The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-09 00:00:00

SEPTEMRE' 1854. about the palace, and they were fast increasing, and murmurs and expressions of indignation and rage were heard. Madrid advices of the 3rd inst., received in Paris, brcught a report that Christina had been at tacked by brain fever. A despatch from Bayonne, however, published in Wednesday's Moniteur, an nounces that she must have arrived by that time in Portugal. Her journey had been accomplished without difficulty. A Madrid letter, in the Prase, says : " There are at Madrid about 10,000 Frenchmen, of whom 6,000 are established in business ; the remainder are workmen, do. Among the French are twentysix political refugees, who all belong to the enlightened classes of society. They are Republicans, but, as they are intelligent men, they were able, from the first day of the revolution, to discern that the Republican principle had nothing to do with it. They saw, therefore, that they had no concern with the revolution, and remained quiet." Several decrees of local importance have been issued. One prescribes that all arms not in the possession of the National Guard or the army should be given up; another pronounces the dissolution of all political associations except the electoral com mittees; and a third directs all military officers not on active service or domiciled at Madrid to return home. TURKEY. The latest C mstantinople advices of the 28th ult. state that Said Pacha had received his formal inves titure as Viceroy of Egypt. The mission of Nemir Aga (Schamyl's nephew) to Constantinople has had the desired issue. Schamyl will support the Turks in Asia with 80,000 men. The communication with the Persian frontier has been re-established. It is reported that a serious rebellion has broken out in the pachaliks of Karien, Mentesche, and Aiden, and that the authorities of those places were some of them murdered and some driven away. The cholera has considerably diminished at Con stantinople, Varna, and Smyrna. The epidemic had broken out in Adrianople, and extended with fatal rapidity. A general panic spread amongst the in habitants, and they were flying from the town to the neighbouring villages by hundreds. M. Bert, the head surgeon of the French hospital established there, died of choler a on the 13th ult. The Vienna Preue gives the following anecdote in a letter from Constantinople : " Dr. Cohn, the president of the Israelite Consistorial Committee of Paris, had an audience of the Sultan on the 21st ult., in the Palace of Cheragan, in which his Majesty declared that all privileges and immunities hitherto granted to the Christians were to be extended also to the Jews of Turkey, ' for that the paternal heart of his Majesty would never suffer the slightest difference to exist between the rajahs (non-Mussulman subjects) of his empire.' " The commercial treaty existing between France and Turkey which was concluded in 1838, when Russian inthence was predominant at Constantinople, will expire in April next. The consequence of the suc cessful Russian intrigue was, that the terms of the treaty are most unfavourable to French, and highly advantageous to Russian, commercial interests ; so much so that a Marseilles merchant has been fre quently compelled to borrow the name of a Russian in order to operate with any chance of success in the Levant. The Emperor of France has determined that this state of things shall no longer continue, and that France shall at least be placed on an equality with the most favoured nations. GREECE. Athens advices of the 2nd inst. state that the com mander of the French troops in Greece insists upon their removal to the capital from their present loca tion, as 1,000 men have died of cholera. The Ministry was endeavouring to re-establish relations with the Porte, and a further term had been fixed for the free navigation of Greek merchant vessels in Turkish waters. King Otho, it is reported, positively refuses any indemnity to Turkey. RUSSIA. A curious piece of information is said to have reached Vienna, where, it is added, much surprise has been excited at the active diplomatic correspon dence carrying on between St. Petersburg and Rome. The subject of these negotiations is stated to be now discovered. The Emperor Nicholas holds out a prospect of some change of system towards the Ro man Catholics in Poland, and of concessions to the Latins at Jerusalem. He is also intriguing against the French. The Czar entertains an idea of making his third son, Nicholas, King of Poland , and, as the Grand Duke is a member of the Greek Church, it was necessary to give his Holiness some tran quillising assurances respecting the Polish Catholics. The vice-admiral of the Turkish fleet, Osman Pacha, Captains Osson Bey and Ali Bey, and the midshipman Chali Effendi, who were taken prisoners at Sinope, are now at St. Petersburg. Letters from the south of Russia mention that the Russians have thrown a bridge of boats across the Dneiper, with the view apparently of facilitating the THE PRESS. transfer of masses of troops withdrawn from the Da nubian principalities to the Crimea, now threatened by the allies. This bridge of boats has caused the