The Sun. — London, England, 1862-03-19 00:00:00

11/ R. and MRS. CHARLES KEAN will APPEAR at the Theatre -Royal Drury-lane, THIS EVENING (WEDNESDAY), March 19, in OTHE L LO. On Thursday, 20th, The Merchant of Venice ; on Friday, 21st, Othello ; and on Saturday, 22d (for the Benefit of Mr. E. T. Smith), The Wonder. poYAL ENG LI SH OPE RA, COVENT GARDEN. 11) tinier the management of Miss Louisa Pyne and Mr. W. Harrison. THIS EVENING, THE PURITAN'S DAUGHTER. Messrs. Santley, Geo. Honey, Patey, Corsi, Lyall, and Wm. Harrison ; Miss Susan Pyne and Miss Louisa Fyne. To conclude with SCENES FROM GITLLIVER. Conductor, Mr. ALFRED MELLON. Commence at Seven. THEATRE. au Y AL, HAYMARKET, Lessee, Mr. 3. B. Baokstone, THIS EVENING, t:) commence with OUR AMERICAN COUSIN. Lord Dundreary, Mr. Sothern ; Asa Trenchard, Mr. Buckstone. Alter which (9th time) a Household Picture, under Two Lights, entitled THE WIFE'S PORTRAIT. Mr. Howe, Mr. W. Farren, Mrs. C. Young, To conclude with FAMILY JARS. Commence a 7 I)OY AL LYCEUM TH EATRE. Manager—Mr. Edmund Falconer. THIS EVENING, 108th time of the new and original Drama entitled, PEEP O'DAY ; or, Savounaeen Deelish. Messrs Walter Lacy, Hermann Vezin, Charles Selby, Edmund Fel cones ; Mrs. D. P. Bowers, Miss Clara Weston. After which, a new and original Burlesque Extravaganza, entitled LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD ; or, The Fairies of the Rose, the Thistle, and the Shamrock. Principal charac ters by Mr. Chas. Selby, Mr. Warlow, Miss Cicely Nott, and Miss Lydia Thompson. Acting Manager—Mr. F. B. Chatterton. Prices as usual. Doors open at hall-past 8, to commence at 7. Box-office open daily from 11 tills. ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE. Lessee, Mr A. Harris. THIS EVENING, CASH V. CUPID. Mr. Widdicomb, Mr. shcre, Miss Maria Harris, &c. After which, at Eight o'clock, OTHELLO. lago, Mr. Pechter ; Othello, Mr. Ryder. NEW THEATRE-R0 YAL, ADELPHI.- Role Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster. TO-NIGHT, THE LIFE OF AN' ACTRESS. Mr. and Mrs. Dion Bone cault, Messrs. Emery, J. L. Toole, Billington, Stuart, Eburne, Sefton, Powell, C. J. Smith ; Mrs. Billington, Mrs. Harland, Sire. H. Lewis, Miss Laidlaw. After which, THE COLLEEN HAWN. Mr. and Mrs. D. Tinueicaul , , Mr. Billington, D. Fisher, C. J. Smith, S. Emery, Stephenson ; Miss Woolgar, Mrs. Billing,ton, Commence at 7. A STLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.- ..I.x. Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. W. Batty. In consequence of the great sensation created by the won drous teats of the colossal Asiatic Elephants on the stage, and in the circle, their truly marvellous Performance will be continued till further not ce. 'I PIS EVENING, the Grand Eastern Spectacle of THE RAJAH OF NA GPORE, with new and splendid dresses, scenery, and decorations, introducing Mr. Bell's trained Ele plu nts, pronounced by the Press and the Public the cleverest animals ever exhibited. To be followed by brilliant Scenes in the Circle by the unrivalled Troupe of Equestrians. Concluding with a comic Ballet of Action, introducino - Mr. Hairy Croueste (the favourite Clown to the Ring), the Misses Gunnis, and the whole of the Corps de Ballet. Commence at 7—Conclude at a quarter-past 11. Stage Manager, Mr. W. Searle. C ANTERBU RY HALL ARTS GALLERY. AND FINE VICTOR ,TULIEN, "THE FLYING MAN," (Last Week but One) at half-past Nine, in new and extraor dinary feats. Grand Selections from "La Sonnambula," " Dinorah," %and " La Circassienne," by Mdlle. Negri, with full Band and Chorus, conducted by Mr. Jonghmans. The COMIC by Mr. Randall, Mr. Frederick French, Mr. J. G. Forde, Messrs. Hilelebrandt and Ormond, and Miss Caroline Parkes. Admission—Hall, 13d. ; Stalls and Balcony, is. T HE OXFORD, 6, OXFORD-STREET.- EVERY EVENING. HENRI and PFAU, in their intrepid Double Feats on the Flying Trapeze. Two Operatic Selections alternately from «" Ernani," 4 , Macbeth," " Trovatore," "La Traviata," "La Circas sienne," by Miss Russell, Madame Enderssohn, Messrs. Morle, Greene, C. Greville, and Albert. Full Bnd and Chorusy--(Conductor—Mr. F. Jonghmsns.) Violin Solos— Mr.Vfotti Collins, and other Vocal and Instrumental attrac tions. The Comic portion by Messrs. Sam Collins, Harvey and French (the Nerves), E. Marshall, and W. Randall. Hall, ed.; Stalls and Balcony, is. ; Private Boxes, 10s. 6d. A Grand Morning Entertainment EVERY THURS- Y, at Two, HENRI and PFAU and the whole of the DA Company, appear. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. DAY.—Morning, 3h. 53m.—Afternoon, 4h. 12m . TO-MORROW. -Morning, 4h. 32m.—Afternoon, 4h. 51m. WEATHER.-BIIN OFFICE, MARCH 19, 1862.! THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE. 46 --.highest since noon yesterday. 25...4cwe5t this morning and during the night. 43—this day at noon. BAROMETER-29.64. vir TN - D _N...Eaaterly ; moderate, with fair weather. NOTICE. A remittances are, henceforth, to be made to Mr. JOHN CHAPLIN, at The S un office, 112, Strand, who has been appointed, by the Lord Chancellor, Receiver and Manager of The Sun newspaper, and the outstanding debts due in respect thereof. i f - eiPIP 4 4 , - -KR , -2- - • . ...._,,,22_ 2 ,ti, g c ~, - ~T CA , ,• ..., ..' 0:,,, 9e <3,-.. %., 4', 1•,:', . '''',,,,,-- ' „,,^! ''' C r. —'' ''' l 7 4 ' ,), •,„„,,i, , , ~- *--..""z —..),-4:' , ..: 1 r . ,i i ~. -; , ~ii- i ,',-,1?'• " - ,2 :-_-, '-•••••••-.‘ , ...J.* ." • i.------.::_r__:_:4:; ‘ ,„•:,... , ~ , • . t .. --po • — . „,. gii ,L7,4 , •-,,,,,-,.- ....... 4, < ",'P Aim,,s. THE SUN. LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1862. Yesterday we referred in our leading columns to the possible diminution of our tea supplies in con sequence of the spread of the TAEPING Revolution. Almost immediately after our remarks had gone to press, the reasonableness of our conjecture was unhappily but too forcibly illustrated in the House of Commons by the course of the discussion which there took place a propoB to Mr. GREGSON'S motion, se conded by Mr. TURNER, in reference to the perillous position occupied by British merchants at all our various mercantile settlements along the Chinese seaboard. Their perillous position at all those settlements, but especially at this moment at the chief settlement among them all, the Liverpool of the Celestial Empire, the great outport of Shanghai. Within view from the walls of Shang hai are the smoking ruins of the scattered towns and villages inland desolated by the marauding bands of the terrible TAEPING Insurgents. One hundred thousand of these fearless rebels are there 1 assembled together at a short distance from Shang hai, preparing to descend upon that great emporium of commerce. To do by it as they have already by Ningpo, and by so many other towns, and cities and villages, and hamlets of the Chinese Empire— namely, to pass through it with fire and sword, to pillage its property mad massacre its