The Press. — London, England, 1854-03-04 00:00:00

196 " This, then, is the question as it stands,—Enrope, en gaged in domestic struggles for the last forty years, re assured, moreover, by the moderation of the Emperor Alexander in the year 1815, as well as by that of his suc cessor up to this time, seemed to doubt the danger which menaced it from the colossal power which, by its successive encroachments, embraces the north and the centre of Europe, and which possesses almost exclusively two internal seas, whence it is easy for its armies and its fleets to launch forth against our civilisation. " An unfounded demand at Constantinople has been sufficient to arouse Europe from her sleep. " We have seen in the East a Sovereign demand, in the midst of the most profound peace, from his less powerful neighbour, new concessions, and, because he did not obtain them, invade two of his provinces. Such a fact as this ought to put arms in the hands of those who revolt from injustice ; but we have other reasons for supporting Turkey. France has as much, and perhaps more, interest than England in preventing the influence of Russia from ex tending itself indefinitely over Constantinople ; for to be supreme in Constantinople is to be supreme in the Medi terranean ; and no one of you, gentlemen, I think, will say that England alone is largely interested in that sea which washes 300 leagues of our coast. " Moreover, this policy does not date from yesterday ; for ages every national Government in France has maintained it, and I will not desert it. Let them not, then, come and ask us ' What are you going to do at Constantinople?' We are going there with England to defend the cause of the Sultan, and none the less to protect the rights of the Christians. We are going there to defend the freedom of the seas and our just influence in the Mediterranean. We are going there with Germany, to aid her in preserving the rank from which, it seems, they wish to degrade her, to secure her frontiers against the preponderance of a too powerful neighbour. We are going there, in fact, with all those who desire the triumph of right, of justice, and of civilisation. "In this solemn conjuncture, gentlemen, as in all those in which I shall be obliged to appeal to the country, I rely firmly upon you, for I have always found in you the generous sentiments which animate the nation. Strong, then, in this security, in the nobleness of our cause, in the firmness of our alliances, and confiding, above all, in the protection of God, I hope soon to arrive at a peace which shall no longer depend on the power of any one to disturb it with impunity." MR. LOCKE KING'S BILL. TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." Sir,—l believe that the principal ground on which the advocates of Mr. Locke King's bill take their stand is the hardship which in some cases basis the younger branches of a family, when, the father dying Intestate, his real estate, under the present law, de volves exclusively upon his eldest son. In order to remedy this defect (which, in cases where the father leaves little or no personal estate, is undoubtedly productive of great apparent injustice) it is proposed by Mr. Locke King's bill, as at present framed, to render the law of succession to real and personal estate in cases of intestacy identical. Now, I would, with the greatest deference, beg leave to suggest through the medium of your valuable columns that the desired result might easily be ob tained without any such sweeping provision as that at present projected. Setting aside the inconvenience and injurious re sults which arise from splitting an estate up into a number of smaller portions, and the heartburnings and disagreements which the forcible sale of an old family property would in many cases occasion, it certainly does appear to me that the mode I venture to propose, and which is obviously suggested by the ordinary provisions of a marriage settlement of real estate, would fully carry out the best objects of the bill. Why, then, might it not be enacted that, in case the father dies intestate, his real estate shall, in the hands of his heir, stand charged with such a sum of money, for the benefit of the widow and younger children, as, with the amount of their shares of his personal estate, will bear a specified proportion to the whole of the property, real and personal, of which he died possessed? This proportion might be made to vary according to the number of the younger children ; and, though the provisions of the bill would no doubt have to be very carefully framed, there does not seem to be anything impracticable in the proposition. If this mode were adopted, that which must be ad mitted to be a legitimate and laudable object might, I apprehend, be carried into effect without entirely altering the very first principles of our real-property law.