The Press. — London, England, 1855-08-04 00:00:00

Court an fasioit. Her Majesty remains at Osborne, whence excur sions have been made (luring the week to Portsmouth, where the giant war-steamer Marlborough was launched on Tuesday, and to some other places in the vicinity of the Isle of Wight. Prince Albert on Thursday crossed over to Gosport, and proceeded on a visit of inspection to the camp at Aldershott. Her Royal Highness the Princess Alice is now convalescent. The Sultan has ordered magnificent necklaces in brilliants to be made, as presents for Queen Victoria and the Empress Eugenie, and saddles, also embroi dered in brilliants, to be made for the Emperor, the King of Sardinia and Prince Albert. The value of these presents will be about 2,000,000 f. The King of Portugal is expected at Brussels at the beginning of next week. His Majesty is to em bark at Ostend to return to Portugal. Cabinet Councils were held on Saturday and Wed nesday last. The Ministerial Whitebait dinner is fixed to take place on Wednesday next, the Bth instant, at the Trafalgar, Greenwich. The Right Hon. the Speaker, preparatory to the prorogation of Parliament, gave his customary ban quet to Lord Charles Russell and the chief officers of the House of Commons, on Wednesday last, at his temporary official residence, in Eaton-square. The Duke of Newcastle left Constantinople for the Crimea on the 21st ult. He declined the entertain ments offered to him in Constantinople. Before leaving he carefully inspected the hospital at Scutari. His Excellency Count de Persigny has recently waited on Lady Raglan, to convey to her ladyship, personally, the deep condolence of the Emperor and Empress of thl French. The marriage of Lord Muncaster and Lady Jane , Marquis and Mar solemnised this week, anover-square. ibroke-lodge, Richmond- Perthshire, the noble box in the Highlands :onial Secretary had in earlier, but has been de- in the course of the Lyndhurst and the Hon. he makes a brief _ Paris. The noble afterwards go on a tour in elections David Salo alderman below the practice of the Court of the office of chief magic the 9th of November. Jew Lord Mayor of Apated. bren chartered by the 'elegraph Company for the of the submarine cable laid down between coast of Africa is lying ready shipped. This weighs at the rate of Result will take her n during the ensuing departure for the Mectiteti..— Task. THE WORKS IN THE ADJI RIVER, which the East India Railway Company has been engaged in erect. in( for the bridge, have been washed away by an ex traordinary flood, and must he commenced anew, as soon as the last flood has subsided in November next. As the Adji, which is 600 yards broad, is only about a hundred miles above Calcutta, the opening of the rail to Delhi will be delayed possibly for twelve months beyond the time originally contem plated. The rail is unable, for want of rolling stock, to bring down to Calcutta more than one tenth of the coal which is imported from the collieries, and the proprietors of the coal mines, who have been looking for the assistance of the rail for several months, have now been constrained to renew their establishment of boats on the Da. moodah. PRINCE BORGHESE had lately imported into the Papal States a Durham bull for the purpose of im proving the breed of cattle on his extensive grazing farms, and the Giornale di Roma announces that the Pope has, in consequence, ordered a gold medal to be struck and presented to him, "considering the prince as a deserving doer in having brought the germ to increase the quantity of meat and milk." It will sound strange to English ears to hear that his Holiness gives prizes for bulls from Durham after the famous missive against him bearing that same title. THE Indipendance Belge states that the English Government has sent, through our Minister at Enloels, the sum of 25,000 f. towards the restoration of some funeral monuments in the church at 'Waterloo. Grosvenor, sixth daughter of the chioness of' Westminster, was sol at St. George's Church, Hanover-s Lord J. Russell leaves Pembroke park, oi to-day (Saturday) for Per having taken a shooting-box far the season. The late Co:onis t4oded to leave some days earlier tained by parliamentary business. Lord Lyndhurst ha; left town it week, accompanied by Lady Lyndl Miss Copley, for Dieppe, where skimsr previous to proceeding to and learned lord will afterwards Germany. AT the approaching civic elec alone, Esq., being the senior al chair, will, according to the pract Aldermen, be called to fill the of trate for the year commencing the Mr. Salomons will be the first JI London. No opposition is anticip THE SHIP Result, which has bre French Mediterranean Telegraph conveyance of the remainder of tb to connect the portion already 1 Spezzia and Corsica with the coal off Blackwell with the cable reac oable measures 100 miles, and we eight tons per mile. The Re, ___ THE PRESS. NEW SHIPS OF WAR. THE launch of the gigantic screw ship of war the Marlborough was announced to take place at Ports mouth on Tuesday last, when the Queen had pro mised to be present and to give its name to the huge vessel. The event accordingly attracted an immense concourse of spectators, including, of coarse, all the authorities