The Press.
London, England, 1854-04-22 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

peace. Lately there had resounded through the streets of
Paris cries of " lave la Reiue Victoria!" and " Vivent les
Anglais !" To these cries he was sure he might respond,
and that this country would respond, by shouts of " five
la France I" " Vive l'Empereur !" " Vive le Defenseur des
Droits de l'Europe !"

RUSSIAN OPERATIONS IN THE BLACK SEA.
THE official Journal de St. Petersbourg contains an
articleemanating evidently from the Russian military
authorities, and purporting to contain an authentic
narrative of various movements of the fleet under
Admiral Nachimoff, of which in the British Parlia-
ment nothing was told except that, to the best of the
" knowledge and belief " of the English commander
in the Euxine or Minister in the house, the whole
squadron was lying perdu safely shrouded from
chance of harm and possibility of use in the inner-
most harbour of Sebastopol. The Russian account
gives a very different view of the case, omitting
also any mention of the inclement season, whose
perils the Russian seamen appear to have disregarded,
although they sufficed to keep the combined fleets
stationary in Beicos Bay. The writer describes
how, while the English fleet was at Beicoe, the Rus-
sian admiral put to sea with steamers, transports, and
row-boats, and, "with the success which accompanies
all the operations of the Russian fleet in the Black
Sea," removed the garrisons of all the smaller forts
on the Circassian coast, with the families of the sol-
diers and the stores of the Crown, and so augmented
the military resouress of Russia in the south by
5,000 picked troops :
" It became necessary (continues the writer) to consi-
der that in consequence of their position the smaller
posts on the Circassian coast had no land communica-
tion with each other, and that their garrisons, there-
fore, left completely isolated from the main ody of
our forces, could not be of any service in the general sys-
tern of our future operations. On these grounds the
aide-de-camp, General Prince Menchikoff, was ordered to
suppress these posts, after having withdrawn the garrisons.
Prince Menchikoff has accomplished this service with the
success which accompanies all the operations of the fleet
in the Black Sea. On the 3rd of March he despatched
from Ghelendjik the steamer Molodets, under the flag of
Vise-Admiral Serehriakoff, towing row-boats; the Crimea,
under the flag of Rear-Admiral Panfiloff, towing the llama(
transport-ship ; the Odessa, towing the Bob ; the Cherso•
nese, towing the Gosiogai; the Bolds, towing the Kodas ;
the Mugoutehy, towing the Tames; and the Argonaut',
towing row-boats. In coasting along the shores of Cir-
cassia, and whenever they arrived opposite a post, they
left the vessels necessary for the embarkation of the garri-
sons; but on approaching Navaghinsk two steamers, the
one French the other English, were signalled. The em-
barkation was suspended, and measures were taken to pre-
pare for action ; however, the enemy's ships remained in
the offing, passed before ours, and the embarkation was
resumed. In the meantime, opposite the post Teliaminoff,
these two steamers stopped the hired transport hyb; two
officers bailed her, and addressed to her commander, Lieut.
Tchebyscheff, the following questions:—
"'What steamers have you seen near the post of Nava-
ghiniak ? ' Answer--' Some Russian steamers of war.'
"`What are they doing at that point?' Answer—
`There is an admiral there, and he has not told me his in-
structions.'
" ' Who is burning the posts, you or the Circassians?'

Answer—' We.' -
"'Why do you burn them ?' Auswer--' Because such
is the order given.'
"' Where is your fleet?' Answer—' I don't know, but 1
believe it to be at sea, and very near.'
" After having received these answers, the two steamers
departed, having described themselves as the AI ogatior and
the Samson. On the tith the whole expedition anchored at
Novorosslisk, where it disembarked the garrison of the
posts of Navaghinak. Golovine, Lazareff, Veliaminoff,
Tenghinsk, and Novotroitek. Storms had previously pre-
vented the squadron of Rear-Admiral Voukotitah embark-
ing the garrison of the post of St. Esprit. The removal of
this garrison took place between the 9th and 10th by
means of the steamer Gromonosses, aboard which was sent
Colonel Skolkoff. aide•de-camp of the Emperor. From all
these posts, besides the garrisons, which make up an effec-
tive force of 5,000 men, they embarked all the families of
the soldiers, the workmen, and a great part of the stores of
the Crown. The rest, sa well as the building, were burnt,
and the fortifications were blown up. Our military resources
have thus been augmented by an important Cody of picked
troops, accustomed to war by long service in the oentre of
an unsubdned country."

