The Press. — London, England, 1857-02-07 00:00:00

/ortign anb golonial 3ntellignut. FRANCE. The Moniltur of Thursday contained an article on the question of the union of the Danubian Principalities. The Plenipotentiary of France at the Conference of Vienna had stated it as his opinion that it was the combination hest suited to assure to those provinces the strength necessary t o become a bulwark for the Ottoman empire. The French Government bad not ceased to profess the same opinion, and what has recently taken place between it and the other Cabinets has only tended to confirm it in its cmvictions. It does not despair of seeing them prevail in the councils of the powers, and that the one most inte• rested will admit that the union of the Principalities has nothing which is not completely in accordance with the rights of suzerainty of the Sublime Porte with regard to the Danubian Principalities. The opening of Parliament in England has afforded the Paris journals much matter for comment. In general, the p )sition and prospects of the Government are regarded as unfavourable. The reduction of the French army has commenced. 46,000 more renewable furloughs have been ordered by the Emperor to be granted. Count Kisselef has left Paris for Nice. lie returns to Paris by the 18th. M. de Morny is not expected at Paris in time for the opening of the Corps Legislatif. PRUSSIA AND SWITZERLAND. According to the semi-official papers, the Swiss Extra• ordinary• Envoy at Paris, Dr. Kern, has received the following instructions concerning the reply of Switzerland to the conditions put forth by the King of Prussia:— " 1. It cannot be conceded to the King of Prussia to retain the title of Prince of Neufchatel, as no independent State could acknowledge such a title in a foreign sovereign. "'2. The re-establishment of the bourgeoisie is inadmis- sible, because it would be contrary to the complete inde pendence of Neufchatel. " The pretensions of Prussia to the domains are to be rejected, because the dominions in question have never been the private property of the Prince. "4. The guarantee of the benevolent foundations cannot be accepted in the form of an obligation to a foreign poten tate. "5. No particular guarantees can be established with re• gard to the royalists being treated equally with the rest of the citizens, as guarantees to that effect are already contained in the federal as well as in the cantonal consti tution." Diplomatic negotiations between Prussia and Switzer land have not yet been renewed. SPAIN. The Queen is now visiting the southern provinces of the kingdom. . . . lieneral Prim's trial has not yet commenced. ITALY AND NAPLES. The King of Sardinia hats left Nice on his return to Turin. The reception of the King en rouse was most enthusiastic. The King of Naples has decided upon offering to his political prisoners the choice of establishing themselves as • colony upon the banks of the Parana under the Argentine Itepublic. The King is said to be desirous of renewing friendly relations with England and France. GREECE. The immediate evacuation of Greece by the allied powers has been decided on. The Anglo• French force will at once be embarked at the. Piraeus. Transports have been ordered thence from Toulon and Malta. AMERICA. Intelligence from New York to the 23rd states that the Senate was still occupied with the corruption case. A bill hail been passed compelling newspaper reporters and others to testify. The Submarine Telegraph Bill had passed the Senate. THE PERSIAN WAR. WE have intelligence from Constantinople to the 30th ult. Russia demands from Persia permission to occupy the piorince of Mazauderau. The Persian mountaineers have pillaged the rich sanctuary of Meragha Whihl ; the garrison having gone to Feroozabad to repress an insurrection. The fortifications of Ilushire have been reconstructed by the English, who have left two regiments, and marched up the Kaub to attack Mohamora, which commands both the province of Fan and the road to Shiraz. A despatch, by way of Alexandria, Jan. .11th. announces that : " The English are about to occupy Molianirnrad and Bender Ali, two towns on the Persian Gulf. " liender-Abbaz, an important post on the coast of the kingdom of Persia. being occupied by the I maum of Muscat, an ally of the English, will, it is supposed, be respected by the hitter." iron the Afghan frontier the statements are conflicting. The Paris Mundeur de l' Arm ie announces as a " serious fact," Om the chiefs of ANhaniatan have declared for Persia, THE PRESS. and that the Dooranees have signified their submission. On the other hand, intelligence by way of Constantinople an• flounces that Gholub Elaidar Khan, with a brigade of cavalry, had possessed himself of Fera, and was advancing to