The Express.
London, England, 1853-12-02 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

risk verging oa rashness. But succeed or not me-
need, the Governments of England and France can

scarcely stand by unblatned. It is certain that the
crews of the cocubined fleets, if left to their own
wishes, would gladly have sailed with their Turkish
allies ; and if those allies should suffer from the cou-
rageous zeal which sent them alone on a highly
perilous duty, the condemnation of the world will
•: • •
mum.; oa tai-w wan stopped It pro
crastinating idleness in the Sea of Marmara when
the greedy author of all this wretched quarrel,
was to be met and dealt with in the Eosin.. We are
either the allies of Turkey, or we are not. If we are,
let what may be our duty be done—and done well.
When BONAPARTE, at the head of 100,000 soldiers,
was frowning down upon England from the heights
of Boulogne we were very glad to seek for allies, and
that scourge of Europe, when he wished to trample
our soil under the heels of Frenchmen, was drawn
from Boulogne to the opposite side of France to
meet a new foe whom we had drawn into the field. We
were glad of allies then, just as Turkey may be glad
of them now. Then, as now, an insolent aggression
was attempted, and the threatened party appealed
to the other powers—to the high police of nations—
for co-operation against the common foe. So Turkey
now appeals. England and France have made a
partial response. Austria shuffles out of the claims
upon her, Prussia seems also inclined to avoid her
share of the reponsibilities of the case. The SULTAN,
whilst kept in aspen,e as to what aid he may cal-
culate upon, does his best single-handed against
the ("us. Should he in this seemingly unequal
contest be beaten whilst the rest of Europe stand
shilly-shallying by, their after-work will be all the
more difficult. A task is ever the more irksome,
and always the more ill done for being done too
late.

& &woad addles w'• The Papineee." eastalatai the Cam. evealeire
••Guette." as pabitabed every Teeed.hy and Vralay sight, is Woe
for pest.
Advert...meets Weeded rat "The Toprow," Leedom Limners part.
neat be at toe race, it. loovetievrenret. try Two o'rlort es the
day Cat publreaties.

111011 WATIM AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tn• D •9i... 39..
..."aa" /LI ima....—Aftorsoos. Us.

LONDON, FRIDAY. DECEMBER 2.

