The Press. — London, England, 1855-01-20 00:00:00

JANUARY 20, 1855. ground is covered with them. There is no fuel to roast the coffee, and the men have no means of grinding it; and if they had both they are far too hard worked just now to do either. I know hundreds and hundreds of instances when, fur days running, men have eaten their salt pork raw, because there was no possibility of getting fuel to dress it. If they are obliged to do this with their pork, your readers oan easily judge what chance their coffee stands of being roasted. The men also hate coffee, and will not use it when they can possibly get tea. As a proof of this, a kind of tea-shop has lately been opened at Bale klava, where a pint of hot tea oan be had for 6d. This place is crowded with our fellows from morning till night, and not unfrequently the proprietor is quite Bold out long before night. THE NURSES AT SCUTARI. The Rev. Ur. Sabin writes tints from Scutari, on December 27, to the chaplain of the forces A considerable change is taking place in our band of nurses, in consequence of the arrival of fifty new ones, under Miss Stanley Miss Nightingale and Mrs. liracebridge have gradually established the original band of nurses here, and this iu spite of many and serious difficulties. What we all feared would be an impossibility has been admirably ac complished, and will, I doubt not, be continued with suc cess. I think that the only way to secure future success is the plan proposed and now carrying out, which is not to establish a separate band of nurses, but to take in as many of the fresh ones as can be profitably employed. Miss Stan ley, acting under Miss Nightingale, takes charge of a certain number in the general hospital, and though it is impos sible that all can 'be at once employed, yet in time all who are fit for the work will be brought into use. Several have been sent home from Miss Nightingale's original band, from ill-health and other causes ; three of the sisters have gone, three nurses, and five nuns. These latter had been clois tered nuns all their life, and their being thrown at once among such busy scenes has made their stay unadvilable ; on the other hand, the other five nuns who came with them are found to be most valuable and experienced nurses. It cannot be expected that, out of ninety nurses rapidly se lected, all should he fit for the work, while Miss Nightin gsle's judgment will enable her to select a strong band of really efficient nurses in a very short time, and this from actual observation of their work. She looks mainly to the working powers of her band, and, with unrivalled working powers herself, soon marks who are fitted for this most difficult work. TELEGRAPH FROM 13ALIKLAVA TO VARNA. On the 15th of December Messrs. Newall and Co., of Gateshead, the submarine telegraph contractors, received a telegraph message from the Government to make a sub marine cable to form a telegraphic communication between lialaklava and Varna. Within an hour after receiving the message, Mr. Newall had bargained with Messrs. Palmer and Co., of Jarrow-on-the-Tyne, for a new iron screw steamer, which was then not half finished. Messrs. Palmer employed their men day and night to complete the vessel, which is named the Black Sea, and on Saturday evening the last of 400 miles of the telegraph cable was paid into her. The distance from Varna (43.15 N. lat., 27.08 E. long.) to Balaklava (44:29, 33.35) is about 40U miles, the measure of the length of the telegraph. On the following day the vessel sailed, and it is confidently anticipated that by the middle of February Messrs. Newell and Co.'s work people will be engaged submerging the cable between Varna and Balaklava, and by the end of that month a direct tele graphic communication will be opened between the head quarters of the allies in the Crimea and the two great Western capitals, London and Paris ; for the French and English Governments have made such arrangements that by the time the Black Sea steamer reaches the Euxine the overland telegraph from Varna to Bucharest will be finished, thus completing the electric communication between the Crimea and England. The system of telegraph to be adopted between Balaklava and Varna will be uniform with the great Enropean lines, and the messages will not require to be translated, as is the case by submarine and interna tional telegraph. The expedition that is proceeding in the Black Sea consists of sixty persons, who take with them their own carts and horses to be used when employed on shore; for tho wires will be taken up to the head-quarters of the generals, and portable telegraphic apparatus, neatly fitted into boxes of the size of an ordinary medicine chest, and about the weight each of a knapsack, with wires coiled ready for use, which can be joiwil to the main line, will be taken out, so that in whatever direction the army moves in the Crimea, the head-quarters of the allies can keep up a communication with Europe. The telegraphic apparatus to be employed has been made for the occasion by Messrs. Siemens and Halske, of Berlin. It is founded on Morse's American telegra,th. The mes sages which it transmits it writes on a paper riband, about the breadth of a broad tape, every letter of the alphabet and every figure being formed by a combination of dots and strokes, impressed by a " style," as the paper moves onward between two cylinders. The dots or marks very