The Press. — London, England, 1858-07-17 00:00:00

THE MASSACRE AT JEDDAH. About sunset on the 15th of June the house of the English Vice-Consul at Jeddah was suddenly attacked and invaded by some hundreds of Hadra mites (inhabitants of Southern Arabia), who seized the person of the Consul, wounded him grievously, and then flung him, still alive, from the window into the street, where a mob of the same fanatics hacked his body into pieces. The house was then pillaged, the servants and two dragomen assassinated, and the archives' of the Consulate were burnt. While this horrible sce ne was g oin g cn similar crimes were committed at the French Consulate. This Consul, also attacked by a band of fanatics who penetrated into the house by the windows, fell mortally wounded by several satire cuts. His wife was killed by a dagger thrust in her breast, after having defended herself courageously, killed the murderer of her husband and wounded several others. Her daughter,eighteen years old, succeeded in escaping by a secret door. In the ne xt room were the Chancellor of' the consulate and his servant. This latter is a Mussulman, an old soldier, who formerly served in a battalion of native Alge rines. These two men and the Consul's young daughter defended themselves so heroically that the murderers retreated for a moment. They soon re turned to the charge, but this time employed a stratagem. A Hadramite, an acquaintance of the Chancellor's, approached him, and said, " Come out. Come with me ; I wish to save you from certain death." Confiding in these promises, the brave young man quitted the room; he was instantly struck with a poignard, which only slightly wounded him in the arm. Knocked down by the blow, his throat was seized by the assassin, and he was on the point of perishing when the Consul's daughter threw herself on the assassin, and bit him so deeply in the hand that he was forced to let go. Thereupon another of these wretches attacked the courageous young girl, and gave her a sabre cut across the face. She fell senseless, but the Chancellor, who bad sprung to his feet, inflicted a blow on the last assassin. Meanwhile, the Chancellor's servant, struggling with admirable energy against these mis creants, Hied three of them, wounded several others, and so succeeded in covering the flight of the Con sul's daughter, of the Chancellor, and of a servant, who have all arrived this evening, in company with the brave soldier, at the residence of the Consul- General of France, in Alexandria. While this car nage was going on all the Christians were assailed in the streets of Jeddah, and massacred. Twenty three persons succeeded in escaping under cover of the night, and, throwing themselves into the sea, swam to the English steam despatch-boat which was at anchor in the port. All the other Christians, to the number of' forty-five, have been killed and hacked in pieces. In the house of the brothers Sava twelve persons,including the three brothers, have been murdered. The number of Mussulmans who took part in the massacre is estimated at 5,000. Aortiga 6oLocitial (lattlligtate. TURKEY. Accounts from Athens state that a terrible reaction of the Mussulmans against the Christians has taken place in Candia. A young Greek of Canea killed a Turk in self-defence. The body of the Mussulman Was conveyed to the mosque, and a general rising soon after took place. The European consulates, AS well as the Catholic churches, were insulted. The French flag was fired on, and the hotel of the Turkish Admiral was threatened unless the Greek was put to death. The Greek was strangled by order of the Admiral, and his body was given up to the populace, and was dragged by them before the houses of the consuls. The Christians are leaving Canea in crowds. The Turks at Retimo have devastated the churches in that town, wounded several of the clergy, and taken possession of the citadel, the artillerymen stationed in it taking part with the mob. Disturb ances have broken out in the province of Bagdad in consequence of the recruiting for the army. In seve ral villages the authorities have been driven out. Omar Pasha has sent troops to resture order. Despatches from Constantinople announce that the Ottoman Government have sent a general to Jeddah, to punish the murderers of the Christians by martial law. Despatches quoted by the Pays state that the Turks have attacked the Montenegrins. The latter, after having been thrice assailed, have withdrawn into their mountains to await the enemy. Abed English attacker mites fi the pen and the the stre his bod the ser tee arc this hoi commit a lso att into the by sevE thrust courag woundr old, sup ne xt rc set van' who fo rifles. daught inurde . turned stratag Chanel Come' death.' young struck him in throat point bet sel band anotbE young face. bad si assass strugE cream and sE sin's who h the b Genet nage in the three the n swam at anc the nt in pie persoi murd part i j Act of th place Turk Was soon well Frktni T urk was of th popu of tit Crow! churl and static ance cons rat Oms Di Otto to pt law. Tur afte into MIT ant Wei and mu of THE PRESS, JULY 17, 1858. gunboats had reconnoitred. Six days had been allowed to the Chinese for an answer from Pekin, and before that period an officer of proper rank had been deputed to meet the Plenipotentiaries; but there was very little hope of a peaceful solution of difficulties, and the Sampson had been sent to Hong Kong for reinforcements. She was to leave for the north again on the 29th of May, with six officers and 170 men of the Royal Engineers, and