The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-19 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 19, 1853.

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LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19.

• -

THE Chronicles of the war oa the Danube promise
to possess all the interest which is derived from
frequent and sudden changes of fortune. One day
we are told that the Turks are in full and triumphant
pursuit of the flying Russians; the next, that a lug,
body of 1 Irks have recrossed the Danube. Last night's
telegraphic despatch from Paris seems to establish
the sub.tantial correctness of the latter account. The
story of the burning of Bucharest and the retreat
of the Russians was anonymous, and not corrobo-
rated by later despatches. We were left to test its
veracity by internal evidence ; and though—so
plausibly was it concocted that it stood this test
pretty well still we were haunted by
cgs, suggested by the proved infi-
delity of the Vienna telegraph. The report
that the Turks had recrossed the Danube at Olte-
aitrai was on the contrary conveyed by a multiplicity
of successive despatches. It is true that all except
two of thee. were unaathenticated by the names of

the authors; all the rest being mere unofticial echoes
of these two. The narratives so far authenticated
the despatch of the French Consul at Bache-
rest to his Government, and the despatch said to
have been transmitted by Prince 001111CIIAKOEF to

Vienna. The French Consul merely reported what
he had been told by the Russian authoritiee—
istintamig at the same time considerable scep-
ticism as to its strict accuracy. In fact, there-
fore, we had, op to a late hour last night, only one
substantial report that transmitted by Prince
Ooarsuu.utiorr to Vienna, and also told by Prince
OoaTso It KOV, or his staff to the French Consul at
Bucharest. Them were some facts in the report of
the French consul which threw a shade of suspicion
on the exaggerated statement of the Russian Com-
mander-in-Chief, and that statement was moreover
irreconcilable with facts previously received from
Bucharest, and still uncontradicted. Last night's

despatch from Paris appears to furnish a clue to the
wave:ling of these contradictions, and to the reel
state of affairs.

Prince GOILTICIIAKOFT—or the despatch attributed
to him—broadly asserts that " the Turks have
quitted all their positions on the left bank of the
Danube, except Kalafat, without battle, simply on
account of the concentration and development of the
Russian forces." The boast that the Turks had
retreated without striking a blow, was contradicted
by the accounts, previously received from Russian
army surgeons at Bucharest, of the soldiers under
their care suffering from gunshot, sabre, and bayonet
wounds. It was also rendered to the last degree
incredible by the incidental allusion of the French
Consul to the fact that as he was sending it off, a
continuous cannonade was heard in the direction of
the Danube; as also by his mention of frequent com-
bats at Giurgevo, which he could only have learned
from the Russians themselves. And now comes
the Parisian despatch to clear up the con-
tradiction. The Turks, prevented by the heavy
and continuous rains which had set in from
prosecuting their contemplated advance upon
Bucharest, have withdrawn for the time to the
healthy bank of the river, " in the most perfect order,
and without being disturbed by the enemy," as it is
expressed in last night's message from Paris—words
nearly synonymous with those used in the French
Consul's despatch. The French Consul intimates his
belief that the number of Russian troops said to be
assembled in 'font of Oltenitsa was exaggerated.
All who take any interest in the reputation of Prince
GOITKRAKOTP ought to hope that this is the case :
for, to allow the Turks to recross a broad, rapid, and
swollen river, in face of a superior force, without
inflicting any loss upon them, would for ever
ruin his reputation as a general. Prince Gloarsou-
KOFF'S assertion that the Turks had evacuated all
their positions on the left bank, with the exception

of Kaiafat, is an unmeaning rhodomontade. It was
only at Ks.lafat and at Giurgevo and Oltenitza (the
two last being parts of the game movement) that the
Twits seriously intended to cross. The throwing of
troops across at other points was merely meant to
distract and bewilder the enemy. At Kaislet the
Osmanli have made good their position, and indeed
they appear to powers the whole of Lesser Walla-
chia. The operation at Oltenitsa and Giurgevo has
been interrupted by the rains, but not until the Turks
had made theßnwdans recoil from before them, and the
withdrawalof one portion of their force has been effected
with the Karabin army looking on and not daring to
interrupt or annoy it. The Turks have exchanged
an unhealthy for a healthy position : they have lost
no ground—nay, they appear still to retain the
island in front of Giurgevo : they have defeated the
Russians in several combats, and only wait the return
of good weather to resume their attack.

