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

Passage of the Pruth, of the Turkish Passage of
the Danube, of the British and French Passage of
the Dardanelles. Scrutinising the consecutive oc-
currences, as we have done, no less carefully
than we have the successive documents of which
they have been originative—we have judged, by a
consideration of them all altogether, as to the
policy pursued by the different Governments.
We have not judged rashly, but with the
caution of a calm and conscientious deliberation.
Of this, let the latest events and the last docu-
ment of any importance be taken as conclusive
testimony.

great " clothes' depot" might be angry with the
offer of a handbill belonging to another, and his
Ducal MAJESTY of Tuscany is angry with the offer
of the Bible itself to his subjects ; it were rather
too much, however, to allege just cause of anger
in either case. If we are to be defended from
wanton provocation, we are also to be held bound
to control our own tempera. In short, some in-
dividuals have much need to enter into recogni-
zances not to get angry without cause, and thereby ,
endanger the peace, as others do to abstain from
wantonly irritating their neighbours. The hand-
bill offered to BRENNAN, we have not seen; but it
must have been bad Indeed, to induce us to justify
departing from the short and easy method which
we have indicated as our own, and we suppose
that of all but over-heated religionists.
It is wonderful what a stir the case has made
in Ireland. A Public Meeting was called to up-
hold the cause of SMITH and Protestant handbills.
A deputation was sent to the Lord-Lieutenant
praying him to order an official investigation.
The memorial was made a handbill for charging
Mr. O'CALLAGHAN with " audaciously, daringly,
unconstitutionally, and bigotedly lending himself
to sustain the intolerance of a bigot, and to crush
the rights of British subjects." And Lord St.
GERMANS, very properly we think, refers them
to the Court of Queen's Bench, where any legal
error of the Magistrates can be rectified, and his
motives, if corrupt, duly inquired into. What the
memorialists will do next we know not. There is
zeal enough on both sides to fight out the quarrel
while there is a legal opening for doing so ; in-
deed there appears to be no lack of SMITHS and
BRENNANS all over Ireland, of zealous Protestant
Missionaries and irritable Catholics.

Those events—the passage of the Danube ef-
fected at various points by the Turkish troops
under OMER PACHA, followed up rapidly by the
defeat of nine thousand Russians (with a loss of
more than seven hundred killed and wounded) at
0 ltenitza.

That document—the Imperial Manifesto, dated
the 21st of October, and published by the Czar
NICHOLAS in his official organ, the Journal de
St. Petersburg.
Receiving them simultaneously, we are con-
firmed by those most recent occurrences, and by
that latest document, in what has been our deli-
berate conviction from the outset, namely, that
Russia is resolved at all hazards upon the subju-
gation of Turkey—that the AUTOCRAT is deter-
mined, no matter what the consequences, to ac-
complish his designs, sooner or later, upou-Con-
stantinople.

It must be admitted that precisely as the SUL-
TAN has been throughout consistent in his mode-
ration; the CZAR has from first to last been con-
sistent in his duplicity. Remember, he assured
the Chief Powers of Europe that his sole discus-
sion with the Divan had reference to the Holy
Places. And then came the arrogant demands
and the insolent bearing of his Envoy, Prince
MENSCHIKOFF. Remember, he intimated his respect
for treaties and his regard for the rights of nations.
And then came the movement of his troops across
the Pruth, and their occupation of the Danubian
Principalities. Remember, he announced that it
was simply from a precautionary motive that he
adventured upon that movement and that occu-
pation. And then came the haughty intimation
to the Hospodars of Wallachia and Moldavia, that
their allegiance was no longer due to their quon-
dam suzerain at Constantinople. Consistently
with all this, the pacific assurances so often reite-
rated by the Emperor NICHOLAS, personally at
Olmiitz, and indirectly elsewhere, have been suc_
ceeded by that bellicose Manifesto of the 21st of
October, in which it is intimated—mark the
words !—that " NOTHING REMAINS FOR RUSSIA
BUT TO HAVE RECOURSE TO ARMS, to compel the
Ottoman Empire to respect treaties, to obtain re-
paration for the insults with which the Porte has
replied to our most moderate demands, and to
our solicitude for the maintenance of the ortho-
dox faith in the East." So. War then be it. The selec-

