The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-04 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING-1 OCTOBER 4, 1853.

EASTERN AFFAIRS-CONFERENCE
OF HER MAJESTY'S MINISTERS.

( From the Times.)

The Ministers now in town, constituting a ma-
jority of the Cabinet, met yesterday at the Foreign-
office, and held a long conference on the present
anxious position of Eastern affairs. As the intelli-
gence which had called them together was not in
itself of a perfectly distinct and decisive character,
and as in a matter of such moment it will be ne-
cessary to await the arrival of the other Ministers,
all of whom are hastening to the metropolis, some
days will probably elapse before anything in the
nature of a fresh decision can be expected. The
intelligence which was the immediate occasion of
the meeting was, that on the 26th ult.—a week
later than the last reported dates—the Grand
Council, a body consisting of about 140 mag-
nates of the Turkish empire, had recommended
the Sultan to make a declaration of war. The
force of that recommendation, and the probability
of the Sultan's acting upon it, as well as all the
particulars of the proceeding ascribed to the Grand
Council, must remain matters of conjecture till the
arrival of more exact information, which, according
to the same telegraphic dispatch to which we are
indebted for all that is known on the subject, may
soon be expected by a courier via Marseilles. The
news, as far as it goes, must be considered very un-
favourable to the hopes of those who have laboured
for peace, but, at the worst, it must still be some
time before those hopes can be given up, or any
change of policy demanded on the part of our Go-
vernment. It does not act at all without France
in the matter, and no communication has yet been
received from Paris. The declaration of war by
the Porte was a contingency contemplated in the
instructions given to Lord Stratford, who has
thereby the power, even if subsequent instruc-
tions did not give it, to send for the fleet.
He will, doubtless, do whatever he thinks
best for the defence of the Sultan, and he will
be fully supported in that policy by the Go-
vernment at home ; though, even in the event of
an actual declaration of war, it may still be in our
power to save the Porte from the consequences of
that act without offensive operations. Lord Strat-
ford is understood, or rather supposed, to have dis-
approved the step taken by the Grand Council, and
would probably do his best to delay further pro-
ceedings.

The-intelligence from Olmiitz is in all respects of
less importance. Concessions and assurances have
been ostensibly made by the Emperor at a time
and in a form when they could be worth very little,
in the face of the violently aggressive policy too
clearly betrayed in Count Nesselrode's despatches.
In these it has been scarcely disguised that Russia
seeks to establish fresh rights in Turkey, and an
influence never before possessed, so as to reduce
the negotiation on the Vienna Note to a hollow
pretence utterly unworthy of the great Powers and
great interests concerned in it. It is true that
Russia still pretends to demand what nobody has
ever wished to deny her—viz., the maintenance of
treaties, and of the status quo in religious matters.
That she can have whenever she chooses to be
interest
of with it, but nothing more. In the
of peace every effort has been made to keep Russia
to her word, and to secure her all that she is
entitled to, but all attempts at further encroach-
ment will be resisted, as they have been from the
commencement of her present aggressions. In deal-
ing, however, with a Power that evidently seeks to
gain time, and that is avowedly availing itself of
a protracted negotiation to secure a position in
which negotiation may be dispensed with altoge-
ther, it is obvious that, while many reasons might
exist for friendly remonstrance at the first appear-
ance or suspicion of such conduct, a time must
come when the mask will be thrown off on one side
and forbearance cease on the other. The full dis-
closure of the Russian policy cannot but give a new '
character to the resistance of the chief independent
Powers of Europe. Such a pass must have been
foreseen by the Emperor of Russia, who could
hardly have supposed either that Europe would
look on quietly at the sudden and unprovoked ir-
ruption of his hordes into the dominions of a peace-
ful and friendly neighbour, or that it would con-
tent itself with a barren protest and a fruitless
negotiation. But now that the Emperor stands
arraigned at the court of common order, civilisa-
tion, and honour, as a causeless disturber of the
public peace, the discrepancy between his fair
words and his violent acts cannot but infuse some
misgivings into a conscience not wholly deadened
by power and ambition. The Emperor risks the
peace of Europe, and does his best to light a flame
which neither lie nor his sons may live to see ex-
tinguished—for what ? Either to obtain what he
has not even a colour of right to, or, if we are to
allow him a certain sort of honesty, to gratify his
pride by rejecting some harmless modifications, ne-
cessary to allay the alarm of the Porte, and thereby
to secure the Emperor's own professed intentions.
This he does on the petty plea that they are Fro-
posed by the Turkish Government, and that there-
fore his honour is concerned not to accept them,
though ever so insignificant. For this the peace of
Europe is to be jeopardised, and a struggle com-
menced which must indeed be ruinous to Turkey,
but which will be so assuredly to other powers also,
and not the least to that vast but poor and unman-
ageable dominion which threw down the gauntlet
and defied the indignation of the civilised world.

