Northern Times. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-18 00:00:00

[EWS, graph. )G, Nov. comme nce • receded COA" nub , rer. -- a''' ar n m].a Al r t h e prese )TNT' S as f °ll°S o d , TiEsP"'sr. a t 01 pp ointn' e ce 0 1 1 . 0 F ,,,,, , .?, ‘., Sol -4 ;covered' rlsP i `T r 'o l a ' he State F ( fly' 011°1 shire 1 to c ourse ' /I ells panic-s"id' v,P IO FO- djo aIE.:`.T r wee k e elc lao ndiag Ae° 0114 sine— d she w 36 5 'OO ?ion!. l OU every FO REIGN INTELLIGENCE. FRANCE. PARIS, MONDAY EVENING. Th e p er ,. Imisterial crisis, if indeed the choice of a th e 'oa for the office of Minister of Justice deserves taalte, is over. M. de Ro.yer, Procureur-Gene- N" the Court of Cessation, is the person the It t e nor has selected to take the place of the late th at hhatucoi I have noticed the various rumours te t i m e ircUlated from the moment M. Abbatucci's ite assumed a serious character till the present k eit " the candidates put forward by the public for Asa Peat. Among others the name of M. Billault l aid Particularly mentioned. M. Billault, it was a ti r:a and I believe it with truth—would, if he Indulge in his own tastes, prefer the com to Pe quiet of the Keeper of the Great Seals lan e s labo r i ous an d o ft en vexatious duties of the tle n r, where he is. The business of the Home te e ' t " r tnient is of the most important kind ; the V h e asibility is perhaps the greatest of any of the Ices of Government, and the Minister at its as ' 8 answerable for the tranquility of France. t z , functions require considerable judgment, , t . e ee rience, and tact ; and on certain occasions te l : t firmness. The Emperor was, I believe, tf j ." l% ?' of M. Billaules wish to go to the department to e , 4 ?tice. It must, therefore, be regarded as a t e ?'„Ptirnent to his Minister, that his Majesty 8 4 7 s ed his sanction to the charge, and requested la said has been, done, M. Billault remain t :, , tter of the Interior. M. Billault has no alter iLve but to comply, 0, Turkish Ambassador, Mehemed IDgetnil ofp had a long interview to-day with the Minister tt o „, e !eign Affairs—it was said to present a note his Government. Il t i ° aat Olsonfief, one of the Emperor of Russia's tl e ;3' Councillors, and attached to the Foreign oe a rtneent at St. Petersburg, has arrived in Paris Private mission. Of I , ll a increase in the rate of discount by the Bank is ee 'ance has been productive of considerable t er vavenie.nce among commercial people, and ls,: r al commission houses have ceased to transact te;:aess under the pressure of the crisis. This lij7 4 has caused a good deal of embarrassment in f a il manufacturing districts, but I do not find that Metres to much extent are at present apprehended. e e u e a caution has been observed since the corn sbneernent of the crisis, otherwise many of them t e ;„ lt have given way. These facts probably as;:arit for the great diminution in the tl," l lat , of the commercial bills held by e ic ; sank of France which appears in the of F 1 37 account, as published in the Moniteur ta t relay. A most inconvenient result of the high ef discount at the Bank is that purchasers who r? hitherto paid cash to the manufacturers on a tree e tion of 3 per cent. discount, now refuse to co et less than 10 per cent., which naturally has a W rte sPending effect on the profits of the sellers. il ea forced to submit to these hard conditions, th : r eler to meet their engagements, they declare are selling at a loss. The retail dealers also ti lt Dunn that their receipts were never so low at k ee s season of the year. Many of their best cus fsiii.ers find their incomes so much reduced by the e i to the value of produce, and securities of almost t o er Y description, that they limit their expenditure g hat e : is strictly necessary. In the regular pro of reaction the pressure has extended to ki r , labouring classes, at least if we may s eo , 6 e by the crowds that visit the establishments ts w -I 'Y day. The accounts from the commercial Deus in the provinces are not more favourable. A nte:from Lyons says that, &though a few large de ns were re c eived there last week, trade is dull, r O e ! what i s werse , no i m p rove ment worth speaking fhla intended there for some time to come. T"rt : silk from Piedmont is quoted at Lyons as t n,; 3l vs —Nos. 22 and 23 from 98f, to e 102 f. the h".grarnme ; Italian raw silk from .85 1 :. to 901 ; 'nese ditto from 48f. to 63f. The distress is so t\eaaLeral among the working popul at i on of Lyons et c ,' Cerclinal de Bonald Archbishop of that hie -e eehas addressed a letter to the cleigy under shce i laclictior, recommending that a collection of th e M shade in their respective parishes, in aid free s „ 3 illt weavers, who are suffering principally th e , 4 e , crisis. Accounts from Clermont, in Rre t , 3 : Do—e, are to the eflect that the last in that town syas not so . good as usual. as leg 's Were sold at a coneiderable reduction 4 ic i'MPared with prices obtained in August last. tr rfl eß es of all kinds, particularly calf-skins, fell 1 0 °— , n 4 0 to 30 per cent. Wheat fell from 50 Hattie Centimes since the previous market. 4 of all descriptions and horses were sold at se;, e 'lletion. The weather unusually warm and p i :" sultry at this season, which nearly to the F,, ens date has prevailed in parts of the south of in art Ce, .was beginning to produce decomposition th e T e Potatoes and other vegetables housed since f or ; 41 st harvest In the neighbourhood of Bayonne, 11 % ,; 11 , stance, it was found necessary to adopt nu e:4;4', Precautions to preserve the beetroot from t:P,Lete destruction. te in e i Lters from Marseilles state that the abundant tej'', i es of corn arriving in that port, and the Th' e 'tY of money had paralyzed operations \vile, African hard wheat rose in Saturday's market. Of Itt from the Black Sea fell. Large quantities le v . 4 itle continue to arrive at the market of Bercy, Iti„' Prices are well maintained, particularly for the tle a - l e , of Burgundy, which are of a very superior tipL" t 3r. The wines of last year have nearly dis tlit'ared, and it is the wines of the present year 4 1 ,1„are being now retailed There has been a f ee decline in the price of spirits of wine last 130 - c 'e Spirits from the south has been offered at ta v e the hectolitre, and beetroot spirits from the ie at 78f. without buyers. The price of brandy " ° t quoted, there is so little business doing. AUSTRIA. I\l o VIENNA, Nov. 12. Vit e ,, ( lite connected with the public press was in 'Aer: to the feast in honour of M. de Lesseps, but k e rne who participated in it have given me an tt er s'lltit of w hat took place. Eighty-five persons Iv a : Present at the sumptuous dinner, which of Yesterd a y- given by a committee composed 4 1 , A 411 of the leading Vienna bankers. Baron to, ; ;tal Rothschild, who was in the chair, rose kle i l ls the end of the repast, and , after j... e ssitio. a few well-turned compliments to M. I vll o —aB seps, proposed his health. The latter, tet t ; is said to be a very indifferent speaker, of th eed ,thanks, and then driallt to the health 1• 11 ,,t tliperor Francis Joseph of Austria. Baron ttt,„'l : s. , who was the next speaker, abstained from ki : , - , t `ng into the Suez Canal question, but mu,. seed his opinions in regard to the Indian `k t il,• The Minister spoke of England as I h l allied Power," declared that she was fighting tkp,,"ttle of civilisation against barbarism, t i l essed his abhorrence of such cruel savages Sepoys, and wound up by drinking to the arm s Y and co mplete success of the British ' The company was agreeably surprised 1; ( ; 41 r such a speech from the lips of_ a man , 11 11 ( 1 `5 generally supposed to be hostile to England, ' (l 4 2 „,, e ,;cPressed its satisfaction by loud and prc- I , l th''' cheers. "In short," said one of the guests, tI D - 1 1 ; e ,a reguar demonstration in favour of the , 4 14 41.1 ." The Chevalier von Toggenburg, the h is - , Bl ' l ' of Commerce and Pu - )110 W.::rks, expressed le t i.