One thing all parties may surely regard as
quite certain, that religious zeal will never cease
in the world. Missionaries every sect will have,
and in this country their endeavours to convert
must be protected by law. The State here only
undertakes to protect to the Established Church
its revenues and dignities ; it gives free scope
to all kinds of Nonconformists to seduce the
faithful from her bosom, and even pays Popery
and Presbyterianism in Ireland for doing it. It
leaves the Churchman and the Dissenter to convert
each other if they can. Her MAJESTY is not only the
Defender of every man's faith from violent assault,
but also the protector of all fair attacks upon it.
It is, therefore, utterly impossible to put an end
to the efforts of earnest men, whether they be
bigots, enthusiasts, and fanatics, or sober apostles
of truth,.to convert their fellow-men. The Press,
in every mode, must always be a prime instru-
ment in the hands of such men ; it is the wont of
the country. It does, therefore, appear to us ex-
ceedingly undesirable to interfere more than is
absolutely necessary in protecting the disciples of
any faith. against the mere printed arguments,
and even warm attacks, of those of another faith.
While, of course, wishing most earnestly to see all
religious controversy conducted in a spirit be-
coming the gravity of the subject and the civilisa-
tion of the age, we yet, therefore, would have our
magistrates very chary of entertaining such cases.
They can rarely do more than give a triumph to
one party of religionists—a triumph, perhaps,
more dangerous to the peace than the irritating
proselytism they would like to repress.

tion is not England's, is not that of France, is not
Turkey's—it is the choice of the Russian AUTO-
CRAT. Whatever (with his consummate effrontery)
he may say about insults to be avenged and
treaties to be respected, History will declare in
characters of blood and flame whose was the in-
solence, whose the violation of the rights of an
unoffending sovereignty, whose the crime in this
deplorable rupture of thirty-seven years' tran-
quillity.

THE MANCHESTER MONUMENT TO THE
DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

It is with unfeigned pleasure that we have to
announce the decision of the judges appointed to
make choice of the model for the statue of Wel-
lington, about to be emoted in Manchester at a
cost of 7,000/. A large number of models con-
tributed by the collective sculptural talent of the
country—and many of which are of unusual excel-
lence was examined on Friday last, in the
Royal Manchester _lnstitution, by the Earl of
Ellesmere, the Earl of Wilton, and the Bishop of
Manchester, who were deputed by the subscribers
to make the important selection—when their
unanimous choice fell on the model prepared by
Matthew Noble, Esq., of Bruton-street, London.
The artist's intention in this design, which we
were privileged to see previous to its transmission
to Manchester, has been to represent England's
illustrious Duke in his civil as well as in his military
capacity, by personifying those salient qualities
and results through which he attained so high a
position in life, and influenced the destinies of so
many nations, and by illustrating the chief crown-
ing events in his public career, through which he
will be best known to posterity. The qualities of
Valour and Wisdom are represented by figures of
Mars and Minerva, accompanied by Peace and
Victory—these are seated round the pedestal,
upon which are introduced bas-reliefs, repre-
senting the battles of Assaye and Waterloo,
the Congress of Vienna, and the Duke receiv-
ing the thanks of the House of Commons on
the memorable occasion in the year 1815. On
the summit of the pedestal is a colossal bronze
statue of the soldier-statesman himself, modelled
from the popular bust for which the Duke sat to
Mr. Noble, a short dime before his death. The
identity of the face and figure are perfect, and
the drapery—that almost insurmountable " diffi-
culty" with the sculptors—is treated with a clas-
sical grand simplicity, which, while it elevates the
mere portrait into a production of high art, de-
tracts in no measure from the well-known charac-
teristics of the subject. Mr. Noble has designed
to give an idea of the moment when the Duke
stood erect and calm after having uttered the fol-
lowing declaration in the House of Lords :—" I
am one of those who have probably passed a
longer period of my life in war than most men,
and principally in civil war; and I must say this,
that if I could avoid, by any sacrifice whatever,
even one month of civil war in the country to
which I am attached, I would sacrifice my life in
order to do it." The readers of The Sun, remem-
bering Mr. Noble's liberality in connection with
the monument to Thomas Hood, whose resting-
place in Kensal Green Cemetery will shortly be
adorned with a memorial of exquisite taste from
that gentleman's hand, will be gratified to learn
that he has received this magnificent commission,
which is the more honourable to the young and
highly-distinguished artist from the fact of his
having won it in the fair field of competition with
the most eminent professors of his now flourishing
art.

