The Sun. — London, England, 1863-07-22 00:00:00

ralE JUDGE and the JOURNALS—John Orrell Lever, Esq., M.P.—England on Chinese Plates, £ FUN this week, One Penny. ___.---------------- HE DUKE'S MOTTO. Week RET` AN I) FIFTY-NINTH NIGHT, Pad Last but Two of the present Season. 'ROY AL LYCEUM THEATRE.- Under the Sole Management of Mr. FECHTER. Last Week but Two of the present Season. THIS EVENING, to commence with an Original Sketch, entitled A SUDDEN ATTACK. Messrs. Shore, Garden, Widdicomb, Miss Henrade, and Mrs. Lee. After which, at a Quarter-past Eigh the Rmantic DraDrama.in Three Acts, and Pr3logue, t, entitled o THE DUKE'S MOTTO, by Paul Feval and John Brougham. The principal character will be sustained by Mr. Fechter, supported by Messrs. J. G. Shore, G. Jordan, J. Brougham, 33. \. - iddix)mbe, F. Charles, Garden, Raymond, Dawson ; Misses Carlotta Leclercq. Kate Ter E. Ca, and Elsworthy. Doors open at 7, commen r ce y, at half-past. ue Acting-Manager, Mr. H. Barnett. ROYAL P:-lINCFSS'S THEATRE. Sole f.PaAee and Manager, Mr. G. Vining. vi THIS EVENING, at Eight o'clock, Shakespere's Play of ROMEO AND JULIET. Romeo, Mr. Walter Montgomery; Mercutio, Mr. G. Vining; Friar Lawrence, Mr. H. Marston'; Marston Apothecary, Mr. Belmore ; The Nurse, Mrs. H. Juliet, Millie. Stella Colas. To be preceded by the new Comedietta, entitled COUSIN TOM. NEW THE ATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI.- Sole Proprietor and Manager. Mr. B. Webster. THIS EVENING, THE IRISH TIGER. After which, at Eight o'cloek, a new drama, entitled THE HAUNTED MAN; OR, T(1 E GHOST'S BARGAIN, in which will be, exhibited Professor Pepper's adaptation of the Great Spectral Illusion. Messrs. J. L. Toole, R. Phillips, Sefton, C. J. Smith; Mrs. Alfred Mellon and Miss H. Simms. Followed by a new Burlesque, entitled ILL-TREATED IL TROVATORE. Messrs. Toole, P. Bedford, R. Phillips, Ebnrne, C. J. Smith, Romer ; the Sisters Nelson, Carry and Sara, and Miss K. Kelly. Commence at 7. ROYAL STRAND THEATRE. Manager, Mr. W. H. Swanborough. TO-NIGHT WHILE THERE'S LIFE THERE'S HOPE. Messrs. W. Swanborough, Parselle, Vollaire, G. Honey ; Misses Ada Swanborough, L. Thorne , F. Hughes, Manders, and E. Baton. Followed by (eth time) THE MOTTO, ‘• I'M ALL THERE." Messrs. Honey, Turner, E. Danvers, Collier, Clifton ; Mesdames Ada Swanborough, F. Josephs, Maria bimpson, Wallace, and Jenny White. To conclude with LOVE IN LIVE at 7RY. Commence TIIHE THIRD EDI TION OF "THE SU N, " Containing the Latest SPORTINGr' INTELLIGENCE, can be had Every Evening of G. It. GLENIE, NEWS AGENT, No. 4, Connaught-terrace, Hyde-park. The Weather —Sun Office, July 22, 1863. THERMOMETER. This morning This day at Two o'clock 69 Barometer-29.46. Wind—S.-W ; fresh, with heavy rain. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. CRIS DAY.—Morning, sh. 50m.—Afternoon, 6h. 9m To-moßnow.-Morning, 6h. 30m.—Afternoon, 6h. 50m, .• a, E. LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1863. Nothing could be grander, prompter, or more resolute than the course pursued by Austria in re ference to Poland immediately upon the pubiioation of the Despatch from Prince GORTSCII4KOFF. The determination at once arrived at by the Viennese Cabinet, upon this momentous question, at this most critical juncture, is one in every way worthy of a Great Power, hitherto known (until, as it were, but yesterday) as an implacable and unreformable Oli garchy, but now, to-day, aspiring to assume a posi tion in the gaze of Europe as a distinctly Constitu tional Government. The announcement flashed to us this very morning from the Capital of Austria, goes far to justify the brightest and the most sanguine hopes yet expressed in regard to the future of that vast empire by the hon. and learned gentleman the member for Sheffield. In the midst of the ambiguity, and the hesitations,and the doubts and the delays of our vaunted diplomacy, it is abso lutely refreshing to witness the clear precision, the prompt decision, with which Austria goes directly to the point, in the avowal of her policy upcn these most delicate and complicated questions relating to Poland—upon the very instant, we might almost say, of the receipt of Prince GORTSCHAKOFF'S despatch. Scarcely has that document reached the Im perial Council Chamber at Vienna, when a pre liminary note in reply is addressed to Russia by the Austrian Government. It is dashed off without one instant's glimmering of anything like a timorous hesitation on the part of either the KAISER or any one of his MAJESTY'S advisers. And to what effect ? To the effect, as Mr. REUTER'S telegram expresses it, in so many words, under date " Vienna, July 22nd," viz,, THIS DAY—that Austria cannot abandon the line of conduct she has pursued, in this matter of coarse, up to the present moment! Language could hardly be plainer than that, as indi cative of the nature of the resolve, unhesitatingly arrived at. But, in her preliminary note, the one just now despatched to St. Petersburg in reply to this most unsatisfactory missive recently received from Prince GORTSCHAKOFF, the councils of Schoenbrun are more explicit. Austria declares at once that she, for one, rejects the proposal of a conference between Russia, Prussia, and Austria, as thrown out byPrinee GORTSCHAKOFF in his at once truculent and insi dious document ! The document of which we re ceived a copy from the Foreign-office yesterday, and of which copy we gave an exact duplicate in our columns last evening. Not merely, however, does the preliminary note just despatched from Vienna to St. Petersburg, in answer to Prince ORTSCHABOFF, announce thus distinctly the de termination of Austria to persevere in the line of conduct she has hitherto pursued in regard to the interests of Poland ; not merely does it in dicate quite positively that she will not take part in the Conference proposed by Prince GonTsc swim in the name of his Imperial Master the CZAR, but it goes yet farther by proclaiming th at Austria mai n tains the Six is quite manifestly bent upon main taining them, intact to the very last, as the phrase is, to the end of the chapter, of the History of Poland_onn this new chapter in at the head of which, or we are all very much mistaken, even those who run may read, inscribed there in luminous c haracters, in characters of bl ood and fire - " RESTIBGAM !" From the closing sentence of this self-same telegram flashed but an hour or two since from Vienna to London, we learn that simultaneously with the despatch of the prelimi nary note to St. Petersburg, other diplomatic noti fications have been forwarded by the Austrian Go vernment to the Western Powers, that is t o France and to England, declaring—that, come what may, Austria will still continue to act loyally and consistently, in concert with them, and that in so doing she has arrived at the fixed de termination of firmly maintaining the Six Pointe. Almost superfluous. it was, to add that last clause in a sentence already compete in itself, because im plying it. Yet —although thus in a manner super fluous—it is here manfully added, nevertheless, by