The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-28 00:00:00

four year olds should carry lOst 21b, five year olds list 61b, The next place he visited was Bokhara, distant 10 or 12
and six year olds and aged horses 12st, and that they should days' journey on camels from Khiva. On the road his party,
run four mile heats. So long as that system was maintained, to avoid a horde of Turcoman robbers, were obliged to seek
we had retained our supremacy in the breed of horses; but refuge in the desert of Djan-Batiran (the life destroyer),
by some unfortunate influence lighter weights and shorter where for six days they suffered horribly from thirst, and
distances had been introduced, and from that time the de- lost two of their number. The city of Bokhara occupies more
terioration of our breed of horses had gone on. Mr Dicken- ground than Teheran, but it is not so populous. Some of
son went back 40 years; but when Lord Redesdale had in- the palaces and mosques are built of stone, but the large
troduced a bill on the subject in 1860 in the ether house, he clumsy turretsproduce adisagreeableimpression. The whole
stated that the same complaints had'been made as long ago Khanat of Bokhara he estimated to comprise two million
as 70 or 80 years of the decrease of stoutness and soundness souls, including Persian slaves. The reigning prince is
of our horses. In the same debate the Earl of Derby had Moozaffared-din, son of the Khan who murdered Conolly
traced the gradual diminution of the test demanded of horses and Stoddart. He is a man of good disposition, but is forced
until its culmination in the light weight handicaps of the for political reasons to commit many tyrannical and barber-
present century, and of the great number of two year old ous acts. After spending a month in Bokhara M, Vambery
horses, which every man must deplore, He believed this was proceeded full of anticipation to the renowned city of Samar-
brought about by the desire of those who had the direction cand. He travelled for six days through a thickly-peopled
of turf matters to induce a great number of persons to come and well-cultivated country, and was greatly surprised at
upon the turf; but it was altogether incompatible with the quick succession of towns and villages on the road.
'such a system as would retain a breed of stout horses, But in Samarcand he was much disappointed. He found
He (Mr P. Wyndham) was aware that a great many per- the capital of Timour in a state of decay, and although he
sons would deny that such deterioration had taken place ; saw a few remains of its ancient glory, was convinced that
but they had such evidence to prove that the horses of the ancient reputation of the place was greatly exaggerated.
former days ran distancps of six miles or four mile heats, The most remarkable of the ancient edifices were the me-
carrying 12st and last, and that they remained on the turf dresses or colleges, one of which, erected by the wife of
five years, as to leave no doubt on the subject. ,Horses in Timour, a Chinese princess, was a most splendid building;
those days performed such tasks that if they were imposed but the magnificent portico, 100 feet high, inlaid with mo-
upon modern horses would inevitably kill the animals. saic in the form of roses, is now all that remains of
As a proof of the structural alteration which had taken it. The palace of Timour he described as very interest-
•place in our modern breed of racehorses, the hon. member ing, especially his tomb and a huge block of green
referred to well-known faithful portraits of famous race- stone, the base of his throne, which must have been de-
horses of the last century, which were more like hunters rived from some distant country, although.how it was con-
than the modern racer, though they were thorough-bred. ♦eyed to the place is now difficult to surmise. M, Vambery
The hon. member quoted General Peel against handicaps, terminated his narrative with his arrival at Herat in Octo-
as encouraging trickery, and showed that the proportion of ber ; the country to the north of which place he found in
two-year-old horses on the turf to three-year-olds had in- great disorder, owing to the revolt against the Affghan
creased 2toB in 1829, while in the present year the proper- yoke consequent upon the death of Dost Mohammed.
tion was 81 to 7. He complained that the conditions under Sir H, RAWLINSON said the country which M. Vambery
I which Queen's plates were run at present pleased nobody, had traversed was interesting in a twofold point of view. In
The distances were not long enough, nor the weights heavy the first place, it had hitherto been a terra incognita, and in
enough, for those who wished to see the old stout breed of the next place it possessed great political interest, as form-
horses encouraged ; while, on the other hand, they were not ing the debatable land which intervened between the Rus-
sufficiently modernised to be in harmony with the present sian Empire and our own Indian possessions. It would be
system of racing. He contended that some alteration should remembered that 25 years ago great alarm was felt at the
be introduced by which a class of horses capable of improv- extension of Russian influence in Central Asia. T hat
ing the general breed should be encouraged. feeling, which brought about the Affghan war, had passed
Sir J. SHELLEY seconded the motion. away, and had. been succeeded by a feeling of supineness
Mr NEWDEGATE thought the introduction of railways which, in his opinion, was as little to be justified as the
had something to do with the deterioration of the breed of previous alarm. We have very much lost sight of what had
horses. Agreeing with the hon. gentleman who had brought been going on during the last 25 years. While we have
forward the motion, he suggested that no Queen's plate been imagining that all was quiescent, the Russian and
prize should be run for unless the sum so given was doubled English frontiers have been gradually approximating over
or trebled by subscribers. In this way he thought many a space of 1,000 miles, so that at present there is only a
good horses that were now exported might be retained for breadth of 500 or 600 miles between the twe frontiers. This
the improvement of the breed. is a matter which ought to interest the English public, and
Sir R. PEEL said that abolishing Queen's plates to which attention should be drawn. He begged to be un-
would do away with a certain amount of encouragement derstocd that he attributed no hostility to England on the
for people to run their horses. He trusted the hon. mem- part of the Russian Government in this extension of fron-
ber would not press the motion to a division. 'fhe noble tier towards India, It is a sort of law of nature—stated to
lord at the head of the Government had authorised him to be such by the late Sir It. Peel—that when civilisation um-
say that the Government, in conjunction with the Master pinges on barbarism, barbarism must give way, The jour-
of the Horse, with whom rested the power of regulating ney of M. Vambery was therefore of great value, because it
weights and distances for the Queen's plates, would con- will make us acquainted with coun tries full of so much
eider what alterations could be introduced to test to a political interest to England. Many portions of the route
greater extent the power of horses competing for these which he had followed were entirely new, and he might
plates. He did not think, however, that heavy weights fairly claim the honour of having been the first European
and long distances would be attractive to the public. He who had visited and described Samarcand for 450 years.
saw a right hon. gentleman opposite who, he trusted, would He was glad to learn that an ample account of M. Vam-
be able to inform the house that the breed of horses had not berg's travels was about to be published by Mr Murray, so
deteriorated, He hoped his hon. friend would not press that the general public would soon be put in possession of
his motion, as the noble lord at the head of the Government fall details.
had given him an assurance that the question of weight Lord Strangford, Dr Worthington, Mr Crawford,7Mr
and distance would be taken into consideration, with a Drach, Mr Markham, and Mr Michell took part in the dis-
viva of seeing whether the object of his hon. friend could cussion which followed, and which related chit fly to the
not be attained. great trade, especially in cotton, which was carried on be-
General PEEL entirely disagreed from his hon. friend, tween Bokhara and Russia.
that the breed of horses had deteriorated in this country; on The PRESIDENT closed the proceedings by saying that
the contrary, he believed there had never before been a long before England had any empire in the East Russia
breed possessed of so great powers of endurance and speed. had carried on a trade with Bukhara, so that there could be
He might claim to speak with some authority on that point, no ground far jealousy in that respect. He announced also
having himself been a breeder of horses for 40 years. He that M. Vambery was making preparation for another
objected to the abolition of these Queen's plates, because journey, in which he intended to penetrate into China,
there was no other prizes for which old horses could run, taking Samarcand as his starting point.
and he further objected to increasing the distance and the
weight, because if they did so to any great extent none but
common hacks would be entered.
Mr GREGORY agreed with every word which had
fallen from his right hon. and gallant friend. In con-
demning these races the house would condemn the very
best thing for keeping up the breed of horses. He wished to
make a remark respecting the way in which the Queen's
plates were distributed in Ireland. Out of the 15 in that
country 11 were run for at the Curragh. That produced
very considerable inconvenience, for it often happened that
a horse went to the Curragh for one week and took away
all the prizes. Now he wished, not that all these plates
should be removed from the great centre of racing, but that
three or fuur of them should be sent into the provinces, and
that they should be run for wherever there was a proper
race-course.

