The Press. — London, England, 1856-08-16 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS. It% Impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive. Their insertion is often delayed owing to a press of matter, imd when omitted, it is frequently from reasons quite inde pendent of the merits of the communication. We cannot undertake to return oummunicationsof which we do not avail ourselves. Cemmunications should always belegiblywritten, and on one aide of the paper only. If long it increases the difficulty of finding space for them. Whatever is intended for insertion most be authenticated by the name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publics. tion, but as a guarantee of his good faith. Advertisements sent from the country must be accompanied by a remittance or a reference for payment in town. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION TOM Ebt PUS'S: (STAMPED.) Per Anram, .. . - Half-Yearly .. .. Quarterly .. Payable in advance. .. Ll 8 0 .. 0 13 0 .. 0 8 8 Subscribers are requested to send their Orders through their News Agent; if direct to the Office. accompanied by a remit tance. Advertisements also must have a reference or remittance, Money Orders to be made payable to Mr. ALYRZD DM, 110. Strand London. vbv rorrog. LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1856. POSTSCRIPT. A despatch from St. Petersburg, Aug. 13, says : An official announcement has appeared in the journals that the Russian troops were ready to evacuate Kars and the Ottoman territory, and that they have received orders to retire to Alexandropol. Intelligence from Paris says : The Russian Government, with the view of granting every facility for persons desirous of attending the corn. nation of the Emperor Alexander, has given orders to all its agents in Europe to deliver passports for Russia without conditions. The Deutschland of 'Vienna, of the 10th, says:— As soon as the Cabinet of Vienna was informed of the grave conflict which was about to break out by the refusal of Russia to restore Kars, and by its occupation of the Isle of Serpents, it addressed a moat energetic note to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, demanding that those islands should he given up to the Porte without condition. The charge-d'affaires, M. Balabin, was able to convince himself, from several conversations with Count Buol, that the pro test of the Cabinet of Vienna was very serious. The reply of the Cabinet of St. Petersburg arrived here a few days ago. It has produced a very good impression ; Russia promising not only to restore Kars, but recognising the right of the Porte to the Isle of Serpents. Major-General Windham, C. 8., has been offered the command of a d.vision in the Bengal army. It is believed that he will accept the offer. GENERAL BEATSON AND MR. FREDERIOK PEEL. GENERAL BEATSON this week has published the opinion "of the highest, if not the very highest, be yond all question, of military authorities " upon his case, and the copy of a letter addressed by the gallant general to Mr. Frederick Peel :-- OPINION. General Beatson's case is clear, and manfully sus tained in all honour and truth of argument. His opponents remain in the same groove of injustice, and are evidently afraid of disclosing the name of their informant; whereas they should be eager to deliver him over to public indignation and punish ment, for having misled them into a shameful and dishonest course. Why do they not take this mode of amending their wrong doing? There can be but two answers. Either the anonymous accuser is powerful, and they fear him, which is disgraceful, or they have gone even further in their shameful course of secret accusation than has yet been acknowledged. They, therefore, screen him to screen themselves. I do hope and believe that General Beatson will yet be able to draw the public indignation upon them. (COPY. 4, LOwer Grosvenor-place, Pimlico, August 5,1856. Sir,—Having just addressed a letter to the head of he department of which you are under-secretary, it s unnecessary for me to take auy further notice of your letter of the 4th instant than to remark, with reference to your threat, which I regard not, of seding any letter of: mine to the 'directors of the THE PRESS. Honourable East India Company' I am assured that they, and all honourable men, would feel the same warm indignation that I do if they were treated with the unparalleled cruel injustice that I have been by the War Department, and would express themselves accordingly. No THREAT from any quarter can or shall deter me, sir, from continuing to persist in exerting my self in every kind of manner to obtain that justice and redress which I have, as a British officer and subject, a constitutional right to demand. As far back as the sth of March a charge affecting my honour and my life was sent by General Vivian to Lord Panmure ; and up to this day, the sth of August, my accuser is still to me secret and anony mous, although a letter was