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France and England—namely , that the prisoners shall be released and seat out of the country , and that Prussia shall then recognize the independence of Neufchatel , until -which the prisoners are to remain banished . It is considered doubtful whether Prussia will assent to these
terms * The National Council has proved unanimously the proposition of liberating the Keufchatel prisoners . The commission of the States also approved it unanimously , with the exception , of one vote . The discussion by the Federal Assembly was prorogued till the 15 th inst . The message of the Federal Council of Switzerland , addressed to the Federal Assembly , proposes to annul the proceedings commenced against the insurgents of
Neufchatel , and to set them at liberty , with the reservation that they shall be sent out of the Helvetic territory until the official conclusion of the arrangements . The same document proposes to suspend the armaments and to dismiss the troops , as Switzerland need no longer consider herself as in a state of war . The message announces that the Ministers of Russia and Austria to the Government of . Berne have communicated to the Federal Council notes conformable to those of France and England .
TURKEY . "A variety of confused statements , " says the Times City article of Monday , " appear to be in circulation on the Continent regarding the concession just granted foi tke formation of an Imperial National Bank at Constantinople . The raising of a loan and a number of othei objectionable features are reported to be among the conditions , and , according to one announcement , via Marseilles , the amount to be thus provided is . 12 , 000 ^ 000 ^ at three per cent , interest . These rumours are believec to be altogether -without foundation . Beyond the faci that the concession has been granted to Mr . Wilkin , as the representative of certain London capitalists who are to supply a deposit of 200 , 000 ? ., that its duration is to be for thirty years , that the bant is to have an exclusive
right of issuing convertible notes , which are to be a legal tender , and that the Turkish Government are to allow six per cent , for such advances as may be required for redeeming the existing currency , little is known with regard to it . The proposed capital is stated to be 10 , 000 , 000 ? . or 12 , 000 . 000 / . ; but it is not understood that the whole is to be paid up . The debased currency at present afloat seems to be estimated at about 8 , 000 , 000 / ., and as it is to be assumed that this will be redeemed by the issue of the notes of the new bank payable on demand , and in connexion with which only a certain proportion of specie will require to be held , an allowance of six percent , from the Turkish Government for the operation appears likely to meet the requirements of the case . " L r r i i I t
The third Conference on the firman regarding the convocation of the Divans adhoc in the Danubian Principalities was held in the apartments of the Grand Vizier on the 30 th ult . Matters are said to have gone very smoothly . —" The latter part of the firman , concerning the election of the Presidents and Secretaries of the Divans , as well as of the power of veto asked for the Turkish Commissary in case the Assembly attempt to discuss any questions contrary to the rights of the Porte , has caused ( says the Times correspondent ) much less difficulty than was anticipated , the Turkish Government having given in on both these points . "
Accounts from Constantinople , of the 5 th , received at Marseilles , state that the British squadron had been apprised of its approaching departure ; nevertheless , it will continue to occupy the Black Sea until the Austrians evacuate the Danubian Provinces . For that reason , Lord Lyons has sent to Malta for provisions . A new railway project has been taken up by the Turkish Government lately ; it is Mr . Layard ' s . He proposes a railway connecting the Danube und the Black Sea with the Archipelago , sending out by degrees branches to the capital and the principal towns of Roumelia and Bulgaria . The railway would start from the Danube , either at Rustchuk or Silistria , and pass by Shumla and Adrianople to Enos . or any other point in the Archipelago which should oiler the advantages of a large and sure harbour . —Times Constantinople Correspondent .
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STATE OF TRADE . The provincial trade reports for the week ending las ' Saturday show a continuanco of activity and confidence ! tho high prices of some of the most important articles of raw material constituting the only cheek to the feeling of animation . At Manchester , on this account , the transactions liavo been limited , but tho manufacturers are all fully employed . The balance-sheet of Messrs . Ashworth and Co ., whoso stoypago wan announced on the 10 th ult ., has been submitted , and presents liabilities for
the past week there has been little change . The number of vessels reported inward was 136 , being three more than in the previous week . These included 20 with cargoes of corn , flour , and rice , 8 with sugar , and 1 with 28 , 259 packages of tea . The total number of ships cleared outward was 106 , including 7 in ballast , showing an increase of 10 . —Idem . The committee of the Stock-Exchange have unanimously adopted the following resolution , with a view to checking the laxity shown l > y some members of that establishment in undertaking speculative transactions for clerks—a laxity which has led to such cases as those of Redpath , Eobson , and others : — "The committee particularly caution members of the Stock-Exchange against transacting speculative business for clerks in public or private establishments without the knowledge of their employers . Members disregarding this caution are liable to be dealt with in such manner as the committee may deem advisable . "
According to statistics quoted by an Australian merchant in the Tines of Tuesday , there is reason to apprehend that the advices from Australia during the coming spring will again announce , as regards imported goods , glutted markets and declining prices . Provisions , and liquors especially , appear to have been sent out in indiscriminate quantities .
