The Press. — London, England, 1855-11-03 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 3, 1855• soldiers had really given the fatal wound, and who was, in fact, the beginner of the quarrel ! This individual was the Austrian starost in Bakan. It is the knowledge of this impunity which increases the outrages both in number and flagrancy. A few months back an Austrian colonel, not being satis fied with the quarters allotted to him, went to the quarter master's office, and there kicked and boxed the ears of the secretary. This happened in Bucharest. The Wallachian Government could not avoid requiring satisfaction of some sort. In the answer which the colonel sent in to the in quiries of the commander of the town it was stated that " the secretary met him with disrespectful indifference," that " he had a sneering expression of countenance that might irritate anybody," and the colonel, being already hurt in his susceptibility, had, to the "regret of both," pro ceeded to an overt act, which must, in consequence of the great provocation, be "looked on as balanced I" The secretary constantly affirmed that he had given no provo cation at all. The total expense of the Austrian army of occupation in Wallachia up to the end of last June was 3,500,000 pias tres. In Moldavia the outgoings of the Government for this purpose exceeded 300,100 piastres per month, and so there must be at least another 3,500,000 reckoned for the occupation of Moldavia. The inhabitants of these two fertile principalities are thus made to pay for the tyranny that crushes them, and the brutality that intimidates them, at the rate of 7,300,000 piastres per annum.—Times Paris Correspondent, October 29. Ditttings. CORPORATION REFORM. AT the Court of Common Council held on Monday last, the adjourned debate of Thursday week was proceeded with upon the question : That it is desirable to co-operate with her Majesty's Government in passing through Parliament a bill for the reform of the corporation, founded upon the resolutions agreed to by this court on the 24th of February, 1854 ; that the Ilemembrancer be directed to prepare the draught of a bill in conformity with the above resolution to be submitted for the approval of this court ; and that a conference be held thereon with her Majesty's Government, Mr. THOMAS HENRY Fax in an introductory speech observed that it was clearly for the advancement of the institution itself all parties concerned should endeavour conscientiously to reform the corporation, and that it would be a disgrace to them if some concession and some reform were not speedily adopted. Mr. Fry then briefly touched upon the various propositions for reform, objecting to a property qualification as a necessary test of fitness of election to the Common Council, agreeing to the en largement of the constituency by admitting JOl. householders, proposing that aldermen should be elected for life, and concluded by saying : He had it from good authority that the Government were anxious to co-operate with the City on the question, so that they might be able to bring in a bill which would be equally honourable to the corporation and favorable to the Government. He asked them whether they would throw away an opportunity such as that which it then offered, and allow the Government to bring in a bill the provisions of which would have the effect, he ventured to say, of raising up an opposition in the city of London anta gonistic to the Government of the day. If they adopted the course he had pointed out, he believed they would be able to succeed. He (Mr. Fry) called upon the Lord Mayor, the aldermen, and the Common Council, to assist him upon that occasion. He believed, if they agreed, there was hope for them that they would be able to accomplish the purpose they had in view, while he believed it would have the effect of so far reforming the corporation, so far invigorating it, that it would exist amongst them through coming generations. (Loud applause.) Mr. Fry then thanked the Court for the patience with which they had heard him, and then submitted the following resolution " That it is desirable to co-operate with her Majesty's Government in passing through Parliament a bill for the reform of the corporation, founded upon the resolutions agreed to at this court on the 24th of February, 1a54. That Mr. Remembrancer be directed to prepare the draught of a bill in conformity with the above resolution for the approval of this court ; and that a conference be held thereon with her Majesty's Government." To this motion of Mr. Fry's an amendment was moved by Mr. Cox, who could not see what benefit could be derived from " swallowing down" all these re solutions, which had already been submitted to the commissioners, and laid aside as inadequate and useless suggestions, and he therefore moved as an amendment : That the various resolutions of the court of the 24th of Febi nary, ISM, be taken into consideration seriatim. After some further debate, the amendment was with drawn and a further amendment moved by Mr. Bentley, " That no further discussion take place until the Court had the Government bill before them," which was followed by another amendment from Mr. W. Jones, who moved : That it is desirable to confer with her Majesty's Go vernment on passing through Parliament a bill for the reform of this corporation, and that a committee of three aldermen and twelve commoners be appointed for that purptse, and to report to this court. After a few remarks between Alderman Wire and Mr. Taylor, Mr. Bentley's amendment was pu t u p sad carried by a snejority of eight, there being THE PRESS. thirty-eight hands held