slopes attracted general admiration. Then the masses
of infantry were suddenly moved to the right, and
the cavalry to the left, to menace the flank of the
supposed enemy, while the rockets flashed in
golden curves over the heads of the eclaireurs upon
, the imaginary foe. In a moment the infantry
came to a full stand, to meet a supposed cavalry
attack, and a line of squares bristled with serried
bayonets, and discharged a simultaneous volley.
The infantry then advanced again, and, in conclu-
sion, the reserve intersected the interstices of the
first line, and with shouts stormed the heights.
There is a theatre in Olmutz, but the confe-
rences last usually to past midnight, and the dip-
lomatic personages (i. e., the Emperors, Count
Buol, Count Nesselrode, Lord Westmoreland, and
Prince Paskiewitsch, who attends all the con-
ferences) do not appear. . .

The desarewiteh; the Crown Prince of Russia,
left last night, and the Emperor Nicholas leaves
to-night or to-morrow.
P.S.—The operations have closed with a splen-
did cavalry manoeuvre of the 11 regiments, alto-
gether 12,000 horsemen, under the command of
Prince Francis Lichtenstein. The Emperor of
Russia goes positively to-night, the train having
been ordered for 10 o'clock.

NEW ROUTE TO AUSTRALIA.

A contrast has just been signed between the
Tehuantepec Railroad Company and Messrs. James
Sykes and Co., of England, for the construction of

a plankroad and a railway across the isthmus of
Tehuantepec. The former begins at Suchil, the
head of navigation on the Coatzacoalcos River, and
terminates at Ventosa Bay, on the Pacific—a dis-
tance of 96 miles—and is to be completed in Nov.
of next year. The railway is to begin at Minatilla,
only 20 miles from the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos,
and terminates also at Ventosa Bay. It is to be
completed within four years, and will be 166 miles
in length. This information will deeply interest
British capitalists, and particularly all British sub-
jects who have any relations with Australia. The
discovery of gold has transformed the penal islands
of Great Britain into some of the most valuable ap-
pendages of her empire. Adventurers of fortune,
are now crowding the same ships aboard which,
but a short time ago, home-sentenced criminals
were driven into exile. It looks now as though
she would soon abandon the old pathway Vasco di
Gama opened for her around the Cape of Good
Hope, for she has opened a shorter one across the
Isthmus of Suez, and another still shorter is now
being cut for her towards the occident. Nobody
doubts that we shall soon see steamers cross from
the western coasts of the British islards to Ha-
lifax in less than a week. The Grand Trunk
Railway from that city to Detroit on Lake Mi-
chigan-1,100 miles —is under contract with
Jackson, Peto, Brassey and Betts, of European
renown, and the 11,000,0001. cash capital under
British management insure the vigorous prosecu-
tion and early completion of this stupendous work.
This road connects the north and south shores of
the river St. Lawrence, at Montreal, by a tubular
bridge upwards of two miles in length, which is
under the superintendence of Mr. Robert Stephen-
son, who has done so much to enrich and consoli-
date the British empire. From Detroit—the ter-
minus of the Grand Trunk Railway through Canada
—the present railroad line to the Gulf of Mexico
will be shortly completed, much of it being already
made. It will, therefore, be but a short time be-
fore the English traveller will find himself on the
Pacific side of the Tehuantepec Isthmus, steaming
towards Australia, in 12 days from England, baying
traversed the Atlantic, the British American pro-
vinces, the heart of the American continent through
the Mississippi Valley, the Gulf of Mexico, and the
Tehuantepec Isthmus, where he looks on the Pacific
Ocean, and has passed the last obstacle which sepa-
rated him from a vast and golden heraispl ere which
his country owns on the other side of the globe.
This sounds like fiction, and seems like a Utopian
dream ; but within five years it will have grown as
familiar to us as the nursery tales of good King
Alfred, and not half so romantic. It is confidently
alleged by the most experienced English and Ame-
rican engineers, that the transit from England by
the inland railway route from Halifax to the Gulf
of Mexico, and thence by steam to the isthmus, and
across it by railroad, can never be exceeded or
equalled by any other route, owing to the confor-
mation of seas and continents.