much re semble the raised character used in books for the blind— only more simple—and are read by the telegraph clerk as easily as ordinary types. The operator, having command of the electric current, can make it act at intervals, the du. ration of which he can lengthen or shorten at pleasure ; and just in proportion to the length of these intervals is the length of the marks impressed upon the moving riband by the pencil which obeys the magnet. The message, us it issues from the apparatus, can be read off, and arrives as rapidly as a clerk can copy it on paper in au abbreviated hand. The gangs of labourers were employed five days and five nights in paving away the cable before the last of it was got on board tie Black Sea. It is of the consistency of a thick bar of iron, and is protected from the action of the water by a coding of gutta percha. It is confidently expected that the steamer will make the run out in twenty one days. THE PRESS. Sortigu t orrtsponttrat. (From a Correspondent.) FRANKFORT. The acceptance of the four points of Vienna by the Czar has caused some speculation. The re fusal, however, of France and England to suspend hostilities places the matter in its right position, and it is principally considered as a stratagem to gain time. This is the more prudent view from the fact of the Emperor not having acceded to the four stipulations without reserve. His first intention Was summarily to reject them, and he yielded reluc tantly to the only person who is cognisant of his real sentiments. There is a mystery in the more private relations of the Emperors of Russia and Austria that is not always easy to unravel, yet with care, caution, and perseverance, there are few things that cannot be traced. After all, common sense is the best agent. Whenever man employs on his secret missions "that one which was made him an help for him," there is certain to be a weak point to be made avail able as tact or daring, or both combined, may accomplish. A permission was given to Austria to occupy the principalities upon certain conditions. These con ditions place it out of her power to occupy a common ground with the Anglo-Frank allies, unless the Em peror Francis Joseph personally breaks away from his word of honour. This is' not a case simply betwixt nations, for there is besides an honourable pledge from man to man, a violation of which on either side will damage the cause of thrones more than tens and hundreds of thousands of Red-Radical and Republican battalions. The permitted occupa tion of the principalities binds Austria privately to construe the four points in a Russian sense, or at any rate not to break ground offensively on that sub ject. A perfect knowledge of this by the Emperor Napoleon made the refusal to suspend hostilities peremptory. Lord Aberdeen has played the Czar false, and the Russian Court are allowed and even charged to say so openly, and should deception be practised upon him by the young Emperor, who affects the blunt and frank character of the soldier, his temper will be sure to run riot, and not without cause. If Austria understands the third point re lating to the Black Sea, to contemplate the posi five reduction of Sebastopol, and a curtailment of Muscovite power, then the Austro Imperial word of honour will have become forfeited. The whole case will turn upon the extent. of concession by Russia, and, whatever that may be, Austria dare not enter tain a contrary view without breaking faith with the Czar, and sapping the foundation of her empire. The presentation of the Order of St. Stephen to the Emperor of the French has led to much and imprudent conversation—at least, if Ministers are supposed to represent neutral powers, some kind of decency ought to be preserved in not publicly taking a part. M. de B inveighs in private, although practically in a public manner, against this act of courtesy by the Emperor Francis Joseph, and declares it to be at variance with a certain under standing on the subject of France. As he is an Orleanist of the most determined temper, he ta.tes upon himself to say that it is an infraction of a pre determined scheme, upon which the German powers had been afraid. This is the direct inference. When he talks of his master having been deceived, he should recollect the antecedents of his present and late master, which were fully detailed in a former number of THE PRESS. No doubt this was not agree able to M. de B--, neither was the list of the Russian alliances. The latter had not appeared three weeks when the German principalities, true to those alliances, refused to abide by the constituted and Germanic agreement, and resisted the official notice of Austria to place their contingent upon a war footing. M. de R-- affirms that the mistake of Russia proceeded from the incorrect information on the state of feeling in England towards France. The several members of the imperial Russian family who were in England in 1853 were wholly in the hands of the Aberdeen party, and the loadings articles of the Times, Daily News, Morning Chronicle, in teeming with abuse of the coup &kat of Dec. 2, and of the Emperor Napoleon personally, were forwajded to Russia as true versions of public opinion. The speeches of Sir James Graham and Sir Charles Wood were certified to represent the Red-Radicals ; and this was true, as the approbation of the Man chester democrats was most marked. The party constructed