The Press. — London, England, 1855-08-11 00:00:00

75 1 3. The Turkish Loan Bill was read a second time in the Lords. A motion by Mr. Laing upon the Vienna negotiations occupied the Commons; but no decision was taken upon it. 6. The bill for the repeal of the Beer Act of last session was read a second time in the Lords by 2 to 16. In the Commons the Charitable Trusts Bill made some progress in committee. 7. The Limited Liability Bill was read a second time in the Lords. In the Commons Lord J. Russell made a statement with reference to the occupation of Italy by foreign troops ; and Mr. Vernon Smith brought on the Indian Budget, which led to a long debate in an almost empty house. 8. The Crime and Outrage (Ireland) Act passed the Commons. 9. The Limited Liability Bill was committed in the Lords after a vigorous opposition. The Beer Bill was read a third time and passed. Various formal and routine bills were advanced through a stage of progress. Ditto in the Commons. 10. Routine business in both Houses. The Commons passed the Dispatch of Business (Court of Chancery) Bill through all its remaining stages at one sitting. Parliament is expected to be adjourned on the 14th, by commission, probably to meet again in November next. THE CRYSTAL PALACE COMPANY held their half yearly meeting on Thursday. According to the state ment in the report, the amount expended up to the 30ih of June was 1,231,0001., and the liabilities to be discharged before closing the capital account amount to 45,0001., which will make a total of 1,275,0001. This is exclusive of 05,0001. remaining due on the original purchase of land, and against which there are available assets of 38,0001. This result coincides with the statement a year ago, that the undertaking would be completed for 1,300,000/. The estimate of 1,0001. a week for expenditure has also proved correct. The net profits of the first year (exclusive of 25,786 guinea season tickets which are applicable to the next year) have been 68,000/., out of which a dividend of 5 per cent. was declared in February, leaving 12,299/. now to be carried over. The total number of visitors to the Palace, exclusive of season ticket-holders, has been 1,322,008, of which 956,232 were from the opening to the 30th of December, and 365,776 from the 30th of December to the 30th of June last. The rent for space in the former period was 17,7381., and in the latter only 4,3111. Much of the permanent success of the undertaking is felt to depend on the increase of railway facilities, and it is expected that the West-end line, which is now pro ceeding with vigour, will be finished in the course of next year. The shareholders having already had a dividend for the year, none is declared on the pre sent occasion ; but, if one should be warranted on making up the books in December, the directors will call a meeting. Sir Joseph Paxton, having brought all the works and arrangements of the building and g sounds to a point which requires only ordinary labour f it their completion, desires, for the sake of his other duties, to be relieved from the further exercise of an active superintendence, but will continue to give the company the benefit of his counsel and experience. Mr. Laing, the chairman, retires, and there are like wise vacancies in the direction, occasioned by the resignation of Messrs. Fuller, Calvert, and Lushing tsn. THE DIRECTORS OF THE LONDON. NECROPOLIS AND NATIONAL MAUSOLEUM COMPANY have made a final call of 11. per share, payable on the 20th inst. This call is rendered necessary by the provisions of the company's new act, which requires them to purchase about 130 acres of land, so as to complete a compact area of 1,007 acres, before they will be allowed to effect a sale of the surplus land. By the new act power is given to sell 1,192 acres. PRINCE ALBERT having been solicited by the Directors of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society to lay the foundation stone of their new institute at Shadwell, expressed his cordial approval of tits under taking, and, though unable to comply with the request, has kindly forwarded the sum of 501. towards the object. The building fund has now reached 2,0001. THE Government are about to send out more huts to the Crimea. Some of them are to be sufficiently large to accommodate fifty men, and will be capable of conversion into hospitals should it be necessary. The remainder will be of a much smaller size. These new huts will be of a very superior character to those previously sent to the seat of war. The whole of the huts are to be completed in a month, and it is ex pected they will be shipped at Gloucester, in the neighbourhood of which port they are to be made. THE FARES FROM LONDON TO PARIS by the through trains, vii Boulogne, are raised from 2/. its. Od. first class, and 1/. 17s. second, to 2/.135. 