The Press. — London, England, 1858-05-01 00:00:00

THE PRESS, MAY i f lB5B. ever which the system is distributed. It is mainly to the seal, energy, and ability of a young officer of the Bengal Engineers, Lieutenant Patrick Stewart, that these advan- tages are due. He is assisted, it is true, by a few men, but he it is who devices and superintends the execution and the extension of the line from place to place. At one time his men are chased for miles by the enemy's cavalry —at another time they are attacked by the sowers, and they and the wires are eat into pieces—again, their elec tric batteries are smashed by the tire of a gun, or their cart knocked to pieces by a round shot—but still they work on—creep over arid plains, across watercourses, span rivers, and pierce jangles, till one after another the rude poles raise aloft their slender burden, and the quick needle vibrates with its silent tongue amid the thunder of the artillery. While Sir Colin Campbell was at Cawnpore be could learn from Sir James Outram the results of an attack before the enemy had disappeared from the field. As he advanced towards Lucknow the line was carried with or soon after biro ; a tent was pitched near his, a hole was dug iu the ground and tilled with water, and down dropped the wire from the pole stuck up in haste, dived into the water otter-like, the simple magnet was arranged, the battery set in play, and at once the steel moved re sponsive to every touch. Owing to the extreme dryness of the atmosphere nod the power of the sun—which at this season bakes the earth like a brick—the insulation of the current is nearly complete. The wire is thick, and is not protected by non-conducting coatings of any kind ; it is twisted round the top of a rude pole fifteen or sixteen feet high, and, under ordinary states of the atmosphere, it is found to answer perfectly. We had not been very long in the Dilkoosha ere we saw, in dim perspective, the line of posts advancing towards us, and soon the wire was slipped into one of the drawing•room windows. and now it is at full work, surrounded by all the shattered splendour of the palace, inquiring after the Ghoorkas, asking for more of something or other, exchanging ideas between Sir Colin and Lord Canning, or flurrying along a newspaper message to yourself, amid the whistle of the bullet, the roar of the round shot, and all the feverish scenes of war. —Times Letter from INDIAN RESOLUTIONS.—AMENDMENTS. Nonce has been given of the following arneniments upon the resolutions moved by Mr. Disraeli last night:— Sir H. Willoughby-1n resolution 2, line 2, after " Secretaries of State, insert "in council." Lord d. Russell-10 move the following amendments :- 4. After " not," insert " more than twelve members, in cluding the Secretary of State." U. After "that," insert" its members should be appointed by her Majesty, and, with the exception of the Secretary of State, should hold their offices during good behaviour." Instead of 7, insert : " That it shall be lawful for her Majesty to remove any member of the Council from office upon an address from both Houses of Parliament." Omit S. O. After " of State,".insert " as President of the Council of India" 11. Omit " except such," to the end. Instead of 12 and 13, insert the following resolutions:- 11. That no patronage, civil or military, shall be ex ercised by any members of the Council save and except the Secretary of State for India. 12. That the first appointment of cadets and clerks shall be open to public competition, subject to such an exami nation only as the Secretary of State shall direct, reserv ing one-fourth part of all such appointments to the sons of persons who have been employed in the military or civil service of the Crown or of the East India Company in India. Viscount Palmerston—To move, that all members of the Council shall be appointed by the Crown, and with that view to omit the 6th resolution, and to amend the 7th, by leaving out in the first line the words "of the nominated portion," and also the concluding words of the resolution from the words " and one-half " in the third line to the end. Mr. Rich—On the resolutions for the appointment of a Secretary of State and Council of 12 or IS members, to propose amended resolutions for the appointment of a president and vice-president, with five assistant commis sioners, to whom special duties may be assigned in subor dination to the president and vice-president. taiga anb (Colonial ]fttelligentr. FRANCE. THE CONFERENCES AT PARIS. The Conference reassembled in Paris on Monday. The Moniteur, of Thursday, thus annouuced the fact : The Plenipotentiaries of Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey met to-day in con ference at the hotel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to take cognizance of the final act signed at Constantinople on the sth of December last, fcr the purpose of conse crating the result of the labours of the commission created by the 30th article of the Treaty of Paris for the definition of the Russian and Turkish frontiers in Asia. The Conference acknowledges formally to the Plenipo tentiaries of those two powers the receipt of their com munication. The semi official Oat Deutsche Post publishes the following as the programme of the business to be transacted by the plenipotentiaries :-1. The settle ment of the Turco-Russian boundary. 2. The defi nitive regulation of the Moldo-Wallachian question. 