The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-31 00:00:00

prtign 6,orrtsponMut.

SIR ROBERT PEEL AND THE PRINCE
DE MUNE.

I3nt'ssEr.s, Jan. 29.
THE sensation created in this place by the publica-
tion of the speech of the Prince de Ligne, i❑ redly
to the English deputation, is of the liveliest kind. It
is not a little amusing, however, to witness the alarm
of some of the more timorous, at the straightforward
and uncompromising conduct of the Prince. This is
wrong. It is likewise discreditable to a Belgian
journal to shrink from the supposed rebuke that
such honest expression of indignation might
elicit from the English press. The apprehension is
unworthy of independent journalism, and the senti-
ment partakes of what, in Peel vernacular, might be
termed " the cocktail." The English press will never
sanction unworthy behaviour, either in friend or foe,
and is thoroughly, and not nominally, independent
and honourable. It will always bear respect to fear-
less conduct.

When M. Vilain XIV. rose in his place in the
Belgian Chambers and defended the liberty of the
Belgian press against the attack of a French states-
man, able and powerful, all England praised the
undaunted Minister and gallant gentleman. That
single word "Jamais," in answer to the inquiry
whether he would yield to menace, placed M.
Vilain XIV., for ever and aye, amongst the leading
statesmen of Europe ; and the high station he has
gained will be maintained with integrity, for the
reason that he is independent and courageous—in-
corruptible, but, above all, courageous. In like
manner when the Prince (le Ligne, moved by indig-
nation, expressed himself in tones that have been
designated "chaleureux,"—an example, by the way,
that his independent defenders lacked the heart to
follow—there was not an Englishman in the deputa-
tion that did not sympathise with the chivalrous
nobleman, that did not justify him in the adoption
of string language to repel an outrage supreme in
its violation of all the recognised usages of society.
Ile spoke out like a man in defence of his honour,
and he called things by their right name, in obedi-
ence to the frank impulse of a brave nature.
_

Amongst the persons forming the English deputa•
tion were men who had fought at Trafalgar, Albuera,
Salamanca, Vittoria, Toulouse, Waterloo, Inkermann,
and Sebastopol; and there was one whose three
brothers, at one and the same time, had been Am-
bassadors of the Kings of England. Neither did the
Church of England forbear to furnish its represen-
tative. That assemblage of English gentlemen
told the Prince de Ligne that in their estimation he
had been gravely offerickd and grossly outraged, and
that they repudiated, as English gentlemen, the
trespass of Sir Robert Peel against those laws which
gentlemen of all nations hold to be most dear and
imperative. It was also remarked that, although on
a mission of amity, Sir Robert Peel had not refrained
from ridiculing her Majesty the Empress of Russia,
and thereby compromised the dignity of his royal

SATURDAY,

mistress, whose servant he then was in the double
capacity of a Lord of the Admiralty and a member
of a complimentary and ambassadorial mission. The
insults to ➢I. de Morny, the Ambassador of the Em.
peror of the French, and to the Prince de Ligne, the
chosen representative of the uncle of the Queen of
England, were equaliy unwarrantable.
The report given in THE PRESS of January the
24th of the meeting at the hotel of the Prince de
Ligne, with the expressions used, is true to the very
letter. On the appearance of a modified version the
members of the deputation immediately confirmed
the literal and verbatim correctness of the account.
in Tin; PaEss. Two words, far stronger than any
that have appeared, were omitted, as it was deemed
unnecessary to publish them. They are, however,
ready, should the published statement of the obser-
vations made by the Prince de Ligne be considered
deficient in energy.

C. A. 11.

pulp anb dolonial jatelligence.

THE WAR IN PERSIA.
CAPTURE OF BUSHIRE.

