The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 5, 1860.

SPAIN AND MOROCCO.

Advices from Gibraltar by the mail steamer Delta,
arrived at Southampton yesterday, are four days
later, but there is very little additional intelligence
from Morocco. The following items are extracted
from the Gibraltar Chronicle:—

"A Ceuta letter of the 17th inst., published in a
Spanish paper, states that the casualties in the
army of Africa since the commencement of the
campaign amounted at that date to 6,007; but of
these it is calculated 1,500 will soon return to join
their corps. Volunteers continuo to arrive from all
parts . to fill up the vacancies occasioned by these
casualties. The road to Tetuan was getting on
rapidly, and it is said that so soon as the siege train
arrived the army would march on that city, leaving
Gen. Orozco's.division in charge of the earthworks
on the heights of the Serallo.
" The Epoca announces that the strength of the
army in Africa is to be raised to 80,000 men. This
will leave a respectable force to operate, after gar-
risoning the redoubts, forts, and other advanced
lines. Every battalion, according to this journal,
is to be completed to 1,000 men, filling up from the
corps in the Peninsula the vacancies that may occur.
This augmentation is to have effect from the com-
mencement of the ensuing year."
"GIBRALTAR, DEC. 28.
_ _ _

"Priirate letters from the camp before Ceuta
have been received to the evening of the 25th. We
subjoin some extracts

DEC. 24.

"' Nothing at all new here. No firing yesterday
or to-day. Eleven more battalions are expected
from Spain, and nearly all the cavalry has come.
It is thought we shall move towards the new year,
but nobody knows for certain. For ,the last week
they have had nothing but unimportant skirmishes.
They are getting on with, the road in the direction
of Tetuan.

" DEC. 25, 9 a.m.

.....
".' Moors attacking the
.leftand centre;' skir-
mishing going on ; fire rather lively. Began at
half-past 8. No appearance Of • its proving much
more than one of the ordinary encounters; only,
having begun so earl— it ivay last longer.'
" Another correspondent, Wilting later in the
day, describes the fight as having been one of the
sharpest encounters witnessed since the affair of the
9th. It was over and the dead buried by two
o'clock. A brilliant charge was made by one of
the Spanish generals (name not given), who jumped
from his horse,neized a musket, and led his men
against one of the Moorish positions, which he took
at the point of the bayonet. 38 Moorish dead
were found on this spot. The Spanish loss was re-
ported as six killed and 30 wounded.
"Two battalions of infantry—the Soria and
Bailen—marched from Malaga on the afternoon of
the 24th, overland, on their way, to Algesiras for
embarkation to Ceuta. One of these battalions
reached San Roque between 10 and 11 o'clock last
night. '1 he other battalion is expected to-night.
" Arrivals from the coast of Morocco report that
everything remained quiet at the ports of Casa-
blanca (Dar-el-Baide) and Sae At the latter
place a number of Bedouins had come in from the
interior in quest of provisions ; and, after getting
their supplies, quietly returned into the country.
"The Spanish squadron from Algesiraq is under
way for the eastward. It consists of the sailing line-
of-battle ship Isabel 11., bearing the flag of Rear-
Admiral Segundo Herrera, a sailing frigate, two
screw and one paddlewheel frigates ,'and four steam
sloops.

" DEC. 29.

" There is no further news from Africa to-day.
The Spanish squadron which left Algesiras yester-
day continued its course to the eastward without
touching at Ceuta. At noon to-day the ships were
off the coast of Tetuan, with the intention, it is re-
ported in town, of favouring a forward movement
of the troops under Marshal O'Donnell towards
that city by the road which they have for some
time past been making.
" The other battalion of Spanish troops from
Malaga arrived last evening at San Roque. The
two battalions—the Soria and Bailei—will shortly
leave for Algesiras to embark for Ceuta, to augment
the strength of the African expeditionary army."

of shipwrights and others on boarno,carry
some extensive repairs, found necessary after the
arrival ofthe ship'alongside the pier, in her masts,
rigging, boats, poop, &c., and which are indispen-
sable to the safety and accomthodation of the ship
and cargo. The repairs will riot be completed for
six or eight days..

