The Express.
London, England, 1861-01-01 00:00:00

NAVAL AND MILITARY.

ADICZAWY Dic. 31. APPOINTKINTB....-Liell-
teounte J. G. Heed, to the St. Jam ifAcre ; A. H. Gilmore.
to the Algiers ; F. S. 1). Broughtoo, to the Taboos ;H.
H. Knocker, to the Imam ; li. le. Beady% to the Nile ;
A. T. J. Bullock, and W. Pawns, to the Arrogant.

CHATHAM, Dec. 3t.
The following promotions in the corps of Royal
Marines, onnseluent on the death of Lieut,General d. L
Wines, were this morning promulgated at head-quarters :
Colonel A. B. Btrensham, Commandant ti the Woolwich
division of Royal Matinee, to be majorteneral, cud placed
on the fixed establishment of general officers ; Colonel F. A.
=ll, Second Commandant at Woolwich, to be coin•
t, and appointed to the same division ; Lieutenant-
Colonel A. 8. B. Walsh, C.R., of the Woolwich divi-
sion, to be second commandant of that division ; Captain A.
U. L. Farrant, of the Portemouth division, to be lieutenant-
colonel, and appointed to the Woolwich division ; First
Lieutenant J. R. Lloyd, of this division, to be captain, and
appointed to the Portsmouth division ; Beoond Lieutenant
E. L. how, of the Plymouth division, to be first lieutenant
and appointed to this division.
Forty of the most intelligent artisans and mechanics
have been selected from the compauiesof Royal Engineers
now at headquarters, for trawler to the 112nd company,
which is under orders to embark for St. Helena, to be arm
played in the repair of the defences of that Island. On
the antral of the company at Bt. Reds s, it will be
augmented to 100 men from the Royal Engineers servieg at
that station. No day has yet been fixed for the embarks-
lion of the company.
The launch of the fine 51-gun screw frigate Undaunted
will take place tomorrow afternoon, shortly after 2 o'clock.
The whole of the preparations connected with the launch
were completed this day, under the direction of Mr. Lang,
the master shipbuilder. The public will be admitted into
the yard to witness the ceremony about an hour teem the
time fixed for the launch.

The Colonelcy of tho 23rd Regiment (The Royal
Welsh Fusiliers) hiss become vacant by the death of Lieu.
tenaot-General Remy Rainey, UR., and K.H., who died on
the 20th alt. at Brighton. The gallant general had been
nearly sixty years in the army.
We have also to record the death of Colonel
Henry IL elreatlildraseired full pay, 87th Foot, which
took plus a few dap atom, aged 70. Theists coloaere
fissional services were chiefly, if not wholly, confined to
Indio.
A dense fog qpread over Southampton Water
and the Solent yesterday, and the mail packets Seine,
Osylon, and Tarn; could not come into the Southampton
dock in consequeuce, although they reached the Needles
early in the day. Steam tug. were sent in search of them
to bring in their mails, and had great difficulty in finding
the vowels.

SYRIA.

(now ova owx COM

BEYROUT, Dec. 17.
There has been a slight disturbance ut Sidon
during the put week, in consequence of which
General de tArfort has detached a company of in-
fantry from Beyront to that place, and has also
ordered that the two squadrons of the Chaaseura
d'Afrique (which have been encamped since the
month of October at lifib-Elias, in the plain of
Ccelo-Syria) should take up their winter quarters
at Sidon.

-----
Fuad Paella has issued an order that every male
Druse of lb years old and upwards shall, within a
7ttelipa,ay the sum of 1,360 piasters (nearly 121.
either in money or kind, under penalty
of having (according to the custom of this country)
parties of irregular cavalry quartered in such
villages as don't pay, hones and men being
fed and lodged by the villagers. The Denies
declare they cannot pay this sum nor any
like it, and have petitioned that either their horses
be examined, and half of all they contain be taken
by the government, or else that the tax be spread
over a certain number of years, and enforced gra-
dually. Should both of these alternatives fair to
be approved of by the government they ask that
their lands be valued, the prioe•set upon them paid
after deducting the tea, and they thmselves
allowed to depart to any other part of the Sultan's
dominions, there to live in peace. To this Fuad
Puha has very justly replied, that "as for examin- '
ing their hones, it is well known that nearly all
the immense quantity of plunder they took. from
the Christiana has been long ago sent to the Hainan,
where the government cannot lay hands upon
it ;" that as fur " spreadiag the payment of the tax
over a number of years, that would be tantamount
to not having it paid at all ;" and that "tie autho-
rities wish to punish them for the past, but not to
drive them away from the Lebanon." The
payment demanded no doubt appears at first sight
very large, and if enforced many of the poorer
Druses will suffer greatly. But on the other
hand there can be no doubt that the amount of
plunder which they have in their poseesidoil must
be very tarp indeed, although of course there are
many who have nothing, and the sheiks and those
who have made a good thing of it by the late war
in Lebanon should be made to pay for the rest.
What I have before hinted at as being the on!),
likely solution for the Syrian difficulty, that of
Fuad Psalm being appointed governorteneral of
the province, with powers unrestricted by having
to refer matters to Constantinople, is more than
likely to happen. Indeed, I have reason to believe
that this conclusion has been arrived at both by the
representatives of the five powers and by the Porte.
That part of Lebanon which is inhabited exclusively
by Christians will have a Christian ruler under the
orders of the goveruorgeneral, the Drum portion and
such parts as are inhabited partly by Drusn and
partly by Christians will have Turklih sub-go-
vernors, each of which will have a council composed
of a Druse, a Msronite, a Greek, a Greek catholic,
and a Protestant member, Fuad Packs, with his
headquarters at Beyront, ruling over the whole. If
his excellency can start fair, with a tolerably full
treasury, the scheme is likely to work well, and every
one seems to agree that it is far the beet plan that
could be devised for the government of the country.
Fund Puha is an impartial man, with excellent
administrative capacity, and whilst quite enough
of an Oriental to know how to deal with Asiatics,
very much imbued with European ideas as to
the value of internal improvements. If the
customs and taxes of Syria are left free,

that is if they are not hypothecated a
Constantinople, I believe a hem sufficiently large
to carry on the government could very easily be
raised in the province itself. And if the crown and
government lands in the plain of Ccelo-Syria, about
Tyre and near Damascus, were sold (which they
could easily be at large prices, if the country once
becomes quiet), Syria would start with a fair pros-
pect of speedy improvement in every way. But it
would be necessary to make it lawful for Enrol:saga
to hold land in their own right and their own
names, in which case not only ld we see settings
oome here from many other (*merles, bat land
could then be hypothecated by natives for money
advanced them by Franks.
This steamer takes home an old public servant
of England, who has gone through a long and
honourable career in the East, and is now about
to retire upon a pension earned by nearly forty
years of good work. I allude to Mr. B
English Consul at Damascus, who together with
.11. e. Moore, our Consul-General in Syria, lately
received the decoration of C.B, for his conduct dur-
ing the recent events in Syria. There was a fare-
well dinner given to Mr. Brand the other night by
Lord Deffenn, at which Fund Pacha and all the
English residents in Beyrout were present. Mr.
Brand leaves behind hint a name much honoured
by all who have known him in Turkey.
I attended the other day the trials of the Dram
and Turkish prisoners, end shall devote part of my
nest fettet to giving a description of the judges, the
court, and the prisoners. Nothing can be fairer
than the trials seem to be, and certainly no
more open than the court. Any respectably
person is allowed to be present, without asking
leave of any one.