The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 15, 18b4.

the services of Roman Catholic chaplains in Go-
vernment prisons, Mr. SPOONER as earnestly op-
posed it, and the house "in its wisdom" pro-
nounced Mr. SPOONER conqueror in the ecclesiastical
tournament. Mr. SPOONER and bigotry are evi-
dently at a premium. To be sure, it must be
anything but pleasant to the Hon. Member, to
survey the company which followed him into the
lobby, to find himself in close association with
Mr. HADFIELD, Mr. CROSSLEY, Mr. W.. J. Fox,
Mr. MIALL, and others, who avowedly helped him
to treat the Catholics as they intend to treat his
own chaplains of the Established Church, as soon
as they have it in their power. Extremes in
politics are often said to meet. Tory and Char-
tist have been more than once successfully allied
against Whiggism in electioneering contests ; and
certainly, in the present case, ecclesiastical extremes
united to effect a common object, with motives mor-
tally antagonistic. Messrs. SPOONER, NEWDEGATE,
MILES, and HORSFALL made a principle of paying
the Established clergy, and none besides, of main-
taining them, not only in their present pecuniary
prerogatives, but also in the honourable position
of being the sole recipients of State pay, for
visiting those who are " sick and in prison." The
Dissenting members, on the other hand, made a
principle of voting against auy one at all receiv-
ing State pay for religious services, whether ren-
dered in a prison or a palace. Here, perhaps,
the Nonconformists overstrain their own princi-
ple. If we remember rightly, in the United
States Government, chaplains are appointed for
prisons and ships of war ; loss of liberty and em-
ployment in the navy being justly considered ex-
ceptions, even in a country which has no esta-
blished church. The Nonconformists, however,
act, at least, upon an unselfish and equal princi-
ple, whatever we may think of its soundness; they
refuse others national pay because they refuse it'
for themselves. Mr. SPOONER, on the contrary,
with his comrades, is the uncompromising advo-
cate of sheer selfish bigotry. We quite acquit
him, indeed, of any consciousness of this truly
Christian quality ; he "thinks he does GCD ser-
vice ;" to him it appears the perfection of pious
legislatiOn to pay Dr. PUSEY for a service in a
gaol, and to deny a penny to Dr. WisEmAN ;
or to reward Mr. MACNEILL for visiting the sick
inmates of .a prison, but to bid Dr. CULLEN do
the same duty fel- nothing. Compared with this
the most thorough-going Voluntaryism challenges
our respect, and we only regret that its protest
was not louder against such intolerable exclusive-
ness. We cannot believe that the majority of
Tuesday night was a fair representation of the
views of the great majority of English Churchmen
outside the house.

