The Press. — London, England, 1857-11-21 00:00:00

1134 TO CORRESPONDENTS. it is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive. Their insertion is often delayed owing to a press of matter, and when omitted, it is frequently from reasons quite inde- We cannot undertake to return communications of which we do not availourselves. Advertisements sent from the country must be acoompanied by a remittance or R reference for payment in town. TERMS OF SIIIISCRIPTION FOZ Ebt Vresso: (STAMPED) Per Annum .. .. Half Yearly.. .. Quarterly .. .. PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. LI 6 0 :: - 0 13 0 .. 0 6 6 Subsorlbers are requested to semi their orders through News Agents; if direct to the Of fi ce, accompanied by a remittance Advertisements also must have a reference or remittance Money Orders to be made payable to Mr. ALFRED DIE, 110 Strand, London. Airrgg. LONDON, SATURDAY, NOV. 21, 1857. POSTSCRIPT. DREADFUL ACCIDENT AT MAYENCE. MAVI:NCE, Thursday. The Ganthou powder•mills have exploded, de stroying almost all the upper part of the city, toge ther with the church of St. Stephen. More than 100 persons are killed. The shock extended to Wies baden. The examination of the scene of explosion has resulted in the estimate of the damage at a million of florins. We learn • that 9 Prussian sol diers, 2 Austrian, and 18 civil employes are killed; 71 Prussian soldiers, 05 Austrian, and 300 other persons are grievously wounded. A Cabinet Council was held yesterday afternoon at the official residence of Lord Palmerston, Downing street. _ _ Captain the Hon. F. T. Pelham will succeed to the seat at the Admiralty Board rendered vacant by the resignation of Admiral Berkeley. The Rev. Dr. Bliss died this week at the lodgings in St. Mary's Hall, after a severe illness of six days duration. Dr. Bliss had been, with one brief excep • tion, resident in Oxford from the date of his admis sion at St. John's College (of which he was a fellow), to ISOU. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH MALTA. The following telegram has been received from Messrs. Newell and Co. by the Mediterranean Extension Telegraph Company : Cagliari, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 11 :18 p.m. To the Directors of the Mediterranean Eztension Telegraph Company, Lis, (iiresham•honse, London. We yesterday completed successfully the submarine able between Cagliari and Malta in seventy hours. We ntend to start on Saturday for Corfu. It ..S NEWALL. CHARLES LIDDELL. THE WRECK. OF THE DUNBAII.—•We gather from the Sydney Morning Herald, of the 10th of Sep tember, the following particulars respecting the wreck of the Dunbar, which has already been an nounced :—" The Dunbar, the property of Messrs. Dunbar, of London, was built at Sunderland by Laing, for her owners, who are celebrated for the extent of their mercantile marine. She was launched on the 30th of September, 1853; she was of 1,980 tons burden, and her registered tonnage 1,321; her dimensions were—length of keel per measurement, 201 feet 9 inches; extreme breadth, 35 feet; depth of hold, 22 feat 7 inches; height between decks, 7 feet 3 inches ; her timbers were British oak, and she was planked and decked with East India teak. Her masts, also of teak, were of eno-mous strength, the mainmast weighing nine tons, the Looniest eight tons, and the mizen in proportion. The poop was 82 feet in length and 7 iu height. Her cost when fitted for sea was 30,000/. AU that remained of her was sold, although within so short a distance from the city, for 1821. 10s. The Dunbar was uninsured. The cargo of the Dunbar was estimated at 72,0001. She sailed from Plymouth on the 31st of May. Her officers and crew were fifty-nine in number, and she carried sixty three passengers. Every one on board, w,th the exception of one of the crew, perished in the - waves. She had had up to the moment of the catastrophe a prosperous voyage. There had been no deaths, no sickness, or disasters. She had not lost a spar or a rope. There were no bands on deck except the watch. There was no alarm among the passengers or crow. IlikikEl6 l =Mi;iMM THE PItE S S, NOVEMBER 21, 1857. SIR ROBERT PEEL AT TAMWORTH. Sin ROBERT PEEL delivered one of his usual post prandial speeches on Tuesday last. There was nothing particularly striking in the speech; but a peculiar and personal soreness was apparent in its general tone. Sir Robert was clearly not in an amiable humour. He spoke as if his amour propre had been damaged. He sneered at Lord Canning, laughed at Sir Charles Wood, abused Lord Lyons, ridiculed Lord Granville, made