the Austrian Government. A course so resolute, so unhesitating, so instant in its promptitude, so bold and uncompromising in the very mode of its manifestation, might, so to speak, kindle a soul under the very ribs of death, might rouse, at last, from its protracted torpor the almost comatose foreign policy of our own Government. Here, at any rate, is another most signal opportunity now presenting itself to that eccentric, but, occasionally, admirable incarnation of the " Complete Letter Writer," the Noble Earl at the Head of the Foreign Depart ment. England will look with profound interest, particularly after this inspiriting resolu tion manifested by the Austrian Government, Eng land will look with profound interest and with a certain eager solioitude, for the Despatch now being prepared by Lord RUSSELL in reply to this last haughty and intolerable missive from the hand of Prince GORTSCHAKOFF. After the many defeats which it has been their of to encounter this session, the Government have won a most discreditable triumph. Thanks to what Sir J. ELPHINSTONE styled the "persistent opposition" of the President of the Board of Trade and the continuous objections taken by Mr. LIND SAY, the Anchor and Chain Cables Bill was so altered and mutilated in committee that no course was left to the member for Birkenhead but its with drawal. To have suffered it to pass in the condition which alone, it seemed, would meet the approval of these gentlemen, would have been to have hin dered the good cause instead of furthering it, since Mr. LAIRD announces his intention to introduce the bill only next session, when it is to be hoped that a larger House will be more open to reason. A House which barely reckoned enough numbers to avoid a " count out" is scarcely to be taken as a test of the real opinions of the Legislature, and the decisive majority which carried the second read iog of the bill would seem to indicate that the sense of the Commons is opposed to this factious opposition. We do not envy the reflections of those hon. gentlemen who have virtually thrown out the bill for another year when they see the list of wrecks for the coming stormy season. It was very desirable that the measure should be carried this session, and if it was found to require amend ments they could have been easily intro duced after submitting it to the test of practice. It was soon evident, however, by what spirit the opposition to it was actuated. When, after two divisions, and the omission of three clauses out of the first eight, Mr. LINDUAY rose to object to the ninth clause, Sir J. ELPHINSEONE, with natural indigna tion, called upon Mr. LAIRD to withdraw the bill, and denounced the conduct of the Government as most extraordinary. It is especially so, if we re- member the recommendations of the committee who sat upon the subject, and the startling evidence ad duced before that tribunal. Mr. FERRAND very pro perly reminded the House of the disregard shown by the Government of these important revelations, which dispose of the flimsy arguments brought against the measure, and are alike unanswered and unanswerable. Eighty-two per cent. of the cables tested were proved defective, consequently 82 per cent. of the accidents arising from defective chains and anchors would be prevented by the passing of this measure. In the face of facts like these, who can heed the platitudes of Mr. LINDSAY about in- terference with trade, and the objections raised by Mr. MILNER GIBSON to the additional work im posed upon his Board. Where trades endanger men's lives interference is not only permissible, but imperatively necessary. If bakers were found to be using poisonous flour, we presume the Legislative interference would be sanc tioned, and if the ordinary course of trade is insufficient to keep in cheek a system that an nually endangers thousands of lives, it is time for official regulations. But Mr. MILNER GIBSON ap pears to approve of the principle which induced many poor persons to insure their ailing children in a burial club, and made them inclined to regret the child's subsequent recovery. The right hon. gentleman observed that, while it was true that 2, per cent. of the lives lost by shipwreck might be saved by good iron and good workmanship, the bill would materially lessen the chances of getting damages in case of disaster. According to this principle the wise men of Gotham, who " went to sea in a bowl," were highly to be commended, pro vided they were properly insured, and, in truth, this is the secret which too often lies at the bottom of the tragic history of our coast disasters. The singular thing is, that while Mr. MILNER GIBSON is opposing the measure in Parliament, the Board think it necessary to submit all the Admiralty anchors and cables to the required test. It is to be concluded, therefore, that the life of a man-of-war's man is worth considerably more in official esti mation than the lives of ordinary seamen. Whether the general public are inclined to adopt this view of the case may be questioned. With regard to the plea of extra official trouble, that is scarcely worthy of notice. What do we have a Board of Trade for if its members and employes are incapable or impatient of fulfilling their duties. If a little extra work frightens these gentlemen so much as to outweigh in the mind of their President the importance of rescuing many brave men from death and their families from consequent distress, i is time they looked out for easier and less respon Bible situations. Mr. LAIRD had good reason to complain of the manner in which he had been treated, having been given to understand that the Government, on certain additions being made, would have given their support to the measure. The re sult, as we have seen, was that Mr. MILNER GIBSON, opposed it throughout, and gave a very willing assistance to Mr. LINDSAY. whose deter mined opposition is worthy of notice. Mr. LAIRD reminded the house that the bill had been opposed at first on the ground that Lloyd's and the London Shipowners Association were against it. He had shown that they were in favour of the measure, but the opposition still continued unabated. That there is something very wrong in this important branch of trade is evident from the fsct that the Admiralty can only procure small chains to their satisfaction from one firm. N o one pretends to deny that scores of ships are lost en tirely a nnually on our coast from the causes referre d to , are ' the real sufferers , a yet no steps ar e taknedn protectvteoryoften the m the only en who ones es blameless in the miantttehre. hands The coufret,hheoawnedveerr., lies in a great meas ure writers, and if the Govern k r e ne t n h t e re d f il u t s y e . to T d h o ey th a e r i e r part, they must unler ta greatly the losers by the f raud or carelessness of their interest as w ell shipowners and it would be t o as to those of the seamen if they anchors refused to h i a n v s i u ng re any ship without her chains and undergone the requisite tests. This plan would speedily bring about a better state