It is really rather curious to notice the sliding
scale of Parliamentary liberality in religious mat-
ters. First, we have the out-and-out Church ex-
clusives ; Mr. SPOONER informing us that, on the
oath of the QUEEN, Popery "is blasphemous,
false, and a dangerous deceit," and alleging the
fact that if Catholic priests are paid, Dissenting
ministers must be paid also, as ample proof that
the Church would be betrayed for the vote of 550
pieces of gold. To this, of course, Mr. NEWDE-
GATE adds his solemn Amen ; Mr. HORSFALL
and Mr. MILES chanting responses, with a few
variations on " the Constitution" and the
erection of a rival " Establishment." At a
respectable distance follows Sir JOHN PAKINGTON ;
he seems to halt between two opinions.
He would vote either for limiting pay-
ment to Anglican clergymen, or extending it
to ministers of all denominations. To him utter
exclusiveness seemed as good as thorough libe-
rality ; but anything intermediate was a sort of
Egyptian darkness, between the light of our
Established Goshen on the one side, and the light
of a dissenting desert on the other. Next came
Lord PALMERSTON—aS " sincere a Protestant" in
his own judgment (we may add in ours) as his
" more vehement" antagonist. He is a friend to
his Church, but he has numerous Catholic pri-
soners in the Government gaols ; he thinks soli-
tude and confinement a desirable time to bring
religious instruction to bear upon the criminal ;
he knows that no one can advantageously receive
such instruction from the ministers of a religion
which he rejects, and therefore, as Secretary of
State for all classes of her MAJESTY'S subjects, he
would offer equal spiritual advantages to all whose
crimes have placed them under the most painful
department of his administration. The Volun-
taries, with their equality of universal disendow-
meat or non-payment, come fourth and last ; the
religious Radicals and ecclesiastical Republicans of
the day, who would sweep the Government and
Legislature clean of all church matters whatever.
Mr. SPOONER must certainly vote with these last in
favour of Sir War. CLAY'S Bill for the abolition
of Church Rates. He and his fellows have been
loud in protesting that it was not a paltry 5501.
which they wished to save the nation ; no—it was
solely a question of principle ; they would not
pay for a creed they rejected. Very noble the cry
no doubt, "not the amount, but the principle"—
but, assuredly, the Nonconformists will demand
reciprocity of sympathy and support, when they
ask not to be spared the individually trifling
amount of a Church Rate, but to be relieved from
the hardship of compulsion to pay for religious
services which they object to receive.

MONEY MARKET

AND
COMME-RCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

CITY, TWO o'CLOCK.
The sales of cotton at Liverpool yesterday were
estimated at 10,000 bales, including 2,000 Ameri-
can, 500 Surat, and 40 Sea Island, taken for ex-
port and ou speculation. The market closed with
more steadiness. American, 1-16 d. per lb. lower ;
other kinds without alteration. The sales com-
prised 7,000 American, 250 Pernam and Marauham
at 6d. to 7d.; 200 Bahia at 61(1 ; 300 Egyptian at
6id. to 10d. ; 2,000 Surat at 2id. to 3id., and
40 Sea Islan at 10d. to 2s. 2d. per lb. Railway

Shares were firm.
The steamer La Plata, with the West India
mails, brings 800,000 dollars in specie. The
Jamaica accounts • mention that fewer com-
plaints were heard from the planters. The cholera
had re-appeared in many districts, and ended
fatally in many instances. The House of Assembly
had been prorogued. The following is from the
Morning Journal :-
- " We learn that fifty-three passengers arrived on
Monday in this port, in the schooner Two Sisters, from
Navy Bay. These persons form a portion of the emi-
grants that left this place to work on the Panama rail-
road. Two more vessels, with more returning emigrants,
are shortly expected. This does not speak very favour.
ably for our hardy natives' appreciation of the comforts
of the Isthmus. The Barbadian of the 26th April men-
tions that the heat had been so oppressive for some days
past that it might truly be said the warm season had
set in. The country,' it remarks, was deplorably in
want of rain ; having had scarcely any April showers,
we cannot expect to see any May flowers. Our native
food is lamentably scarce and dear. Lots of sugar
worth a good deal of money, but people can't eat gold
or silver, or bank paper.

The steamer Great Western has the Brazilian
and Buenos Ayrean mails on board. The letters
add nothing important to what is given in another
column. _ _

The steamer Franklin, telegraphed as having ar-
riven off Cowes, has on board 1,300,000 dollars.
This is, no doubt, all for Havre, but the con-
tinuous receipt of so much bullion, whether in
France or England, cannot but afford ease to the
European money market generally. The curtailed
means of some of the United States Banks began
to tell upon discounts, and to affect commercial
houses, which found themselves deprived of
their ordinary accommodation. Besides the four
suspensions at Baltimore, the firm of William Platt
and Co., at Pniladelphia, had stopped for a million
of dollars. Cottun was rather cheaper, but dour
had advanced.

Some conscientious individual, who failed to pay
taxes due at former periods, has forwarded to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer ten Mexican Bonds
of 5001. each ; and there was a little amusement
excited in the Stock Market this morning hy the
Government broker appearing as a seller of the
security.