A DErrrArnow or ARABS of Algiers, headed by the
principal Imaum of the Great Mosque, art about to visit
Paris, to offer to the Emperor a magnificent flag, which
has been prepared for the native riflemen of the colony.
On one side of the flag is an imperial eagle with a crown,
the letter " N " in a crown of oak, and the arms of Algiers,
consisting of a lion and a palm-tree. On the other side is
a poetical inscription in Arabic, of which this is the trans-
lation : " This standard will shine in the fields of glory, and
will fly to *access with divine assistance. It has been
executed by the Must:Wynn. of Algiers, and is offered to
the native soldiers who form part of the French troops that
are sent to the assistance of the Ottoman empire. The
year 1270 (1854)." The style in which the flag is exe
cuted and embroidered does the highest credit to the
native artists.

865

THE COMMISSARIAT IN TURKEY.
COWSTDZRABLE difficulties arc found to exist in supplying
Erovisions in sufficient quantities to the tr)ops in the
ast. Fresh meat, above all, it is feared will be difficult
to procure. Except in Moldavia. Wallachia, and Bulgaria,
Turkey in Europe furnishes but few large cattle, sheep
being the staple. The Board of Health of the French
Army, being consulted as to the possibility of feeding the
soldiers principally on mutton, have declared against that
diet for a constancy, as likely to load to dysentery. In
consequence large cattle must be purchased at whatever
price they can be procured. The contractors for the army
of Africa, at Marseilles and in the other southern ports,
rather hang back from making any tender, being particu-
larly terrified at the thought of the price of transport. The
present idea is to purchase oxen in Italy, and then have
them either slaughtered here and slightly salted, or carried
out alive. It is supposed that 200 will be required each
day. The correspondent writing from Widdiu to the
Daily Newt gives the following tariff of provisions at that
place:—
" Everything here is sold by weight. My servant
bought excellent red wine at a penny tor 211bs. This is
not far from but less than a penny a quart ; and the wine
is not only palatable, but excellent. For M. the oka
(which is 2} Viennese, and nearly 2ilbs. English) you
get what the Bulgarians call a ' fine, strong, two years old.
white wine of superior quality.' All the Europeans here
drink the other common wine daily, as the dearer sort is a
great luxury, and no one complains of its quality. The
penny a quart wine is not so good as the Monte rukiano
which I drank in Rome in 1830, and falls below Lachryma
Chriati • but it is infinitely better than any table wine
which 1 saw in any hotel in Italy, even once during five
months in 11452. Bread enough for two labourers' dinners,
or 2flha., is now purchased for a penny. Capita) beef
costs lid. for 2flba. or about a penny also. Eggs are still
very dear, being a farthing each.
" I saw a priest to-da3 paying a high price for a large
fat duck, which he bought alive as usual, of a peasant
woman, under my window, for lid. A fine fat chicken,
now difficult to procure, and therefore dear, costs from lid.
to 4d. You must try to believe what follows : the people
are complaining of the enormous rise in the price of provi-
sions, and the papers abroad—for, of course, there is not
one in Bulgaria—are filled with accounts of the famine
prices at Widdin. And so it is. For 2flbs., or over a
quart of good wine, was sold eighteen months ago for leas
than id. As to beef, and the best (for it is as good as
you find out of England, in any part of Europe), it was
sold in great pieces without stopping to weigh it. You
might buy hrefa-dozen pounds for 2d. ; in fact, it could
not be said to have a price. A goose, if well fatted, would
have commanded tid. Our Serbian coachee would not
suffer me to be cheated by giving a shilling for as fine and
fat a young turkey (though small, IS or 7 lbs.) as I ever
saw in England. A roasting pig of 15 to 16 lb.. was
bought for 2e. ltd. after prices had doubled. The fact that
the potatoes failed last year, not by the disease, but on
account of the wet and late planting, would account for
the rise in prices, to aay nothing of the whole armies to be
fed. Within fourteen days, beans, which were 3d. for
2f lbs., have risen a penny. Coals or charcoal, so much
used by the Turkish soldiers in their mongols, and in
rooms without chimneys, have become very scarce.
Within ten days they have risen from Id. to lid. the oka.
All else in proportion, and the fact that the eggs could moo
be bought here 30 for one penny would justify me in
heading this letter with famine prices or enormous rise in
Widdin. The truth is that an Englishman goes abroad
with his English measure for prices, and astonishes man-
kind by the manner in which he throws away his money
for nothing, except to rain all the travellers that come
after him. It should be added that the land still seems to
teem with abundance."

