The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-16 00:00:00

SCOTTISH EDUCATION.

The committee on this bill was proceeded with on
Thursday at the morning sitting, only noticeable
from a promise given by Lord PraurEairrori, that
while the bills did not affect the Roman Catholic and
Episcopalian schools, these last should participate
more largely than heretofore in the grant of the
Privy Council. This announcement secured the sup-
port of the Irish members.

CONSTITUTIONS OF VICTORIA AND NEW
SOUTH WALES.
The second reading of the two bills for the pur-
pose of affirming the constitutions framed by the
Legislatures of these two colonies, was moved on
Thursday by Lord Joint RUSSELL. Exceptions were
taken to both of them much on the same grounds.
The opposition to the first was opposed by Mr. BELT,
and Mr. MIALI„ who confined their objections to the
fact that it included an annual grant of 60,0001. for

religions endowments.
Mr. LnwE took a wider view of the subject, con-
tending that the bill violated two wholesome rules—
one that Parliament should not legislate when the
colonies were capable of legislating for themselves ;
the other that the colonies should not legislate on
matters of imperial jurisdiction.
Mr. J. BALL said that the Colonial Legislature was
answerable for all details which it had the power of
altering, and in which it would not be becoming for
the house to interfere. The bill was founded on the
precedent established for Canada, and as the consti
tution of a legislature passed under special power
given to it, it would be unwise and fruitless.
Mr. Adderley, Sir J. Pakington, and Ur. Duffy
continued the debate.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL replied to the objections
against the bill as informal, showing, by technical
arguments, how it, woukl be made both formal in tide
country and legal in the colony. He approved highly
of the measure, as large and liberal. The civil-list
might be too high, but the colony could reduce it.
Alter some slight further discussion, Mr. BELL-
withdrew his opposition, and the bill was read
second tame.
The second bill, that for New South Wales, was
also opposed by Mr. Low, who carried his objection
to a division, on which the second reading of the
bill was adopted by l4tt to 83 votes—majority, 109.
DECIMAL COINAGE.
Mr. BROWN, on Tuesday, moved resolutions
approving of the experiment of the tiorin as satis-
factory, that the decimal system should be further
extended, and that an address should be presented
to her Majesty praying for its completion. The
plan he propoiled was the adoption of the pound
sterling as the unit of value, retaining the florin,
shilling, and sixpence, as decimal parts of the pound,
and altering only the copper coinage, for which he
substituted " sent& " and the we, of courstp,

562

the hundredth part, the other the thousandth part,
of the pound. He cited the names of the high
authorities in England who had recommended the
decimal system, and the foreign countries that had
adopted it.
Lord STANLEY, in seconding the motion, added to
the list of authorities, and defended the particular
mode of carrying out the decimal coinage adopted
by Mr. Brown. A system which took the penny for
a standard would make the highest coin only Bs. 4d.,
a coin too low for practical use. He denied that the
alteration would cause any serious inconvenience, or
that the depreciation of the penny by one twenty-
fifth its present value would greatly affect commerce.
Most articles sold at a penny were liable to much
fluctuation, and the alteration would only introduce
one additional element.

Mr. J. B. SMITH moved that " a congress of the
representatives of all nations should be invited to
agree in a common standard of moneys, weights, and
measures." He objected to the proposed plan that
in placing a decimal system of money by the side of
a duodecimal system of weights it would introduce
great difficulty in the sale of small articles. He
urged, in favour of his proposition, that many
nations had already agreed on a uniform standard.
f Mr. LOWE, in a humorous speech, detailed the
difficulties which the lower orders would have to
undergo in making mental calculations on decimal
fractions. He thought that the new coins could
never come into general circulation, and that the
convenience to the rich would be a grave inconve•
nience to the poor.
Mr. JOHN MACGREGOR argued on the advantages
which the French had realised from their adoption
of the decimal system.

THohtsoN HANKEY declaimed against the ab
surdities of our system of weights, which were the
ndicule and astonishment of foreigners. He had
authority for saying that if the hundredweight con-
sisted of 100 lbs. instead of 112 lbs., the saving to
the Customs alone in keeping accounts would be
10,000/. a year.
Mr. J. 1.. RICARDO was in favour of the measure,
and exposed the fallacies of Mr. Lowe, who had
attempted to show that complicated decimal calcula
tions would be required, when, in fact, they would be
utterly unnecessary.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER detailed the
several propositions which had been made for the
establishment of a decimal system, and showed the
practical difficulties which would result from the
present proposition, the inconveniently small size
of the cent and mil, the perplexities of a coinage
incommensurate with the present penny, and the
derangement of existing tolls and duties and rates
of interest. Our present coinage was bound up with
many acts of Parliament, and a distinct act would be
necessary to alter it. An address would only pledge
the faith of the house, without answering the pur-
pose. He moved the withdrawal of the motion,
promising the most careful consideration of the
subject.