Complaints are very generally made at the de-
ductions from dividends in course of payment of
the increased income-tax, at the rate of 14d. in the
pound, for six months, and we understand that
Messrs. Roth3childs, Barings, and other capitalists
having interest to pay upon foreign securities, de-
ducted it even last month. If, as every one sup-
posed, the doubled impost was to be levied for
twelve months from March last, it is clear
that half-yearly dividends falling due in May
should only be charged at the rate of 7d. in the
pound for 4 months, and 14d. for 2 months. An
appeal lies against the exaction, we may be told,
but its necessity would have been obviated by pro-
per instructions from head quarters.
In the English Stock Market business con-
tinues very limited, but prices are firm. Con-
sols have been 911 to for. Transfer, and
are now 91i The sales of Reduced 3 per
Cent. and New 3± per Cent. Annuities made
by the Bank broker within the last two or three
days, are by some attributed to the Savings Banks,
and it is said they will replace their stock by Ex-
chequer Bonds, the issue of which to the amount
of another 4,000,0001. has been authorised by the
bill which was read a third time on Tuesday. If
the banks do not take them, the open market will
probably be tried, or tenders invited, which
would amount to the same thing. The dis-
count market being now easier, there is a
fuller supply of cash - for temporary invest-
ment, but Exchequer Bills would probably be
preferred. These latter continued at par to 4s.
premium. East India Bonds have been ls. to 3s.
premium. The New 3i per Cents. have been at
91i to 92, and the 3 per Cents. at 911 to
Foreign Securities have been dull, but the quo-
tations have not varied materially. Russian 5 per
Cents, have been marked 981, and the 4ii'per Cents.
86±. Mexican Botids have been at 241. Spanish
New Deferred are 191, and the Passive 41. Dutch
2i per Cents. are 60 to 60jt.
The Berdan Machine Company have received by
the last ship further advices from Mr. George
Windsor-Earl, their agent iu Australia, containing
additional orders from Sydney and Melbourne for
the machines, remittances, and accounts of his
proceedings. The reports of the investigation by.
the Society of Arts and the Institution of Mechani-
cal Engineers at Birmingham, have been published
in full, and the greatest interest is shown in the
working of the machine. The model machine was
deposited with the Hon. Charles Nicholson,
Speaker of the Legislature. At a special general
meeting of the Wentivorth Gold Mining
Company, held on the 15th of March, it
was unanimously agreed to order one large ma-
chine, and subject to the decision of their represen-
tative in London to obtain a further number of
machines. Attention is now directed to make the
production of gold a permanent pursuit, and the
Sydney Morning Herald, in au article on Quartz
Crushing, says if the production of gold is to be
permanently useful to the colony, it will not
" become so under the desultory and nomadic life
which is followed by the gold-digger. The gold-
fields and ranges of this colony must be worked on
a grand scale. Capital and skill must be employed,
and labour mustmcet its ordinary lot of subjection,
at fair and remunerative wages to the enterprise of
the employer."
The last week's railway receipts ascertained up
to this day are in round figures as under :-
1854. 1853.
Great Western
North-Western
South-Western
Mighton
idland
South-Eastern....... 19,181 16,252
Caledonian, and Edin. and Glasgow 16,468 14,763
Great Northern 17,770 15,625
Lancashire and Yorkshire
York and North Midland
Newcastle and Berwick 31,854 25,601
Leeds Northern
Most of these returns are encouraging, but those
which strike most are the Brighton, Midland,
North-Western, and the York lines.
Railway Shares have been more dealt in, and
Lancashire and -Yorkshire, Midland, and one or
two others, have advanced. Foreign shares are
dull.
The Gold Mines have been heavy. Agua Fria
lower. The Banks are firm. Crystal Palace are
better.