`" °ll vietion that at no distant period the 0y Iterranean and Red Seas would be connected llti rti ,.:, ll / 1 8 of a canal, and his hearers seemed tt"Y to approve of what he said, " although " them have no notion whatever of the , f., "et;;Phical position of the Isthinns of Suez.' Szecheu, a member of the Board of the 4 . ( lsi e , ; Bank, proposed the health of all those who patronize the Suez Canal project, - ;toth'e toast was drunk with enthusiasm. 2tvti m er nobleman made a speech, but, as it was 17 1 :41 8 the end of the feast, my informants, who ~lltt'a ; t ne d of having been inconvenienced by the the room were unable to give me a very I, 4 l t tlt r u il s ; ea what it treated. The band of John Asa duthng has just returned from Ru. atio ssia, the dinner. For the informn of THE NORTHERN TIMES.---LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1857, those who may wish to - know what such a feast costs in this city of Vienna, it may be stated that the charge was 21. 14s. a head. During the last day or two I have acquired some valuable information relative to the actual state of things in the Danubian Principalities. Several of the more respectable Boyards have passed through Vienna on their way to France and Italy, and they are all and one of opinion that many years must elapse before the bad seed which has recently been sown in the sister provinces can be eradicated. The violent tirades of the professional agitators have completely addled the weak brains of the peasants, and they now talk in a way which would satisfy even the most renowned teachers of the democratic social theories. The Rouman peasants are naturally indolent ; and now that they have been told so much about the rights of man, &c., they are more than ever inclined to indulge in the:dolee farniertte. The radical Boy ards begin to fancy that they have gone ahead too fast; but, having advanced so far, they are ashamed to retreat. Some of the Conservative Boyards say that the question of the union has now become a matter of inferior moment, because the Principali ties, whether united or separate, must necessarily become the prey of Russia. On enquiring why such a gloomy view was taken of the state of affairs in Wallachia and Moldavia, the reply given was, "The nation is so thoroughly demoralised, that the highest bidders are sure to have it. In, the treaty of peace it is said that an armed force, capable of defending the two countries, shall be formed, but this is morally impossible, as military discipline has ceased, and the troops are to the full as revolutionary as the people ? Messrs. Tell and mentioned) strut about in the uniform of generals, and are treated as such both by the Divan ad hoc and by the representativescof the Sultan." No diplomatist believes that the union of the Danu bian Principalities is likely to take place, but the Austrian Government does not appear to think that the danger is over, for its semi-official writers are continually playing at give -and take with the Patric and Conrtitutionnel• The Count of Fiatasiers arrived here yesterday from Italy, and was visited in the course of the evening by His Majesty the Emperor. The Prince and Princess de Joinville are expected here to-day from Trieste. disturbances at Barcelona and in other parts of Catalonia ; but the authorities were aware of their movements, and were on their guard. CHINA. FROM THE "TIMES" CORRESPONDENT:) SHANGHAI, SEPT. 15. The Russians have played the first card in the game which is now to come off here. On the 2nd inst. Count Putiatin, Vice-Admiral Aide-de-Camp, General-Governor of Amoor, Minister Plenipotentiary and Ambassador Extradiornary from His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia to the Court of Pekin, landed here in plain costume, and from a little boat, accompanied by a suite as unpretending as their principal. He had left his steamer at Woosung to coal, and took up his residence with the American house of Russell and Co. The only visits he paid, except return visits of ceremony, were to Mr. Beale, an old friend, whose guest he had been when stationed here before the war, and to Mr. Hurd, the head of another of the prin cipal American houses at this port. From these little facts some people draw conclusions as to a probable coincidence of Russian and American councils in the forthcoming negociations. Count Putiatin left Peters.. burgh in April, travelled overlaad in 70 days to the Amour, where he found the America, a paddle-Wheel war steamer, and sent round the Horu and across the Pacific by our kind cousins. The Count steamed down to the mouth of the Peiho, and, after delays and much difficulty, succeeded in despatching an announcement of his mission to Pekin. Having occupied the necessary interval very agreeably in Shanghai, he is now gone north again to seek an answer to his despatch. The American left Woosung just before the heavy gale, and was seen stand ing northward making very heavy weather. The Admiral has no force with him, and 'his embassy is evidently of an entirely pacific character. It seems to be thought here that the objects of the Russians extend no further than to convert their college at. Pekin into a diplomatic es . 7 tablishment, and to obtain a participation in the privi leges granted to nations " heretofore trading to Canton." With an Ambassador at Pekin they can work out the rest at their leisure. Meanwhile the odium of all coercive measures is to be thrown upon the English and the French. We shall see presently how this wid work. The Count will, either go to Pekin, or he will be back here before the next mail leaves. If Russia gains time by this quick isolated step, she also risks. From the treatment she receives *e may surely learn some thing that may be useful to us. The weather has broken up, and we are suffering that succession of gales which marks the change from the south-west to the north-east monsoon. Steamers therefore will come slowly and at much expenditure of coal from Hong Kong hither, and sailing ships, if these incumbrances are to come, must be towed. Atter the north-east : monsoon has settled into its steady course, there are, however, usually some weeks of fine weather, and we may still hope that something will be done. I believe the Pekin winter to be a bugbear. Lord Macartney did not leave Tartary for Pekia till the 21st of September, nor Pekia till the Bth of October. He traversed the whole of China to Canton 'between the Bth of October and the 18th