6d. and 11.18 s. 6d. This measure has excited some surprise and a good deal of dissatisfaction at Paris. It was rather thought that a reduction would be made at the time of the Queen's visit. The directors, however, say that as the French Government has thought fit to impose a tax upon railway travelling, the public must pay it at once in the shape of increased fares. The accounts from Seotland are unanimous in holding oat little hopes of sport as regards grouse on the 18th ; the 12th being Sunday the, birds have a day's respite this year. Black game, however, are pretty numerous, THE PRESS. THE WAR. Another week has passed without bringing any im portant intelligence either from the camp or the fleets. The official despatches published either in Paris or London have been singularly meagre, although the note of preparation is still diligently sounded and public expectation of some stirring event strained to the uttermost. The last date from the Crimea is the 7th inst., when General Pelissier reported as follows: — I have nothing of interest to zommunicate to you. Tho enemy has not undertaken anything against our trenches. Some cases of cholera have reappeared. On the 4th Oeneral Simpson transmitted the sub joined despatch to the War-office : The Russians made a sortie last night on the Woron sow road, as far as the chevaue de frise , but were repulsed, without loss on our side. Few deaths from cholera. Prince Gortschakoff reported to St. Petersburg on the 2nd:— There is nothing important going ou, The vigour of our fire prevents the advance of the enemy's works. The enemy's fire is weaker. And on the sth : There is nothing new. The enemy's fire is feeble. The written despatches come down to the 28th ult., at which date the works directed against the Malakoff Tower were being carried on with the greatest ac tivity. Terrible storms, accompanied by torrents of rain and suffocating heat, had lately prevailed. In conse quence of this atmospheric change disease had been more rife. The Piedmontese contingent are said to have made an urgent appeal to be allowed to take a more active part in the war than has hitherto been alloted to them. Taganrog has been again bombarded, as well as Berdianski, and a great quantity of Russian stores destroyed. One despatch says that an English gun boat had sunk, but that her crew were saved. The German journals allege that reinforcements had arrived at Sebastopol in such force as to bring the garrison up to 175,000 men. The Press d'Orient publishes a letter from Kertch, stating that the Russian vessels which had taken refuge in the Don bad ventured to make a reappear ance in the Sea of Azoff, where the allied flotilla was in chase of them. The intelligence from Kars is that Gen. Alouravieft suddenly reappearing there, attacked the intrenched camp of the Turks on the 13th, with 35,000 men. He was energetically repulsed by General Williams, but was preparing for a fresh attack. Schamyl had not de.,cended from his mountains, and letters from Asia complain of the inaction of the Circassians. There is no news of interest from the fleets. From the Baltic the last intelligence is of the 31st ult. At that date the position of the allied fleets continued the same, and, excepting the destruction of some batteries on the coast near Gotha, nothing of importance had taken place. However, some striking event was ex pected. The Invalide Busse, in alluding to the movements of the allied fleets in the Whits Sea, states that their operations hitherto had been entirely baffled by the vigorous exertions of those opposed to them. The following official despatches from General Simpson have appeared in the Gazette : Before Sebastopol, July 24. T have the honour to inclose the weekly return from Dr. Hall of the state of the sick. Your lordship will read with satisfaction the improved condition of the health of the army. I had entertained fears, from the very great heat of the last fe9t days, that cholera would have assumed a more virulent form, but such has fortunately not been the case. 1 have nothing to relate of importance respecting the siege. On the night of the 22nd t 1 enemy opened a very heavy the of musketry from the parapets of the Malakoff and adjacent works, but they did not attempt an attack. They opened a Similar fire in the course of the night on the left of the French. I have every reason to believe that they were apprehensive of an attack on the part of our allies, and for this reason opened the fire above described, which did no damage to either the works or soldiers. The troops in the Ilaidar valley have !tat altered their positions from the date of the last time I had the honour to address you. July 28. Since my despatch of the 24th inst. I have nothing of importance to relate to you. We continue to strengthen and improve our advanced works, which are now so close to the enemy's defences that I regret to say our casualties are necessarily considerable. The enemy exhibit great activity in adding to and im proving their defences, and the conveyance of large mili. tary stores front the north to•the south aide is increasing. The cholera has nearly ceased in the - ranlr•of the army. *LOSES &smolt, I.4eAtemt-Cieneral Commanding. SATURDAY, SIEGE CHRONICLE. The last letters from the camp are of the 28th ult They report no occurrences of special moment. The following extracts from the correspondence of the Daily News narrate the progress of the siege opera tions since the previous advices : Camp above Sebastopol, July 23. The short period which has elapsed' since the mail left on the 21st instant has not been marked by any imp ortant event connected with the siege operations. The French works have been steadily advancing against the Malakoff position, in spite of continued and very severe opposition both by day and night. Frequent discharges of grape have been directed against the head of the up, and grenades and (whom shells have been thrown abundantly. Although the French have necessarily suffered from the fire directed against them, their daily numbers of casualties