MONEY MARKET

AND

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

CITY, TWO O'CLOCK.

The sales of cotton at Liverpool yesterday were
estimated at 6,000 bales, of which 1,000 American
and 500 Surat were taken for export and on specu-
lation. The market closed firmly, but without
animation. Prices of American and Surat were
tight. Other kinds unchanged. The sales com-
prised 4,500 American, 100 Pernam and Maran-
ham at 62d., 200 Egyptian at 61d. to 7d., and
1,000 Surat at 2id. 3id. per lb. Railway shares
were dull.

Notwithstanding an absence of speculative deal-
ings, and a limited demand for home use, colonial
produce has commanded firm rates. Still the
holders and importers refrain from pressing sales.
Coffee has been firm, and good ord native Ceylon
has advanced to 465. and 475. Sugar has been
steady. Cocoa has been heavy. In rice there is
a moderate business doing. Tallow has slightly
recovered, and there is an advance in tea owing to
the news from China. Cotton has not varied
much. In iron there has been a steady rise.
There are no later arrivals to-day, and the poli-
tical advices from the Continent engross almost ex-
clusively public attention. A sailing ship, the
Plymouth Rock, has reached Callao from Melbourne
in 39 days. The dates are not later, but this is
another instance of what steam could accomplish
by the Panama route.
Lett's Diaries are now ready for the year 1854,
and to mercantile men, at home and abroad, they
must prove extremely valuable.
The English Stock market has been very firm
again, with a fair business doing, but chiefly in
connection with the settlement. A large jobber
has been declared unable to meet his, liabilities,
whether from the fault of principles or engage-
ments of his own, we are unable to state, although
usually, the dealings of such parties are ex-
clusively in the " house," and as there have
been no other defaulters, it may be that his
own speculations are the cause. Consols have been
94k 1, and 94-i g for Transfer, and 94,1 #, and since
93i. for Account. The New 31 per Cents. have been
done at 95 to 952_, and the 3 per Cents. at 921 to
93g. Exchequer Bills are 2s. to 55., and India
Bonds 2s. premium.

Foreign Securities have been very dull. Spa-
nish 3 per Cents. are 441, and Portuguese 4 per
Cents. 41k. Russian 5 per Cents. have been quoted
1121 to 113. Dutch 24- per Cents. have been at
63g.
The Railway Share Mar,ket has been without any
material variation, and the business doing is limited.
French Shares have been dull.

The Gold Mine Shares are quieter. Waller
Mine have improved to

The Australian Joint-Stock Bank Shares are
rather lower.

The Land Companies' Shares have been de
pressed.

BRITISH FUNDS THIS DAY.
(From the Official List.)
Business done
3 per Cent. Reduced Annuities 93i 2i
3 per Cent, Consols Annuities 944 A
New 34 per Cent. Annuities 9si 13 5
India Bonds, £lOOO
Consols for Account
Exchequer Bills, id.
£l000
£5OO 5 2 p
Ditto Small
PRICE OF FOREIGN FUNDS THIS DAY.

Portuguese Bonds, 5 per Cent 44i
Ditto 4 per Cent .....
Russian Bonds, 1822, 5 per Cent. £ St 112.4 13
Spanish Bonds, 3 per Cent 441
Dividends on the above:payable in London.
Dutch Exchange, 24 per Cent. 12 Guil 631
Ditto 4 per Cent. Certificates

Consols
Ditto December Account

HALF-PAST TWO.