Mr. FOLJAMBE complained of the great extent to which
the breeding mares were sent out of the country.
Lord PALMERSTON said he entirely agreed in what
had fallen from the right hon, and gallant gentleman oppo-
site (General Peel). He differed altogether from those who
contondod thnt. tho brood of horeerr had deteriorated; on the
contrary, he thought the genera.] breed of horses was better
as to substance and power of endurance. Any one who
went into a racing stable and noticed the size, build, and
substance of the horses could hardly wish for anything
better in those respects. The fact was, that greater pains
were taken in the present day to force on a young horse.
But there is one immediate test, and that had been men-
tioned by his hon. friend. If the breed of horses had dete-
riorated, foreigners would not come to England to bay our
horses; but the complaint was that every year more and
more people came from abroad to purchase horses in Eng-
land. (Hear, hear.) That was proof that the English
horse was a good horse. In regard to the particular motion
before the house, be had no objection to say that the ques-
tion should be considered by the Master of the Horse, who
would communicate with the best judges of tu►t matters, in
order to ascertain whether a return to greater weights 'and
longer distances would not be advisable.
Mr. P. WYNDHAM then withdrew his motion.
WEIGHING OF GRAIN (PORT OF LONDON)
BILL.
On the motion of Mr CRAWFORD, the following
gentlemen were nominated the select committee on this
bill—Mr Crawford, Sir John Shelley, Mr Alderman Rose,
Mr Ayrton, and Mr Francis William Russell, and five
members to be nominated by the committee of selection.
BLEACHING AND DYEING WORKS ACTS
EXTENSION.
Mr, BRUCE obtained leave to bring in a bill to place
the employment of women, young persons, and children,
in the occupations of finishers, hookers, lappers, and
makers-up and packers in warehouses under the regulation
of the Bleaching and Dyeing Works Extension Act.
ELECTION PETITION ACT (1848) AMENDMENT.
Sir C. O'LOGHLEN obtained leave to brine in a bill to
amend " The Election Petitions Act, 1848," in certain
particulars.