of December. We have heard nothing here either of the French Ambassador nor Lord Elgin. But this is not dispiriting, as according to former computations, they are not due here till the last week in September. Perhaps this mail, as it passes Hong Kong and Singapore, may gather some tidings of them both. The French show signs of movement. As I came here from Ningpo, we had opportunities of seeing the coast. My little sailing-baat sped from point to point during the intervals of light skies and moderate weather ; and then, when night or the gale grew heavy, flew with half-closed wings before the howling blast, and nestled in some winding inland creek known only to experienced opium-runners, or the native fishermen or pirates. During these devious fits 'of progress we saw the Capricleuse :French frigate trying to make way north wards, and a large steam-transport, which we thought to be Russian, but which turned out to be also French, lying at anchor under a sheltering headland. This is all the news Shanghai affords. The Russian officers have, indeed, been most provokingly candid and circumstantial as to their means of defence at Castres Bey and Petropaulovski, and as to their escapes. It would be easy to make an amusing letter out of these revelations But cui bone ? Let these unpleasant topics cease. Some Horace Walpole-is no doubt telling the next age all about it. In a printed publication, having something of the character of a newspaper, which is in circulation at Canton s it was stated three weeks ago that negociations for peace, together with resumption of trade, have been delayed in consequence of the Eaelish " head man " having been compelled to leave for Calcutta to take part in the fiehting that is going on there, and the settlement of these questions is accordingly for the time postponed, until the American Commissioner " Forbes" (l) can come down from Shanghai. If it be tree, as my informant states, that Yeti has removed all prohibitions on trade, you will probably hear of a brisk traffic being done at Macao in the teas, &e , that we know were shut up in Canton or its vicinity, as much of this and other produce can reach Macao from the West without risk, so long as the port and river at Canton are the only p _ants blockaded. The most important, however, is what is said of the ad vance of the rebels towards Canton. Shaouhing is scarcely 99 miles west of Canton, the river leads direct from one place to the other, and there is no point bet ween the two at which the passage of a, force could be disputed. Our best hope that the rebels will not tra verse those 90 miles must be that they know they will find only famine at their jouraey's end. Every one who looks at China from the English point of view must now be satisfied that no treaty can be worth the powder which salutes its signature if it do not stipulate that China shall become one of the great family of civilised nations. Foolish people treat children with alternate coaxings and flaggings, and John Bull, with a certain conceited pity, has so treated John Chinaman. Treat him as a man, and exact from him the duties of a civilised man, and you willetve no further trouble with him. The port of Ningpo is an example of what a hun dred other large cities will * be when you have obtained your object et an unrestricted trade up all the great rivers on all the coasts of China. It is what Hangchau, Chin- Kiang, and Nankin will be. Your direct trade is only to the immediate district; the carrying trade will attract ships from all European countries. Hamburg sends more ships to the Ningpo river than even England. Every petty nation that has a flog to lend or sell is represented either by its sqaare-rigged ships or by its nondescript lorchas. Sweden and Denmark, and Hamburg and Hol land, and Spain andrortugal, are all Christian nations, all have traded, or say they have traded, to Canton, and all have flags under which honest men and scoundrels may equally claim treaty rights. But these nations have no consuls and no men of war to keep the peace. If an English, an American, or a French ship comes to Ningpo, she must pay her tonnage dues, and get her grand chop before she can clear out. If an armed Hamburgh ship comes up the river she does as she pleases, that is to say, she pays no tonnage dues, to the obvious disadvantage of the ships of the great Powers. 'The other day five Europeans boarded a Chinese junk in that river, and, under pretence of being officers entitled to see her papas, plundered her of all the silver she had on board. Complaint was made. One of the pirates was found to be an English subject (one Murphy), he was tried before the Consul, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Several of the others were Europeans, subjects of nations represented by no authorities here ; there was no power to tcuch them. This is a difficulty which must be met if we would not " open up China " to all the outlaws of Earope ; but it is not insurmountable. Let it be part of the treaty stipulation, that no nation shall claim the advantages of a treaty power except under conditions. Let one of those conditions be, that when that nation is unrepresented at any . port, the two senior Consuls, or the English, French, and American Consuls, or the Consul chosen by the other resident Consuls for that purpose, shall have the consular power over the subjects of the nation. I believe that to render the remedy perfect you must go still further and provide that the resident Consuls shall assist each other with any force at their command in order to preserve order and enforce the provisions of the treaty. The time is not far distant when commerce will teach China how to defend herself. I noted these re marks at Ningpo in sight of an armed commercial steamer • and four large ship-rigged vessels, all owned by mer chants of Ningpo who wear tails and carry fans. At present, however, Chinese Mandarins in this peaceful North dread all hostile contact with Europeans who are not Portuguese, and it is rather our policy to cherish this feeling. The case of Tobin, the man who went up the country to collect " convoy money," or, in plain English, to rob with violence, is another embarrassment. The man is dead, and the circumstances are, it appears, worse than they were first reported. When he had, either in anger or by mischance, shot one of his Chinese comrades, the villagers seized him and lashed his arms and legs to a bamboo pole, passed up his back. The poor wretch's torments must have been fearful. He could net lie, he could not sit ; the thongs were eating through his flesh, and his wounds were festering in the sun. A little boiled rice was daily put into his mouth, and that was all• Six days he endured this. On the seventh he was taken to Dr. Parker's hospital, his wrists, and legs, and back, all covered with sloughing sores. He had been tortured to death. and he died. Now, this is the most important fact that has occurred since the late war. The affair of the Arrow is as nothing compared with it. It is the murder of a British subject. There is no reason to regret that this wretched ruffian has ceased to live ; but we must recollect that he was tortured to death, not because he was a robber, but because one of his own