Fru, details of the occupation of the Island of Kar-
rak and the capture of Bushire have been received
by the overland mail.
Upon the 24th of November the squadron col-
lected off Bunder Abbas, and on the 29th made
sail for Karrak and 13ushire. On the 29th the
leading ships hove in sight of the town. The Resi-
dent, Captain Jones, in reply to a demand for
explanation from the Governor, sent from on boaid,
the Assaye the proclamation of war, and a notifica-
tion that his mission had ceased. On December 4
the island of Karrak was occupied by two companies
of the 2nd Beloochees. This small island lies about
thirty miles to the north-west of Bushire, and is
valuable chiPfly for the supply of water which it of •
fords. On the 6th the fleet with the transports
dropped down to Halilla-bay, twelve miles to the
south-east of Bushire. From this place a gentle
ascent leads to the town, and the necessity of sur-
mounting a difficult cliff is avoided. On the morning
of the 7th the disembarkation commenced. The
weather was fine and the sea calm. A body of Arab
mercenaries were discovered in force concealed in a
date grove to the left of the beach. Eight gunboats
were ordered to cover the landing, and opening fire with
their 24-lb. howizers, drove the enemy back with severs
loss and the death of their chief. The disembarkation
then proceeded without molestation, and continued
for two days. No beasts of burden being procurable,
tents and baggage of all kinds were left in the ships,
and the men landed with three days' rations in their
havresacks. On Sunday, the oth, the force, in all
about 5,000 men, under Coe command in chief of NI ajor-
General Stalker, commenced its advance on Bushire,
distant about twelve miles. The first brigade, com-
manded by Colonel Stopford, on the right ; the
second, under Colonel Honner, on the left. Tho
steam frigates moved on the left flank 3f the army is
support. Gradually drawing ahead, Sir Henry
Leeke, in the Assaye, found himself about 11001/4
abreast of the old Portuguese Fort of Reshi re, four
and a half miles below Bushire. This and the neigh-,
bouring ruins he observed to be occupied in force by
the enemy. The position is described as a strong
one, the fort having the cliff on one side, and a wall
and ditch, deep though dry, on the others. The
Assaye, at 1,700 yards distance, immediately opened
fire with shot and shell from her eight-inch guns.
The effects were shortly seen in the precipitate flight
from the fort of a large portion of its garrison, of
which the whole force is estimated at from 1,500 to
2,000 men. Some 800 remained to stand the attack
of the army, which was now rapidly approaching
in line. As the troops came up with the enemy the
Assaye colsed firing, and General Stalker finding the
enemy's shot dropping among his men gave the word
for the assault :

Brigadier Stopford had dismounted to lead his brigade
in the rush at the works. With a wave of his sword he
was just calling to the men of his own regiment, the 04th,
to come on, when a matchlock ball struck him in the
breast, and he dropped dead upon the spot, shot through
the heart. Furious at the fall of their colonel, his corps
dashed at the enemy's position, and in honourable rivalry
with the European was the other regiment of the brigade,
the 20th Native Infantry, through whose ranks went the
cry that the corps had never been in action before, and that
now was the time to show what it could do. The 2nd
Europeans and the rest of the second brigade were also
well up. For a while the Sghting was sharp, and the
bayonet bloodily at work as the assailants forced the
enemy back from the ruined houses and the garden walls,
and closed upon the fort. That entered, the survivors
among its defenders broke out and endeavoured to effect
their escape. Many slipped down the low cliff, and were
making MI unperceived, when the 4th Rifles, who were on
the extreme left of the advance, resting upon the sea,
caught sight of them, and brought their fire to bear upon
them with fatal effect. Others got out upon the plain and

JANUARY 31, 1857.

were then charged by the Poonah gorse and a squadron
of the :Ird Cavalry. In comma of the latter was
Colonel Malet. This officer in the melee saved the lire of
a man whom a trooper was about to cut down. The
colonel turned away, and the scoundrel, catching up his
matchlock, which he had dropped on imploring quarter,
shot his benefactor dead. Two other officers fell in the
affair, both lieutenants in the 20th, Utterson and Warren,
and yet—most strange disproportion--only one was
returned as wounded. Among the native and non.
commissioned officers and men the loss amounted to six
kills l and thirty-five wounded. Our opponents in this
smart skirmish were not regular Persian troops, but Arab
mercenaries belonging to two of the most powerful among
the seacoast tribes—the Dashti and the Tungestooni—anti
lost, it is believed, three chiefs of note, besides great num-
bers of lower degree.
•