50 , 000 / ., and assets nonnimlly stated at SJO , 000 £ , but which aro lilccly to fall far Hhort of that amount . Tho Birmingham advices doncribo great steadiness in tho iron-market , and a satisfactory duuiaud for all tho general manufactures of tho place . At Nottingham , tho spring trade , both in hosiery and lace , is expected to commence very favourably . In the woollen districts , the demand for goods is fully « quul to the supply , and tho Irish linen-markets havo been well maintained . —Times . In the general business of tho port of London during
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; THE CASE OF JOHN MARKHAM . —PRISON : REVELATIONS . - The case of the unhappy man , John Markham , who - has recently been , insulted by the mockery of a par-. don for an offence of which he was perfectly innol cent , has again been made the subject of indignant t comment by the Times , in which journal we find s some additional facts , bearing , not only on the uni deserved hardships and sorrows of Markham , but on j the general condition of Newgate , which appears to s have made no advance whatever upon the state of things existing in the worst times of prison discipline . Mr . Rose , who was last year one of the City Under-Sheriffs , ¦ has addressed a letter to the Times , in which he reveals to us what is constantly going on in the metropolitan gaol . Our contemporary , summarising these details in its leading columns , says : — -.-...
of prisoners , as -well as of the primitive anarchy which reigns in the walls of old Newgate . " For three months , he was immured at PentonviUekept all the time in solitary confinement . The seclusion in this prison is so strictl y maintained , that even in the chapel each prisoner is enclosed in a wooden box , where he can neither see others nor be seen himself . By Markham's account , the suffering is very great under the system . ' In the chapel , at the sound of a human voice , the convicts are often affected , faint away , or shriek out . "Why ? " I asked Markham' ( it is , of course , Mr . Rose who -writes ) . < " Oh ! they think of home , or something of that , " he replied . ' It is not , however , ourobject heTe to discuss the merits or drawbacks of our various systems
of prison discipline ; We are speaking first of John Markham ' s case , and of the cases of all persons wrongfully convicted ; and , secondly , of the lorrors in the interior of Newgate . After six months had elapsed—six months spent in . the terrible situation vre have described —Markham was pardoned . He is now without work , without means of getting a living , and his character is gone . People won ' t believe in the innocence of the pardoned man . N " or is his case a singular one . Mr . Rose gives us briefly the heads of another dismal history of the like kind . A man named Martin was found guilty upon a charge of highway robbery and sentenced to four years of penal servitude . It was all a mistake , and the
mistake was discovered , but not in time . 'Not long since , ' writes Mr . Rose , 'he stood in my office an emaciated wreck of his former self . Before he went to Millbank , he said , he didn ' t know his own strength , and could work without fatigue the longest day . ' It is not matter for charge against our criminal system that such mistakes do occur from tame to time , for a certain amount of error is inseparable from any system that can be devised by man ;¦ but at least society is bound to give ample compensation to the unfortunate persons who have been unwittingly sacrificed to the security of all . More than this , arid independently of this , we trust that immediate inquiry of the most searching kind will take place with respect to Newgate Prison . " ,
"The most desperate ruffians are shut up together within those gloomy walls to utter as much blasphemy and obscenity as they choose , to recount to each other the most stirring incidents of their past careers , to consolidate old friendships , and to plan fresh crimes . Bad as this is , it is not all . Into the same room or cell with these miscreants are thrust the novices of iniquity , and it may be men entirely innocent of offence . The result is just what might be anticipated . In a few exceptional cases , the unfortunates who may have been thrown into such foul fellowships endeavour to resist the contagion , and do resist , but at what cost ! They are put to the bar of their guilty companions . They are jeered at , insulted , abused , maltreated . They must take kindly to wickedness , or
pay the penalty . Thus writes Mr . Rose : — John Markham was two months in Newgate picking oakum -with the convicts there , who in this prison are all in one room together—three murderers at one time , pirates who had deliberately planned wholesale massacres , to be accompanied by indescribable atrocities , burglars , garotters , thieves from their birth , receivers , putter 3 up of robberies , and the perpetrators of unmentionable crimes . ' The amusement of this dun of devilry is to narrate their crimes , and to plan fresh ones . ' Why , this is to take us back at one leap to the days of Jonathan Wild the Great ; this is the Newgute with which Fielding was familiar , surely not the pet prison of this century of experimental philanthropy ! Poor John Markham , who
