The Press. — London, England, 1854-02-25 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 25, 1854 ..,..., of tracing the irregularities to their source, and of providing a remedy. The first result of this move ment has been the issue of a circular letter from the Postmaster-General addressed to the several railway companies with whom the fault is alleged to lie. Although the blame can attach only to certain spe cial lines, the letter is addressed to every board with out exception, because, as the secretary states, " it will be best that each body of directors should be put in possession of the whole case, though the Postmaster- General distinctly recognises the limitation of each com pany's responsibility to the conveyance of the mails over its own line within the prescribed time, and does not ex pect that one company should make up for the time lust by another." The allegations with regard to the past, and the injunctions for the future, which are now put forth by the authorities at St. artin's-le-Grand, may be understood by the following extracts from the circu lar : " Directing attention at present only to the night mail trains, as those most urgently requiring correction, it ap pears that in the month of November (taken as compara tively free from special causes of interruption) the time actually occupied very frequently exceeded that allowed for the service. " It will be easily understood that want of punctuality in a mail-train not only causes a corresponding retardation in the delivery of the letters on the main line, but also, by dislocating the arrangements for branch mails, produces an amount of derangement and inconvenience extending throughout the whole ramification of the service. " Nor can this irregularity be justly attributed to insuffi eiency in the time allowed by the Post-office, which, for the night mail-trains between London and Glasgow and Edinburgh, by whichever route, exceeds that taken by the companies for their express-trains on the same lines, and this after making ample allowance for the additional stop pages required for the mail service. " The real source of delay is to be found, partly in stop pages at stations where they are not required by the mail service, but principally in the excessive traffic thrown on the maibtrains, much of this being of a kind commonly excluded from express-trains; as, for instance, third-class passengers, private carriages, horseboxes, and fishtrucks. In facts the night mail-trains are generally much too long and too heavy to admit of the service being duly per formed; and it is essential that they be at once brought within proper limits—a change which might, perhaps, be facilitated by putting the trains in question on the footing of first-class express-trains. " That such a reduction of traffic would tend greatly to the desired result is shown by the fact that the mail-train leaving Scotland on the Sunday, being of moderate size, is generally punctual, at least until it has made considerable progress to the south. " The swift and regular conveyance of the mails must be regarded as the one essential object of the mail-trains, and to this all minor considerations must be sacrificed. It is for the performance of this duty, and upon this under standing, that the companies are paid; and to fail therein, unless from occasional circomstances beyond control, is to withhold from the public that which it has purchased at a large cost. " If, with regard to any of the mails now in question, it be thought that the compensation awarded has been made on a different understanding, his lordship is ready to re open such award, in order that the matter may hencefor ward be placed on this its proper footing, and all doubt as to his right in every case to claim and enforce the mostex act punctuality be removed. " In thus urging on the directors measures essential to the right working of the Post-office system, his lordship would suggest for their consideration whether the adop tion of such measures would not tend equally to the con venience of passengers and the benefit of the companies. " It surely must be important that the conveyances bearing her Majesty's mails, which have usually been se lected with marked preference by the travelling public, should maintain, and even extend, that reputation for speed and punctuality on which such preference is based. And, independently of this consideration, when, as in the present case, several companies have to work in concert, it is obviously to the interest of each that all should be punc tual; and the P o stmaster-General has, in fact, been strongly urged by certain of the companies concerned in running the mats in question to exact punctuality from the others. (Signed) " ROWLAND HILL." THE PEOPLE OF SINOPE made an excellent business of the presence of the English and French fleets at that port. Oxen, sheep, calves, and even buffaloes, went off at almost fabulous prices. A wether, which usually sells there for 30 piastres ((is.), brought lt. sterling; beef fetched 5 piastres the okka (of IP.), a fowl 10 piastres, and an egg piastre. Now, for Sinope, where money is so scarce, and the necessaries of life are usuall so chea, these are ex- trao r dinary prices. Had the fleets remained mu much longer at Sinope, the stock of provisions must have been soon ex hausted, since the impracticable state of the roads, owing to the bad weather, had precluded the possibility of any quantity being brought in from a distance. On an average, 10,000 piastres were daily paid away from the fleets. The house of the Anstrian consular agent, M. de Pirjaniti, was regularly besieged the whole day by the visits of officers, who came, some to compliment him on his conduct during the bombardment, and others to ask for various informa tion. He was also treated with much respect and con sideration by Admirals Pundits and Hamelin, and was re peatedly invited by them to dinner. . ' .r.. ~ ..