The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 21, 1853.

without much detriment to the genergl-qo
ula-
tion. A happier epoch may the dawn upon the
Portuguese—an epoch happier than that which
was observed during the brief authority of the
last Prince wielding the sceptre of the BRAGANZAS,
or the more extended and yet more lamentable
sway of the young Queen by whom Dom MIGUEL
was unfortunately succeeded. Unfortunately, we
repeat, because the reign of MARIA DA
GLORIA has yielded little else to the Portu-
guese than a sequence of miserable and
scarcely to be tolerated disappointments. That
Sovereign has now been unexpectedly removed,
and removed by a calamity that at once extorts
the sympathy of her life-long opponents, while at
the same instant it affords theta reason to hope for
brighter days for the Portuguese, and more liberal
institutions in their so-Balled popular Government.
Remembering that Queen MARIA DA GLORIA
bas died in " childbirth," let us speak of her
personally with the lenity always commanded by
sympathy with misfortunes. Let us not " o'er her
cold ashes upbraid her"—individually. It is with
the office more than with the personage, that the
publicist has to deal in estimating the vices or the
virtues of these pseudo-constitutional govern-
ments.
Wherefore, in our after strictures upon
the recent history of Portugal, our remarks must
be directed less to MARIA DA GLORIA in her
private capacity, as an individual, than to the
Queen in her public capacity as a Sovereign.

I A mighty change has come over the position
and prospects of Ireland. Well circumstanced
real estates are no longer sacrificed at little more
than one-half their real value. Purchasers are
to be found at fair prices for the broad acres and
fertile plains submitted to public competition.
Incumbrances are now, generally speaking, paid
off in full, while something is saved for the for-
mer proprietors out of the wreck of their affairs,
to protect them from being obliged to enter de novo
on " the battle of life" in a state of complete
destitution, without pecuniary means or assistance
of any kind. Twelve months since when the in-
terest of money was less than one-half of the pre-
sent rate, we distinctly pointed out the favour-
able opportunities for investments afforded by the
continued sales under the EncuMbered Estates
Courts, and earnestly recommended our friends
not to let the golden moment pass unheeded or
disregarded. Those who followed the advice thus
given, have had ample reason to rejoice, for not-
withstanding the appreciation in money, and its en-
hanced value, landed property now brings from
six to ten years' purchase more than could for-
merly have been obtained, or from 30 to 50 per
cent. improvement in prices. In the winter of
1852-3, eligible estates were knocked down for
15 or 16 years' purchase, which, if now offered,
would readily bring 20 to 25. Indeed, we know
of several properties that have been re-sold at very
considerable advances, and others where large sums
have been refused, for what might truly be de-
scribed as " the bargain."
It is not,\ however, merely the increased com-
Ipetition for estates that exhibits the full extent of
the improvement. The lauds are gradually changing
hands. In place of the generous and high-minded,
but thoughtless, improvident, and deeply embar-
rassed proprietors, a new class is springing up ;
men of commercial minds, who, having acquired
wealth by painstaking industry, combined with
self-denying frugality, are not disposed either to
squander it in reckless prodigality, or suffer it
to remain without fully developing its resources—
men who, entertaining a horror of debt, will be
enabled to give fair play to their tenants, and to
discharge the duties as well as to enforce the
rights„of property.
ate not disposed to censure unduly the un-
fortunate gentlemen who have been driven from'
the domains occupied by their ancestors during
many successive generations, in the great majority
of cases, without any faults of their own. If
they were unable to improve the soil, or to bring
it into good cultivation, if they could not encour-
age the farmers or find useful occupation for the
unemployed labour of the vicinity, they were to
be pitied rather than condemned. They were the
victims of circumstances, and if they fell, it was,
generally speaking, from causes wholly beyond
their own control.