... 94$
... 9414

The case of SMITH, Protestant handbill distri-
butor
; BRENN. AN, Catholic schoolmaster ; and
O'CALLAGHAN, Catholic magistrate, bids fair to
become one of no small importance. The case,
perhaps, which shall settle the legal amount of
liberty enjoyed by handbill distributors, and which
shall define in that direction the liberties of the
Press. To what extent a person may thrust upon
another's attention documents which it is not
unlawful to print, and circulate by sale or gift, is
really a very delicate question. It is not pre-
tended that SMITH, in "thrusting" a Protestant
handbill according to BRENNAN'S version, or in
" offering it," according to his own statement, did
more than the agents of MOSES and SON are doing
every day, or more than every distributor of
political tracts as well as religious tracts has done
from time immemorial. Of course, the more
usual practice is to punish the author OT a publi-
cation, and not the generally humble agents who
distribute them, and it would seem that this is
the course which it would have been more manly
to pursue in the present instance. The publish-
ing of SMITH'S handbill is not denied, it is rather
gloried in. No witnesses being present, one party
says, " He thrust it upon me ;" the other rejoins,
"No, I only offered it." Now, setting aside ho ►v
very nice the distinction must be between " thrust-
ing" and " offering," how two perfectly truthful
men might differ in assigning a particular act to one
or other of these categories, it would certainly
need the judicial wisdom of a SoLoMoN to decide
between the mutually contradicting witnesses.
There was every facility for prosecuting the pub-
lishers, at least, of the obnoxious handbill, and it
must now remain for ever doubtful whether the
bill was " thrust" or " offered."

THE SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY.

But what is thrusting ? The great English
authority tells us that it is not only to " push, to
move with violence, to drive," but also to " in-
trude, to obtrude." Plenty 'of work, certainly,
is cut out for our Justices of the Peace, if every
obtruder of himself or his handbills may be sum-
moned, and held to bail even in his own recog-
nisances only. Our houses are intruded upon
perpetually with " bills left to be called for," and
our walks interrupted by urchins, who inform us
(to the serious interruption of our calculations, or
pleasant cogitations,) where the cheapest tea and
coffee is to be had. There is a well-known and
very large society in Paternoster-row (not to speak
of one in Lincoln's-inn-fields) which publishes
myriads of tracts, designed to be obtruded in
every way upon the notice of those for whose
enlightenment they are intended. This society once
printed a large number of "Mr. WILLIAM WILBER-
FORCE'S Practical View of Religion," and some one of
the "Clapham Sect," probably himself or herself in
high life, thought it just the thing to enlighten
our graceless or fashionable aristocracy ; accord-
ingly, some thousand or more, bound in drawing_
room style, were actually sent to the very abodes
of the frequenters of ALMACKS. Shortly after, a
Duchess contrived to squeeze her carriage and
equipage into Paternoster-row, and, descending in
great wrath into the shop of the society, inquired
how they had dared to send her such a book.
The employes and officers meekly denied all know-
ledge of the act. " Who then had done it ?"
Alas, they could not tell. The footman was then
ordered to throw the parcel on the counter. They,
however, declined to receive it, as they had
not sent it—they could not have it thrust upon
them because some one had thrust it upon the
Duchess, and her Grace had actually to drive oil
with WILBERFORCE and her wrath in her carriage,
to settle the affair as all such affairs ought to be
settled. With the daily demand in each family
for shaving papers, pipe lights, hair papers, or
other domestic uses, it really seems that Duchesses
and BRENNANS need not trouble magistrates and
the public with bringing the thrustees of books or
of handbills to justice. For ourselves, we gene-
rally take all that is thrust upon us in this way.
aSnuyunotahre'r,justice is so easy that we never think of
what wouldunallveaskseinn
Mr. O'CALLAGHAN
mthoerehatranilyounroanw
grearr.e case of
of the offence to be, thaaptpetahres
calcu-
latedthoancodnhsilildewrasthegist
" to disturb BRENNAN'S feelings,
atllhesuricheacteh,inwghsiewheirne
make him angry ;" because and to
likely to create a breach of
virtue of his office he was bound to preserve.
But here, again, the magistrate certainly treads
on doubtful ground. BRENNAN was angry, „r
tainly, but it ought to have been shown that he
had reason to be angry. The proprietor of one