ELECTION PETITIONS BILL.
The adjourned debate on the amendment on going into
committee on this bill was resumed by
Sir F. GOLDSMID, who said he hoped to satisfy the
house that this was a bill which ought not to receive its
assent. It was founded upon principles unjust and contra-
dictory. The hon. gentleman was proceeding with his re-
marks, when

An H ox. MEMBER moved that the house be counted,
and, 40 members not being present, the house stood ad-
journed at half past 8 o'clock.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY,

Ino 14th and last meeting of the present session of this
society Was held on Monday evening, the 27th inst., at
B url in:ton-house,
Sir Roderick I. Murchison, President,
in the chair.
The first paper
read was a description of the island of
Kishm, in the Persian Gulf,
by Col. Pally, Kiska lies
almost exactly in the line of the overland telegraph to India,
and, in the discussion ',which followed the reading of the
it son
paper, Sir H. explained to the meeting the pre-
aiin
sent condition of the telegraph. Two years ago he had ex-
plainecil to thes then societY ...fneulties in the way of the line
which it w
determined d
inied to follow, and also that there
a
was a method of evading the obstacle by taking the more
circuitous route to the East through Persia. Those antici-
pated difficulties had been realized, and the part of the line
between Bagdad and Bussorah would always, under the
be precarious
most favourable circumstances, The alter-
native line had now been adopted, and would be ready in
September, but he reminded the meeting that, at the pre-
sent time, we were communicating from London to Bagdad
two or three times a week—and also with Teheran through
Russia, which facts were not generally known.
The next subject was a communication from M. irambery,
a Hungarian traveller, who had recently penetrated, in the
disguise of a dervish, through the territory of the Turco-
mans to Khiva, Bokhara, and Samareand in Central Asia ;
travelling through districts which had not been visited by a
European since the days of Marco Polo. After several
years of preparation in a Mahomedan college he joined at
Teheran in March, 1863, a company of poor pilgrims, who
were returning to Tartary from Mecca, giving out that he
was a pious Mussulman travelling to Central Asia with a
religious object. They crossed the south-east corner of the
Caspian Sea on board a Turcoman corsair and landed at
Geumushtepe (" the silver hill"), a camp of about 2,000
tents of the Tamut tribe. From this place he visited the
ruins of the wall built by Alexander the Great, which com-
mences on the shores of the sea, near this place, and
stretches about 100 miles inland, in the form of an em-
bankment dotted with turrets and fortifications. Con-
tinuing with the party, in a northerly direction east of
the Caspian, he passed the river Attrek, crossing the
Hyrcanian desert, a horrible journey of twenty-two days,
and reached Rhiva at the beginning of June. The pre-
sent condition of the country cf which Khiva is the capi-
tal he described as most wretched. Ihe reigning Prince,
Seid Mohammed, a sick tyrant, does little else but slaughter
hundreds of his subjects for mere trifles which he calls
tramsgressions of the koly religion of Mohammed. M. Yam-
bery made excursions as far as Koangrad, and was asto-
nished at the great fertility of the country, which he
tkought superior to anything he had hitherto seen in Asia.