inhabitants, in old Scriptural phrase, throughout the whole of its limits, to sweep it with the besom of destruction. The Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs compared the evil done by the Taepings throughout whatever part of the Chinese Empire their pitiless hordes nave hitherto traversed, to the effect produced by that awful Plague still familiar at intervals to the inhabitants of of a fligkt of loc O r iental lands the coming and going vivid and Pi eta: ta According to Mr. LAYARD'S wind advent a description—when the locusts a pproach, their is h era ld e d by the sound as of a mighty lig and ; then the whole surface of the ground seems trembli n g in motion ; there is a sense abroad for a whil e vith s o of innumerable t ee th champing and grindin g ta Intormission t and then every thin g g reen ov er the w hole country side, every blad e of g rass, ever y le af of shrub or tree, has mysterious l y vanished. The com parison drawn th u s by Mr. LAYAR D, however, between the Locu s t s and the Taepings appears to be rather flattering to the latter than otherwise —judging of them at any. rate! from the Minister's own description. The horro.rs every where perpetrated by the Taepin gs upon the unhappy and unarmed inhabitants of China, if we are to credit the emphatic assurance or Mr. LAYARD hirxself, in other portions of his speech uttered in regard to them yesterday, from the floor of the House of Commons, are only comparable, in truth, he tells us, to those over the records of which the students of history still shudder with loathing and incredulity while reading of them after the )apse of many centuries —the horrors committed far and wide over the vast expanse of the Roman Empire by the barbaric hordes that successively laid it low—Goths, and Ostrogoths, and Visigoths, and Vandals. If we are indeed to believe the deliberate and positive assur- ance uttered in regard to the deeds done by the Taeping Revolution during the last ten or a dozen years, from its earliest outbreak in 1850 until now, the leader of it would almost seem to claim distinc- tion in the world's history as "The Scourge of the Devil," just as ALARIC of old obtained the designa tion of " The Scourge of God." Mr. LAYARD takes his survey of the doings of the Taepings, not as is remembered to have been done once upon a time in respect to the doings of the belligerents in the Crimean Conflict—to wit, From the Mast Head of a British Man of War! The hon. gentleman—now not only member for the metropolitan borough of South wark, and, as Punch has it, permanently also Member for Nineveh, but Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs—scans the past and present doings of the Taeping insurgents from that "'coign of 'vantage"—so far as detailed, accurate and reliable information is concerned—Office ! Surveying their career from that serene and impartial altitude, he seems to pronounce it—so far as ascertained facts can in any way sustain him in pronouncing it— during all these past twelve years of intermittent rebellion against the constituted authorities—all but diabolical. Whole tracks of country, he tells us, have been laid waste by these insurgents as utterly, we must repeat it, as by a flight of locusts. During our own warlike opera tions there in China, our own officers and men have passed through the ruins of what were generally flourishing towns and villages, to find them so absolutely and utterly destroyed by the revolu tions that the charred debris has proved to be only the haunt here and there of the small wild game' the hares and pheasants, of those Asiatic regions. So long as we could in any way reasonably cherish a hope of the kind,we have clung to the belief that at least these marauding hordes 'of the Taeping Insur- gents had amongst them some glimmering notions of the truth of Christianity. After the disclosures made last evening in the House of Commons by Mr. LAYARD in his official capacity as her Britannic MAJESTY'S Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, it would be manifestly worse than idle seriously any longer to entertain a belief in what is manifestly proved now to be altogether erroneous. If holy names are upon the lips of these Asiatic freebooters, if sacred mysteries venerated by the veritable be lievers in Christianity amongst ourselves here in Europe and elsewhei e, are babbled about by the Tae pings as within their comprehension and consecrated to their homage—all is, according to the revela tions made by Mr. LAYARD in the unauthoritative name of the British Government, literally and actually but as a blasphemous Travestie of Truth. Hitherto, that is to say, at least, until a compa ratively recent period, we " outer barbarians" from the remotest corner of the eastern hemisphere have had no kind of plea whatever for in terpcsition between the Taeping Insurgents or Revolutionists, and the Imperial Government against which they have now during twelve years raised aloft the Standard of Rebellion. So far as it in any way affected our ourselves, it was nothing whatever to us whether the Rebels or the Imperialists should, in the end, prove victorious. The conflict for ten years at least of the interval, has been alto gether out of our ken. It has raged inland. We have had nothing whatever to do with it—there has not even been an alternative before us, until very recently, for intervention or for non-interven tion. The Rebellion has, however, at last been so far brought home to us that it is, as it were, knock ing loudly at the doors of our Settlements. Ningpo has been devastated. Shanghai is now threatened—imminently—with destruction. So alarmingly is it threatened with capture and desolation by the Taepings, that even our merchants there have gone the costly length in the way of increasing their local defences of employing three thousand Chinese Navvies (if the existence of such amphibious creatures can be imagined) in rapidly digging out a canal connected with the great river of the Yang-tse Kiang, a canal there, sufficiently broad and deep to admit of the easy passage to and fro along it, of our British gunboats. What Mr. GREOSON asked yesterday in the House of Commons has manifestly therefore not been asked an hour too soon, And it has not only been asked very distinctly and ex plicitly in the very nick of time, at pre cisely at the right moment—but it has forthwith been answered quite succinctly and categorically, and more than that (everybody will admit it, we should think, even by this time Colonel SYKES him self) most satisfactorily. And this well-timed ques tion ? It is simply, of course, as to whether her Britannic MAJESTY'S Government is prepared to afford all possible protection at Shanghai and at our other Chinesee fthe British s t o the therejust lives and now m th e pro pertyos t seriously imperilled. The answer accorded to this inquiry has been, as every one might have been certain it could only have