The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-01 00:00:00

REPORT ON IRISH PRISONS.

USSIAN ENC ROACIIMEN7'S IN CHINA

AND JAPAN.

The privilege of having a regularly established
religious and scientific mission at Pekin could not
fail to be highly advantageous to their aggressive
policy ; and we therefore safely infer that the " few
worthless provinces"—as the Russians are pleased
to term them—in the Amoor district, were tacitly
under the government of the Czar. That this
policy of Russia, silently but surely carried on,
had the best result, may be gathered from the
fact that, in 1842, " the Emperor of China
ceded to Russia a vast tract of territory
between the Yablonoi Mountains and the
north bank of the Amoor." Not a word is said
as to the conditions under which this district was
ceded, not a word about the consideration, and
further, we are left completely in the dark as to
the real extent of this district; various authors dis-
agree as to the line of boundary, but, by placing
different accounts together, we are enabled to
gather that, not only is the whole of the naviga-
tion of the splendid River Amoor in the hands of
the Russians, but that the whole territory between
that river and the mountain range just mentioned
has been quietly delivered over to that power.
That is to say, a large fertile district abound-
ing in all the products which nature has
lavished on that part of the world—in round num-
bers, a thousand miles long, and with an average
breadth of three hundred—has become Russian
territory, under the very nose of the other great
Western Powers, and scarcely nothing known
about it. This acquisition will enable the Rus-
sians to extend their commercial relations with the
great empires of the East; the fertile portions of
Siberia will be—by the light-draught steamers
now being sent for the Amoor navigation to that
river—brought into contact with the Pacific. The
produce of the rich mines of Nertchinsk will be
readily conveyed down the river to the coast of
China and the Islands of Japan, and every advan-
tage will be taken of the extreme richness of the
soil for the purposes of cultivation.—China Tele-
graph.

One
.of the best-known Englishmen in Paris,
Lord Seymour, brother of Lord Hertford, has just
died in Paris rather unexpectedly, at the age of
54, of an attack of gout. He was a man remark-
able in more than one respect, but, above all, for his
gr .at and almost unique skill in handling sword
and pistol, for which reason his friends had nick-
narnedlim the Chevalier de Saint George. In his
youth he was of herculean strength of body, and as
he was sent over to Paris early for the purposes of
education, and in the circles to which he was re-
commended men of equal muscular force were very
rare (then the same as they are now), he soon got
into the habit of making nocturnal excursions, and
trying " rounds" with hall porters, Savoyards, and
water-carriers. Many are the stories still ;float
about the noble lord and his prowess ; among
others, of how he put seven policemen, who tried
to interfel e with his amusements, into a big tub,
and set a greengrecer's stall, from the Marches des
Innocents, on the top of it ; and how, another time,
he floored a whole regiment of commissionaires,
who, attracted by his fame, had come expressly to
his residence to try "le box." But perhaps the
following is the best anecdote connected with the
late lord, though not showing his strength, but
his ever-ready wit :—About the year 1835 or
1836 there was one evening a great ball at the
house of Baron Rothschild, in the Rue Lafitte, and
the string of carriages containing the invited guests
was of such a length as to fill all the adjoining
streets, among them the Rue Lepelletier, where the
Opera is situated. Thus it happened that my
Lord Seymour, issuing with his friends from the
Maison d'Or, where they had just had their dinner,
and ready to enter the opera, suddenly found his
way interrupted. He waited—not patiently, but
the contrary—one, two, three minutes ; but the file
of carriages keeping on increasing he suddenly be-
thought himself of ending the time of expectat:on
by seeking a new road to the theatre. Opening
the door of the biggest and most stately-looking
carriage, he made a profound bow to its inmates,
and, clearing the space above their knees in one
jump, he, again profoundly bowing, made his exit
as before. The example of my lord was infecting.
First his friends, then the bystanders, who had
been waiting some time, then the idlers about the
streets, then the newsmen with their papers, and
the butcher-boys with their trays—all made their
way in rapid succession through the gildedca&age,
till at length its inside looked like a public
thoroughfare. All the while the owner of the car-
riage, a German baron, and accredited ambassador
of one of the most important members of the Con-
federation—had been reclining in his seat, at the
side of his better half, in perfect speechless astonish..
ment. That a revolution had thoroughly broken
out in Paris—that the mob was storming the
houses, and forming barricades of all the vehicles,
was the first thought entering his mind, and, fat
and helpless as he was, he already began giving
himself up for lost. Great, therefore,•was his
astonishment, and equally his rage, when at length
the true cause of the invasion of his carriage
was made clear to him. Burning with anger he
at once ordered the coachman to drive, instead of to
Baron Rothschild's, to the French Minister of
Foreign Affairs, to demand his passports for what he
imagined to be a public breach of diplomatic pri-
vilege. All the eloquence of Monsieur Guizot was
unable at first to soften the irate baron, and it was
only after an investigation had been made, in which
it was found that Lord Seymour was the sinner, and
after it had been shown to his excellency that if his
state should make war on France for the insult it
would have to attack England at the same time, on
account of the aggressor being a British subject,
that he allowed himself at length to be pacified. So
• ended this important affair, another illustration of
the old truth, of how little causes often bring about
great events. It may be imagined Lord Seymour,
in his latter days, gave up amusements of this
kind; but he continued not the less an ardent ad-
mirer of games, field sports, and other manly exer-
cises. He was one of the founders of the Jockey
Club, and did a good deal towards the improvement
of the breed of horses, a science very little under-
; stood in France.—Court tYrcular.