of things, and we apprehend that we should hear less/ about the rights of trade, and the injustice of compulsory legislation, if the loss fell on the shipowner instead of on the underwriters. Such an arrangement would quicken his appreciation of the merits of his vessel and her fittings, and he might be then as eager for the introduction of this measure to protect him from the dishonesty of the workmen, as the underwriters would be to obtain security from fraud or heedlessness. At present matters remain where they were, in a very unsatisfactory condition ; but we are not without hopes that some private and independent movement of the kind may bring the Legislature to reason, and secure the crews of our coasting vessels against a system which rashly imperils life and property, and then looks to the insurance to cover all risks. The existence of such a state of things is a disgrace to our mercantile marine, and we cannot but hope, in spite of Mr. GIBSON and Mr. LINDSAY, that some change will be speedily effected. SYDNEY SMITH'S famous receipt for reform is scarcely likely to be tried, as it is not very probable that any members of the Board of Trade will take a trip round the coast in a trading vessel, especially after the un- THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 22, 1363. pleasant revelations of the Committee ; but if the public attention is once fairly aroused on the sub ject, and cause and effect are put together, Mr. LINDSAY may have to lament over the passing of a more stringent measure, while the President of the Board of Trade regrets the saving of life effected at the expense of the additional labour imposed upon his department. The Commissioners appointed to consider the subject of transportation and penal servitude have recommended various alterations, which for the most appear to be desirable. It is very important that this one be adopted at once, " that the prin ciple already recognised by the law, of subjecting econvicted criminals to severer punishment, should be more freely acted on." The great laxity that has prevailed on this point has really been a tacit encouragement to crime, and has been the fruitful source of garotters. When once those hardened criminals were convinced that they might go on lt crime, resting a t h n e d i rs assured seemed ms reckle ss uer de d t ot c h o ta u rty r s t e ht o , e ye they lu g led r a e ca w ht o perfectly pu c n a l i in the worst only return to their previous easy form of imprisonment. It is high time that some strin gent course be adopted, and a decided check be put upon these proceedings altogether, and the result will be that it will become necessary t o revert to the arbitrary discipline that prevailed formerly in our prisons, and which, while it may stop the com mission of crime, must exercise the most injurious effects on the minds of the prisoners. Also the Commissioners recommend that convicts should be placed for nine months in separate imprisonment. This is a very wise suggestion, as during that lengthened period they must naturally calm down and become more likely to attend to the rules of the prison, and so fit themselves for a more respec table course of life when they emerge from its walls than if they mingled at once with the same style of characters as those with whom they have re cently come in contact before conviction. It is suggested that all male convicts who are not dis qualified for removal to a colony should be sent to Western Australia during the latter part of their punishment. This will no doubt. be a wise plan, as it must remove them from the immediate influence of those who before have been mixed np with them ; but it is a pity that the recommendation did not extend to the female convicts as well, as previous experience has shown the desirability of such a course. It is recommended that those who remain in this country and are discharged under license should be placed under strict supervision, which plan has indeed become imperative, in consequence of the late events. It appears strange that no mention is made of the necessity that exists for maintaining a stricter discipline while the convicts are actually in the prison. All accounts, public and private, agree as to the great errors that are con stantly made in carrying on the system of secondary punishments. It would have been far better if the whole question had come before Parliament and been thoroughly sifted ; but as it is, the recommen dations of the Commissioners are well worthy of consideration. If they are strictly acted on, they must be productive of some benefit, and great re sponsibility will rest on those who persist in shut ting their eyes to the evils of the present system. It is a reproach to our Legislature that notwith standing the enormous sums that are paid for the purpose, our prisons are apparently productive of evil, and hold out an inducement to the outcast to enter them, instead of being, as they should be, the object of terror to the criminal. The account of the late serious accident that occurred to two gentlemen in a railway carriage, naturally suggests the importance of devising some remedy for the recurrence of such disasters. It is time that some means of defence be provided for the protection of passengers, who are placed in pecu liarly awkward circumstances when such events occur. Many patents have been taken out and several schemes suggested for effecting a communi cation throughout a train, either between guards and drivers or between passengers and guards. The objection that many urge against the adoption of this wise plan is, that advantage will be taken of such facility for the purpose of amusement by reck less persons; and also that timid or ignorant parties will be sure to give a great deal of trouble and occupy unnecessarily the time of the officials, to the hinderance of the strict performance of their duties and the general discomfort and disarrangement of all concerned in the transit. On these grounds it is easy to understand why the companies are slow to entertain the matter, but a little reflection will prove that these difficulties can be easily obviated. On the Continent the carriages are so constructed that the tickets are collected while the train is in motion, as the guards are enabled to walk round it. What reason can exist that prevents the English railway carriages from being similarly constructed ? Why should not footboards extend from carriage to carriage, and thus enable the guard, if summoned, to repair at once and in safety to the point of call to ascertain what may be required, and not needlessly stop the train. Fortunate was it in the late serious encounter on the Eastern Counties that there hap pened to be two gentlemen in the carriage, for had Mr. WORLAND been alone his death must in evitably have resulted. As it was, the in trepid interference of Mr. MACLEAN prevented such a catastrophe, but even with that result gained and the maniac secured, the consequences were serious. The wounded men had for a long time to hold the maniac while their wounds were in great