are by no means so great as might be anticipated. Our new batteries are completed and armed. The prin cipal battery, occupying a very advanced position on the right, and in front of Frenchman's-hill, is fitted with a most powerful armament, a considerable proportion of which consists of land and sea service 13-ineh mortars. This is more especially to act, it is said—and its position renders the statement probable--against the line-utluattle ships which still retain their threatening attitude, broad side toward the liarabelnia suburb. Our new parallel in advance of the Russian trenches connected with the Quarry Battery and works has been completed; it will form a very extensive place d'arnies whenever • gathering of troops may be necessary in that direction prior to another assault. The temperature has been exceedingly high during the last three days, the thermometer averaging from 85 deg. F. to 92 deg. le , in the shade of a tent, during the greater part of the day while the sun was in the ascendant. About ten o'clock each morning a breeze has sprung up from the sea, which has moderated the oppressive state of the at mosphere. The troops, however, are generally healthy, although cases of fever and bowel complaints still prevail in certain parts of the camps. JULY 25.—There was a heavy fire all night from the batteries, and about midnight the enemy made a sortie against the ambuscades and advanced trenches of the French on the Malakoff Hill. The moon bad been shining brightly, and about five minutes after it had set and there was general obscurity the Russians sallied out. The French were on the alert, and must have perceived the enemy advancing, for the first notice in the English attack of the sortie were the French bugles sounding the alarm. They were immediately followed by the usual sharp cry of the Russians as they rushed f3rwiud to attack, mixed with the sound of their bugles and shouts of officers A very heavy fire of musketry followed, and all the batteries opened with terrific effect. Jour 26.—Same new mortars of large calibre have arrived for us, which possess, it is stated, the superior advantage of being worked with greater facility then the mortars on the old plan. They are moved on a kind of traversing platform.. It is said that .our artillery are expecting daily the arrival of a large supply of powerful mortars. The fire from the batteries on both sides was very inces sant during the whole night. The Russians not only threw a vast amount of shells into various parts of the works, but kept up a constant discharge of grape and " bouquets " against the advanced trenches. These bou quets consist of a number of small shells or grenades ; they are thrown from a mortar, about ten or twelve at one discharge ; they burst closely together, and their fragments are scattered in all directions. A constant fire of this kind is going on against the French works on the Malakoff Hill, and in addition the sharpshooters maintain an unceasing fusillade. The loss of our allies, from casualties of all kinds, is said now to be nearly one hun dred men per diem. This seems a very large number, but the great extent of ground they occupy, and the strength of the force employed in guarding the trenches and in work ing parties, with the closeness to the enemy's lines, will sufficiently explain the apparent improbability of the state ment. The proportion of our own casualties has greatly increased of late, though the majority have not been of a very grave character. From the great weight of our shells, and the superior power and comparative proximity of our guns, the loss in the ranks of the enemy must also be very great. JULY 27.—Many reforms have taken place in the inte rior economy of our routine since the change at our head quarters; they give universal satisfaction. The trench duties are now taken by divisions, which prevents a deal of trouble; in the event of casualties the senior officers can be discovered without difficulty, and the command handed over to the proper person without requiring the aid of an army-list. The whole of the attack is placed under the command of the general of the attack, who delivers his orders to all employed. Formerly the Artillery was only under the control of its own chief, and received the orders from him alone. The inconvenience from this arrangement has only now been rectified. Our new commander-in chief seems determined to view all things for himself, snd will take nothing on hearsay. He was nearly taken as a spy by some soldier ignorant of his rank not long since,as the latter could not understand what business an officer in a very shabby uniform, and without any attendants, had in promenading through the most advanced and exposed trenches, looking into the magazines, taking the directions of the mortar batteries, and making himself master of the whole plan of our attack. . . JULY 28.—The fire in the batteries was as heavy and un interrupted last night as it has been for several nights past. Our allies manifest an originality in the minor branches of military strategy which we sadly want. At the attack of the Mamelon, on the ith, the signal given was six rockets from the Victoria Redoubt. Under the impression that the besieged would probably for the future keep a good look out for demonstrations of this nature, the French not many days since made these's...4nel, and env - AEI:m:IW it with the reli of damns i3l the trenches towtada the licitt,