up in favour of, and thirty against it. The further amendment of Mr. Jones was then carried by a majority of four, there being thirty-two for, and twenty-eight against it. The following members were then appointed to confer with the Government upon the subject of the bill :—Alderman Finnis, Alderman Cubitt, Alderman Eagleton, Mr. W. Jones, Mr. Abraham, Mr. T. H. Fry, Mr. T. H. Hall, Mr. W. L. Taylor, Mr. T. Parker, Deputy Hale, Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Wood, Mr. Ross, Mr. Cux, and Mr. Gresham. Some further business was then transacted, the present of a bust of the Queen by Mr. Durham was accepted by the Council, and the court then ad journed. MR. PACKE, M.P., ON AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. AT the meeting of the LOUGHBOROUGH Agricultural Association, a few days since, the chairman, C. W. Packe, Esq., M.P., made the following remarks on the subject of agricultural statistics, the importance of which Mr. Packe did not appear to recognise. After alluding to the committee of the House of Lords which sat last session "to inquire into the best mode of obtaining accurate agricultural statis tics," Mr. Packe observed that he totally differed in opinion with this committee as to the general utility of such returns, and that, as far as the returns ob tained were concerned, they afforded a curious instance with regard to the feeling of the farmers against the importance or advantage of the collection of such statistics : From the reports which the committee had received from the poor-law inspectors be should just read extracts. The reports from ten counties out of thirty-two were strong indications of the feelings of the farmers throughout Eng land upon the subject—although they would bear in mind that the matter had been only tried, and was merely an ex periment in these eleven counties—or not so many—ten and a half. The counties selected were Suffolk, Norfolk, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Leicestershire, Berkshire, Worces tershire, Brecknockshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire, and the West Riding of Yorkshire. How, then, had the farmers received the poor-law inspectors in their endeavours to obtain these returns for the Board of Trade? In Norfolk and Suffolk the same poor-law inspector had reported that in several unions the co-operation of the guardians had been refused, and that hostility had proved itself to exist through the agency of market-place and market-table dis cussion (which, as they knew, they were very apt to have also in that place, Loughborough). This had been stated in documents presented to the House of Commons. In some of the unions, the documents in question went on to say, success had been impeded by the unconquerable pre judices of occupiers, and large occupiers, whom it was impossible to reach—and if reached, impossible to con vince by argument ( Laughter.) In Hampshire and Wiltshire, again, the experiment of collecting agri cultural statistics in that district, the inspector re gretted to say, had " failed." He attributed this to the refusal to report (so essential) of a numerous body of avi culturists, who had demurred on the grounds of the injurious tendency, insidious nature, and mischievous character of the inquiry; and it was thought that the Government had an eye to taxation, or some other thing of the kind, inju rious to the interests of the farmers. In their own county (Leicestershire), as the gentlemen he was addressing were well aware, the Loughborough Union had considerably resisted the inquiry; great resistance had been shown in another union; in Biladen Union it had been found totally impossible to obtain any report at all. Mr. Ingram, the clerk to the Bilsden Union, had written to Mr. Weale, the inspector, in January, Isa, regretting to inform him that the Agricultural Statistics Committee had come to the conclusion that the serious difficulties and opposi tion thrown in their way rendered it impossible to com• plete the returns of last year. ( Hear, hear.) Several classifiers apprehended that the effect would be to lace the guardians and ratepayers in antagonistic positrons, were the law carried out. This was, therefore, the feeling in five counties. Now, in Berkshire, it was found that there was a general and determined opposition to the adoption of the measure; and it having become desirable to hold a special meeting to meet objections and explain away difficulties, it was found to be in vain to attempt assembling the board of guardians on any day hut that of their ordinary meetings, from their distrust of the inquisi torial objects, utility, and consequences of the proposed returns. In Worcestershire and Brecknockshire, the only counties where the measure had been tried, only seven out of thirty.five unions had complied. In Shropshire and Derbyshire, the prejudice that they would open an undue interference with private business had taken hold of the minds of many wealthy and respectable farmers. And what the inspector spoke of as most provoking was, that several of the committee had themselves refused to fill up the schedules! After drawing a parallel between the case of a London shopkeeper compelled to give in returns of his unsaleable goods on hand at the end of the season, and a farmer with his stores of corn, Mr. Packe concluded with an expression of his desire to take that course which was the most beneficial for the farmers, though at present he could not exactly see that such would be attained by acquiescing in the measure for the returns of agricultural statis tics : Yet there were many opinions prevalent upon the sub