two gunboats were to accompany her. It was reported that her Majesty's 59th were under orders for the same destination, about 1,200 native troops having arrived from Calcutta and Madras. The French transport Gironde had also arrived with 900 marine infantry. EAST INDIA-HOUSE. THE following is the draught of the petition of the East India Company to the House of Lords against Bill No. 3, for the better government of India, adopted at the India-house last Wednesday : 1. That at the commencement of the present session of Parliament your petitioners did address ycur right hon. house, praying that you would not " give your sanction to any change in the constitution of the Indian Government without full previous inquiry into the present system," an inquiry extending into " every branch of Indian adminis tration ;" and that your petitioners did at the same time "challenge the most searching investigation into the mu tiny of the Bengal army, and the causes, whether remote or immediate, which produced that mutiny." 2. That, nevertheless, without any such inquiry or in• vestigation whatsoever having taken place, a bill has been introduced into your right hon. house, and mad a first time, entirely abrogating that constitution of government for India which has existed from the first—viz., the go vernment of this Company, at whose expense, and by whose exertions, British authority was originally estab- lished in India. 8. That your petitioners cannot but regard such a mea sure as having in public estimation a penal character, and its adoption as calculated to lead to the general inference that they have abused their trust, and have been deservedly cashiered for misconduct. Your petitioners submit to your right hon. house that they cannot, without dishonour, acquiesce in their own condemnation without having obtained a trial, or so much as the production of a single charge against them. In 1853 it was decided by Parlia ment, after an inquiry the most minute and laborious, that the government of India by your petitioners should eon. tinue " until Parliament should otherwise provide ;" it is now declared by the preamble of the bill before your right hon. house to be " expedient" to make such other provi sion for the government of India, without reason given or cause assigned, or any inquiry whatsoever. 4. That, in the opinion of your petitioners, the circum stances of the rebellion in India do make inquiry by Par• liament necessary, and such inquiry ought to be into the conduct of individuals, as the chief means whereby mis conduct, if proved, can in future be prevented. Your pe titioners submit to your right hon. house that it is at least possible that one result of such an inquiry might be to implicate functionaries of the Indian Government who are not servants of this Company, bat whom it is now proposed to relieve from that practical although limited control to which they have hitherto been subjected by the existence of this Company. Your petitioners submit to your right hon. house that,in passing the proposed measure without full previous inquiry, you do incur the danger of increasing that power of the servants of the Crown which, as exerted in the affairs of India, may have already been too great, and required to be diminished. 5. That your petitioners cannot but consider the rejec tion of their prayer for inquiry as not only an act of injus Lice towards themselves, but an act of injustice towards the people of India, and a most lamentable precedent fur the future conduct of the Legislature under great national calamities. In their former petition your petitioners did respectively claim such an inquiry, because when, for the first time in this century, the thoughts of every public man in the country were fixed on India, an inquiry would be more thorough, and its results would carry much more instruction to the mind of Parliament and the country than at any preceding period. Your petitioners apprehend that the rejection of this their prayer is the neglect of a pre cious opportunity which may never recur. The bill now under consideration by your right hon. house, contrary to all former precedent, contains no mention whatever of the people of India. 6. That your petitioners did represent to your right hon. house, in their former petition, that " they could not well conceive a worse form of government for India than a Minister with a Council, whom he should be at liberty to consult or not at his pleasure ;" a principle which the pro posed form of government adopts to a very serious extent, it being one of the main provisions of the bill "fur the better government of India" that the President of the Council shall be at libeity to receive secret communica tions from I ndia, and send out secret orders, whenever in his judgment such secrecy may be required, without sub mitting the same to the members of the council. It is the belief of your petitioners that inquiry by your right hon. house into the operation and results of the power of secret action, which has been exercised by the President of the Board of Control since the institution of that Board through the medium of the Secret Committee of the Directors of the Company, would make it impossible for your right hon. house to place in the hands of a Secre. tary of State still greater powers for mischief than hereto fore, by passing an enactment the effect of which is no thing less than to give the sanction of Parliament to the dangerous practice of transacting the public business by means of private letters. 