The Press. — London, England, 1855-06-02 00:00:00

JUNE 2, 1855. the King and his Ministers from proceeding with the measure for conventual destruction. The men dicant priesthood everywhere inculcate the certain curses that will follow the impious legislation, and they call upon the faithful to protest., in the name of the Church, against her spoliation by the infidel and rebel. There is a celebrated " Refugio " in this town, near the Porta Romans., opposite the Casa Bianchi, and, were the door legally open, few of the younger inmates would remain. The access to the " sala" is not difficult, for the establishment is one for the education of the daughters of the nobility. Priests and nuns are in an unnatural position, and the more youthful of the latter are amongst the most bitter enemies of the Roman Church. If the convent question be carried in Turin, it will be the first step for Roman ecclesiastical reform; and the wedge once in, there will not be wanting hands to drive it further. When freed from the curse of priesthood Italy may dare anything. The Gazetta has a long article on the conversion of Lord John Russell to Catholicism, and of his public participa tion in the rites of the Catholic Church in the pre sence of the Court of Austria. Even the most zealous supporter of civil and religious liberty must agree that the time and the place were equally in opportune. Or was it done to spite the Greek Church before discussing the fourth point of the Conference? M. T. A. luta 40 goloniai 3nttlligente. FRANCE. A statement has been drawn up which purports to give correctly the total number of French troops sent out to the Crimea from the commencement of the war, and of the casualties that have occurred up to the last advices. It would appear that 182,000 have been despatched, of which number 120,000 are now effective, sous lea acmes; the loss, consequently, is 02,000, but this comprises not only those who were killed in battle, or died of wounds or disease, but also those who are still in hospital. The King of Portugal, and his brother the Duke of Oporto, accompanied by the Duke de Terceira and General de Sarmento, arrived at Bordeaux on Saturday last, and thence proceeded to Paris, where his Majesty still remains as a guest of the Emperor Napoleon. In Tuesday's Monftenr there appears an official report to Prince Napoleon, giving an account of the results of the liberality of the Emperor in offering to the working classes a free admission to the Exhibi tion on Sunday last. According to this account 105,022 persons availed themselves of the invitation. A grand dinner was given on Monday at the British Embassy in Paris, in honour of the Queen of England's birthday. The state rooms, which have been of late redecorated and splendidly fitted up, were thrown open on the occasion. Statements have been published, on official autho rity, that the Vienna Conferences are closed, and that a protocol has been drawn up recording the definitive failure of the negotiations. It follows that the last Austrian propositions have been re jected. SARDINIA. The Convents Suppression Bill, with the amend ments of the Senate, was on Monday last adopted by the Chamber of Deputies. There were 119 members present, the division showed :—Ayes, 95; Noes, 23; majority, 72. One member abstained from voting. _ . SPAIN. Advices of the 20th ult. from Madrid state that the city was tranquil, and that several of the military revolters at Saragossa had been arrested. The motion of the Minister of Finance for making a forced loan of 200,000,000 reels (about 2,000,0001. sterling), was adopted by a majority of 13 to 10 in the budget committee of the Cortes. Nevertheless, according to the latest accounts, the scheme has been postponed by the Government. THE PRESS. RUSSIA. Letters from St. Petersburg of the 18th ult. state that it has become highly probable that a meeting will shortly take place between the Czar Alexander IL and the King of Prussia. The Governor-General of the capital has issued orders that no one is to visit Cronstadt, except pro vided with the permission of the superior authorities expressed in writing. The Emperor Alexander has announced that as a great portion of the Tartar population in the Crimea have given their assistance to the allied armies, their property shall after the war be divided among the Greek volunteers. The Hamburg Correspondent contains aletter from Warsaw of the 23rd ult., which says : The very alight hopes entertained of the re.establish ment of peace have been very disadvantageous to the quo. talons of the Russian loan of 50,000,000/. Yesterday it fell from 99 to 91, and to-day it is still lower, without finding purchasers. I UNITED STATES. The steamer Atlantic has brought New York advices to the 16th ult. There is no news from