need of being attended to, the train, an express one, stopping at no intermediate stations. Thus for forty miles they were placed in a perilous position, while assistance, although in close proximity, was unavailing to them. Railway companies while they cater for the convenience and necessities of the public, have always in view the prospect of remu nerative dividends ; a short sighted policy too often induces the directors to act on the penny-wise and pound foolish system, which not only defeats the ends they have in view, but entails disgrace upon the company and loss of profit upon the shareholders. It is useless to look to the present administration to expect any good in this matter, but we think that the common sense of the eminent engineers and practical managers of our great railway companies should induce them to forestall a legislative enact ment by the adoption of some remedial measure which would enable passengers in railway trains to communicate, when necessary, with the officials in attendance. Across the Atlantic there is but one class of carriag es. At first sight this may seem a dis advantage ; to the fastidious, but it has the merit of a thorough communication, the guards and ticket col lectors being able to pass from one end of the train to and passengers who wish for fresh air are indul g ed in it at either end of the cars, and can likewise ob tainthe other. In winter th e trains are heated by stoves, s are equal, if not superior, to the first class of t In Germany the second-class carriag e this country. refreshments on long journeys at th eir leiauie. Why should it be that the country that gave birth to railways, and which at the present day supplies engineering talent and capital for the con struction of lines throughout both hemispheres, should be so wofully neglectful of the safety and comfort of the thousands who daily travel through the confines of its own empire. Governor-General, Prince Drucki Sokolinski, to the local authorities of the province : " The peasants of the Government of Volhynia frequently address petitions to me, saying that as they are compelled unceasingly, by day anti by night, to pursue rebellious Polish bands, and take all possible means to assist in pursuing and exter minating them, they are not at present in a position strictly to fulfil their duties towards their landlords, and they therefore beg to be clearly informed as to their relations with regard to their landlords,w hether they still owe any corvees to them, or have been liberated therefrom. " Considering, that the duty now imposed on the peasants, the prevention, both by day and by night, of the assemblage of suspected persons, may render them incapable of properly fulfilling the duties required from them by law, I have the honour to request that you will call upon the nobles of the Government of Volhynia, in return for the protec tion of their estates by the peasants, not to exact the fulfilment by them of their duties before the disturbances in the country are put down, and, in view of present circumstances, not to prevent the peasants from liberating themselves from their cor vees in the usual manner--by payment. The nobles should also observe that a peaceful arrangement with the peasants is likely to be more beneficial to them than measures of compulsion, which, moreover, would be improper, for the peasants, being occupied in protecting quiet inhabitants, loving the throne and their country, and risking their own lives against the criminal acts of the rebels, have a right to expect consideration from the landlords and the Government. (Signed) "Prince DRuciu SOKOLTNSKI, The Governor." The cynical assurance of this decree, which speaks of a horde of half-drunken peasants, pillaging and murdering every noble they can find, as defenders of the peace of the country, and protectors of the nobles, is evident on the face of it. As for the liberation of the peasants from the corvee, any pea sant may be so liberated, in the most complete manner, by the national Government; but it is too much to expect of a Polish nobleman to grant even a partial benefit to his peasants, when they destroy his estate, threaten his life, and hunt to death the soldiers of the only Government which enjoys the confidence of the Polish people. LATEST INTELLIGENCE. (REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.) THE POLISH QUESTION. PARIS, JULY 22. Prince Gortschakoff's reply to the French note relative to the Polish question has been published to-day. It agrees in substance with that addressed to England. It moreover insists on the moral solida rity of the Great Powers in presence of the evident action of the revolutionary element of all countries concentrated at present in Poland, stating that this gives the question an European character, Prince Gortschakoff says We are so much the more compelled to call the attention of the French Government to this fact, since one of the principal focuses of the agitators which exists is in Paris itself. The Polish emigrants, profiting by their social relations, have organised a vast con spiracy, destined to mislead public opinion in France by a system of misrepresentation and calumny, and to keep alive disorders in the Kingdom of Poland by assisting it with materials, by the terror of a secret committee, and, above all, by propagating the conviction that aetive • foreign intervention will take place in favour of the most senseless aspira tions of the insurrection. "This intelligence," adds Prince Gortschakoff, "is at present the principal source of the agitation, which, without it, would be overtaken by the ac tion of the law in presence of the indifference or opposition of the masses. " Herein lies the moral cause which tends to prolong the present painful state of things, for the prompt cessation of which the French Government like ourselves, appeals in the name of peace and humanity. " We have pleasure in believing that the French Government will not permit its name to be abused for the advantage of the revolution in Poland and n Europe," AUSTRIA. REPLY TO PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF. VIENNA, JULY 22. Austria has despatched a preliminary Note to Russia, in reply to the despatch of Prince Gorts chakoff on the Polish question. This Note announces that Austria cannot abandon the line of conduct she has pursued up to the pre sent. She rejects the propcsil of a Conference of Russia, Prussia, and Austria ; maintains the six points ; and declares that in any further steps she may take she will protect her own interests only. Notes have been simultaneously despatched by the Austrian Government to the Western Powers, declaring that Austria will continue to act in concert with them, and will firmly maintain the six points. RUSSIA• BERLIN, JULY 22. According to letters received from St. Petersburg the Emperor has again inspected the batteries, for tifications and vessels of war, as well as the camp of the troops at Cronstadt. THE AMERICAN MAIL. SOUTHAMPTON, WEDNESDAY MORNING. The North German Lloyd's steamship America, sailing hence to-day with the United States mails, takes out 69 saloon and a limited number of steerage passengers, also a fair cargo, including a large quantity of tea from London, and 45,036 f. value in jewellery from Havre. Among the America's pas sengers are the Hon. B. Wood (of New York), Mr. T. Canisius (United States Consul at Vienna), W. H. W. Derby (United States Consul at Dusseldorf), and Dr. Leymar, (of Pittsburg). The Campagne Generale Transatlantique have established an a gency at this port, under the direc tioe of Messrs. Keller, Wallis, and Postlethwaite, for their steamers from St. Nazaire to Mexico, the West Indies, B:.c. SPAIN, MADRID, JULY 22. The Government has instructed its representative at Paris to bound the intentions of the French Cabinet on the subject of fr€sh negotiations con cerning Mexico. Tranquillity prevails at Malaga, Valladolid, Seville, and Granada. FRANCE. THE BOURSE, July 21.