CABINET CouNcIL.—A Cabinet Council was held
yesterday afternoon at the Foreign-office. The ministers
present were the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord John Russell,
the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, the Duke of Argyll,
the Marquis of Lansdowne, Viscount Palmerston, the
Earl of Clarendon, the Duke of Newcastle, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer,Graham,
Sie James Sir Charles
Wood, the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, and Sir William
Molesworth. The Council sat three hours. The Duke
of Argyll and the Chancellor of the Exchequer arrived
in town yesterday morning from Windsor Castle, in
order to attend the Council.
NELSON MEMORIAL FUND.—Messrs. T. and W.
at
fl
PhilipAt Newcastle,ohTfiegiorhynsnp.web,ls
eesaenrp.splendid
TnwfteaghAva have
atl presentedfrigate
-built
appointmentltpAva senssasNegwe
lleedas I,esstroottni
brother,
Calcuttaggrandson,itGhfietorio,faw nhhiai
in
oCSRC naaoedpyi
ettaoh
went out as a cadet two years ago, through the patron-
age of Captain Shepherd, then chairman of the East
India Company, was conveyed to Madras with similar
liberality by Messrs. Green, of Blackwall,—both very
appropriate contributions to the Nelson Memorial Fund,
by the owners of the greatest number of large and fine
ships in Great Britain.
TICKET OF LEAVE CONVICTS.—Twenty-eight of the
convicts serving out their periods of transportation at
Woolwich, to which they were sentenced for offences
against the laws of this country, have received tickets of
leave, or free licenses, to reside in any place they chose
in this kingdom, and follow their callings, or any kind
of industry for which they may be fitted—twenty from
the Defence convict-hulk at the Royal Arsenal, and
eight from the Warrior hulk at the Dockyard. Thirty-
nine convicts have been sent to Woolwich, to make up
for the vacancies owing to the liberation of the twenty-
eight convicts, and other causes.
ROBBERY or NOTES AND WATCHES.—lnformation
has been received at the various metropolitan and city
opnolictheestartrieomusis,eosf aofdi‘airirnsg.
Frolubnbkereytt,whNicoh.
2wBa,s
Chester-
square, by the burglars breaking open the area door of
au empty house a few doors off, when they crossed the
parapets, broke open the attic window, and commenced
packing
up every valuable article. It is supposed they
got disturbed, but they succeeded in taking away nine
five pound notes, the numbers of which are 13,509 to
13,517 : two gold watches, one made by APO:the, No.
6,304, tle other by Joli, of Brussels, No. 930, besides a
purse c( iaaining 14 sovereigns, and other property with
which they succeeded in getting clear off. The police
are engaged in investigating the robbery. A reward
has been offered for the apprehension of the thieves.

The twenty-second season of this society commences
at Exeter-hall, this evening, with a performance of Han-
del's Coronation Anthem, ‘• Zadok the Priest," and Det-
tingen Te Deum, and Mozart's Mass, No. 12—works
which, considaring the time that has elapsed since their
performance, may be regarded as novelties. This will
be the 298th concert given in the hirge hall by this so-
cibty.
For the ensuing season the committee have arranged
to bring forward several works new to the society.
Among those which will receive the earliest attention is
Beethoven's "Grand Mass in D." The success which at-
tended the reproduction of Handel's "Samson, "with
the masterly additional accompaniments of Mr. Costa,
has also led the committee to make arrangements for the
early revival of the same composer's "Deborah," a work
which, although containing several of the great master's
grandest choruses, is comparatively but little known. It
is also intended to give a performance of anthems and
cathedral music on a scale of completness commensurate
with the society's present position.
Several new works have been brought under the notice
of the committee. Without pledging themselves spe-
cifically, they intend certainly to produce during the
coming season at least one oratorio hitherto unheard
in London. The practice of the society being to
perform in each year the more popular oratorios, it
is precluded from such frequent production of new
works as may be expected from other institutions
soliciting public patronage with the avowed object
of performing music by either exclusively native or
other composers. The committee do not wish to be
thought insensible to the necessity for occasional pro-
duction of new works of a high class, but they also
desire to draw attention to the objects of the founders
of the society, who, in their original prospectus, issued
in November, 1832, stated it to be " their desire to
establish for the society a reputation of being able to
perform the sublime compositions of Handel, and other
eminent composers, with that degree of precision and
effect which their work entitles them to."
The extraordinary fulfilment of this desire must be a
source of pridelto all connected with the society, and as
it still retains among its officers and members those
'whose zeal and energy have mainly led to such success-
ful results, it is worth pointing out, as an example of
cordial co-operation among amateurs of music worthy of
being followed by other associations that the honorary
secretary, Mr. Brewer, and the president, Mr. Harrison,
continue to hold the offices they took upon themselves
at the formation of the society, 21 years since.
The concert season, which ended in June, was more
than ordinarily successful, while the amount of subscrip-
tions at present received for the coming year is consid-
erably in advance of any former period.
The general improvement of the society's orchestra
and chorus will receive the earnest attention of the com-
mittee. Satisfied that it can command the services of
the most efficient and zealous portion of the amateurs of
London, such a system of active superintendence will
be enforced as will dispense with the assistance of all
who are unable to give that amount of service which the
increasing knowledge of the public require from every
member of a public orchestra, whether amateur or pro-
fessional. Arrangements have also been entered into
for the weekly occupation of the large hall, for re-
hearsals, by which ample space and opportunity is se-
cured for this important object.
It is only requisite to add that Mr. Costa continues
the conductor, to be assured that all that talent and zeal
can do for the society will certainly be effected in this
respect.
The directors of Exeter Hall have again been strongly
urged to take steps for remedying the present danger-
ous and inconvenient means of entry and egress to and
from the large hall. Plans have been submitted to the
board for the erection of a spacious additional fire-proof
staircase, opening into the minor hall, so that it could
be used as a waiting-room. By the falling in of a lease,
the directors have now the control of a plot of ground
on which this staircase can be built, and as the addi-
tional rental of the hall furnishes ample funds for the
purpose, it is to be hoped that an improvement so much
needed will be no longer neglected.
It is, however, urged by some members of the board,
that as their frequent calls for improvement of the
building, mainly proceeds from the .Sacred Harmonic
Society, that body must have some exclusive object to
gain from their accomplishment, and therefore it is in-
expedient to accede to them. In this case, however, as
it cannot be questioned that the improvement sought is
obviously for the general benefit of all occupying or
attending the hall, whether for concerts or for public
inee tings, such an attempt at argument is utterly un-
tenable.