3. The ratification of the regulations for the naviga tion of the Danube. Any question not bearing upon one of these three points which any power may possibly desire to bring before the Congress will (the Ost Deutsche Post affirms) be rigorously excluded from their deliberations. The session of the Corps Legislatif, which was prolonged till May 1, has been further prolonged to May 8. It was found impossible to get through the business this week. The elections of two of the Paris Circutnspections have resulted in the return of General Perrot and M. Jules Favre. For the sth Circumspection a new election is fired for the 9th inst. PRUSSIA. The Chambers were closed on Tuesday last. The Minister President, Baron de Manteuffel, delivered a speech in which he gave a resume of the labours of the session. He stated that the votes relative to the construction of the railway to Konigsberg and to the Russian frontier bad induced the Government to commence the works immediately. The law which had passed relative to the increase of duty upon beetroot sugar had been framed with due considera tion to the wants of the Treasury. " Thanks be to Providence! " said the Minister, " since the dangers of war have been removed from our frontier, the public prosperity has not ceased to inlrease, in stile of the temporary dearness of articles of food and the commercial crisis, now happily at au end." M. de Manteuffel added that the King's full recovery was almost assured, and he concluded by eulogizing the tPrince of Prussia for his devotedness in discharging he functions with which unfortunate circumstances had surrounded him. FUTURE POLICY TOWARDS THE INDIAN RE BE LS. LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL. A return to an order of the House of Lords, re quiring a copy of a letter from the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company to the Governor-General of India in Council, dated the 24th of March, 1858, relative to the policy to be pursued towards tha natives of provinces lately in a state of hostility, has appeared. The letter is as follows : The Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company to the Goveruor•General of India in Council, March 24, 1858, The telegram from Calcutta, dated the 22nd ultimo, which arrived this morning, conveys intelligence of the concentration of the force under the commanderin-chief, and of that under Jung Bahadoor, upon Lucknow ; and we trust we may indulge the expectation that, ere this, that city has been evacuated by the rebels, and that no considerable corps remains united against us in the field. 2. If this happy result should have been attained, it will be very satisfactory to us to learn that you have deemed yourself sufficiently strong to be enabled to act towards the people with the generosity as well as the justice which ive congenial to the British character. 3 Crimes have been committed against us which it would be a crime to forgive, and some large exceptions there must be, of the moons guilty of such crimes, from any act of amnesty which could be granted; but it must be as impossible as it would be abhorrent to our feelings to inflict the extreme penalty which the law might strictly award upon all who have swerved from their allegiance. 4. ro us it appears that, whenever open resistance shall have embed, it would be prudent, in awarding punish ment, rattier to follow the practice which prevails after the esejtmet of a country which has defended itself to the last by desperate war, than that which may perhaps be lawfully tirafter the suppression of mutiny and rebellion — ade always being exempted from forgiveness or mi. tigetims of punishment as have exceeded the licence of hostilities. 1.1 1 11 . 1 71 we may be unable to forget the insanity which, daring the last ten months, has pervaded the army and a larva portion of the people, we should at the same time remember the previous fidelity of a hundred years, and so conduct ourselves towards those who have erred as to remove their delusions and their fears, and re-establish, if we can, that confidence which was so long the foundation of our power. 6. It would be desirable that in every ease the disarming of a district, either by the seizure of arms or by their surrender, should precede the application to it of any ani• nesty; but there may be circumstances which would render expedient a different course of proceeding. Upon time neeptioumi eases you and the officers acting under your 'Mitre meet decide. 7. The disarming of a district having been effected, with exceptions under your licence in favour of native gentle men whose feelings of honour would be affected by being deprived of the privilege of wearing arms, and of any other persons in whom you may confide, we think the pos. session of arms should be punished in every case by a severe penalty; but unless the possession of arms should be combined with other acts leading to the conclusion that they were retained for the perpetration of crimes, that penalty should not be death. Of course the possession of arms by Englishmen mast always remain lawful. 8. Death has of late been too common a punishment. It loses whatever terror It might otherwise have when so indiscriminately applied ; but, in fact, in India there is not commonly a fear of death, although there ever must be a fear of pain. 9. In every amnestied district the ordinary administration of the law should, as soon as possible, be restored. 