The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-03 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

to the southward, where he knew that Gonlab-
Haidar, the son of Dost Mohamed, was at the head
of a very numerous body of cavalry in an attitude of
observation. The Shah's troops advanced as far as
Ferrah, a town between Herat and Candahar, where
they took up a strong position. On arriving at this
spot, the Persian general learned that Goulab-Haidar
bad fallen back upon Candahar. In pursuance of
orders from the Court of Teheran, the Persian army
is to remain at Ferrah to watch events and to keep up
communications with Herat.
At Bushire it was reported that a strong Persian
force was collected, and the island off the entrance
of the place to be strongly fortified. A proclamation
had been issued by the governor directing the natives
to retire into the interior, and declaring the deter•
mination of the Shah to fight to the last should
Persia be invaded by British forces.
Upon the question of the prospects of an
army advancing by Bushire into the interior, con-
siderable light has been thrown by a letter that has
gone the round of the Indian press, signed C. F.
The writer describes himself as familiar with the
country, having served two campaigns with Persian
troops, and traversed on four several occasions the
road from Bushire to Tabriz. The capture of Bushire
itself he considers easy in the extreme. The very
position of the town—exposed as it is on three fronts
to the sea, and mainly dependent for its supply of
fresh water upon wells in the open plain beyond the
walls—seems to preclude all idea of a defence. But
an advance upon Shiraz he regards as a very serious
matter, and as certain, from the natural feature 3 of
the country, to meet with difficulties which it would
require great skill, foresight. and good fortune to
overcome. The distance is 145 miles; for the first
forty-eight of these the road traverses a level plain ;
then commences the series of steps by which the
plateau of Shiraz is finally reached. Three most
formidable passes require to be traversed. In one—
the "Daughter's Pass "—the road is described as
execrable, choked with large boulders of rock, and
at the widest part not exceeding fifteen feet. " Horse-
men," adds the writer, " will have to dismount
here. In the ascent the rider's leg will be fre-
quently hanging over a precipice perhaps a thousand
feet in depth." The " Old Woman's Pass " is not
less difficult and dangerous, and is probably, unless
with very great labour, impracticable for artillery.
Another formidable obstacle lies in the rapid change
of temperature, which would, of course, be especially
trying to Sepoys. With respect to the commissariat
department, it is said that the army would have to
carry with it all its supplies. So poor is the country,
and so few and so scattered the clusters of houses to
which the names of villages or towns are given, that
it is often a matter of difficulty to procure provisions
even for a single caravan. The plateau of Shiraz
once attained, the writer is of opinion that an inva-
ding force would meet with comparatively little
opposition.
But, according to the Bengal papers, an advance
from Bushire into the interior is scarcely intended.
They seem to indicate that if any advance takes
place it will be by Affghanistan upon Herat, the real
object of the expedition to the Gulf being niece the
seizure of the Island of Kishma, than the actual
invasion of Persia. " The object of her Majesty's
Government," says the Bombay Telegraph,
is to obtain the cession in perpetuity of the Island of
Grand Kishma, which is immediately on occupation to be
made a free port, and transformed into the headquarters of
her Majesty's arsenal and dockyard in the Persian Gulf.
The object appears to be to control not only Persia, but all
the trade down the Euphrates, which empties itself into
the Persian Gulf, and will soon be the highway for the
trade of the East to the West. The island commands not
only Persia and Turkey, but Arabia, especially the trade of
Muscat and the country of the Joassamines, so long famed
for their piracies. From the island a flotilla of steamers
would sweep away all the trade of a refractory chief in
less than a week, and shut up all Persia, especially the
rice and fish trade, which would starve both Gammon and
Ilussorah into compliance in less than six months. The
Island of Grand Kishma completely covers Ormuz, and is
capable of supporting a population of 200,000 without any
foreign aid whatsoever.

The Bourse Gazette of Berlin gives the following
as the text of the ultimatum handed by Lord Strat-
ford de Redcliffe to Ferouk Khan, the Persian envoy.
It only contains three points-Ist. England demands
that the Grand Vizir Sader-Azam shall be dismissed,
and that on the return of Mr. Murray, the new
Ministry and a deputation from the Court shall go
out to meet him and conduct him in state to his
hotel; that on his arrival there the Grand Vizir shall
make verbal apologies to him and revoke the de-
spatches addressed to the English Ambassador on
the affair of Hascbem. 2nd. England demands the
immediate evacuation of Herat by the Persian army,
and the payment of an indemnity to the inhabitants.
3rd. Persia shall come to an understanding as soon
as possible with the Imaum of Muscat relative to
the cession of a portion of the south coast to that
Prince, and in the meantime, and in order to expe-
dite that understanding, she shall consent to the
English occupying Bender-Akbar and Bender-Abassi.

ree ....
.?