ill-natured remarks about his former pastor and master, the Premier, was indignant with Mr. Lindsay, and especially savage with Mr. Bernal Osborne. The only person he defended was Lord Dalhousie : One man actually had the audacity to affirm that the disturbances were owing to the government of Lord Dal housie, and to propose that his pension of 5,0001. a year should be revoked. Was anything more monstrous than for a man to get up and say this of a man who had perilled his life and broken his health by so long a residence in India as Lord Dalhousie—a man who, he made no hesita tion in saying, was as great a Governor-General as ever governed our Indian territory? His name was to be held in as high estimation as that of Clive or llentinck—or, still greater than either, as Hastings. Lord Dalhousie was a man who showed that he was possessed of le gant de suit et la main defer. He believed that the outbreaks in India were to be ascribed to the mismanagement of the East India Company, and said it was clear that " sweeping reforms" would have to be introduced. With respect to domestic measures, he thought Lord Palmerston had his hands full—too full, indeed, to take up Reform. citing cause, and should propose its complete aboli. tion : His belief was that Christianity and Ithuddistn cauld not flourish in the same soil—where the one flourished the other must perish; and therefore, although it had been the (practice of the Government of India, from its first institution to the present moment, not only to tolerate, but lie believed to cherish, to show marks of public respect to that miserable, gross, and ridiculous superstition—so far front that consolidating the people of India to our rule— so far from making them respect us—he believed that they had been interpreted as a mark of fear, and of sub serviency, and of a want of sincerity in those professions of faith iu the undoubted truth of the Christian revelation which we had instructed the missionaries to preach. After a few further remarks on India—respecting which a voice called out, " We have seen all that in the newspapers,"—a general cry was raised for some thing on Reform. Mr. Massey said that upon that subject be should give them no information. (Hisses, cheers, and great confusion, which lasted some time) : Reforms in Parliament were discussed in the Cabinet Council, and were not communicated to him, and he knew no more of them than his audience did, and he could not pretend to tell them that of which he knew nothing. (Hear, and hisses.) They knew as much as he knew upon that matter. They had been promised by the Minister of this country a measure of reform, and he had no doubt Lord Palmerston would keep his word. But what that measure might be ho knew no more than they did. (Great confusion.) He could not hold out to them the prospect that the measure would be of so extensive a character as to suit the very ardent and go-ahead reformers; it would be of a practical character. When they made up their minds —(laughter and hisses)—it would be a well-considered measure. THE INDIAN GENERALS. From the London Gazelle of Tuesday, Nov. 17. WAR-OFFICE, Nov. 11. Tim Queen has been graciously pleased to give orders for the appointment of Sir John Laird ➢Mir Lawrence, K.C.8., Chief Commissioner and Agent to the Governor-General of India for the affairs of the Punjaub, to be an Ordinary Member of the Civil Division of the First Class, or Knights Grand Cross of the Most Hon. Order of the Bath; and of Major- General Henry Havelock, C. 8., to be an Ordinary Member of the Military Division of the Second Class, or Knights Commanders of the said Most lion. Order. Her Majesty has also been graciously pleased to make and ordain a special statute of the said Most. Hon. Order for appointing the following officers to be Extra Members of the Military Division of the Third Class, or Companions of the said Order — viz : Colonel Archdale Wilson, of tho Bengal Artillery. Colonel Henry Charles Van Cortlandt, com manding a corps of irregular levies in the East Indies ; and Lieut. Colonel Neville Bowles Chamberlain, of the 16th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry. NON .: EDir.I•:It 14. The Queen has been graciously pleased to give further orders for the appointment of Colonel Arch dale Wilson, C. 8., of the Bengal Artillery, to be an Ordinary Member of the Military Division of the Second Class, or Knights Commanders of the Most lion. Order of the Bath. MEMORANDUM. Colonel James George Neill, of the Madras Fusi lier, and Lieutenant Colonel John Nicholson, of the 27th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, would have been recommended for the dignity of Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath had they survived. THE CAFFRES.