TIIE MIR?) CIIIN.ESE WAR,

. _ TO THE EDITOR OF TtlE TINES.
Sir,—As the subject of our fi ure military opera-
tions in China is one of such i, t national interest
and importance at the present' tincture, I venture
to request your insertion of a f words in reply to
the remarks which have been :Called forth by my
letter of the 29th ult. As Captain Osborn objects
to initials, thaw given my name in full. This expe-
rienced officer has so satisfactorq dispos,ed of the ob-
jections urged by J. C., that I only allude to his
letter for the purpose of correcting one or two
inaccuracies calculated to mislead.
And first as to myself. J. C. says :—" From the
local knowledge and ready-writiag of your corre-
spondent, one is tempted to believe that he writes
semi•officially." This imputation I must brg in the
most unqualified manner to repudiate. lam quite
unaware of the views of the Government beyond
what is generally known by the public, nor have I
discovered that "local knowlidge' or "ready writ-
ing" aro qualifications for which even semi-officials
are usually selected.
It is not, as J. C. says, 100 miles from Takoo to
Tien-tsin by water, , but about half that distance ;
and if it is, as he suggests, beyond the skill of our
engineers to remove the wooden obstructions with
which the Chinese may bar the river, for the anti?.
vial plain does not supply them with stone, it will
be satisfactory to know t!...4.it is only 35 miles by
land, over a dry -level pliiiiVadmirably'adapted for
the movement of troops.
I, mentioned that beyond Tien-tsin the road was
in some places 'on a causeway. This, says J. C.,
implies the existence of a marsh ; " they (the
Chinese), by cutting through the. causeway, will
force the allied army, without any.means of trans-
port, to march through a bog." Here he is again
quite -wrong ; except where the country is flooded
at particular seasons, the most luxUriant crops ex:-
tend as far as the eye can reach on each side of the
causeway, and during the-
spring, at all events, the
army will neither have to march through bogs not
be likely to starve, even in the event of the total
destruction. Of 'Commissariat animals predicted by
J. C.

The policy of J.:C., however, if ineffective, has
the merit of being ,harmless, while that advocated
by Captain Osborn seems to me pregnant with such
serious and dangerous consequences to our commer-
cial interests in China that it is. of the litmost
importance that the measures he urges, should not
be adopted " lightly. Captain Osborn must admit
that the residence at Tien-tsin of a few hundred
marine's and blue jackets in 1857 obtained us the
treaty, but he denies that the occupation of that
city again with 22,000 men would produce a simi7
lar effect, unless We conceded the two most iMpor-
tant clauses in the treaty. The result alone can
pi ove who is right ; but he surely will not deny
that the Government Would yield if they saw. us in
possession of ,Toong-chow. This, however, is ob-
jected to by Capt. (Morn on, the ground of its, be-
ing a petty war. "I do most earnestly," he says,
" deprecate any idea of partial hostilities—petty
war. "We must teach the Chinese from one end
of the empire to the other that peace is far better
than war with us ' outer barbarians.' " Captain
Osborn then suggests the nature of these hostili-
ties, and triumphantly points to the first China war, ,
which lasted for three years, and involved the sacri-
fice of upwards of 2,000 British troops, the destruc-
tion of many cities, and countless unfortunate:
Chinese. As a proof of the advantage of. this mode oft
procedure, "a peace was obtained," he says, " that
lasted 14 years, a very fair duration for any Asiatic
engagement." But Capt. Osborn must surely have
forgotten that in 1839 the coast of China was not
dotted with British settlements. The effect of read-

ing this lesson to the Chinese from "one eid of the
empire to the other" will be the t3tal destruction
of the foreign settlements at Shanghai, Foochow,
Ningpo, Amoy, and Swatow, all as exposed and
liable to incendiarisra as were the ill-fated factories
at Canton. The British merchant building in China
who adopts Capt. Osborn's view will be careful not
to build a house that will last above 14 years.
Capt. Osborn accuses the mercantile guilds of the
north of being the instigators of the war. lam at
a loss to conceive how he has acquired this piece of
information: I question whether any Englishman,
however intimate his acquaintance with the inner
springs which set in motion the complex and intri-
cate political system of the Chinese Government,
can positively affirm such to be the case. Upon
this assumption, however, he charges them with
the expenses of the war—suggesting incidentally
the seizure of the grain fleet, and "an embargo
upon all taxes levied upon European exports in the
open ports of China." The revenue to be derived
from this latter source, with im-"partial" hostiliT
ties going on, and the settlements at the open ports
in ashes, would not be extensive. J. C. accuses
the Government of sending out 20,000 men to play
"a game at brag" with the Chinese ; he himself,
with his permanent acquisition of Nankin, may
very fairly be accused of a partiality for " crib-
bage," while the great end and object of Capt.
Osborn's policy seems to be a game of " beggar my
neighbour" once every 14 years. Unfortunately, it
is a game two can play at.
London, Jan. 4. LAWRENCE OLIPHANT.

RELIGIOUS PI RSECU7ION IN SPAIN.