THE CONFERENCE,

The following is the Protocol of the last sitting
of the Conference :
The Protocol of the preceding sitting is read and
proved.
Earl Russell reads the following declaration :
" The belligerent Powers are on the eve of re•
Burning hostilities. This determination puts an end
to the deliberations, the object of which was the
restoration of peace.

"Although this object has not been attained, it
i 3 my duty to do justice to the efforts which the
Plenipotentiaries assembled in Conference have
made to arrive at a pacific conclusion, and at the
same time to point out the circumstances which
havo prevented the accomplishment of this work of
conciliation.

" With this view the Plenipotentiaries of Great
Britain deposit today among the archives of the
Conference a summary of the proceedings which
commenced on the 25th April and which terminate
on the 25th June,

" This narrative shows the importance which the
representatives of the neutral Powers haveattached,
since the opening of the Conference, to the mainte-
nance of the reciprocal engagements resulting from
the treaty of London to the Bth of May, 1862. It
shows also their unanimous resolution not to depart
from those engagements before having devised, by
mutual agreement, new arrangements calculated to
provide guarantees for the peace of Europe equiva•
lent to those which were the result of the European
Act concluded in 1852.

" With this intention the Plenipotentiaries of
France, of Great Britain, of Russia, and of Sweden
and Norway have devoted their efforts to bringing
about an equitable arrangement, designed to prey
serve henceforth the independence of the Danish
monarchy, since an unequal contest has inflicted an
inevitable injury on the integrity of that State.
" The bases of that arrangement having been ac-
cepted in principle by the belligerent Powers, the
arrangement of the questions of detail which this
plan, cordially supported by the neutral Powers,
comprised remained to be settled.

" The difference, thus reduced within narrow
limits, would have admitted of a successful solution
if the decision of an impartial Power,to which it was
recommended by her Britannic Alujesty's Govern-
ment to appeal, had been accepted with mutual con-
fidence.

" This hope is not to be realised. The narrative
which I am about to deposit in the archives of the
Conference will point out the circumstances which
have forbidden the accomplishment of a plan of
conciliation supported by the neutral Powers and
suggested to her Britannic Majesty's Government
by a sincere desire to prevent the recurrence of the
calamities of war.

" Public opinion will see with regret that the
hopes of peace have vanished, because the parties
directly engaged in this dispute have been unable
to come to an understanding with regard to the
tracing of a frontier, leaving a difference of some
square miles of territory more or less to the south
or north. Public opinion will also recognise that a
few days more devoted to reflection, instead of hav-
ing recourse to arms, might have contributed to
calm resentment, to enlighten the belligerents to
their real interests, and to lead the Cabinets to
more pacific resolutions.

"To-morrow hostilities will recommence,without
the advice of the Powers desirous of peace having
succeeded is preventing the renewal of a coniict so
deeply to 100 regretted.

" Whatever may be its issue, the Courts of France,
Great Britain, Russia, and Sweden remain none the
less animated with a sincere desire to see the Danish
Monarchy maintain its independence, as the pre-
servation of that State constitutes an element of
the balance of power in the North.

" Their wish in separating is that this principle
may continue to be the basis of future operation."
The summary of the proceedings of the Confer-
ence, of which Earl Russell has spoken, is then read,
and this document is annexed at his rcquest to the
present Protocol.

Count de Bernstorff wishes to say a few words in
reply to Earl Russell's declaration. He expresses
himself as follows :-
5." It is obviously impossible that we should be
authorised to make an official reply to the declara-
tion which the President of the Conference has just
read, and with the contents of which we were not
previously acquainted ; but I think that, without
in any way binding my Government with reference
to events which belong to the future, and to even-
tualities which cannot be calculated beforehand, I
may remark at once that it was. never the inten-
tion of my Government to threaten the political in-
dependence of Denmark, but that the sole question
in dispute has always been that of the Duchies."

Baron de Beast inquires what is the object of
the summary which has been read.
The Earl of Clarendon replies that it is an ac-
count of the sittings of the Conference which has