—The following is an extract from a letter dated Eastern Province, Cape of Good Hope, August 20 :—" The country is passing through one of the most remarkable changes that can possibly be conceived of. I speak now in reference to the Caffres. There is every prospect of Caffreland be coming denuded of its original inhabitants. A dreadful famine is now raging throughout that country, extending from the frontier to the Basile° River. Thousands are perishing for want of food, and thousands are now pouring into the colony in the most abject state in search of employment and food. The vast extent of this immigration will appear when I inform you that one of the magistrates has registered and sent into the colony one thousand souls, so that there is now no want of servants. The Government of British Caiiraria employ about four thousand Caffre men on the public roads, road-making, &c. Never were a people so corn pletel3 given up to strong delusions to believe a lie. At the bidding of a Caffre prophet the nation destroyed the entire means of its own subsistence ; cattle, goats, and corn were all destroyed, and the ground lett uncultivated. They have sold their guns, assegais, ornaments, and everything they could dispose of, to procure food. They are now spirit broken, naked, and starving." MR. SIDNEY HERBERT ON INDIA. THE Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, at the annual meeting of the Wiltshire Agricultural Society, in replying to the toast of " The County Members," alluded to India, and vindicating the con duct of Lord Canning against the com plaints of Calcutta, characterised the suppression of the Indian press " as a necessary and vigorous measure." Mr. Sidney Herbert characterised the " siege " of Delhi as magnificent, and of all the sieges of India the most difficult of accomplishment. As to General Havelock, his operations were superb : It had been said that Havelock was no general, as he had never had the handling of large bodies of men, but to his (Mr. Herbert's) mind it was the smallness of his force which made the greatness of his exploits. He had shown, too, that he could handle large bodies of men, for he had dispc,scd of atf,ooo under Nana Sahib. There were some prognostications of evil befalling Outram and Havelock's little band, but he confessed he did not share them, and for this reason—our men were so accustomed to success that failure seemed impossible ; and when we had met the enemy in the open, however great the disparity in numbers, they had shown such a degree of cowardice as almost to make one feel that they were incapable of success. With respect to the army, our losses were still "tremendous." Climate awl disease proved greater enemies than man, and these gaps " must be filled up." From this point Mr. Sidney Herbert easily descended into the fidd of enlistment. He believed the English peasant could not do better than enlist, and he wanted to see a large enlistment into the regular army:— He had before him a properly corrected return of the proportions of the different classes who enlisted into the army in England, Ireland, and Scotland, and he said that England ought to be ashamed of itself. In each 1,003 men in the army there were 617 husbandmen, labourers, and servants of the best class, 294 mechanics, 51 shopmen and clerks, and three of professions, but what those pro , fessions were he could not say. But what were the pro portions in England, Ireland, and Scotland ? Out of each 1,000 men England produced 462, Ireland 366, and Scot land 158. Now, according to the population of the three kingdoms. that was an enormous disproportion in favour of Ireland and Scotland. In conclusion Mr. Sidney Herbert entered into a minute calculation to prove that the soldier received weekly the value of 51d., and that the best thing a young man could do was to enlist, serve ten years, and return home " a more useful member of society." MR. MASSEY, M.P., AT SALFORD. Mn. MASSEY addressed his constituents last week, in a speech of considerable length, and principally re lating to recent events in India. Mr. Massey said that a great number of theories had been propounded as to the cause of the rebellion. Mr. Massey, M.P., had examined all these theories with care, and had arrived at the profound conclusion that no one knew anything at all about the matter. He however thought our toleration of, the native religion an ex- I II t .:..+w~