—The market opened this morning below the closing prices of yesterday, but a rally soon took place, and Threes, for the Account, are at 67f. 95c. Mobilier have slightly improved, and are now at 1,1201. The market closed as fol lows : 4i per Cent 5....... 96 90 Do. end month.... 97 20 3 per Cents ...... 67 85 Do. end month.. • . 67 85 Credit NI obilier.... 1110 Do. end m0nth....1112 50 Bank Shares ...... 3412 50 Credit k oncier .... 1290 Italian Loan 7l 50 Do. end month 7l 45 New ditto Do. end month.... 71 85 Russian Austrian Spanish Threes., Home Debt RA IL - AYS. Cash. Account. Orleans lOl2 50 .. 1010 Northern ... • New ditto . -- -- .. -- Ly o ns and Mediterranean 1020 .. 1020 G en eva .. 490 .. 491 25 Southern 655 .. 652 50 Western Eastern .. • • Sardinian ...... Austrian Low bard North of Spain .... 542 50 .. 545 Saragossa 685 .. 687 50 Ditto to Barcelona POLAND. FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. CRACOW, JULY 18, Great dissatisfaction prevails among the peasants of Volhynia. It appears that when the insurrection first broke out they had been informed by the Rus sian agents appointed by the Government for the purpose of gaining them over to its side, that the Czar had determined to give them the land on which they worked, and to place them under the Govern ment of a new independent kingdom of Poland, whose King was to be the Grand Duke Constantine, and that it was in order to prevent the execution of these benevolent intentions of the Czar that the Polish landowners had risen in rebellion. These falsehoods were easily circulated and believed in a country which is almost completely shut out from all communication with the rest of Europe, and among a class which has been purposely kept by the Russian Government in a state of brutal ignor ance. After having thus paved the way, the agents disclosed their real aims. They offered the peasants arms and pay, and exhorted ft em to put down these disturbers of the public peace and enemies of their prosperity and wellbeing. You know the result. A sort of militia was raised among the very lowest classes of the population, who gave abundant evi dence of their low state of civilisation by the com mission of shocking atrocities upon the landowners and insurgents. At length these poor benighted people are beginning to perceive that they have been deceived. Finding that they are still under the Czar, that no attempt is made by the Govern ment to give them the land on which they reside, and that the insurgents are fighting for the very same objects as themselves, many of them have re turned to their villages, and the rest have addressed a petition to the Military Gov& rtior-General of the province, asking for the fulfilment of the promises made to them when they were enlisted to fight against the insurgents. The result of this petition has been the following circular addressed by the LITERATURE. The Ring of Amasis. From the papers of a German Physiciau. Edited by Owen Meredith. 2 vole. Chapman and Hall. Owen Meredith has the soul of a poet. There is passion and there is power in the conception of his work, but he does himself grievous injustice in its execution. During the last ten years a sad fata lity has befallen the world of literature. Our Poets and our Novelists, not content, like the great masters of the art who had preceded them, with Truth and Nature, with sentiment and Simplicity, have made choice of the Sensational and the Strange for the subjects of their stories, and have mistaken rhap sody and incoherence for eloquence. When Bon Gualtier brought forward kis spasmodic tragedy, we could afford to laugh. The extravagance of " Firmillian" was a legitimate subject for our ridi• cule ; but with very different feelings do we witness the self-immolation of some of the most promising writers of our day— " Who but would laugh if such a man There be, Who but must weep if Atticus were he." As an example of this extravagant and rhapsodical style let anyone take up the first volume of this " Ring of Amasis," and opening it at random, what will he infer from passages like the fol lowing : And when the priest . . . our union, did I not see in hers . . . that froze the marrow of my bones ? . . . She herself, had she not seen it sparkle ? And then . , • . the frightful secret suppressed for years with the force of a giant, and endured with the fortitude of a martyr . . . . in a moment of mad delirium I Ay, from the I lips of fever and burning breath of hell streamed into her heart, and seared all pity in it, and hardened it for ever I . • • . for ever I Such strivings after effect have no real power to produce sensation. They are like the turnip-head and the sheet, which even fail to frighten children. No real spirits are conjured thus. And yet if the bewildered reader, or rather beholder, of pages like this passage, throws down the volume in despair, he will do wrong. He will lose much. Side by side with these fantastic flourishes, strangely alter nate sound sober sense, and homely wit, and wisdom ; while, as for sensational effect, there is a scene in the second volume, a panorama of a river floating by, and two figures in agony of life or death, that will long haunt the memory of the readers of this romance. It is because we so heartily appreciate and because we so cordially admire this power at d this capacity of the author of "The Ring of Amasis," that we are indignant with him for his injustice to his own gifts. " Like one in whom two natures are contending," he is alternately swayed by Truth and Affectation , now inspired by genuine feeling, aid now carried away by an effort after effect. A great por tion of the machinery of this tale is clumsy and wholly unnecessary. The introduction about the legend of the Loreley, extravagant in itself, is quite out of character with the details of the story when these details are revealed to us. The story itself, however, when its human interest can be disentangled from the maze of mysticism that enfolds it, is full of pathos and full of power. Count Edmond R-- and his brother Felix, and their young foster sister Juliet, grow up together in a happy German chateau. Then