The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-24 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LOTTDON BRIDGE

Trays DAT —Morning 27 min After 7 I Evening Omin. aft. 8
To.losaow -Morning 36 tWn.after 8 I Evening 14min. aft. 9

THR WEATHER.—Suir Own, May. 24.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE. .
66—highest since noon yesterday.
!A) —lowest this morning and during the night.
70 —this day, at noon.

BAROMETER, 29'86.
WM. S.W.—Light, with fine weather. This is the
hottest day this year.

~%,`
~~ ~~~y~~

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LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 24, 1855.

Many sinister attempts have already been made
to damage the cause of which Mr. DISRAELI has,
at the eleventh hour, stepped forward as the
champion. Many serious misrepresentations have
been put forward by persons who profess to be
animated by a thoroughly English feeling, and
an earnest determination to brave all the chances
of the War rather than consent to a disgraceful
and injurious peace. Many more efforts will
doubtless be made to induce Hon. Gentlemen to
support the amendment of Sir FRANCIS BARING,
and thereby afford further time to Ministers to
betray the national interests by assenting to terms
dictated by Austria—terms which will leave
Russia at liberty to carry out her nefarious
attempts on the first favourable opportunity. We
emphatically caution Hon. Gentlemen against suf-
fering themselves to be mystified or misled on this
vitally important question. Mr. DISRAELI'S mo-
tion is practically one of "want of confidence" in the
Government. It has been accepted as such, for
Ministerial circulars have been sent to all their
supporters, urging their attendance on that very
ground. It declares that " This house cannot ad-
journ for the recess without expressing its dissa-
tisfaction with the ambiguous language and un-
certain conduct of her Majesty's Government in
reference to the great question of peace or War."
Now, hero there is not only " the want of
confidence " that will no longer trust the
conduct of these affairs to a Ministry who
have cautiously abstained from giving the full
and authentic information which the House
and country have a just right to demand,
but also an unmitigated censure for their refusal
to obtain a correct knowledge of the state of pub-
lic opinion on the subject of the recent negotia-
tions constitutionally and legitimately expressed
through the representatives of independent con-
stituencies. Theriiigan be no real or honest doubt
As to the result. If the motion be succe3sitil
Ministers must resign, and their successors will
come into office pledged to a more vigorous and
energetic conduct of the War, and to the imposi-
tion of more onerous terms on the AUTOCRAT.
Should —.UTOCRAT.
Should it on the other hand be rejected, the
Ministers will not only remain more firmly in
their places, but they will have obtained the
sanction of the popular branch of the Legislature to
a Treaty founded on the most trivial modification
of prince ,GORTSCIIAKOFF'S latest proposition, or,
in other words, a restoration of the status quo,
wit tout tlie'slightest guarantee for the protection
litriatYofL or testriction of the aggressive propensi-
t'l".of its unconscientious neighbour--a peace dis-
grakerd to the Western Powers, and which must
speedily be dissolved for a fierce and more deadly
contest, Waged under auspices much less propitious
for the opp„ent
nof despotism. On this point
there " can he no mistake, and there shall be no
mistake." The issue i 4 clear and unequivocal.
It is,—Are we to accept or to reject the conditions
1'
tendered by the AUTOCRAT • 1

Now, the amendment of Sir Pa e
13ARING'
although the latter portion couched
the same words as to the proprosecutionA- is
of inth almost'
is really very different in its practical eir War,
et• It
is an encouragement to Ministers to accept any
terms suggested by Austria, whose representatill4
thought that the Russian proposition " contained
dements of which Austria would endeavour to
avail herself for an understanding." So the
lain also think if it accepts the resolution),
PT°lll4llervra, t(1 to/ thelright Boa, Baronet, who

R.. ._~ ~ 't i J:

is so closely connected with the eminent firm
which acted as the financial agents of the CZAR
in the United Kingdom, and of whom it was said
that " if a loan were required for the subjugation
of Turkey, or the establishment of Cossack domi-
nation throughout Europe, ' BARING BROTHERS'
would speedily raise an adequate loan."
It may be said that the question at issue is
merely one relating to party predominance, whe-
ther Lord DERBY or Lord PAL3IERSTON shall hold
the Premiership. Appeals will be made to the
Free Traders not to do anything calculated to
bring back to office those who were once Protec-
tionists, and who may now be desirous of impos-
ing new restrictions on trade and commerce.
There is, however, far more at stake than any-
thing relating to the men who may be in power.
A principle is involved in which the honour, the
welfare, and the stability of the British Empire
is concerned, on which will depend the future
tranquillity of Europe and its protection from
• Muscovite encroachment—the principle, in fact, of
whether we shall be contented to permit all the
enormous expenditure of money, all the lives of
our gallant brethren to be thrown away, without
the slightest beneficial result ; whether there shall
be the restoration of the status quo without the
most trivial compensation for the past or guarani,
tee for the future !