accumulation of a large number of craft laden with linseed and other produce, which are prevented from pursuing their voyage down the river to the Russian ports on the Black Sea. A letter of the 29th ult. from the Polish frontier. in the Preset of Vienna, says " It is evident that Russia intends to repeat her act of 1812 on a large scale. This year, in the month of May, when the state of war was proclaimed, all criminals, with the exception of assassins and political prisoners, were completely amnestied. Their only duty is to stay in cer tain places under the vigilance of the military authorities, and to set fire to the place they live in as soon as the enemy shall make his appearance." The two Paixhans guns taken from the Tiger were tried on the 24th of August at Odessa, in the pre sence of the General Governor Annenkoff. At the fourth shot one of the guns burst, killed one can nonier, and wounded several others. Fortunately, the pieces of metal did not take a horizontal direc tion, or many lives must have been lost, as there was a great crowd assembled. The Indicator of Elbing, of the 30th ult., says : "'Two Jewish merchants left this place some months since, with Prussian passports for Poland. At Warsaw their business turned out very profitable, but, thinking they might do still better in the interior of Russia, they ex changed their Prussian passports for Russian ones, and entered that country. Nothing has been since heard of them until the last few days, when news was received that they had been taken up as spies, and, not being able to prove that they were Prussian subjects, one of them is said to have been sentenced to be hanged, and the other to be incorporated in a disciplinary regiment." With respect to the rejection by Russia of the last propositions, the Paris Pays has the following : " There are unfortunately now only two courses open for the Emperor Nicholas—to go on, or abdicate. Now, we never hoped that a sudden return to more equitable senti ments would induce the Czar to accept the conditions of Europe. He has already staked, in the terrible game which he has entered into against European right, his reputation of a Conservative Government, and he has lost; his diplomatic preponderance, and he has lost; his prestige as a military force, and he has lost—and yet, in spite of all that, he has not given way. There still remains to him his pride, or, if any one likes it better, his national honour, as his last stake, and he will play it, we have not the slightest doubt. He will likewise lose it, we trust ; but it will be only at the last moment of defeat and disaster that the bandage will fall from his e)es, and that he will submit to a peace which it is ridiculous to suppose he would agree to at present. To submit to Europe before he has been van quished on the field of battle is neither in accordance with the character of the Czar, nor with the vital conditions of his policy." The Stockholm Aftonbladet reports that the Nor wegian Storthing has lately held several protracted sittings respecting an appeal to be made to the Exe cutive for getting the common frontier of Russia and Norway fixed and settled. It has been complained that for years past Russia has been quietly encroach ing on the Norwegian territory, and the Storthing demands that an end should be put to this style of invasion. UNITED STATES. Serious complaints of drought come from various parts of the country. In the south and west the crops are suff.sring very severely, The closing cotton crop is about 2,050,000 bales, being nearly 300,000 less than the year before. That of the coming year up to this time promises to be the largest ever pro duced, unless it meet with early frost or floods, or some of the many accidents to which that crop is always liable. A dreadful catastrophe arising from the incautious use of camphine occurred at Cincinnati on the 16th ult. Three children were burned so that they died, and the man who filled the lamp was not expected to tecover. Two large granite buildings in Broad-street, Bos. ton, fell on the 22nd with a tremendous crash. Three persons are known to have been killed, and rumours prevailed that several others were buried beneath the ruins. Immediately after the falling of the wulls a fire burstout, kindled from a steam-engine in the basement, which was happily confined to the ruins. Loss estimated at 120,000 dols. California mails of the Ist ult. have reached New York. A great fire had occurred at Marysville: five squares of buildings were destroyed, and the loss reached 250,000 dols. The wheat crop had been all harvested. The yield was very large, and great quan tities were being exported. The St. Louis Republican, of the 16th ult., says:— " There has not been a night within the last week when the doggy has not drunk the blood of its victim. The police-office for several nights put has been the receptacle of bleeding men who have had tbe knife put to them. The dens of iniquity in the city—bad enough under ordinary circumstances—have recently been stirred up by the worst passions, and the streets every night are infested with bands of reckless men in pursuit of difficulties, armed to the teeth end eager for en