fellow•rufans was slain. Trio conduct of the villagers was in direct contravention of the treaty, and the precedent, if allowed, will apply to any Englishman who may accidentally violate Chinese 1 tNY while in pursuit of peaceful avocations. I have no doubt that Mr. Meadows will deal with this matter with the temper and firmness it requires. The elder of the village must be made accountable for this English (or rather Irish) life as he would have been accountable for a Chinese life, and the reparation should be very public. Otherwise any treaty will be a dead letter. To-day the victim is a worthless outlaw ; next year the victim's name may be Jardine, or Dent, or Beak, or Gibbs, or Fletcher. As I thought the English public may like to know what preparations the Chinese are making in the neighbourhood of Ningpo, and what probability there is of a repetition of the occurrences of the last war, I determined to spend a few days in a survey of the scenes of our most important conflicts. I believe that John Bull will be utterly disap pointed of anything like a fight. Ningpo itself is defended along the whole extent of its walls by two guns, whose explosion would be terrific and cause immediate destruction to all who should approach—to fire them. It is said there are a thousand soldiers in the city and the assertion is most probable. But the Chinese who invented everything, invented that system of parches e which is the ornament and safeguard of our military system. They carry out the principle further than we have yet done. In China a soldier receives a certain modicum of cash and rice, amounting perhaps to 6d a day; he attends at parade now and then when called upon. and he works at his trade at all other times. T his is an advantageous position, and the Mandarins take care he shall not get it for nothing, From fifteen to thirty dollars, according to the dem seal, is the price paid for his commission by a private in the Chinese army. Some time since some tall strong Shantung fellows who were out of employ wished to enlist, Their offer was laughed at, and some old men and cripples whose friends wished to pro vide for them in the army of the Empire were duly regis tered. I believe that if, at any moment, Commander Dew were to land his seventeen Marines and proceed to the Toutai's Yaman and were to tell him that his Sove reign had resolved to annex Ningpo and the surrounding plain, and that Mr. Consul Meadows now reigned as Toutai, the old gen'lernan would simply protest that such conduct was " most unreasonable" and would be led away like a lamb. As to the people, they are so worn out with continual "squeezes" that a judicious proclamation would quite reconcile them to the change. CHUSAN HARBOUR, Sr.rT. 9. On the 6th of September, in a boat with two ears and two eyes, a foresail and mainsail kept taut by bamboo sticks worked into them, and a comfortable cabin, built as a hurricane-house, and occupying nearly all her length, I started with a strong adverse wind for Chusan. The Rosina is partly used as a passage boat, partly to carry information, but chiefly to carry "drug"—the commercial name for opium. She belongs to an eminent commercial house, is navigated by one European and a Chinese crew, has good store of Minie rifles, always fit for service, is a good sea boat, a fast sailer and the type of' a numerous class. Everybody of any importance has one of these Ningpo boats. It would take more space than I dare occupy to describe the ten miles of the river Yung. The simple, yet effective ice-houses, and the no less simply constructed salt stores which occupy the right bank; the wood junks, each in its separate mud dock (so closely peeked that there is not room for another), which line the left bank ; "the " frowning" batteries which are built at the end of every reach, all deserve description. I can only pause, however, to say a word about the batteries. They are built of stone, and some of them have very powerful guns, but the wonder is that their armament has not long ago been stolen by the pirates and convoy lorchas. I have visited them all in different excursions down the river. There is no guard-house, no magazine, no sponge.rammer or worm ; the iron guns and the stone walls make up the batter y. A naval officer who accompanied me in one of nay wanderings was positively distressed at the forlorn condition of an English -cast 32-pounder, 13 feet long, and weighing 4 tons, so mounted that a charge of a pound of powder would have thrown it from its rotten carriage. I believe he would have provided the poo: gun with a decent carriage at his own expanse, oven if he knew that he must meet its fire next day, so indignant was he that a good gun should be so shamefully treated. At the mouth of the Yung we come to the city of Chinghai with its enormous fleet of junks which crowd the river, and its extensive artificial sea beach of hewn granite. Hero are those extraordinary natural fortifications which the Chinese attempted to utilize in the last war, and this was the scene of the most tremendous slaughter that occurred. The mouth of the Yung is beset by rocky islets and sunken shoals, which make the approach difficult and the channels intricate- Each shore is commanded by a high conical hill. That on the left is surmounted by a stone tower ; that on the right by a fort and josshouse. Oa a former occasion I passed a 'night and two days in that Pagan temple. I slept, wrapped in my cloak, at the feet of a terrible Indian god. All night long the Abbot in his mitre sat upon his throne turning his back upon a gigantic idol of "the Queen of Heaver]," and his priests sat round the table before him. A thousand little dishes, each containing some article of vegetable food curiously cooked, preserved, or made into sweet meats, covered not only the table, but other temporary scaffoldings erected for the purpose throughout thetemple. It was a great ceremony, with a highly emblematical ritual. The prayer was evidently for a favourable harvest, for every fruit was taken up and blessed and chanted over. The picturesque scene, the monotonous mutterings, and perhaps also the musquitoes kept me awake till past midnight. When I awoke in the mornine the sun was invading my corridor, and priests, and food, and scaffoldings, and tables, had all vanished. But the old Indian god scowled upon us as ridiculously fierce as ever. Alas ! his divine scowl had not scared away the musquitoes. From the embrasures oa the top of this Josshouse Fart 1 could look down upon the scene of that terrible carnage, when in the last war the Chinese army of ten thousand men were routed in ten minutes, when the flying multitude was arrested by a line of bayonets, and when before the slaughter could be stayed, one half the number either perished by the steel, or were forced into the broad river. This lesson, repeated at Ningpo, and again on the hills beyond, has never been forgotten. In the Josshouse Fort there is one gun, mounted, probably, as an alarm gun. There is another sunk half way in the earth, with a British spike in it. These are the defences of the mouth of the Yung. At 4 o'clock in the morning we were tacking through the islands; at ten we cast anchor in the harbour of Chusan. We are accus tomed in England to