It is ridiculous now to raise the bugbear of
" Protection" " to fright the Isle from its pro-
priety." That point has been frankly and un-
equivocally abandoned, and unrestricted competi-
tion or " Free Trade" is in far greater danger
from the present Ministry than from the quondam
Protectionists. Mr. DISRAELI would not have
dared to have entered on the retrograde course in
which Sir G. C. LEWIS made such rapid progress.
He would not have proposed any addition to the
duties on tea or sugar, malt or spirits. Nor
would he have increased the income tax, with an
ominous hint of a further addition, without some
attempt at an equitable adjustment. Had he
ventured to do so he would speedily have been
hurled from office, and his successors could not,
for some time at least, have ventured on the

obnoxious experiments.
We are by no means Derbyites, but seeing
that the choice, at present, is restricted to the
Whigs, a joint-stock of Whigs and Peelites, or
Derbyites, we must say that we infinitely prefer
the latter, from whom, while there would be a
vigorous waging of the War, and a resistance to
Germanism, we should receive more liberal measures
than from the present men, while the Whigs in
Opposition would be open to conviction, to which
they are now insensible. We can't get the Ballot
from Lord PALMERSTON and Lord JOHN RUSSELL,
any more than from Lord DERBY and Mr. Drs-
RAELI ; but the former would, when leaders of her
MAJESTY'S Opposition, receive new inspiration,
just as they did on the Corn-law question, and
soon regard " the un-English practice" in a very
different point of view. So it would be on
all other " Administrative Reforms," and sub-
jects on which the hearts of the people are ear-
nestly set. The truly Liberal could not
lose, s but might largely profit by the
change. The War policy, however, is at
present the main question. Everything else
must yield to that, the paramount importance of
which is universally conceded. Let every true-
hearted Englishman, then, be at his post ; let
there be no desertion or vacillation. The trim-
mers will become marked men, in whose hands
the confidence of any independent constituency
can no longer be reposed. The question is in-
deed a momentous one for the community ; it is
no less so for the reputation of those who will
have to bear the brunt of the battle during this
serious crisis.

Lord PALMERSTON has most justly gained a
high reputation for versatility. Dfli :tilt, indeed,
wo'ild it be to find any part which he could not
undertake. We do not remember that he ever
tried the Radical exactly. Every shade of party
difference, however, from tolerably advanced
Whig to uncompromising Tory has, by turns,
equally suited the Noble Lord. Reformer and
anti-Reformer, Tory-Whig or Whig-Tory, Corn-
laws Repealer and anti-Repealer ; to touch
on the details of the past were, however, endless ;
his Lordship has been, and can be, anything.
Only the other night the Noble Lord turned saint,
and in holy phrase, worthy of our Metropolitan
Father in God, defended Church Rates. The
defence -of ecclesiastical silver and gold always
seems, however, to impart especial sanctity to the
language of the defenders. The advocates are
ever conscious that they defend the most sacred
essence of all Establishments in defending " the
gold, of the temple." The temple is nothing ;
but the "gold Of the temple makes them debtors."
And then they are martyrs also. Such was Lord
PALMERSTON in the Church-rate debate. Sur-
rounded by a majority of the profane, he devoutly
maintained the poverty of the Church and her
need of holy plunder.
Last Tuesday night, on Mr. BERKELEY'S mo-
tion for the Ballot, he reappeared in an old and
favourite character. It was not well done, how-
ever, for him. There was the old dress, it is
true, but it looked the worse for wear ; nor was
the acting, although his heart was in it, quite up
to the mark. When he came to the vos plaudite,
he seemed to make the demand more from custom
than from hope. Some natural cheers he got
(from the Tories), but lost them soon. PALMER-
STON was felt by his friends to have failed. He even
said nothing whatever about "nonsense" this time !
We are almost inclined to think that ever since
the Administrative Reformers dubbed him " Our
jesting War Minister," he has felt less at home
in bantering any earnest opponent than he used
to be. Be the cause what it may, the noble op-
ponent of free-voting, though he borrowed aid
from every preceding speaker, made but a poor
speech himself.

