The Press. — London, England, 1856-12-06 00:00:00

DECEMBER 6, 1856. to the Sardinian diplomatic agents, in which he de clares for the convocation of the Conferences of Paris. Count Cavour, it is reported, also demands that the affairs of Italy shall be taken into considers• tion at the second Congress. At the next general election in Piedmont it is anticipated that the Conservative party will gain a large majority. The question at present under dis cussion at Rome as to the beatification of Maria Ch r i s tina, Queen of Naples, and daughter of the house of Savoy, who died in 1836, it is generally believed will lead to friendly relations between the Courts of Rome and Turin. SPAIN. The proposal of M. Mires, relative to a loan of 300,000,000 of reels effective (75,000,000 francs), has heel' accepted by the Spanish Government, and the treaty signed and published in the official Gazette of Madrid. In conformity with the Spanish law, the outbidding remains open for twenty days. M. Ochoa is appointed Director of Public In struction. Nothing has been decided relative to the convoca tion of the Cortes. TURKEY AND THE EAST. Lord Stratford de Bedeliffe has accepted the expla• nations given by M. de Boutenieff 'relative to the bat teries at Yenikale firing upon a British gunboat. MM. Thouvenel and Boutenieff, it is reported, lately presented a note to the Porte. The French and Russian Governments demanded of the Grand Vizier (Redschid Paella) positive answers to the following questions :- 1. In reference to the regulation of the Beasarabian frontier:— _ _ Does the Porte agree to leave it to the Paris Con• ference to remove the existing difficulties, or is it willing to settle matters in such a way that it will renounce its pretensions to Bolgrad in favour of Russia if France and Russia will guarantee to Turkey Proper the definitive possession of the Isle of Serpents and of the delta of the Danube. 2. In reference to the prolonged occupation of the Danubian principalities : Does the Sublime Porte not see that it is in opposition to the words and spirit of Article 31 of the treaty of Paris? And is not the prolonged occupation of the Principalities by Austrian forces in contradiction to the language employed by Count Boo! at the Congress ? 3. In reference to the presence of the English squadron in the Bosphorus and Black Sea:— Does not the Porte see that the same is in opposition to the Convention of May 13, 1856, according to which a term of six months, reckoning from the date of the ex• change of the ratifications of the Paris Treaty, was fixed for the withdrawal of all the forces of England, France, and Sardinia from the Turkish territory ? And is not the prolonged stay of the British squadron an impediment to the realisation of the convention relative to the Straits, which was to have come into force on the 28th of October. 4. In reference to the reorganisation of the Danubian principalities : Is the Porte of opinion that the Divans ad hoc are quite at liberty to declare themselves in favour of the territorial and administrative union of the two Principalities, if such should be the wish of the inhabitants of Wallachia and Moldavia? And would the Porte, as the Suzerain Power, make any difficulties if the declaration (of the Divans ad hoc) should be taken into serious consideration by the Paris Congress ? The Vienna Corresponticnz contradicts the rumoured statement that the note was privately signed by MM. Thouvenel and Boutenietf. The notes were separate, but the observations identical. The British fleet, under the command of Admiral Lord Lyons, continues at anchor off Constantinople. Her Majesty's steam-frigates Vulture, Gummi, and Magicienne, and steam-sloops Sphynx, Lynx, and Medina, are cruising in the Black Sea. The gun boat Grinder is off the mouth of the Danube. AMERICA. No political intelligence of any importance arrived by the last mail. _ _ Mr. Buchanan had expressed himself in favour of a railway to the Pacific. Nicaraguan advices confirm Walker's victory over the Costa Ricans at Massaya and Granada. Walker was preparing to push his advantages. The completion of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, from Montreal to Toronto, and the great system of railway communication extending from the State of Maine to Canada West, a distance of more than eight hundred miles, was celebrated on Thurs day, Nov. 13th, by a grand banquet at Montreal, at which five thousand persons, consisting of the lead ing men of the province, the military, merchants and farmers, and a number of invited guests from the United States, sat down to a table extending over a mile and a half. The festival is described as having been a very grand affair. At two o'clock, p.m., the Governor-General, Sir E. Head, arrived, with a guard of honour. The chair was taken by Mr. H. Starnes, the Mayor of Montreal. At the right hand of the Mayor sat his Excellency, and on his left sat Sir William Eyre, Commander of the Forces. Amongst the other distinguished guest were—Judge Day, of the Superior Court, the Lord Bishop of THE PRESS. Montreal, Colonel Tache, the Canadian