CIZERBOURG.

On landing we met an officer of the douaniers,
whose duty it was to receive us, and not only by
him, but by every official with whom we came in
contact, the most marked civility was shown. At
ten o'clock we all met, by appointment, at the Em-
peror's statue, and proceeded to the dockyard, every
part of which was open to us ; the buildings, slips,
the machinery, the storehouses, were all in a com-
plete state, similar, but not superior, to our own.
The tidal basins are certainly vast and commo-
dious, and by having such a depth of water the
men-of-war lay afloat ; and I was informed that
they could come in, and be taken out, at any time
of tide, indeed I saw the Emperor's new yacht come
out at low water.
There can be no doubt that a very large fleet of
steamers might assemble in these basins, take their
troops on board, and proceed to sea with every
facility. On leaving the dockyard, we ascended to
Fort Roule, standing at a great elevation, and, no
doubt, is a commanding situation ; but at present
there are no embrasures or a gun mounted. I rode
up, but did not like the descending in a carriage,
and so footed it. I have been told since that the
Queen did the same, which I think was discreet.
We then drove about three miles to Fort Des
Flamand, which certainly is capable of doing great
execution ; it is just raised above the sea, so that its
guns would have great effect, and is surrounded by
the sea, having a drawbridge for communication
with the land.
At five o'clock we re-embarked at the wharf in
the harbour, and proceeded to the Digue, as the
French call it, on which a great number of our pas-
sengers landed. The wall is perpendicular, which it
appears the sea must have great power on, as in the
year 1808 the centre fortification was washed away,
and upwards of twohundred soldiers were drowned;
it is now rebuilt. The Eastern Battery has notbeen
finished, indeed you can see the ravages which the
sea has made on it, the upper part of its walls hav-
ing been washed away. The Western Battery has
a rent in its exterior wall from top to bottom, and
the foundation is said also to have settled; to my
unscientiic mind, a most extraordinary remedy
has been applied ; thousands of tons of hewn
stone have been thrown into the sea to protect its
sides, and an immense quantity of stone has been
built up on the battlements to settle the building
down. This formed a wall about 10 feet high ;
but the power of the sea has been such that a vast
chasm has been made, and the greater part of these
stones have been washed to the east side, nearly
filling up a large camber, constructed to receive
barges or boats with supplies for the fort.
From what is here shown, one may form some
idea of the probability that were guns mounted
there the forts would bear their discharges.
That the erection is of infinite importance to the
formation of a spacious harbour is undoubted, but
if for offensive operations is yet to be proved.—
Plymouth Mail.
.o-