In drawing attention to the subject, the society desire
it should be well understood they have used the best
exertions they can to impress upon those who hold con-
trol over the building the urgent need of alteration.
The experience the managers of the society have gained
from conducting nearly 300 of the most crowded and
best regulated meetings that have been held in Exeter
Hall has fully impressed them with a sense of the dan-
ger and extreme discomfort so patiently submitted to
by the public. Should the present opportunity not be
taken advantage of, upon the directors of Exeter Hall
must rest the responsibility for declining to effect so
requisite and loudly called for an improvement.
Madame Viardot Garcia will sing at the next concert
of the society, on Friday, 25th Nov., sustaining the con-
tralto part of Micah in Handel's " Samson." Those who
had the good fo, tune to witness the thrilling pathos with
which the song " Weep Israel, weep." from this oratorio,
were given by this lady at the last Birmingham Festival,
and also on its introduction at the last Norwich Festival,
as a tribute of respect to the memory of the late Duke
of Wellington, will receive with plea,ure the announce-
ment that the entire part of Micah is to have the advan-
tage of her assistance,--Front u Correspondent.

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER, 11, 1853.

CITY OF LONDON COMMISSION.

(THIS DAY.)

The Commissioners resumed their inquiry this morn-
ing, at the usual hour, in the chambers of the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council.
Mr. Pulling, the barrister, and author of a work on
the "Laws and Usages of the City," was under examina-
tion the whole day. Like Mr. Acland, he divided his evi-
dence into bran ches, but from the hour at which we are com-
pelled to go to press we can only touch upon the first head,
which treated of the City in an historical point of view.
It would appear, then, trom the statement of Mr. Pul-
ling, that before the Conquest, the Anglo-Saxon kings
were in the habit of consulting with the Body Politic of
the City upon the best means of governing the whole
country ; and at that period the City authorities exer-
cised a direct control over the Crown and Government
of England. Most of the Norman sovereigns treated
the city with the same respect ; and while William the
Conqueror directly confirmed all the usages and customs
which the city had previously enjoyed under the Saxons.
Many sovereigns during the wars of the Roses, or of
York and Lancaster, owed the acquisition or loss
of their Crowns to the immediate influence of the
corporation of London. From the time of William
the Conqueror to the reign of Richard the Second, all
the previous charters of the corporation were renewed
by the Crown and confirmed by Parliament, while the
9th chapter of Magna Charta, in specific and unmis-
takeable terms, confirmed the usages, customs, and
privileges of the city of London. By these ,privileges
the City was made independent almost of the throne ; cer-
tainly it made the corporation part of the machinery of
the government of the whole nation, and the citizens, in
consideration of these privileges, were required to make
large and absolute grants to the Crown, and to contribute
a considerable proportion of the levies made upon
the entire country. These rights prevailed in the reign
of Henry VII., and even to amitigated degree in subse-
quent reigns ; but now the rights of the city, so far as
the Crown was concerned, were a mere shadow as com-
pared with former ages. In fact, all that remained of
the former privileges, consisted of a few ceremonial
forms, such as taking precedence at a coronation,
on . which occasions the Lord Mayor claimed
to be chief butler of the Sovereign, in the event
of there being a coronation banquet ; the right of pre-