Premier, Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, and Hon. John Rose, President of the Grand Trunk Railway. INDIA AND CHINA. THE EXPEDITION TO PERSIA. Orders for the immediate despatch of the expe dition reached Bombay on the 23rd ult. The force consists of 5,000 men. The fleet, under the command of Sir Henry Leeke, and numbering forty sail, was expected to leave Bombaylon the 10th of November for Bassadoro and Karrack. Operations would be first commenced against Bushire. The Times Bom- bay correspondent writes with reference to the future : It is probable that with all practicable despatch Bushire will be summoned to surrender, and in the event of a re fusal will have its defences shattered by the gunboats of the fleet and be taken forcible possession of. Earthworks or other fortifications of a more scientific character than those they replace will then be thrown up, and the place will be occupied by the troops, pending the submission or defiance of the Shah. Should the spirit of that sovereign not give way at the first blow, operations in the interior will be necessary, and for this purpose the small force about to be despatched from Bombay will he totally inade quate. Even already rumours are abroad of troops to be sent to the westward through one or both of the famous passes whose names were so well known throughout Eng land fifteen years ago—the Khyber and the Bolan. Such reports, though as I believe unfounded at present, are never theless not unlikely to be renewed with form and consis tency hereafter. In the direction of the latter of the two above-named mountain gorges more than one British officer has already proceeded from Calcutta or Bombay, presum ably with the view of arranging with our ally the Kahn of Khelat for the formation of a contingent force in his terri tories, which lie exposed to the Shah, should Southern Atfghanistan fall into his hands. The Persians were extending towards Ghirisk and Candahar, and causing some alarm to the Khan of Khelat. Colonel Cavenagh is said to have lately left Cal cutta for Cabul on a political mission. His object, it is believed, is to arrange with Dost Mohammed to support Esa Kahn at. Herat. From China, we learn that, by treaty just concluded with Russia, the Emperor has granted to the Czar 3,000 acres of land, and a harbour on the west coast of Chusan. 6oart an faskinn. Her Majesty the Queen, accompanied by his Royal Highness Prince Albert, Prince Frederick William of Prussia, the younger members of the Royal Family, and attended by the Court, left Windsor for Osborne on Thursday. The Royal party arrived at Osborne in safety at 2 p.m. His Excellency the Ambassador of France and the Countess de Persigny entertained at dinner, at Albert gate House, on Monday, his Excellency the Russian Minister and the Countess Creptowitch, his Excel lency the Sardinian Minister, Baron and Baroness Nickolay, Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston, Hon. Mrs. A. Villiers, and M. Comyn. Earl Granville gave a Cabinet dinner on Thurs day. The Duke and Duchess of Richmond are shortly expected in town from Scotland. The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland have arrived at Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, from Stanwick-park, Yorkshire. His Grace has recovered from his recent severe attack of gout. The Earl of Ellesmere is better. Dr. Bright is in attendance on the noble earl. Volitltal. CABINET COUNCILS were held on Saturday, the 20th ult., and Friday, the sth instant, at the official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury, in Downing-street. The Ministers present were, Vis count Palmerston, the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Earl Granville, the Earl of Har• rowby, Sir George Grey, the Earl of Clarendon, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Charles Wood, Lord Stanley of Alderley, the Right Hon. M. T. Baines, and the Duke of Argyll. SIR ALEXANDER DUFF GORDON is mentioned as the probable successor to the vacant Commissionership of Inland Revenue. Mr. RICHARD PATTINSON has been appointed Go vernor of Heligoland. Ma. MATHEW, late her Majesty's Consul at Phila delphia, one of the British consular officers whose exequatur was withdrawn by the Government of President Pierce, has been appointed Consul-General at Odessa. THE HONOUR OF KNIGHTHOOD was on the 28th conferred on Mr. Baron Watson and on Mr. Rowland Macdonald Stephenson, Civil Engineer of Calcutta. MR. ARNEY, of the Western Circuit, will become Recorder of NVinchester, in the room of Mr. Stock, whose transfer to the Recordership of Exeter we have already stated, 1159 Sin R. BETHELL addressed his constituents, at lesbury, on Saturday afternoon last. After allud ing to the honour he bad received at the hands of his sovereign, he congratulated the electors upon the termination of the war and the prosperous state of the country, expressing also his opinion that the peace would be permanent and in every way satisfactory. He alluded to the great increase of crime, and observed that the only way to protect the commercial interests of the nation from such frauds as had recently attracted attention was to award such punishments as would deter men from acting dishonestly. He was in a position to state that the Church-rate question would form one of the first measures for discussion in the next session, and there was no doubt it would be satisfactorily settled. A CONVENTION between Great Britain and Hon duras, relative to the Mosquito Indians, and other matters arising out of the recent territorial arrange ments, has been published in the New York papers. The following are the principal articles : Art. 1. The Republic of Honduras engages not to dis turb the subjects of her Britannic Majesty in the enjoy ment of any property of which they may be in possession in the islands of Ruatan, Bonaca, Elena, Utile, Itarharete, and Morat, situated in the Bay of Honduras.