A correspondent of the licrald calls attention to
the case of Escalante, a colporteur employed by the
British and Foreign Bible Society at Gibraltar.
He is a British subject, born and bred at Gibraltar,
where he has a wife and five children. The crime
imputed to him is the distribution of the Bible.
The following narrative is given :--,
" Towards the end of April last he and a guide
left Gibraltar on horseback, to attend the fair at
,Vehez (a town some few leagues to the east of
Cadiz), which was to be held there on the Ist, 2d,
and 3d of May. On the night of the 2d of May last,
aliout 12 o'clock, Escalante was aroused by the
entrance of six gendarmes (guardias civiles), under
a captain. He was immediately arrested and taken
to the local gaol. Seventeen diamond Testaments
were found in his possession, and nine had been
previously given away—and be it here remarked
that all of them were Roman Catholic editions, trans-
lated by Padre Scio from the Latin Vulgate, de-
clared to be authentic by the Council of Trent.
"For two days Escalante was confined at Vehez,
closely guarded, after which he was conveyed to
Chiclana, 12 miles distant, and there cast into a
loathsome dungeon. It was damp and almost dark,
and in this place he was kept for 20 days, by which
title, as was to be expected, he became very ill. On
the 24th May he was removed to Cacliz on horse-
back, handcuffed, having had a doctor's certificate,
stating that his health necessitated the removal,
the prison at Cadiz being somewhat both'. than the
dungeon at Chiclana. He has been in Cadiz gaol
ever since without ha-ving been brought to trial.
His arrest was suggested by Dr. Scandella, the
Vicar Apostolic oeGibraltar, for it appears that on
Esealante's leaving the Rock he sent a message (by
telegraph probably) to Vehez, informing the priest
there that the hated Propagandista' was in that
direction, and advising his capture. The captain of
the gendarmes received orders from the ' cure? of
Vehez.

" It may naturally be said that if a person chooses
to break the laws of a country he must take the con-,
sequences. Granted; But what laws has Escalante
broken ? There is no law in Spain prohibiting the
circulation of the Roman Catholic edition of the Now
Testammit, in Spanish, and without notes; conse-
quently, Escalante cannot be legally imprisoned on
that ground. Neither will the fact of the books
being contraband (because printed in London) con-
demn him ; for, in the first place, he is not com-
mitted to prison on a charge of smuggling; and, in
the second place, the small value of the Testaments
are not sufficient by the laws of Spain to condemn
him, even to a month's imprisonment.
" The charge on which he was arrested is his hav-
ing infringed the 128th Article of the Penal Code
which states that the attempt to overthrow or
change (zarim-) the religion of the country, shall be
punished by imprisonment of from six to ten years.'
" Under this law Escalante is to be tried. When,
we know not. It niay be years before his turn
comes--it may be only months. And now, sir, per-
mitine to ask two questions. Why has a British
s. übject been permitted to lie for nearly eight months
a Spanish prison, untried, uncondcmned, and
neither convicted, nor likely to be legally convicted,
of having infringed the penal code? Why, and on
what authority, did H.B.M. consul at Cadiz, Mr.
Brackenbury, delay for four entire days to answer
a request put by Escalante, at the instigation of the
judge of Chiclana, asking for his (the consul's) pro-
tection, the judge having stated that on the consul's
appearing Escalante could be released ? This delay
obliged the judge to send the case to the Supreme
Court of Seville to be decided."

FINANCE OF THE CITY OP PARIS.