Mr. CARDWELL did not think that the time had
come when the change could he carried into effect,
considering the large class of interests with which
we had to deal. It was necessary to prepare the
public mind for changes which interfered so ex-
tensively with every class of interests, public and
private. Great progress had been made in the sub-
ject, especially in the scientific part, but it was little
understood by the mass of the people, and to force
it upon them would involve them in great confusion.
Lord PALMERSTON urged Mr. Brown to rest satis-
fied with the discussion and to withdraw his motion,
but he refused to do more than withdraw the final
resolution for an address to the Crown. The first
resolution—approving of the florin—was then car-
ried by 135 to 56 ; the second—recommending the
extension of the system—was agreed to without a
division.

ON the voyage to England the Simla experienced
some heavy weather in the Bay of Biscay, in which
the horses suffered severely, and some, including a
charger of General Scarlett, became unmanageable.
A valuable mare was so very bad that a pistol was
got ready to shoot her to end her misery, when a
Russian officer recommended a Cossack prisoner to
be sent, for, as he was a " juggler," and could, by
charms, cure any malady i i a horse. He was sent
for, and immediately said he could cure it at once.
He was closely watched, but the only thing they
could observe him do was to take his sash off, and
tie a knot in it three several times. However, the
mare in a few minutes got on her feet and began to
eat heartily, and rapidly recovered.
- • -
-

- -
THE reports last brought to hand from the principal
districts for the manufacture of our textile fabrics
generally advise a very quiet state of trade. A better
feeling, however, prevails, and anticipation of greater
activity is still indulged. The accounts from some
of the foreign markets are rather more favorable.
The state of the market for raw cotton caused trade
at Manchester to be unsettled.

THE PRESS.

THE WAR.

In our late edition of Saturday last we announced
the capture of the Mamelon and some other outworks
defending the Malakoff Bastion by the French, and
the almost contemporaneous taking of the " quarries "
by the British forces. These successes are more
minutely detailed in the following telegraphic
despatches :
From Lord Raglan :

Crimes, June 8.

The success of last night was very complete, and the
gallantry and steadiness of the troops cannot be too highly
spoken of. The French succeeded in securing the works
of the Mamelon and those on its right called the Ouvrages
Blanes ; in those they took sixty-two guns, including eight
cohorns, and four hundred prisoners. Nothing could be
more brilliant than the advance of our allies. We have lost
about four hundred men in killed and wounded.
From General Pelissier
- -

June 9.

The situation is the same as yesterday.
All the demonstrations of the enemy against the con-
quered works have been fruitless.
They have abandoned the so-called battery of the 2nd
May ; they have also completely abandoned to us the right
shore of Careening Bay.
The vessels in port have sought refuge in Artillery Bay,
where our large mortars can reach them.
We are watching them attentively.
June 10.

The combat of the 7th of June was more advantageous
for us than I had at first announced. It placed in our
hands 502 prisoners (of which number twenty are officers),
and seventy-three pieces of cannon.
June 11.

We are consolidating ourselves in the new works. We
have been able to fire with the Russian mortars on their
ships, which have gone still further off.
We are preparing new batteries.

