The Press. — London, England, 1857-03-07 00:00:00

MARCH 7, 1857. ( foreign anb (colonial 3attiligente. CHINA, INDIA, AND THE EAST. The overland mail—with dates from Hong Kong to Jan. 15 ; Calcutta, Jan. 23 ; and Bombay, Feb. • brings important intelligence from Canton. The burning of the factories on December 14 had been followed by the Chinese with an unsuccessful attempt to retake Macao Passage Fort—(upwards of sixty war junks attacked the fort; her Majesty's ships Niger, Encounter, and Corromandel succeeded, after a four hours' engagement, in driving back the Chinese squadron)—by the capture of the mail steamer Thistle and the murder of the entire crew and passengers, and by a combination of the Chinese bakers in Hong Kong to poison the English inhabitants by mixing arsenic in the bread. The rebel fleet had joined that of the Imperialists, and upwards of six hundred war junks were collected in the Canton river. The excitement of the Chinese at Hong Kong, Singapore, and throughout every island in the Chinese seas, was intense. Proclamations filled every town and village, and were secretly circu lated at Macao and Hong Kong, calling upon all the Celestial people to unite " for the extermination of the barbarians." On the part of the English, Admiral Seymour had retired from the Dutch Folly Fort, first burning the suburbs of Canton, and was awaiting reinforcements of troops and ships from Singapore and Calcutta. Every precaution had been taken to secure our position at Hong Kong and Macao. At Hong Kong Sir John Bowring on the 6th of January had issued an ordinance declaring the necessity of taking immediate and special means for preserving the peace of the colony, and enacting that any Chinaman found at large in Hong Kong, elsewhere than in his own habitation, between the hours of eight in the evening and sunrise, and with out a police pass, shall be liable to a fine, to impri sonment with hard labour, to whipping, or to the stocks. By another section of the same ordi nance : Every person lawfully acting as a sentry or patrol at any time between the hour of eight in the evening and sunrise is hereby authorised, whilst so acting, to fire upon, with intent or effect to kill, any Chinaman whom he shall meet with or discover abroad, and whom he shall have reason• able ground to suspect of being so abroad for an improper purpose, and who, being challenged by him, shall neglect or refuse to make proper answer to his challenge. His Excellency also assumes power to deport all per sons considered dangerous to the peace and good order of the colony. The American commodore and French admiral bad landed strong bodies of seamen and marines for the protection of their respective interests at Hong Kong. Upon the whole, the position of affairs tended rather to the advantage of the Chinese. We bad been compelled to abandon Canton and the Dutch Folly Fort. We were reduced wholly to the defensive ; and in our own possessions to that extent bad the Chinese authorities succeeded in rousing the passions of the people, that a very general sense of insecurity prevailed both at Hong Kong and Singapore. Whampoa had been abandoned by all foreign shipping. The Governor of Lin-timm had seized the central opium depot, the property of foreign traders. The Chinese Government at Pekin was reported to have published an Imperial edict,• prohibiting all trading with the English, closing the country to English goods, suspending existing treaties, and ordering the English to be attacked upon every opportunity. With respect to the Persian war, the intelligence from Bushire up ;to the 17th of January states that the troops had completely intreuched themselves, and were unmolested. They were healthy, supplies were plentiful, and powerful reinforcements were leaving Bombay and Kurrachee for the Gulf. Gene ral Outram was expected to proceed to Bussorah. The Paris Pays says : According to the latest news from the Persian Gulf, an armistice of three months has been concluded between the Commander•in•Chief of the English troops and the Persian Government. This armistice will begin on March 1, 1k,57. Dost Mohammed was still at Peshawur. A new five-per-cent. loan was opened at Calcutta on 16th Jan. FRANCE. THE NEUFCHATEL CONFERENCES. The commission appointed to arrange the affairs of Neufchatel held its first sitting on Thursday, in the Cabinet of M. Walewsici, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Four :powers were represented at it by Lord Cowley, Count Kisseleff, Baron Hubner, and Count Walewski. The latter, as representative of the power in whose capital the conference