Coming into possession of extensive but
heavily encumbered and strictly entailed pro-
perties, they were placed between two fires.
On the one side, from the extravagance of their
progenitors, they were reduced to the condition
of mere agents, or at least but little more than
nominal proprietors, compelled to draw the last
farthing from the impoverished tenantry to satisfy
the demands of the mortgagee or accountant ;
while from the stringent limitations in favour of
descendants, they were unable to dispose of a por-
tion of their estates to liquidate the charges
affecting the whole, or to improve the soil and
develop its natural fertility. They were, in fact,
bound hand and foot in legal fetters, so strin-
gently as to be totally incapable of helping
themselves. Nor were they empowered to give
leases for terms that would justify the occupiers
in personally undertaking the task of amelioration.
The possessors of wide-spread domains, with
nominal rentals of seven or eight thousands per
annum, and with mansions fitted for the residence
of persons having even double that amount of in-
come, they found themselves with but little more
than as many hundreds that they could apply to
their own private uses. They were thus involved
in perpetual struggles to keep up appearances and
to maintain establishments suitable to the former
rather than to the present conditions of their for-
tunes. Desiring still to be considered as hold-
ing positions among the leading "county families,"
they sacrificed real comfort to show, and plunged
into additional debt, in order that they might be
of as their fathers were. Such men could
not give fair play to their tenants or dependents.
Their necessities compelled them to extract the
last available shilling from the pockets of the oc-
cupiers, and to take advantage of improvements,
if any such were Made, to which they might have
had some legal, but certainly no equitable, claims.
Improving tenants were therefore discouraged.
The man who had a little money saved, which he
would willingly have applied to the improvement
of his holding, if certain that he himself, or his
children, would have been permitted to enjoy the
fruits of his own capital and industry in
the continued occupation thereof, or by
do o
by
s,
ob-
taining adequate compensation in
notrtet was
either event
s
of fe e
ahis s e
h e evictionsaw orth
that
t removal,the
certain cou d
result
either additional rent, or the substitution
tenantofone
willing to promise more than a solvent
could undertake to pay. He had no motive,
therefore, for exertion, became idle and listless,
and the destruction, commenced by an embarrassed
and improvident proprietary, was consummated
by by a careless and reckless peasantry.
lighting at both ends was. speedily
um
and yet, under more favourable conditions,
owners and occupiers might have exerted them-
cons
both
ed,
them-
selves steadily, efficiently, and successfully. They
were the victims of circumstances, who, as we
have already stated, were deserving of sympathy
and pity rather than condemnation.
All this, however, is now completely altered.
A new class of landlords is rapidly springing up.
Men, not only unembarrassed, but possessed of ready
money, to improve the estates, which are indeed
their own—men who are not disturbed by lega-
cies of debt and difficulty from the past, or press-
ing claims from the future generations—men who
have
duties as
theablialnitdyloards, and the
nwill to
encourage
their
tenantry, not by leaving large arrears of rent—
' themost"cruet kindness, possible—but by assist-
ing those willing to assist themselves, and treating
[ with consideration those who display skill, intelli-
gence, and activity in the cultivation of their
holdings.l
Fe rese auspicious results we
are indebted to
the operations of the Encumbered Estates Com-
mission. There were unquestionably many
werecases
of apparent hardship at first where estates
knocked down at ridiculously inadequate prices,

and encumbrancers and inheritors were deprived
of what they might reasonably have expected.
But it was a necessary evil, and had matters gone
on in the old jog trot way the struggles might
have been prolonged, but the events would scarcely
have been more favourable to any parties, except
the lawyers and the receivers of the Court of Chan-
cery. The evil has, however, cured itself. Fairprices
can now be obtained, which the inheritors are not
merely willing but anxious to accept. Within
less than a single week we find these estates sold
for nearly half a million sterling. Certain portions
of the Glengall estates, on the 11th instant, pro-
duced 204,0751. (sufficient to liquidate all charges
affecting the inheritance), or 24 years' purchase on
a rental of 8,4821. 16s. 3d., and leaving more
than 7,000/. a-year unsold. On the same day
the Newtown Barry Estate of the Hon. SOMERSET
MAXWELL was sold for 75,0001., being also at the
rate of 24 years' purchase, which sum will nearly
satisfy all claims, leaving the extensive domain of the
Honourable Gentleman, in the county of Cavan,
almost clear. The Earl of MORNINGTON'S estates,
subsequently, on Tuesday, the 15th instant,
realised 204,8351., being at the rate of 22i years'
purchase on a rental of 9,6831. 15s. Bd.. In
every one of these cases the inheritors sought the
intervention of the Court, and we have seen with
what beneficial effects. Surely, then, there are
better days in store for the sister kingdom. The
mere fact that a man is an Irish landlord will no
longer be considered as an intimation that he is
hopelessly sunk in the slough of despond, beyond
the possibility of extrication.