The e delay at Oltenitra will not decide the
struggle. The Ottoman Empire is only beginning
to put forth its innate strength and resources. The
dislocation effected by the reforms of Sultan Man-
rovu while in progress, and the loss of the fleet at
Navarino, impeded for some years the efforts of
Turkey to avail itself of its real strength. The
consciousness of this begot a temporary depression
of spirits, and a disposition to rely too much upon
allies and too little upon itself. There are traces of
the continuance of this mood so late as the first
lies( ninon' honk. But Turkey has now been
fairly raised. Both the Government and the people
are bestirring themselves in earnest; and, like vale-
tudinarians forted to make an exertion, they are
equally pleased and delighted to discover how
much they have been under-estimating their own
power. Their first successes have inspired them
with seir.oosfidenee ; and a few checks or re-
vers“ will only stimulate them to redoubled
exertions. There is something so dreadful about
war when closely looked into that men are always
driven to wish it soon over. The pangs of soldiers
on the battle-field and in hospitals, the sufferings en-
tailed upon the whole population of the countries
which are the scene of war, the demoralisation of
thousands,—all these things are terrible. And yet,
like all physical evils, war produces its moral benefits.
It teaches nations which have become remiss and
spat& tic to rely upon their own exertions ; it com-
pels Governments to rouse themselves to forethought
and action ; it inspirer a people with an intense
sense of their common nationality. It would'
almost appear from the recent history of
Turkey that some such terrible visitation was
required to regenerate the State. At present it
seems beyond doubt that the Turkish state is sus-
ceptible of being so regenerated, and is being re-
generated. If it be so, perhaps the best thing that
could happen to Turkey would be that occasional
reverses might prevent it from obtaining too easy a
victory ; that the struggle in which it is involved
may be sidllcieutly long and arduous to elicit fully
and confirm the high qualities it is bringing into
play. And even with the co-operation of France

and England (and it must be wished that more
prompt and efficient signs of that co-operation would
show themselves'), the struggle will be sufficiently
arduous. The might of ltusaia has indeed been
grossly exaggerated, but still a contest with
that country is not exactly child's play. The
movements of the Russian forces, however, as
reported, though they prove the necessity of energy
and watchfulness on the part of their antagonists,
are not of a nature to inspire deadly alarm. The
forced marches by which reinforcements are said to
be advancing to Prince GORTSCRAKOFF from Bessa-
rabia and Moldavia, show his sense that they are
needed, rather than that they will prove sufficient.
And the military musters around Moscow and St.
Petersburg, however imposing they may look on
paper, will find it hard work to struggle through the
marshes and across the steppes of Russia or the
Danube in the winter, to say nothing of the num-
bers that must be retained to keep Poland and Fin-
land quiet, and be despatched to strengthen the Iron-
tier armies towards the Caucasus and Khiva.

Fort a moral people, we tolerate in this country
certain open displays of vice with remarkable equa-
nimity. Foreigners, who seldom come among us
without strong prejudgments of our prudery, are
astonished at this sort of laxity; for it is their wont,
at home, to hide behind a decent veil immoralities,
the existence of which we advertise in the face of
day. And it happens unfortunately that, in London,
the open markets of shame are held precisely where
foreigners most do congregate; in Regent-street and
in the ullawliate neighbourhoods of Golden and Lei-
cester-squares, at the West End of London ; and near
the Docks in the Eastern district. It is next to im-
possible for a reputable citizen to pass through
certain thoroughfares in these localities after dark,
without being subject to annoyances of a character
much more gross than he is likely to be openly sub.
jected to in any other city in Europe. " The leer of
invitation" shot askance and in dread of detection
from the sunken eyes of a fallen grisetle, or an un-
employed seamstress, passes unnoticed by all—except
the confirmed debauchee—who saunters through the
Boulevards of Paris, or the public gardens of Berlin
or Vienna; but whoever ventures, between sunset
and midnight, and even after that time, into the places
we have named, will bepersonally addressed by women
to whom infamy is no Ins a profession than a mis-
fortune, in a manner that is not a little disgraceful
to those to whom the guardianship of the streets is ,
committed. The police laws, thoroughly and judi-
ciously administered, are powerful enough to modify,
if not to cure the evil. Why, then. does the nuisance
still continue?