think of Chusau as a fine large island, open to the Chinese seas, where you may see the sun, with purple-coloured face, lift up his head from the distant waters. So upon its eastern side it probably is ; not so as we are in the habit of approaching it. The harbour of Tinghai is a land locked strait about three quarters of a mile across—not unlike the Menai in some places. You might be in a moderate sized river ; you have come In through a labrynth of narrow channels, and yOu see to evidence of an open sea. Many a city upon a Chinese river looks more like_a seaport than this famous port and harbour of Tinghai. Nothing can be more picturesque to look upon than the mountains and valleys of this fair island, which now occupies all scope of view upon our left. Gradual elevations, clothed with small hamlets and many couloured vegetation, swell from the strait, affording charming sites for barracks, and hospitals and head-quarter houses. Away behind the interior hills rise into peaks on which the clouds are resting. Narrow gorges and deep valleys run far up inland, offering shady retreats in hot summer months and fertile fields in every season. The least pleasant is the flat on which the city stands. Opposite to the spot where we cast anchor the hills retire from the strait and form an amphitheatre. The interval between their base and the wa - er is a semicircle. Let the hills represent the arc of a strung bow and the strain represent the string. The area between is the swampy marsh upon which the city of Tinghai stands, surrounded by paddy-fields and moist grounds. Just at that point of the string where the archer would fix the notch of his arrow there is a hill which nature seems to have placed there to command and protect the strait: Such is the natural site of the laud at the port of Chusan. Along the shore of the strait, to the full extent of the string of our bow, rues a green embank ment. Yoe would think it a dam thrown up as a protec tion against high tides, but that at regular intervals em hrasures are left. The hill which stands .in the centre o the chord of our arc has been fortified with walls and para pets of stone masonry ; and it is still surmounted by that same josshouse which 17 years ago obtained for it the name of Josshouse Hill. There are stone batteries aiso upon several of the islests; all the narrow channels are thus commanded, and there is a large battery far up the valley. Except that the harbour contains, instead of a Mandarin fleet, some 60 small trading junks, the place Must now look much as it did when our fleet first sailed in—when the Chinese Admiral so feelingly expostulated with us -upon the injustice of revenging insults put upon us by the Cantonese by slaughtering the defenders of those weak intrenchments—when the old man, with a dignity and courage worthy of a better fate, acknowledged that our power was too great to allow him to hope for,sticeess, but declaring that his orders and his duty enjoined him to die at his post, went smiling down the side of our t/ tgship, resigned to meet the doom which too surely awaited him in its most painful form on the morrow. If I recall the memory of these painful scenes it is to protest against 'their recurrence. If these places are to be again occupied let it be done suddenly, before any peremptory orders for a desperate defence can arrive from Pekin, Not that Tinghai is, under proper conditions, incapable of defence. Garrisoned by English troops, .it is difficult to conceive a place more impregnable. Approached by narrow rock-bound channels, covered by com manding heights, and having its own citadel hill, it is formed for a place of strength ; but the Chinese at Chusan seem to have learnt only one lesson from the last war—the inutility of all defences. Yes ; I think they have learnt one other lesson ; it is the British dollars follow hard upon British bayonets. 1 landed and walked along thennabankment ; there was not a gun.. I climbed the dosshouse hill. The masses of masonry that look so imposing from below are all loose blocks which a shot would topple over; still no gun. In the josshouse was an old priest muttering and beating upon his little drum, another smoking his pipe, and a third asleep. A half-starved dog seemed perishing 'Under the same vice of idleness which pervades the place. His diet in a Buddhist temple could not be very succulent, and his skin was worn raw from lying all day long upon the stone floor. - Sloth had eaten into his bones. Two or three Chinamen. sailors from the junks, were venting their "Ey yaw," as they examined the represintatlone of the Buddhist Hell. Not witnout reason, for the joss hcnse at Tinghai is richer than any temple I have seen in ingenious tortures. The kings of Hell sit in judgment like Chinese mandarins. The executioners are braying the victims in morters, boiling them in furnaces, skin ning them with knives, throwing them to tigers, squeezing them between boards, cutting them up and hanging the bits on hooks, beating them with mallets, terms nting them with hot irons—all repre sented in coloured plaster groups with a horrible fidelity of detail, and with an ingenuity of conception as to the instruments employed, which would argue that the Buddhist priests are no contemptible mechanics, and that it is well for the barbarians they are not employed in the invention of warlike tormentarics. No fve, not even the dog, took any notice of :ne. I looked from the top of the hill down into the city of Tinghai, into the suburb which extends from it up to the water side, upon the pagoda and the Art illery-hill, and upon the English tombs which cover the descent of the hill upon which I was standing. Everything was swamp and paddy. Everything had the same listless unprepared, care-abandoned air. There was not a gun visible from the spot, not a muzzle lurking behind auy one of the hundreds of embra• sures which I could count around. A few junks we:o working up the canal or river which runs from the harbour up to the city, and some others were un-. josshouse furniture upon the wharf below me. I had heard men of the last war talk of gravel walks and Parade grounds. European houses and drained spaces. No vestige of any such innovation remains. All is gone back to Chinese notions of propriety—squalid houses for Chinamen to herd in, paddy crops for Chinamen to eat. These paddy-fields were now full of water ; the city also was slightly flooded. The Chinamen seemed to have clustered like dies upon the only foul spot in this beautiful ' I walked down into the English burial ground. The inscriptions have been torn away from the square tomb, and the obelisk had been broken. The Chinese hove crowded , the place with the coffins of their own dead. A fellow who was working there at this " pigeon " addressed me in the jargon they use for English and told me there had been an insurrection in the city two days before. The " soldiers" had a, , :•emble,l from their shops,' and had beaten the Mandarin almost to death because lie had paid them their pay in the new depreciated cash. He ended by a patriotic wish that we English would come and take the island again. His English accpiirements showed that he had found his account in the last occupa tion. If it be our poticy to retake