been under the circum stances, instantly and unhesitatingly in the affirma tive. The stretched out arm of England will be there in all its might—with a view to Vie effectual protection of the lives and properties of British mer chants at Shanghai and at all the rest of our Chinese settlements. The King of PRUSSIA and VICTOR EMMANUEL have both of them strained their rights as consti tutional Monarchs to the uttermost, but the Prus sian King must be regarded as far the worse offender. The Italian Monarch's chief fault lay in being as much influenced by Court favourites as by considerations of public policy. There were those about him who hated the noble and honest RICASOLI much as HERODIAS hated JOHN the BAPTIST, and it is generally asserted, and with" far too much pro bability, that the King was far too desirous of pleasing them. The other consideration which influenced him was doubtless the dislike of the Emperor for RICASOLI, and his strong preference of RATTAZZI ; and if it was personally unworthy of VICTOR EMMANUEL to heed the whispers of Court favourites in a political matter, it was politi cally unworthy of him to regard the wishes of a foreign potentate in the choice of his Prime Minister. For this last we acknowledge that there is some excuse, in the peculiar position of the KING in regard to the EMPEROR. It is useless to act on the fiction that the King of ITALY can yet contemn the serious wishes of the Emperor of FRANCE. The mode lii whioll Italian freedom was acquired, and the occupation of Rome, forbid that. The unconstitutional act of the KING re solves itself into this, that, like our WILLIAM the FOURTH, be dismissed his Minister without the People's Representatives having shown in any formal way their dissatisfaction with him. RICA SOLI used, indeed, as a pretext, the plea that be had not f ound in the House all the suppor t h e wished ; st i ll, on a question of confidence, he could k always have commanded a large majority. The KING had a full technical, constitutional right, ) therefore, to hint to hi m a wi i g t ht v t it o h do the i t. wish for his resignation, but he had hardly a moraln . Altogether different is King of PRUSSIA. Nv necessity of • Paling some deference to foreign wishes, and no special personal antipathies, have had anything to do with his high-handed proceedings. He is a very common-place military officer; he understands obeying superiors and com manding inferiors, and owing no responsibility to the latter. Now, of course, all the Deputies, col lectively as well as individually, are not co-ordinate power; they are merely the subordinates of the KING by the grace of GoD, and in his eyes it was infinite presumption in them to want accounts which he was not disposed to furnish. The Prus sian Commons only wished for a kind of appropria tion bill ; they wished the money his MAJESTY asked of his subjects to be appropriated to objects which he should specify in demanding it ; and they desired that in this way, as in England, and even in France some check should be placed upon the Administration in the disbursement of the public money. Had he but inquired a little of either country, he might have ascertained how easy it is for a Minister to exceed his estimates, and obtain an indemnity and the vote next session ; but the KING seemed to become reckless. His first thought was of coercion—political coercion, at present ; and when his Ministers, better Constitutionalists than himself, resigned, he would not hear of it. They must retain their places, and give him, not the advice they thought best, but that which he preferred—which was, to dissolve the House that watched too carefully over his subjects' money. Even the advice of the young Crown Prince, who already seems to have learned something by his close connection with our Royal family, was unheeded, and the dissolution of the refractory House-pf Representatives ordered. It appears, however, that the better part of the Ministry can bear humiliation no longer. Greatly to their credit, they consider their honour bound up with the position of constitutional servants of a professedly constitutional Crown. They have at last, therefore, insisted on resignation, and the KING has so far been compelled to give way. More com pliant successors have been obtained, and the elections are to be proceeded with as quickly as possible. As the estimates for the year have not been voted, delay is of course impracticable. All that now re mains to be seen is, whether the Prussians them selves are more of Constitutionalists than of Monarchists. They may not like much to affront their King, but if they have the least spirit he will find that the majority against him—for he has almost made it a personal thing between himself and the electors—is larger than that which he sent for re-election. With the exception of the Kreutz Zettung party, the fanciful feudalising re actionaries, all Prussians, Moderates as well as Radicals, regard King WILLIAM as a failure; and it will be weakness, rather than loyalty, if they concede to him now at all. If he does not under stand the most elementary duties of a constitutional king, he had better go to school to firm subjects. We had hardly penned our remarks yesterday, when we were enabled, before going to press, to publish the confirmation of one of them by a tele gram from New York and Queenstown. The Con federates were not, according to the rumour, sur rounded at Murfreesborough, which the reader will find in the centre of Tennessee, but retreated further south before the Federal forces; whether they will have courage to risk a battle with the now nume rous forces of the North in that quarter may, per haps, be doubtful. If not, it is questionable whether they can long be kept together. Tennessee is now so fairly in the hands of the North that a provisional government has been appointed, and measures are being taken to arm and protect the " loyal," that is Unionist citizens; the Federal mails have also resumed their connection with the eapital, Nash ville. The reader may remember that the Confederates held to the last one important place in Kentucky— Columbus. Driven out of the rest of the State, they remained here. It commanded the Mississippi, and was a place of some strength ; the Federals left it behind, apparently trusting to its isolation as compelling its abandonment. They have proved right. The Southerns,seeing themselves unsupported, have actually laid the place in ashes and decamped ; this time, however, they have carried off the guns of the fort and every thing else available, there being no one at hand to interfere with them. They have gone down the Mississippi about a hundred miles in direct distance, to Fort Randolph, from which, also, as Western Tennessee is now as free as Kentucky from Confederates, they must probably soon retreat again. The Federals appear unable yet to combine their gunboats and military operations on the