aftm." 847 THE CAPE. Cape-town papers to the 26th July have arrived by the Argo steamer, which brings also mails from India and the Mauritius. _ The Cape of Good Hope Parliament commenced its sittings on the 30th June. The colony is enjoying profound repose within and without its borders. The only novelty is the copper•field in Namaqualand, which promises to equal the famous mines of South Australia. Several companies have been already formed to work them, and Mr. de Pas, of the firm of A. and D. do Pas, has come home for the purpose of obtaining the machinery required. The whole district appears to be one mass of copper. On the 15th July a violent north. west gale occurred in Table Bay, and several ships were wrecked. The barque Canopy:, with a cargo, went ashore near the castle. Later in the day the Wild Seanww came in collision with the Seagull, bound for Australia, which was ready for sea, having, all her passengers on board: both vessels soon after went ashore. Several other vessels in the bay passed. The gale is stated to have been one of the most severe that has occurred for many years in Table Bay. Cholera was diminishing fast at the Mauritius, although the epidemic was still very fatal in some of the rural districts, particularly at Riviere du Ramparts and at Flacqu. Among the victims are the Rev. Mr. Banks, Mr. Kesley (receiver of registration dues), Mr. Chapman, Mr. Blanchard (the French Consul), Mr. Woolley, and several of the medical profession. About one fifteenth of the population have been swept off by this fatal scourge, nearly five thousand from Port Louis, and the remainder from the rural districts. The negro population suffered most, as distinguished from the Indians and Europeans. The military suffered least : indeed, the health of the troops is said to be excellent. On poor families, crowded and filthy, the epidemic fell like a deluge, sweeping all before it. THREE ENGLISHMEN have got into a scrape at Memel, in company with a Russian, a Greek, and two German chantcruses. The names of the gentlemen, as given in the apocryphal orthography of the German journals, are—M'Donald, Stoddt, Elaphim, Mallero, and Cierratti (the latter is the Greek). Our three countrymen, described as having recently arrived from London with good recommendations to friends in Memel, took a pleasant walk in company with the above-mentioned party in the neighbourhood of Langallen, on the Russian frontier. In the innocence of their hearts and the height of animal spirits, they allowed themselves to be tempted to cross the frontier and approach the Regatka, or tollhouse, there : here they amused themselves with a little conversation with the Cossack official, as two of the party at least can speak Russian. In the meantime a gentleman from the Tomoschna or Custom-house near, who had been a spectator, beckoned to the Cossack to let the party pass through the barrier and pursue their way to a beautiful seat in that neighbourhood, called Garsden. On reaching the Custom-house, however, they were required to show their passports, and, failing these documents, were made prisoners, and their papers and pocket property taken from them. This took place on a Sunday afternoon. The messenger despatched to Memel to fetch the pass ports and invoke assistance from the consuls not having returned with a sufficient amount of success, the prisoners were "passed on" to Telachen (eleven leagues from Memel), for the purpose of being for warded to Wilna, and then being handed over to justice. The passports, &c., of the party arrived at Garsden too late to prevent their departure, and were sent after them. Of course, however the rest may get off, the Englishmen must reckon on being detained as prisoners of war, and perhaps be paraded as trophies in St. Petersburg. TROPHIES or Wert have been bmught home from Bo marsund, consisting of helmets (the famous Russian helmet), which are handsomely formed and made. They are particularly light, being made of a patent leather. The head is well protected, the officers having solid silver shields over the front and top. A great number of rifles also, with the cartridges for them. Amongst other curiosities is a Russian knout or whip of a terrific character, with which a powerful arm might cut the flesh from off a man's body, the whip part being thickly chequered with plaits, worked ingeniously therein to the handle, which is of heavy wood. The total number of guns captured in the fort is 202, provisions for 3,000 men for two years, an in calculable quantity of stores of all kinds, and about 15,0001. in Russian notes, now not worth much. Eleven magazines have been discovered, containing nearly 2(X) tons of powder, which itt devoted to blow up the forts. The powder is reputed to be coarse and bad. The guns and muskets are excellent. This place, in a very short time, would have been as strong as Cronstadt. It was the Emperor's intention to build eleven more round forts, and another like Bo marsund, except that it has a straight front. The foundations of some are begun, and the large fort, which would have been a most beautiful building, is fifteen or twenty feet high. This was to have been his stepping-stone to Sweden. :R9,