BRITISH FUNDS THIS DAY.—CLOSING PRICES.
( Front the Oficial List.
Business dune
I per Cent. Reduced Annuities 9IA
New 34 per Cent. Annuities 9l 2 la
Long Annuities, Expire sth Jan., 1860 -16
Ditto 30 Years, Expire sth Jan.,1860 4 5-16
India Bonds, £l000
Ditto,'nnder £lOOO .. . .
Consols for Opening 19th. July 9ll 11 i
Exchequer Bills, 2id.
£IOOO
X5OO par 4 p
iiar 4 5 p
Exch, Bonds Seri-

iequer mt. :rip ....... .....
PRICE OF FOREIGN FUNDS THIS DAY.
rirazilian Bonds, 5 per Cent. 99
Ditto Small
Mexican 3 per Cent.
Portuguese Bonds, 4 per Cent
81 9h 8
Russian Bonds, 1822, 5 per Cent. £St 9i
Cent Ditto 4i per ..........................
Spanish New Deferred, 3 per Cent. l9i
Ditto for the Account ..
Ditto Passive (Converted)
Dividends on the ahoy° payable In London.
Dutch Exchange, 24 par Cent. 12 Gull 6O i 4
Ditto 4 per Cent. Certifie,ates
THREE O'CLOCK.
Consols for Opening 19th July .... ..... 914 1 x d

SHOT-PROOF BATTERIES.—An offer has been made to
Government, by a scientific gentleman, to construct an
entirely new description of battery, which will be both
shell and shot proof. The invention is, it is said, applic-
able to all our ships of war, but particularly so to gun
and rocket boats. The subject is now under the con-
sideration of the Ordnance.
THE ISTHMUS OF CENTRAL AMERICA.—A statement
has been lately been published in the San Francisco
papers illustrating in a remarkable manner the correct-
ness of the favourable anticipations expressed on the first
opening up of the transit across the isthmus of Central
America, via the river San Juan and Lake Nicaragua,
the practicability of which was pronounced by many
authorities to be a delusion. It appears that, although
the Panama line has been the established route to the
Pacific, supported by the subsidised mail steamers both
of England and the United States, the aggregate of
Californian passengers, by whom the Nicaragua route,
conducted only by private enterprise, is preferred ex-
ceeds the entire total of those who proceed by way of
Panama. The number that crossed Nicaragua from the
Ist of January to the 27th of April last, the latest period
to which the returns have been made, was f. 5 8(i, while
fur Panannt it wilt) only 0,104. dillAlJb ils imiii!ts aro
also said to be observable with regard to the iransmission
of specie, the remittances via Nicaragua showing a con-
stant increase.

LATEST FOREIGN NEWS.

THE WAR.
REJECTION OF THE AUSTRIAN
ULTIMATUM.

A telegraphic despatch from Vienna, dated yes-
terday evening, says it is not doubted that Russia
has rejected the Austrian summons.

CONSTANTINOPLE.

A telegraphic despatch of June 5, from the
Turkish capital, says Reschid Pacha has provi-
sionally left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He
is replaced by Chekib Paella. Kiamil Pacha, Pre-
sident of the Council ad interim. Kernel Effendi,
ambassador to Berlin. Karadia, ambassador to
the Hague.
17,000 Anglo-French troops have been sent to
Varna.

The first division of French troops is daily ex-
pected at Constantinople.
The combined fleets aro at Baltschik.

The Turkish squadron is at Kavarna.
The Rev. Mr. Cannon, who has just returned
from Schumla, is the hearer of two letters in Greek
from the Bishop of Schumla' Panslava, or to the
Bishop of London and tho Archbishop of Canter-
bury, in which the Greek prelate disclaims all
sympathy with the Czar, and lays much stress upon
his fellow-feeling, and that of his co-religionists,
for the success of the British and French arms.