is held, will have the direction of it. Tho Plenipotentiaries of and Switzerland will be admitted at a later period. M. Barnum will represent Switzerland. Tho project of law relative to the deletion of the Duke de Malakoff bee been carried unanimously. THE PRESS. AUSTRIA AND PIEDMONT. The differences between the Courts of Turin and Vienna do not arrange themselves. The corre spondence between Count Cavour and Count Buol upon the subjects of the attacks upon Austria of the Sardinian press has been published. Count Buol complains bitterly of the licence of the Piedmontese papers, and characterises the Alessandrian subscrip tion, the reception of deputations approving the Piedmontese policy, and the erection of a monu ment to commemorate the deeds of the Sardinian army, as " so many offensive demonstrations," and calls upon Count Cavour to explain— What measures he proposes to take to efface these painful impressions, and what guarantees he can offer us against the indefinite prolongation of a state of things so diametrically opposed to the desire by which we are animated of entertaining such relations with Piedmont as best suit the interest of the two countries. Count Cavour retorts that the Austrian press, though submitted to a severe censorship, is most virulent in its attack upon the King, Constitution, and states men of Sardinia, and replies seriatim to the otller accusations of Count Buol. An imperial ordunnance, dated Milan, Feb. 28, announces that the resignation of Marshal Radetzky has been accepted. The Archduke Maximilian is officially appointed Governor-General of the Lombardo-Venetian States. General Count Giulay is invested with the military command in Lombardy, Venice, Carinthia, and on the coast. SPA IN AND MEXICO. The preparations for a grand expedition against Mexico continue to be pressed forward with unabated vigour. Ten thousand troops, it is repotted, will form the expedition, with thirty vessels of war. TURKEY AND THE PRINCIPALITIES. Intelligence has been received via Vienna, from the Danubian principalities, stating that the delimi tation of the frontier having been terminated, Mol davian troops bad, on the 20th, 21st, and 23rd of February, garrisoned the towns of Bolgrad, Ismail, and Reni. Mehemet Bey, who served in the war of insurrec tion at Hungary, has set out for Circassia, where he has been invited to act as Generalissimo. Great agitation prevails in the Caucasus, and pre parations are in progress against a Russian invasion which is said to be imminent. A despatch by submarine telegraph, dated Con stantinople, March 2, states : The Grand Council approves the statutes of the Na. tional Bank, and ratifies the concession to Mr. Wilkins. PERSIA. A treaty of peace between Persia and England was signed at Paris on Tuesday last by Ferouk Kban and Lord Cowley. The last accounts from Teheran, by way of Russia, state that the Shah had ratified the treaty of com merce concluded at Constantinople between Ferouk Kban and the representative of the United States of America. The rumour is that it authorises the latter power to establish a diplomatic mission at Teheran, and consulates at Teheran, Tauris, and Buchir. Citizens of the United States, as regards their commerce, are to be treated the same as those of the most favoured nations. An Austrian agent, Colonel Schindloker, had arrived at Teheran to nego tiate a similar treaty. AMERICA. Intelligence to the I9th gives the following re ported appointments for Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet : Cass, Secretary of State; Cobb (Georgia), Secretary of the Treasury; Floyd, Secretary of War; Brown, (Tennessee), Secretary of the Navy; Funcey, Attor ney General ; Jones (Pennsylvania), Postmaster- General ; Jacob Thompson (Mississippi), Secretary of the Interior. In Congress various subjects of importance had been under discussion—the tariff—the subject of exploring the Isthmus of Darien and the river Niger; also the Atlantic Bill, passed after considerable adverse debate, was recommended to the committee of ways and means, thus indicating the final success of the bill after it shall have been slightly amended. The Central American Treaty was discussed for several hours by the Senate in executive session, when its further consideration was postponed, by five majority, until the sth of March. Dr. Kane, the Arctic voyager, was at the point of death at Havana. Cm! ant 'as 0L Her Majesty the Queen, accompanied by his Royal Highness the Prince Consort and the Ro}al children, left Buckingham Palace on Tuesday after noon, and arrived safely at Windsor Castle at 4.40 The I'rineess of Hohenlobe Langenburgh and Princess Feodore have visited hor Majesty at the Castle. ll.lt li. the Prince Consort will hold hie second levee on Thursday nut at St. James's Palace. 