Mississippi itself, probably because the army is employed in clearing Tennessee from west to east. Hence Port Randolph and Memphis on the great river may be kept by the Confederates for a time, as Columbus was in Kentucky, it being certain that when iso lated they cannot long hold out. Taxation seems at last to have really descended on Yankeedom, and this, combined with the victo ries, has actually raised the Government inconver tible paper to a small premium. Spirits, printing paper—even cattle and flour itself—tobacco, oil, salt, gas, leather, passengers by railroad and steam boat, carriages, advertisements, matches, all are taxed. A legacy duty and income-tax is added, and licenses for any business completes the list. Tea, sugar, and coffee had gone before, so that it is now hard to say what will be left untaxed. We must not complain too much of the Northerns for adopting our old policy of protection, if they return also to our old policy of taxation. It is obvious that they wish to go back altogether to what seme may still regard as the good old ways. Who can tell whether, wearied out at last with their " magnificent experiment" of combined Federalism and Democracy, they may not become clamorous at last for a hereditary monarchy. They may begin to clamour for a central authority which can afford to hold the balance fairly and impartially between wrangling parties, because respected by all, and because having nothing to lose or gain personally by the triumph of any. Leave was yesterday in the House of Commons asked by, and given to, Mr. COWPER—to bring in a bill for the embanking of the north aide of the river Thames from Westminster Bridge downwards. fi'n'est que le premier pas qui coute—and n ow th a t first step has been taken. There is a satisfaction at any rate in knowing that—in feeling absolutely certain that these is no retracting now in this matter on the part of any one, particularly on the part of the right hon. gentleman the Chief Commis sioner. Notwithstanding the obstructions that were attempted to be placed in the way of Mr. COWPER first of all by the hon. member for the Tower Hamlets, and afterwards, strange to say, by the noble lord (JOHN MANNERS) formerly Chief Com missioner in the Earl of DERBY'S Government, leave for bringingin this long looked for bill, when asked by Mr. COWPER yesterday, was at once granted to him by the House of Commons. It was simply captious, as it appears to us, and as it was, in fact, eventually decided to be by the Right Hon. the SPEAKER, to maintain, as Mr. AYRTON maintained last evening, that the bill, as asked for, was de manded in a way out of all order—affecting a tax, as it did, according to the hon. gentleman's crotchet, and therefore requiring (according to his notion of rilE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, IVIAROFT l9, 1862. the fitness of things), to be introduced en regle in a Committee of the whole House. Seeing, however, that the Bill did not undertake to impose any charge on the public in regard to rates or duties, and hearing the SPEAKER enforce this fact by reminding the House that no new burden was proposed to be put upon the inhabitants of the metropolis by the pro position as it then stood—the Commons refused to regard the motion as in any way informal, and granted leave to bring in the Bill accordingly. Before the Bill shall have advanced very far on its way towards its ultimate growth into an enactment, we are yet sanguine that it may apply not simply to the question of a northern, but to the question also of a southern embankment. Sooner or later that southern embankment will prove to be a necessity. It is clearly most desirable now. It will be absolutely requisite when the Northern embankment shall have been constructed. It will be a subject then imperatively demanding the interference of our administrators (of course, through our legislators to begin with)—and this not merely because of its involving a question of unsightliness, but literally, and beyond any doubt of it, because of its involving a question of actual safety. The purlieus of Lam beth, and Southwark, and contiguous districts on the Surrey side often subjected even now to the nuisance and misery of intermittent floods from the river Thames, will thus run the danger, in parts obviously, of being all but permanently under water, in the basements of many of the dwelling houses, those, that is to say, upon the lower level. It is only a matter of time when the south embankment shall set off or balance the north embankment of the Thames, and by so doing complete and perfect, as it ought to be completed and perfected, this first and greatest of all our metropolitan improvements. LATEST NEWS. THE INSURRECTION AT NAUPLIA. ATHENS, MARCH 15. The insurgents are said to have asked for an am nesty. An armistice of 24 hours has been granted them. Athens is quiet. ATHENS, MARCH 14. Aria and all the entrenchments and outworks of Nauplia have been taken. Magor, Coroneos, and several other insurgents were made prisoners. • Numerous deserters from Nauplia have joined the Royal troops. VIENNA, MARCH 18. The Vienna evening journals state that the in surgents at Syra have proclaimed the third son of Victor Emmanuel as King of Greece, under the title of Otho 11. RAGUSA, MARCH 18. Yesterday the Turks occupied Grahovo. A division of the Turkish army has advanced against Joi, which was occupied by Vucalovich. An engagement took place, the result of which is not yet known. The Turks, however, are still ad vaneirig. Yesterday a prolonged cannonade was heard here. MEXICO. (PER NIAGARA, BY TELEGRAPH FROM NEW YORK TO HALIFAX,) NEW YORK, MARCH 6, Evening. Advices have been received here from Mexico via Havannah to the 21st ult. General Prim had had an interview with General Doblado at Solodad. The result of the meeting was generally considered to be favourable to a peace ful settlement. The Diario Marina asserts that it has good autho rity for stating that the following terms were agreed to : " Negotiations will be commenced at Orizaba be tween two Mexican Ministers and the Allies." The Allied forces will occupy Orizaba, Cordova, and Tehuacan as a sanitary measure. " If the negotiations are at any time broken off by disagreement, the Allied forces will retire to their former positions. " As soon as the forces move towards Orizaba, Cordova, and Tehuacan, the Mexican flag shall be displayed at Vera Cruz and on San Juan d'Ulloa by the side of the English, French, and Spanish flags. " If the negotiations terminate unfavourably the Mexicans promise to respect and protect the hos pitals of the Allies. " The march inland will commence immediately." CuU.RT CIRCULAR. WINDSOR CASTLE, ArAncrt 18. Her Majesty, attended by Countess Blucher, walked and drove in the grounds this morning. His Royal Highness the Prince Arthur returned to Os borne, attended by Major Elphinstone, R.E. Their Royal Highnesses the Crown Princess