The Press.
London, England, 1854-03-18 00:00:00

NEUTRALS.

On the motion for going into committee of supply,
Mr. MILNER Gassos called attention to the trade
carried on in neutral vessels, and, after remarking
upon the imperfect information that hail already
transpired, demanded from the Government an ex-
plicit statement of their intentions with regard to the
matter. Enlarging upon the magnitude and impor-
tance of our commerce, he submitted that it might
be found possible to conduct hostilities without em•
baiTassing trade ordestroying private property to the
same extent as in previous eras of warfare. The
hon. member had placed a motion on the paper for
the transmission of instructions to our cruisers to
abstain from interfering with neutral vessels, what-
ever might be their cargoes, and contended that
this prohibition would give no advantage to Russia,
and would save English subjects from much loss and
vexation. _ _

Mr. HORSFALL, in seconding the motion, urged the
Government to adopt a law for the purpose of putting
down privateering altogether.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL could only say that it was the
intention of the Government to advise the issuing of
a document declaratory of the policy to be pursued.
Such a document involved questions of great impor-
tance, and should only be issued with especial care,
as a mere uncertainty in the wording might produce
serious consequences. It would be issued before the
declaration of hostilities, and he therefore trusted
the house would not press the Government too
closely.
Mr. T. BARING hoped the Government would pro-
nounce their decision as speedily as possible.
Lord J. RUSSELL said that it was necessary first to
communicate with France ; but the declaration
would not be delayed longer than was absolutely
necessary.
After a few words from Mr. BRIGHT, the subject
dropped.
Mr. Moons called the attention of the house to
the appointment of Mr. Stonor, who, he said, obtained
it on account of—instead of, in spite of—his corrupt
practices.
Mr. HUME hoped that subject woto d not be per-
sisted in. _ _

➢lr. FRENCH demanded explanation.
Mr. F. PEEL explained that the extreme respecta-
bility of the signatures of the Nutley testimonial
caused the appointment to be made with a certain
carelessness which he regretted.
Mr.WHITUBIDE said that incapacity and ignorance
had been inflicted upon Ireland and the colonies,
and now corruption was added.
Mr. Bow aER defended Mr. Stoner, who had been,
he said, appointed by the Government in full cogni-
sance of the facts, and was ruined because official
men made a mistake and were sorry for it after-
wards.

Mr. MAUNA said that the question was not of
Mr. Stoner, but of the Government. The proceed-
ings of Mr. Stonor were matters of public debate
before his appointment, the cancelling of his ap-
pointment would ruin him for ever, and the care-
lessness of the Government was the entire cause.

Mr. STANLEY thought Mr. Stonor already suffi-
ciently punished.
Mr. BUTT referred to the notoriety of the discus-
sions respecting Mr. Stonor last year, in which the
Government took part, and yet alleged that they
knew nothing of his misdeeds.
Mr. SADLEIR with great warmth repelled the charge
of Mr. Moore respecting his election for Sligo, de-
claring his assertion a slander and a libel. Called
to order three or four times by the Chair, he re-
tracted his assertions, and then made them in
another form. Mr. Moons replied with equal vehe-
mence amid cries of " Order!" and the SPEAKER, say-
ing it was the best thing he could do, quitted the
chair in the midst. of the debate.
In committee, Mr. Hats moved as an amend-
ment that the income tax be extended to incomes
of 00/. a year, saying that the war affected all classes,
and was chiefly urged on by persons now exempt
from taxation.

Mr. GLADSTONE would not give any opinion, or
pledge, on such a subject in the actual uncertainties.
The subjecting of incomes of 100/. per annum to the
income tax had already brought within its scope

SATURDAY,

persons living upon weekly wages, a class of persons
very difficult to reach. A further extension of taxa-
tion on such a class demanded more experience
than we now had.

Mr. DIMAELI objected to proceeding with such a
motion at midnight. After some remonstrance from
the CHANCELLOU of the EXCHEQUER, the chairman
reported progress. The house then resumed, and
adjourned almost immediately.