EXECUTION OF MOBBS.-(THIS DAY.)

The execution of the wretched man, Nathaniel Mobbs,

who was found guilty of murdering his wife, took place
this morning, at Newgate. Early last evening hundreds
of persons assembled in front of the jail, and notwith-
standing the state of the weather, they remained there
the whole of the night. By seven o'clock nearly 4,000
persons had assembled, and as the hour of eight drew
near, there were about 5,000 men, women, and children
on the spot. A few minutes before eight o'clock, the
bell of the chapel within the jail commenced to toll.
The culprit took his final leave of his four unfortunate
children on Saturday last, and from that time he
became more collected, and continued in religious medi-
tation, being visited at frequent intervals by Mr. Davis,
the ordinary of the prison, through whose kind exhorta-
tions and spiritual instructions the wretched man's
mind was brought to see that there was no hope remain-
ing for him in this world. He attended Divine service
yesterday in the chapel for the last time, when the rev.
ordinary preached the condemned sermon, to which he
paid the most profound attention; and such has been his
conduct both before and since he was cast for death,
that the authorities of the jail stated that a better-con-
ducted criminal never was confined within the walls of
the prison. After the preaching of the condemned ser-
mon the culprit was visited by the sheriff and the rev.
ordinary, and engaged in prayer, when he fully admitted
the justice of his sentence, and said that from the first
he never entertained a hope that his life would be spared;
he had never altered his statement from that contained
in his petition to the Queen ; that he was driven to the
act by a feeling of jealousy ; and that his wife had first
threatened him. At an early hour—having previously
engaged in prayer with sincere devotion—he retired to
rest, and slept calmly, and rose soon after 6 this morn-
ing, and after having partaken but slightly of some coffee
and toast, he was again visited by the rev. ordinary, who
found him engaged attentively reading from the Bible.
He seemed happy at the visit of the ordinary, and fre-
quently thanked him for his kindness, as also Mr.
Cope, the Governor, and those who had been in attend-
ance upon him. Having been left to his meditations,
about twenty minutes to eight o'clock he sent for Mr.
Davis to engage with him again in prayer for the last
time. The rev. gentleman then read the prayers of
the morning service, which were frequently responded
to by the unfortunate man.

Messrs. Wire and Wallis, the two sheriffs, with the
under-sheriffs, Messrs. Anderton and Smith, arrived at
the prison at half-past seven o'clock. The moment
having arrived for he procession to move, Caleraft com-
menced pinioning the condemned man's arms, having his
hands not tied as hitherto, but the arms were tightly
drawn back by a strong leather strap. The wretched
man, although suffering from a spasmodic affection of
the throat, walked with a firm step to the drop, the
rev, ordinary reading the funeral service. On his
reaching the scaffold his firmness appeared to increase,
notwithstanding the shouts from the populace. Having
placed himself under the fatal beam, the cap was drawn
and the fatal noose adjusted. The signal being given,
the wretched man was launched into eternity. He
struggled severely for a few seconds. After hanging
the usual time his body was cut down, and will be buried
within the prison.

LATEST FO EIG N Ts; riarc.

RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

ENTRANCE OF THE BRITISH 8 FRENCH
FLEETS INTO THE BLACK SEA.

A portion -of the English fleet has sailed into the
Black Sea ; also a portion of the French fleet.
Advices from Hermaunstadt, of the 19th inst.,
state that on the 15th the Turks attempted a sur-
prise at Turnul, but were repulsed. The affair was
unimportant. From Kalafat the Turks have ad-
vanced inland one German mile, and fortified them-
selves.

News received from Vienna of the 19th, confirms
the fact of the evacuation of Oltenitza, and of the
movement in retreat of the Turks to the right bank
of the Danube. That manceuvre had not been pre-
ceded by any fresh encounter between the two
armies. The passage of the Danube was effected in
good order and without the Turks having been dis-
turbed. Kalarach and Giurgevo were evacuated at
the same time. The advanced posts of the division
of Osten-Sacken the Russian General had got be
yond Jassy.