of Prussia (Princess Royal), Princess Alice, and Prince Alfred, at tended by the Countess Schulenburg, the Countess of Cale don, Count Furstenstein, and Colonel the Hon. A. Hardinge, went to Claremont and returned in the afternoon. Lord Methuen and Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Ben tinck have succeeded Viscount Torrington and Lieutenant- Colonel Cavendish as Lord and Groom in Waiting to her Majesty. A deputation of the builders of the metropolis, on the subject of the Accidents Compensation Bill had an inter view with Secretary Sir George Grey yesterday at the Home-office. Tho deputation consisted of Sir M. Peto, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Hannen, Mr. Janson, Mr. Dunnage (W. Cubitt and Co.), Mr. G. Smith, and Mr. T. Piper, secretary. Mr. Francis Gisborne had an interview with Viscount Palmerston yesterday, upon the subject of telegraphic com munieation between India and Singapore, and to Australia, A deputation on the subject of the Metropolitan Local Management Act Amendment Bill, with special reference to the Latimer-road, Shepherd's - bush, consisting of the Rev. A. D. Robinson, Mr. Spaul, medical officer of Ham mersmith; Mr. Lovatt, Mr. Statter, Messrs. Keen, Morne, Rogers, &c., had an interview with the Right Hon. Sir George Grey yesterday. The deputation was introduced by Mr. Hanhury. Despatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-office from the Governors of the West India lslands,, the Lord High Commissioner of the lonian Islands, and from the Gevernor of Malta. Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher and family have arrived at their residence, 88, Eaton-place, from Dale Park, Sussex. The mail from Guayaquil has brought a remit tance of £2,000 on account of the dividends on the debt of Ecuador. The Russian Ministry of Finance has notified the approaching cancelment by burning of the rest of the Three per Cent. Bonds which remain unissued in the Im perial Treasury, in accordance with the understanding which was come to upon the occasion of the announcement of the second Four-and-a-Half per Cent. Loan of £8,000,000 sterling, negotiated through Messrs. Baring Brothers, and Hope, of Amsterdam. THE LATE MR. ALEXANDER BAIRD, OF URY.-- The Glasgow Herald learns that by the will of the late Mr. Alexander Baird, of Ury, the sum of £20,000 has been placed at the disposal of his trustees, to be devoted to chari table purposes. Mr. Baird, who was one of the Bairds of Gartsherrie, was unmarried, and has left a fortune of a mil lion and a half sterling. PROSECUTION OF " ESSAYS AND " REVIEWS."—A third prosecution has been commenced against the writers of " Essays and Reviews," and the articles will be filed immediately after the commencement of Easter Term. Dr. Lushington will thus have three cases on his hands—two having been argued and being now ready for judgment. No judgment, however, will be given until the Judicial Committee of Privy Council have disposed of the case of Burder v. Heath, which in many of its main characteris tics is analogous to those of " Essays and Reviews." In this case the Bishop of Winchester, through Mr. Burder, his secretary, proceeded against Mr, Dunbar Heath, rector of Brading, Isle of Wight, for having published unsound doctrine in a volume of 19 sermons. Dr. Lushington, after hearing the case, deprived Mr. Heath of his living, worth £6OO a year. Against that decision Mr. Heath appeals to the Judicial Committee of Privy Council. DR. MONK, THE PRESTON CONVICT.—About a fortnight ago, the Mayor of Preston, and Mr. Alderman Spence, accompanied by Colonel Wilson Patten, M.P., and the Marquis of Hartington, M.P.ovaited upon the Home Secretary, and presented to him a petition signed by about 2,000 of the inhabitants of Preston, praying for the release of Dr. Monk, who, at the Lancaster assizes in 1858, was sentenced to renal servitude for 1 fe, for forgery. A few days ago, the Mayor of Preston received a communication frora the Home Secretary to the effect that he could not, after fully considering the case, advise her Majesty to grant the liberation of the convict. ALARMING FIRE.—SIX LIVES SAVED BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY'S ESCAPES.—Yesterday morning, at an early hour, much excitement was caused in the immediate vicinity of Bishopsg,ate street Without, owing to a fire on the premises belonging to Mr. F. Dodswell, a grocer, car rying on business at 157, in the before-named thoroughfare. One of the City police-constable succeeded in arousing the inmates, but the suffocating smoke rushed up the stairs, and cut off all means of escape. The following persons made their appearance at the second floor window, scream ing frantically for help, viz., Mrs. Watts, aged 58 ; T. Wood, aged 24; R. Heldron, aged 24; G. Mackenzie, aged 41; T. Heiden, aged 24 ; and R. Appleyard, aged 19. The Royal Society's escape arrived just in time. Conduc tor Steer fortunately succeeded in bringing from the second floor the whole of the endangered persons. The fire was not extinguished until the stock in trade was nearly destroye'l, and the upper part of the premises severely in jured. Fortunately, the sufferer was insured in the Sun Fire-office. The adjoining promises of Mr. Lee, oil and colour man, also sustained some slight injuq, which will fall on the County-office. RAILWAY AND PUBLIC COMPANIES IN PARMA MENT.—Yesterday, the bill of the Spalding and Bourn Railway, for connecting the Norwich and Spalding, the Bourn and Essendine, and the Great Northern Railways, was passed in that committee; and that for the Stamford and Essendine was opened by Mr. Calvert, Q.C., and evi• dence taken in its favour. The incorporation of the King ton and Eardisley Railway, for a line between those places, and vesting in them the Kington Railway, was approved and passed. The bill of the Bradford, Wakefield, and Leeds, for deviations, was thrown out; and that of the Leeds, Bradford, and Halifax, for a line in substitution of their Batley branch, opened by Sir W. Alexander, was also passed, after opposition on the part of the Lancashire and York shire, conducted by Mr. Merewether, Q.C. The lease of the Cromford and High Peak Railway was opened by Mr. Rod well, Q.C., on behalf of the London and North Western Railway, who propose to take the line and its liabilities. Further evidence was adduced in the committees on the Crystal Palace and South Junetion Railway, and on the Great Western and Andover and Redbridge Railways, where Messrs. Ward, Fowler, and Hawkshaw, civil engi neers, were examined. The evidence in favour of the Barnsley Coal Railway Extension was continued ; and the clauses of the Weymouth and Portland Railway Bill were considered and settled. A horrible crime has just been committed at Staden, in Flanders, the cottage of a farmer named Asses having been broken into and the proprietor murdered, his skull being shattered an seven of his ribs broken