Chusan it may be done without the expenditure of a shot or a life, provided it be done promptly. I know not where else we can find a basis for naval operations upon the coast. It we have to police the Chinese coast, or to hold power in the great inland waters, we must have a large naval depot, and that can be no other than the harbour of Tinghai. It will, however, be a naval depot and no more- Not only past experience, but also all a priori reasoning shows that Chusan can never become a place of great commerce. I had seen enough—enough, at least, for one day. It was raining a drizzling rain and blowing hard I was racked with rheumatism, and tortured by that horrid pestilence which no one can escape, for they are the blossoms of this fl3vvery land—an eruption of boils. I sent into the city for Coolies and a chair to penetrate a little into the interior on the morrow, and I returned on board. The Rosins lay just abreast mi a long low building of European or rather of Anglo-Indian build-11 windows and a verandah. Part of it is now used as a Custom-house. and the rest is dirt and desolation. This was the British hospital. The man who chose that site is guilty of many of the deaths recorded in that graveyard, and also of many of those upon the Cameronian-hill. There are hills and valleys close around where at small labour you misht make a little Eden. If you must be near the dirty town and the Chinese samshoo— which, of all Chinese inventions, is the most deadly to the English soldier—there is the Joashouse Hill. The British hospital is placed upon a level with the swamp, in full reek of the paddy fields, within the circuit of the stench of that filthy suburb, and in a spot where samshoo can be conveniently handed in through every window, yet we wonder in England that Chusan Ives found unhealthy. I had full opportunity of contemplating this place. No s toner had I got on board than the breez4 began a gale, and the misty rain a driving storm. Then rose the tempest—a tempest such as the China seas only can show. It lasted all night, and the next day and the next. During a momentary pause we pass, through one of the narrow islet ehennels, a large screw-steamer, carrying her funnel abefc her mainmast, struggling down under the mainland. Sine one has since said it was the Durance French transport, and that she grounded on the height of the Typhoon. The Shangh2e Shipping List afterwards repeated this latter report. It may bo so, but I doubt it. I believe it was the same steamer I saw two lays later in company with the Capricieuse off Lookong. Sh- might be the Darance, but we did not make her out to be aground or any otherwise in "durance vile." Whatever she was, however, she passed like a spirit on this hurri cane. Outside the typhoon was sweeping the seas and ravaging the coasts. It drove the light ship at the mouth of the fang-tse•Kiang from her moorings, it strewed the junks about in pieces of floating wrecks, it broke down walls, it cast away a three-masted English ship, and lifted a schooner over the sand of the south bank and deposited. her in the paddy-fields. It dammed up the waters of Wang-poo and the Yung, and here in this bay of Chusan it put junks adrift and bands of wreckers upon the alert. The Rosina had ground tackle made for such emergen cies. She drifted at first, but her second anchor brought her up. We were. fortunately in the best harbour on the coast of China. After this experience I have a right to speak well of the harbour of Chusan. On the night of the third day , we sailed forth with a moderate wind and a bright moonlight. SHANGHAI, SEPT 20. Since the R , 2mi started with the mail and my despatch we have the semi-monthly from England with dates to the 2Sth J‘ily. Messrs. Jardine's house. .ia their usual grand seigneur way of doing things, despatch a fast private steamer to overtake the mail, or perhaps to outstrip it. So I have an opportunity for more last words I have nothing to chronicle, however, except the blank disappointment of all the English residents at the news just received. Delhi net fallen, and Lord Palmer ston's Pekin monomania strong upon him. We had hoped that Lord Elgin, sharing, as we all believe he does, the universal feeling here. would have obtained leave to allow the Russians and the French to go up and each get his kick at the mouth of the Pehio, while he stayed south and took Canton. The Russian has got over his twenty days' naval koo-too. The Frenchman comes on very leisurely to take his turn of humiliation. Lord Elgin may now,. 1 suppose, be expected i n a b ou t a fortnight. He also,:with the navy of England, must dance a tt e ndance in a sea of winter tempests while the petty Mandarin at the mouth of the Pekin river is calculating how long he can keep up the exhibition of the humiliation of the "barbarians." Oh! that narrow bine ribband of the Foreign-office. It is harder, and tougher, and stiffer than the red tape of the Cir cum l ocut i on - office; it swathes the energies of nations, while the rsd tape only cripples a clerk. The Emperor has just taken pains, by an ann ouncement in the Pekin Gazett e , to let the world know that he is informed of and approves Yeh's doings at Canton. France and Russia have no casus bell—they have no factories destroyed. no steamers taken and burnt, no proclamation of head money to resent. They have their quarrel to seek, And they go up, therefore, and offer their faces to the smiler. We are in the position of that valorus individual who said. " Sir, you have tweaked my nose, you have kicked In) behind, you have knocked my hat over my eyes I Tale care, sir; you may go too far; you may rouse the sleeping lion Oh for one three months of the elder Pi't!He would have telegraphed—" Take Canton and he'd it n ith your present force." And it would have beta done ; f 'is although the authorities here are afraid of " Her Majesty's Opposition," they are not afraid of Chinamen. With Canton taken. and some gnntoats at Tien sing, we might write our own treaty and have it signed in three months. But no; years, and millions, and perhaps fleets, certainly human lives must be sacrificed is the pedan try of diplomacy. Somehow or other those six black rams who are reputed to be the genii of Canton city seem to have obtained seats in our House of Commons. Then we are told that sailing ships can carry troops faster than steamships, and, judging from the choice made, we are also to believe that regular old wster-bruisers with in different antecedents are better than good screw vessels -1 find that some people here know, or profess to know, something about these ships—what one of them was sold for, and how many times that amount he charter to Ch"na will bring, what happened to another of them, and o on. However, let es hope that they will bring us our 1,500 marines out in time to eat their Christmas Hinter in Canton. RUSSIA. Le Nord publishes the text of the re:cript by which, with the exception of Anapa, Soulthoutn- Kale, and Redoubt-Kale, all other Russian ports on the cost of the Black Sea are closed to the vessels of the other Powers. It is as follows : Since the restoration of peace some doubts may have arisen relative to the navigation and commerce of foreign nations in the Black Sea. It is, therefore, with