He asserted, for the tenth time, that the elec-
tors are trustees, that the law made them trus-
tees ; but the Hamlet in Hamlet was, as usual,
left out ; he quoted no deed of trust, and exhi-
bited no document from any returning officer to
prove that any persons had duly delegated a trust
to them. We suppose, on the contrary, that had
the Noble Lord taken the pains to canvass the
non-electors, they would soon have satisfied him
that they never entrusted the ten-pound house-
holders and landlords' serfs with their political
rights ; that they would prefer to have them in
their own hands, and very decidedly prefer to use
them under the protection of the Ballot. With
all respect for Lord PALMERSTON, his now decrepid
arzunaent had better be speedily buried under
own favourite epitaph " nonsense." With equal
ill luck he attempted a little serious oratory about
the importance of publicity in voting, responsible
as he held his imaginary trustees to be ; yet he
immediately extinguished his own fire by strongly
asserting that the Ballot, as in America, would
hinder no one's opinion from being known !
•Eitlier he is wrong about America, or wrong in
RTtpotrsiunk th, the Ballot would hinder publicity.
disentangled from all sophistry and
51rat
'.l4'Ainif that
dud . in America those who,
to conceal their votes, do so,
1444 of relentless interrogators •

- '

..
c' ~

while those to whom it makes no difference take no 1
pains about it, and the warm politicians of course
proclaim their party. It would be just the same
here. Indeed it is the same in the numerous
institutions which use the Ballot in England.
Mr. H. BERKELEY, who certainly has contrived
to introduce his annual motion with a freshness of
illustration which his opponents would be thank-
fal to imitate, found a specially appropriate en-
forcement from the war in the Crimea. Lord
SEYMOUR was, of course, -very angry ; in his view
it was a mere copy of MOSES and SONS' advertise-
ments. The country, however, holds with Mr.
BERKELEY. It thinks our titled Administrators
are the quacks, and thorough-going electoral re-
form is the honest and only competent doctor.
The Administrative Reformers find themselves
Iriven almost at the beginning to appeal to the
electors. They discover, at the outset, that the
Parliament, chosen by the landlords' herds of
voters, and by the pocket boroughs, is not the
Parliament to contain much administrative talent,
or even to compel an honest employment of the
talent which it has, unless that talent be connect-
ed with the aristocracy. The House itself seems
to take pleasure in showing that it has as little
sympathy with the country as Lord PALMERSTON
himself has. What mean else the counts-out on
important notices, the refusal to save our army
and beat the Russians if it. would require Indian
officers and supersede the Horse Guards medio-
crity ; and last, not least, the "baiting" of Mr.
LAYARD for involuntary errors (if, indeed, they
should finally prove to be errors), and the attempt to
cheer Sir J. GRAHAM'S assertion of his long-proved
truthfulness and honour ? Somehow the country
does not think so highly of the word of a Post-
office burglar, convicted of acting the spy for
Austria, and of the blood of the noble brothers
BANDEIRA. These things will recur to memory
whet the House, chosen by every species of cor-
ruption, assails, like bullies, the honest advocates
of " the one thing needful," and permits a politi-
cian like Sir J. GRAHAM to appeal to his long-
tried integrity ! Give the People the Ballot, and
verily they will soon put the LA YARDS and the
GRAHAMS in their right places.