with blows of a hammer. After the crime the murderers proceeded to the chamber of the servant girl, and inquired the place where the money was kept. They also asked for a lamp, and then inflicted several wounds on her person, leaving her senseless. She, however, shortly after reco vered and escaped from the house, giving the alarm. Near the hedge of the farm was found the next day a boy's cap, and at a school in the morning the boys identified it as be longing to one of them named Van der Zyphen, who was then absent. The gendarmes proceeding to the residence of the boy's father, a returned convict, named De Sodt, was discovered there, whose clothes, as well as those of the boy der Zyphen, were covered with blood. They were imme diately placed under arrest, The servant is still in a dan gerous state, but hopes are entertained of her recovery. INDIA. BOMBAY, FEB. 27. Much fighting is still going on in Sylhet. Four stockaded villages have been stormed, with loss. General Showers, with the 33d Regiment, has been ordered to the frontier. The Lahore and Umritsir Railway will be opened on the 3d of March. Sir George Clerk leaves for England on the 27th of March. Shirtings active, but prices unchanged; 811 b, 5r lla to 5r 13% per piece. Mule twist quiet. Cotton calm ; Broach, 195. Copper sheathing dull and declining; tile dull, at 56r to 57r per cwt. Opium, Malwa, 1,510 per chests. Exchange on London—Bankers' bills, 2s dd. Government Securities—Four per Cents., 881 ; Five per Cents., 101 ; Five-and-a-Half per Cents., 107. Freights for cotton to Liverpool, 60s t , ) 655. CALCUTTA, FEB. 25 (By Telegraph to Bombay). Shirtings active and advancing. Mule twist ad vancing. Copper sheathing dull; tile dull, and declining. Indigo unchanged. Linseed and rice advancing. Exchange on London—Bankers' bills, 2s -2-d. Government Securities—Four per Cents., 871 to 88 ; Five per Cents., 100 i to 1011; Five-and-a- Half per Cents., 1061 to 107. Freight to London—Seeds, 70s. CALCUTTA, CHINA, AND AUSTRALIAN MAILS. SOUTHAMPTON, MARCH 19. The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer Pera, with the heavy portion of the above mails, has arrived. She brings 93 passengers and 2,173 packages 01 cargo. She left Gibraltar on the 14th inst. She spoke the steamer Indus on the 16th, and the Aurora on the 17th. The Ceylon left Gibraltar on the 14th for the East. The American war steamers Tuscarora, Kearsage, and Ino were at Algesiras. The two American gentlemen who were seized at Tangiers had been transhipped from the Ino to the Harvest Home, bound for Boston. It is stated that they were kept in irons. The Madrid journals state that the old Castle of Segorioa, which was used as a training college for cadets of the Royal Artillery, and the mag nificent library of the college, containing 12,000 volumes, have been completely destroyed by fire. The British brig Sophia was abandoned by the crew in a sinking state on the Bth inst. The British barque Competitor blew up, took fire, and sunk on the 7th ult. The master and two of the crew were killed by the explosion, The barque was bound from Cardiff to Cadiz with coals. The brig Mary Ellen, of Shields, sprung a leak, and was abandoned in a sinking state on the 21st ultimo. The Hamburg brig Hisky sprung a leak and sunk on the 22d ult. At Gibraltar on the 14th exchange on London (90 days) was quoted 494 ; Paris, 524 ; Marseilles, 525. Freights unaltered. THE BOMBAY MAIL. The Valetta, with the above mail, arrived at Marseilles at 7 a.m. this day (Wednesday). The mail was to leave for London at 10 a.m. OUTWARD CALCUTTA AND CHINA MAILS. The Euxine, from Marseilles, the 14th, arrived at Malta on the 17th, at 2 a.m., and left at 10 a.m. for Alexandria. The Ceylon, with the Southampton portion of the mails, reached Malta on the 18th, at 4 a.m., and left at noon for Alexandria. All well. FRANCE. BOURSE, March 18.—The market continues heavy, speculators refraining from anything in the shape of important operations. The opening price of Threes for the Account showed a slight improve ment on the closing rates of the previous day; but it was not long maintained, and they are now at 69f 70c. The Railway Share Market has been pretty firm, with a fair at The following were the la 41 per per Cents 9B Do, end month 98 15 3 per Cents Do. end month 69 60 New 3 per Cents Do, end month 6B 95 Credit Mobilier 762 50 Do. Account — mount of business doing. st quotations : Bank Shares 3110 Credit JE , ender 1550 Belgian 4f — Piedmontese Fives 67 70 Roman — Austrian Spanieh Threes 5l& Home Debt - WAYS, RAIL' Cash. Account. Orleans 1370 .. 1367 50 Northern .... New ditto - -- • • -- Lyons and Mediterranean 1091 25 .. 1091 25 Geneva 363 75 .. 367 50 Southern Western Eastern .... Sardinian Austrian Lon-bard Exchange on London, at sight, paper, 25f 26c ; ditto money, 25f 231 c ; ditto, three months, paper, 25f Bic : ditto money, 25f Tic. . AMERICA. We have received full details of the news brought by the Niagara. QUEENSTOWN, TUESDAY. Full confirmation has been received of the aban donment of Murfreesborough by the Confederates. A Washington letter in the .New York Times is as follows : " WASHINGTON, SUNDAY, MARCH 2. " General Buell telegraphed to General M'Clellan last night the rebels have abandoned Murfrees borough, and are in full retreat towards the Ten nessee River. Crossing this river will place them in Alabama, and free Middle Tennessee of every armed rebel force. Inasmuch as the enemy retreat along a railroad line, tearing up the rails as they pass, it will be difficult for General Buell to catch them. "I am permitted to announce the highly impor tant intelligence that the Tennessee and Cumber land rivers will be opened this week to free and unrestricted commerce, under the order of the Secretary of the Treasury. This measure will be one of great relief to the commerce of the Western States, and it will be a boon to the loyal people of Tennessee, who have been suffering so terribly for tea, salt, coffee, and other necessaries of life. " Cotton to the value of 100,000 dole. has fallen into our hands at Nashville, and the Treasury De partment has taken measures to have it brought to New York. " Commodore Foote telegraphed to-day that a reconnaissance toward Columbus revealed the fact that the enemy's fortifications had been blown up and the guns dismounted, save in the water bat teries, the houses burned, and the town evacuated. " It is believed that the United States forces will occupy Columbus to-day. The rebel forces under Albert S. Johnston are being steadily pressed back ward by General Buell. " Official information to the War Department from Nashville represents that the military work in that State is about completed, and that it only re mains to effect a civil re-organisation of the State Govez nment. "The President has designated the Hon. Andrew Johnston to be a Brigadier-General, and he proceeds to Tennessee to-morrow to open a Military Provi sional Government of Tennessee, until the Civil Government be reconstructed. " General Buell will be nominated to-morrow as Major-General of Volunteers." Columbus also has been evacuated by the Confe derates. The following despatch was received from Com modore Foote, dated Cairo, March Ist : " Lieut.