SATURDAY,

A letter from Teheran in the Pays of Paris con-
firms a rumour current at Constantinople with re-
spect to the attitude of Russia. A letter in the
Correapondancc Itavas, dated St. Petersburg, Dec.
23rd, says :
There is no doubt that a treaty has been concluded
between our Government and Persia, with a view to certain
eventualities, and that, in case of this or that contingency,
a Russian auxiliary corps will support the Persian army.
The Court of Teheran will probably comply in return with
a wish that has been expressed by Russia, and abandon
to her on the Ames a point which forms the limit between
the two States.

This point is an important one as regards the Turco-
mans, who, being under no control, disturb the Russian
frontier. At the spot where the Araxes flows into the
Black Sea there is a little island, which Persia has recently
suffered Russia to occupy for the same reason.
Negotiations concerning the cession of a small tract
near the Araxes are still pending. In any case Persia
will try, before she has recourse to the aid of Russia, to
settle her difference with England. It is thought here
that Persia will consent to abandon her late conquest, pro-
vided England makes her a few concessions which are
essential to the security of the Persian frontier.

The Teheran Gazette of the 7th Raby.el•aouel (sth
of November) announces that the siege of Herat was
undertaken to prevent the Governor, Esa Khan,
from surrendering the town to the Emir Dost
Mohamed Khan. This proceeding, the Gazette adds,
was perfectly consistent with the Treaty of Herat
concluded between Great Britain and Persia. Not-
withstanding all that has passed, the Persian
Government has not lost sight of the preservation of
its friendship with Great Britain, and is ready to
withdraw her troops from Herat on condition that
the British Government shall take measures in
Candahar, Affghanistan, and Herat itself to secure
that each of those countries shall remain for ever
under the rule of its own Government.

LORD PALMERSTON AND THE SOUTH-
AMPTON ELECTION.
THE Times Southamption correspondent has the
following piquant account of an amusing little episole
in this election :

About ten days since one of the Premier's tradesmen, Mr.
William Lankester, a partner in an extensive ironmongery
firm in Southampton, was sent for to Broadlands to see
his lordship on business matters, and this arranged, his
lordship referred to the pending election, and asked how
matters stood. Mr. Lankester replied to the effect that
they were in a great bustle ; that they had thought Mr.
Weguelin would lave united the Liberals in his favour
when Mr. James had lett the field, but that Mr. Andrews
had split the Liberal party by the course he had pursued
in coming forward as a candidate three weeks afterwards.
On this (according to Mr. Lankester's narrative, from
which these facts are gathered) Lord Palmerston re-
marked, " Very impolitic ; he is not fit for it." and said
that though Mr. Andrews was a good fellow enough he
was uneducated. Mr. Lankester then informs hi■ lord-
ship that Mr. Weguelin had come down to Southampton
with the highest introductions, and his lordship is reported
to have replied—" Oh, he is quite the right man; be has
position, influence, education, and a high character; he
is quite a fit and proper man fur such a town as South-
ampton, and the other is not fit." Mr. Lankester ex-
pressed his fears that the result of Mr. Andrews coming
forward would be the return of the Conservative candidate,
and that Mr. Wilcox would then resign his seat, ending
in Southampton being represented by two Tories ; and
his lordship observed—" Very sad; he (Mr. Andrews) is
not lit." The interview ends, and the curtain falls on the
first act of the drama.

On the following evening (Tuesday) we are introduced
to act the second. A public meeting of Mr. Weguelin's
friends had been convened at the Vietoria•rooms, and
forthwith Mr. Lankester, who is the chairman of Mr.
Weguelin's committee, unfolds a document and reads from
it his notes of the above conversation. As may be imagined,
such a revelation produced no little consternation and
surprise, and great was the storm it evoked.
As soon as Mr. Andrews heard of the matter he wrote a
letter to Lord Palmerston, inclosing a copy from the
reporter's notes of Mr. LaLkester's statement, and re-
questing to be informed whether the conversation had been
correctly stated. Three gentlemen of his committee went
over to Broadlands on Wednesday with their letter, but the
Premier had gone to London, and so an interview with the
noble lord was frustrated. The deputation returned to
Southampton, and the third act was over.