Rassowa ; to place these strongholds in a good
and improved. state of defence ; to supply them
with competent garrisons, magazines, hospitals,
and stores ; and then halt for the time being, and,
having their rear communications secured with the
left bank, thus to await siege or investment from
the land side. This being done, it is proposed to
concentrate the remaining forces upon the Lower
Aluta, to recross that river and the Schyl, to re-
occupy Little Wallachia, reinvest Kalafat, and
attack that place by a coup de main or regular ap-
proach as circumstances may dictate ;. whilst a
powerful detachment thrown across the Danube,
either above or below Widdiu, would cut off the com-
munications with the allied army, and lead, as an-
ticipated, to the rapid fall of the fortress. Having
concluded these operations, and thus rendered
themselves complete masters of the whole right
Danube bank, from the confines of Servia to the
Black Sea, the defensive is to be strictly maintained
for the present, and reliance placed upon such a
turn of favourable events as may arise from the un-
disguised sympathies of Prussia and the majority
of German States ; and from the difficulties—
above all, those of a financial nature—which clog
the operations as well as the will of Austria, whose
interests are publicly admitted by her to be grie-
viously prejudiced by Russia's occupation of the
Danube—au admission or assertion, by the way,
which has profoundly wounded Russian sympathisers
here and at other German capitals ; but, although
incontestable, is slurred over or ignored in the
polemics of their isolated organs ; or, if it be
noticed, it is for the purpose of sophistically
asserting that, whilst it may be true that Austrian
interests may somewhat suffer from a total cessa-
tion of commercial traffic with and through the
Danube, the interests of Germany are scarcely
affected—at all events, not to such a degree .as to
be sensibly felt, or to warrant German hostility to
Russia on account thereof."