-Commanding Phelps sent with a flag of truce to-day to Columbus, has this moment re turned, and reports that Columbus is being eva cuated. He saw the rebels burning their winter quar ters, and removing the heavy guns on the bluffs; but the guns in the water batteries remain intact. He also saw a large force of cavalry drawn up, ostentatiously, on the_ bluffs, but no infantry was to be seen as heretofore, The encampment seen in our armed reconnaissance a few days since has been removed. Large fires were visible in the town of Columbus, and upon the river banks below, indi cating the destruction of the town, military stores, and equipments. (Signed) " A. H. FOOTE, Flag Officer." The same officer, under date of the 3d, has the following— " Lieutenant-Cornmandin g Shirk has this moment arrived from the Tennessee river, and brings full despatches from Lieutenant-Commanding Gwinn, of the Tyler, a synopsis of which is, that the two gun boats proceeded up to Pittsburgh, near the Mis sissippi line, where a battery was opened upon them, consisting of six guns, one of them being rifled, which were soon silenced by the gun boats. Ninety mounted men landed, under cover of the gunboats, and charged upon the enemy, driv ing them to some distance, until they were strongly reinforced, when our party withdrew to the boats ; then three regiments opened upon the gunboats, but were repulsed with great slaughter—the casualties on our side amounting to five killed and missing and five wounded. Lieuts.- Commanding Gwinn and Shirk, with their commands, have behaved with great gallantry and judgment. "An election for town officers has just taken place in Harden county, Tennessee, which resulted in 200 votes for the Union, and 13 for secession. " A. H. FOOTE, Flag Officer. " To Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy." Confirmation of the reported evacuation of Co lumbus is furnished in the following rebel account from the Memphis Appeal : " General Polk issued orders yesterday (Feb. 18) that of the track of the Memphis and Ohio Rail road should be torn up and the bridges burnt, which order was obeyed, and by this time the work of destruction is complete on a great part of the road. " A rumour prevails on the streets this afternoon, that Polk was preparing to evacuate Columbus to morrow, remove all the guns, &c., and demolish the fortifications. " The forces at new Madrid and Fort Pillow, together with the Columbus troops, are to repair et once to Memphis, and make a stand—making an army of about 50,000 men. "We have the rumour, in such form as to give credit, that an order has been issued by General Polk for the evacuation of Columbus, which move ment is understood' to be executed under the direc- tion of Beauregard. It is stated that preparations are being made for our army to fall back to Island No. 10, or Fort Pillow—a very necessary move, it seems to us, in view of the capture of Fort Donelson and the surrender of Nashville. As General Polk made a call, two or three days since, upon the planters along the Mississippi river for a thousand negroes for the purpose of completing and strengthening the fortifications at island No. 10, we were not unprepared for this intelligence. Indeed it has long since been perfectly palpable to us that Columbus must eventually be evacuated, and our lines drawn in so soon as the central column of our army, under General Johnston, at Bowling-green, gave way, or Forts Henry and Donelson fell into the enemy's hands. The capture of these positions was tantamount to a successful flanking of both Bowling-green and Columbus, and hence it required no experienced military eye to foretell some of its more immediate consequences. These reasons strengthen our conviction of the authenticity of the rumour. " Island No. 10 is a strong position, not far from Hinckman, Kentucky, about 45 miles below Colum bus, and 115 above Fort Pillow, and 185 above Memphis. It completely commands the Mississippi River for miles above, and can be so fortified with heavy guns as to be made impregnable against river attack. As it is demonstrated in the late battles at Fort Henry and Donelson that the Federal gun boats are not invulnerable to rifled cannon and heavy columbiads, the position is well chosen, and with the aid of a good land force can be maintained against the approach of Foote's flotilla. " It is true that Columbus is to be evacuated. It will require, we presume, several days for the exe cution of this order, as care should be taken that none of our munitions or ordnance are left behind. " General Beauregard now, no doubt, directs all military operations in this department, a fact whioh insures success in everything possible to be attained by energy, skill, and experience." A special despatch from Cairo, 3d, says : " The steamer Isetta, from the Tennessee river yesterday, reports that, as the gunboats Tyler and Lexington, accompanied by the transport Isetta, were approaching Pittsburgh, eight miles above Savannah, on the Tennessee river, they were fired upon by a battery located on a bluff over-look ing the river. The gunboats replied, for half an hour, with shot and shell. At the expiration of that time the battery was silenced, and a force. of 80 marines and infantry landed and burned one house, when we were again attacked by a large force of rebels, and compelled to retreat to our boats. Our loss was one killed and three missing. " The officers of the boat report the existence of a strong Union sentiment in that vicinity. "At Savannah, for Sheriff, on Saturday, the Union candidate received 350 votes, and the Seces sion candidate 45." A special despatch to the Chicago Tribune from Cairo, Merch 20, says : " That a very bright light, as of a very large con flagration, in the direction of Blandville, was seen from here on Friday night at 9 o'clock. On Satur day night the sky was brilliantly illuminated by the reflection of a large conflagration directly in the line of Columbus, and apparently about as far distant. " It is generally believed that the rebels there have burned everything of an inflammable nature. " There is a report of an attempt to defend the river further down. " CAIRO, MONDAY, MARCH 3. " The rebels are said to be fortifying Island No. 10, 35 miles below Columbus, which place they will fall back upon. High ground is found on the island, which is well adapted for planting batteries to command the river. " Prominent officers believe that Columbus was burnt last night." With respect to the occupation of Nashville, the Secretary of the Navy has received a letter, dated Cairo, Feb. 27, from Flag-Officer Foote, who