The loss of the English in the affairs of the 7th
and Bth inst. were, 122 killed, 670 wounded, and 15
missing. The following is a nominal list of the
officers who suffered on those days :
KlLLED.—Captain Muller, 2nd Battalion Royals ;
Lieutenant Lawrence, 34th Regiment ; Lieutenant
Stone, 55th Regiment; Lieutenant-Colonel Shear-
man, 62nd Regiment; Major Dickson, 62nd Regi-
ment ; Lieutenant Machell, 02nd Regiment ; Captain
Forster, 62nd Regiment; Major Bayley, 88th Regi•
ment ; Captain Corbett, 88th Regiment; Captain
Wray, 89th Regiment; Lieutenant Lowrey, Royal
Engineers.
WOUNDED.—Captain M. Adye, R.A. ; Lieutenant
Evans, 19th Regiment; Lieutenant and Adjutant
Padfield, 20th Regiment; Captain Pennefather, 30th
Regiment ; Captain John Peel, 34th Regiment ;
Captain esthead, 34th Regiment ; Lieutenant
Saunders, 34th Regiment; Major Villiers, 47th
Regiment; Captain Lowndes, 47th Regiment; Major
Armstrong, 49th Regiment ; Captain Le Merchant,
49th Regiment; Lieutenant Young, 49th Regiment ;
Lieutenant Eustace, 49th Regiment ; Lieutenant
Dickson, 77th Regiment; Captain Maynard, 88th
Regiment ; Lieutenant Kenny, 88th Regiment :
Lieutenant Mackesy, 97th Regiment; Lieutenant
Bellew, 2nd Battalion Ist Royals ; Lieutenant Stewart,
2nd Battalion Ist Royals ; Lieutenant Irby, 47th
Regiment; Captain Ambrose, 3rd Regiment; Lieu-
tenant Colonel Campbell, 90th Regiment ; Captain
Hunter, 47th Regiment ; Lieutenant Boyd, 17th
Regiment ; Lieutenant Trent, 48th Regiment ;
Lieutenant Breedon, 3rd Regiment; Captain A.
Gordon ; Lieutenant Legge, 2nd Battalion Ist Royals ;
Major Mills, 7th Regiment; Captain Turner, 7th
Regiment; Lieutenant Jones, 7th Regiment; Lieute-
nant J. F. Jones, 7th Regiment; Lieutenant Waller,
7th Regiment ; Captain Dixon, 41st Regiment :
Lieutenant Scott, 55th Regiment; Captain Ingall,
62nd Regiment ; Captain Gilby, 77th Regiment ;
Lieutenant Grier, 88th Regiment; Lieutenant An-
derson, 96th Regiment; Assistant-Engineer E. J. R.
Keen.

The allied troops occupying the valley of Kamara,
on the banks of the Tschernaya, amount to fifty
thousand men. They have wood and water in
abundance. The aqueduct that leads to the Ca-
reen age, and which was diverted by the allies to
deprive Sebastopol of water, has been repaired for
the service of the camp. General Bosquet was to
invest the north side of Sebastopol at the head of
his corps d'armie.
The latest accounts state that six thousand English
troops were to join General Canrobert on the
Tschernaya. The Piedmontese were fortifying the
position on the Tschernaya, and building bridges.
Prince Gortschakoff, dating June 8, thus reports
on the assault of the previous evening
The allies kept up a very heavy bombardment on the Bth
and 7th, until six o'zlock in the evening, when three French
divisions advanced and attacked Redoubt No. 7. They
took the redoubt on the Manielon (Kamschatka), and the
two redoubts (Selinghinak and Volhynia), near Cartening
Bay, and also a battery between Selinghinak and Bastion
No. 1.

SATURDAY,

Our troops retook the Mamelon redoubt, but the French,
strongly reinforced, again attacked, and took It once more.
In the end we were masters of the battery (i.e. the one
between Selinghinsk and Bastion No. 1), the French hold-
ing a lodgement from whieh we hope to repel them.
Our troops fought nobly, and the result is that the enemy's
loss exceeds ours. He has lost 2,5u0, and we have made
273 men and seven officers prisoners. We have also taken
two guns.

The expedition to the Sea of Azoff was proceeding
with unintermittent success. Captain Lyons, of the
Miranda, and Captain Sedaiges report that the naval
operations against Taganrog, Marioupol, and Gheisk,
which took place on the 9rd, sth, and Bth of June,
have perfectly succeeded. The public buildings and
numerous Government magazines of provisions have
been burnt, and thus an immense loss of supplies
has been inflicted on the enemy. The operations
were conducted with great vigour and rapidity. The
allied forces had only one man wounded, although
opposed by about 3,500 soldiers at Tangarog.
A telegraphic message was received at the Ad-
miralty on Tuesday, announcing that the Russians
had evacuated Anapa, and were supposed to have
crossed the Kouban. 'I he Circassians were in the
place.
At the date of the 3rd of June, the French troops
in Kertch were fortifying it vigorously, and it was ex-
pected that operations by land would commence from
this place as soon as sufficiently numerous reinforce-
ments had arrived. Admiral Brunt had given orders
to a part of his fleet to reconnoitre Batoum.
Allied troops were collecting with all possible
speed in Gallipoli and Maslak. It was said that they
are to be brought up to the strength of 45,000 men.
The Russian interests, according to a despatch
from Admiral Bruat, are "gravely compromised" in
the diminution of the Sea of Azoff. The corn des-
, troyed in that sea has been estimated at 18,000,000 f.
in value, and the number of vessels 040, besides
steamers.