Among the numerous pamphlets called forth
by the War, we have hardly read one more oppor-
tune and instructive than that to which we
alluded on Monday.* The writer, and to some
readers this may be a commendation of his work,
is not guilty of enthusiasm for liberty, or for jus-
tice to Poland. He looks on the subject with
the calculating eye of the statesman only, and
altogether from the stand-point of German in-
terests. It is, to be sure, as a German, and not
a Russo-German, that he writes ; he would like
to see Austria and Prussia two really great and
independent States. He thinks the process of
absorption which reduced the German petty
States, originally three hundred in number, to one
hundred and sixty in 1805, and to thirty-nine
at the present time, a beneficial one ; and he ex-
pects and hopes that the amalgamation will go on
till sooner or later all the petty principalities will
form parts of more powerful kingdoms. He does
not think it possible in the nature of things that
the present small autonomous communities should
resist the manifest tendency to consolidation.
With some of his views, as hostile to political
justice, and likely therefore to leave cause for
future disturbance, we cannot coincide._ For in-
stance, in the assertion that any Congress which
restored their rights to the Poles would also give
them a king and prescribe them their forms of
Government ; also, that it would secure to Prus-
sia the seacoast of Poland on the Baltic. We
admit the weight of the latter concession as a
bribe to Prussia to obtain her cession of the rest
of her share in the Polish robbery ; and the
former one might tend to allay the conscience-
stricken dread of revolution which pervades all
the despot Courts of Germany, and from which
not even the French EMPEROR and our own aris-
tocracy are probably quite free. The miserable
work in which king-making has resulted in Greece,
and the uneasiness caused by all the unnatural
divisions of the Holy Alliance up to the present
time, might teach the Western Allies a better
lesson. Our author, however, is speaking per-
haps only of what would be, not of what ought to
be. Statesmen, of course, have no concern with
the latter.

In the main, however, the writer takes sound as
well as practical views. He fully recognises the
absolute necessity of a reconstituted and efficient
Poland to the independence of Germany. He
shows that, sooner or later, the fate of Poland is
reserved for Germany also, unless she resuscitate
her prostrate neighbour. Poland, when a nation,
was harmless to German independence—Poland,
absorbed into Russia, not only places Germany in
immediate contact with the most insatiable of
aggressors, but adds immensely to his means of
aggression. No part of the pamphlet can be more
impressive to Germans than that in which he
shows that " the dismembetment of Poland took
place for the benefit of Russia alone—that Ger-
many, by her participation in this dismember-
ment, has simply become an involuntary tool of
Russian ambition—that the augmentation of ter-
teritory acquired by Germany through means of
this dismemberment could never compensate for
the inconvenience arising out of it—that Germany,
by her complicity in this act of violence, has
linked her policy to that of Russia, and
has opened the way for her to universal
empire—that the Polish possessions will not re-
main long in the hands of Germany—that Russia,
who has gradually been despoiling Germany of
part of them, will ultimately seize the whole—
that this is now only a question of time and oppor-
tunity-.-that
the future prospects of Germany,
therefore, admit of no other alternative than to
cede its part to Russia, or to restore it to the
legitimate possessors."
The facts by which these conclusions are
thoroughly sustained are given in detail with un-
deniable accuracy. To the infamy of the other
powers of Europe, especially at the Congress of-
Vienna, it is proved that, with open eyes and re-
luctant wills, they allowed themselves to be
bullied by ALEXANDER and Russia into the cession
of a quarter of Poland, consisting of its German
provinces, to the power which had already appro-
priated half ; till, for the sake of an addition of
two millions of Poles, ill united to her, Germany
sacrificed some sixteen millions to Russia, and
erected a tremendous means of attack on German
liberties on the very territory which had been
their military safeguard. The plainly out-.
spoken opinions of the first French and Ger-
man statesmen are quoted with great power, and
show how easily the more powerful minds could
foresee our present to the letter, and how they
warned their weak and compromising contempo-
raries by the dangers and sufferings which are now
pressing upon us. It is demonstrated that even
FREDERICK Mil GREAT only took a share because
he
s well known.
TifHhEßeEdsiAd
did
dt
soi Russia would get
thesetperceivedla t th
conspirators that
have, indeed, used every
All
effort to throw the blame on each other. No one,

* The Polish. Question from a German Point of View.
By a German Statesman. Translated from the German.
London : James Aidgway.

however, can now doubt that Russia was the guilty
author of the successive partitions. The broad
fact that she has got nearly the whole of the spoil
is but the seal of the historical view of the case.

