The Press.
London, England, 1855-07-14 00:00:00

CALL OF THE HOUSE.

Mr. ROEBUCK on Tuesday moved for a call of the
house on the 17th, previous to his motion, alleging
that efforts had been made to induce members to
leave town before that day, in order to avoid their
pronouncing an opinion. The call was, however, re-
fused by 133 to 108.

In reply to questions, Mr. PEEL stated on Tuesday
that no successor had been appointed as yet to Dr.
A. Smith, as head of the medical board in the
East, and that the Government had no reason to be
dissatisfied with the conduct of Dr. Hall. Referring
to the letter in the Times, reflecting on that officer,
he said that the editor had refused to give up the
writer's name.

THE NEW TURKISH Losis is to be under the conjoint
guarantee of France and England, the convention to
that effect being signed on the 27th ult. The interest
is fixed at four per cent., with a sinking fund of one
per cent. additional. The interest is to be provided
for out of all or any of the Turkish revenues, but
more particularly from the annual sum remaining
disposable of the Egyptian tribute, and from the cus-
toms receipts of Smyrna and Syria. The amount of
the loan is to be appropriated exclusively to the ne-
cessities of the war; and a mixed commission,
composed of French, English, and Turks, are to
watch over the manner in which it is employed
so as to prevent any portion being diverted from it.
legitimate destination. Lastly, in order to prevent
any confusion in the Paris money market, from a
French and a Turkish loan being brought forward
about the same time, the Turkish one is to be raised
solely in England.
THE SHIPMENTS OF SPECIE from England to
India, China, Egypt, and Malta, for the half-year
ended on the Ist inst. have been 2,514,0061., of which
390,8471. consisted of gold, and 2,117,159/. of silver.
As compared with the corresponding half of 1854
this shows an increase of 140,9921., although the
total export was then unusually large. The propor-
tion of gold, however, is smaller in the present return.
The sum included in the aggregate total as having
been sent to China this half-year is 833,400/, of which
all but-140,524/. was silver. In the first six months
of 1854 the total sent to China was 1,289,548/. The
recent augmentation in the shipments to the East
has, therefore, been caused exclusively by the Indian
demand.

ON the occasion of the truce on the 9th of June,
for the burying of the slain, a Pole, holding an
• officer's commission in the Russian service, whilst in
conversation with a French military officer, was re-
cognised by the latter as one who had three nights
previously visited the French camp in a British uni-
form, and been invited by the French officer to his
tent, where he was regaled with a glass of absynthe—
a fact which the Pole did not for a moment deny,
but boasted of it as a feat of daring.
THE BODY OF JAQUES BALMAT, the celebrated
guide of Chamouni, who was lost about twenty years
ago, was found a few days ago, according to the
Gazette de Lausanne, in the broken-up ice which
forms the arch of the Arveiron. To the astonish-
ment of parties passing that way, the body of a man
was discovered, the upper portion being still buried
in its frozen tomb. After cautious efforts with pick-
axes and other instruments, they succeeded in dis-
engaging the remains of the old and popular guide,
Jaques Balmat, in a state of tho most perfect
preservation. The body was conveyed to Chamouni,
where it received every mark of honour and respect.
GENERAL SIMPSON is a native of Roxburghshire,
and was, untill lately, the proprietor of the pretty little
estate of Teviotbank, near Hawick, as also was his
father. His grandfather was minister of the parish
of Wilton; and many will remember his uncle, the
colleague of the late Dr. Brunton, of the Tron church,
Edinburgh. He is married to a daughter of the late
Sir Robert Dundas, of Duneira ; and our member of
Parliament, A. Elliott Lockhart, of Borthwickbrae,
Esq., is married to another. Two other sisters were
married, one to the late R. Wigham, Esq., advocate,
and another to Mr. Davidson, Sheriff of Aberdeen-
shire.—Border Advertiser.

SATURDAY,

Original Ntitas front ttt o:rintta.

CRIMEA, June 23rd, 1855.