This question has been answered in the Vestry of
Bt. James's, by a charge against the police employed
in that parish, of a nature too grave to be evaded or
allowed to drop. Its asserted that the police
are bribed ; that they levy black mail upon the
wretched women whom it is their duty to keep
within the bounds of public decency, and also upon
publicans, whose houses they ought to see closed at
proper hours. Bribery is the most serious accusation
that it is possible to make against a public officer,
except one, and that one was also shadowed forth at
the meeting of St. James's vestry, which we reported
in yesterday's Express. It was further charged
directly against one of the force, and indirectly
against two of his comrades, that the first being
detected in receiving a bribe, they all had not
flinched from screening the act by untrue eel.
donee. This strong bill of indictment was
founded on circumstances with which some
of our readers are already, perhaps, familiar.
It appears that the Paving Board of St. James's,
being powerless to abate the improprieties we have
already mentioned, and receiving no assistance
towards that object from the polite, determined to
set a watch upon the conduct of the constables. They
therefore employed a man, described as a person of
respectable standing and sound moral character, to
take an account of the number of loose women (or women
presumed to be bad characters) who frequented
given places. This person sallied forth one evening
last week, note-book in hand, chalking out a " beat"
for himself, which extended for that night through
the thickest resort of the women of whom he had
been appointed statist. Having completed his
enumerations, he retired to a convenient spot to note
it in his book. He was in this act, under a lamp in
Sherrard-street, when his attention was attracted to
the opposite pavement by the circumstance of a
policeman having a confidential interview with a
young French woman,who ended the dialogue by open.
ing her purse and presenting the officer with money.
Having been previously employed by the Paving
Board to take a note of the number of public-houses
open at unlawful hours by the connivance of the
police, he was well known to them. The constable,
it is evident, remarked him when it was too late.
The result was that, when the man had reached the
top of the stnet, two offioers remarking that " he was
quite drunk enough for them," kicked up his heels
and dragged him violently to the Station-haws,
where the Inspector locked him up all night on the
charge of being drunk. Before the Magistrate the
next morning the three officers swore that the
man was drunk ; and neither he, nor several
vestrymen who appeared in his favour, could
prove that he was sober. He was, therefore, con-
victed, and the police triumphed. A deputation of
vestrymen afterwards waited upon Lard PALMERSTON

to coMplain of the decision ; but the Home Secretary
declared that the magistrate had done his duty.

No doubt, Mr. Bu4cux, of Marlborough-street Po-
lice-court, had done his duty. Three men came before
him and swore that the defendant was drunk. With-