A LADY DOCTOR.—The Italian Countess Belgiojoso,
in one of her entertaining letters from a town in Asia
Minor to the N.Y. Tribune, says that she is regarded
there as a doctor of never-failing skill. The infirmity
she has been oftenest and most ardently entreated to
cure is sterility, not only in young subjects, but in old
and decrepit ones. " A woman more than fifty, who
had been blessed with fourteen children, came to me in
a sort of despair, because the last five years had elapsed
without bringing any addition to her family. I expos-
tulated in vain. In vain did I tell her that God's will
ought to submitted to ; she would not be refused ; nor
did she consent to depart without a potion and a hope."
HUNTING SEASON AT LEAMINGTON.—The prospects of
the hunting season in Warwickshire are highly encourag-
ing, not only to residents but to visitors. The demand
for spacious mansions at Leamington has, we are as-
sured, never been more general or continuous at this
period of the year ; and no house capable of affordingthe reqaisite accommodation to gentlemen with large
studs of horses will remain long unoccupied. The South
Warwickshire, under the mastership of Lord Willoughby
de Broke, have received some draughts from the cele-
brated kennels of Lord Henry Bentinck, and are in all
respects a better pack than has hunted the country for
some winters past. The stud consists of several fine
horses. There are in all the coverts an abundance of
foxes ; and the huntsmen and whip, who are fresh men
(having been previous connected with Oxfordshire), are
well up to their work. On Thursday last the hounds
killed a cub on Hampton-wood in excellent style. The
North Warwickshire, of which Mr. Selby Lowndes has
undertaken the management, met at Wainbody-wood,
near Stoneleigh, on Tuesday last, where they found
three brace and a half of cubs, and some good spoi Z, en-
sued. It is generally considered that a finer pack than
the North Warwickshire, especially of young hounds,
could not have been selected. Mr. Selby Low ades will
take up his residence at Leamington in the course of a
few days.—Leamington Courier.
TIEN-TEH, THE CHINESE USURPER.—In his habits he
is silent and reserved ; he lives in close retirement, only
showing himself occasionally to his immediate followers,
and then only to issue his commands. His expression,
though far from prepossessing, denotes mildness, com-
bined with great decision, and a degree of firmne's ye:g-
ing upon obstinacy. His complexion is sallow, with a
decided saffron tinge. In stature he is above the middle
height ; and, though of about the same age, is taller and
less strongly built than Hiend-foung the Emperor,
whose deposition he seems resolved, at all hazards, to
f
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low each other in single file, not, as they might on the
shores of the plac;d Sefpentine, in clarences or broughams,
but in commodious armchairs, picked out with vermillion
and gold. A long retinue of servants and a vast array
of soldiers bring up the rear of the procession, which is
said, upon the whole, strongly to resemble those gorge-
ous affairs occasionally exhibited on the boards of the
Lyceum.—New Quarterly .Reliew for October.
A POLITICAL "ASIDE."—Many of our readers, per-
haps, have witnessed the ceremony of bringing up bills
from the House of Commons to the House of Lords.
The Commons advance with a succession of bows, the
Lord Chancellor meets them bowing his wig to his
knees, the clerks of the House and the Masters in Chan-
cery bow more gravely than mandarins, and as fre-
quently. Upon the occasion to which we now allude,
the Times of the morning had announced that the Chan-
cellor's wife had presented him with a daughter, and it
was notorious that he would have preferred a male
heir. The renowned Billy Holmes represented the
Commons, and he brought up a bill to enable some
country squire to grant leases of his settled estates. Ad-
vancing with three ceremonial bows, the great " whipper
in" presented the bill, saying, in a loud tone, "My
Lord, a bill to enable— ;" then dropping his voice to a
whisper —"you to have only male children." The Lord
Chancellor took the bill, bowed with imposing dignity,
and replied, "You be d—." About five persons heard
the "asides ;" the rest of the spectators were much
edified by the grave ceremonial.--New Quarterly Review
for October.