—Art. 2. Her Britannic Majesty agrees to recognise the mid•channel of the river Wan: or Segovia, which falls into the Caribbean Sea at Cape Gracias a Dios, as the boundary between the Republic of Honduras and the territory of the Mosquito Indians, without prejudice, however, to any question of boundary between the Republica of Honduras and Nicara gua. And whereas the Mosquito Indians have heretofore possessed and exercised rights in and over the territories lying between the river Winix or Segovia and the Roman river, her Britannic Majesty agreed to recommend to the Mosquito Indians to renounce any such rights in favour of the Republic of Honduras, on condition of receiving from the Republic some reasonable sum by way of annuity for a limited period, to be paid half-yearly, as an indemnity and compensation for the loss and extinction of their interest in the said territory. When such an arrangement shall have been acceded to by the Mosquito Indians, her Bri tannic Majesty engages to recognise the sovereignty over the said territory as belonging to the Republic of Hon duras. And whereas British subjects have, by grant, lease, or otherwise, heretofore obtained from the Mosquito Indians interests in various lands situated within the territory above described, lying between the river Wan: or Segovia and the river Roman, the Republic of Honduras engages to respect and maintain such interests. The other articles provide for the conclusion of those arrangements by special commissioners. MR. AUGUSTUS STAFFORD, M.P., at the Rutland agricultural dinner, on Wednesday, expressed his objections against any inquisitorial mode of obtain ing agricultural statistics. The agriculture of this country rested precisely upon the same footing as every other class of manufacturing industry : We know the imports of agricultural produce; we know the exports of agricultural produce also. They know the import of cotton wool, and they know the export of cotton wool. It is the same with iron ; it is the same with every other article. But what would Mr. Turner or any other respectable shopkeeper of Oakham say if a Government inspector stepped in and said, " How many yards of calico," or " bow many yards of riband have you sold during the last six months ? Write it down for me, and deliver it under a penalty." Then, if the inhabitants of towns would not like that inquisitorial process, why should the farmers be subject to it? for as are the cotton and the ribands of the haberdasher, as is the iron of the ironmaster, so is the wheat, so is the corn, so is the poultry (we were to descend even to the ducks and hens) of the farmer. And we were to register the results, and have them served up to the Houses of Parliament in a blue-book. Now, I don't wish at all to undervalue the importance of knowing in this great and flourishing community the increase of food raised—the increase, if I may so speak, of agricultural wealth which is year by year produced in this still more and more fertile island. But, as a guide to the agricul turist, as a guide to the corn•merchant, as a guide to the consumer, I believe—so large are our importations of foreign cereal produce—that these agricultural statistics would be of little or no use whatever. The Honourable 3. G. NOEL expressed a similar opinion:— He thought that the Agricultural Statistics Bill, as pre sented to Parliament, was an insult to the tenant.farmers, and right glad was he to find that that bill was withdrawn. Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer had recommended a concilia- tory system of procuring agricultural statistics. Those returns must be given voluntarily; there must be no prying. To a general and proper system he (the speaker) trusted they would not object, because he believed that the matter derived from these statistics would be most useful and beneficial. The Hon. G. H. HEATHCOTE could not pledge himself to oppose every Agricultural Statistics Bill brought in: He thought it seemed agreed that all parties, even by those gentlemen whom they had always looked up to as the friends of the farmers—and Lord Derby, he thought, was in favour of something of the kind—it seemed agreed that it was desirable, and he thought they could hardly expect him to give a pledge to oppose such a measure. MR. T. 1../VI HODGES, one of the membe rs for Essex, was presented last Tuesday by his supporters I