lion that he was not, conviction—with rigid determina-
tion on the part of the Magistrate to take a stringent
view of his duty, and to be on the safe side—was
inevitable. But we question whether a judge, with
a nice sense of his position as the arbitrator and ap-
peal between the public and the police, would not
have paused a little upon the extremely suspicious
circumstances out of which the charge took rise, and
have adjourned the case for further evidence. Cer-
tainly, such a judge would not have committed him-
self, as Mr. BINGHAM is said to have
done, to the statement that, had ix civilians been
brought to swear that the defendant was sober, he
should have preferred the three oaths of the three
policemen and have still convicted the defendant. This
collateral point in the case requires, we think, dis-
cussion, as lying at the root of the whole matter.
No one who has attended criminal courts of justice
but must have seen that discrimination is coma-
sary in receiving and sifting professional evidence,
even when delivered by highly-educated professional
men, however pure their motives, and however un-
spotted their love of truth ; and that even more cau-
tion is called for in dealing with the sworn statements
of less educated officials. Without desiring to impute
the faintest shade of moral obliquity to a large, effi-
cient, and useful class of public servants, we must
entirely dissent from the doctrine attributed to Mr.
litsatism as to the relative value of the oath of a
policeman against that of a civilian.
We presume that the force as a body are not
exempt from such influences as have weight with
other mortals. One powerful influence which presses
upon the mind of an ordinary witness in taking an
oath is the novelty of the act. Few persons in
'private life have been called upon to nuke frequently
I a solemn abjuration in public—very few have been

obliged to do so more than once ; consequently an
oath is seldom sworn in open court by a civilian
without an emotion arising out of the so-
lemnity and novelty of the occasion. But with a
policeman the case is far otherwise. For him
to take oaths is as much a part of his duty as to
walk his best. His calling makes him a frequent
witness ; and swearing comes into the business and
routine of that part of his calling. He is accustomed
to appear in public, and to answer questions in pub-
lic, and to kiss the New Testament in public ; conse-
quently the performance of the short, but most
solemn and responsible, ceremony, seldom occasions
emotion in him. This being the case, we differ entirely
from Mr. BINGHAM'S dictum. We think that a
civilian's oath is at least quite as good as the oath of
a policeman.

Applying these observations to the case in point,
we must say that, considering the broad and patent
fact of the debasement that is nightly paraded in
our streets in spite of the police;—considering that
the charge made by members of the St. James's
Vestry has not been disproved, namely, that it does
exist in virtue of bribery ;—and considering that no
satisfactory disproof has been brought forward of the
flagrant act in which the policeman was said to
have been caught in Sherrard-street; we are strongly
of opinion that the case upon which we found these
remarks ought to be thoroughly sifted. Even if the
policemen swore truly (and, on the other hand, no
direct legal evidence hu been adduced to rebut their
evidence), we must not fall into the logical trap set
by the policeman, that because the agent of the Paving
Board was drank, he, his accuser, did not receive the
money from Use young French lady; and if he
did receive money from the young French lady, we
are slightly helped to the same reason as that adduced
by the St. James's Paving Board, as to why so many
disreputable young ladies, British as well as foreign,
are allowed to pollute tke West-end thoroughfares.
Other equally serious accusations against the police
have been concentrated into three short sentences by
Mr. NICHOLL, a licensing magistrate. His words
are:—" Licenses were often withdrawn on police tes-
timony, but as often restored on appeal, the police
giving evidence on that occasion totally at variance
with their original testimony; no doubt they had
received good reason in the meantime for altering
their evidence." Bearing these further statements
in mind, no one will deny that a strong case has been
made out for an investigation into the conduct of the
police. So grave are the charges brought against them
in St. James's parish, that the Vestry, as accusers, are
bound to prove their case: while, for the honour and
credit of the Force, the Commissioners ought not to al-
low such charges, made on such respectable authority,
topass unnoticed. The acknowledged general efficiency
of the Force is, moreover, an argument is favour of
inquiry. The credit which it has obtained for temper,
seal, and discipline, in the performance of extremely
difficult and harassing duties, ought to make the
whole body the more jealous of the accusations against
individuals which may tend, if not disproved, to
tarnish the high character which the Metropolitan
Constables now enjoy.

THE STRIKES.

THE PRESTON MEMORIAL.
(ram 001 SPECIAL CO/LIMSPONDENT.)

