The Press.
London, England, 1855-05-26 00:00:00

THE WAR.

KA despatch received from Vienna yesterday states
that a conference will be held to morrow (this day)
without the Russian plenipotentiaries; and another
an Monday, at which those Plenipotentiaries will
probably be present.
The Kreuz Zeitung reports that the Austrian me-
diatory proposal is—that Russia and Turkey settle
between themselves the number of war-ships in
pontus by separate treaty, stipulating that England
and France be permitted to have there two war-
ships each; Turkey to undertake to bring this sepa-
rate treaty to the knowledge of the allies.

Advices from St. Petersburg to the 19th state that
all the fortified harbours in the Bay of Finland had
declared in a state of siege.
Seven prizes taken by the English arrived at
Elsinore on the 22nd.

From Bayazid we learn that the Czar had forcibly
incorporated in the Russian army the Armenians
and the Kurds.

The Journal de Constantiuople says, that in the
affair before Sebastopol of the Ist inst. the Russians,
after being repulsed three times, refused the orders
to advance, which disobedience was punished with
great severity.

The departure of Reschid Pacha from Constanti
nople, as Ambassador to the Vienna Conferences, had
been officially postponed sine die. The reason for
this determination of the Sultan was not known ; but
the fact itself induced the friends of the late Minister
to hope that he would soon be again placed at the
head of the Turkish Administration.

The Emperor Napoleon reviewed some troops on
Wednesday, after which his Majesty distributed
crosses and medals to the most deserving, amidst the
acclamations of all present. The Empress was a
spectator of the animated scene from a balcony in
the immediate neighbourhood.

The law relative to the sale of the Church lands
in Spain is to come into effect on June 1.
A military revolt took place at Saragossa on the
22d inst. by some Carlist soldiers belonging to a
cavalry regiment shouting through the public
thoroughfares " Long live the King !" The Queen's
troops were immediately ordered out in pursuit.

A public meeting was held at Sydney on the 22nd
of February, over which Sir W. Denison presided,
when 0,0001. was subscribed towards the Patriotic
Fund. Of this some 11,000/. was contributed by
Daniel Cooper, Esq., Sydney.
News from the Cape has been received to the 4th
of April. The Cape Parliament was engaged with
the question of re-establishing a steam postal ser-
vice with England. The colony was tranquil. The
export of wool was expected to be very large this
year.

Yesterday morning, shortly before four o'clock, la
fire of a most extensive character broke out on the
premises of Mr. Alfred Smith, wholesale brush
manufacturer, of Wentworth-street, Spitalfields,
which resulted in the total destruction of a large
building and the whole of the valuable contents.
The total loss has been estimated at 10,000!. The
calamity has thrown a number of industrious per-
sons out of employ.

1499

FESTIVAL OF THE SONS OF THE CLERGY.
THE 201st anniversary of this valuable corporation
was celebrated on Wednesday. Divine service was
performed in the afternoon in St. Paul's Cathedral,
when an impressive sermon was delivered to a
crowded congregation by the Rev. C. A. Thurlow,
rector of Malpas and Chancellor of the diocese of
Chester, and followed by a substantial collection of
upwards of 1001. The service was attended by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Right Hon. the Lord
I Mayor, Mr. Alderman Farebrother, the Bishops of
Oxford, St. David's, St. Asaph, Winchester, &c. The
usual annual festival was held in the evening at the
Merchant Taylor's-hall, the Lord Mayor presiding.
In reply to the toast of "The Vice-Presidents of
the Institution," the Lord Chancellor, as a clergy-
man's son, expressed his sympathy with the objects
of the corporation, and promised his utmost co-
operation in forwarding its ends. The Bishop of
Oxford, in acknowledging the toast of " The
Stewards," paid a graceful compliment to the
memory of Sir It. H. Inglis, the late treasurer of
the institution, and urged that the quiet method in
which deserving applicants were relieved, without
the publication of their needs, was a distinguishing
and meritorious feature of the institution. The
collection, which produced, with the exception of
1853, more than on any other occasion, amounted,
including legacies, to nearly 3,0001.

THE rumour of the resignation of Count Nesse--
rode as Russian Chancellor of State, and of the
appointment of Prince Yermaloff to be his successor,
proves to be unfounded.