-
UNAUTHORISED NEGOTIATIONS.
Trtz following is a copy of Lord Campbell's bill
intituled " An Act to prevent any unauthorised Nego-
tiation or Intercourse touching Public Affairs between
the subjects of her Majesty and any foreign Potentate,
or State " :
" Whereas by the law of nations intercourse between in-
dependent nations respecting the political acts of the
Governments of such nations ought to be carried CPU only
through the Government■ of such nations, or through the
agency of ambassadors or ministers duly appoint/diet that
purpose: and whereas it is expedient that the observance
of the said law should be enforced by the municipal law of
this realm ; be it enacted by the queen's most excellent
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords
Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Par
liniment aseenibled, and by the authority of the same, as•

follows:
" 1. If any subject or subjects of her Majesty shall after
the passing of this act, without the authority oilier Majesty,
or leave for that purpose gran►ed in writing to hint or them
by one of her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State,
present to any foreign potentate, or the Government of any
foreign state, any address from or professing to come from
any portion of her Majesty's subjects touching any set of
her Majesty's Government or of the Government of such
potentate or state, or touching any negotiation no public
affairs pending between her Majesty's (iovetmnient and the
Government of inch potentate or state, or the policy to be
pursued on public affairs between her Majesty's Government
and the Government of such potentate or state, or shall,
representing or professing to represent any portion of her
Majesty's subjects, by any other means enter into any
negotiation, correspondence, or internourse with any inch
potentate or state touching any of the matters aforesaid,
the persons so offending shall be and they are hereby
declared to be guilty of a misdemeanour.
"2. All offences against this act may be inquired
tried, determined, and dealt with, as if the seise bed
been respectively committed within the body of the minty
of Middleeem"

366

THE CHURCH SERVICE AT ST. PAUL'S,
KNIGHTSBRIDGE.
DIFFERENCES have foil some time past existed be•
tween the Hon. and Rev. R. Liddell, incumbent of
St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, and some of his parish-
ioners, relative to the manner of performing service
in that church. The incumbency, it will be remem-
bered, was held some time since by Mr. Bennett, and
the complaints in question refer to the continuation
of many ceremonial observances, intonations, pro-
cessions, decorations, and fittings up of the church,
&c., of which he set the example, and which were by
many considered objectionable, on account of their
resemblance to the Popish ritual. On the 4th of
February Mr. Westerton, the churchwarden, laid
before Mr. Liddell the subject of complaint in a
series of articles. Mr. Liddell having declined to
take any notice of this communication beyond a
formal acknowledgment of its receipt, the church-
warden embodied his statements in a memorial to the
Bishop of London and the archdeacon.
The decision of the bishop has now been published.
Divested of some matters of merely personal interest,
his lordship's reply is as follows :

