The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-26 00:00:00

EGYPT.

(Front a Correspondent of the Daily News.)

ALEXANDRIA, MARCH 7.
I am happy to announce to you the return of M.
de Lesseps. I have already, in my letter of the 23d,
informed you of the, arrival of the Viceroy at Cairo.
His gighnesq, who left Kartoum on the 28th Ja-
nuary, and travelled by Blzond.ah and Dong Ola,
has accomplished his journey with a marvellous
rapidity, for he passed in 24 hours over ground
which it usually takes 40 hours to traverse. For
the passage of the cataracts, which at this period of
low water are most dangetous, the Viceroy made
use-of a small boat, and, accompanied by a few fol-
lowers only, he passed through these dangers with
the intrepidity for which his family is notorious.
M. de Lesseps remained behind to nun() one of
his companions who had &Fen seriously ill. Owing
to this de'ay he reached Cain.) about ten days after
the Viceroy.

I am enabled to give you interesting details of the
Viceroy's journey to Soudan. These remole pro-
vinces were subjected to an abuse of authority,
which has now been checked by the presence of the
sovereign. The taxes have been reduced by two-
thirds ; measures have been taken for the protec-
tion of the lives, liberty, and property of the sub-
jects ; the magistrates are to be elected by the po-
pulations, and all this has been initiated with ad-
mirable grandeur and tact.
These are the fruits of the expedition undertaken
by the Prince for the purpose of seeing with his own
eyes and 'putting a term to the evils of which the
report had reached him. It was his intention to
carry the benefits of ,civilisation to the farthe,t
limits of the country he governs. His mission was
a blessed and holy one. The abuse of authority
which has now ceased compelled the inhabitants
to fly from evils which they could not conquer, for
the taxes were levied, not from individuals but
from the villages, and those who remained had to
pay the arrears of those who had left the country.
To give you an idea of the frightful depopulation
, of, these regions, it will suffice to tell you that at
the time of the conquest—about 35 years ago—
there were 24,000 Saktes, but there are at present
but 1,500. Such is the result of the old Turkish
administration.
At present all this is abolished, and the taxes
are levied from inflividuals, not from communities.
As a guarantee for the due execution of the new
system he has appointed to the government of
Sefinaar his chief secretary and interpreter Arakel
Bey, a Christian and a; European, if not by
birth, at least by education. The high character
which the new governor bears is so notorious that
everybody expresses his satiarAction With the Vice-

roc's choice. The fact that an important 'post,
uniting civil and military authority, should have
been given to a Christian, is another proof of the
Viceroy's liberal -and unprejudiced policy:, The
country district between Alexandria and Cairo has
been placed under the governorship of an Egyptian
Sheik. These two nominations in themselves are
a revolution,, for hitherto the provincial Govern-
ments were given to Turl:s only.
On his arrival at Cairo the Vicc.roy appointed
vArions ineml:ers of his family to the high offices of
S

Achmet Pasha, the first prince of the viceregal
house, is President of the Council. -
Mu,tapha Bey, Vice-President of the Council
and Minister of Finance.

H,Alitn 'Pasha, his Etigluiess's brother, is Minister
of War.

Mohammed Pasha, a man of great merit and in-
contestable honesty, who accompanied the Viceroy
to Soudan, is Minister without portefeuille.
Ismail Pasha will continue to preside over the
Council of State. He devotes his attention espe-
cially to all the great administration questions.
The names of a'l these princes, who are now in-
vested with the highest functions in Egypt, gives a
powerful authority and a fresh prestige to the ac-
tions of the government, and the decisi.m of the
Viceroy has been hailed with joy by the Egyptian
as well as by the European population of the great
cities.

The governor-generalships Lave been abolished
in Egypt as well assn the Soudan. The governors
of the province will for the future be in direct com-
munication with the Home-office.