We have seen in respectable journals lately,
and even in some friendly to the Polish cause, an
adoption of the Russo-German cuckoo-cry of Polish
anarchy. Every honest lover of national inde-
pendence will be gratified with the convincing
evidence afforded in this pamphlet, that it is the
calumny of the villain who made it a pretext for
his villany. The tables are completely turned.
Russia is convicted of creating all the anarchy she
could for ber vile purposes ; but not only that,
when the Pules had actually abolished the chief
causes of their anarchy, viz., the elective monarchy
and the liberum veto, or, as we might say, the power
of a single Peer to prohibit any measure from becom-
ing law; when Poland had also regulated the abuse,
of peasant labour, and was quietly improving her-
self, Russia declared this emendation of her in-
stitutions a cams belli 1 ! Russia by force pre-
vented the abolition of the causes of anarchy ;
she viewed Polish reforms as she has lately done
Turkish reforms. It is her practice to lacerate
neighbour countries by fomenting internal com-
motions before she pours armed hordes upon them.
Such a principle as the liberum veto enabled her
always to purchase a treacherous noble or two ;
and elective monarchy was her instrument for
compelling the choice of monarchs who should be
her tool's. The rage of MENSCHISOFF and his
master, in like manner, with Turkey was en-
tirely caused not by any injuries sustained by the
Greek Church, but by the obvious and daily in-
creasing superiority of the Turkish Government
to their own in matters of religious and civil
liberty too. There is but one word which ade-
quately describes the conduct of Czars and Czarinas
to wards Poland—that word is infernal. But one
which describes the conduct of Austria and Prus-
sia—that word is cowardice. And but one thing
which would heal all the disorder consequent on
satanic and cowardly machinations—it is expressed
by the one word justice. Germany and all Europe
have new the opportunity which, if passed by,
may be long ere it recur.

We earnestly invite attention to the admirable
Address of the Administrative Reform Association,
which will be found in another part of this day's
impression. It is, indeed, an important and in-
teresting document ; one that indicates the course
about to be adopted by a body which, although
it has so recently started into existence, has
already attained gigantic proportions, and pro-
mises fairly to be enabled ere long to cleanse the
Augean stables of the public offices, and to intro-
duce a system by which we may have " the right
men in the right places."
The parties who have thus prominently come
forward have, as they truly declare, " no personal
ambition to serve." Their private interests are
not involved. Nothing but an imperative sense
of public duty would induce them to make the
sacrifices of time and money which must be sub-
mitted to ere a successful result can be anticipated
from their exertions. They waited until the latest
possible moment to see whether there was any
hope of the necessary improvements from Minis-
terial sources, and also whether the representatives
of independent constituencies would undertake
the arduous and responsible task that more pro-
perly devolved upon them. And it was not until
every reasonable hope of Administrative Reform
was exhausted, until they saw new abuses perpe-
trated by or under the sanction of Government,
and connived at by the Right Honourable and
Honourable members of both Houses, that they at
length unwillingly assumed the initiative ; and
they will now persevere until they have achieved
complete and unalloyed success.
" The Administrative Reform Association is no
mere War Association !" It has been partly oc-
casioned by the War, because the exigencies of the
situation have more clearly developed the gross and
palpable inefficiency of the several departments.
" The want of forethought, the incapacity, the
mismanagement, the complication of duties, the
adherence to routine at the cost of human life, the
thousands of brave men wasted by overwork, by
exposure, by insufficiency of clothes and shelter,
by unwholesome food, by hunger, by lack of me-
dicine and medical attendance, by starvation in
the very hospitals," although they have placed
matters in a clearer and stronger point of view,
have still only been the result of evils, long
known, although never sufficiently provided
against. There is, however, a limit to human
endurance. The Rubicon was passed—the ex-
isting grievances exposed. Hence the determined
and vigorous movement to abate the nuisances, to
remedy the untoward state of affairs, and that
not merely in the departments concerned in the
mismanagement of the War, but in all where
revision and reform may be required.
That there are many able men engaged in the
public service is certain, but their energies are
fettered ; they feel " cribbed, cabined, and con-
fined," by the deplorable system in operation.
They speedily find that any attempt at ameliora-
tion brings not merely trouble, but censure—that
the imputation of being a reformer is the very
worst th'at can be attached to their names ; that
it operates as an insuperable obstacle to promo-
tion. They therefore speedily subside into the
jog-trot course, and sink to the level of their
inefficient collaborateurs.