~ -ti~+' THE PRESS. DWELLINGS OF THE WORKING CLASSES. A PUBLIC MEETING was held on Saturday at the London Tavern for the purpose of " considering the best mode of extending the operations of the Metro politan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes." The object of this society is to erect dwellings which will let at a low rent, and shall combine in their construction all the latest improvements in ventilation, drainage, and water supply, and all other sanitary arrangements. The society raise their funds by means of shares, and they have already bought one piece of land in the Borough capable of acccommodating 100 families, and another property, with room for 150 families, in Spitalflelds. 07,0001. have also been subscribed for, but the association require 100,0001. Saturday's meeting was presided over by Sir F. Baring, M.P., and attended by many influential persons. Mr. Hub bard, Governor of the Bank of England, moved the first resolution ; Mr. Cotton, a late governor, Lord Ebrington, M.P., and Lord Stanley, M.P., also ad dressed the meeting. The latter noble lord said that " he had joined himself to the association because he believed that it was at once more extensive in its opera tions and more practical in its method of working than any other existing within the metropolis. It was a wise and true saying, and well worth being remembered by those who thought that, while other pursuits required skill and study, philanthropy required none that, while charity created the distress it relieved, it could not always relieve the distress it created. (Hear). It was also said to be as as dangerous a thing for a man to practise philanthropy without previous consideration as to practise physic without study. He was not going to argue against all charity. What they called charity was, under any cir cumstances, unfortunate, but in the present state of society a necessary evil. All he contended fur was this, that un dertakings of a philanthropic character like the present were undoubtedly more calculated to produce results of permanent advantage, as they contained more of a self supporting and less of an elettnosynary character. (Hear, hear.) The fact was that this association gave nothing to any man, and no lodger felt that he was accepting any favour when he entered ont of these houses. it was simply a fair and equal bargain between man and man, and there was no sacrifice of independence on either side. They got a fair return for thdr capital, and the workman got a better quality of lodging." In the course of the proceedings Mr. Alexander Campbell, a working man, said that he had no doubt the working classes themselves would be quite ready to contribute their money to this object as a safe mode of investment. Lord/. Russell, in sending an excuse for non-attendance, announced his intention to subscribe for two 25/. shores. APPOINTMENT OF 10MAN CATHOLIC - CHAPLAINS IN PRISONS. Ting committee of the Church Protestant Defence Society have presented the following memorial to the Home Secretary : " That your memorialists hay, heard with much anxiety and alarm that your lordship has stated it to be the in tention of her Majesty's Government to appoint and endow Roman Catholic chaplains to the Government prisons in this country. " Your memorialists respectfully submit that such a measure wouldbe both illegal and unconstitutional. Illegal, because the statutes by which these prisons are regulated expressly confine the appointment of chaplains to the clergy of the Established Chinch, and do not give any power to the prison authorities,nor to the Government, or any member of it, nor even to her Majesty, to appoint a chaplain of any other persuasion; unconstitutional, be. cause such an appointment would be a virtual adoption by the Government of the Church Rome within this realm. " That,by the alterations effected in the Roman Catholic system in this country by the late Papal aggression, every priest is placed under the absolute control of his bishop and every bishop i 3 constituted by the Pope as the only, church authority in the kingdom ; thus superseding and ignoring the existence of the Established Church, and sub stitutiug the Bisho of Rome as the Papal head of the Church for her Ma p jesty, the only earthly head of the Church in these realms recognised by the laws and conga• tution of the country. " That the appointment and payment of a chaplain of the Church of Rome would therefore be a direct violation of the constitntion and an insult to her Majesty, as in volving a recognition of the system of government estab lished by the late Papal aggression. " Your memorialists would also call your lordship's at- tention to the fact ascertained by the returns of the last census, that the Romaa Catholics constitute a very small body compared with other dissenting communities. If estimated by the Timber of sittings provided, they do not equal one-tenth of the Lumber of Wesleyans, nor one fifth the number of Independents, nor one-third the num ber of Baptists. Your memorialists therefore suggest that, if chaplains are to be appointed for on small a section of the religious communities dissenting from the Church of England, every other dissenting body might claim the same privilege. " Hut your memorialists very strongly submit that no additional chaplains are necessary, inasmuch as the prison regulations either allow, or are capable