. .
Christmas-day and Boxing-day pass away, and on the
Saturday morning Mr. Andrews receives a letter by post
from Lord Palmerston, wherein he compliments Mr.
Andrews on the high position he has attained in the muni-
cipality, which ho views as his proper and legitimate
sphere of duty, and admits having used the expressions
attributed to him. His lordship, however, deprecates the
idea of intending to interfere is the election in any way,
and says that he has written to Mr. Lankester, who had
committed "a gross violation of confidence" in making
public that which was merely a private conversation.
After consulting with his friends, Mr. Andrews again wrote
to his lordship on Monday, requesting permission to
publish the correspondence. To this letter no reply has
yet been received from his lordship. The fourth act con-
cluded, people are now awaiting with interest the rising of
the curtain for the " grand denotiemeni"—as playgoers have
it—which will, it is hoped, introduce the letters of his
lordship upon the scene, everybody being anxious to read
fur himself the Premier's opinion

JANTJAILY 3, 1857.

Sortign 6orrtspoubenct.

(From a Correspondent.)

P.m's, January 1.
THE Conference met yesterday to--iu the words of
the official Moniteur—" put an end to (mettre fin)
the difficulties which have arisen with respect to the
interpretation of the Treaty of Peace." It had been
expected that the plenipotentiaries would have been
able to get through the work before the end of one
sitting, especially as not only were the precise terms
of arrangement between the different powers agreed
on, but the very protocol setting them forth was
drawn up ; but one, perhaps two, or three more sit-
tings, will, it appears, be necessary. The basis of
arrangement come to is, that Russia shall give up
Bolgrad, the delta of the Danube, and the Isle of
Serpents to Turkey; but that she shall receive in
exchange a slice of Moldavian territory on the
Upper Yalpuck, comprising between eighty and one
hundred thousand square acres, and a small town of
the name of Comrad. The English Cabinet for
some time resolutely refused to consent to any terri
torial indemnity being given to Russia ; but the
French Emperor insisted on it, not for the sake of
the territory itself—for to such a vast power as
Russia a few thousand acres, more or less, of an ill-
cultivated province, are of not the slightest conse-
quence—but that the Conference should not have
the appearance of condemning her for mauvaise foi,
as it would virtually have done, had it deprived her,
" purely and simply, " of Bolgrad, to which, according
to her view of the treaty, she honestly thought her-
self entitled.
The Conference was to have met last week, but
was unable to do so owing to the non•receipt (from
accident, it is said) of the definitive sanction from
Russia of the conditions of arrangement. This
sanction arrived on Sunday, and it was intended to
have the Conference assemble on Monday or Tues-
day, but, to the astonishment of everybody, Lord
Cowley demanded, it is said, that the meeting of the
Conference should be postponed for a few days in
order to afford him time to transmit it to London and
learn the views of her Majesty's Government upon it.
To any further delay, however, the French Govern-
ment manifested the strongest repugnance, and ac-
cordingly our ambassador, after setting the telegraph
to work, consented, in compliance with instructions
from London, to a meeting being held yesterday. In
thus acting, of course Lord Cowley only obeyed his
instructions; but the new attempt to cause delay—
an attempt, be it remarked, which seemed to imply
that the sanction of Russia was not bona fide—is
universally considered in our political circles ungra-
cious and undignified.
When once the final protocol about the Treaty of
Peace shall be signed, England will be " invited " to
withdraw the fleet from the Black Sea, and Austria
her troops from the Danubian principalities.
Austria, 1 am told, has given formal assurances that
she will recal her forces immediately. The English
Cabinet has been less explicit, but it is taken for
granted that it will recal the fleet without any further
delay.
As all pretext for denouncing Russia on the Bol-
grad affair will in a few days be removed, and as on
the other hand Russia earnestly protests that she
has no intention of encouraging Persia in hostility to
England, it is hoped in the high political circles of this
city that the English Cabinet and its newspaper
organs will lay aside the vehement hostility to that
power which, since the cessation of hostilities, they
have thought fit to manifest. This " attitude " on
their part causes greater uneasiness on the Conti-
nent, and especially France, than you would perhaps
be inclined to believe. Only yesterday I heard a
great dignitary of State, who is also a distinguished
statesman, declare that it was one of the principal
causes which keeps Europe unsettled, and casts such
gloom over the immediate future. Nay, more ; he
seriously informed me that it had had great effect in
inducing the French Government not to think of
making for the present an extensive reduction in the
army which, for the sake of economy, it had pro-
jected.
Touching the Swiss affair, 1 understand that the
news which has last reached the Government is not
so favourable as it was a few days ago, the Swiss Go-
vernment and Confederation being decidedly less
conciiiatory. I have some reasons to believe, too,
that the Government has learned a fact which annoys
it exceedingly, namely, that two of the exiled French
generals, Lainoriciere and Bedeau, will in the event
of hostilities be appointed to the command of corps-
d'armie by Switzerland ; also that the Hungarian
refugee, Klapka, who has become a naturalised
Swiss, will obtain the command of another corps.
After all, however, I find that nearly all men of Foli-
tical weight think that the dispute between Switzer-
land and Prussia will be patched up somehow or