- -
Here the troops bivouacked for the night. Captain
Jones was now despatched with a flag of truce,
carrying the summons of surrender, and the terms
offered the garrison. The non-combatants and
women had permission to withdraw. Private pro-
perty of all descriptions was to be protected, the
fullest toleration in matters of religion secured, the
garrison to be suffered to march out with all the
honours of war. The Governor was allowed till dawn
the following day to give an answer to the terms
proposed, but the flag of truce was fired on; and
after waiting for some time on the assumption that
this might possibly have occurred from mistake,
Captain Jones returned. An apology was almost
immediately afterwards sent by the Governor on
board the fleet, and the declaration of war of the
Governor-General and letter of terms proposed were
transmitted by the messenger. Meanwhile General
Stalker intimated to the admiral his intention of
advancing with all his troops on Bushire the follow-
ing morning (10th December). The anchorage off
the town was lruoyed at night by the boats of the
squadron, and at daylight next morning, the gun-
boats having shelled a strong body of troops out of a
covering redoubt south of the town, the squadron
steamed in and anchored oft the town, several of
the ships lying aground to get closer to the batteries.
At this time, the British troops, held under arms
and in line, waiting for the moment of assault, a
second flag of truce, begging for twenty-four hours'
further delay, matte its appearance. The request
was at once refused ; and at 8 o'clock the signal to
engage was hoisted, and a storm of shot and shell
poured in upon the sea-front batteries. The
Persians stood well to their guns, but, not ex-
pecting the ships to lie in so close, their fire
was too high to do much damage, except to spars
and rigging. Though their small guns were
useless, the courage and perseverance with which
the larger ones were worked surpassed all expecta-
tion, and the Semiramis, Feroze, Victoria, and Falk-
land, were repeate lly struck both in hull and rig-
ging ; though not a man was hurt. By noon the
batteries were all silenced, and the troops were pre
paring for the assault, when the flagstaff was struck
down in token of submission. The Governor and
his staff, utter some hesitation, surrendered them-
selves, the garrison, from 1,500 to 2,000 in number,
laid down their arias, and at four o'clock the British
flag was holt ted over the town, the troops appointed
to garrison it. marching in at sunset.
A proclamation was at once issued declaring the
town to be under British martial law, the port to be
free, abolishing slavery, and establishing freedom in
religious worship.
Thus easily, says a letter from Bombay, has
Bushire fallen :

Not more easily, perhaps, than was expected; but far
more easily ( I suppose) then the state of its defences, im-
proved to a degree previously unsuspected, deserved. The
captive Governor frankly says ho was not prepared for the
ships coming in so close. " You always used to lie two or
three miles out," he says. " I thought you did not know
the anchorage, and I look care to get hold of all the pilots.
If your troops had assaulted the gate on the land side they
would have seen what I hail got really for them,"—and an
assault would no doubt have been attended with great
loss, for the gunners in the place were of the regular Per-
sian artillery, and are said to be very good. though their
practice against the ships must be confessed to have been
indifferent. But the cspittilation found at first but little
favour with the army, and in the ranks of the 04th espe-
cbilly Cher. were growls of " No, no !" "Assault, assault !"
acil vengeful clutchings of firelocks ; and afterwards in the
town I fear that things were done which were not good to
do and are not good to tell. But when the Semiramis left,
all was orderly again.
Besides the governor of the town and the com-
mander of the forces, a distinguished personage,
"The Agent for Foreign Affairs;' was also taken
prisoner :