Taganrog, at the mouth of the Don, bad in 1842 a
population of 22,472 souls; Marioupol, on the north
shore of the Sea of Azoff, had 4,603 ;n 1852 ; Berdi.
anski, also on the north shore, 6,498 in 1849. Gheisk
(or Eisk, or Jeisk) was built on the south shore
since 1849, and opened to foreign commerce for the
first, time in 1852; it has already 8,000 inhabitants.
The foreign commerce of Rostow, on the right bank
of the Don, began in 1837 ; it has already 10,803
inhabitants.
The following official despatches have been re-
ceived :

_
Before Sebastopol, May 29, 1855.
Sir Edmund Lyons's telegraphic despatch of the 25th,
which was forwarded from hence on the morning of the
27th, and one from me that immediately followed, will
have informed your lordship that the allied expedition to
Kertch reached its destination on the morning of the 24th,
and the troops having landed without delay, and the war
steamers drawing little water having pushed on towards
Kertch and Yenikale, that all the objects in contemplation
were accomplished in twenty-four hours without any resis-
tance on the part of the enemy, who blew up the fortifica-
tions on both sides of the passage, and retired, thus leaving
us masters of the Sea of Azoff, to be speedily occupied by
a French and English flotilla.
I hale now the honour to lay before you a copy of the
report of Lieutenant-General Sir G. Brown, commanding
the allied troops ; and in congratulating your lordship,
which I do most cordially, on the complete success of the
operation, I have the greatest satisfaction in drawing your
attention to the promptitude with which the disembarka-
tion was effected, to the efficient measures taken by the
lientenant-general t o insure his position ai.d attain the
objects in view, and to the just tribute which he pays in his
interesting narrative to the judicious arrangements of Ad-
mirals Bruat and Sir E. Lyons, and to the zeal and energy
displayed by the officers and men of the allied fleets in
carrying them out under their vigilant superintendence, as
well as to the cordial co-operation and assistance of General
Dantemarre, commanding the French division, and Res-
chid Pasha, commanding the Turkish troops.
Nothing material has occurred in front of the new posi-
tion taken up by the allies on the morning of the 25th.
The enemy have made no movement from the high ground
towards the advance, but they have displayed a considerable
force to-day on the Inkermann heights.
Convoys continue to arrive on the north side of Se-
bastopol.
A further portion of the Sardinian contingent has arrived
under General de la Marmora's brother, the details of which
T have not yet received.
JUNE 2.—The reports which have been received from
Kertch since I had the honour of writing to your lordship
on the 29th May are of the most satisfactory character.
Five vessels laden with corn had come into Kertch, in
ignorance of the capture of the place, and bad fallen into
the hands of the allies.
The French and English squadron had appeared before
Berlianski, and the enemy in consequence destroyed four
of their war-steamers, and considerable depots of corn.
They than exchanged a cannonade with the Russian
forts at Arabat, and were so fortunate as to blow up a ma-
gazine with shells ; and since, Captain Lyons, R.N., of the
Miranda, has performed a most successful operation upon
Jenitchi. The Russian authorities of the town having
refused to deliver up the Government depot of corn, and
ninety vessels, having on board supplies for their army
in
the Crimea, Captain Lyons bombarded the place with his
squadron, and, having driven the troops out of it, he landed

JUNE 16, 1855.

the sailors and marines, and destroyed all the stores and
the shipping.
This brilliant and decisive success marks the resolution
and daring of Captsin Lyons, and fortunately was accom-
plished with no other loss than that of one man wounded.
Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons states that, in no longer a
period than four days, the squadron has destroyed 241
vessels, employed exclusively in transporting provisions
to the Crimea, besides four war•steamers, and six millions
of rations of flour and corn.

I beg leave to offer your lordship my warmest congratu-
lations on these important occurrences.
I have nothing of importance to report to your lordship
from hence, except that some more detachments of Sardi-
nian troops have arrived.
A battery has arrived off the harbour.

RAGLAN.