—l am, sir, your obedient servant, EQUITY. THE quantity of wine retained for home consumption in France is about 792,000,000 gallons, equal to one hectolitre or twenty-two gallons to each inhabitant, or about half a pint daily. Of this quantity, however, it is estimated that about 210,000,030 gallons are used in the manufacture of spirits. In 1852 the quantity of wine paying excise duty in France was 520,366,000 gallons, and of brandy 18,557,000 gallons. The Moniteur states that the total amount of excise duties received for the year 1853 upon wine and spirits was 114,062,000 f., being an increase since 1847 of 0,062,000 f., or 242,4801. THE PRESS. Vroutbings in Vat lianttnt. THE WAR. The Earl of ELLEXeo;touort --- On Monday called the attention of the Peers to the intelligence received from St. Petersburg, which stated that twelve Rus sian frigates and corvettes were actually preparing in the Baltic, and would be ready whenever the ice broke up to issue forth and scatter themselves over the ocean in search of prey among the multitudinous and defenceless fleets employed in the British mer chant service. He remarked that in five weeks after their departure these ships might be committing in credible damage among the trading vessels off the Scotch and Irish coasts. The noble earl then al luded to the number of Russian cruisers which were well known to be hovering around many of our most important colonies, and expressed his apprehension of the distastrous consequences that must ensue if the Government did not exercise more vigilance and activity than they had hitherto employed. " There are," he said, " not less than eleven Russian men-of-war that I know of distributed in different positions on foreign stations. A frigate and a brig are at Manilla, flanking the China trade ; and we have a 50-gun ship, which was lately in a state of mutiny, at Hong-Kong. There is a 60-gun frigate off Australia, where we have only a 26-gun frigate. The whole of the Australian trade will therefore be at the mercy of that man-of-war. At Rio there is a 44-gun frigate, the Aurora, which we, in the exercise of a generous hospitality, recently repaired at Portsmouth. I believe the whole number of guns which we have now at that station is not equal to the number of guns mounted by that one ship alone. There is also at Madeira a schooner heavily armed. Two heavy frigates were seen on the 9th November off Cape de Verd, and from the direction they were steering, and from the circumstance of our not having heard of them since, my impression is that these frigates have gone round Cape. Horn. Again, in the Adriatic there are three Russian frigates, in an Austrian port, fomenting the Greek insurrection. All these vessels are unwatched, and may all pounce upon our trade in different parts of the world. The Emperor of Russia is at perfect liberty to give orders to that effect, because what we have done is war. We may take it as a war or not, as we please, but it is war, and jus tifies him in giving instructions to the commanders of these vessels to act accordingly. The ships in the Baltic, to which I have alluded, may be met with an equal or a superior force to keep them out of the Categat ; but, if they are not prevented from leaving the Categat, three times the number will not be sufficient to protect our trade ; and therefore it becomes a matter of absolute ur gency that her Majesty's Ministers should make up their minds what they mean to do on this subject. The orders should be given immediately ; not a day or an hour should be lost. I conclude that it can never be considered possi ble to attack without notice ; and therefore that notice must be given to the Emperor of Russia as to the intention which we entertain ; and as these vessels may be at the mouth of the Categat before ours may meet them, in three weeks, not an hour or a day ought to be lost in giving that notice. (Hear, hear.) And, therefore, I ask my noble friend if her Majesty's Government are prepared to pre vent these frigates and corvettes from leaving the Baltic ?" The Earl of ABERDEEN, in declining to give the desired assurance, stated his intention " henceforth to answer no question respecting prospective military or naval operations." Admitting that Lord Ellen borough had accurately described the positions of the Russian ships, he intimated that that noble lord was mistaken in supposing that their manceuvres were " unwatched." The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH was not satisfied with that meagre intimation : " I contend that I am not justified in giving her Ma jesty's Ministers credit for watchfulness in this matter. (A laugh.) For anything that can be drawn from within the four corners of the book of political economy or finance I give them credit, but as a war Ministry they are as yet utterly untried ; and when I see that they are not aware of the value of time, which in war is almost everything— when I see that they have postponed for two or three months the most necessary and essential preparations abso lutely required for success, and even for the protection of the coasts of England—when I see that the military and naval force they propose to employ is utterly inadequate— (Hear, hear)—that it is discreditable to this country to enter on a war with the peace establishment scarcely in creased, and to endeavour to persuade itself that that is a little war which is one of the greatest in which it has ever been engaged—l say, my lords, that having these impres sions with respect to the past conduct of her Majesty's Ministers in reference to this war, I cannot give them credit either for watchfulness or for activity. (Hear, hear.) I shall be most happy, indeed, if my forebodings should not be realised, and if those who have shown, to a great extent, abilities for the conduct of our affairs in peace, should exhibit similar qualifications for the conduct of war." The Marquis of L.