Three days nfter the fdl of the place (says the same
correspondent) Sir Henry Lecke left in the Assaye for
Bombay, taking with him the three principal prisoners,
the captured flag, and various specimens of Persian arms
and accoutrements. 'tVbile running down the coast on his
way to Itassadore, the admiral was boarded by an Arab
chief. The object of his visit was, it appeared, to proffer•
the services of his tribe against the Persians. All the
tribes of the coast; he said, would prefer our rule to that
of the Shah. In the course of the interview a valuable
piece of information was obtained from him. Near a town
on the coast, called Ungar, a well•equipped Persian force

THE PRESS.

of 3,001 men was assembled, with the intention of crossing
to the Island of Kishtn and attacking our depot station of
Bassadore. Doonissing the sheikh with fair words, Sir
Henry steamed on, and, soon coining abreast of the Persian
camp, opened upon It with his heavy guns. His fire was
instantly returned, but only from nine-pounder field gulls,
of which the balls faded to reach the ship, while the eight.
inch shot and shell crashed through the camp, knocking
over men, horses, and camels, and Hinging the tent•canvas
to the winds. As a matter of course the enemy had to
retire, but they did it coolly and well.

The official despatches, detailing the above events,
have been received. The intelligence of the fall of
Bushire was received at Bombay with a royal salute
of twenty one guns from the Castle. The despatches
add nothing in detail to the accounts given above.
Major .General Stalker, in command of the expedi•
tionary force, bears willing witness to the unwearied
exertions and able co-operation of the officers and
seamen of the squadron as well as to the gallantry
of his troops. " Nothing," he observes, " could have
surpassed the admirable spirit exhibited by the
officers and men of all ranks, and the utmost praise
is due for their zeal, devotion, and gallantry."
Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Leeke, writing on the
10th, characterises the capture of the Fort of Reshire
at the point of the bayonet as " one of the most bril-
liant and gallant charges" he ever witnessed. He
describes the bombardment of the town as follows !

At daylight this morning, seeing the Persian army drawn
up near the walls ( their centre supported by a high for•
titled tower and redoubt), it was my duty to dislodge them;
and for this service I ordered the Falkland, sloip, 4jdal►a,
steam•frigate, Berenire, and Mauna, steam•sloop, under
the command of Lieutenants Transon, Woraley, Chitty,
and Giles, and eight heavy-armed gunboats, under Lieu-
tenant Stradling, to place their ships in position to attack
it. This was done in a most gallant way, and in the
course of an hour I had the satisfaction to see the whole of
the Persian troops in full retreat to the town, but in perfect
order and with great coolness, supported by their artillery.
A host with a white flag was now seen approaching the
ship, and on one of the chiefs arriving on board a request
was made by the Governor of the town for a delay of ope-
rations for twenty-four hours to offer terms. This 1
instantly refused, in consequence of his having fired on
one of our small steamers bearing a flag of truce the day
before. Half an hour was given him to get out of the
way of our shot; and, the ships having been placed in
line of battle, my flag ship in the centre, the action co►n-
menced and continued on both sides for two hours, when,
observing two batteries outside the town, one n kind of
miniature Malakoff, harassing the Semiramis anti Feriae,
I directed our tire towards them, and in three hours they
were perfectly silenced and the guns dismounted. A tower
on the north-west angle of the fort and a masked battery
below the Residency Flagstaff, outside the walls, kept up
a constant and steady fire upon the Semiramis anti Feroze.
It was necessary to silence them u 1,4) ; and, seeing that
both ships were much damaged by their steady aim, the
foremost guns of this ship were ordered to be directed
towards them, and in the course of an hour both batteries
ceased thing.
I was now anxious to make an opening in the wall of
the town, that the troops might have riDtliing iu their way
if General Stalker on bra arrival determined upon carrying
the place by assault. Our fire was therefore directed to
the south west angle, and the breach commenced by
knocking down a part of the tower and the embrasure, in
which a gun was mounted, as well as the lower part of
the wall. The fire from the batteries at this time gra-
dually slackened, and at this moment the flagstaff in the
town was hauled down in token of submission, and the
place surrendered.
The army was by this time close to the town, and it was
a source of the greatest pleasure to me to feel that we had
cleared away every obstacle that presented itself on their
onward march—the more so as they had lost so m 'ny
gallant fellows the day before when storming the Fort of
Reshirs.