CELEBRATING THE COMMENCEMENT OF
THE RAMAZAN AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
The day which began on Friday last, the 26th May,
at sunset, was the first of the Ramazan. On a lofty hill
of the Asiatic shore a mounted Tartar stood looking to
the west. As the thin pale crescent of the new moon
came out amid the twilight he set spurs to his horse and
rode into Scutari at full speed. The shore was reached,
where stood a soldier with lighted match by a loaded
gun. The report thundered out, sent back a hundred
times by the wonderful echo which is formed by the
winding shores of the Bosphorus. Scarcely had it died
away when every fort along either cliff answered with a
single gun. Here the flash was a blaze of light, and the
report sharp and loud ; further on two or three together
lighted up the rocks and mingled their roar, multi-
plied by echo until it died away in the distance like
thunder, and, last of all, from the Cyanean rocks,
which guard the entrance of the Black Sea, a
slight glimmer arose, and long after a faint sound
came down upon the wind. . Thus commenced the
litainazan of the year of the Hegira 1270, and for a
month European visitors will lie witnesses of the most
ancient and best observed of Eastern ceremonies. This
period is not wholly devoted to mortification, but is a
strange mixture of fast and festival. As is well known,
its chief feature is, that the true believer abstains from
food while the sun is above the horizon—not a drop of
water ora puff of smoke must pass his lip, unless he would
feel the vengeance of the Prophet, or incur the anger,
arid perhaps the ill-usage, of his more faithful brethren.
For the rich, or even for those whose occupations
are wholly connected with Turkish life, the ordeal is not
a severe one They can sleep all day, and rise at night-
fall, to find cook shops and cafes open, and amusements
such as they delight in, at the corner of every street.
But for the large class who live by labour which
can only be performed in daylight, or who ad-
minister to the wants of Christian residents, the
season is one of great suffering, often resulting
in illness, and sometimes in death. Porters and
boatmen are sometimes seen to fall fainting on the
pavement, overcome by the stifling heat of a southern
afternoon, and the abstinence from food and water for
so many hours. At the present season the Ramazan is
more than usually trying. It retrogrades 11 days an-
nually, so that in the third of a century it makes the
round of the year. At present it falls in the summer
months, and for nearly 15 hours the laborious poor of the
Eastern cities are forbidden to satisfy the commonest
wants. However, they make up for the privations of
the day by the sober merriment of evening and midnight.
As the sun declines to the horizon, and the lengthening
shadows and decreasing heat tell him that the hour of
relief approaches, the Turk orders his pipe, the first in-
dulgence which occurs to him, since the want of
it has fevered his blood and distracted his brain
during the entire day. It is prepared, and his wife
or servant stands by with lighted charcoal ready to
drop on its well-filled bowl as soon as the first whiff
may be taken without mortal sin. The gun which
announces sunset booms through the air, the eman-
cipated believer seizes the instrument, puffs raven-
ously for a few seconds, and then sinks back with a
feeling of intense enjoyment on his divan. After
some minutes an ample repast succeeds, which is swal-
lowed with all the eagerness engendered by an abstinence
of 14 hours ; the meats are savoury and the mouthfuls
enormous. After these first wants of nature are satis-
fied, he sallies out in search of amusement and conversa-
tion, or repairs to the mosque' to offer with more rever-
ence than usual his nightly prayers. As darkness
descends on the ancient city a spectacle succeeds which
strikes the visitor with astonishment, and cannot be be•
held, even by those accustomed to it, without feelings of
admiration. It is the new moon, the twilight which
prevails with us does not exist in this more southern latis
tude, and the capital of the Sultans is as yet unacquainted
with gas. Therefore the darkness is complete, except
that the milky way is like a flood of light overhead, and
Jupiter throws a narrow train of radiance on the waters
of the Golden Horn. All at once little specks of light ap-
pear high up above the loftiest houses, and grow into
wreaths one above another. The Turks understand well
the art of illumination, although they have never applied
it to the purposes of prat.tical life. Every minaret
of the magnificent mosques has been encircled by rings
of lamps, and the muezzin at the appointed hour has
lighted the crystal globes, which he will replenish until
daylight. Besides this, the dome of every temple is
surmounted by a vast device. The praise of Allah
stands out in characters of flame against the sky, the
structure by which they are supported remaining in-
visible in the midnight gloom. The strange characters
of the East have something mysterious in their appear-
ance, and recall the fancy of old superstitions as to
warnings written in heaven, arid the announcement in a
language to be read only by the seer of the fall of empires
and the punishment of -God-contemning beings.
The Turks are turning night into day. Ordina•
rily these primitive people follow the dictates of
nature, and rise at daybreak to retire to rest soon
after the short twilight ettds. The officials of Con-
stantinople are not an active face, and yet an Euro-
pean who does not consider himself by any means
a late riser may find on awaking a note from a Pasha
who has been up for hours. Soon after nightfall, during
11 months of the year, the streets of Stamboul are
deserted, except by the ever-howling dogs and the fire-
watchmen, who are going their rounds, beating their
heavy clubs on the pavement. But now, by the light
of paper lanterns, and under the shadow of the project-
ing wooden shops, a whole population is feasting and
joining in a merriment which from its quietness is ap-
parently wise. Little rush-bottomed seats cover the
ground in every open space, and the quick-eyed waiters
are running to and fro with an activity not to be ex-
ceeded in the Palais Royal. Pipes, coffee, and cool
sherberts are ready for the recreation of any visitor
who is tired of stumbling in the darkness over the
fanged stones of the Stamboul lanes, and who is de-
sirous of observing men and manners as they appear
in the most primitive parts of the city at a time when
national and religious instincts are strongest. Fine
stately old Moslems in real unreformed turbans of
white or green muslin are sitting in a semicircle,
slowly breathing out wreaths of smoke, and conversing
gravely on the state of affairs and the prospect of the
Prophet's disciples. They are sure to be abusing a
Pasha, for the Turk has liberty of speech and uses it ;
the shortcomings of the Executive afford an object for
the pleasurable exercise of invective, and the means by
which power is gained and the manner in which it is
used has long been the subject of proverbs and satirical
sayings. Numbers are walking about in a costume
rather different from that which prevails during day-
light and in ordinary seasons. It is, in fact, their night-
dress. Not, indeed, that it is confined to the simple
garment in which our countrymen retire to rest. It is
an elaborate toilette, and allows the wearer to peram-
bulate the streets without danger to the public modesty
or to his own. The reader will probably remember the
costume in which Bedreddin Hassan was set down at
the gates of Damascus. The modern Turk adds to this
a loose robe and a pair of easy slippers, and wanders out
during Ramazan to smoke and eat cream in the cool
squares at midnight, until the returning lights makes the
lanterns dim, and the pigeons begin to rouse themselves,
when he hastens to make a substantial repast and smoke
many pipes in quick succession as a preparation for the
endurance of another day.
But it is not solely in indulgence that the night is
passed. Religious feeling is strong in the Turkish breast ;
nor does it require to be roused by circumstances, for it
never sleeps. The horsemen of Constantinople, a class
ausweriug to our own cab-drivers, are most of them
devout, and may be observed at noon sitting in a line on
the ground with heads bent forward engaged in prayer.
While thus employed they will answer no question, and
whoever wants a horse must wait. In Ramazan, at
night, the stranger steps from among a crowd of idlers
into the courtyaed of a mosque, and looks in at the
lofty gate to where the countless lamps are blazing
within, and the worship of the Prophet is being cele-
brated with a splendour which Rome herself can hardly
surpass. The interior shows a dense multitude of kneel-
ing forms, and every head is bowed or raised at once,
in obedience to the Imaum's call, and the re-
quirements of the Moslem liturgy. Each has
put his shoes from off his feet, for the place whereon
he stands is holy ground ; and they kneel in rows
with faces to Mecca, even though, as in St. Sophia,
built east and west, as a Christian church, the effect be
to spoil the regularity and beauty of the interior. Some-
times among the crowd who throng the street an indi-
vidual may be seen pacing slowly along ; if addressed
he merely waves ea the speaker with his hand, for he is
repeating his prayers, and may not be interrupted.
At this time their religious instincts are stronger than
usual, and political affairs give a deeper interest to the
sacred season by which Heaven may be propitiated. An
61,c1,), to pi avail azooug all uninstructed natives
that their calamities are the retribution for some unful-
filled duties of a religious nature, and generally each man
throws the Lurden of the fault on his neighbour, or on
• •_•