The weather has become so dreadfully hot as to
be almost unbearable. Fever and cholera we have
had raging here for some time. Tho Guards, poor
fellows, have had their share of its horrors—upwards
of ninety have died from cholera alone. So sudden
were some of the cases that a man in health this eve
has been hurried the next morning. Latterly, how-
ever, it has abated. The Guards have now moved up
to the front, which is by far the more healthy ; the
locality of Balaklava, shut up as it is between two
mountains, with the raging sun pouring down upon
its festering earth and stinking waters, is alone suffi-
cient to breed the most horrible diseases. Much
has been done to cleanse the town, but the
accumulations of last winter cannot be swept
away. The graveyards of men and the mounds of
earth barely covering dead animals still visible to
to the eye meet you at every step. In the bay itself
the sea-breeze daily drives every particle of
rubbish or filth thrown overboard up on the beach
close to the entrance of the town; there it must re-
main unless gathered and buried —food for
millions of green-bottled flies. When the Sanitary
Commission first arrived they suggested that the
filth and rubbish of ships should be gathered twice
a day, and then taken out to sea and thrown over-
board, but this was found at times quite impossible,
since the strong winds prevented even large
vessels from entering the narrow entrance to the
harbour. That the neighbourhood of Balaklava is
the most unhealthy of all the spots in our position is
known from the number of deaths there, exclusive of
the General Hospital, being more than the whole
encampment besides. The decline of summer, the
natives tell us, is the most unhealthy of all seasons.
The principal cases of cholera have been found among
two classes of men—one amongst the young recruits
just joined and in no way inured to the climate—the
second among those who, having put Nature at
defiance during winter and the spring by hard drink-
ing, have fallen victims to a disease of their own
creating. The first division has marched to the
front, and since that time (now a week) have not had
above three or four cases.

We are now beginning to feel the effects of' the
want of water, but not as yet to anything like an
alarming extent; but should the present dry weather
continue I don't know how matters will stand. The
occupation of the heights along the Black River liaa
relieved the pressure on the springs on the heights.
As regards the movements of the army it would
be very difficult to say much. The successes et
Kertch and in the Sea of Azoff far exceed those itt
front of Sebastopol. The taking of the Mantel=
Redoubt by the French, and the Quarries by the
English, on the night of the 7th of June, so enlivened
every one's hopes here that they thought if tl •
town were stormed it would be certain to fall. On tie
night of the 18th how different were the opinions!
Such a repulse, with a loss of some 1,400 men,
caused much discouragement and dissatisfaction.
But why should the troops be so enraged all at once
because they have met with a defeat, not because
their enemies were better than themselves, but simply
because their works were strong, which gave
them more heart and something to contend tor?
Look to Alma and Inkermann as an in stanee of what
Russian troops really are. Why did they not at the
latter place, when they had thousands against the
few Guards and second division, drive them off the
heights of Inkermann ? There, even when the am-
munition of the Guards was exhausted, we kept the
enemy at bay with the bayonet and stones. And
now simply one repulse has turned our men's
heads, they forget that it was not a defeat in the
field, but in front of a pile of tremendous fortifica-
tions.

It certainly saddens the heart for a time—but a
time will yet come when all that happened on that day
will be avenged by success. At any rate, the circum-
stances of that day gave us the opportunity of ob-
taining possession of a piece of ground called the Ceme-
tery, on which we are now constructing a new battery
which will command the harbour in the direction of
the dockyard. But the enemy—ever our equal—has
traced and commenced, two nights ago, a work which
will enfilade ours; but still ours progresses. To take
this new piece of work of the enemy's will be the next
startling affair, for it would be impossible to main-
tain the spot we have selected if we allow them to
finish theirs.

The French on the right (our right) of the Round
Tower have commenced a very large battery intended
to command the Careening Bay and the passage
across the harbour from the north to the south side.
This battery will, it is said, completely master the har-
bour and shipping, but the French will be exposed to
heavy fire during the time they are constructing IL
But it will be some time ere these can open ; and in
the meantime the summer is waning fast—now at

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