attack the Persian army, commanded by Mourad Khan. The English division, under the command of General Chamberlain, was marching upon Candahar. The Teheran Gazette, the official organ of the Court of Persia, under date of the 24th of December, has the follow ing article on the capture of Bushire by the English:— " From the commencement of the dispute between Persia and England, it never was the intention of the Government of his Majesty the Shah to break off friendly relations with the Cabinet of London, or to excite hos. tallies against that power. " The Persian Government has at various times mani• tested its good intentions in au official document. It always had that object in view, on which it has based its line of conduct; which, moreover, has been shown by its acts." "In fact, on the ono hand it gave instructions to its ambassador, and full powers to hold interviews with the English Ambassador at Constantinople to settle the dispute in a manner conformable to the dignity and interests of the two Governments. Considering these intentions it had daily expected to hear that the dispute had been honourably settled between the ambassadors, and friendly relations restored between the two Governments. On the other hand, the Persian Government had issued strict orders to the frontier authorities not to commence hosti• lities against the English. For these same reasons it had not made the necessary preparations for the defence of the frontier and of Ilushire." The article then briefly notices the fall of flushire, alluding to the unfair and informal manner in which war was declared : "The commander of the English troops in the Persian Gulf, without adhering to the customary forms of send ing the declaration of war to the representatives of the Court of Persia, or at least of making a declaration to his Highness Prince Feha►assib.Mirza, Governor-General of the province of Fars, restricted himself to writing a letter couched in vague terms, which he sent to Bushire and to other ports in its vicinity ; this letter was accom panied by a printed sheet on the subject of the decks , ration of war of the East India Company." A protest by Russia against the occupation of 13ushire, but recommending the evacuation of Herat by Persia, is announced in the continental papers. Some details of the operations of the expedition in the Persian Gulf have retched us this week. There appears to have been little or no resistance to the disembarkation of the troops. A few Arab horsemen, sheltered by a date grove, were driven in by a sh3t or two, and infantry and six guns were landed the first day ( 7th December). Tents and baggage were left on board the transports, and the troops bivouacked for the next two days upon the bare ground ; but the weather was fine, warm, and dry. On the morning of the I)th, the calvary having joined, the whole force marched onwards towards Bushire, the infantry in open column, and the cavalry on the flanks. An hour's march brought them in sight of " Ilas el Busheer," a mud fort, or rather a large redoubt, which at first was occupied by about 2,000 or 2,500 of the enemy. This fort, we are told, " was a most difficult kind of place, with little gardens, wells and broken ground around it," till within a few yards of the ditch, which was dry, though both wide and deep. A steep sloping bank completely protected the side towards the sea from infantry, though it afforded but poor shelter) from the heavy guns of the war•steamers, which opened on it with " time shell" at long range. The greater part of the enemy deserted the work at the first shells which burst among them, but a body of Arabs, which most accounts agree in stating as about 800 strong, remained, and seemed determined to defend it to the last. Sheltering themselves as closely as they could, they kept up a heavy fire from their long•barrelled matchlocks upon the troops, who were now only a quarter of a mile distant, and rapidly advancing; the 64th Native Infantry forming the right, the 20th the centre, and the 2nd (Europeans) the left. An officer on board one of the war steamers, says:— " At this time we could see as distinctly all that was passing on shore as it we were close to them. The Persians were blazing away quickly from behind their breastworks, and then running back to load, while our redcoats came steadily on. The Persians stood manfully to the last, till presently we saw the red line surge over the fort, Persians and all, like a great wave, with the colours of the regiments waving in front. Then, out at the side towards the sea the Persians came tolling and tumbling down the steep cliff to the beach, turning to the left to get away. The Rifle Regiment, which was on the extreme left, and ought to have stopped them, did not see