The dissolution of the scientific expedition for
the discovery of the sources of the Nile and the
exploration of the Soudan had been decreed at
Kartoum, but the despatch containing the order
reached Cairo after the return of the Viceroy. With-
out passing a judgment on those vho necessitated
such a decision, I can only lament that an expedition
so liberally supported by the EThrptian Government
has proved so decided a failure ; and as the mem-
bers of the expedition are all Europeans, it is clear
that the blame, if any, must attach to them. Let
us hope that the explora•ions are only adjourned,
and that on a second attempt they may bs brought
to a more satisfactory issue. The Viceroy intends
organising another expedition en a different basis.
The labours in the Sweetwater Canal continue,
and about 39,000 metres of the tract has been dug
out.

Thl railway from Cairo to Suez is also being
pushed with great: activity, and we hope that au
important section will won be opened to traffic.
The Red Sea Steamboat Company is regularly.
constituted, and the capital has been readily forth-
coming from the wealthier inhabitants of Egypt,
who have much confidence in the success of this
national undertaking.

The Nile Steam Tug Company is about to begin
its operations.

I have a report from Capt. Philigret, whose cor-
vette is stationed in the Gulf Pelusium. The late
tremendous gales have had no effect upon the hold
of her authors, and Captain Philigret declares that
the bottom of the gulf is of remarkable solidity,
and that the anchorage is sheltered and safe even
in the roughest of weathers.
Mynher Conrad, Engineer-in-Chief of the Go-
vernment of Holland, and President of the Inter-
national Commission, has terminated his inspection
in Egypt, and is about to return to Europe.

Accounts from St. Thomas's of the Ist inst. men-
tion the arrival in that port of Admiral Gueydou
from Hayti, where he had arranged a suspension.
of hostilities for two years between the Emperor
Soulouque and the Dominican Republic.

The German papers have received the rumour cf
an intended visit of the Pope to France in the
course of the present year. The Journal de Frank-
fort even asserts that his Holiness, after visiting
Paris, will proceed to Cologne, and then ascend
the Rhine, visiting the ancient cathedrals that
abound on the banks of that river, and returning,
to Italy.bv Switn rland. All this appears to be
mere speculation.

The Council of War convoked in.the canton of
Neuchatel to judge some militia soldiers who at the
time of the march of Vac contingents towards the
Rhine absconded in order to avoid military duty,
has condemned six to five months' imprisonment,
eight to four months, and one to two months.

The Federal Council of Switzerland has appointed
General Dufour to the post of inspector of she
Central Military Academy for the present year.

HANOVER, 3,l4reh 25.—The First Chamber hPg
unanimously voted, and the Second carried by a
majority of 25, the law abolishing the Civic Guard,
instituted in Hanover in 1848.

LONDON AND EASTERN BANEING

CORPORATION.

A meeting was held this morning of the share-
holders of this corporation, which was announced
on the 18th inst. as being about to go into liquida-
tion. The directors of the bank have hitherto de-
sir€d to avoid publicity, and enough has transpired
of the facts elicited by the proprietary to-day to
explain their feeling in that respect. While the
paid-up capital was 250,0001., it appears that
237,000/. has been lent upon mortgage on estates
belonging to Col. Waugh, one of the directors, at
Beddington, in Surrey, and Branksea Castle, Dor-
setshire ; while other advances, to a very serious
extent, have been made to the directors and to the
manager. At the meeting to-day Mr. John Carnac
Morris, the chairman of the company, presided,
and. that gentleman admitted he was , indebted