senting petitions at the bar of the Commons, and of re-
ceiving communications on great State occasions on the
illness of a Sovereign or the birth of a Prince, direct
from the Prime Minister or the Home Secretary. The
rord Mayor, by virtue of his office, was the • only
unsworn Privy Councillor in the country, and
on the succession of the Sovereign the procla-
mation was revived by the Lord Mayor at Temple
Bar, and issued by him to the City in his civic capacity.
All these privileges,' however, were insignificant, as com-
pared with those which the City enjoyed in bygone ages.
Mr. Pulling then proceeded to detail to the Commis-
sion the rights which the Corporation claimed and exer-
cised with reference to trade.

LAW INTELLIGENCE-(THIS DAY.)

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
(Before Mr. Commissioner Fans.)
IN RE HOWLINGS.

This bankrupt was described as of Basing, Hunts,
miller, and to-day was appointed for his last examina-
tion.

The case was very peculiar, as it had been necessary
to enlarge protection from time to time in consequence
of the bankrupt after having made up his accounts fall-
ing into such a state of mental aberration that Messrs.
Robinson and Knowles, who had prepared the balance-
sheet, objecting to his signing, and subsequently it be-
came necessary to place him under confinement and
medical treatment, being now perfectly convalescent,
he swore to the truth of the accounts, and passed his
examination without opposition.

LATEST FOREIGN NEWS.

THE RUSSIAN MANIFESTO.
The following declaration of war is published in
the Journal de St. Petersburg of the 22d October
(3d Nov.) :
" We, by the grace of God, Nicholas 1., Emperor
and Autocrat of All the Russias, &c., make known :
" By our manifesto of the 14th of June, of the
present year, we informed our faithful and well-
beloved subjects of the motives which made it in-
cumbent upon us to demand from the Ottoman
Porte inviolable guarantees in favour of the sacred
rights of the Orthodox Church.
" We at the same time announced to them that
all our efforts to bring the Porte, by means of
amicable persuasion, to sentiments of equity, and
to the faithful observance of treaties, had remained
fruitless, and that, consequently, we deemed it in-
dispensable to order our troops to advance into the
principalities of the Danube. But, in adopting
that measure, we still entertained the hope that the
Porte would confess its errors, and would resolve to
give satisfaction to our just reclamations.
" Our expectations have been deceived.
"It is in vain also that the great Powers of
Europe have endeavoured by their exhortations to
shake the blind obstinacy of the Ottoman Govern-
ment. It is by a declaration of war, by a proclama-
tion replete with false accusations against Russia,
that it replied to the pacific efforts of Europe, and
to our forbearance. Finally, enrolling in the ranks
of its army the revolutionists of all countries, the
Porte has commenced hostilities on the Danube.
Russia is provoked to the combat ; no other means
is left them than a recourse to arms to compel the
Ottoman Government to respect treaties, and to
obtain from it the reparation of the offences by
which it responded to our most moderate demands,
and to our legitimate solicitude for the defence of
the orthodox faith in the East, which is also the
religion of the Russian people.
" We are firmly convinced that our faithful sub
jests will join in the fervent prayers which we ad-
dress to the Most High, that His hand may deign
to bless our arms in the holy and just cause which
has at all times found ardent defenders in our pious
ancestors.
" In to Domino speravi : non confoundar in mter-

num.'
" Given at Tsarskoe-Selo this twentieth day of
the month of October (3d November), of the year
of grace 1853, and in the 28th year of our reign.
(Signed) " NICOLAS."

