The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-29 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

By the overland mail we have received summaries of
intelligence forwarded by the Harbinger on the 10th,
and the Madras on the 25th of January.
SYDNEY, JAN. 10.
The Conqtittition Act for New South Wales had passed
through committee, and had been read a third time on
the 21st of December. The plan of a nominee Upper
House for life had been modified to one appointed by
the Crown for five years. The Council was prorogued
on the 22d of December to the 7th of February. His
Excellency Sir Charles Fitzroy, in his closing address,
expressed his satisfaction that the act had been framed
with an anxious deSire to assimilate the constitution of
the colony, as far as local circumstances permitted, to
that of the nailer country. His Excellency stated also
that 100,000/. had been remitted to the Land and Emi-
gration Commissioners to be applied to the further pro-
motion of emigration, on the plan recommended by the
Council, and that a second remittance of 100,0001. would
be made for the same purpose. An unusual number of
private bills had been passed during the session, indi-
cating a greater activity in local enterprise.
The revenue in all its branches continued to be highly
productive. Notwithstandin, the increased expenditure
and the loss incurred'hz the reduction of the gold licence
fee, there was reason tB' hope that the receipts would
prove equal to the demands of the public service.
The Colonial Secretary (Mr. Deas Thomson) and Mr.
:Wentworth were on the point of leaving Sydney for
England. They are authorised by the Council to sup-
port the Constitution Bill with ad their influmce at
home, and to meet any objections that may be made to
passing the Imperial act necessary to give it validity.
The office of Colonial Secretary, vacant by the de-
parture of Mr. Thomson, has been given to Mr. Riddell,
late Colonial Treasurer. It was offered to Mr. Plun-
kett, the Attorney-General, but declined by him.
The Australian steamer had arrived at Sydney on the
9th of January.

The executive Government had advanced 3,0001. to
defray the expense of sending specimens of Australian
productions to the Paris Exhibition of 1855.
There is no intelligence of interest from the gold fields
either of New South \Vales or Victoria. In the latter
province there had been a revival of the diggers' agita-
tion against the gold license fee and the Regulations
Act • but, as the plan of action had not been deter-
mined, the congress that leads the movement had re-
commended the miners to take out their licenses for the
next three months as usual. The experiments to test
the value of the "second bottoms " by deep sinking bad
produced no results. It is stated the trials had not been
made on any proper system.
The value of the gold exported from Victoria during
the year 1353 was about 14,000,0001. sterling; from
New South Wales, 6,000,000/., part of which, it was
supposed, had been received from Victoria. The yield
of the New South Wales fields had been for some months
decreasing.
Business at Sydney was dull, the market being over-
stocked by recent large arrivals, particularly of soft
goods, wines, and brandies.
The account-, of the harvest from most of the districts
of the colony were favourable. The weather had been
unusually rainy for the season and the climate.
The works of the railroad from Sydney to Paramatta
are progressing rapidly ; the men engaged in England
had been kept together by giving them the full rate of
wages paid in the colony, though much higher than their
contract. More labour was still wanted.
Mr. W. W. Harvey, the officer in charge of her Ma-
jesty's ship Torch, was drowned on the evening of
Christmas-day from the ship's cutter, which was upset
by a squall in the Bay.
The gross revenue of the province of New South Wales
for 1353 was 908,5751. 19s. 2d.
The Sydney Banks have agreed to raise the rates of
discount, which wiil in future be as follows
three months and under, 4 per cent. ; four months and
under 5 per cent. ; above four months, 6 per cent.
The proprietors of the Bank of New South Wales
have agreed to transfer one-eighth more of the capital
of the Bank to the London share register.
Accounts had been received in Sydney of a consider-
able reinforcement to the French naval squadron in the
South Seas.