The French fleet, being occupied in the Mediter-
ranean in transporting troops to the East, will for the
present be only represented in the Baltic by the
Austerlitz. At a later period the squadron of Admiral
Parseval Deschenes will entar that 11ea to join the
fleet of Admiral Napier.
A review is to take place in Paris on the 21st inst.,
at which it is expected the Duke of Cambridge and
Lord Raglan will be present. Apartments have been
prepared in the Tuileries for some days past for the
reception of the Royal Duke and the noble lord.

The Mon iteur publishes an extract from the Ga-
zette du Senat of St. Petersburg, stating that five im-
perial ukases had declared en etat de siege the govern-
ment of I._:katherinoslaw, the arrondissement of
Taganrog, the government of St. Petersburg, the
governments of Esthonia, Livonia, and Archangel,
the kingdom of Poland, and the governments of
Courland, Kowno, Grodno, Volhynia, and
Podolia. The government of St. Petersburg is placed
under the special military command of the Hereditary
Grand Duke.

As a proof of the run made for the new loan, the
Siècle mentions that it saw a receipt issued by the
Treasury at two o'clock on Thursday which bore the
number 20,059.
The Gazette de Flandres, a Legitimist journal, has
received a first warning for publishing an article con-
trary to the national honour, and conceived in a spirit
eminently hostile to the grand and patriotic mani-
festations of public opinion.

A telegraphic despatch from Copenhagen, dated
March 14, states that several sail of the English
fleet had been signalled. A frigate had come to
anchor before the city.

According to the latest accounts from Constanti-
nople the combined fleets were detained at lieycos by
the tempestuous weather. The Fury and the Vauban
returned on the 2nd inst., the authorities at Sebastopol
having refused to receive the despatches of which they
were the la. arers.

THE CIVIL SERVICE REPORT.
TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS."

Sir,—Will you allow rise to offer a few remarks on
the proposed reform of the civil service ?
In the first place, the evidence upon which the
report was founded was not fairly taken. The case
of the great mass of clerks was not considered.
"No CLERK was examined by the commissioners;"
consequently, the clerks' case was stated by those
whose interest it is to run them down, as unfit for
higher appointments.
In the second place, the civil service is looked
upon as an asylum for the sickly. If this were true,
the charges on the Superannuation Fund, which has
been accumulating since 1829, a period of twenty-five
years, would, as a matter of logical necessity, be
numerous and heavy ; whilst, out of a capital of
500,0001., only 8,0001. are paid as pensions.

These are two very strong points, amongst many
others. I could unfold a tale about Whig jobbery in
my own office, and shall be happy at a future time
to address you again on the subject.
Yours, obediently,
JUNIOR CLERK.
Whitehall, March 17, 1854.

FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE.
Tuesday, March 14.

DANKRUPTS.-JOSEPIL &ODLE, Shoreham, Sussex, miller
—MAXIMILIAN GUOENHEIMER, Ahiermanbury, and Fore-street,
City, importer of foreign goods—ALFRED FORD, Lowndes-
street, lielgrave-square, surgeon—HENßY MEADOWS, Welling-
borough, Northamptonshire, druggist—Wm. HENRY COOPER,
Great James-street, Bedford-row, upholsterer—Wm. Houowrom,
Kennington-oval, Lambeth. licensed victualler—Tmomss
London-road, Southwark, horse dealer--JosErm HEAD, Exeter,
silversmith.

SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS.—JonN 31`DoNELL,111e-
ston, Lanarkshire, draper—Gronor: BUCHANAN, Glasgow, dealer
in shares—ROßEßT COCHRAN, Port Glasgow, manufacturer—
GEORGE GORDON DI:STAN and JANES STEVEN, Glasgow, man
chants.

Fri<lay, March 17.
BANKRUPTS.—THOMAS COINER, lligh[Hulborn, licensed
victualler—WlLLlAM DUNCAN, Kingston-upon-Hull, grocer—
Jamas Realms, Birkenhead, coal merchant—Manx PARKES,
Golden-square, printer—JAMES SHANNON, Liverpool, linen.
draper—TAMES MArrittAs, Swansea, IitHOWIESper—CHARLES
FERGUSON, Hitchin, draper—JOHN Museum., Cardiff, potato
merchant—JonN SxmmuNs, Bristol, cut nail and shoe heel
m anufacturer—WlLLlAM JONES, Liverpool, slater and plasterer—
WILLIAM FORBES, Birmingham, stationer and bookbinder—.
JOHN FRATKR, Manchester, brewer—Tmomas Boom/was Moss,
Little Tower-street, City, tea and colonial dealer—JOHN HUNTER,
Fazeley, Stafford, tare and lace manufacturer.
SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS—RoDaier WILSON, Glasgow,
calenderer--JonN STEWART, jun., Glasgow, writer—Yr:Talk
DI`LAREN and COMPANY, Glasgow, ship carpenters

MARCH 18, 1854.