of the dockyard, arsenal, and town of Portsmouth, together with several members of the Admiralty Board, and other public departments. All the preparations were made for the reception of her Majesty, who arrived some time before noon, and took her place in a box specially provided. In a few minutes afterwards the Queen went to the bow of the ship, and with the usual formalities be stowed on her the name of the Marlborough. Some time elapsed while the wedges were being driven out in order to allow the new ship to glide off the " way " into the water. At length she began to move slowly off, stern forwards, out of the slip on which she had been built. Then followed an alarming disappoint ment, which marred the eclat of the event, and for a while threatened serious damage to the new vessel even before she bad commenced her career on the waters. The noble fabric having glided to the length of her own shed, it become perceptible to those who understood the matter that as she did not gain velocity in her descent she would soon be brought up, which was the case, and immediately opposite the Queen's box. The most intense excitement ensued. Messages were instantly sent for a couple of steam tugs to make fast to her quar ter; hut all was of no avail. The Sprightly, Pigmy, and Echo were put in requisition, but the attempt was futile, as might have been conjectured. In the interim the Queen got into the royal carriage and proceeded to the Admiralty-house, where her Ma jesty honoured the Port Admiral, Sir Thomas Coch rane, by partaking of luncheon. After remaining an hour, the Queen again got into her carriage, and amid the cheering of the mul titude proceeded to the military hospital, where the invalids were in position to be inspected by her Majesty. The Queen most graciously inquired after them, and by what means they had received their wounds. Her Majesty then took her leave, re entered the dockyard, and embarked on board the Fairy on her return to Osborne. The Marlborough was meanwhile left hanging on the " ways," strenuous efforts being made so to shore up her vast bulk as to prevent all damage and strain during the ebb tide. In the course of the night, when high water re turned, by enormous exertion on the part of the dockyard artificers and officers, she was safely floated off, and brought up alongside the dock. Ac cording to the official statements since made, she has escaped without sustaining any injury of con sequence. Another large ship is to be at once commenced on the slip the Marlborough has vacated, and to be several feet longer, and of greater tonnage. She is to be called the Victoria. The timbers for her frame are already prepared for putting together. ATTEMPTED LAUNCH OF THE NEW STEAM-SHIP "Royal. CHARTER."—The launch of this magnificent steamship, which has been built at Sandycroft, within five miles of the city of Chester, on the banks of the Dee, was fixed for last Tuesday. She is about twenty-five longer than the Great Britain steam-snip, being in extreme length 335 feet, her beam 411 feet, her depth 261 feet, with poop and forecastle. Her engines have been manufactured by Messrs. Penn and Son, of London ; and she is in tended to be propelled by a screw. Her anchors are Trotman's paten, which the Government trials decided to be by far the best, and subsequent expe rience has confirmed their superiority ; they were manufactured by Messrs. Wood Brothers, of the Dee Ironworks, Saltney, near Chester, and of Liverpool, by whom also the ship's cables have been made. The Royal Charter is registered 2,780 tons, old measurement, and has been built for the Liverpool and Australian Steam Navigation Company (Messrs. Gibbs, Bright, and Co., of Liverpool, dtc.) The launch was arranged to take place at one o'clock. At five minutes past one the last support of the cradle was knocked away, and the noble ship glided sideways into the river, which is too narrow to admit of so immense a vessel being launched in the usual manner. She, however, had hardly pro ceeded one-third way of her whole length along the cradle before she struck upon the sand and remained immoveable. Every effort made to get her off proved unavailing.—Chester Courant. Workmen are busily employed in driving piles into the river opposito the centre of the West Wharf, in the arsenal, Woolwich, to fnrra a jetty to run out into the river, to enable large vessels to come alongside and receive their cargoes at once. At present, the stores have to be shifted, first into the lighters or barges, and then from the barges into the ship. By this plan, considerable time and labour will be sand. SATURDAY, THE HYDE•PARK RIOTS. THE committee of inquiry into the late proceedings in Hyde-park is at length concluded, atter collecting a voluminous mass of evidence. During the week the chief witnesses called have been policemen and superintendents, who have offered testimony designed to rebut the charge of causeless or extreme severity on their own part towards the crowd. The heaviest allegations of this nature given by preceding wit nesses lay against Inspector Hughes, the " man on the chesnut horse," who on Tuesday entered into his own defence, in which, it may be observed, those alike of his superior, Sir It. Mayne, and