SYDNEY, JAN. 25.
Business bad slightly improved by the arrival of
orders from the interior, and from the impression
among the mercantile body that there would be for some
time a suspension of extensive shipments of goods from
Eur Ope.
The Colonial Secretary, Mr. D. Thomson, had sailed
on the 25th for England, in the Vimiera.

The Australian Joint-stock Bank, at its half-yearly
meeting, bad declared a dividend of 4 per cent.
The directors of the Commercial Bank of Sydney had
declared a dividend for the half-year of 15 per cent., with
3,0001. added to the reserve fund.

The question of railway communication throughout
the colony was exciting more attention in Sydney than
it has ever done before. A plan for a great trunk line
from Sydney to Melbourne had been discussed, but had
not been submitted to the public in any distinct form.
Since the river Murray has been opened to steam navi-
gation there is a probability of Sydney losing some of
its trade, by the wool of the lower part of the province
of New South Wales being sent down that river for
shipment at Adelaide or its port.
The intelligence from the northern gold fields was
more favourable. The diggers were returning to work
after the Christmas. holydays, and the escort returns
showed a slight increase; a rich gold quartz vein had
been discovered at Tarnbaroora, in New South Wales.
Price of gold at Sydney.—For Port Philip and Ovens
gold 3/. 17s. to 31. 17s. 3d. per oz. ; New South Wales
gold, 3/. 15s. to 31. 15s. 3d. per oz.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.
ARRIVALS AT SYDNEY.
Dec. 6, 1853.- The Myrtle, from London ; the Oron,
Dutch ship Mom Loudon; the Aurora, from Hong Kong.
7.—The Mnscombe, barque, from London; the Dukd
of Cornwall, from Manilla.
S.—The Frederick, from Liverpool ; the Cheapside, from
London ; the Magellan, froin Madras.
9,--The Jenny Lind, from Hamburg.
10.—The Eclair, 'from Bordeaux • the Herefordshire,
from Southampton ; the Margaret, 'from Liverpool ; the
Bewares, from Glasgow;' the- Inglewood, from London;
the Dominion, from London.
11.—The Vriendschap, from London.
12.—The Ashburton, from London.
13•—The Waterloo, from London ; the Prince of Wales,
from London ; the Prince of the Seas, from Glasgow.
15.—The Athenian from Portsmouth ; the Neerlands
Lune, from Liverpool:
W
17.—The •
oolloomoolo from London.
19.—The Thomas
Arba° hn t•; from the Downs ; the
Anrdesea, from Plymouth.
25.—The Jane Pratt from Liverpool.
21.—The Hendrick Jan, Dutch barque, from London.
?,6.—The Vincennee, United States sloop-of-war, on a
surveying expedition ;the Leonidas, from London.
The Akbar, from London.
28.—The Europa, from Liverpool ; the Admiral van
Heemskirk, from London.
30.—The Harbinger, screw steamer, from London.
San. 1, 185-I.—The Joseph Somers,
from London ; her
Majesty's ship Herald, Captain Denham, from a surveying
cruise.
5. - The Phoenix, Swedish brig, from Ham
bu
ro.
6.—The Howard, from Hamburg.
9.—The Charlotte, fronrlfamburg ; the Earl of Selkirk,
from London ; the Mary Hall, from London ; the Austra-
lian, screw steam-ship, from London.
10.—The Anna Marg,aretta, Dutch barque, from London.

THE NORTH SEA.,—SOUTHAMPTO; March 28. The
United States mail steam-ship Hermann, Captain E.
Higgins, arrived here this morning from Bremen, on her
Way to New York, having been detained in the river
Weser 36 hours by a heavy gale of wind. The Hermann
left Bremen on Sunday morning. On Monday, at 6 a.m.,
off the Texel, she passed an English ship of the line (two-
decked), standing north-east. In the afternoon of the
same day she passed two large screw steam-frigates, one
on the French and the other on the English coast. Both
were steering north-east, and their position was 20 miles
east of the Gabard. This (Tuesday) morning the Her-
mann passed a three-decker (British) outside the Nab.
The Hermann will sail from Southampton 'to-morrow
(Wednesday), with about 140 passengers for New York,
together with the semi-weekly American mails, and a
large cargo of German, French, and British merchandise
for the 41.ra erican markets,