ONE of the Black Ball line of paekets—theFortune
—from Liverpool to Sydney, with 290 passengers on
board, was driven into Dundrum Bay on Saturday.
A scene of confusion ensued after the vessel stranded,
the emigrants, who were mostly of the operative
classes, being at the time in bed, and two of them
were unfortunately killed, but the remainder of the
passengers were landed in safety, and located in
Dundrum and the vicinity.
SIR R. I. MeacifisoN has received the appointment
of Director of the Geological Survey, vacant by the
death of Sir Henry de la Beche, and the salary of
which is returned in the estimates as 800/.
His EXCELLENCY THE LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRE-
LAND has appointed Mrs. Spence, widow of a gallant
sergeant of the 41st Regiment, who was killed at
Inkermann, a class matron in Grangogorman.
OFFICIAL INFORMATION has reached the British
Consul at Elsinore that the Russian Government had
given orders to sink all their men-of-war at Cronstadt,
except eight sail of the line.
FROM a return just issued by the House of Com-
mons, it appears that on the 31st March last
750,207/. I (is. Md. was due in respect of loans advanced
to West India islands for losses by insurrection, and
other islands for losses by hurricanes.
THE salaries of the magistrates of the eleven me-
tropolitan police-courts, twenty three in number, are
now raised from 1,0001. to 1,2001. Formerly the al-
lowance was only SOU ; it was then raised to 1,0001.,
and now 2001. per annum is added to it.
THE REV. J. R. BARBER, D.D., chaplain of the
parish of Lambeth, has been elected chaplain of the
General Lying-in Hospital, York-road, Lambeth.
Patron, her Most Gracious Majesty.
THE REV. J. Glum, M.A., senior fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge, was on Tuesday elected Profes-
sor of Moral Philosophy in that university, in the
room of Dr. Whewell, resigned.

FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE.
Tuesday, May 22.

BANKRUPTCY ANNULLED. HENRY HottANn, Liser•
pool, merchant.
BAN KRUPTS.—Atratn DtxoN Toovvi and .losem WYATT,
Aldermanbury, City, wholesale stationers—HAiteic r TOWNSEND,
Charles street (not Chattdos•street, as stated in last Friday's
Gazette), Mt. James's, Westminster, poulterer—HENHT THOMAS,
Walsall, Stafford, saddler—ALPßED CHEADLE and FREDEMC
CHEADLE, Stone, Stafford, drapers—HENßY THOMPSON, Ilke•
pious, Derby, tailor —SANYtt. CLAY, Wakefield, millowner
THOMAS SEPHTON, Prescott, Lancaster, licensed victualler—
DAVID Hyalite, Held, Merloueth, draper—RicnA HD HART, West
Hartlepool, Durham, wine merchant.
SCOTCH SEqu ESTRATIONS.—ALEXANDIR Hcwtrr, Glas-
gow, baker—CAPTAIN JOHN M'GREGON DRUMMOND (deceased),
late of the 82nd Hegt., Crleff—O RANT AND CO., Hanff, merchants
—Attx. PEDLN, jun., (deceased), Newmilus, Loudon, Ayr,
cabinet maker.

Friday, May '2-5.
BANKRUPTCY ANNULLED.—J. APPLETOIe, Summerford-
grove, Stoke Newington-toad, dealer in Sour and cowkeeper.
BANKRUPTS.—\f. J. Porshaweht. and R. Gorr, late of
Lime-street, City, merchanta—J. MARTYR, Union-street, South-
wark, ironmonger—T. AMOR, late of Counaught-terrace. Edge-
ware-road, auctioneer J. and G. BARTON, BMUghlOll, 1111111CIICS-
ter, copper-roller makers—J. and B. Wimion, Manchester,
tailors—W. CoMELY, Ben., Tipton, Staffordahlre, brickmaker—
C. MASSINOHAM, Birmingham, wholesale jeweller—J. llt.strnt,
Torquay, innkeeper—T. HEwirr, Ormakirke, Lancashire,
grocer—J. WILLIAMS, St. AMpll,
Manchester, manufacturing chemist—S. T. BLooonrr,
port, linendraper —W. Jonits, late of Manchester, glass,
colour merchant—C. HUDSON, High-street, Southwark,
H. HIRSCH/IEIIO, Cheapside, merchant, and
goods—J. BLAkEWAY, Birmingham, and
shire, lamp manufacturer—J. Penni, "
mason—A. ATCHESON, Cheethaw, near
spirit merchant.

De
T. BLooonrr, De on-
anchester, glass, oil, il
est, Southwark.
and importer of &Argil
id Yardley, Worcester-
Wolverhampton, stone
Manchester, wins and

Nittraturt.

