The Press.
London, England, 1856-05-10 00:00:00

THE CIRCASSIAN PETITION.

Letters from Constantinople of April :28 state
that the Circassian deputation, which arrived some
time ago bearing an address to the Sultan, the
Emperor of the French, and the Queen of England,
presented it on Thursday last to the lisimakau of
the Grand Vizier.

According to the Journal de Constantinople the
a :dress is as follows :

To HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY THE SULTAN, &C.
Prayers addressed to God for the Life and Prosperity of

the Sultan.

Although you are at all times our Pailishaw, our
light, the source of our prosrerity and our refuge, yet
the invasion of the cursed Russian has thrown us under
his tyrannical dominion, and has caused us great evils.
Nevertheless, in the same say as when the sun sets it
is certain that he will rise again, thus we have Leither
been seduce 1 by his persuasions and intrigues, nor cor-
rupted by his gold, although we have had much to sutler
from his tyram,y. We have never ceased to oppose to his
forces our lives, our goods, and our children, and, by the
aid of God. we have been fighting up to this day, as every-
body knows.

Thanks to God, the light of the Imperial Sun, for
which we wished so unielt, has at last spread its is
over all Mnssithuans, and especially over the Circassiana.
May God the Almighty, in consideration of our holy
Prophet, preserve your Imperial Majesty from all evils
of this world, and give you a complete victory over your
enemies.

An old proverb says, " One must always keep up old
customs." According to those of our country, accordiug
to our imperishable laws, after having taken an oath before
God, we set to work, twenty nine or thirty years ago. your
servant Zanzadi :debuted Hey. haying chosen from twelve
eireassimi tribts twet.ve delegates, provided with letters of
credence, he sent there to your Imperial Porte to declare
that the Padishab, our only light, and the only cause of our
prosperity, being out only sovereign Lord, we will never
separate from him.

. . --
titnoe that tune, always faithful to the true religion and
to the State, we have waned, when we saw arrive at Anapa
an esaptoye charged with a ummion in Cireassia, and pro-
vided with your imperial firman. Your sovereignty was
establi+h4A in eircassis. and we rejoiced, and our children
sang hynui tO demand from Heaven the prolongation of the
life of our Patlisliali and his triumph over his enemies, and
we swore before the Almighty that we would never up to
the day of judgment recognise any other master.

THE

RE

S.

-.When this war bloke out: where our Pedishah- has fought.
with his two triies a;ainst the Lussian, your undersiped
servants have also fought, as far as it was in their power,
under the orders of Sefer Paella; but as rumours of peace
have arrived, and that there is no question of Circassia,
this petition, drawn tap by the different Circassian tribes,
declaring that we will never separate from our Padishah,
his been intrusted to 350 Circassian deputies, chosen
among those tribes, and according to the maxim that
everything returna to its source, we have turned towards
you, and we beg your Majesty, kissing the dust of your feet,
to order that we may ha placed for ever under the majestic
shade of your imperial throne.

The Ceremony which took place at the Crystal
Palace yesterday was not marked by much enthu-
siasm. We do not manage these things well in
England, or else we are too apathetic a people to
care for " effect"—in daylight. The respectable
Englishman, on most public occasions, appears
ashamed at being caught manifesting enthusiasm.
Ho tries a mild cheer or two, and then puts his hat
on again. He would seem always in a hurry to get
the unpleasant business over. This was exactly the
case yesterday. Even when the Queen appeared the
burst of cheering was anything but warm, and every
other feature of the programme, when an opportu-
nity for a manifestation was offered, the most pro-
voking " shyness," for it is scarcely coldness,
was evinced. The unveiling of the model of
Baron Marochctti'a sepulchral monument, amid
the sublime strains of the " Marcia Funebre," from
Beethoven's "Sinfonia Etoica" was a touching and
solemn iueident. tilany were there who had lost
some dear friend, some loved child, brother, or hus-
band, in the terrible siege or on those blood stained
Crimean fields of fight; and, as they looked at that
noble obelisk, who will say what emotion moved
them? A hymn to peace was then sung to a Russian
national air, and the peace trophy unveiled, the mili-
tary bands playing the march and chorus from
Judas 31 accabetts. The Russian national hymn
was then played ; and, atter a brief interval, some
500 Crimean soldiers of the Guards and Artillery
marched in slow time, and amid some very feeble
cheers, past the Queen, who, with her attendants,
had taken her place upon a raised dais in the centre
transept. At the conclusion of this ceremony her
Majesty retired for a short time, when a display of
the terrace fountains took place, and the Leta was
concluded. Up.vards of 20,000 persons were pre-
sent; but so large a number appeared but scantily
to fill the centre transept and surrounding gal-
leries.