10. In carrying there views into execution, you may meet with obstructions from those who, maddened by the scenes they have witnessed, may desire to substitute their own policy for that of the Government; but persevere firmly in doing what you may think right, make those who would counteract you feel that you are resolved to rule, and that you will be Bernd oy none who will not obey. 11. Acting in this spirit, you may rely upon our unquali fied support. THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA. The application of the electric telegraph to the necessities of a campaign has been illustrated in India with remarkable success Never since its discovery has the electric telegraph played so important and daring a role as it now does in India. Without it, the cornmanderin.ehief would lose the effect of half his force. It has served him better than his right arm. By it he is enabled to direct the march of his bettalioas, the movements of his artillery and cavalry, to receive news of their successes, to survey, as it were, at any oae time the whole position of his army and of its auxiliaries, to communicate with the Governor-General and with his subordinate generals, to sift the truth from the falsehood of native information, to learn what poets are likely to be threatened, where the entail are in force, to spare his staff and his messengers, and yet to send messages with clearness and despatch. So much for its importance. As to the daring action of the telegraph, which includes of course those who direct it, I need only observe that in this war, for the Ant time, a telegraphic wire has been carried along under fire and through the midst of a hostile country. Peri passe, from post to post it has moved on with our artillery, and scarcely has the commander in-chief established his head-quarters at any spot where he intended to stay for a few days when the post and the wire ware established also. The telegraph was brought into communication with the Governor- General at Allahabad, with Outram at the Alumbegh, with Calcutta ,Madras, Bombay, and the most remote districts DENMARK AND THE GERMAN CONFEDE. RATION. According to the Elberfeld Gazette, Austria and Prussia have agreed to suomit the following project to the Diet in reply to the proposals of Danmark relative to the Duchies : 1. That the Diet shall take note that Denmark has rent nixed its competency. 2. That it admits that the proposal to restore to the States of Holstein the special constitution of that duchy may be adapted to reestablish the desired legal situation. 3. Bat before any final or more detailed reply can be given to the Danish proposals, Denmark moat be called upon to admit fully and expressly the resolution of the Diet by which the general constitution of the Danish Monarchy is declared void and of no effect, as regards the duchies. Without the literal recognition of that resolution of the Diet, the German Confederation can only see in the pro• made, or which may be made by Denmark, a ten• rerc i ; to keep the question in suspense, and it would be then indispensable for the Dict to oppose that tendency by the most energetic measures. As regards allowing Denmark a fixed term for con• siderstion, that must depend upon the deliberations of the Diet. As yet no idea can naturally be entertained of appointing commissaries to discuss the question as pro posed in the Danish declaration. A telegram from Hamburg, dated 22nd instant, says : The Dagebladel, the organ of the Danish Government, says, that if the German Diet rejects the proposals of Denmark, the Government will withdraw everything and make no further concessions. THE lima HON. S. WALPOLE has resigned his appointment as Cbnrch Estates Commissioner in consequence of holding the offica of Home Secretary, and the Archbishop of Canterbury has appointed in his place Mr. Deedes, the member for East Kent. THE " UNIVERS " AND THE EDICT OF NANTES.— The Univers publishes the following entirely new version of the historical facts relative to the revoca tion of the Edict of Nantes .—" The revocation of the Edict of Nantes did not affect the state of France. Louis XIV. simply prohibited a religions worship which had been abandoned. This celebrated act of the great monarch had been preceded by the abjura tion of entire provinces and towns. Nothing bore less resemblance to a proscription than the revoca tion of the edict. Nobody is ignorant of the efforts made by the King to retain in his kingdom the new converts who were tempted by the brilliant promises of Holland. Louis XIV., far from having proscribed them, despatched agents to the various countries where they had sought refuge, in order to persuade the fugitives to return. The emigration caused by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes was of little consequence, and the population of the country, far from having diminished in consequence, experienced after the revocation a regularly progressive move ment. At least this appears to have been the case from the civil register of the town of Tours. It was in 1889 that the population commenced to diminish, and the following years were fatal to our unhappY country, which was overwhelmed by every species of misfortune. It is a folly to say that the refugees to quitting their native land, carried away our trado and transported our manufactures to foreign conntries." 428