The report lately preSented by the Prefect of the
Seine to the Municipal Councils on the budgets of
the city of Paris for 1859 and 1860 contains some
points of interest.. It states, for example, that so
prosperous were the city finances in 1859, that;
after largely providing not only for the ordinary
expenses, but for the exceptional wants of hospi-
tals, religious edifices, and schools, for the repairs
of bridges and quays, the extension of paving, the
making of plantations, the salubrity of houses,
and the distribution and carrying away of water,
a sum of £13,203.193E, in addition to that which
came from the loan which the city had been au-
thoriSed to raise, was devoted to the purchase of
houses and buildings and the execution of works
for the improvement of streets and thorough.
fares; and that sum would have been still larger
if one of 6,750,582 C had not been taken to in-
crease the reserve of the Municipal Treasury,
which had been lessened by a sam of. 10,000,000 f.
having been appropriated to the Caisse des Travaux
de Paris. "'These figures," says the report, "prove
that the Municipal Council of Paris, in entering in
May, 1858, into an agreement with the Government
to execute in the space of ten years works and
improvements estimated to cost 180,000,000 f.,
in return for a subvention of .only 50,000,000 f.,
did not miscalculate the,resources of which the city
could dispose for - that purpose." And, in
addition to t all this, not only, says the'
report, were the sums required for the
payment of the interest, premiums, and lots of
the debt duly proVided, but one of 5,743,415 E was
set apart towards the payment of the debt. The
report then goes on to explain what. it calls "the
secret of these results," and that secret is that
within the Blast seven years—that is, since the
establishthent of the empire—the ordinary receipts
of the city have increased in a much greater pro-
portion than the ordinary expenses. Thus, in 1852;
the year in which the empire was established, and
in which the great works in' Paris were commenced,
the ordinary receipts were only 52,576,631 E; and
in 1859 they were 79,327,925 f. increase,
26,751,294 E.; whereas the ordinary expenses, which
in 1852 were 34,939,4361'., were in 1859, 49,163,178 f.
—an, increase of only 14,223,742 f. " That," says,
the report, "is all the mystery of the pretended
marvels accomplished in Pars daring the last :7 years
by the municipal administration. What had to be
done to obtain this result was very simple--
namely, resolution and perseverance ; on the one
hand, in obtaining from established duties all that
they could be made to yield, and taking advantage
of all circumstances that presented themselves for
increasing the revenue ; and, on the other hand,
restraining as much' as possible the continual ten-
dency of the different branches of the municipal
services to increase their expenses." It is to the
increasedpopulation, to the influx of provincial and
foreign visitors, and to the increase of public and
private prosperity that. the report ascribes princi-
pally the augmentation of the municipal revenues ;
but it admits that the increase of certain octroi
duties, the establishment of taxes on wholesale deal-
ings in the markets, the increased rent for market
stalls, the increase of the tax on cabs and omni-
buses, and .a number of other things, as also a more
equitable division of charges common to the Govern-
ment and the municipality, have likewise contri-
buted to that augmentation. The report then no-
tices various items in the revenue which are new or
have increased. Among them are these :—The
imposition of a tax of 2c. per cubic metre on gas
consumed, which last year yielded a revenue of
980,000 f. ; the tax on dogs, which, though redu-
cing the number of dogs from 45,617 in 1856 to
about 33,000 in 1859, yielded- more in the latter
year than 300,000 f. ; the tax on cabs and on om-
nibuses (these vehicles are 3,997 in number), which
in 1852 only amounted to 471,141 f., produced in
1859 2,036,714 f. The report announces that the
municipality has not yet been able to obtain the
imposition of, a tax on all carriages, horses, and '
vehicles employed in PariS, and remarks, as a sin-
gularity, that in this capital it is "the wealthiest
classes which manifest -the strongest repugnance to
new taxes." The report justifies the proposed tax
on the ground that it is not right that private ear.
riages, and particularly the large waggons and vans
used in commerce, should have the privilege of
using the paving and macadam of streets gratuit-
ously, when omnibuses, which are chiefly destined
for people of modest incomes, pay. The report next
refers to the charge for admission to the Bourse—a
matter which has excited a good deal of discussion.
This charge, it Says, -was established in 1856, on the
recommendation of the Chamber of Commerce, as a
means of preventing the overcrowding of that place,
which had become intolerable, and of keeping away
petty capitalists, who were tempted to speculate,
and by so doing often lost all they had. Another
reason for establishing the charge was that the mu-
nicipality did not think it right that an edifice be-
longing to it, and which served as a:market for secu-
rities and merchandise, should be free from all
charge when all the other markets are made to pay
heavily. Some persons, says the report, complain
bitterly of the charge for admission as injurious to
commercial transactions; but it was those persons
who profited by the silly hopes and the sudden panics
of the petty speculators. But though,thb report says,
the Bourse is less frequented than it used to be,
it is still well attended, and an some days is over-
crowded. The number of persons it can conveni-
ently accommodate is about 4,000 ; but on certain
days as many as 4,200 and even 4,500 have entered,
and rarely, even in the summer, has the number
been less than 3,500. Moreover, the number of pay-
ments for admission steadily progresses—in 1857
the total amount obtained was 1,010,1480, in 1858
it rose to 1,027,495 f., and in 1859 was about,
1,060,000 f. The report afterwards proceeds to give
details respecting the budget of 1860, which, on
account of the aggrandisement of Paris, differs con-
siderably from that of 1859. Among, other things
it shows that all the communes annexed, except
Passy, have debts amounting to 5,962,900 f., whiCh
will have to be paid between 1860 and 1874 ; but it
shows also that they have assets amounting to
5,893,425 f, It calculates that 1,400,000 f. will be
required to . exempt poor families from what is
called the personal and furniture tax, and that in
the suburbs annexed•the number of families so ex-
empted will exceed 28,000, consisting of 90,000
persons. It says that the number of octroi en-
trances into Paris, which has heretofore been 57,
will henceforth be 66; and that the duties of the
octroi officers will be greatly increased on account
of the entries being much more numerous, of the
fortifications which they will have to watch being
upwards of 20. miles (33 kilometres) in extent, of
the necessity of watching the points at which the
railways pass through the fortifications, and the
goods stations of railways; and, lastly, of exercis-
ing surveillance over what are called the' entrepots
a domicile. These increased duties will render
necessary the augmentation of the ordinary octroi
staff from 1,259 persons to 1,862 ;of fro-n 138 to 200
of the men charged to accompany goods which pass
through the city in transit, or do not pay at the
gates ; and the creation of 90 new officers specially
charged with the, surveillance of the domicile en-
trepots. The expense of the octroi will, says the
report, be increased .from 2,925,725 f. to 4,275,962 f.
The report notices that, in expectation ,of
the aggrandisement of Paris, many persons
residing 'outside the octroi will hare laid
in for their oven private use s4scks of
wood. wine, &c., in order to avoid paying the
octroi duties of Paris, which are higher than those
of their communes ; and it expresses a doubt that
they have made a good bargain, inasmuch as they
have paid for those articles, and especially wine,
more than they will be worth this year. It does not
propose to interfere with them, but it says a great
number of other persons in connivance with specu-
lators have clandestinely collected as many as
300,000 or 400,000 casks of wine, with the inten-
tion of depriving the city of Paris of the octroi duty
thereon, which it calculates at 15,000,000 f. or
18,000,000 f.; but it says, that in virtue of regula-
tions adopted by the Council of State, they will be
made to pay the duties. On the subject of the
cemeteries, the report says that Paris, when en-
larged, will comprise three large cemeteries—those
of the East, or Pere-Lachaise ; the West, or Mont-
martre; the South, or Montparnasse ; and 10 others
less important, those of Auteuil, Passy, the Batig-
nolles, La Chapelle, La Villette, Belleville, Cha-
Conne, Bercy, Vaugirard, and Crenelle. The COM•
mune of Montmartre besides makes over to the city
the proprietorship of a new cemetery situated be-
yond the fortifications. Of all these cemeteries, the
three large ones of old Paris and those of Auteuil,
Passy, Batignolles, Montmartre, La Villette, and
Vaugirard will alone be required. The others will
be closed—that is to say, will not receive any new
tombs ; but they will remain accessible to families,
and the existing tombs will be respected. The report
concludes by proposing to set aside a reserve fund
of 5,000,000 f. for the expenses which the enlarge-
ment of Paris will necessitate—namely, the forma-
tion of a magnificent promenade by the union, on
the demolition of the octroi wall, of what are now
theouter;Boulevards and the Chemin de Ronde ; the
construction of new mairies, &c.; but the report