NEW NOVELS.
ACCORDING to geologists there is a principle in
nature by which life is continually tending to
higher forms. How delightful it would be,
and to the critic especially, if a like principle
prevailed in regard to manifestations of the
intellect in individual minds, and if the latest
births of time were always the best. We
should then have the pleasing task of congra-
tulating authors on a perceptible advance in
their successive productions, and Should be
spared the ungracious duty of whispering into
many a loved and honoured ear such honest
counsel as Gil Bias tendered to his patron the
archbishop. In some departments of intellect,
and particularly those which exercise the rea-
soning powers, the mind often retains its
clearness and vigour to the last. But in what
concerns the imagination there is usually a
period of ripe fruition, a distinctly-marked
epoch to which we can refer the most perfect
intellectual oroductions of their author, and
past which the process of decay commences.
We know no exception to the rule, save in the
case of those—shall we call them most blest or
most unfortunate ?—who left the tale of their
lives half told—whose genius was suddenly
extinguished when it had attained what, to
judge by its splendour, must have been its
meridian—and who left exams les only of its
continual ascent in the heaven of invention.
For the rest, from Homer to Walter Scott,
genius seems to obey some such law as regu-
lates the vigour of physical life, and harshly
as " Quod fuimus lauda" may sound, we are
often compelled to remember it when perusing
the works of old favorites.
There is enough in Mrs. Marsh's new novel*
to justify the fame she has gained as one of
the most original and pathetic writers of fic-
tion in modern day. In eloquence and senti-
ment the work may vie with her best tales ;
but in the inventive portion there are marks of
the exaggeration into which all mannered
writers are apt to fall when the freshness of
their fancy has worn oil. Mrs. Marsh, for
example, was always inclined to dwell too
much on that hot-house kind of culture in
humanity which if real is yet exceptional,
which imparts to children the feelings and
susceptibilities of men and women, and con-
nects all the struggles and distresses of exist-
ence with bread-and-butter and muslin. The
heroine of this book is introduced to us in the
nursery, of course. When informed that by
the death of her father she has become a great
heiress, the amiability of her infantile charac-
ter is portrayed by her preferring her old doll
to a promised new one :
" Great what I Heiress I What's that ? I'm not great—
I'm very little, still. Look, what little arms I have—why,
they're not bigger than Miss Dolly's arms, I do declare.
I wish I knew what you were talking about, Nursy. Miss
Aubrey lam ? I don't like Miss Aubrey. I'm Imogene.
1 like to be Imogene."
"Oh I but you'll like better to be Miss Aubrey, won't
you? and ride in a coach and four, and have two footmen
with powdered hair, and canes in their hands, hanging be-
hind, and rosettes and ribbons as long as my arm at the
horses heads. . . . And, bless me, Miss Aubrey, you
must part with that nasty old dull ; it's not for such as
you to play with such a filthy old thing as that."
Imogene hugged her doll to her honest little heart.
" But I love Dully, Nursy, because everybody's cross to
her and calls her ugly but me."
" Oh, but you musn't give in to such fancies, now. You'll
have lots of beautiful wax dolls, now, and you maid throw
that dreadful thing away to the dogs."
" Dolly," said the little girl, looking into the face of her
hroken-cheeked old friend, " don't you be afraid—never
mind what Nursy says—l won't let you be thrown to the
dogs, that I won't, and! won't love the beautifullest wax doll
that ever was born in the world better than you. No, that I
won't. Go, lie you there, and don't be afraid, and I'll get
you up and dress you as soon as Nursy has done me."
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
The heart of Nurse swelled—

IL 11C Lion.. va a..••
" And ain't it a heart of gold ?" she said, ns she lifted
her little treasure from the bed, with a xiss so honest, that
fora moment all the visions of her own and Miss Aubrey's
grand- trrforgoaaeitr
1U si • asOhlittieftl fiber on, when the child
is : .- • lef;sl4 /jietipsitta state coffin, and told
4444 e
of • ;14ivatt rideur.,atetihat she shall wear a
go ' ifs ' lta•iiskslinlX for " legs of mutton,
" • ? d lit: - , itieass of breall, and pudding too,"
th•'' •.•. • ‘• ofaot the, hungry people who
* ••7`. e • ' • bon. By the Author of " Emilia
Wyndheitil: loud*: Thirst and Blackett.