his subordinates were intrinsically involved. On Thursday the professional advisers of the re spective parties, Mr. Mitchell for the complainants, and Mr. Ellis for the police, each summed up the evidence, and addressed the court on behalf of their clients. The president (Mr. Commissioner Wortley) in closing the proceedings said : The evidence having been concluded on both sides, and having heard the observations of those who had been intrusted with the conduct of the inquiry on each side, he thought it becloud the commissioners to say they felt deeply obliged to the gentle- TIM who had conducted it. Mr. Mitchell's clients had every reason to be satisfied with the manner in which their caves had been brought before the commissioners, and Mr. Ellis hod shown great ability, forbearance, &nu good temper, under the difficult circumstances in which he was placed, and the sudden- ness with which he was called on to undertake the duty. He was, however, anxious to correct a misconception which seemed to prevail in the public mind. lie accepted in the widest terms the statement of Mr. Mitchell as to the general right of the peo ple of this country to meet and discuss their grievances. They might meet in any numbers in any public place, and discus. them with the utmost freedom, If they did not use violence and carry arms, and resort to those sortof demonstrations calculated to create alarm ; but when they supposed they were at liberty to hold public meetings in the parks because they were public parks, and in some sense the property of the public, he believed they would find it was a mistake. Parka were public, no doubt, but for a particular purpose—viz., for the recreation of the mul titude. They were public in the sense of being dedicated to the public by the Crown. But they were the property of the Crown, and under regulations for the benetitof all who frequented them, and it was by the ranger appointed by the Crown the regulations were made. These circumstances showed that, if they were de dicated to the public for the purposes of recreation, they were not, in the widest sense, public property ; and it would no doubt prevent recreation, and disturb the enjoyment of a large portion of the public, if the parks were used for the purpose of political meetings or discussions. He made these observations not as laying dowu the law, but in order to remove what he behaved was a misconception. Owing to the extreme length to which the evidence has run, it is believed that some considerable time must elapse before the commissioners will be able to present their report. THE prospectus of a Railway Electric Signals Company has appeared. The association is to start with a capital of 60,0001., and power to increase to 120,0001., in shares of 1/. each, to be paid up in full. The company has purchased Mr. Tyer's patents, and proposes to treat with railway and other companies for the erection and maintenance of his electric signal instruments, which it is stated have been satis factorily tested by eighteen months' working on the South-Eastern Railway Company, and by successful experiments in France. The system is now in full operation on the North Kent line. The propnetors of the patents are to receive 10,000 free shares, and one half of the net profits beyond 10 per cent. on the capital invested. The company is constituted under the French law " en commandite." ACCOUNTS of another great fire at Constantinople are given in the Moniteur. The conflagration broke out on the 17th July, and for a time exposed the French military workshops to imminent danger. The fire began just after noon, and, favored by the heat of the sun and an impetuous changing wind, con sumed 130 houses. The buildings occupied by the French were entirely of wood, and were only saved by the incessant exertions of the pompiers, who like wise saved many houses of the town, which must otherwise have been destroyed. TABLES, taken from the Irish agricultural returns last published, show that the cultivation of wheat has decreased to a remarkable extent in Ireland, the number of acres in 1853 being 45 per cent. less than in 1850. The extent of land under oats shows little difference; but barley has decreased about 7 per cent. Potatoes, while they only show an increase in acres of about 2 per cent., have increased in produce about 45 per cent. since 1850, the produce of 1853 crop being 10,000,000 barrels more than that of either 1851 or 1852, and 14,000,000 more than that of 1850. A SPECIAL MEETING of the Company of Copper Miners in England was held on Wednesday, to elect a governor in the place of Sir John Dean Paul. The deputy-governor, Sir J. H. Pelly, was unanimously appointed to fill the vacancy. M r.i George Gay was elected deputy-governor, and Mr. G. H. Pownall, one of the assistants, appointed to the vacancy occasioned by the elevation of Mr. Gay. It was mentioned, in reference to the failure of Messrs. Strahan, Paul, and Bates, that the claim of the company against the estate did not exceed 1,0171. Orders have been received at Woolwich arsenal to have 130 8-inch, 10• inch and 13-inch mortars ready as soon as possible, to be sent to the Crimea. 60,000 18. inch shells are ordered to be seut imme• diately.