Felix, gay and thoughtless, goes to the wars, and Edmond, sedate and serious, departs on his travels. In his researches in Egypt the latter learns the secret history of Amasis and Sethos, the sons of Thoitaris, the King. Amasis, the younger son, having discovered the interpretation of a talismanic ring, his father leaves to him the kingdom. " Dis turb not the hand of destiny. Touch not with earthly finger the hand of fate." So Amasis read the writing, and Sethos obeyed it to the letter when, some time after, his brother, the King, who had supplanted him, met his death by drowning, Sethos stretched not forth his hand to interfere with fate ! This legend makes a deep impression upon the visionary Count Edmond, who takes possession of the ring from the finger of the mummy. On his return home, the fair, light-hearted Juliet seizes upon the ring, and declares that it shall be her ring of betrothal when her time arrives. Ultimately she is engaged to Felix, and she gives him the myste rious ring. Meanwhile a powerful passion has been developing itself in the breast of the visionary Edmond. From all save the eyes of his mother Edmond conceals his love and his despair. A brief while after the betrothal the brothers are together in a boat, and an incautious movement of the im petuous Felix realises the legend of the Egyptian brothers— " Against the whirling water he beat, fast and weak, with desperate arms. His soaked clothes and heavy boots were dragging him down. The light boat glided on. " Suffocating and exhausted, he gasped, ' Enough, Ed mond ! For Heaven's sake, enough lam sufficiently punished. My strength gives way. lam sinking. I can no more.' " . . Cold as the spectre of his own thought, erect, unmoved, immoveable, with folded arms he stood, and looked. " Looked on his drowning brother. "Then, into the eyes, and over the face, of Felix there came an undefinable terror. "It was not the terror of death. It was not the vague alarm of a drowning man. " He had undetstood the face of his brother, Edmond. "He had read in that face the meaning of a thought which sufficed in a second of time to congeal with horror the essence of his soul. " And Felix shuddered. " So the angels must shudder when they gaze into the depths of Hell. " With a voice that was the death shriek of man's faith in man, he cried, Edmond I Edmond "It was the sad receding message from a world of love submerged. " side by side, the fleeting river bore them on, those brothers. " The one safe, unmoved, erect. "The other, convulsively struggling with baffled and broken efforts amidst the thousand curling, cold, and silvery meshes of that liquid loom of death. " Side by side, the river bore them onwards yet, Side by side, eye fixed on eye, with speechless lips and speaking looks. "A dreadful inutterable dialogue was passing then be tween the eyes of those two brotaers, They understood each other." The situation is powerfully conceived and moat vigorously depicted. We had intended to say more of the admirable working out of the moral, but we forbear rather than betray the secrets, of what is, at first, an over-complicated, but eventually a wholly enthralling plot. Over any minuter analysis of the work, however, than has been here attempted, we are in no way whatever disposed to loiter. From the gifted hand of Owen Meredith, we look for far nobler and worthier manifestations of a genius that, to a very great extent, appears in some sort to be hereditary. While sexing this, how ever, we would add that the originality marking many of its loftier attributes is unquestionable. The hand of Owen Meredith, howbeit, will wield the pen, we doubt not, more freely and far more effectively, :now that by itlae completion of these dreamings in an unwholesome atmosphere—it is lightened of the perillous weight of this balefully glittering Ring of Amasis. A Manual of Popular Physiology. By Henry Lawson, M.D. One vol. pp. 168. Hardwicke. When we can say, as we do, that Dr. Lawson's "Manual of Popular Physiology" is worthy of a place upon the same shelf on which already stand Dr. Andrew Combe's well-known treatise upon the same subject, Mr. Lewes's two larger and more philosophic volumes upon a kindred theme, and that charming little anonymous book called "The House I Live In," we have spoken in high praise, indeed, of the work now under consideration. It is deserving of this praise, however, if only by reason of the exceeding simplicity of its general arrangement. The outlines of the subjects here sketched, as those selected fnr delineation, are well drawn: but, more than that, they are well filled in, so to speak, with an easy but bold and delicate pencilling. What Dr. Lawson has here at tempted to do in this book is, as he himself tells his reader, nothing more and nothing less than to explain the Science of Life in untechnical lan guage. The text of the work throughout, there fore, is singularly familiar, is, we might almost say, from the first page to the last, purely conversational. And the descriptions given, in themselves remark able for their lncidity, are rendered yet more in stantly comprehensible to the unlearned, or, as we may say, unprofessional student, by a great variety of cleverly-executed woodcut illustrations scattered about the pages among the letter press. One habit the author has, unhappily, dropped into, in common with so many other writers of nowadays—the profuse in dulgence here and there of extravagant peri phrases, evidently under the mistaken idea that it has about it something irresistibly humourous. For example, in this very preface, instead of saying, in so many plain and compre hensible words, " Give a dog a bad name and hang him" (he wants, in the passage referred to, quite incidentally to make some passing allusion to the old saying) Dr. Lawson insinuates a hint at the proverb he has, at the moment of writing, in his mind's eye, he insinuates a delicate hint at it by this astounding display of circumlocution ! " There is an old and familiar proverb," he says (and so far so good, but then—listen!) "regarding the stran gulation of that number of the canine genus which has through some mischance been deprived of its fair reputation." And so forth—the whole of this same, unhappily but too frequent, twist or trick in writing, being clearly a mistake the most eggregious on the part of our otherwise highly meritorious author, the writer of this " Manual of Popular Physiology." If Dr. Lawson would but take our hint in good part, he would carefully eliminate passages of this faulty kind from any future editions of a work that, really and truly, to our mind, is deserving of being very frequently reprinted. He would do this for certain if he would but take our word—here very confidently whispered by us in a sort of stage " aside "—that the fault of style alluded to is to the last degree tedious and intolerable, instead of being in any way humorous or exhiliarating. THE AFRICAN EXPLORERS. The following intelligence of the Livingstone Expedition has been received at the Cape of Good Hope, and is published by the South