Captain Felix Jones, Political Resident at Bushire,
after giving a full and detailed account of the opera-
tions, concludes:—
Since the occupation I have been engaged with my
assistant, Lieutenant Disbrowe, in giving confidence to the
townspeople, securing the Pllalszines, granaries, and other
public stores, endeavouring to reopen the bazaars, ar.d in
adopting measures for the public safety, as well as in
taking steps for obtaining supplies. Owing to the distrust
naturally prevailing among suspicious people, quite new to
us, and generally ignorant as to our usages and institutions,
we have some difficulty to contend with. Time, how.
ever, will aid to dispel fears, to restore confidence, and
eventually, 1 hope, secure to us all we require. I must
rot conceal, however, that ore chief local supplies of
fresh meat, grain, ttc., must be drawn from liassorah and
Bagdad, and boats are not readily procurable. A large
quantity of coal should therefore be stored, both here and
at Ilassorali, for the use of steamers, those of small size
being best adapted for this service; the:, should not fail
us, fur, in any case, to insure cattle living the voyage
should be shortened as much as possible by their taking
boats in tow. No intelligence of any kind has come in
from the interior; but I may be able to glean some in a
few days. All is, however, quiet in the town and districts
at the present time. I beg to inclose a copy of a procla-
mation, with appended articles, which forms the basis of
our future administration in these tracts. These will
doubtless require emendation as we progress in the go-
vernment of a strange people; but they seem to me at
present best adapted to work upon, and have accordingly
received the sanction of the major•general commandingin-
chief of the force.

103

Our loss in killed and wounded amounted to four
officers and seven men killed, and twenty -nine
wounded.

THE WAR IN CHINA.

The intelligence brought by the overland mail con.
firms the report of the destruction by fire of the
Canton factories. They were burned by the Chinese
on the night of the 14th of December. Every effort
was made to cneck the fire, but without avail. Cap •
tain Cowper, It.E., and Mr. 0. T. Lane, hal been
killed by falling beams and walls.
The Strait Times and Singapore Journal, of Dee.
23rd, states that its latest advices from Canton men-
tion that "the British were pouring shot and shell
into the city, which place, it was expected, would be
completely destroyed in a few days."
The capture and blowing up of the French Folly
Fort, on the 4th of December, is the only circum-
stance of importance officially announced. The
correspondence between Yeh and Sir John Bowring
continued up to Nov. 24th, Yeh still maintaining
his ground, and declining to accede to Sir J. Bow
ring's terms—Sir John Bowring insisting upon a
personal interview and a right of admission into
Canton. Disturbances had broken out at Hong
Kong, and the strictest measures were being taken
to prevent any outbreak. The Registration ordinance
of 1846 was about to be put in force, and all unre-
gistered Chinese sent nut of the colony. The Hong
Kong journals also intimate that the river swarms
with "pirates," against whom the admiral will have
to operate. An English marine and a seaman had
been killed by the inhabitants of a village. Sir John
Bowring, it is stated in the Indian papers, has
applied to the Goverment at. Calcutta for a reinforce.
ment of troops. In short, the attack upon Canton is
rapidly expanding into a general war with China—a
war which threatens to be complicated by the in-
creased activity of the " rebels " in the two Kwangs.
The withdrawal of the Chinese troops ordinarily distri-
buted through the country, with a view to concentrate
them in Canton, hail been followed by incursions of
the " Hr k ka-men," and it is affirmed that fifty towns
and villages have been destroyed, and 511,000 people
deprived of their homes in the course of three weeks.
A " rebel" squadron is also said to be anchored iu
Whampoa Reach.