"Tile Turks have gained further advantages in
Asia. They have not only defended successfully
Fort St. Nicholas, but captured the fortresses of
Usurghetti and Souchoum Ksleh." Such is the tenor
of the last telegraphic despatch that professes to tell
the news from the scat of war, and as the allegation
reaches us through Austria, there is little fear
that it overstates the truth. Souchoum Ka-
leh is a large fortress on the shores of
the Black Sea, considerably to the north and
west of Redout Kaleh, and its capture shows
at once that the Turks are making decided progress
in Asia, in the exact direction which renders the
Russian frontier in the Caucasus less secure than
ever. In the list of strongholds in that portion
of the world, Souchoum Kahl, is marked as a fortifica-
tion of the first class, and its reduction by the
SULTAN'S forces cannot fail to have considerable
morel influence on the surrounding populations.
The telegraphic despatch which brings the news
repeats what has often before been stated, that " the
Georgian people are favourable to the Turks." The
Georgians are not singular in their dislike of Russian
rule in Asia, and it only needs a few more such proofs
of Russian weakness as this tall of Souchoum Kaleh
to give the needful impulse to a general revolt
against the CZAR in that portion of his dominions.
Some time must elapse before we can hope to
receive by post full particulars of a contest, the results
of which have thus been told by telegraph. When
those particulars do reach us we shall be able to
test the value of the present surmise that some
portion of tho Turkish fleet has been at work
to secure these successes on the Asiatic shores
of the Euxinc. Souchoum Kaleh is, of course,
open to effectual attack from the sea, and the
Ottoman ships of war are well fitted to make
short work of any Russian defences within reach of
their shot and shell. For ourselves, we anticipate
with confidence that Admiral SLADE sailed into the
Black Sea with the intention of dealing with a more
formidable antagonist than the commandant of any
fortress on the shorts of the Caucasus. We may look
for news of his appearance off the far more serious
military position on an opposite shore, and no one
who knows the =lnge and high spirit of the Or
maali will be surprised to hear that the feat of Ouaa
PACIIA in crossing the Danube has been followed
by the bombardment of Sebastopol by Admiral SLADE.
At first blush it may sound very like rashness to
suppose any such step possible, but those who have
visited Sebastopol, and who know exactly what its
military value is, may well be inclined to believe in
its vulnerability, either by land or sea. Yesterday the
Russian organ in the English press thought fit to
endorse the opinions about the efficiency of the
Turkish fleet—especially in gunnery—which we were
the first to make public when the Russian invasion
of the Principalities was threatened. Before long
we may find the same columns giving publi-
city to such views as we now hold in refer-
ence to the weakness of the beet fortress of Russia
on the Black Sea. In estimating the probability of
an attack on this place we must also remember that
the Turkish fleet is led by an Englishman, long in
the Sutras's service. The ship which bears
his flag is one of those we months ago described
as equal to anything we can show of the same
size in the British fleet. The crews under his
command can work their gnus excellently, and are
far more than a match for any equal force of the
Muscovites. Altogether the SULTAN'S ships and the
Czan's strongholdare more evenly matched than might
be at first sight supposed—at any rate for a sudden
attack by sea. In suggesting these views we do not
forget that the batteries of Sebastopol, against which
a Turkish fleet may measure, or probably have mea.
sured, strength, have always been said by Russian
agents to be impregnable. To talk of attack-
ing the place has always been pooh-poohed
as something absurd. But Quebec, Gibraltar,
and many other fortresses, were declared by
feather-bed warriors to be impregnable—till they
were taken by English commanders. Russian spies
and Russian journals have been the authors of the
impression that Sebastopol is beyond reduction—that
it may defy assault ; but Russian travellers entertain
far more modest opinions. Viewed from without the
Russian city is formidable. "As we approached
Sebastopol (says Mr. Otteitmer, who writes fresh
from the place) the great curiosity which I
had long felt to visit a town of which
Russians speak with a kind of mysterious awe
was not unmixed by anxiety; and when at a sudden
fora of the road we obtained an extensive view of the
shores of the Crimes, it was startling to find that the
most prominent feature of the landscape was Sebas-
topol itself, with its lofty white houses and frowning
batteries and green-domed churches. Far inland,
and long after the houses bad ceased, the tapering
masts of the ships were visible above the low hills.
Their sails, which had been hung out to dry, were
hanging idly upon them ; and as we approached
still nearer we could discern the large hulls of the
line-of-battle ships floating, as it were, in the very
streets of the town." As he drew near to the Russian
fortress, our traveller ads, " My expectations of
Sebastopol were evidently not doomed to disappoint-
ment." Hisopinion before he had entered the place was
that of the world at large :—let us turn to what
he says, after ho had learned a little more about it :
Nothing. eau be more formidable than the appearance of
Sevastopol from the seaward. Upon a future occasion we
visited it is a steamer, sad found that at one point we were
commanded by twelve hundred pieces of artillery . forts
lamely for a hostile fleet, we afterwards heard that these
Could not be discharged without bringing down the rotten
batteries upon which they are placed, and which are so
badly constructed that they look as if they bad been done
by manna. Four of the forts consist of three tiers of
batteries. We were, of course, unable to do more than
take a very general survey of these celebrated fortifications.
and therefore cannot vouch for the truth of the inertias,
that the rooms in which the guns are worked are so narrow
and ill ventilated, that the artillerymen would be inevitably
stifled in the attempt to discharge their guns sad their
duty ; but of one fact there was no doubt, that however
well fortified may be the approaches to Sevastopol by sea,
there is nothing whatever to prevent any number of troops
landing a few miles to the south of the town, in one of the
sin convenient bays with which the coast, as far as Cape
liherion, is indented, and marching down the main street
(provided they were strong enough to defeat any military
force that might be opposed to thcm in the open field) soak
the town, sad burn the fleet.

THE snug firm of Goo, MAGOG, and Co. is totter-
jag. Up to the present time the partners in the
concern have been allowed to hold their heads
tolerably nigh. It is true that it was whispered that
Goo was rather too much addicted to dinner parties,
and that MAGoG occasionally looked a little shaky
after returning from one of those mysterious expe-
ditions by which the Thames is preserved, or con-
served, as it is phrased. Nevertheless, the world
was inclined to look leniently upon the doings of
these jolly old boys. The House was an old one, and
had from time immemorial been distinguished
for paying its way. It had a prestige
derived from old traditions in its favour.

It had WALWORTU and WRITTLNOTON amongst its
ancestors. Its existence seemed in some manner
bound up with that of the City. This feeling is, as
we observed, vanishing. There is a strong suspicion
that the accounts of the firm will scarcely bear over-
handling. The suspicion is increased by the strange
conduct of the partners. Until now both Goo
and his plethoric partner have refused to produce
their books. Being a nation of shopkeepers we
rightly look shy upon such conduct, and means are
being adopted to discover what the parties concerned
have hitherto concealed. It cannot be denied that
as the investigation proceeds the appearance of
things does not improve. In other words, the Cor-
poration makes even a worse figure than was
anticipated. •
_ _