African Advertiser of June 20 : "Her Majesty's steamer Gorgon, Commander Wilson, recently arrived in Algoa Bay, bringing the Rev. Mr. Stewart and other passengers from the Zambezi, with detailed intelligence from correspondents in that quarter, of which the following is the substance " From Quillemaine, after parting with the Rapid, Dr, Livingstone returned to the Zambezi mouth, and reached Shupanga in the middle of December. After a delay of about three weeks there, occcasioned by some repairs re quiring to be made to the Pioneer, the doctor proceeded up the river to th© Shire on the 10th of January, the steamer Lady Nyassa being taken in tow by the Pioneer; and on the 27th of February (the date of the latest advices), he was within 30 miles of his destination—the lower end of the Murchison Falls, where, unfortunately, both ships were said to be fast on a sandbank, near the Upper end of the Ele phant Marsh. Hopes, however, were entertained of a rise in the river, and that the vessels would shortly be got off. "There was a considerable amount of fever and sickness among the crew, but up to the date mentioned there had been no fatal cases. From the Murchison Falls it was under stood that Dr. Livingstone would endeavour to push over land with his own little steamer, the Lady Nyassa, for the further exploration of the great Lake Nyassa. " Of the Rev. Mr. Stewart's movements, it appears that after arriving in the Zambezi, about this time last year, he waited five months at Shupanga, in hope of accompanying Dr. Livingstone when he ascended the river. In the be ginning of July, when he found that there were to be fur ther delays, he resolved to start alone; and, having secured a canoe and a crew of natives, he ascended, partly, of course, on foot, to within 60 miles of Lake Nyassa, where he was stopped by the simple impossibility of procur ing food. He then returned and went eastward to Mago nero, the former station of the Oxford and Cambridge Mission. During his stay at the mission station ho speaks of having received every possible kindness ; and in the jour nays he made in the surrounding country had always the advantage and pleasure of some one of its members accom panying him. After leaving the station, in September, he ascended the Zambezi beyond Tette as far as the Kabra basa Rapids. There the samo obstacle that prevented his going further on the Shire—namely, scarcity of food, again encountered him, and obliged him to return. From Ka bradasa he descended the river Quillemaine, and came on to Mozambique. From the Portuguese authorities generally he met with every civility; and from his Excel lency the Governor-General of Mozambique he received the substantial kindness of a good airy house to live in while waiting there for a ship." The Advertiser also publishes extracts from letters received from the station on the river Shire, by which it appears the Universities' Mission has fallen into great difficulty and distress in conse quence of a famine that prevails throughout the whole of that region. The Rev. H. C. Scudamore died on the morning of New Year's-day of exhaus tion, produced by fever. His death is a great loss to the mission. The famine is caused by a drought and in some districts is aggravated by native wars. The Rev. Mr. Rowley says, " the deaths from starvation must have been beyond conception frightful." He adds : " About us, where war has not been, and a little corn has been grown through the year on their lands and banks of the river, one-third at least of the people have died from want of food. The villages are either in ruins, or, where there are inhabitants, they are the weak, the aged, and the young children, who are day by day dying off. Frequently the dead lie unburied in the huts, the air being pestiferous with the rotting corpses. The stronger are roaming about the country in search of what they can pick up or steal for food, but in most cases their search is in vain—they lie down and die by the wayside. So numerous are such deaths that one cannot, I think, go along any path from our place without coming across human remains; we know that several corpses are now lying within two miles of us. "The Shiro has been literally the river of death. The pool creatures roaming about in search of food are reckless of consequences ; they try to steal the corn growing on the river banks or islands ; but the owners, wolfishly alert, generally detect them ; and, as these small crops have been for a long time their only hope, they are pitiless, and either cut the throats of the thieves and throw them into the river, or throw them in alive. I believe hundreds have perished in this way. Dead bodies are repeatedly seen floating do wn." It is feared that the Mission must be abandoned, and that the missionaries will return to Johanna, Natal, or the Cape. c our t ci r y uhr: HER MAJESTY. OSBORNE, July 21. Their Royai Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, attended by the Marchioness of Carmar then, Lieutenant-General Knollys, and Captain Grey, arrived at Osborne yesterday evening on a visit to her Majesty. The Prince and Princess tracelled to Southamp ton, where the Royal yacht Fairy was waiting to convey them to Osborne. The Judge-Advocate-General arrived yesterday and had an audience of the Queen this afternoon. PRINCE ALFRED IN THE HIGHLANDS.—The Scotsman says :—On Sunday afternoon the Racoon, with his Royal Highness Prince Alfred on board, which is now coming southward along the west coast, went up Loch Linnhe, coming to a little above Coran Ferry. It was ex pected yesterday his Royal Highness would fish the Lochy ; but the continued drought has rendered the water so low, that anglers are in despair, and slight hope was entertained that he would win any remarkable success. The Prince and Princess Troubetzkoi, accom panied by their family and a large suite of attendants, arrived at the Brunswick, Jermyn-street, last night, from St. Petersburg. The Duchess of Roxburghe and Miss Dalton have left the Clarendon Hotel for Scotland. The Earl and Countess Jermyn leave town on Monday next on a visit to Lord and Lady Wharncliffe, at Wortley Hall, Yorkshire. The Earl and Countess de Grey leave Cirlton gardens on the Ist pros. for Studley Park, near Ripon. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales will be the guests of the noble earl and countess from the 4th to the 6th of the month, when their royal highnesses will proceed to Abergeldie, in Scotland, for the shooting season. Lord Lyttelton and family have left town for Hagley Hall, Worcestershire, The marriage of Mr. Des Vceux and Lady Alice Egerton (youngest daughter of the Earl of Wilton) will take place about the middle of the ensuing month. Sir Alexander and Lady Arabella Bannerman left town yesterday for their seat in Scotland, The Countess d'Apponyi and the Countess• Marie Paumgarten will leave town early in the ensuing week for Germany for the autumn. A marriage is arranged and will shortly take place between Lieut.