ject, and he wished to take the course which was beat and most beneficial for the agricultural interests. But as a: 1047 present advised, with these documents before him, and knowing the opinions of the inspectors of ten counties, he felt obliged to say that he should have sumo difficulty in being able to acquiesce in this measure. DINNER TO LIEUTENANT PALMER, urn HUSSARS. THE little town of Wrexham was the scene on Thursday week (the anniversary of the battle of Ba laklava) of great rejoicings and a grand dinner in honour of the return of Lieutenant Palmer, the only son of Sir Roger Palmer, Bart., of Cefn-park. Shortly before five o'clock, an escort of yeomanry cavalry arrived at the park, and conducted Lieute nant Palmer into the town, which was decorated with flags and triumphal arches. The dinner was served at the Wynnstay Arms, and about two hundred of the neighbouring gentry and tenantry were assembled. The chair was filled by Colonel Sir W. Lloyd. After the cloth had been removed the usual loyal toasts were given, and the toast of " The Army and Navy " was responded to by the Earl of Harrington, who alluded incidentally to the heroism of 4isla in leaving home and friends to seek her sick brother in the camp to nurse and aid him, after which the chairman in a brief speech proposed the toast of the evening, which was received with the most enthusiastic cheers. Lieutenant Palmer, after some minutes, rose, and, in returning thanks for the kindness done him, briefly sketched the services of the light brigade during the war : - - - - It is about thirteen months since we first landed in the Crimea, in lialamita Bay. A few days afterwards the affair of Bulganac took place, in which my regiment and the 13th had the honour of firing the first shots at the enemy. (Cheers.) The next day was the battle of Alma, at which. however, the cavalry were little more than specta tors. But our time was coming. On the anniversary of this very day was fought the battle of Balaklays, with which you have done me the honour of connecting my name. (Loud cheers.) I thank you for it, and I own that I am proud of having been a part►cilator in that day's action, but I must say that I consider the credit of that day was due more to the soldiers than to the officers. In foreign armies one would have found plenty of officers to lead such a charge, but in what army would one have found soldiers to follow as ours did ? (Tremendous cheering.) Though surrounded on every side by the enemy, though apparently all was over with them, though suffering under a withering fire, and seeing their comrades falling in heaps around them, not a man flinched or thought of shifting tor himself, but all looked to their officers, and followed them as if they had been on an ordinary parade. (Deafening cheers.) It was this that saved us, for when the Russians, who had got to our rear in greatly superior force, saw that, though diminished in numbers, we still kept some sort of order, instead of charging us, which if they bad done I should probably not have been here to-day to tell the tale, they got out of our way and let us pass. When I returned to the ground from which we had moved off, I saw a sight such as I trust / shall never see again, for out of five entire regiments, which but one short half-hour before had re ceived the order to advance, you could not then have formed as many troops. (Loud applause.) After describing the battle of Inkermann, in which the cavalry took no part, in a few graphic words be struck out the sufferings of the men in winter: — Living in our tents without any means of making a fire, with our clothes in rags, with hardly a boot to our feet, having to sleep in the nud with nothing but a cloak and blanket to protect us—such was our life. But all this sank into insignificance when compared with the sufferings of our infantry, who, in addition to these hardships, bad to go, some of them every third day, and some of them every other day, into the trenches. (Cheers.) This description, however, only applies to the earlier portion of the winter, for when the accounts of what we were under going reached home, the British people, with a sympathy for which I am sure every soldier out there feels deeply and sincerely grateful, did all they could to ameliorate our condition, and succeeded, for in the month of February we were living in comparative luxury. (Loud and repeated cheers.) Since then we have suffered little except sickness, under which many a poor fellow sank who had escapecrall tic perils'of The battle and all the hardships of the winter. Colonel Biddulph having complimented the gal lant young officer upon the perspicuity and modest candour with which ho had described the scenes of his services, various toasts were proposed, and the meeting (the largest and most influential over held in Wrexham) broke up at a late hour. GENERALS BENKENDORFF AND STACKELBERG, the commissioners despatched to the aid of Priecil Gortschakoff in the Crimea, have sent the Emperor Alexander " tranquillising accounts " relative to the strength, position, and health of the Russian army in the Crimea. TILE AMERICANS who believed that they had obtained a safe entry to the Japa nese waters, have been brought up on an interpretation of the treaty which will go far to nullify all their anticipated ad vantages. The article . in questien limits them to a given distance up the harbour of Nangasaki or Simoda. THE APPOINTMENT OF BARON PROKISCH to be Intemuncio and Minister Plenipotentiary at Con: stantinople, and of Count Rechberg Rothenlowen to be Presidial Minister at Frankfort, has been officially promulgated at Vienna. I