Yituaturt.

Himalayan Journals; or, Notes of a Naturalist
in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas,
the Irhasia Mountains, de. By Joseph Dal-
ton Hooker. London: Murray.
Da. Hot:mica's work, though not exclusively
devoted to science, is such as might be ex-
pected from a traveller professedly scientific.
He deals rather with nature than with men,
and, in treating of natural objects, analyses
more than he describes. He has observed
and recorded minutely; but his observations
are for the most part confined to detail, and
consequently fail to leave behind a sufficiently
definite impression of the general features of
what he saw. We have the elevations of
mountain passes carefully taken ; the various
trees that compose the forests enumerated ;
the geological strata of the soil examined ; the
volume and temperature of rivers ascertained ;
the country mapped, and its geography more
skilfully laid down than it had been by any
preceding explorer. This is much for oue
man to accomplish with limited means and
within the space of three years. If done with
accuracy (and we have no reason to infer the
contrary), it entitles Dr. Hooker to the thanks
and respect of all who take interest in science.
Universal excellence was not to be expected;
nor can we complain that he who measures
mountains and maps deserts does not paint
one or the other in colours as vivid as those
of Sir F. Head or Mr. Stephens. Moreover,
though Dr. Hooker's book be on the whole
more instructive than interesting, it is not
deficient in the latter quality. From the faults
of affectation, dwelling on trifles, exaggeration
of personal incidents, and egotism generally,
it is entirely free ; and there is a charm in the
simplest details of a journey over country
wholly unexplored, among tribes more than
half barbarous, and within sight of the loftiest
and least known mountain chain on the globe.
In most men, however sedentary their habits,
there is a latent Arab propensity—a love of
nature in her wildest aspects—a sympathy
with adventure as such—which is roused by a
narrative like this, until, as we sit in our arm-
chairs, we envy the traveller, forgetting (as he,
too, after lapse of time, forgets them) the
innumerable hardships and annoyances which
at every stage beset his path. And herein lies
the charm of many records of travel which
otherwise have little to recommend them.
The scene of Dr. Hooker's journey was the
eastern, or Nepaulese, section of the Himalaya
—a tract of country of which it is not credit-
able to England that, after so many years'
occupation of Bengal, we know very little.
To the westward scarcely anything remains to
discover, even from the frontiers of the Punjab
to Transoxiana and the Caspian Sea. Burnes,
Abbott, Moorcroft, Vigne, and many more,
variously though unequally distinguished,
have opened to us the rugged defiles of
Afghanistan, Kashmire, Balk, Bokhara, Kliiva,
and Tibet. Even the mysterious, half-fabu-
lous Chinese city, deep in the heart of the
Tartarian steppe Yarkand, the Timbnctoo of
Asiatic discovery, nay, more inaccessible still,
for until now no European foot has trodden its
streets, will before long open its gates to
British adventure. Perhaps this rapid exten-
sion of our geographical knowledge in one
quarter has drawn oft' the attention of the
learned from Bhooto.n, Eastern Tibet, and
Nepaul. Though from Calcutta to Katmanda
is a ten days easy journey—though the
British province of Assam stretches far north-
ward along the Brithinapootra river, and seems
to turn the flank of the Bhootanese dominions
—yet scarcely an effort has been made to
penetrate that terra incognita—the Indo-Chinese
countries bordering on the Himalaya. No
portion of the earth's surface is more interest-
ing. Here arc found mountains nearly doubling
the height of Mont Blanc, reaching to a per
pendicular altitude of five miles and a half,
and visible at the distance of seventy measured
leagues. Beyond them lies the vast plateau of
Central Asia, peopled by pastoral race's living
under laws peculiar to themselves, and pre
serving a religion the most ancient (except
the Jewish) which exists among men. These