says : " I have the honour to forward a communication just received from Lieut. - Commanding Bryant, the substance of which I have just telegraphed. " The captain of the steamer who brings the dis patch says that six miles below Nashville there was a battery on a high bluff, which had mounted 15 guns, but several of them were thrown into the river before the Cairo arrived. He also reports that a strong Union feeling was manifested in and near Nashville, and that Governor Harris, after vainly attempting to rally the citizens and others, left on Sunday morning for Memphis. He also states that the gunboats are the terror of the people of Nashville, and at points on the Cumberland river, and that on hearing of my arrival, supposing the gunboats would proceed immediately to Nash ville, the enemy retreated panic-stricken. The unusually high water of the river, enabling the boats to ascend the river, was providential." " The following is the enclosure in Flag Officer Foote's letter : " ' Nashville, Feb. 25, 1862. " Sir,—Uncertain that my letter of the 23d inst. reached you, I repeat that I departed from Clarkes ville for this point by the request of Brigadier-Gen. Smyth, commanding at Clarkesville, and arrived here this morning, preceded by seven steamboats, conveying an army commanded by Brig.-Gen. Nelson. The troops landed without opposition. The banks of the river are free from hostile forces. The railroad and suspension bridges here are all destroyed. ' Very respectfully, your obedient servant, " ' A. C. BRYANT, Lieut.-Commanding. " Flag Officer A. H. Foote, Commanding. Flotilla Western Waters.' "LOUISVILLE, MARCH 3. "Railroad communication between here and Nashville, except over a creek of 10 miles north of Nashville, damaged by the rise of the water on Saturday, will be resumed by to-morrow night. " The election at Nashville on Saturday for municipal officers passed off quietly. The retiring Mayor issued a proclamation assuring the citizens of protection by the national troops if they would quietly pursue their accustomed avocations. " Several rebel prisoners have been brought to Nashville. "'Twenty-five negroes, who were seized by the rebels in the vicinity of Bowling Green, have been received at Nashville and sent back. General mail accommodation is established at Bowling Green, and for military letters to Nas l7- yille, and Colonel J. J. Milor, Government Mall Agent for Kentucky, is making energetic exertions to extend mail facilities to every part of Ken tucky." STA? E OF TRADE. MANCHESTER, March 18.—There has been very little business in yarns to-day, but the market is exceedingly firm. There is no change at all in prices. Many people regard the accounts received to-day from America by the Niagara as having a tendency to strengthen the market still further. At present there are no offers making to test what price spinners would now be willing to accept, but it is expected that buyers will soon. be compelled to operate, and probably to a rather considerable ex tent. The accounts from India are better, and are thought likely to produce more activity in the counts and qualities of yarn usually shipped to that market, but at present there is nothing doing worthy of mention. The market is very inactive in yarn suited to the home trade, and for other sources of demand. The improvement in the cloth market which we noticed on Tuesday continues up to the present time. There is again a better demand for fabrics suited to India, and manufacturers are able to do a better trade than they were last week by about lid. per piece. Many of them, however, are asking a little more than that, and thi s c h ec k s busi ness. From this cause there i s no t muc h d o i ng. The India accounts as regards cloth are rather unsatis factory. The Calcutta accounts up to the Bth F e b. show no improvement; but on that day or the day before news arrived from London down to Jan. 1 0, giving details of the settlement of the American difficulty, and there was an expectation of improve ment, But telegraphic advices now to hand of a later date than the letters of Feb. 8 above referred to state that no improvement had yet taken place- Buyers in Manchester are, therefore, much dis couraged, and some of them are holding aloof frog' the market. Messrs. John Slagg and Co. report :---' " Since Tuesday last the market has been gradually recovering from the sudden depression which had come over it. Manufacturers have shown less anxiety to sell, and within the last day or two there has been a slight revival of demand, which has resulted in a moderate amount of business, chiefly in India goods. To-day the improvement continues, but business is in some degree checked by the higher prices asked. LEEDS, March 18th.—There has been a damp and • uncomfortable morning, which has made the cloth markets have a more than usually dull aspect. only a small amount of goods changed hands either in the Coloured or the White-hall, but prices w ere steady, and there was nothing in the character of the trade to show any change of importance sine° last report. ROCHDALE, March 17th.—The market for both wool and flannel has to-day been much the same a° last week. No great amount of the raw material or of goods was sold, but the prices of each are firmli held, and th e manu f acturers are as well employe d ag they were a month ago. The Yorkshire goods dei partment continues to wear a quiet aspect, all prices do not improve. James Gilchrist. one of the persons implicated the " Cato-street conspiracy," died last week. Gilchrist, so far as our memory sex ves, turned King's evidence' Thistlewood was hanged, and others were severe l y punished. Gilchrist eventually took up his residence ill Cambridge, and has for years been living upon the parish and private charity.— Cambridge Independent. SNAKE BlTES.—Underwood ; the di scove rer of a supposed antidote for snake bites, died near M e lbourn e (Victoria), on the 28th December. For some time P ast public opinion has been divided as to the efficacy of th e discovery, and the death of Underwood from the effect of a snake bite, after the application of his so-called antidote, has settled the question in favour of the non-believers to it. Underwood has for some time past been in the habit of exhibiting snakes in and around Melbourne, and temPt in ! the reptiles to bite either himself or his little daughte r, ' l2 order that he might apply the antidote, and publicly test its goodness, and it was at one of these disgraceful exhibitions at the bar of a public-house t: at Underwood met with h' death. This is the second victim of the fallacy of these supposed discoveries, and the jury, at the coroner's inquest; in returning th eir verdict, expressed an opinion " Tha persons ought not to be allowed to exhibit poisonous snake s, an d allow themselves and others to be bitten." Underwood was 57 years of age, and was formerly a prisoner of tile crown.—Xelbporne 40.