On the left bank of the Danube the Ottoman

troops continued to occupy Kalafat and its environs
with twenty-five thousand men ; they were receiv-
ing reinforcements from Widdin and Sophia.
Speaking of the passage of the Danube by the
Turks, the Times' Paris correspondent says :—" It
does not appear that the retreat of the Ottoman
forces was occasioned by a defeat, or that they were
molested during the operation. It seems to be the
retrograde movement of a general who, not being
able to come up in time to attack his enemy in de-
tail, and when unsupported—whether the delay was
occasioned by the weather, the state of the roads,
or any other cause—finds himself suddenly in pre-
sence of a force on which he had not calculated, and
far exceeding his own. Under such circumstances
all Omer Pasha had to do was to fall back. It would
have been an act of madness to attack the Russians
without almost the certainty of victory, with such a
river as the Danube in his rear; and, as the fate of
the campaign depended on his next movement, his
first care was to save his army from destruction. If
it turn out to be correct that the Turks have not
been driven back in consequence of a defeat, it is
still an advantage in favour of Omer Pasha. I
ventured to express the opinion long since that
part of the Russian General's tactics appeared to
be to draw the Turks, even by allowing them some
advantages, into a position most favourable for
himself, and, for his purposes, sufficiently distant
from the Danube, when he could choose his own
battle-ground, assemble his masses, and fall upon
them with overwhelming force. I think that, if
the recent account be exact, something like what
I anticipated has occurred."
The Independance of Brussels says, in reference
to the retreat of the Turks :—" The truth is this,
we can guarantee it, though no letter or journal
has yet spoken of it :—The Turks have voluntarily
evacuated without a new combat, without even
being disquieted by the Russians, the position
which they had occupied on the left bank of the
Danube opposite Oltenitza. They blew up the
building of the quarantine, in which they sustained
the sharp attack of the 4th, together with the
entrenchments which they threw up ; and then they
went quietly to the right bank. There has cons&
quently been no great engagement since the 4th ;
the Russians have not been beaten ; Bucharest has
not been set on fire ; General Gortschakoff is not in
retreat on Cronstadt ; and the Turks, on their part,
have not been driven into the Danube. The great
attack, which General Gortschakoff was to have
made at the head of 24,000 men on the Turkish
entrenchments opposite Oltenitza, has not even
taken place. All that has occurred is a strategic
movement of Omer Pacha, who has recalled on the
right bank of the Danube the portion of his troops
which had crossed the river and had taken up a
position on the left bank, near Oltenitza.
From the Cologne Gazette, of the 18th, we learn
that all the line of Russian military operations from
Krajowa, by Bucharest, Ismail, Sebastopol, and
the Caucasus as far as beyond Anaklin, is divided
into three general commands—namely, Prince
Gortschakoff, in Wallachia ; General Luders, in
Moldavia, near Ismail, the coast of Bessarabia, and
Southern Russia ; and General Woronzoff, in the
Caucasus. Admiral Prince Menschikoff has the
command-in-chief of the fleet. General Lagaresi
Stanischoff, commanding the park of artillery, has
received orders to march into the principalities.
He has already quitted Warsaw.
We learn by telegraph that Prince Gortschakoff
received positive order s on the Bth inst. to assume
the offensive. Russian pontoons have been sent to
Oltenitza.

1 According to telegraphic advices from Bucharest
of the 16th, Prince Gortschakoff had returned
there. It is said that the Russian troops have
evacuated Lesser Wallachia.
Prince Stirbey withdrew from the administra-
tion of the Principality on the 2d inst., and on
that day the Russian General Prince Urusoff
arrived at Jassy.
It is stated that Prince Stirbey has sent a de-
spatch to the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs,
in which he explains that, after the publication of
martial law by Prince Gortschakoff,•and the decla-
ration that Bucharest and all the towns in Wal-
lachia were placed in a state of siege, and after
orders had been given to the Russian commanders
to burn all the corn and other provisions which
they could not carry away with them, he consi-
dered that he could no longer retain the command,
and that he was quitting Wallachia to proceed to
Paris, after having surrendered the reins of Go-
vernment to a Council of Boyards.
Prince Urusoff has ordered the establishment at
Jassy of an hospital fit to contain 6,000 patients.
The corps of General Luders is expected to enter
from Bessarabia.

On the 14th the Servian Hospodar requested M.
Muchin, the Russian Consul, to quit Belgrade.