The 'widens of Mr. WILLIAMS, the member for
Lambeth, printed in the Daily News of yesterday,
contains some very curious statements with respect
to City expenditure. This gentleman, in 1830, was
appointed by the Common Hall to act as one of the
auditors of the accounts. The report which the
auditors drew up was generally regarded as a re-
markably good one, and they received a vote of
thanks for the same. The arrangement existed until
1834, when the Corporation refused any longer to
supply the auditors with the necessary bills of parti-
culars. The auditors, rightly considering that audits
were a mere farce without bills of particulars, threw
up
their office. In the year 1833, when the
Qty Corporation Committee instituted an inquiry,
Wit.usus and the leading Reformers formed
thimeelves into a committee for the purpose of giving
eM the information in their power. Their intentions!
\mover, according to his own statement, were de-
hated by the City officers, who "showed great shi-
nty in protecting their own interests." In the
middle of the same year Mr. WILLIAMS offered him-
self, " reluctantly," as candidate to supply a vacancy
in the Court of Common Council, for the sole purpose
of getting at the City accounts. He was as far as
ever from the attainment of his object. The Court
of Common Council having passed an order that
the officers of the Court should furnish no
information of any kind to any one except their
regularly constituted authorities, he was obliged to
content himself with the Blue Books published under
Me authority of the Corporation, and "these," he
imam us, " afforded no correct idea of the money
enacted by them from the public, under various
Awe At last, Mr. WILLIAMS succeeded in ob-
tain a committee to inquire into the salaries,
pale, his, and emoluments of the officers of the
Ompration; the amount of the City revenues, the
amass whence they were derived, and the mode in
wide& they wem expended. Even after this bad been
panted, and the committee appointed, the greatest
difficulty was experienced in getting information.
Fee instance, all the Aldermen who had passed the
ace of Mayor being written to, with a request that
limy would supply information with respect to the
*mount of the money they had received during the
Mayoralty year, not one complied with the request
except Sir PETER Lame. However, the committee
managed to ascertain that the cast of the Mayoralty
during the year 1833 was 25,0341., a tolerable sum
for a chief magistrate, it must be confessed. Mr.
WILLIAMS went on to state that the committee dia.
covered that emoluments were received by vari-
one officers to the amount of 74,4401., which
did not appear in the Corporation accounts.
He estimated the whole income of the Corporation
in 1833 to be 321,4611., which amounted to 2/.
12a. 6d. for each head of the City population, ex-
elusive of the enormous amount entailed on the
public by the practice of allowing none but freemen
to be employed in various handicrafts, of which the
hllowship of porters afforded an example. Con-
trasting City taxation with the taxation of the
Empire, it will appear that while the affairs of the
Qty are managed at the expenditure of 2/. 12s. 6d.
for each inhabitant, those of the United King-
dom involve an expense of 11. 17s. The City
expenditure, therefore, in proportion to population,
is 30 per cent. more than that of the Central
Government of the whole Empire. A similar compa-
rison being made as to the cost of the Cabinet Minis-
ten and that of the City officers, it appears that
while 12 Cabinet Ministers oast the country 45,4351.,
the same number of City functionaries received
48,4331. for their services. Turning to a few miscel-
laneous items, we may remark that Mr. WILLIAMS
pets down the allowance for the City barge and
dollop, part of the extensive feet engaged in the
miaow duty of the conservancy of the'thames, with
other expenses incurred in this proceeding, at 2,0001.
The bills of three City lawyers in the 10 years from
1826 to 1835 he states to have been 162,6201., 'riving
en average of 16,2621. per annum. There were also
116 other lawyers who received, in 1833,22,843/. The
City law expenses thus amount to 39,105/. per
eanans.

Should it hereafter appear that the Turkish fleet

have really sailed into the Black Sea with ords re to
engage the Russian men-of-war, or to undertake the
still more serious task of attacking Sebastopol, it is
almost superfluous to remark that they may, or may
not, be allowed by weather or by the fortune of war to
meet the antagonists they wish for. But if they
should measure weapons with the people of the
CZAR, and if moreover they should be successful,
the credit will be all their own. Such a
venture must undoubtedly be regarded as one of

Perhaps, however, the greatest of the extortions—
greatest in its enormi'y, and greatest in its iniquity
—is the coal tax, which yielded last year 192,0001.

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 2, 1853.

Mr. WILLIAM. stated that, although this tax was
.levied on the whole of the metropolis, up to the
presenttimsthe whole of the proceeds had been ex-
_pendia in City improvements, with the exception of
• balance paid over last year to the Office of Works
for 'metropolitan improvements. Every one will
agree with him in his assertion of the monstrous
injustice of allowing one twentieth portion of
GO metropolis to tax the remaining nine-

teen-twentieths for their own local purposes.
Why is the prico of the coal that warms the garret of
a poor woman in Marylebone to be raised for the
benefit of a Corporation which taxes the metropolis,
but in no sense of the word can be said to represent
It. This is a glarisg injustice that must be abolished.
Coals, in this country, are not a luxury only, but a
prime necessity of life. The dwellings of the poor
must be warmed, if the poor are to live. The restric-
tions that are placed by the City in the way of the
supply of cheap coal to the metropolis must be abo-
lished, as the first-fruits of the Reform Movement ;
and the Corporation will do well, as an earnest of
their oft-repeated assertion that they are not really
desirous of opposing Reform, to lend their assistance
to those who are spurring them on to the good work.