A SAILOR SHOT BY HIS CAPTAlN.—Captain Nattrass,
of the ship Matanzas, was charged on Saturday before
the Liverpool magistrates with this crime. The circum-
stances were these :—At Bahia, on the 26th of June,
twu of the crew refused to work. The captain called
the men forward, and asked them to heave the anchor.
They said they could not, as the ship was short-handed.
One of the seamen, George Wake, acted as spokesman
for the men, and though he said the men would work
when the ship got out to sea, he, on their behalf, refused
to heave the anchor, and said they would rather die first.
The captain urged them to comply for his sake. Wake
said they could not. The captain then drew a pistol,
and exclaiming, "Take that, then !" fired at Wake.
wounding him on the shoulder. Wake was removed to
a hospital, where he was left in a dangerous condition.
The British consul was informed of the affray, and he
despatched the captain home in the Viscount Sandon.
Nattrass was committed for trial at the next assizes, the
magistrates refusing to talo bail,

SUBSTANCE OF THE ACT TO REPEAL CERTAIN
STAMP DUTIES, AND TO GRANT OTHERS IN
LIEU THEREOF.

From and after the 10th of October, 1853, the seve-
ralamnedntssh,amll abtaterasn,
stamp duties now payable in Great Britain and Ire-
danthdethsainnages,adre:chreirbeebdyirneptheealesdch;edanudle
in
on
land respectively, for or in respect of the sevesal instru-
this act annexed, shall respectively ceaze and determine,
lieu and instead thereof there shall be paid in and
throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland the several duties or sums of money set down in
figores against the same respectively in the schedule.
The duties of one penny by this act granted on re-
ceipts and on dra cis or orders for the payment of
money respectively may be denoted either by a stamp
impressed upon the paper whereon any such instrument
is written or by an adhesive stamp affixed thereto, and
the Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall provide
stamps of both descriptions for the purpose of denoting
the said duties.
Where an adhesive stamp shall be used, the person
by whom such receipt shall be given shall, before the
instrument shall be delivered out of his power, cancel or
obliterate the stamp so used, by writing thereon his name
or the initial letters of his name, so and in such a man-
ner as to show clearly and distinctly that such stamp
has been made use of ; any person who shall give any
discharge with any adhesive stamp, and shall not bona
fide in manner aforesaid effectively cancel or obliterate
such staiap, shall forfeit the sum of 101.
Fraudulently removing from any paper whereon any
receipt or any draft or order shall be written any adhe-
sive stamp, or any fraudulent act, contrivance, or device
whatever, not specially provided for by this or some
other act of Parliament, with intent or design to defraud
her Majesty, her heirs, or successors, of any duty by
this act, incur a penalty of 201.
Every person who shall agree to make, or shall re-
ceive any premium or valuable consideration for making,
any assurance upon lives, or upon any event or cont'n-
gency relating to or depending upon lives, shall within
one calendar month sa,e: the payment or giving of any
such premium or consideration, make out or sign upon
paper, duly stamped, a policy of such assurance or insu-
rance, and have the same ready to be del'vered to
the party entitled thereto, and shall upon demand de-
liver the same to him, or is default in any of the cases
aforesaid shall forfeit the sum of 501.