, those in authority. Here the lower classes, not without
the countenance and instigation of the priesthood, have
settled that the anger of the Prophet is due to the short-
comings of the later Sultans and their Executives, and
that no miraculous interference is tQ be expected with-
out a general return to the rigid observances and edify-
ing exclusiveness of ancient days. The prophecy which
limits the Ottoman sway in Constantinople to 400 years
is equally accepted by Turk and Rayah ; indeed, it has
probably a Mussulinan origin. It is a most widely-
extended legend, and prevails universally; from the Per-
sian Gulf to the White Sea. After all it has not been a
successful prediction, for here we are under the Sultan's
sway one whole year after the Russian advent has become
due. But a superstition does not die easily, and the
despondent among the faithful have discovered the rea-
son why the decree of fate has been thus deferred. The
present year is a year of grace given at the intercession
of the Prophet to his people, in order that they may
prepare themselves for the great change ; and even after
this year a few inure may be added to the term of em-
pire ; but they will all be years of grace. Another
piece of divination which has made its way among the
pious somewhat concerns ourselves. Theologians in
Turkey, as elsewhere, are anxious to spy into the
future, and the method they adopt is that species of con-
juring with texts which was in use in our own dark ages.
A passage of the Koran is taken which seems to bear
on sonic event of the present time ; to each of the Arabic
characters a numerical value is attributed, and the whole
are added together. The sum will . give the date of the
year in which the event will be accomplished. There is
a passage in the Koran to this effect,—" The Prophet
wishes his people to succeed, but there are obstacles
against it." The letters added together give 1,270, the
present year. What, then,' are the obstacles which
prevent ti e success of the Prophet's chosen ? Un-
doubtedly the presence of allies who do not reverence
his name. If left alone the Moslem could easily deal
with the Moscow giaours, assisted, as believers would
be, by supernatural assistance ; but, as they call to
their aid infidel assistance, they must be left to fight
with mere mortal weapons. The boatman who relates
these pious legends will then break out into invectives
against the fallen state of Ministers and generals.
" Does Resehid Pasha fast ? Does the Seraskier repeat
his nosnaz five times a-day ! Ii these great men violate
the sacred precepts, how can it be wondered at that ca-
lamity should be coming on those they govern.—Times
Correspondent.