-Col. Gordon, Scots Fusilier Guards, son of the late Lord Francis Gordon, and Miss Constance Lennox Peel, only daughter of Mr. Laurence and the late Lady Jane Peel, Mrs. W. E. Gladstone and Miss Gladstone will leave town either on Saturday or Monday next for Hawar den Castle, Flintshire. The Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer will join Mrs. Gladstone and family at Ha warden directly after the close of the Parliamentary session. ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA, L'ELISIR D'AMORE. This delightful comic opera, which so strikingly illustrates the variety of Donizetti, was produced at this theatre last evening, in order to enable Madlle. Patti to add another success to the list of her unrivalled comic achievements, in the character of Adena. This rustic coquette, who carries out into greater exuberance and force the charac teristics of Zerlina, will be thought by many to rank next to it in the hands of our young favourite. All that piquant and playful humour by which she is so peculiarly distinguished, was exhibited last evening, in union with the personal fascination which makes everything she does so pleasing. Nor was her treatment of the music un-. worthy that of the character. In the popular duet with Dulcamara, in the cavatina, "Della crudel isotta," and more especially in the scene where she expects the proposed philtre, she fulfilled every expectation that had been formed of her perform ance, and was rewarded with the most genuine applause and admiration. Mdlle. Patti was admirably supported by the Dulcamara of Signor Ronconi, which has ever been the richest embodiment the character has had—not even with the exception of that of the great Lablache—and which was so hearty on this occasion and so replete with sterling humour, that it fairly atoned for the vocal deficiency which was at times, we must own, apparent. The only drawback to the night's impression was the non-appearance of Signor Mario, as announced, in Nemorino, who thus added to the disappointment of hie absence from " Don Pasquale." Mons, Naudin , who replaced him, was even less at ease in this than in the former substitution, though he sang the music very well, and especially the duet with Belcore. With every abatement, however, the entire performance we s very gratifying; and we have no doubt will figure frequently in the prc" gramme of the ensuing year. The house was tole' rably full. THE FALL OF VICKSBURG.—The Missouri Demo , crat publishes a despatch from Vicksburg, dated June 2 6 ? which states that the Federal pickets captured a messenge r that morning bearing letters from the town, and the fol lowing message to Johnston :—" Can hold out ten days. If not sooner relieved will be obliged to surrender." RAILWAY AND PUBLIC COMPANIES IN PARLIA' azENT.—Yesterday, in committee of the Lords, the bill for the Scottish Central, North Eastern, and Dundee and Arbroath Amalgamation was passed with some amendments in connection with the clauses. The bills passed in the Commons were those for the Northumberland Dundalk and ral Rail way, St. Ives and West Cornwall Junctio n, Greenore and Irish North Western Railways. THE MOORS AND FORESTS OF PERTHSHIRE The weather has recently been very favourable for the young birds, and they have improved greatly since the beginning of Z..uly. A number of the hills have now been to some extent, but keepers are somewhat disinclined as yet to disturb the broods. Where they have .been exa" mined, the prospects for the 12th are more promising than usual. Broods eight and ten strong have been risen by the gamekeepers, and the general strength of the coveys seems to be from six to eight. The birds are well grown and much more advanced than at this season last year. On one or two of the ranges there is a slight appearance of disease among the later broods. This is, however, local, and not to such an extent as to cause any anxiety. On the extensive ranges of Blair Atholl and Breadalbane there is a superior crop. On the hills of Upper Strathearn the birds are nume rous and well grown. On the moors of Callender, Bel" qnhidder, and the eastern parts of Argyleshire, good shoot ing may be anticipated. The low covers look well. The partridge covers of Strathtay and Earn are well stocked, and will afford excellent sport during the s eason. Th e pheasant broods were somewhat thinned by the heavy thunder plouts after incubation, but the preserves are much better stocked than last year, when there was but an illdi f " ferent crop and indifferent sport. Other kinds of game are generally abundant. All accounts agree that the forest/ have not held out better promises for stalkers for some years. The weather has been warm and favourable during fawning, and the lawns have been abundant. The deer are in splendid condition, and are expected to be free from the vascular akin much earlier than usual. Pasture has thi/ year been early and plentiful, which, with the open winter , early spring, and genial summer, has been much in favour of the deer and all other kinds of game. A number of the sportsmen have arrived at their sporting lodges.—m - burgh Courant. PICKFORD'S TIORSES.—At Camden Town—in variably abbreviated in Pickfordian language into Camden—Pickford, who is the recognised agent of the London and North-Western Railway Company, has en"' inous premises adjoining the goods station, and is to be seen in full swing. Employing more than nine hundred horses in London, he keeps three hundred of them a G Camden. Going into these stables, we are at once struck with an air of substantiality in connection with Pickford, which is different to anything we have yet seen during this tour of inspection of the ways and means of "Riding London." There is special potentiality in his stables, vf" - their asphalte pavem en t s an d th e i r l arge sw inging °a/jell bars, in his big h orses , i n hi s s t rong me n, i n his enor mous vans. Most of th e h orses are splendid ant many many of them standi ng over s i x t een hands high , 'l;7 all in excellent c on diti on . They are all bo n g m " by one man, the recognised buyer for the establishment, attends principal fairs throughout the country tiles average cost price of each is £45. They are fed en mixture of bruised oats, crushed Indian coin, and Pe t ' s " which is found to be capital forage. Each horse, wil e ' bought, is branded with a number on the f ront of h i s fore feet hoofs, and is named ; name and n umber are entered in the horse-book; and by them the horse's career, where may be working, an d anything special relating t o him, : checked off until he dies or is sold. Pickford's horses i iil l e on an average seven or e i g ht y ears, and then they are k 1 a: t but in many instances , when no lon g er fit for roughing a _ over the stones—for what the dealer poetically describes the the "'ammer, 'am mer, 'ammer on the 'ard 'igh ro . , d_ d they will be boug ht b y some farmer for plough-work, after a hard London life will peacefully end their d 9 7, in some s ecluded village."- ickcns's All the Year Rou a Ab ou t 30 pickpockets na ve entered Southatnp ton to attend the races in that town this week. )