PRESTON, FRIDAY.
The memorial of the power-loom weavers to Lord
Palmerston is a peculiar feature in the history of the
great strike. Surely this must be looked upon as a
step rather more damaging to the men than other-
wise. They have in a measure abandoned their posi-
tion. There is no denying that the document is
well drawn up—that the language is forcible, and
at the same time temperate; but if the po-
sition that the men had taken was at all
tenable, what was the necessity for the
appeal at all ? The men on strike, if they mesa any-
thing, mean this: our labour is necessary for the pro-
duction of the goods by which the masters obtain
wealth, we claim a certain share of the produce for
ourselves—this share we will fix at ten per cent.
more than we have heretofore received—the masters
must come to our terms or we defy them. The mas-
ters have accepted the challenge. War is declared.
Each party is sure of ultimate success.
The men, in the person of their leader,
boast that they shall be able, even with their
present resources, to keep up the war beyond Christ-
mas. Upon this wasteful contest we look with all
the interest which we bestow upon a pitched battle.'
What is the meaning of one of the combatants des-
patching a message to a neutral power, begging for
mediation ? What has Lord Palmerston to do with
a mere question of bargain—a matter between those
who buy and those who sell ? Preston operatives may
be heard singing in all the neighbouring towns and
villages,
We'll sever be mutant
Till we get the ten per rent."

A wise resolution doubtless, could they only carry
it out. But if they can, what do they want with
mediation ? The manufacturers might sing a song
to the same tune, but who would care to listen to
them, unless it wu supposed they had some means
of getting the object of their desires? Beg-
gars are said to entertain longings for im-
possible coaches and four, but they are not
wont to bother the world with long-winded
descriptions of their aspirations. The only interest
that the people of England could or would take in
the dispute between masters and men, would arias
from the fact of its being a moot point whether the
muter. or the men were right. The men assert
that their labour is worth more in the market
to prove the negative propoiri- I than the manufacturers choose to pay for it.

dare the men to the proof.

The men took upon themselves the onus of proof
when they struck. It is rather late in the day for
them to oall in mediation.

Mediation, if it ever can be obtained in the
case of a dispute between the buyers and
sellers of labour, should be employed to pre-
vent a strike. Difficult as the task may be
to devise a good means of mediation between masters
and men, we need not despair of seeing it overcome
at some future time. Nevertheless, it is useless to
suppose mediation will be et any avail when the
sword is drawn and the scabbard flung away. The
party who calls out for mediation then, is the party
who is in tho wrong.

The statement of the men contained in the memo-
rial to Lord Palmerston is, on the whole, well drawn
up. It is, however, to be remembered that every
essential assertion in that statement has been replied
to by the masters. In my former letters from Preston
to the Express a fortnight back, and which con-
tained statements taken from the mouths of each of
the parties, put down as far as possible in the very
words in which they were given, the terms are con-
tained in which each separate allegation of the men
were met by the masters. The memorial to Lord
Palmerston states, that upon the expression of a
simple opinion to the masters to the effect that it
was but just that as they had suffered in conse-
quence of the depressed state of trade, they should
be allowed to participate in the benefits of a flour-
ishing state of trade, they were repulsed, and that
"up to this time they had no thought of combina-
tion or union." The masters meet the assertion
that the men had not participated in the commercial
prosperity of the year, with positive denial. They
assert that the men had received an increase quite