COMMOTION IN THE CRIMEA.

• The Moniteur de la Flotte quotes a letter from
the Black Sea, of the 24th ult., stating that con-
siderable ferment prevailed in the Crimea, in con-
sequence of a decree of the Governor of the pro-
vince, ordering all the seamen engaged in the coast-
ing trade, without exception, to repair forthwith to
Sebastopol, where they were to be incorporated
with the Russian navy. Many of those unfortunate
men have fled with their families, to avoid that
incorporation.

GREECE.
DEFEAT OF THE INSURGENTS.

Letters from Prevesa, of the 29th ult., state that
Achmet Paella has defeated 2,000 insurgents under
Zerva Strato.
Fuad Effendi is in force at Petavrassari. _ _

The chief of the Arnauts has been deposed be-
cause his bands committed cruelties. Mahmoud
Bey succeeds him.
ATHENS, June 9.—The Greek Government has
ordered Hadgi Petro to return.
The insurrection in Epirus is considered quelled.
The Greek Heteria will leave Karavassari.

THE BALTIC.

DESTRUCTION OF RUSSIAN DOCKYARDS.
CAPTURE OF GUNBOATS.

We published yesterday a telegraphic despatch
from Copenhagen, stating there was a report in
that City, to the effect that some English vessels,
off Brahstab, in Finland, had taken or destroyed
the gunboats and a large number of merchant
ships, and fired the wharf at that place. Also that
10,000 barrels of tar, and property worth 300,000
silver roubles, were destroyed.
Another despatch, dated Lubeck, yesterday, con-
firms the above, but adds that an expedition of a
similar nature had been undertaken, with the same
success, at Uleaborg.
The despatch in question is as follows :--
"Admiral Plumridge has been punishing the
Russians.

" He has destroyed their dockyards at Uleaborg
and Brahstab, burning 10,000 barrels of tar at ono
place, and 18,000 at another.
" le has also taken several of the gunboats
which had been prepared to oppose the English
fleet."

Uleaborg and Brahstab are not far distant from
each other in Finland, on the upper part of the
Gulf of Bothnia. Uleaborg is next to Abo, the
chief commercial town of Finland. Its exports
are tar, fish, and salted provisions. It has a good
harbour and salmon fishery, and has also a castle,
built in 1590, and standing on au island not far
from the town itself.

A letter from Rostock, in the Baltic, states that
the squadron of V ice-Admiral Parseval-Deschenes
anchored on the 6th off the Isle of Gothland, in
Sweden. It was expected that they would join.
Admiral Napier about the 12th.
It is said that the Emperor Nicholas, after his
last visit to Cronstadt, was so displeased with the
measures adopted for its defence by several general
and other superior officers, that he had sent them.
in disgrace to the army of the Caucasus. A recent
ukase appoints their successors, and supersedes the
commanders of a Lumber of strong places in Fin-
land, particularly in the governments of Wyborg,
Tevastchus, Kuopio, and Uleaborg. These mea-
sures, it appears, were rendered indispensable by
the situation of the country, which evinces the
greatest hostility towards Russia.