by Lord Aberdeen into au Aberdeen- Peel, Red-Radical, Romanic and Materialist combi nation, with the advantage of high Germanic favour, was described to represent the popular party of Eng land to be England herself. This belief was con firmed by the well-known opinions of the Chevalier de Id—, which were in the extreme unfavour ably to Louis Napoleon, and to Russia also, and the correct knowledge of England and the English rightly attributed to that upright Minister induced them to believe that they had an accurate report of the real feeling of the country. Nothing can be more erroneous than that the prestige of the English Government has been weakened by the strong remarks on the Foreign En listment Bill. The secondary and tertiary States alone are sore, but the people generally fully appro.. ciate the disrelish of a nation such as England, not to seek the assistance of allies, but to give "solde" to foreigners to fight under her flag as bondsmen. What has seriously injured the character of the Ministry is the coroner's inquest on the sailor of the Himalaya, who died from want of care from the re fusal of hospital authorities to serve him without official orders. A clerk in an English mercantile house has made a fair profit by translating the first and second reports in the Times, and circulating them at his own risk. The free city looks sharp after the liberty of the press, and would be guilty of any meanness to find favour with the higher autho rities. The continuation of the accounts from the Crimea, summarily dwelt upon in the Ind/pen/lance Beige, one of the best and most free of the coatis neutal journals, has raised a storm of vituperation against the English Miuistry for their incapacity and inhumanity. As this just indignation is echoed by the people of England, they naturally ask, Why are these men tolerated' Why, indeed ? lf, say they, popular opinion and rectitude of conduct is to be disregarded, and though members of the House of Commons loudly proclaim that they are compelled to vote against their consciences, there can be little difference betwixt the English Parliament and our Diet. The speech of the Prince of Prussia to the troops at Coblentz was most injudicious. To tell a fine army, well appointed, and animated by an honest spirit, that it was probably about to take the field, but that it would only be told on which side it was to fight on the eve of battle, irrespective of right or wrong, was a gratuitous insult that will be long re membered. The crowned heads and princes are becoming deranged, and are courting popular dis favour by every means in their power. M. de B is reported to have said that the Czar had in his possession that which would surprise politi cians more than the correspondence with Lord Aberdeen, and that the English Ministers would be amongst the superlatives of the surprised, and to their great discomfiture. Certain it is that the Czar will have a victim somewhere, and that, if he be. comes de facto isolated, he will do every mischief in his power. An episcopal dignitary belonging to the French Church passed through this place lately, and, con versing in confidence with a fellow dignitary on the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, remarked, " How much it was to be regretted that so good a man as Pius IX."—the only Pope for a long time who really believed in the "Bon Dieu"—" should make such a fool of himself." This is rich. J. E. FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS of preserved boiled beef, packed in tin cases, are now being sent out to the Crimea for the use of the troops. liovern went are also about to despatch q portion of the London Fire Brigade to Constantinople, with the necessary apparatus, to protect the hospital at Scu tari from fire. _ _ _ MR. °Lamas, the member fur Pontefract, has been passing some time iu Cadiz for the purpose a( obtaining acctuate information upon the subject of the wines of that part of Spain. He 11114 visited many of the large establishments at Fens and Port St. Afarys, and the proprietors and merchants have shown every disposition to assist him in the object of his inquiries by furnishing him with every infor mation relating to the stock of wines on hand, the annual produce, and the probable increase of pro duction. It is understood that on the reassembling of parliament Mr. Oliveira will immediately bring on his motion for a reduction of the duty. OF.sausr. Sia ANDRYW BAINARD,C3.C.B. and G.C.H., died on Wednesday morning, at his residence at Chelsea Hospital. Sir Andrew, who was Lieutenant- Governor of Chelsea Hospital, had been in indifferent health for the last fortnight, but it was only within the last few days that his decline threatened an early dissolution. The deceased general was the eon of the Rev. Henry Barnard, by the daughter of Dr. Robertson, and grandson of the late Bishop Barnard of Derry. He was born in 1773, and entered the a►my as ensign in the 90th Foot, in 171)4. The colonelcy of a battallion of the Bide Brigade has become vacant by the death of Sir A. Barnard. THE extensive and valuable property of the Earl of Portarlington was sold by auction on Tuesday last by the commissioners of incumbered estates. The lands are situate in the counties of '1 ipperary and Limerick. They contain 23,147 sores, and produced in the whole 274,1601. According to tinfliths's valuation they are worth 21,1721. yearly.