The Press.
London, England, 1858-05-01 00:00:00

THE PRESS, MAY if lB5B.

ever which the system is distributed. It is mainly to the
seal, energy, and ability of a young officer of the Bengal
Engineers, Lieutenant Patrick Stewart, that these advan-
tages are due. He is assisted, it is true, by a few men,
but he it is who devices and superintends the execution
and the extension of the line from place to place. At one
time his men are chased for miles by the enemy's cavalry
—at another time they are attacked by the sowers, and
they and the wires are eat into pieces—again, their elec-
tric batteries are smashed by the tire of a gun, or their
cart knocked to pieces by a round shot—but still they
work on—creep over arid plains, across watercourses, span
rivers, and pierce jangles, till one after another the rude
poles raise aloft their slender burden, and the quick
needle vibrates with its silent tongue amid the thunder of
the artillery. While Sir Colin Campbell was at Cawnpore
be could learn from Sir James Outram the results of an
attack before the enemy had disappeared from the field.
As he advanced towards Lucknow the line was carried
with or soon after biro ; a tent was pitched near his, a hole
was dug iu the ground and tilled with water, and down
dropped the wire from the pole stuck up in haste, dived
into the water otter-like, the simple magnet was arranged,
the battery set in play, and at once the steel moved re-
sponsive to every touch. Owing to the extreme dryness
of the atmosphere nod the power of the sun—which at
this season bakes the earth like a brick—the insulation of
the current is nearly complete. The wire is thick, and is
not protected by non-conducting coatings of any kind ; it
is twisted round the top of a rude pole fifteen or sixteen
feet high, and, under ordinary states of the atmosphere, it
is found to answer perfectly. We had not been very long
in the Dilkoosha ere we saw, in dim perspective, the line
of posts advancing towards us, and soon the wire was
slipped into one of the drawing•room windows. and now it
is at full work, surrounded by all the shattered splendour
of the palace, inquiring after the Ghoorkas, asking for
more of something or other, exchanging ideas between Sir
Colin and Lord Canning, or flurrying along a newspaper
message to yourself, amid the whistle of the bullet, the
roar of the round shot, and all the feverish scenes of war.
—Times Letter from

INDIAN RESOLUTIONS.—AMENDMENTS.
Nonce has been given of the following arneniments
upon the resolutions moved by Mr. Disraeli last
night:—

Sir H. Willoughby-1n resolution 2, line 2, after
" Secretaries of State, insert "in council."

Lord d. Russell-10 move the following amendments :-
4. After " not," insert " more than twelve members, in-
cluding the Secretary of State."
U. After "that," insert" its members should be appointed
by her Majesty, and, with the exception of the Secretary of
State, should hold their offices during good behaviour."
Instead of 7, insert :

" That it shall be lawful for her Majesty to remove any
member of the Council from office upon an address from
both Houses of Parliament."

Omit S.
O. After " of State,".insert " as President of the Council
of India"

11. Omit " except such," to the end.
Instead of 12 and 13, insert the following resolutions:-
11. That no patronage, civil or military, shall be ex-
ercised by any members of the Council save and except
the Secretary of State for India.
12. That the first appointment of cadets and clerks shall
be open to public competition, subject to such an exami-
nation only as the Secretary of State shall direct, reserv-
ing one-fourth part of all such appointments to the sons
of persons who have been employed in the military or
civil service of the Crown or of the East India Company
in India.

Viscount Palmerston—To move, that all members of
the Council shall be appointed by the Crown, and with
that view to omit the 6th resolution, and to amend the
7th, by leaving out in the first line the words "of the
nominated portion," and also the concluding words of the
resolution from the words " and one-half " in the third
line to the end.

Mr. Rich—On the resolutions for the appointment of a
Secretary of State and Council of 12 or IS members, to
propose amended resolutions for the appointment of a
president and vice-president, with five assistant commis-
sioners, to whom special duties may be assigned in subor-
dination to the president and vice-president.

taiga anb (Colonial ]fttelligentr.

FRANCE.
THE CONFERENCES AT PARIS.

The Conference reassembled in Paris on Monday.
The Moniteur, of Thursday, thus annouuced the
fact :

The Plenipotentiaries of Austria, France, Great Britain,
Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey met to-day in con-
ference at the hotel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to
take cognizance of the final act signed at Constantinople
on the sth of December last, fcr the purpose of conse-
crating the result of the labours of the commission created
by the 30th article of the Treaty of Paris for the definition
of the Russian and Turkish frontiers in Asia.
The Conference acknowledges formally to the Plenipo-
tentiaries of those two powers the receipt of their com-
munication.

The semi official Oat Deutsche Post publishes the
following as the programme of the business to be
transacted by the plenipotentiaries :-1. The settle-
ment of the Turco-Russian boundary. 2. The defi-
nitive regulation of the Moldo-Wallachian question.
3. The ratification of the regulations for the naviga-

tion of the Danube. Any question not bearing upon
one of these three points which any power may
possibly desire to bring before the Congress will (the
Ost Deutsche Post affirms) be rigorously excluded
from their deliberations.

The session of the Corps Legislatif, which was
prolonged till May 1, has been further prolonged to
May 8. It was found impossible to get through the
business this week.

The elections of two of the Paris Circutnspections
have resulted in the return of General Perrot and
M. Jules Favre. For the sth Circumspection a new
election is fired for the 9th inst.

PRUSSIA.
The Chambers were closed on Tuesday last. The
Minister President, Baron de Manteuffel, delivered
a speech in which he gave a resume of the labours of
the session. He stated that the votes relative to the
construction of the railway to Konigsberg and to the
Russian frontier bad induced the Government to
commence the works immediately. The law which
had passed relative to the increase of duty upon
beetroot sugar had been framed with due considera-
tion to the wants of the Treasury. " Thanks be to
Providence! " said the Minister, " since the dangers
of war have been removed from our frontier, the
public prosperity has not ceased to inlrease, in stile
of the temporary dearness of articles of food and the
commercial crisis, now happily at au end." M. de
Manteuffel added that the King's full recovery was
almost assured, and he concluded by eulogizing the
tPrince of Prussia for his devotedness in discharging
he functions with which unfortunate circumstances
had surrounded him.