7. That the capital stock and debts of this Company amount in the aggregate to 113,000,0001. sterling—a liability from which it is proposed by Parliament to relieve your 693 petitioners, and which Parliament does not propose to take upon itself, but, on the contrary, by the insertion of the word " alone " after "Indian revenues " in clause 42 of the aforesaid bill, to expressly disclaim. Your petitioners beg respectfully to represent to your right hon. house that such an enactment cannot but tend to mislead the English people on a matter of the most vital importance, inasmuch as your petitioners cannot see how the national credit can be kept separate from the credit of the Indian Govern ment, save by continuing this Company in its administrative functions. 8. That in the year 1773, when the chartered rights of your petitioners were first invaded, and powers and patron age which they had hitherto exercised were otherwise vested, certain of the members of your lordships' house did protest against the course that was at that time entered upon, pre dicting " that the boundless fund of corruption furnished by that bill to the servants of the Crown would efface every idea of honour, public spirit, and independence from every rank of people; consequences which, in the belief of your petitioners, the proposed bill ( which is the sequel to that of 1773) renders more imminent than ever. 9. That, having regard to all these considerations, and seeing that that full inquiry which your petitioners before prayed your right hon. house to institute hap become im— possible during the present session of Parliament, your petitioners do humbly pray your right hon. house not to suffer the bill for the " better government of India," now before you, to become law ; and your petitioners do further pray your right hon. house to allow this Company to be heard by counsel against the said bill, and in defence of the Company's rights and privileges. And your petitioners will ever pray. CHINA. The latest news from China is comparatively un important. The following is the most interesting announcement:— Mouth of the Peiho April 29th, Shanghai 17th, and Hong Kong 22nd of May. The allied fleet, consisting of nineteen vessels of war, was at anchor eleven miles from the mouth of the Peiho, and 140 from Pekin. The vessels were separated by a mud bank from the Chinese forts which guard the mouth of the river, and which mount about eighty guns. The Court ant la4ton. THE QUEEN'S SQUADRON'AT CHERBOURG. ORDERS have been promulgated by the Lords of the Admiralty, on the command of the Queen, for the assembling of a squadron forthwith at Ports mouth to attend her Majesty to Cherbourg on her forthcoming visit to the Emperor and Empress of the French at that great naval rendezvous. This squadron will consist of siz sail of the line, six frigates, and a flotilla of the Queen's and the Admi ralty's steam yachts, comprising the following, the wholo under the command of Admiral Lord Lyons, with Rear Admiral Sir C. H. Fremantle as second in command :—Royal Albert, 121, Captain the Hon. Francis Egerton, flag of Vice-Admiral of the White the Right Hon. Edmund Lord Lyons, Commander in-Chief. Hannibal, 91, Captain H. Chads, flag of Rear• Admiral of the Red Sir Charles Howe Fre- mantle. Brunswick. 81, Captain Ommaney ; Orion, 91, Captain D'Eyncourt; Renown, 91, Captain Forbes ; Caesar, 91, Captain Frederick ; the Eurya lus, 51, Captain Tarleton, C.B. ; the Arrogant, 47, Captain Heath, C.B. ; the Diadem, 32, Captain Moorsom, C. 8.; the Curacoa, 31, Captain T. M. Mason; the Racoon, 22, Captain Paynter ; the Terrible, 21, Captain Glasse, C. 8.; the Valorous, 16, Captain Aldham ; the Victoria and Albert, Captain the Hon. J. Denman ; the Fairy royal tender, Mr. D. N. Welch, Master, R.N.; the Elfin royal tender, Mr. A. Balliston, Master, R.N. ; the Osborne Admiralty yacht, Mr. G. H. K. Bower, Master, R.N. ; the Black Eagle Admiralty yacht, Mr. J. E. Petley, Master, H.N. ; the Fire Queen Admiralty yacht, Mr. W. F. Paul, Master, R.N. ; the Sprightly steam tender, Mr. George Allen, Acting Master, R.N. It is by her Majesty's express wish and command that Admiral Lord Lyons commands in chief this squadron of honour, for which duty the Royal Albert, carrying his lordship's flag, arrived at Spitbead on Thursday afternoon. flontg parket anb (ittg ]ntelligenct. FRIDAY EVERYNG. THE return of the Bank of England for the week ending Wednesday last, the 14th inst., shows the following changes compared with that for the week preceding : Increase in Circulation Decrease in Public Deposits 4,889,898 Increase in Other Deposits Decrease in Government Securities 89,487 Decrease in Other Securities 805;254 Decrease in Bullion Increase in Rest 87,807 Decrease in Reserve Bullion in both Departments .. 16,898,668 Circulation, including Bank Post Bills The present return is not very satisfactory. It is, indeed, the most unfavourable, in all essential respects, of any that has appeared for many weeks in respect to the Bullion and the Reserve. The additional amount of coin put into cir culation by harvest operations, by country bankers increas ing their reserves to meet the various settlements of the half-year, and by the dispersion of the dividends, imper fectly explain the large falling off in the Bullion. It is to a greater extent due to the still unsatisfied demand for gold from the Continent. The decline in the nese •ve is a:so important, as it has occurred simultaneously with a large decrease in the Private Securities by repayments of advances made daring the shutting. The Notes have now