RUSSIA AND TURKEY.
The following has been received by Submarine
and Electric Telegraph :
" CONSTANTINOPLE, Nov. 3.
" The Turks have taken Cherkedy in Asia.
" Yesterday five Russians, war prisoners, arrived.
" Two English and two French ships of the line
and eight steamers are anchored in the Bosphorus.
Twenty-five thousand Turks have crossed at
Widdin."

The following conditions are insisted on in an
ultimatum presented by Omer Pacha to Prince
Gortschakoff :

" All the strong places in the Principalities to
be given into the hands of the Turks immediately ;
the complete evacuation of the Principalities as
speedily as possible, and a guarantee of all the
Powers against similar invasion."
By letters from Constantinople we learn that
the English and French divisions anchored in the
Bosphorus on the 2d, and Admirals Hamelin and
Dundas were at Constantinople. . .

Hostilities have commenced on the Asiatic bor-
ders as well as on the Danube. In Asia the Turks
have gained advantages.
The Journal de St. Petersburg of the Ist of
November publishes an imperial manifesto, in which
it is said that since Russia has been provoked to
war, nothing is left to her but to have recourse to
force of arms in order to compel the Ottoman
Porte to respect the treaties. The Russian arms
must now exact satisfaction for the insults with
which Turkey replied to the Czar's most moderate
demands and his loyal solicitude for the defence of
the Orthodox Church in the East.

Advices from St. Petersburgh of the 25th ult.
contain some details of the military preparations
in Russia. Besides the three corps in the Danubian
Principalities and Bessarabia, there is a fourth
(moveable) corps in Volhynia and Podolia, and
large masses of troops are concentrated in other
places. At Krementshuck are eight regilents of
Cuirassiers and four regiments of Lancers, and
eight regiments of Dragoons are stationed at Char-
how. Besides these there are numerous ptilks of
Cossacks ready to take the field. Large bodies of
troops, too, are marching to reinforce the army
under Prince Woronzoff.

Fresh military levies are being raised in Egypt.
The son of Abbas Pacha has been named Minister
of War.

It appears that no doubt can be entertained of
the truth of the account—as regards the chief facts
at least—of a battle at Oltenitza between the Turks
and the Russians, which was received yesterday,
and in which the Turks are stated to have had the
advantage. The Moniteur gives the same account,
and says it appears to be worthy of credit. Olte-
nitza is a town of Wallachia, on the left bank of
the Danube, opposite the Turkish fortress of Tur-
tukai, which is situated between Routschouk and
Silistria, and eighteen leagues from Bucharest..
The Turks having passed the Danube, the Russians
made great efforts to drive them back to the other
side, but the Turks succeeded in retaining posses-
sion of the left bank and of the town of Oltenitza.
A letter from Vienna of the sth, in the New
Prussian Gazette of Berlin, says :—" It is worthy
of remark that several Turkish and Wallachian
merchants have arrived here to pay their debts.
This is a case which several times occurred during
the wars of Turkey with a European power. Turks
have been seen to come and pay their debts at the
risk of their lives in crossing through the enemy's
camp. Examples of this have been known at
Pesth, at Vienna, and at Trieste."
A despatch from Berlin, states that it was ex-
pected at St. Petersburg that the Emperor would
shortly leave for the south. Orders had been sent
to Fief for the immediate revision of the last mili-
tary census.
It is said that Reschid Pacha has inquired of M.
Bruck whether, in case of a war, the Russians
will be allowed to supply the Montenegrins with
arms and the materials of war by the port of
Cattaro.

The official Gazette of the Servian Government
contains a decree by which every person capable of
bearing arms is ordered to possess himself of a good
serviceable rifle. Parties needing the article may
obtain it at cost price from the arsenal.
The last news from Odessa (to the end of Oc-
tober) announce that the scarcity of shipping for
carrying away wheat had ceased, 300 vesselshav-
ing arrived. There was so great a competition
amongst the persons furnishing freights that com-
mon porters were paid from 30fr. to 40fr. a-day.
The arrivals of wheat from the Interior were so
abundant that the dealers were obliged to convert
their private apartments into store, reserving to
themselves only an office and a place to sleep in.
Every one was in haste to effect his exportations,
through an apprehension that a declaration of hos-
tilities might prevent vessels from leaving the port.