The champions of freedom and of civilisation
are setting a memorable example, a glorious
precedent, which we trust will be permanently
recognised. They are showing that although war
may be inevitable, nay, more, though it should
actually have commenced, there is no imperative
necessity for depriving innocent parties of their
privileges, or increasing the inevitable evils of
such a state of affairs. Hence some of the most
flagrant grievances incidental to warfare have, for
the present, been averted—grievances that affect
our own fellow-subjects, our allies, and also all

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tll9 DAY —',lorning 25 min.after 2 I Evenin.c 44 min.alt. 2
fo.lrottßow—llorning 0 min.after 3 1 Evening IS min.aft. 3

neutrals,
The abuses most worthy of notice, which have,
"for the present," been avoided, are :-
Ist. The cruel and oppressive system of im-

I pressment.
2dly. The atrocious and utterly indefensible
practice of privateering.
3dly. The undue obstruction of trade and com-
merce by unnecessary interference with vessels
sailing under a neutral flag.
It is needless to say that the regulations adopted
are merely temporary—that the right, or alleged
right, of the nation has been merely suspended,
not definitively abandoned ; and that we mist
patiently await the course of events before we
dually decide on the reform of international law,
to which the regulations alluded to may be re-
tarded as the fitting precursors.
The power of immssment, although it may
not be altogether dispensed with, should obviously
be seldom, if ever, resorted to. A nation has, to
a certain extent, a right to the services of
its citizens for the maintenance of its honour

or security. We may call on every person
capable of bearing arms to join the national
standard, and, if necessary, to fight a l'outrance iu
defence of his fatherland. But, it is equally cer-
tain that this should be the last resource, and
that every other means should be exhausted before
we endeavour to enforce compulsory service, unless
it be universal and without exception. Why,
should we make seamen more liable to be de-
prived of their freedom than any other class in
the community ? They may unquestionably be
more efficient than others ; but that is no suffi-
cient reason why the whole burden should be cast
upon their shoulders while others are altogether
exempted. We must, before we become " men-
stealers," try the effect of fair remuneration, for
the services which we require. We should
not consider ourselves justified in seizing
the bullion in the coffers of the Bank, or
the hemp, tallow, bristles, and other Russian pro-
ducts, without paying their fair market value.

Why, then, should we have any better right
to seize on the " thews and sinews" of a certain
body without also paying the fair market value
thereof ? The defence and safety of our " altars
and hearths" are equally incumbent on all, and
each man must contribute thereto, either in purse
or in person. When we offer ample equivalents,
and see that there is an unreasonable holding back
from craven fears or unreasonable cupidity—then,
but not till then, may we resort to violence and
robbery (for impressment savours but too strongly
of both) to supply the exigencies of the public
service. Before we do so, however, we must
hold out greater inducements than are offered by
the mercantile service. We cannot expect to ob-
tain able seamen for 2/. ls. 4d. per month, when
the same persons may receive nearly double the
amount from English or American shipowners.
" Impressment," then, is suspended, but not
finally abandoned. We are greatly mistaken,
however, in the character of our mariners, if such
a state of affairs should occur as to render its
resumption imperative or even justifiable.
" Privateering," or legalised "piracy," however,
stands on very different grounds ; and we cannot
imagine any circumstances that could warrant the
resumption of that iniquitous system—a system,
too, of which the expediency is as questionable
as the morality. We have long since ascertained,
beyond the posesbility of doubt, that " privateer-
ing" (at least when carried on, not by the subjects
of the belligerent Powers, but by strangers) is
almost as injurious to the commerce of the nation
granting the "letters of marque" as to their op-

ponents. The ocean brigands—those who engage
merely for the sake of gain, and without any
higher motives—are but seldom troubled with
scruples of any kind. Plunder is their only ob-
ject, and they are but little solicitous as to the
mode in which it may be obtained. An English

or a French vessel would afford as rich a booty as
a Russian, and, therefore, would be just as wil-