equivalent to 10 per cent.: that in some mills the
rise in certain descriptions of work was equivalent
to 15 per cent. They assert also that the
men conceal the fact, that there has been a
constant endeavour throughout the year on the
part of the operatives to equalise wages in all the
mills, and that this, in spite of its manifest in-
justice, has been attended with partial success. The
injustice in this case is evident from the considera-
tion that the power of the various mills varies with
the capabilities of the machinery. The men can
perform much more work with a new improved ma-
chine than with an old one. The masters very
properly claim for themselves a part at least
of the additional proceeds derived from the capital
which they have sunk in the new instruments of
production. If the men work more at the new
machines, they profess to be willing to take this into
consideration, and increase their wages. The conse-
quence of this is, that the advocates for equalisa.l
tion" demand of the employers of the old machines
an increase of wages equal to that given by the pos-
sessors of the new. When this is done, then comes
the demand for the 10 per cent.
If the question is to be argued, or if—which is
very doubtful—it could be argued with respect to
the abstract principle of justice in the case, the mas-
ters in the present instance appear to possess some
right to a verdict. But the world does not settle
questions of bargain by an appeal to first principles
of right and wrong. The price which
we pay the Peruvian Government for guano
is, when compared with the cost at which
the guano is procured, enormous. If an
equally extensive supply could be found elsewhere
to-morrow, prices would fall 30 per cent. But the
cost of getting the guano, it is well known, has
nothing to do with the matter. We pay as much for
it as it is worth to us, and no more. If Peru asked
more than we thought it worth, we should not buy it.
If they asked less, we should not be very grateful. The
labour of the workmen is not worth to the manufac-
turers what is asked for it. All the mediation
in the world will fail in making them consent to an
unprofitable bargain. The only justification of the
strike would be founded upon the tact that the ma-
nufacturers were not paying as much for labour as
the state of the labour market warranted the la-
bourers in asking. The only use of the strike was
to discover whether this was really the
fact. This, it appears to us, has been
settled. The masters profess themselves determined
not to yield, and the men call out for mediation. It
may be hoped that Lord Palmerston's reply to the
memorial—(if he makes one at all)—will be as judi-
cious as the replies he has made to others of a diffe-
rent nature, and that, although his mediation can be
of no possible service, his advice may—if he stands
firmly to sound principles, and speaks out.

FRANCE.

-

PARIS, FRIDAT EVININO.
The following highly important intelligence from
Constantinople has been brought by the Mentor,
whose mails have arrived in Paris to-day. The Con-
stantinople Journal of the 4th, publishes the fol-
lowing :
" NOTICE.

" CHANCERY OF THE FRENCH EMBASSY AT THE

OTTOMAN PORTE.

" Oa Saturday, Nov. 12, 1833, at 11 o'clock in the
morning, an adjudication upon sealed tenders
will be made at the Chancery of the French
Embassy, for a contract to furnish provi-
sion■ to French ships of war from Constan-
tinople to Odessa on the European coast, and as far
as Trebizonde on the coast of Asia, from and after
Nov. 16, 1833, during the whole period of the
sojourn of the Mediterranean squadron in the Bos-
phorus and in the Black Sea. The colder des charges
is deposited at the Chancery of the embaasy, where
tenders will only be received up to Thursday at noon,
Nov. 10.

" Constantinople, Nov. 3, 1833."
This appears to prove that the governments of
France and England really contemplate affording an
efficacious support to Turkey, and are prepared at
once to take that step which the Czar threatens to
consider as tantamount to a declaration of war
against himself, namely, to penetrate into the Black
Sea.
These letters speak of French and English troops
being daily expected at Constantinople. Mehemed-1
Rouschdi-Ptacha, General of the Guards, is appointed
to command the army of reserve at Adrianople, and
it was said he was only waiting to set out for the
arrival of General Bosquet with a detachment of
French officers from Algeria, who were to accompany
him. I have heard it confidently stated in Paris
to-day that General Bonnet and these officers had
actually arrived, but I think the news doubtful, and
have reason to think that the general in question, who
I know was displaced from command some time ago, is
not sufficiently in favour to receive a mission of this
high importance. The same correspondence says that a
confidential communication made to the Porte by M.
de Bruck had become known, and had made a great
sensation. The Austrian internuncio had warned
the Porte, apparently in its own interest, that Gene-
ral Gortachakoffs plan was to draw Omer Pacha on
to the plain of Great Wallachia, to give him battle
with the third and fourth corps of the army, and
them to cut off his retreat with the fifth
seeps, that of Osten-Sacken, which it was
thought at Constantinople was already in Bessarabia,
although we ■ow know that it only crossed the
Pruth at the beginning of this month. M. de
Brack's kind communication was only looked upon at
Constantinople as an artifice to delay hostilities.
I am assured that despatches received here to-day
by Rothschild and several other bankers, and consi-
dered authentic, speak of a serious defeat having
been sustained by the Turks, and state positively
that Omer Pacha his retreated, and re-crossed the Da-
nube. I am bound to state that the story is extensively
credited, and that in quarters not generally credu-
lous. I may observe, that should it be true that
Omer Pacha has made a retrograde movement, it by
no means follows that he has lost a battle. Indeed,
assuming the accuracy of the telegraphic despatch
published in London on Wednesday, it appears im-
possible that any Russian army could have been
concentrated within the last few days in sufficient
force to gain any decided advantage over him. Now
with regard to that despatch, it is a very remarkable
thing that the Moniteur reproduces it this morning
without comment, which it would hardly have done
had the French government been in possession of any
news of a contrary tendency. From all that is known
of the position of the contending forces, it seems pro-
bable that the Turks may have gained the important
victory reported. But it is evident that Omer
ruche's plans were likely to be radically changed
when he heard of the passage of the l'ruth by Gen.
Osten-Sackon at the head of an army of 50,000
men. It is impossible at this distance to conjecture
what circumstances may Imre prevented him from