the States of general interest.. The last dates from California are April 24, and gold to the amount of above a million dollars. The mining districts are reported in a favorable state, and business recovering. Well-authenticated ac counts of the discovery of rich gold placers, located in the neighbourhood of San Francisco, about eight days' march from Acapulco, were published. Rules for the government of the miners had been pro mulgated. The steamer Golden Age struck on a rock on her passage from California to Panama, and was run ashore on the Island of Quicara, to save the lives of the passengers. She was a steamer of about 3,500 tons, and comparatively new, having left New York on her first voyage to Liverpool and Australia in September, 1853. She arrived at Panama in August, 1854, and took her place in the line of the Panama Mail Steam-ship Company in October of the same year. Her original cost exceeded 400,000 dollars, which is stated to be fully covered by insurance iu this country. INDIA AND CHINA. An overland mail has arrived, bringing dates from Calcutta, April 22 ; Bombay to the Ist of May ; Canton, April 14. The papers received by this mail are almost destitute of interest, not a single event of any importance having occurred since the departure of the previous despatches. An expedition consist ing of 3,500 troops had proceeded towards Meeran zie, under the Command of Brigadier Chamberlain, and accompanied by Major Edwardes, the object of which was to put down some disaffection, and to enforce the payment of back revenue. No opposi tion, however, was expected. Rajah Goolab Sing and his nephew, Juwahir Sing, were thought likely soon to come to blows, as some serious differences had occurred between them which threatened a settlement by recourse to arms. The health of his excellency the Governor-General had somewhat improved. Great progress was making in the Bom bay Railway. The intelligence from China is not important. The city of Canton was quiet, but in some of the country districts the insurgents continued to keep up disturbances, and thus prevented supplies from reaching town. Trade was very dull. Front Shang hae, we learn that tranquillity and order were gradually returning, and that trade and confidence were reviving. In the north, the rebel cause was fast on the wane. The hordes of pirates infesting the neighbourhood of Wbampoa still continued to commit serious depredations upon any vessels that came within their reach. Admiral Stirling had despatched several of her Majesty's ships against them, which succeeded in capturing ten junks and about ninety men. These gangs of marine thieves were, however, far from being extinguished. THE INQUIRY into the loss of the emigrant ship John, before the Sheriff of Cornwall, for which the warrant has been lodged by the Board of Trade, takes place at Bodmin on or about the 18th inst. Numerous claims are being sent in to the Board of Trade official, by the representatives of the unfortu nate passengers who lost their lives by this extraor dinary wreck. The questions arising out of it, and the application of the Merchant Shipping Act of last year, excite great interest amongst mercantile men and shipowners, and are deeply important to them and to the public at large. The course of action in this case will of course form a precedent for the future applications of the powers of the act. Lieu tenant Timothy Carew, R.N., the emigration officer at Plymouth, who inspected the John, has resigned that appointment. THE Ericsson, built as a " caloric ship" and now converted into a steam-ship, having made a success ful trial trip, is soon to leave New York for Europe. According to a new plan invented by Ericsson, the boilers are charged with fresh water, and as there is no waste she may carry the same from New York to Europe without diminution, except from accidental leakage. She is not expected to consume more than thirty tons of fuel per diem. The room occupied by her machinery is unusually small. Loan HI.Dno, son of the Earl of Aberdeen, at the date of the last letters from Alexandria, bad re turned from the Upper Country, and was to proceed to England by the Peninsular and Oriental steamer Indus on the ainval of the India mails. his lord ship has been in Egypt since October last, and his health has very much improved. During nearly eight months that Lord Haddo has been in Egypt Said Pasha, the Viceroy, has paid all his expenses. Boats, carriages, horses, servants, and most ample supplies of provisions, have been placed at his lord. ship's disposal during his stay, for which he paid nothing. THE new scheme for the management of St. Cross Hospital, so far as allowing the brethren 7s. per week each, in addition to their usual rations, came into operation on Saturday last. tout an