Every person who at the time of the payment or giv-
ing of any such premium or consideration shall be a
managing director of or secretary to or other principal
officer of any society or company receiving any such
premium or consideration, shall be deemed to be a
person making or agreeing to make such assurance or
insurance, and shall be subject and liable to this penalty.
Articles of clerkship to attorneys of the County Pala-
tine Courts may be stamped for admission of the clerk
into superior courts on payment of the additional duty
only.
Additional inventories in Scotland to be chargeable
with additional duty only. .

No license granted to any spiritual person to perform
divine service in any building approved by the bishop in
lieu of any church or chapel whilst the same is under
repair or is rebuilding, or in any building so approved
for the convenience of the inhabitants of a parish resi-
dent at a distance from the church or consecrated chapel,
shall be chargeable with any stamp duty.
Where property is sold subject to any mortgage, the
mortgage money to be deemed part of the purchase
money, whether agreed to be paid by the purchaser or
not.

Where property is sold in consideration of a redeem-
able annuity, the redemption money to be deemed pur-
chase money.

Counterparts of leases not required to be impressed
with a particular stamp for denoting or testifying the
payment of the stamp duty chargeable on the original
lease.

When any deed or instrument shall be presented to
the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and the fee of 10s.
shall be paid to them for their opinion as to the stamp
duty with which such deed or instrument in their judg-
ment is chargeable, the said commissioners are now re-
qui-ed to assess and charge the stamp duty on such deed or
instrument, and, on the same being duly stamped, to im-
press thereon a particular stamp to signify and denote
that the full amount of stamp duty with which such deed
or instrument is by law chargeable has been paid. And
whereas the said commissioners are not authorised to
impress a particular stamp upon any deed or instrument
not chargeable with any stamp duty in order to de-
note that the same is not so chargeable ; the commis-
sioners may now adjudge deeds not liable to stamp duty,
and impress thereon a particular stamp, which shall sig-
nify and denote that such deed is not chargeable with
any stamp duty : and every such deed or instrument
upon which the said stamp shall be impressed shall be
deemed to be not so chargeable, and sbali be receivable
in evidence in all courts of law and equity. An appeal
from the determination of the commissioners may be
had.

Transfers of bonds and ram tgages of public companies
are exempted from stamp duty on payment of a compo-
sition.

Persons authorised by Postmaster-General may sell
postage stamps, or carry about same for sale, without
being subject to penalty.
No playing cards, except such as shall be bona fide
spoiled and rendered unfit for use as playing cards in the
process of manufacture, and which shall have a corner
cut off, nor any cards commonly called or known as
picture cards, shall be deemed to be waste cards; and
no playing cards, except waste cards, shall be sold
otherwise than in packs, each pack containing fifty-two
cards of the four usual suits of thirteen cards each, in-
cluding an ace of spade:- duly stamped for denoting the
duty by the said act granted on a pack of cards, and
tied up together ; and ary person selling or keeping for
sale any playing cards, not being a pack of cards as
aforesaid, and the same not being bona fide waste cards
m:thin the meaning of this act, shall, for every pack,
parcel, or separate quantity of cards so sold or kept for
sale, forfeit, if he be not a licensed maker, the sum of
101., and if he shall be a licensed maker the sum of 201.

Officers of Inland Revenue exempted from serving
public offices.
Stamps rendered useless by th:s act at any time within
six calendar months after the commencement of this act
may be cancelled, and allowance made for the same, as
in the case of spoiled stamps.
Provided always that any draft order drawn upon a
banker for a sum of money payable to order on demand
which shall, when presented for payment, purport, to be
endorsed by the person to whom the same shall be drawn
payable, shall be a sufficient authority to such banker to
pay the amount of such draft or order to the bearer
thereof ; and it shall not be incumbent on such banker
to prove that such endorsement, or any subsequent en-
dorsement, was made by or under the direction or au-
thority
of the person to whom the said draft or order
was or is made payable either by the drawer or any en-
dorser thereof.

All the several sums of money and duties and compo-
sition for duties granted and made payable in Ireland
by fifth and sixth years of her Majesty, chapter eighty-
two, and not repealed by any subsequent act, and also
all duties now payable in lieu or instead of any of the
said duties which may have been so repealed, shall be
and the same are hereby continued and made perpetual.
Duty.
s. d.