227 The Prime Minister of her Majesty's Government arrived at the Castle on Wednesday afternoon, re. mained the night and returned to town the following morning. Volittral. A CABINET COUNCU, was held at the Foreign office on Saturday afternoon—all the Ministers present. On Monday about 180 Liberal members, convened by special invitation, assembled at the official resi dence of Lord Palmerston. The meeting was some what stormy. On Wednesday, after the defeat of the Govern ment, a Cabinet Council was held in Downing-street —all the Ministers present. The Cou❑cil sat from ' 2 n.m. to 3.30 p.m. At the breaking up of the Coun cil Viscount Palmerston left town for Windsor Castle, to have an interview with the Queen. O❑ Friday, a Cabinet Council was again held in Downing -street. SIR J. F. Casmrroti, K.C.8., late Envoy Extraor dinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States of America, has been appointed her Maieity's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of Hanover. THOMASCLRLYLE, ESQ., has been appointed to be a trustee for the formation of a Gallery of the Por traits of Persons eminent in British History, in the room of the Earl of Ellesmere, K.G., deceased. A CORRESPONDENCE between Lord Panmure ant Sir John M'Neill has been published. Lord Pan mure, on the 20th of February, informed Sir John M'Neill and Colonel Tulloch that her Majesty's Go vernment had resolved to mark their sense of the services rendered by the Crimean Commissioners, by a reward to each of 1,0001. Sir John M'Neill, in reply, observes : If I rightly understand the statement of the grounds on which the grant is tendered to me, it means that the sum of 1,000/. is intended to be considered not merely as a recognition by her Majesty's Government of the manner in which the duty was performed, but likewise as the pecu niary equivalent of the results of the inquiry—that is, the money value of the advantages which the country has de rived from those results. This estimate alone is sufficient to lead me, without further consideration, at once to decline a proposal which, as explained by your lordship, appears to me to involve the admission that the results of my labours have been so insignificant as to be almost without appree ciable value to the public. Your lordship is well aware that I have never sought to obtain for myself any reward or remuneration. Her Majesty's Government have, till now, apparently considered my services in the commission as gratuitous, and I am quite ready, as I have always been, so to consider them. VrobiurtaL AN EXPLOSTON OF FIRE-DAMP occurred on Wed nesday in a pit belonging to A. N. Mandy, Esq., at Shipley, near Derby. Three men and two boys were killed, and thirteen persons severely injured. THE LUND HILL PIT has been filled with water this week. So soon as the temperature of the water in the pit is reduced to a certain point, immediate opera tions will be taken to empty the pit. The adjourned inquest on Monday on the body of Abraham Turner, one of the men who wes got out of the pit alive, but afterwards died, was farther adjourned until Monday next. The most careful inquiries have been male as to the sacrifice of life by the explosion, and the exactnumber of deaths has now been ascertained to be 186. THE NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED ON RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. appears, by a return, to be 138,590; the length of line open was 8,506 miles and 27} chains, and the length authorised was 12,897 miles and 8} chains. election ntelligtrat. EAST SOSSEX.—Lord Pevensey has been returned. The numbers at the close of the poll were— Lord Pevensey Mr. Dodson Majority for Lord Pevensey 89 GLASOOW.—Mr. Buchanan (Liberal) has been re turned by a majority of 3,036 over Mr. Merry (Liberal)—the numbers being 5,979 against 2,943. NORTH LEICESTERSHIRE.—Lord John Manners has been returned without any serious oppositioti. The noble lord, in addressing the electors, said, with regard to the expenditure of the country, they must attend to our foreign policy if they would keep dowit taxation : If we had a restless, meddlesome, foreign policy, we must have extensive armame n t s an d vexat i ous lalookSdes, and taxes must be levied to pay for them. In his short lifetime a meddlesome foreign policy had unnecessarily enlbrallod twice in China, twice in Central Asia, PAO i 4 grallb Woe in Portugal, and one* in Italy.