The evils could not have so long prevailed but
for the mystery maintained in all the offices. The
first step will, therefore, clearly be to obtain full
and accurate iaformation, and that important
duty has been undertaken by the Association.
We may, therefore, look for the publication of a
series of " Administrative Reform Tracts," that
will bring to light the existing abuses, and, at the
same time, indicate the remedies. In this matter
every possible assistance should be afforded.
Every honest reformer should set his shoulder to
the wheel. Every man entrusted with the elec-
tive franchise should exercise it as if the result
depended on Ms individual vote. He must re-
collect that if the candidate has to pay dearly
for his election, lie will naturally look to recom-
pense himself ; that if he be compelled to solicit
the patronage of Ministers for any of his consti-
tuents he will be likely to do so on his own
account, and that he cannot attack the system
when he has dabbled in the accursed thing. Let
honest votes be given--let the purity of election
be respected by the electors themselves—s,nd let
adequate funds be supplied to those who have
assumed the onus of the conflict, and we may rest
certain of speedy and ample success—of tho un-
mitigated triumph of " the good cause."

• It is stated that M. Roger, who is at present on a
professional tour in Germany, has been engaged for
one year by an American impresario, at the rate of
8,0001. (200,000 f.) _

BURIAL-GROUNDS IN THE METROPOLIS.—As the Bishop
of London is to make a motion on the subject this even-
ing in the House of Lords, it may be worth %.hile to
refer to a return just obtained by Mr. Brotherton, M.P.,
which. shows that there still remain open, or partially
open, for interment within the limits of the Metropoli-
tan Burials Act, 60 consecrated burial-grounds, 15 un-
consecrated, and 11 partly consecrated, of which 9 are
cemeteries. Some of these grounds are already wholly
or partly closed, saving existing rights in private graves
and vaults. The total number of burials in the conse-
crated grounds during the year 1854 variel from 4 to
8,666.

EPSOM RACES.

(THIS DAY.)

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPR.)
FOUR-YEAR,OLD STAKES.
Hare Antony
Tom.
Pelham

Three ran,

LATEST BETTING ON THE COURSE.

OAKS.,
3to 1 agst Nettle (taken)
sto 1 agst Blooming Heather (taken)
5 to 1 agst Capucine (taken)
9 to 1 agst Clotilde (taken)
Mosquito scratched, 10.45 a.m.

COURT CIRCULAR.

OSBORNE, MAY 23.
The Queen and Prince and Royal Family arrived at
Osborne yesterday evening at a quarter past six o'clock,
from London. The Duchess of Kent is expected to-day
on a visit to her Maj. sty.
The Duchess of Kent, attended by Lady Anna Maria
Dawson and Sir George Couper, left her residence,
Clarence House, St. James'F, yesterday, for Osborne,
Isle of Wight.

Despatches for the Governors of the colonies on the
west coast of Africa were sent last evening from the
Colonial Office.

The Duke de Saxe Coburg and Gotha has left Brussels,
after one day's stay, for Gotha. The present duke,
Ernest 11., who has just finished an excursion to Paris,
London, and Brussels, is the nephew of King Leopold
and brother of Prince Albert, the consort of our Queen.
We are sorry to announce the death of Lieutenant-
General Sir George C. D'Aguilar, K.C.8., and Colonel
of the 23d Royal Welch Fusiliers.
His Excellency, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland has
appointed Mrs. Spence, widow of a gallant sergeant of
the 41st Regiment, who was killed at Inkerman, a class
matron in Grargegorman.
Sir R. I. Murchison has received the appointment of
Director of the Geological Survey—the post left vacant
by the death of Sir Henry de la Beche, and the salary of
which is returned in the estimates as 8001.
The telegraphic line between Genoa and Nice was
inaugurated on the 17th, and opened to the public on
the following day,
The rumour of the resignation of Count Nesselrode as
Russian Chancellor of State, and of the appointment of
Prince Yermaloff to be his successor, proves to be un-
founded.

CRYSTAL PALACE, WEDNESDAY.— ONE SHILLING DAY.
—Admissions on payment, 3,573 ; ditto by season
tickets, 484 i total, 4,057.
SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY.—The last performance
this season of Haydn's oratorio, The Creation, is an-
nounced for Friday next, the 25th inst. Clara Novello,
Formes, and Sims Reeves sustain the chief parts.
THE SECOND SECRETARYSHIP TO THE ADMIRALTY.—
We understand that Mr. Phinn, Q.C. M.P. for Bath,
and. counsel to the naval department of the High Court
of Admiralty, has been appointed to succeed Rear-Ad-
miral W. A. B. Hamilton as Second Secretary to the
Admiralty.

ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH COMPANIES.—Meetings of the
Electric Telegraph and the International Telegraph
Companies were held on Tuesday, when resolutions
were passed approving of the amalgamation of the two
companies, a bill to authorise which is now before Par-
liament. The bill also limits the dividends to be paid
on the shares of the International Company to 10 per
cent., and authorises the borrowing of a sum not ex-
ceeding 50,0001.
THE MILITIA AT ALDERSHOT.—The regiments of
militia already at the camp at Aldershot are the Ist
East Middlesex, Colonel Thomas Wood ; the Ist Surrey,
Colonel W. Holme Summer ; and the Royal Berkshire.
The Leicestershire march to the camp this day, and in
the course of the ensuing week, the King's Own Tower
Hamlets Militia proceed from Hackney to the camp,
and the Royal London from Finsbury.
THE RESERVE BATTALIONS AT MALTA.—It is in
tended by the Government to reinforce the provisiona
or reserve battalions at Malta, which consist of compa-
nies belonging to regiments serving in the Crimea, as
frequently as possible from the various depot companies
at home. The Commander-in-Chief at the seat of war
will be thus enabled to augment the army under his
command in little better than a week, should occasion
require, by communicating, by telegraph, to the War
Department, from whence an order will at once be for-
warded by telegraph to Marseilles, and thence by steamer
to Malta.