THE SUN, LONDONAWEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 29, 1854

lingly captured and destroyed, if a favourable op-
portunity occurred. There are so many instances
in which such transactions have occurred, that it
would be superfluous to show that similar matters
might again take place. The line of demarcation
between " privateering" and " piracy" is so very
slight, and so frequently disregarded, that civi-
lisation and humanity alike demand that every
distinction should be abolished, and both placed
in the same category, of course. We only go to
this extent with respect to strangers interfering.
It is, however, almost equally desirable that the
entire system should be abolished, and that the
subjects of one of the belligerent states should be
compelled to fight, if at all, under the shelter of
their national standard.

The third point, as to the prevention of all un-
necessary obstruction of the commerce of neutrals,
is a most praiseworthy experiment—one, how-
ever, that involves many considerations before
we can finally decide on its policy. How far it
is expedient to allow strangers to do that which
we forbid to our own fellow-subjects, is a matter
that cannot, at once, be determined. We can,
however, justly praise the laudable anxiety of her
MAJESTY'S Government to free warfare of one of
its many horrors—and, even if they fail, we are
bound to give them credit for the good intentions
by which they have been actuated.

We invite the serious attention of the Horse
Guards to a letter in another part of The Sun
on the use of the Lance. It is from a prac-
tical man, who has served three campaigns in
Spain, during the Civil War, and afterwards for
several years in one of her MAJESTY'S Regiments
of Light Dragoons.

DEATH OF THE DUKE OF
PARMA.

A telegraphic despatch from Paris announces that the
Duke of Parma died on Monday night.
The assassin had not been discovered.

The Duchess of Parma had proclaimed her soi Duke.
He is btill in his minority, being born on the 9th July,
1848.

The Duchess will be Regent during his minority.
The young prince, whose melancholy death we record,
was born on the 24th of January, 1823, succeeded his
father, Duke Charles 11., by virtue of the Act of Abdi-
cation by the latter, dated the 14th of March, 1849, and
formally assumed the reins of Government, by procla-
mation, on the 27th of August of the same year.
His late Royal Highness Ferdinand Charles (III.)
Joseph Maria Vittorio Balthasar de Bourbon, Infante
of Spain, Duke of Parma, Piacenza, and the annexed
States, was married, on the 10th of November, 1845, to
the Princess Louise Marie Therese de Bourbon, daugh-
ter of the late Prince Ferdinand d'Artois, Duc de Berri
in France, and leaves four children :-
1. Marguerite Marie Therese Henriette, born Ist Jan.,
1847 ;
2. Robert, Prince of Piacenza, Hereditary Prince, born
9th July, 1848 ;
3. Alix Marie Caroline Ferdinande Rachel Jeanne Phi-
lomene, born 27th December, 1849 ; and
4. Henri Charles Louis George raham Paul, Comte
de Bardi, born 12th February, 1851.
The Ministry of Parma is dissolved, and Baron Ward
h as received orders to quit the country, and never to re-
turn to it. This order has given great satisfaction.

WAR WITH RUSSIA.

ROYAL DECLARATION,
(From a Supplement to last night's Gazette.)