them, as they were on the top of the cliff, and the Persians running along the bottom towards a pass about a mile further down. Some gained it before the Rifles found out what was going on, and then it was too late for them to catch them, as they got up the pass into the plain in rear of our army, and so cut away. Our cavalry by this time was after them, spreading out like a large fan. You saw each man singling out a running Persian, and then there was a flash in the sun. The horseman still gallopped on, but the running Persian was transformed into a dark spot on the ground." The letters from officers on shore say that the men advanced towards the fort with the utmost coolness, and, deploying into line, came on at a rui: towards the ditch. The enemy gave back at the centre of the work, but from its flanks kept up a heavy cross fire, shooting dead, among others, Colonel Stonford, who was in the act of leading his men across the ditch. The various accounts of the capture of Itushire itself 11514 nothing of iniportauGo to the detaik already given. SATURDAY, text *n task n. Her Majesty the Queen and the Court continue at Windsor Castle. Their Serene Highnesses the Princess of Hohenlohe Langenburg and Princess Feodore have visited her Majesty during the week. H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Newcastle, and other members of the nobility, have visited her Majesty during the week. Viscountess Palmerston has issued cards for assemblies on every Saturday during the present month. His Excellency the American Minister entertained T,ord Napier, recently appointed Minister to the United States, together with a number of the diplomatic oorps and other gentlemen, at dinner, on Saturday last. Volitical. POLITICAL ENTERTAINMENTS. THE EARL OF DERBY, as leader of the Opposition, gave a banquet on Monday evening, at his mansion in St. James's square, to a party of peers, supporters of the noble earl's policy. The guests included— Earl of Lonsdale Earl of Winchilsea Earl of Ilardwicko Earl of Stradbroke Earl Delawarr Earl Nelson Earl of Wilton Lord Colchester Lord Redesdale Duke of Beaufort Duke of Montrose Marquis of Salisbury Marquis of Bath Earl of Carnarvon Earl of Sandwich Earl of Eglinton Earl of Lucan Earl of Malmesbury THE BIGUT Hort. B. DisnaEu received at dinner the same evening at his residence, Grosvenor-gate, the following members of the House of Commons, supporters of the Opposition :-- Marquis of Chandos Earl of March Lord Burghley Viscount Barrington Viscount Galway Lord Stanley Lord Ossulston Lord Lovaine Viscount Henley Lord Robert Cecil Lord Adolphus Tempest Colonel Hon. J. Lindsay Colonel Hon. H. Cole Colonel Hon. H. Lowther Hon. Henry Liddell Right Hon. C. Forester Right Hon. Sir S. Trollope Rt. Hon. Sir J. Pakington Right Hon. S. Walpole lit. Hon. C. R. Hamilton Hon. Octavius Buncombe Hon. Charles Hanbury Sir William B. Smijth The Marquis of Granby and Lord John Manners were prevented joining the party by the lamented death of the Duke of Rutland. The lion. Eliot Yorke, Sir John Walsh, Mr. tier Seymer, and Colonel North were absent through indisposition. Sir E. Bulwer Lytton Sir Watkin W. Wynn Sir James Fergusson Sir John Yarde Buller Sir A. Islay Campbell Sir William H. Jolliffe Sir Henry Melia Mr. Palmer (Berkshire) Mr. Miles Mr. Nee ld Mr. Bentinck Mr. Edward Egerton Colonel Somerset Colonel Buck Mr. Leslie Mr. Gore Langton Mr. Palk Mr. Mundy Mr. Baillie Cochrane Mr. George A. Hamilton, Mr. Peacocks Mr. Hardy VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, as First Lord of the Trea sury, gave a parliamentary dinner on Monday even ing at Cambridge-house to a large party of mern• hers of the House of Commons, supporters of the Government. The guests included the mover and seconder of the Address : Sir John Ramsden Sir Andrew Agnew Earl of Mulgrave Viscount Duncan Right Hon. the Speaker Right lion. M. T. Baines Mr. John Ball RightHon.Sir F. Berkeley Sir Richard Bethell Right Hon. E. P. Bouverie Hon. H. Brand Right Hon. Lord C. Bruce Right Hon. H. F. Grey General Buckley Viscount Castlarosse Hon. W. Cowper Mr. J. D. Fitzgerald Right Hon. Sir G. Grey The Queen's Speech was • to his assembled guests at Mr. R. W. Horeman Rt. Hon. H. Labouchcre Rt. Hon. Sir G. C. Lewis Mr. W. H. Massey Right Hon. R. Lowe Viscount Monck The Lord Advocate Right Hon. W. Monsell Mr. Ralph Osborne Lord Alfred Paget Mr. F. Peel Sir Robert Peel Mr. 11. Danby Seymour Right Hon. R. V. Smith Right Hon. C. P. Villiers Right Hon. Sir C. Wood Right Hon. J. S. Wortley J by the noble viscount ►he banquet. THE EARL. GRAMMA' E, as Lord President of the Council, on Monday evening entertained the follow ing members of the House of Peers, supporters of the ciovernyacut ; at iris mansion, in Bruton-streut 1 I 130