriz. The capture of Bushire itself he considers easy in the extreme. The very position of the town—exposed as it is on three fronts to the sea, and mainly dependent for its supply of fresh water upon wells in the open plain beyond the walls—seems to preclude all idea of a defence. But an advance upon Shiraz he regards as a very serious matter, and as certain, from the natural feature 3 of the country, to meet with difficulties which it would require great skill, foresight. and good fortune to overcome. The distance is 145 miles; for the first forty-eight of these the road traverses a level plain ; then commences the series of steps by which the plateau of Shiraz is finally reached. Three most formidable pas s es require to be traversed. In one— the "Daughter's Pass "—the road is described as execrable, choked with large boulders of rock, and at the widest part not exceeding fifteen feet. " Horse men," adds the writer, " will have to dismount here. In the ascent the rider's leg will be fre quently hanging over a precipice perhaps a thousand feet in depth." The " Old Woman's Pass " is not less difficult and dangerous, and is probably, unless with very great labour, impracticable for artillery. Another formidable obstacle lies in the rapid change of temperature, which would, of course, be especially trying to Sepoys. With respect to the commissariat department, it is said that the army would have to carry with it all its supplies. So poor is the country, and so few and so scattered the clusters of houses to which the names of villages or towns are given, that it is often a matter of difficulty to procure provisions even for a single caravan. The plateau of Shiraz once attained, the writer is of opinion that an inva ding force would meet with comparatively little opposition. But, according to the Bengal papers, an advance from Bushire into the interior is scarcely intended. They seem to indicate that if any advance takes place it will be by Affghanistan upon Herat, the real object of the expedition to the Gulf being niece the seizure of the Island of Kishma, than the actual invasion of Persia. " The object of her Majesty's Government," says the Bombay Telegraph, is to obtain the cession in perpetuity of the Island of Grand Kishma, which is immediately on occupation to be made a free port, and transformed into the headquarters of her Majesty's arsenal and dockyard in the Persian Gulf. The object appears to be to control not only Persia, but all the trade down the Euphrates, which empties itself into the Persian Gulf, and will soon be the highway for the trade of the East to the West. The island commands not only Persia and Turkey, but Arabia, especially the trade of Muscat and the country of the Joassamines, so long famed for their piracies. From the island a flotilla of steamers would sweep away all the trade of a refractory chief in less than a week, and shut up all Persia, especially the rice and fish trade, which would starve both Gammon and Ilussorah into compliance in less than six months. The Island of Grand Kishma completely covers Ormuz, and is capable of supporting a population of 200,000 without any foreign aid whatsoever. The Bourse Gazette of Berlin gives the following as the text of the ultimatum handed by Lord Strat ford de Redcliffe to Ferouk Khan, the Persian envoy. It only contains three points-Ist. England demands that the Grand Vizir Sader-Azam shall be dismissed, and that on the return of Mr. Murray, the new Ministry and a deputation from the Court shall go out to meet him and conduct him in state to his hotel; that on his arrival there the Grand Vizir shall make verbal apologies to him and revoke the de spatches addressed to the English Ambassador on the affair of Hascbem. 2nd. England demands the immediate evacuation of Herat by the Persian army, and the payment of an indemnity to the inhabitants. 3rd. Persia shall come to an understanding as soon as possible with the Imaum of Muscat relative to the cession of a portion of the south coast to that Prince, and in the meantime, and in order to expe dite that understanding, she shall consent to the English occupying Bender-Akbar and Bender-Abassi. ree .... .? SATURDAY, A letter from Teheran in the Pays of Paris con firms a rumour current at Constantinople with re spect to the attitude of Russia. A letter in the Correapondancc Itavas, dated St. Petersburg, Dec. 23rd, says : There is no doubt that a treaty has been concluded between our Government and Persia, with a view to certain eventualities, and that, in case of this or that contingency, a Russian auxiliary corps will support the Persian army. The Court of Teheran will probably comply in return with a wish that has been expressed by Russia, and abandon to her on the Ames a point which forms the limit between the two States. This point is an important one as regards the Turco mans, who, being under no control, disturb the Russian frontier. At the spot where the Araxes