addressed to me from the War Department on the 23rd of July, "fully exonerating" me from the disgraceful imputation. Some most extraordinary cause must exist for the War Minister's pertinacious concealment of the cowardly secret assassin of my character. Is he afraid to divulge the name? Many persons already suspect why such may be the case. Lord Palmerston stated in Parliament that General Vivian derived his information from Genral Shirley. General Shirley, when applied to by me, says " he does not hold himself responsible to any one but his superior officer, to whom he is prepared, when called upon, to disclose the source from which he ob tained his information." General Vivian, the " supe rior officer" to whom General Shirley refers, when applied to for the name or names of my secret accuser or accusers, answers, "he is no longer General Shirley's superior officer, and that General Beatson should apply to the War Winister !" I have, therefore, applied to Lord Panmure, to whom I am referred by General Vivian ; and I now pause for his lordship's reply.—l have, &c., (Signed) W. F. BEATSON, Lieut.-General. F. Peel, Esq., Under-Secretary, War Department. SIR CHARLES BURRELL AND HIS CONSTITUENTS. SIR C HARLES BURRELL, M.P. for Shoreham, was entertained on Thursday at a public dinner at West Grinstead, in the vicinity of that town, by some 700 or 800 of his constituents, includ ing a considerable number of the gentry of the county of Sussex, and many others. The chair was occupied by the Rev. John Goring, one of the largest landed proprietors in Sussex, and resi dent in the neighbourhood; and among the gentle men on the right and left of the president, besides the guest himself, were Lord A. G. Lennox, M.P., his colleague in the representation ; Viscount Pevensey, Major Beresford, M.P. ; Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald, M.P.; Mr. G. Darby, Mr. Patrick Robertson, M.P. ; the Bishop of Glasgow, Arch deacon Otter, General Kenah, Admiral Sir Henry Shiffner, Mr. Percy Burrell, and Mr. Waller Wind ham Burrell. The chairman, in proposing the health of Sir Charles Burrell, in the course of the evening, stated that the meeting was intended as a public re cognition of public services, gratefully acknowledged by the constituency, and faithfully discharged for a period of fifty years by their guest, who had consis tently maintained during that long interval the principles he professed wlen their fathers first re turned him to Parliament in 1806, and had never truckled for popularity : Sir Charles, at the same time, well knew that a man who shrank from party ties altogether, and who called himself an independent mereber, was one who slit in the middle of the house, and was of no use at all. He hoped that their representative would continue to assert his inde pendence for many a long year. No eulogium of his (the chairman) could add lustre to his gray head, for they were the judges of how he had spept half a century of hie life in their service. Sir Charles Burrell, in responding to the compli ment, said : He had always endeavoured to do what he conceived to be right for his constituents and the public weal without favour or affection, and withopt seeking advantages of any kind for himself from men ip power, being content with the position in which God had placed him. His advanced years warned him that he must look forward to the time when he should have to retire from their service ; but their kindness that day renewed the spirit within him, and he would not turn his ha* on his constituents so long as he had health and ability is do his duty. In the course of his parliamentary career he had experienced many painful feelings which arose out of the heat of debate and other circumstances, and had also to regret the loss of many of hie most intimate and valued political friends in the House of Commons, of wliom he lamented none more than his right hon. friend the late Mr. Huskisson, to whom he had ever looked ass polestar in that house, and who never flinched from the principles he entertained, but always steadily adhered to them. He had always stood up in behalf of the landed interest as the creators of the national wealth and the freedom of the people, and looked SATURDAY, back upon the course he had adopted with regard to free trade with the most perfect satisfaction, for he was still of opinion that that measure was unjust and partial in the highest degree. Several constitutional and local toasts were proposed or responded to during the entertainment by Mr. G. Darby, Viscount Pevensey, Lord A. G. Lennox, M.P.; General Kenah, Admiral Shiffner, Mr. C. Scrase Dickens, Major Beresford, M.P.; Mr. Sey mour Fitzgerald, M.P.; Mr. E. S. Biggs, and othkr gentlemen. THE DUKE OF MANCHESTER AND HIS TENANTRY. A PUBLIC DINNER was given to his Grace the Duke of Manchester, in the Town-hall of Portadown, on Tuesday, by his tenantry lin that locality. Numerous addresses expressive of the highest regard and affection on the part of