" I have to acknowledge the receipt of your memorial,
accompanied by a copy of a memorial addressed by you to
the Hon. and Rev. R. Liddell, which letter you desire msy
be taken as parcel and part of the memorial.
" You complain of certain forms and practices observed
in the celebration of divine service in the church of St.
Paul's, Knightsbridge, as being Popish and offensive, and
you pray that I will cause inquiry to be made into the
matters complained of, and admonish the said Robert Lid-
dell and his curates and others to discontinue the said
`Popish and superstitious practices,' and especially that I
will direct the removal of ' the high altar' and the cross
standing thereon, and the credence-table, and several other
superstitious things referred to in your memorial.
' In the first place, I have to observe that when you speak
of Mr. Liddell as having introduced into the performance of
public worship the several Popish practices and innovations
set forth, you appear to have forgotten the fact that these
forms were introduced, not by Mr. Liddell, but by his pre-
decessor eleven years ago ; that Mr. Liddell has continued
them as he found them, with the exception of a few ob-
servances which were discontinued at my request, and that
no formal complaint of them has been made to me since
the date of his incumbency. This, it is true, does not
render legal anything which is in itself illegal, but it re-
lieves Mr. Liddell from the charge of having introduced
the practices in question, and throws the onus of that
charge upon me, for not having sooner interfered to put a
stop to them. To some extent I may, perhaps, be justly
liable to that charge. but not to the extent which you
imagine. For the sake of avoiding fresh disturbance in
the district, I may possibly have erred on the side of in-
dulgence, not forbidding that which was not clearly ' Po-
pish and superstitious,' as certain other observances in
the chapel of St. Barnsbas appeared to me to be, which I
did interfere to prevent, and which were the ground of my
disagreement with Mr. Bennett. I will now proceed to
notice, one by one, the heads of your memorial. 1. You
complain that before the commencement of divine service
the choristers and other lay persons are formed into regu-
lar order, and so proceed from the clerk's vestry in a kind
of theatrical procession, in such order and arrangement,
and in all respects similar to what is observed in Romish
churches, and that ' the second act consists in a solemn
procession of the clergy, each beating, with pomp and cere-
mony, one or more of the vessels used in the offices of the
Church.'

" With regard to the first matter objected to, it by no
means follows that a custom, in itself decent, is to be con-
sidered a peculiarly Romish custom because it is observed in
the Church of Rome. It seems to me to be quite as proper
that the pervms engaged in the performance of the
Church's offices should walk to their places in regular
order, as it is that they should straggle on one by one, and
take their seats as they may happen to enter the church.
It is customary in many of our cathedrals, perhaps in all
of them, for the choristers and singing men to walk in
procession from their vestry to the choir, followed by the
clergy in order, two and two To this custom, if there be
no ostentatious display, I see no objection; although if it
gave offence to pious persons I should recommend its dis-
continuance. The case is different with respect to a pro-
cession of the clergy bearing the vessels and elements used
at the holy communion. This I regard as a distinct imita-
tion of the practice of the Roman Church, and Mr. Liddell
has assented to my request for its discontinuance. If the
vessels or elements are brought into the church before the
celebration of the holy communion begins, they should be
brought without any procession or ceremonial before the
commencement of divine service.

"2. With regard to bowings," genuflections,' and gesti•
culations,' Mr. Liddell denies the truth of your statements.
I did not observe any such gesticulations when I held a
confirmation in St. Paul's Church on the 24th of March,
nor were any such noticed by a confidential person who
attended divine service there at my request on Sunday
last. The custom of bowing upon entering a church or
chancel is a very ancient one, and very generally observed
in our Church till within the last hundred years. I have
been told by some old clergymen that when they were young
it was the general practice, at least with the clergy. Ido
not observe it myself, but I should be loth to impute a
superstitious feeling to those who do. The rule to be fol-
lowed in this and similar cases is not to use outward marks
of reverence in an ostentatious or singular manner, so as to
awaken suspicion, and call forth observation. Ido not see
how it is possible to lay down a stricter rule than this, or to
prescribe an exact scale for the orderly expression of devout
feelings. I have already expressed my dislike to frequent
genuflections in my charge of ltiso. I have reason to believe