HOP INTELLIGENCE.—The hop-polling is now finished
throughout the county, and tying has partially com-
menced. In most parishes the prospects are favourable
—the stock well set, and the hills throwing out plenty
of bine--in some few others the bine looks yellow and
sickly. A few days warm weather, and tying will he
general ; the late showers having been of great benefit
to the plant. Flea is spoken of in some districts, but
rot to that extent as to create any alarm at present.—
Kentish Gazette.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.—The following gen-
tlemen, having undergone the necessary examinations
for the diploma, were admitted members of the college
at the meeting of the court of examiners on May 21 :
Messrs. - Thomas Young Savage, Toronto, Canada ;
Alfred Henry Wagstaff, Ivinghoe, Bucks; William
Riddell Brunton, Army ; Joshua Plaskitt, Louth, Lin-
colnshire; John Fortnorn Straker, H.E.1.C.5., Bombay;
Robert Clean, Pouncy, Glastonbury ; Robert Edmund
Jackson, Whitby, Yorkshire; Hugh Granger Earnshaw,
Fort Faulkner, Aughrie, county of Wicklow; and
George Cowper Rose, West-square, Lambeth.
THE CITY STATUE OF SIR ROBERT PEEL.—Yesterday
the workmen commenced breaking the ground in the
centre of the open space adjoining the north-west corner
of the Bank of England, at the junction of Lothbury
and Princess-street, preparatory to placing there the
obelisk, which now stands at the west•end of Cheapside,
on the site on which the City statue of Sir Robert Peel,
by Bebnes, is to be placed. ' The contractor for the
work of placing the statue in its place and removing the
obelisk to its new site, is Mr. Chadwick, of Grosvenor-
wharf, Westminster.
AFFAIRS OF MR. EDWARD OLIVER. LIVERPOOL,
May 23.—1 t is said that efforts are being renewed to
throw the affairs of Mr. Oliver into the Court of Bank-
ruptcy. It will also be recollected that a short time
subsequent to the declared insolvency of Mr. Oliver,
whose extensive failure created such a sensation, several
attempts were made to obtain a fiat of bankruptcy
against him, all of which were defeated. This day
(Wednesday) some proceedings of a private nature were
heard before Mr. Commissioner Stevenson, in the Liver-
pool Bankruptcy Court, with a view, it is understood, to
some such object, but the exact nature of the application
did not tra ispire.
THE PASSENGERS BY THE JAMES BAINES.—LiVePpOOI,
May 23.—A further investigation into the complaints
made by the passengers which arrived in this ship from
Melbourne, was carried on yesterday, and to-day another
meeting of the passengers was held, at which it was re-
solved to institute proceedings against the owners,
Messrs. James Baines and Co., for two infractions of
the Emigration Act—viz., for selling spirits on beard
the ship, and for having supplied the passengers with un-
wholesome food. Messrs. James Baines and Co., it is
said, maintain that the whole matter is susceptible of
easy explanation. Rumours are also rife that gross im-
morality prevailed on board the ship.
THE ERUPTION OF MOUNT VESUVIUS.—NAPLES, May
14.—Vesuvius, instead of ceasing its destructive erup-
tion, has been committing daily greater ravages. Within
the last few days a portion of the lava has diverged
from the main stream, which, flowing down on Cerolo
and running to the right, has nearly reached St. Jovio.
Much fine cultivated land has been covered over, and
promised abundance destroyed. The loss to some indi-
viduals is very considerable, while the total amount
must be immense. Should the eruption continue, the
course of the lava will lead it over the railway into the
sea.. The summit of the mountain is so riddled, and the
surface is presumed to be so thin, that it is feared it
may fall at any time; and no person is allowed to ad-
vance beyond the Observatory. Indeed it would be
madness to attempt it. The spectacle which the moun-
tain presents at night is remarkably grand. Its sides
are covered with the fiery fluid, which one may imagine
to be blond, oozing out from the wounded giant.
THE IRON TRADE IN SOUTH WALES.— At the present
moment the iron trade throughout the whole of South
Wales is in a very depressed state, and many of the
works are now making iron at a loss. As a consequence,
trade is slack, the ironmongers holding off from orders
until the market has become more favourably established.
The 10 per cent, reduction, which 'has now been fully
carried into effect throughout the hills, has to a great
extent lightened the burden for the masters. However,
in consequence of some large orders which were taken
some time ago, the majority of the works are occupied,
though some furnaces are now out of blast. Some idea
of the enormous trade which England has being doing
with foreign countries may be gathered from the fact
that in the six months ending the close of January last,
upwards of 96,000 tons of Welsh made rails were shipped
foreign from the three ports of Bristol, Newport, and
Cardiff, being upwards of 27,000, 31,000, and 37,000
tons respectively.—Hereford Journal.
DEATH OF LORD SPENCER COMPTON.—We regret to
announce the sudden death of Captain Lord Spencer S.
Compton (15th Hussars), who died on Monday morning
at Exeter, in which city his lordship was stationed with
his regiment. Lord Spencer Compton was taken unwell
about a fortnight ago with inflammation of the lungs,
and was considered to be progressing favourably, so
much so that his lordship was to leave this week for
Castle Ashby, in Northamptonshire, for change of air.
On Monday morning, at an early hour, Lady Mari-
anne Alford, who since her brother's illness has been
in attendance on him, administered a draught to him,
and his lordship said he was getter, and was cheerful.
At eight o'clock in the morning a heavy fall in the bed-
room of his lordship aroused his attendants, and on
entering his chamber the gallant nobleman was found
prostrate on the floor. He was quite unconscious,
and expired in a few minutes. The deceased was third
son of the late Marquis of Northampton, and brother of
the present peer. He was born 6th March, 1821. His
lordship entered the 85th Regiment as lieutenant in
1843, and subsequently removed to the 15th Hussars,
his commission as captain in that gallant corps being
dated in December, 1846. The noble deceased only re-
turned with his regiment from the East Indies in June
last. The mortal remains of his lordship were to be re-
moved yesterday from Exeter to the ancient family seat
of the Northampton family at Castle Ashby, for inter-
sosnt. A large number of distiuguished lamilies have
been placed in mourning by the demise of his lordship.

AT NEWS

BERLIN, WEDNESDAY.

The Kreuz Zeitung says that the Austrian me-
diatory proposal is—that Russia and Turkey settle
between themselves the number of war ships in
pontes by separate treaty, stipulating that Eng-
land and France be permitted to have there two
war ships each ; Turkey to undertake to bring
this separate treaty to the knowledge of the
Allies.

TRIESTE, MAY 23.

Accounts from Constantinople state that the
Piedmontese troops continued to arrive in the Bos-
phorus, and to sail immediately for the Crimea.

The reception _given by the Sultan to Count

Castelcicala was most gracious.
Counts Cavour, Tecco, and Dabormida had been
decorated with the Order of Medjidie.
The Sultan had received Mehemet Ali since his
return from exile.

ELSINORE, MAY 23.

The vessels named below have just arrived at
Elsinore from the Baltic ; they are all prizes
which have been captured at Riga :—The Bad-
lance, the Otto, the Emilie, the Anion, the Bene-
dicty, the Anna, the Christiana, and the Dania.