Her Majesty the Queen, desirousof marking the
restoration of peace by au act of clemency, has been
graciously pleased to grant a free pardon to all
persons now suffering penalty for political offences.
Mr. Smith O'Brien, with Frost and his associates,
will be permitted to return to the United Kingdom.
Those political prisoners who broke their parole and
escaped from Australia are excepted in the amnesty.

The Cambridge Election Bribery case of Cooper
v. Slade, was adjudicated on yesterday in the Court of
Exchequer, before the Chief Baron and a full bench.
Mr. Baron Alderson delivered judgment in favour of
Mr. Slade, Q.C., and reversed the verdict of the
Court below. It will be remembered that Mr. Slade,
atter the last election for Cambridge, was sued by the
defendant for certain penalties under 17th and 18th
Viet., cap. 102, for having promised to pay the rail-
way fare of a voter from Huntingdon. The case was
tried before Baron Patle, and a verdict returned for
the plaintiff. This verdict was appealed against, and
argued before the Judges, who finally and satisfac-
torily disposed of it.
The Cheltenham election, on Thursday, resulted
in the return of the Liberal candidate, Captain
Berkeley, by a majority of 186.
Lord Wodehouse, Under Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, is appointed Minister Plenipotentiary
at the Court of St. Petersburg.
His Excellency Alei Paeha, First Turkish Pleni-
potentiary at the late Congress at Paris, arrived in
London on Tuesday night, trial his full suite of
sevente.n persons. His Excellency contemplates a
stay of come weeks in this country.
•
Count Rudolph d'Appony, the new Austrian
Minister, is expected to arrive in London by the end
of this mouth.

Mr. Grenville Berkeley has accepted the Commis-
sionership of Customs, vacant by the promotion of
Mr. Spring Rice to the Deputy Chairmanship. Mr.
Berkeley is succeeded by ,Mr. It. R. Grey at
the Poor-Law Board, and by Lord Monck as
“ Whip."

A Cabiret Council was held on Saturday. All
the Ministers were rresent. The Council sat two
hours.

SATURDAY,

U U SE- OF LUJILLS—Erawar.
PENSION TO SIR W. 'WILLIAMS.

el

The royal Message, inviting the hous.e to concur
with the other branch of the Legislature in enabling
her Mikjesty to confer a pension of 1,000/. per annum
on General Sir W. Williams, was brought up by Earl
GRANVILLE, who briefly recapitulated the services per-
formed by that gallant °dicer at the siege of liars,
and ou previous occasions, when accomplishing his
professional duties as an engineer °nicer in Ceylon
and elsewhere.

The motion was seconded by the Earl of DEIUM,
and carried nenaine contradicente.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

The Bishop of OXFORD moved for a Select Com.
mittee to investigate the mode now adopted for
carrying out sentences of capital punishment. The
right reverend prelate remarked upon the di•graceful
scenes which occurred too often at public executions ,
and resulted, as he believed, in degrading and bar.
barising large classes of the community,and deprived
these solemn exhibitions of all their desired effect as
a warning to evildoers. Ile recommuided that
executions should be henceforth performed within
the walls of the gaol, and in the presence only of a
few selected and official m itnesses.

After some remarks from Lord Campbell, Lord St.
Leopards, and the Marquis of Lansdowne, the motion
was agreed to, and the committee nominated.

TICKETS OF LEAVE.

Lord DUNGANNON called attention to the evils re-
sulting from the continuance of the ticket-of-leave
system; and moved a resolution setting forth the
expediency of providing some uew plan for secondary
punishments

The Duke of ARGYLL and other peers baying
briefly spoken, the resolution was withdrawn, and
their lordships adjourned at a quarter past seven
o'clock, over the holidays.