12,0001. to the establishment, • against which ihei'
hold securities on houses, tir,c. Mr. Feudal!, a di-
rector, was underst •od to have borrowed 6,350/.
on the security of his own shares ; Col. Curtis, a
director, 5,5001. on steam shares worth 3,0001. ;
and Mr. Stephens, the manager, 27,0001. on vari-
ous securities. During the proceedings, Mr. Gue-
della, a shareholder, inquired upon what pretext or
temptation 237,0007. could have been sunk in mort-
gages when the legitimate business for which the
concern was established offered safe, regular, and
heavy profits. The reply that 10 per cent. was paid on
the niortg►ges caused a feeling of indignation, since
the very fact of such a rate being offered should-have

been a warning of their questionable character.
Captain Corfield, another shareholder, pointed out
the deceptive character of the clause in the Charter
providing for a meeting up,in a fourth of the capital
bring lost, and maintained that those by whom it
had been disregarded deserved heavy punishment.
The direct liabilities of the bank were stated by Mr.
Coleman, the accountant, to be 397,734/. ; and it
was intimated that, after allowing for large losses,
the assets may yield 413,45d1., which will leave
about 16,0001. to meet the shareholders' paid-up
capital of 2t0,0001. Four Indian banks—the Ori-
ental, the North-Western the Mercantile of Bom-
bay, and the Agra— A ere stated to be willing to ad-
vance the amount necessary to meet immediate
liabilities in India—aboht 104,0001.—and also to
give time, upon such bills of the London and
Eastern Bank as are at present in their possession,
OD condition that certain assets shall be handed
over to them, and that the shareholders shall give
their notes of hand fqr the 50 per dent, of capital
still remaining uncalled. This arrangement seemed
to be regarded r s a fair and desirabe one, and a
committee, consisting of Sir W. Gomm, Colonel
Yates,- and Mr. Beville, was ultimately formed to
promote it.—Times' City Article.

ACCIDENT TO THE HON. Mn. MORETON.—On Friday
last an accident of a serious nature occurred to the Hon.
Mr. Moreton, brother to the Earl of Ducie, and first-
lieutenant on board her Majesty's screw steam gun-ves-
sel Wanderer, on this station. Whilst riding at a fast
gallop up the hill on the road from Baschetto to Citta
Vecchia, his horde, a spirited animal, came into violent
pace from
dcorilvliesnionbyaat
maidtushrnipinmgan,Pony-cart,
the opposite direction. Mr. Moreton was thrown for-
ward a considerable distance, and fell on the other side
of the cart ; but, with of
cothmein
the exception of being much
awirthapid
shaken, and incurring a Plight contusion on the shoulder
road a
atd
by striking the wheel in his descent, we are happy to
state that ho escaped uninjured. The horse, however,
fared worse ; for one of the brase-headed shafts of the
cart entering his chest to the depth of a foot, the unfor-
tunate animal almost instantly expired. it was after-
wards discovered, on opening the carcase, that the shaft
had penetrated the heart..—Malta Times, March 17.
j, itENCH Paisoris.-rThere are at present in France 21
large or central prisons for the reception of men and
women sentenced to more than 12 months' imprison-
ment, s-11,,tary confinement and hard labour. Of these
houses 1., receive only men, six only women, and two
(Clairvaux and Limoges) both men and women. The •
females in the prison at Clairvaux will shortly be re-
moved to a new central prison---;tho old Abbey d'Aube-
rive, in the haute Marne, which has just been purchased
by the State, and is being fitted up for the purpose. The
women who are now in the central prison of Limoges will
be removed to and the Citadel of Doullens has
also been arranged for the reception of 500 women. To
these places of detention may be added Belle-Isle-en-Mer,
which contains some political offenders, and the three
forts of the Mediterranean--Lamaigue, St. Louis-de-Cette,
and Bre. coo, in which are detained soldiers or sailors con-
demned to the punishment of irons, and some Arabs
who have been condemned in Algeria for different crimes
or misdeameanours. The prisoners in the two last-named
forts have been recently sent to Africa in consequence of
an arrangement come to between the Ministers of War
and Interior. Two penitentiaries are now being built in
Corsica, one for adults and the other for lads under 16.
The former, which is nearly completed, has already re-
ceived 500 inmates, and will be able to accommodate
1,000. The persons in this establishment will be em-
ployed in agricultural pursuita.7(igeignoni.