a view to put an end to doubt on the subject that the Imperial Government deems it advisable to make the following communication to the public, and especially to foreign commerce. As solemnly proclaimed by the Treaty of Paris, the waters and the ports of the Black Sea are open to the commercial navies of all nations. Free from cell restric tions, commerce in the waters and ports of the Black Sea is subject only to regulations of quarantine, customs and police, in a spirit favourable to commercial transactions. Such are the express terms of the Treaty of Paris. It is the intention of the Imperial Government to adhere scrupulously thereto in so far as it is cerncerned. But the regulations for health, customs, and police, however liberal may be the spirit in which they are conceived, renders neceisary measures of surveillance, and along the Asiatic coast of the Black Sea they are doubly necessary in consequence of the internal state of the provinces of the Caucasus. Establishments far quarantine and customs exist at Anapa, Sonkhoum-Kale, and Bedoubt-Kale. Consequently, for the moment, those three points are alone open to foreign vessels. If, eventually, circumstances, should allow the establishment of customs and quarantine offices in other localities on the said coast, and to admit thereto foreign vessels, due notice will be given to commerce. Meantime the approach of the ports, bays, and havens on the Asiatic coast, with the exception of Anapa, Saukhoum-Kale, and Redout-Bale, is prohibited to foreign vessels. To certify the regularity of their destination, foreign vessels are bound to have their ship papers vised by the Russian consular agents. The Imperial Government does not wish in any manner to obstruct or impede the development of licit and regular commercial transactions. It is in the sanitary interest of its coasts, much more than in a fiscal interest — it is in the interert of public order, as beneficial to foreign commercial transactions as to those of the natives them selves, that the Imperial Government will enforce—as it has a perfect right to do—the observance of the restric tions above announced. Any attempt of the masters of foreign ships to communicate with the coast—with the exception of Anapa, Soukhoum-Kale, and Redout-ICale— will, therefore, render it necessary for the Russian autho rities to have recourse to those measures of repression established egainst smugglieg, and against every infringe. e ment of the sanitary laws. Those who expose themselves thereto, must take the consequences of their conduct upon themselves. THE BALTIC. HAMBURG, Nov. 15. Considerable anxiety is manifested here relative to the turn which the general monetary crisis now . pending in various parts of Europe may take. There have been as yet no failures in this city of any consequence, and public credit has been firmly upheld among the principal firms throughout the crisis. The banks here have not withheld their aid in discounting bills at the current rate of from 10 to 101 per cent. on paper of second-rate reputation even, and best bills are discounted at 9 to 9! freely. The hitherto high prices of all kinds of colonial produce, of iron and silk, have undergone a considerable reduction, as the natural conse quence of the great depression experienced. and the desire of many firms to realise some of the heavy stocks on hand, and to meet payments of bills filling due. There has been one instance of failure within the hist few days, in consequence of the chief of the firm, a Mr. Riems Ihneidee, decamp ing suddenly, via Liverpool, to Havannah, leaving bills to the amount of about 150,000 marks banco. Two other minor houses—Messrs. llaussen and Johannsee, and a Mr. Landau, both engaged in the export trade—have also stopped in the regular way. but the united amounts do not exceed 300,000 marks, The queetion of free com petition in trade in Denmark generally, but in Coponhagan in particular, which has hitherto been confined to corporate enactments, has been finally decided upon in the National Diet, and will come iuto operation in the year 1862. We learn from Stockholm that the house of Messrs. Johns and Co. of that city has engaged to supply the loan of 20,000,000 of rix thalers banco to the Government to carry out the railway schemes, at an intereat of 5 5-Oths per cent., and to be liquidated at par in the space of 40 years. M. Mercier, the new French Ambassador, has arrived at Stockholm, and had presented his cre dentials to the Crown Prince Regent. The health of the King had somewhat improved. SPAIN. The Madrid journals of the 12th mention a rumour that Admiral Armero is about to resign the Ministry of War, and to take that of Marine, retain.- in g the Presidency of the Council ; and that one or two of the Vicalvarist (O'Donnell's) party were to be introduced into the Cabinet. The Espana says • that Mr. Dodge. the United Stites Minister at Madrid, has sent in his resignation, but that he has done so entirely from the state of health of his family, and other private considerations. Rumours of forged notes of 200 reals of the Bank of Spain being current are declared by the Espana to be unfounded. A Royal decree . suppresses the general direction of the Marine, and makes some changes in the constitu Lion of that department. The Gazette notifies the the Ministers of Finance, Interior, and Public Works have ceased to act as directors of credit. companies. All the troops of the garrison had manoeuvred in the presence of the King and the Duke de Montpensier. The Directors of the Bank of Spain had deliberated on the propriety of raising the rate of discount, but had come to the resolution to maintain it at its present figure of five per cent. Some foreigners are stated to be trying to create THE CHINESE DIFFICULTY. The Overland China Mail of the'; sth September says : —" In Hongkong the great event of the fortnight has been the re-arrival of Lord Elgin, and speculation tas been rife as to his intended proceedings. Whatever course he may deem it proper to pursue, one thing we beg earnestly to protest against, vlz., the partial blockade of the river now enforced by Admiral Seymour, and which is driving away from this colony all the little trade it ever possessed. The injuries it is doing becomes mere apparent every day ; and it would almost seem as if the Chinese had entered into a combination to have no business transactions whatever with Hongkong while the present state of affairs continues." The Russian plenipotentiary hed called at Shanghai, after having visited the Peiho, and had returned thither to receive a reply to the notification of his mission, which he had forwarded to Pekin. - TRIESTE, Nov. 15. The French embassy has arrived at Siqnatcore. The embassy from Russia ha 3 not been rec3ivad at Pekin, WRECK OF THE DUNBAR AT SYDNEY HEADS. NARRATIVE BY THE ONLY SURVIVOR. • Oa the 20th of August, says Johnson, the sole survivor, the ship sighted Botany Bey. Up to that date the voyage hal been prosperous. We carried the same sail throughout until we made the land at Botany. All hands saw the lard distinctly. Af er that. the captain ordered 113 to close reef the topsails, and we were close hauled to • the wind. .We were close to the wind, and lying about N.E. and by