►NSDOWNE denied the charge that the war preparations of the Government had been dilatory or inefficient : "If the noble earl knew more than he appears to know of the preparations that have been made to meet the war, and the manner in which those preparations have been conducted, and which, so far as there is any evidence before the public, have been exhibited in the magnificent fleets now preparing to sail, and the admirable army now preparing to be sent out, he SATURDAY, would see that all the activity is in favour of the watchful ness, the foresight, and the determination of her ➢lajesty's Government. (Hear, hear.) And when the noble earl comes to look into these particulars, I am confident he will have the candour to own that these preparations have been effectual, and that they will afford sufficient proof, not only in the particular details which he has brought under the consideration of the house, but in every particular spreading over every portion of the globe, of the watchful ness of the Queen's servants. But let me add that it would take away a great deal from the merit and from the effect of that watchfulness if, having been watchful, they were to announce the details of that watchfulness to the public and to this house even upon a question pro pounded by the noble earl in i oinch a manner as to add nothing to the effect of that watchfulnes, but to betray it in its details to the enemy. (Loud cheers.) " Lord ELLENBOROUGH controverted the assertion that the equipment of the Baltic fleet was a satis factory proof of Ministerial activity and skill : " That fleet consists, I believe, of eighteen vessels, out of which eighteen vessels seven only have ever been at sea ; and I do say that that state of things, with the chance of their being engaged with the enemy in a fortnight or less—eleven untried ships, with eleven untried crews—is not a proof either of foresight or of watchfulness. I think the state of the negotiations in the early part of November was such that the Government should have commenced to make all the preparations which they commenced to make two or three months later, and then they would have had such a fleet as we were accustomed to conquer with—a fleet which had been at sea, and one in which all the officers knew the men, and in which there was such a degree of dis cipline and experience as to give a certainty of success. (Hear, hear.)" The same topic was brought up in the Commons during the discussion on the navy estimates. Cap tain Scositu. then inquired whether the Admiralty were aware that three Russian war-ships were in some Austrian ports of the Adriatic, and suggested the expediency of providing an escort to accompany our troop-ships during their voyage down the Medi terranean. Sir J. GRAHAM said it was true that three Russian men of-war were in the Adriatic, but he had great pleasure in telling the gallant officer that there were also three Eng lish men-of-war there—( cheers) ;—and, if that were not enough, two very powerful French vessels were likewise in the Adriatic. Those three Russian men•of-war had been in the outer harbour of Trieste ; but they were afterwards hauled up within the inner mole, so that our men-of-war could not get at them. (Laughter.) REPORTED ADVANCE OF THE RUSSIANS TOWARDS INDIA. Mr. LIDDELL, on Tuesday, read a statement from the Times to the effect that a Russian army had been established in the Oxus, and that alliances, offensive and defensive, had been concluded between the Czar and Dost Mohamed, the Khan of Khiva, and the King of Bokhara. He asked whether the Government had any authentic information respect ing these rumoured advances of the Russians to wards our Indian frontier? Sir C. WOOD stated that with respect to the advance of the Russian forces he believed that there was not the slightest truth in the statement. Her Majesty's Govern ment had no information of the kind, and the latest ad vices which they had received rendered it almost certain that there could be no truth in the statement. In the latest communications which the Government had received from Mr. Stevens, the consul at Tabreez, dated January 4, that gentleman reported his having had a conversation with M. Rhanikoff, a Russian officer in Persia, in the course of which he stated that he had referred to the re ported Russian expedition to Khiva and Bokhara, when M. Rhanikoff denied that anything of the kind had taken place. He said the report must have originated from the fact that some subjects of Hokan had erected a fort within the Russian boundary, on the right bank of Syr Dagria : a body of Russians was despatched thither, which after de stroying the fort returned to its quarters at Kaimak. With respect to any alliance, offensive or defensive, having been concluded between the Russians and Doxt Mohamed, the Khan of Khiva, and the King of Bokhara, a despatch from Lahore, dated December 2T, containing intelligence re ceived from the news-writer at Caboul, represented that Dost Mohamed was already fully engaged iu hostilities with his brother, and he did not think that any negotiations of the sort alluded to were at all likely to be going on be tween the parties, who appeared to have already quite enough on their hands. (Hear.) THE MASSACRE OF SINOPE. The motion for committee of supply on Monday night was prefaced by a discussion upon the catas trophe of Sinope, which involved various criticisms upon the behaviour of the British admiral and fleet in the Black Sea. The debate was opened by Sir H. WILLOUGHBY, who compared dates for the purpose of urging inquiry upon the First Lord of the Admiralty touching the want of vigour of decision which had been displayed. The Sinope tragedy, he remarked, occurred on N0v.30. Admiral Dundas had a fleet at his command quite sufficient for vigorous action : he had instructions, transmitted from Lord Clarendon on Oct. 8, warranting him to act vigorously. If the fleet had entered the Black Sea the Sinope affair would never have taken place. The omission of this step, he argued, producing as it did such calamitous results, required explanation and defence. Sir S. GRAHAM explained the motives under which Admiral Dundee had acted. The chief cause why