DECLARATION.
It is with deep regret that her Majesty announces
the failure of her anxious and protracted endea-
vours to preserve for her people and for Europe
the blessings of peace.
The unprovoked aggression of the Emperor of
Russia against the Sublime Porte has been per-
sisted in with such disregard of consequences, that
after the rejection by the Emperor of Russia of
terms which the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor
of the French, and the King of Prussia, as
well as her Majesty, considered just and equi-
table, her Majesty is compelled by a sense of what
is due to the honour of her crown, to the
interests of her people, and to the independence of
the states of Europe, to come forward in defence of
an ally whose territory is invaded, and whose dig-
nity and independence are assailed.
Her Majesty, in justification of the course she is
about to pursue, refers to the transactions in which
her Majesty has been engaged.
The Emperor of Russia had some cause of com-
plaint against the Sultan with reference to the
settlement, which his Highness had sanctioned, of
the conflicting claims of the Greek and Latin.
Churches to a portion of the Holy Places of Jeru-
salem and its neighbourhood. To the complaint of
the Emperor of Russia on this head justice was
done ; and her Majesty's Ambassador at Constan-
tinople had the satisfaction of promoting an arrange-
ment to which no exception was taken by the
Russian Government.
But while the Russian Government/ repeatedly
assured the Government of her Majesty that the
mission of Prince Menchikoff to Constantinople was
exclusively directed to the settlement of the ques-
tion of the Holy /laces at Jerusalem, Prince
Menchikoff himself pressed upon the Porte other
demands of a far more serious and important cha-
racter, the nature of which he in the first instance
endeavoured, as far as possible, to conceal from her
Majesty's Ambassador. And these demands, thus
studiously concealed, affected not the privileges of
the Greek Church at Jerusalem, but the position of
many millions of Turkish subjects in their relations
to their Sovereign the Sultan.
These demands were rejected by the spontaneous
decision of the Sublime Porte.
Two assurances had been given to her Majesty
—one that the mission of Prince Menchikoff only
regarded the Holy Places ; the other that his mis-
sion would be of a conciliatory character.
In both respects her Majesty's just expectations
were disappointed.
Demands were made which, in the opinion of
the Sultan, extended to the substitution of the
Emperor of Russia's authority for his own over a
large portion of his subjects, and those demands were
enforced by a threat; and when her Majesty learnt
that, on announcing the termination of his mission,
Prince Menchikoff declared that the refusal of his
demands would impose upon the Imperial Govern-
ment the necessity of seeking a guarantee by its own
power, her Majesty thought proper that her fleet
should leave Malta, and, in co-operation with that
of his Majesty the Emperor of the French, take up
its station in the neighbourhood of the Darda-
nelles.

So long as the negotiation bore an amicable
character, her Majesty refrained from any demon-
stration of force. But when, in addition to the
assemblage of large military forces on the frontier
of Turkey, the ambassador of Russia intimated
that serious consequences would ensue from the
refusal of the Sultan to comply with unwarrantable
demands, her Majesty deemed it right, in con-
junction with the Emperor of the French, to give
an unquestionable proof of her determination to
support the sovereign rights of the Sultan.
The Russian Government has maintained that
the determination of the Emperor to occupy the
Principalities was taken in consequence of the
advance of the Fleets of England and France.
But the menace of invasion of the Turkish terri-
tory was conveyed in Count Nesselrode's Note to
Reschid Pacha, of the 19th (31st) May, and re-
stated in his despatch to Baron Bruunow, of the
20th May (June 1), which announced the deter-
mination of the Emperor of Russia to order his
troops to occupy the Principalities, if the Porte
did not within a week comply with the demands of

Russia.
The despatch to her Majesty's Ambassador at
Constantinople, authorising him in certain speci-
fied contingencies to send for the British fleet, was
dated the 31st May, and the order sent direct from
England to her Majesty's Admiral to proceed to
the neighbourhood of the Dardanelles was dated
the 2nd of June.
The determination to occupy the Principalities
was therefore taken before the orders for the advance
of the combined squadrons were given.
The Sultan's Minister was informed that unless
he signed within a week, and without the change
of a word, the note proposed to the Porte by Prince
Menchikoff, on the eve of his departure from Con-
stantinople, the Principalities of Moldavia and
Wallachia would be occupied by Russian troops.
The Sultan could not accede to so insulting a
demand ; but when the actual occupation of the
Principalities took place, the Sultan did not, as he
might have done in the exercise of his undoubted
right, declare war, but addressed a protest to his
allies.