PRICE 4D. STAMPED, SD.

says that that sum will fall far short of what will
eventually be needed.
The officials of the octroi have taken possession
of the posts established in the new enclosure of
Paris, now, like ancient Thebes, become the City of
the Hundred Gates. Under Louis XV. Paris had
already considerably increased, and some neigh-
bourini, villages were added to it, among others
that of Roule, which was made a.suburb of the
city. la 1784, under Louis XVI., the Farmers-
General received permission to surround the capital
by a wall, which is nearly the - same as that now,
existing, but which will soon disappear. At that
period the barrier gates were almost all of wood,
and the offices small wooden houses placed on
wheels for the convenience -of locomotion. The
barriers were 60 in number, classed in three divi-
sions—north, south, and east. The new enclosure
of Paris, with its 100 gates, its !deep ditches,
and its green slopes, wilt better respond to the
grandeur of the city than the wall by which it has
been hitherto surrounded. An immense number of
Parisians did not lose the chance of profiting by the
change in the barriers. During the afternoon and
evening of the day before the alteration was effected
they flocked outside the old barriers and made pur-
chases of every kind,!and for some hours before
midnight all the barriers were crowded with vehi-
cles and foot passengers waiting for the moment
when they might pass through without being
stopped. °When midnight struck the barrier gates
were thrown open, the octroi men retired, and the
whole body entered Paris and proceeded to their
respective destinatior s, happy athaving thus effected
some saving, though at tue cost of considerable
trouble.

In consequence of the extension of Paris, the
administration of the Mont do Piete has established
three additional offices, in which pledges are re-
ceived without additional percentage being laid on
by intermediate agents. 'One is at the Batiobnolles,
the second in the Rue de Buffon, near the Jardin
des Plantes, and the third at Vaugirard.