pursuing the advantage pined over the Russians at
or near Bucharest. But it may be useful to bear
in mind that the campaign hitherto has been
favoured by exceptional weather. It has all along
been taken for granted that when the winter fairly
set in it would be impossible to carry on military
operations in the Principalities. The great change in
the weather which took place in these latitudes about
ten days since renders it highly probable that on the
theatre of war a corresponding change may have
occurred about the same time. In corroboration of
this view, I learn that intelligence has reached Paris
that the waters of the Danube were rising. Nothing
therefore, is more likely, than that Omer I'achs,
finding it not practicable to pursue the Russians
towards Cronstadt, and aware of the advance
of Osten-Sacken, suddenly bethought him that the
swelling of the Danube might cut oft his retreat in
case of a reverse, and resolved to withdraw his army
to the forts on the right side of the river, content
with having gained u splendid advantage in a first
campaign. Should this supposition be approximatively
correct, it may turn out that Osten-Sacken, after
wearying his army by forced marches, may find in
Wallachia no enemy to fight with but the marsh fever
and Omer I'acha in possession of the strong fortresses

and healthy heights of the right bank of the Danube,
may defy the enemy to make any further advance
daring the whole winter.
. .

At the opening of the Bourse to-day, the Itente
was very arm, and some important purchases pro-
duced a rise of 20c. The rumour of a check ex-
perienced by Omer Pacha's army, however, led to
the belief that the war was likely to be
prolonged, and business won became extremely
heavy. The uneasiness shown by the Bunk
of France at the scarcity of silver coin a'so
contributed to depress prices. The Three per Cents.
closed at 73fr. 35c., being a fall of 15c. from yester-
day. With the exception of Lyons and Mediterra-
nean, which rose 2fr. 50c., the railways were all
lower.

The Turkish Ambassador hsa just made a fresh
purchase of 40,000 Chasseurs de Vincennes rifles for
the account of his government.
SEVEN O'CLOCK.

The Patric, which is very late this evening, has
the following :—" The last news from the theatre of
war are highly important. For several days a vigorous
march of the Turks from Oltenitza to Bucharest was
expected, and the report bad even been spread that
the Turkish army had occupied that town. It ap-
pears that the torrents of rain which have fallen
since the battle of Oltenitza have been fatal to the
march of the Turks. Impeded by the inundations
which, by soaking the ground, rendered the move-
ments of the artillery impossible, they lost precious
time. The Russians were thus enabled to concen-
trate the greatest pact of their forces near Bacharest,
and the expedition of the Turks against that
plate failed. General Gortschakoff had time to col-
lect from 45,000 to 50,000 men for the defence of that
important strategic point. In this situation the
Turks resolved to arrest their onward movement.
After having destroyed the quarantine building and
the works at Oltenitza, they succeeded in crossing
the Danube in the greatest order, and without being
molested by the enemy."