A private letter from Erzeroum of the 29th ult.
announces that a column of Russian troops, which
was marching to reinforce the garrison of Poti, had
been surprised by a snowstorm, and was blocked
up in a defile in the neighbourhood of Kars, which
renders the speedy surrender of Poti probable.
The following is the letter addressed by Reschid
Pacha, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, to
the foreign legations on the Ist inst., enclosing a
copy of the Imperial Hat, announcing the inten-
tion of the Sultan to proceed to Adrianople :

" We have the honour to transmit to you a copy of
the Hat-Scheriff, Imperial autograph, which has just
reached us at the Sublime Porte to announce the high
decision taken by his Majesty, our glorious Sovereign,
to proceed to Adrianople with the aid of God, at the
commencement of next spring, in consequence of the
present war. We avail ourselves, etc., etc."
A letter from Warsaw, 11th, says :—" The mani-
festo of the Emperor of Russia and the second bul-
letin of the Danube were published to-day in all
the journals. The manifesto concludes with the
literal translation of the Sclavonic ecclesiastical
text, 0 Lord, I have confidence in thee, that I
may not have to blush in eternity.' The Russian
journals publish ordinances which prove that hos-
tilities will commence by sea. It is not thought
that the Russian,regiments in which there are many
Poles will be sent against the Turks."
A letter from Alexandria of the sth announces
.that a reserve of 3,500 sailors raised on the coasts
of Syria had just started for Constantinople. These
sailors are intended for the Turkish and Egyptian
ships of war, whose crews will be thus brought up
to their full complement.
Letters from Constantinople, Nov. 7, say that
the Seraskier, Omer Pacha, and General Prim left
Schumla on the 27th. A great part of the garrison
left on the 27th, and part on the 28th. On the
31st they arrived at Turtukai. The march of the
troops was executed in admirable order. At Tur-
tukai, on the 31st, at ten o'clock in the forenoon,
some of the riflemen and a battalion of infantry
crossed the Danube in boats, and occupied an island
which is distant from the left bank about 100 yards.
The same night they fortified themselves there,
opening trenches. They placed three cannon there,
and others are being transported across the river.
A thick fog favoured these operations. They
did not get a glimpse of any Russians until this
morning, when our riflemen exchanged shots with
some Cossacks. One Cossack was killed, and the
rest made off. The troops will very soon occupy
the left bank of the Danube. The passage of the
river has been executed with great success. We
have no news of the movements of the Russians.
The Danube has been crossed in a similar manner
at Widdin, and yesterday it was to be crossed also
at Silistria and Rustshuck.
In the affair that occurred between two Russian
steamers with ten gunboats, it is said the Turkish
batteries riddled them with shot, and two of the
boats were sunk. This occurred at Isatchka, on
the Lower Danube.
We are expecting stirring news from Wallachia,
as it is to be foreseen that an engagement will in
all probability soon take place.
Troops continue to arrive almost daily. The
Leonidas, a French postal steamer, arrived on
Tuesday, with 450 Turkish soldiers on board. They
were taken in at Smyrna: The Africa, one of the
boats of the Australian Lloyd Company, arrived
the same day, with 230 on board.
Admiral Dundas, who is staying at Therapia,
has received the visits of the Turkish admirals.
The French admiral, Hamelin, the commander-
in-chief of the French squadron, paid a visit to the
Capitan Pacha on Wednesday last, on board the

flag-ship Mahmoudio, at anchor in the Bay of
Buy ukdere. M. de la Cour, the French ambassa-
dor, accompanied him.
On Sunday 400 Turkish soldiers left for Varna,
cm board the Ottoman steamer Numaich-Tidjaret.
Admiral Slade is still cruising in the Black Sea,
with six Turkish frigates and two war-steamers. It
is said that a great portion of the Turkish fleet is
shortly to follow.
_ _ _

We-have not yet had the pleasure of reading an
official bulletin from the Russians since they have
been in Wallachia, but here we have Prince
Gortschakoff's most veracious account of the battle
of Oltenitza

" The attack made by General Dannenberg on the
Turkish position at Olteuitza was attended with bril-
liant success for the Russian arms. Although the Turks
foiled:, with great courage, and their most advantageous
position was protected on the right flank by three rows
of batteries of 40 guns, planted on the right bank (of the
river, probably), and by numerous batteries on the left
bank, the Russian infantry division, in the very face of
the enemy's fire, succeeded in dislodging him by means
of a bayonet attaok."