flows into the Black Sea there is a little island, which Persia has recently suffered Russia to occupy for the same reason. Negotiations concerning the cession of a small tract near the Araxes are still pending. In any case Persia will try, before she has recourse to the aid of Russia, to settle her difference with England. It is thought here that Persia will consent to abandon her late conquest, pro vided England makes her a few concessions which are essential to the security of the Persian frontier. The Teheran Gazette of the 7th Raby.el•aouel (sth of November) announces that the siege of Herat was undertaken to prevent the Governor, Esa Khan, from surrendering the town to the Emir Dost Mohamed Khan. This proceeding, the Gazette adds, was perfectly consistent with the Treaty of Herat concluded between Great Britain and Persia. Not withstanding all that has passed, the Persian Government has not lost sight of the preservation of its friendship with Great Britain, and is ready to withdraw her troops from Herat on condition that the British Government shall take measures in Candahar, Affghanistan, and Herat itself to secure that each of those countries shall remain for ever under the rule of its own Government. LORD PALMERSTON AND THE SOUTH AMPTON ELECTION. THE Times Southamption correspondent has the following piquant account of an amusing little episole in this election : About ten days since one of the Premier's tradesmen, Mr. William Lankester, a partner in an extensive ironmongery firm in Southampton, was sent for to Broadlands to see his lordship on business matters, and this arranged, his lordship referred to the pending election, and asked how matters stood. Mr. Lankester replied to the effect that they were in a great bustle ; that they had thought Mr. Weguelin would lave united the Liberals in his favour when Mr. James had lett the field, but that Mr. Andrews had split the Liberal party by the course he had pursued in coming forward as a candidate three weeks afterwards. On this (according to Mr. Lankester's narrative, from which these facts are gathered) Lord Palmerston re marked, " Very impolitic ; he is not fit for it." and said that though Mr. Andrews was a good fellow enough he was uneducated. Mr. Lankester then informs hi■ lord ship that Mr. Weguelin had come down to Southampton with the highest introductions, and his lordship is reported to have replied—" Oh, he is quite the right man; be has position, influence, education, and a high character; he is quite a fit and proper man fur such a town as South ampton, and the other is not fit." Mr. Lankester ex pressed his fears that the result of Mr. Andrews coming forward would be the return of the Conservative candidate, and that Mr. Wilcox would then resign his seat, ending in Southampton being represented by two Tories ; and his lordship observed—" Very sad; he (Mr. Andrews) is not lit." The interview ends, and the curtain falls on the first act of the drama. On the following evening (Tuesday) we are introduced to act the second. A public meeting of Mr. Weguelin's friends had been convened at the Vietoria•rooms, and forthwith Mr. Lankester, who is the chairman of Mr. Weguelin's committee, unfolds a document and reads from it his notes of the above conversation. As may be imagined, such a revelation produced no little consternation and surprise, and great was the storm it evoked. As soon as Mr. Andrews heard of the matter he wrote a letter to Lord Palmerston, inclosing a copy from the reporter's notes of Mr. LaLkester's statement, and re questing to be informed whether the conversation had been correctly stated. Three gentlemen of his committee went over to Broadlands on Wednesday with their letter, but the Premier had gone to London, and so an interview with the noble lord was frustrated. The deputation returned to Southampton, and the third act was over. . . Christmas-day and Boxing-day pass away, and on the Saturday morning Mr. Andrews receives a letter by post from Lord Palmerston, wherein he compliments Mr. Andrews on the high position he has attained in the muni cipality, which ho views as his proper and legitimate sphere of duty, and admits having used the expressions attributed to him. His lordship, however, deprecates the idea of intending to interfere is the election in any way, and says that he has written to Mr. Lankester, who had committed "a gross violation of confidence" in making public that which was merely a private conversation. After consulting with his friends, Mr. Andrews again wrote to his lordship on Monday, requesting permission to publish the correspondence. To this letter no reply has yet been received from his lordship. The fourth act con cluded, people are now awaiting with interest the rising of the curtain for the " grand denotiemeni"—as playgoers have it—which will, it is hoped, introduce the letters of his lordship upon the scene, everybody being anxious to read fur himself the Premier's opinion