Her Majesty, in conjunction with the Sovereigns
of Austria, France, and Prussia, has made various
attempts to meet any just demands of the Emperor
of Russia without affecting the dignity and inde-
pendence of the Sultan ; and had it been the sole
object of Russia to obtain security for the enjoy-
ment by the Christian subjects of the Porte of their
privileges and immunities, she would have found it
in the offers that have been made by the Sultan;
but as that security was not offered in the shape of
a special and separate stipulation with Russia, it
was rejected. Twice has this offer been made by
the Sultan, and recommended by the Four Powers
once by a note originally prepared at Vienna, and
subsequently modified by the Porte, once by the
proposal of bases of negotiation agreed upon at
Constantinople on the 31st of December, and
approved at Vienna on the 13th of January, as
offering to the two parties the means of arriving at
an understanding in a becoming and honourable

manner.
It is thus manifest that a right for Russia to in-
terfere in the ordinary relations of Turkish subjects
to their Sovereign, and not the happiness of Chris-
tian communities in Turkey, was the object sought
for by the Russian Government ; to such a demand
the Sultan would not submit, and his Highness in
self-defence declared war upon Russia, but her Ma-
jesty, nevertheless, in conjunction with her allies,
has not ceased her endeavours to restore peace be-
tween the contending parties.
The time has, however, now arrived when the
advice and remonstrances of the Four Powers
having proved wholly ineffectual, and the military
preparations of Russia becoming daily more ex-
tended, it is but too obvious that the Emperor of
Russia has entered upon a course of policy which,
if unchecked, must lead to the destruction of the
Ottoman Empire.
In this conjuncture her Majesty feels called upon
by regard for an ally, the integrity and independ-
ence of whose empire have been recoguised as essen-
tial to the peace of Europe, by the sympathies of
her people with right against wrong, by a desire to
avert from her dominions most injurious conse-
quences, and to save Europe from the preponder-
ance of a Power which has violated the faith of
treaties, and defies the opinion of the civilised
world, to take up arms in conjunction with the
Emperor of the French for the defence of the
Sultan.

Her Majesty is persuaded that in so acting she
will have the cordial support of her people ; and
that the pretext of zeal for the Christian religion
will be used in vain to cover an aggression under-
taken in disregard of its holy precepts, and of its
pure and beneficent spirit.
Her Majesty humbly trusts that her efforts may
be successful, and that, by the blessing of Pro Ti-

-~_

deuce, peace may be re-established on safe and solid
foundations.

Westminster, March 28, 1854.
DECLARATION.

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, having been com-
pelled to take up arms in support of an ally, is de-
sirous of rendering the war as little onerous as
possible to the Powers with whom she remains at
peace.

To preserve the commerce of neutrals from all
unnecessary obstruction, her Majesty is willing, for
the present, to waive a part of the belligerent rights
appertaining to her by the law of nations.

It is impossible for her Majesty to forego the
exercise of her right of seizing articles contraband
of war, and of preventing neutrals from bearing
the enemy's despatches, and she must maintain the
right of a belligerent to prevent neutrals from
breaking any effective blockade which may be
established with an adequate force against the
enemy's forts, harbours, or coasts..

But her Majesty will waive the right of seizing
enemy's property laden on board a neutral vessel,
unless it be contraband of war.
It is not her Majesty's intention to claim the
confiscation of neutral property, not being contra-
band of war, found on board enemy's ships ; and
her Majesty further declares, that being anxious to
lessen as much as possible the evils of war, and to
restrict, its operations to the regularly organised
forces of the country, it is not her present inten-
tion to issue letters of marque for the commission-
ing of privateers.
Westminster, March 28, 1854.