N., and lying along the coast. At the time we made this land, to the best of my opinion, we were about ten or twelve miles off, and the ship had her starboard tacks aboard. We had no topgallaatsails, and we had three reefs in the main and four reefs in the foretopsail. The mizentopsail was stowed, and the spanker was broiled up. The innerjih, and the maintopmaet•staysail, were taken in. The weither was equally, with thick rain. When we made the land at Botany, we kept on our course. This was between six and seven o'clock, and when night came on we still kept. our course, and shortly afterwards we saw the Sydney light. I saw it about seven o'clock, shortly after getting supper. It, is my impression that she had not got enough sail on. her to prevent her making leeway. Copt.' Green was on the deck. Tney were not shaking the ship up into the wind, but keeping her Blear fell. The chief officer was on the poop likewise. The watch on deck went below according to orders, and were relieved at 8 o'clock. It was raining hard. The light was only seen at intervals, but distinctly. It is a revolving light. I was on deck at eight- o'clock. The captain remained on - deck when the watch was relieved, and gave orders the same as usual. Everything was attended to, and his orders were punctually obeyed. Everything wrnt straightforward, and there was no annoyance of any kind. We stood along the course till we fetched the light up to the lee miZnt. rigging. 'rite vessel was not labouring ; she came to her helm willingly. One man only was at the wheel until.we began, to square yards, when two men were sent there. The lee m'zen rigging was on the port side of the ship. The captain was on the weather side of the deck. He had no nicht glass, but the second mete had a case of-what we call opera glasses. When the light was hrouteht to bear upon the lee mizen rigging all hands were piped up by the boatswain. The hands turned up. The boatswain sung out. for "all hands to wear ship." These were the words that were passed along. The usual orders were given. When we canoe on deck orders were given to square away the yards. It was blowing very fresh in squalls, with thick small rain. It was about 11 o'clock when the hands were called up: There were two men on the fore castle, with the third mate, on the look-oat for the land. The third mate was on the forecastle with t h . two men, • and the second mate was afterwards sent there also. The captain sang out, " Do you see anythintz of the North Head?" and.the mate said "No ; I see nothing of it." I was on the poop at the time standing by the braces. She had the light a bit on her port bow when I saw it at this time. Then the captain sung out to the man at the wheel to keep his Ina . ; tbe yards were about a point or so to port. I heard these words ; it was done. The course of ! the ship was changed a small bit by this. • Shortly after • this the second mate sung out, " Breakers ahead." - This was a few minutes afterwards The captain sung out. to the man at the wheel to port his helm. We were all at the braces. He told us to hard in the port braces, and brace the yards sharp up. It was done, and done quickly, without delay. There were thirh-on able sramen iq each watch. There was no want of hands. We were well manned, and we could see the light; it appeared right over us. I heard no further orders given. A few minutes after we hauled the yards round—abont two minutes after—she went side on to the rocks. She was trying to stretch out to the eastward, For head lying along the teed to the north ; then we struck. On Friday, August 21, at half-past seven in the morn ing, a pilot first discovered that a vessel had been wrecked near the lighthouse. Captain Wisem In, of the steamship Grafton. entered the Heads at half-past nine o'clock, and from the floating fragments about the Headi, saw that a vessel had gone ashore, and brought to Sydney the alarm ing tidings at ten a.m. Without delay many persons proweied to the wreck. Vehicles were engaged, and hundreds, notwithstanding the state of the weather, went on foot to the scene of the disaster, six miles from Sydney. An awfal spntacle presented itself before their eyes. The waves, agitated by the fury of the storm, threw the mutilated bodies of the dead upon the rocks—now bearing them back into the deep, and now hurling them back again on the crest of the wave. Johnson has given a clear account of his own preserva tion. He states that the tnizenmast went first, and then the mainmast ; that he was on the poop when the vessel struck, and was thrown down. He th ,a caught hold of a stanchion ; Wien that give way he made for the cabin, but the rushing in of the water prevented his passing through, as he intenied. He then went below, and got out of the skylight to leeward, and up the side of the chain plates of the fore rig.gh:g. These being broken, ho was thrown over, holding by the chain plates which hell some of the fore p'anks together. Johnson remembers that several seainPu were near him; one (the old boatswain), will said to him, " We shall have a watery grave." V Iv a J s o e h n n a s b o l n e a h a t % o •l n o b g t a f i o ri u n s cl o m h l e m s s l e l e l f l t ( c r n b a e h s i h n e d l f a o f p i t .o h j e , c ro i o ck u: and there ho slept. When the morning broke he saw the wreck and the bodies of his late companions. Pe endeavoured to make signals. but was unXscovered• He uttered cries, but the belling ocean prevented them being heard. A careful search was, however, making. Every projection spot was occupied by sp-ctators where there was a chance of seeing any object below. At last a cry was heard— " There is a man upon the rocks I'' . A rope was lowered without delay. After some failures it was brought u o p f , tl s m oi r n o e ck t s v‘io lni h t u h n a d v r i e n d g e f n e t e w t, in a e n d d th w e a r s op r e ee n e •l i t y l e ; d sea b m y a t n h 's e skid around him, he gave the signal, and he was drawn i p a o n s d s e i b r I , eto Antoine approach w oii oilier, a w b i Ao t h t:. i tt n e3r h o i hh s ios crowd with cries of gratulation and joy. He had passed oce J u o r h r n e s d o s n uc is h a as na a t l i n v . e ay o s f Drogheda, in Ireland ; is about 23 years of ace. excites the enthusiasm of an Eaglish people. it was irli manb:ra' S7dney, offered to descend. He was lowered by a rope from that dreadful height, and continued more than half an hour in his search. Nothing was discovered, and p s p e r a e . n t i A c e n adventuroust o a je well jeweller l e n - Woll'er was drawn up in rarety amidst the shonts of the crowd. The Mayor of Sydney. at the suggestion of Captain Loring, of Her Majesty's ship Iris, opened. a subscription on the spot, and presented him with .elO as an acknowledgment of his intrepidity. In answer to the congratulations of the mayor, he said, "he did not go down for money, but for the feelings of his heart." A. considerable sum has been added by the merchants to this subscription. a reach.tir ress cupeo nalthheieleci. wasl e rocks.n t . danger from The Paris letters mention two mercantile failures, the firms being Bourdom du Baat and Co. and Ponson philippe and Vibert. Liabilities, especially of the latter, are rather extensive.