of being adapted to allow, every prisoner, of whatever religious persuasion he may be, to request that a minister of that persuasion may visit him for the purpose of religious consolation and ad vice. And your memorialists consider that such mak- 179 Lions would meet every case, whilst it is manifestly impos sible that chaplains can be appointed for every one of the separate religious bodies within the kingdom.' THE PEACE DEPUTATION AT ST. PETERSBURG. LETTERS from two members of this deputation have been received in England, giving an account of their interview with the Czar : " Mr. Pease states that the deputation was admitted to an audience of the Emperor, which lasted nearly half an hour. The Emperor received them most graciously, and expressed himself much pleased kith the object of their visit, and the motives which induced them to make so long a journey. The Emperor afforded them every op portunity to express their views, and stated to them at great length what he thought of the present state of affairs. He said that they should not leave without being introduced to the Empress, and on the Empress entering the room the Emperor explained the object of their journey. On taking their leave the Emperor shook them heartily by the hand ; and on quitting the palace they were much struck by the cordial reception given to three plain, humble, and simple men of peace. " Mr. Joseph Sturge states that the Czar received him self and colleagues in the most courteous manner, and listened with the greatest attention to the addre"s which they were deputed to present to him from the pacific bodies which they represented. They were induced to hope from the tone and manner of the Emperor that he was not insensible to the appeal, although the deputation were not equally confident that it would not have the effect of staying the warlike preparations which were going on all around diem At the conclusion of what may be termed the official audience, the Autocrat intro duced the deputation to the Empress, by whom they were most graciously received. Although it was the wish of the Friends' to be as quiet as possible during their stay in St. Petersburg, it appeared that their presence in the capital of Russia created no inconsiderable degree of interest among the inhabitants, and when they were observed in the streets they were not unfrequently fol lowed by crowds of persons who seemed to take a favour able interest in the object of their mission. " Mr. Sturge had intended to be in Birmingham on Monday next, but at the request of the Emperor the depu tation determined to remain in St. Petersburg a day or two longer than was originally purposed." JisaLlanea. - THE RUSSIAN FADERS gravely relate a miraculous ap pearance of the Blessed Virgin during one of the recent conflicts on the Asiatic frontier of Turkey and Russia. She is said to have been seen by the combatants on both sides in the attitude of blessing the Russian soldiers The con sequence was that they were inspired with supernatural and irresistible valour, and that a number of the infidel Moslems were converted to " the orthodox faith." AN EXTENSIVE. EMIGRATION OF MORMONITES has taken place from the southern districts of Wales during the past few weeks. Large bodies of them have sold all they pos sessed to leave for the Salt Lake settlement. Their num bers embrace all classes, one gentleman, an inhabitant of Merthyr, having contributed 2,04)0/. and joined the brethren. THE PERSONAL ESTATE OF THE LATE R. IL 0 urrarr, ESQ., formerly member for Norwich and East Norfolk, has been sworn at 500.0001. in the province of Canterbury, and 25,0001. in the province of York. The landed estates are of very considerable value. NEARLY 45,000,0001. sterling in value was added to the circulating medium of the world during the course of last year. At the London Mint the gross amount of coinage in all metals wits 12,6i53,0n9/.; in Franco a huge sum, namely, 14,101,1401., was coined ; and in the United States, 11,961,7021., making a total for those three countries of 88,725,531 1 . IT is stated by the Durham Advertiser that the incumbent of Cockfield has given so much offence to several of his parishioners by wearing his beard that they have discon tinued their attendance at church. AMONGST the petitions presented to the Encumbered Estates Commission last week is one preying for the sale of an estate, the gross annual rental of which is 40/. a year, and the encumbrances on which reach the modest amount of between 88,00()1. and 39,0001. SIX OUNCES OF PURE Gem have been picked up at a place called " Letters," in the parish of Balquhidder, near Stirling. SIR RF.NRY Youwo, in his report on the navigation of the River Murray, in South Australia, just issued, says " As regards soil, climate, and other natural advantages, there can be no doubt that the vast basin of the Murray, equal in area to seven Great Britains, is well adapted to sustain a large population ; while in no part of the world can the extent and facility of internal communication by water be surpassed. " THE SALMON FISHING SEASON IN THE TWEED COM menced on Wednesday week. The opening has been a favourable one. Tea Baur GRAS for this year arrived at Batignolles yesterday week from Poissy market. He has received the name of Prince Menschikoif. THE PREFECT of THY. SEINE has issued an order calling for plans for a railway to unite the line round Paris with the central markets. Several schemes have accordingly been sent in, and the expenses are estimated at nine or ten million francs. M. Leruet. is the architect s elected to carry out the plans of the lameitt , ed M. Visconti for the completion of the Louvre. i