sastion. Her Majesty returned to town from Osborne on Thursday afternoon, and visited the Italian Opera the same night. The Queen will hold a Drawing-room at St. James's Palace on Thursday, the 14th instant, at two o'clock. The Earl and Countess of Derby gave a grand dinner on Thursday evening to his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge and a distinguished circle of the aristoc►acy. Among the company invited to meet the illustrious Duke were the Countess Howe and Lady Adelaide Curzon, the Earl and Countess of Shelburne, the Earl and Countess Constance Grosvenor, the Earl of Carnarvon, Lord and Lady Olivia Ossulston, Lord and Limy Claud Hamilton, and Lord Dunkellin. Atter the banquet the Countess of Derby held a reception. The Countess Bernstoff gave a juvenile ball on Saturday afternoon at the residence of the Prussian Legation, Carlton-house•terrace. The reunion was honoured with the presence of their Royal High nesses the Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess Mary, and their Royal Highnesses the Grand Duchess Hereditary of Mecklenberg Strelitz and Prince Adolph of Mecklenberg Strelitz. The Duchess of Beaufort gave her first grand ball for the season on Tuesday night at the family man sion in Grosvenor-square. The Duke of Cambridge honoured the ball with his presence during the early part of the evening. THE birthday of the poet Moore was celebrated on Monday last, in Dublin, by a grand musical com memoration at the Ancient Concert Bourns. The Lord Lieutenant honoured the performance with his presence. A LARGE MODEL OF INDIA, constructed by Mr. Montgomery Martin, is now to be seen, by special permission, in the library of the office of the Board of Control. The model is to be removed to the East India-house in a few days. THE parliamentary library of the late Joseph Hume, Esq., was bequeathed by him to the London University College. THE LATE Mn. THOMAS CHARLES has bequeathed the whole of the collection which he has for very many years been amassing, consisting of minerals, fossils, coins, Roman pottery, and other articles of antiquity, to the town of Maidstone, where it will in all probability form the nucleus of a public museum. THE Limerick Chronicle gives the following in its army news :—."The widow of Corporal John Brown, of the Royal Sappers and Miner, has married the Emperor of Morocco. She is an Irish woman." THE NEW INCOME-TAX ACT, which received the royal assent on Friday, has just been printed. The additional duty of 2d. in the pound is to be charged from the sth of April last, in addition to the rates and duties chargeable under the act passed in the last session, for and in respect of all property, pro fits, and gains, chargeable under the several acts in force. The increased duty is to be assessed and raised under the former acts. The first Income- Tax Act was passed in June, 1842. A NEW ACT to amend the parliamentary represen tation of Scotland has just been published ; it re ceived the royal assent on Friday. The object is to shorten the time between the receipt of the writ by the sheriff and the day of election. The sheriff is to endorse on the writ the day on which he received it, and within two days to announce the day of election. which is not to be less than six, nor more than twelve days. In the case of Orkney and Shetland there is Ito alteration. THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF ST. JOHN'S COL. LEGS, OXFORD, celebrated the tercentenary of the college on Tuesday by a grand banquet in the college dining•ball, which was attended by upwards ot• 200 of the members. There was no lack of bumpers quaffed to the pious memory of Sir Thomas White, who founded the college in 1555. THE REGISTRAR GENERAL'S RETURN for the week that ended last Saturday does not discover any decrease in the rather high rate of mortality which has lately prevailed in London, and which is as great at the end of May as it was in the beginning of the month, and is even higher than it was in the last two weeks of April. Last week 1,187 deaths were registered. In the corresponding weeks of the ten years 1845 54 the average number was 051, which if raised for increase of population becomes 1,046. It appears, therefore, that 141 persona died last week more than would have died according to the ordinary rate of mortality in the fourth week of May. THE newly formed Bank of London have appointed Mr. Matthew Marshall, jun., their general manager. Tau Marquis of Granby and Lords John and George Manners were prevented from voting on Mr. Disraeli's motion by the death of Lord Charles Manners. THE APARTMENTS AT WINDSOR CASTLE which were occupied by the Emperor and Empi ess of the French during their late visit were closed on Tuesday last, after being open to toe public for about five weeks. 1