the tenantry were also presented to the noble duke. His grace, in return ing thanks for his health, which was drunk with enthusiasm, said : I have no doubt my ancestors have endeavoured to do their duty, and I may safely say that I shall always endea vour to do the same. Perhaps in one respect this kind ness of yours may have been earned for me. I think I may in some measure attribute it to the place which my father and mother occupy in your memories. I have no doubt their conduct gave rise to the hopes of me to which our chairman so kindly referred. I trust sincerely, as he has said, that I shall never disappoint those hopes. I shall endeavour to follow their example, and to earn for myself the esteem and friendship of all my neighbours, and the gratitude and respect of all who are dependent upon me. Among so many of the gentry and landlords of the country I have nothing special to say to my own tenants. Perhaps they will forgive me if I assure my tenantry that I am deeply sensible of the responsibility of the stewardship that has been assigned me. I shall always attempt to do my duty, and I think I may promise myself that I shall have your co-operat:,:n in Try endeavour to do so. I shall look for that co•operation and advice, not from persons of any one political party, or from the members of any one religious creed. lam glad to see people here of all denominations. I rejoice that this assembly is not composed of persons of any one political party ; and the same may be said of those who were so kind as to meet me at Tandmgee, among whom I saw people of all parties and religions. Ido not care to conceal it, I myself hold strong political opinions ; but I am glad to leave them behind me when I come away from Parliament and London. Here I come to my neighbours, and I wish to live on good terms, and be one with you all. (Great applause.) LORD DALHOUSIE ON MESMERISM. THE following letter, written by Lord Dalhousie in reply to an inquiry from the Exeter Board of Guar dians, with regard to the use of mesmerism in the treatment of lunatic paupers, has appeared in print this week. The guardians, having read Dr. Esdaille's pamphlet upon the subject, applied to Lord Dalhousie to know whether Dr. Esdaille had been authorised to quote his lordship as sanctioning the exercise of ME E. , merism in the Government hospitals in India, and whether his lordship would recommend its applica tion for the cure of lunatics in this country. Lord Dalhousie replied as follows : Edinburgh, June 27, 1856. Gentlemen—l have had the honour of receiving your letter of the 23rd instant. It reached me only this day. In reply to your question I have to state that Dr. Esdaille was not authorised by me to use my name with reference to mesmerism, but at the same time I wish to add that all the statements in his pamphlet with which my name is connected are quite accurate. Of the efficacy of 1)r. I..:edaille's practice of mesmerism in cases of lunacy J am not able to say anything. Of the efficacy of it in surgical cases lam able to speak with confidence. Dr. Esdaille undoubtedly did possess the faculty of so influencing the sensations of the natives of India by means of mesmerism as to reduce them to a state of insensibility not less com plete than that which is now produced by use of chloroform. While they were in that state of insensibility he performed upon them surgical operations of every kind, many of them tremendous in their magnitude, duration, and seve rity. Those operations were performed without any ap parent consciousness in the patient, without pain to bim, and usually with great success. I never witnessed any of such operations myself ; the sight was a disagreeable one, and it was not necessary that I should witness it, for the testimony of very many witnesses of the highest official position and character, both written and oral, was so strong that even the evidence of my own senses could not have added strength to it. Accordingly, I appointed Dr. Esdaille in 1848 to be one of the presidency surgeons. I did this in acknowledgment of the service he had rendered to hu manity by mitigating largely its sufferings within his own sphere, and in order that he might be able to continue Lis services at the capital. Whether Dr. Esdaille can influence lunacy by his mesmeric practice Ido not know. Whetter he can influence the English constitution in the same manner or in the same degree as he undoubtedly in fluenced the native constitution I cannot pretend to say. Having thus replied to your question, and testified (as I shall always be ready to testify) to what Dr. Esdaille actually effected in India by what he termed mesmerism, I wish to be permitted to add that I must not be considered as a disciple of the doctrines of mesmerism generally. I beg you to accept my thanks for your courteous congratu lations on my return to England, and for your good wishes on my behalf.—l have the honour to be, gentlemen, your obedient faithful servant, DALHOUSIE. 782