has just rereived the Queea ' s gracious pardon , was but a cheerless guest amid this fiendish crew . He wns not of them , and would not be of them . Rascaldom , of course , rose in its dirty majesty to avenge itself upon the stranger who defied it , and shrank back from the pollution of its very breath . ' John Markham , ' writes Mr . Rose , ' was persecuted and tormented by his associates in Newgate with the most virulent and relentless malignity . ' What a position for an innocent man ! But in course of time the torture of infamous society was exchanged for the torture of absolute seclusion . It was to Millbank that Markham was removed , and there the system is that of ' separate confinement , '— ' a dreadful system , ' as Mr . Rose adds in his own name . He was locked up in his cell from half-past five at niglit until
six o ' clock in the morning ' , without liearing the sound of a human voice . Mr . Rose then tells ua how John Markham was affected during this period . 'Ho had parted with all his ready money and many of his things for his defence ; he had a wile . and child 5 they were utterly destitute ; she parted with every stick of furniture and every rag of clothing during his imprisonment , and many u clay was without a meal of victuals , and now , in agony unutterable , lie often thought of her , and how alio was existing . ' Such was the case of tho innocent man to whom society lias graciously extended ita pardon . This , however , wn . s not all . From Millbank , Markham was removed to Pentonvillo ; for he was to have a tasto of every expedient which tho ingenuity of modern philanthropists has devised for the reformation
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DESTRUCTION OF OLD ROCHESTER BRIDGE . The destruction by the Royal Engineers of the first portion of old Rochester Bridge—a structure which has stood for upwards of four centuries—took place on Tuesday , under the generaldirection of Colonel H . Sandham ,-Director of the Royal Engineers' establishment at Brompton Barracks , Chatham . Major-General Sir Harry Jones , and several military and scientific gentlemen , together with a large concourse of the public , were present ; and all passed off -without any accident . " On the 24 th of November , " says the account in the Times , " a body of Sappers and Miners , under the command of Captain H ; Schaw , Royal Engineers , wlio has ever since very ably superintended the undertaking , commenced making the necessary preparations for
destroying the bridge . For this purpose the engineers commenced sinking three shafts on different piers , which were excavated to the respective depths of 2 i feet , 21 feet , and 15 feet , it being found impossible to sink them any deeper owing to the constant breaking in of the water . Each shaft had a mean diameter of ¦ ! feet . As soon as the shafts had been completed to the required depth the working parties commenced driving a series of galleries , leading in horizontal directions from each shaft , in which to deposit the gunpowder used in blowing up the structure . The portion of the old bridge destroyed to-day was one of the large piers , near the Strood side , from which the arches and superstructure had been previously removed by manual labour . This
pi « r was 36 feet in length , 21 feet wide , and 13 feet in depth , and was calculated to contain considerably more tliau 12 , 000 cubic feet of masonry , weighing 800 tons . From the shaft which had been excavated in this pier sprang six galleries—viz ., two of 10 feet in length , from the extremity of each of which branched at right angles another gallery of 3 feet in length ; there were also two other galleries diverging from the central shaft , each 4 feet 1 ) inches in length , the galleries being each 4 feet deep by 3 feet in breadth , to enable the Sappers and Miners to traverse them . The weight of gunpowder required to be used in destroying this pier was 3001 b ., consisting of four charges , each of 601 b ., and two lesser charges , each of 301 b ., one charge being placed in each gallery . The powder wua contained in tin cases
enclosed in -wooden boxes . The Royal Engineers were engaged at tho old bridge during the whole of last night in preparing the galleries , after which tho powder was deposited in the places selected . The operation of ' tamping' then commenced , which , consisted of surrounding the charges with materials , to render the explosion more effective , and stopping up tho head of each of tho galleries with wot clay . The wires for firing tho charges were- laid in -wooden troughs , to prevent accidents , and , a communication having been eil ' ccted with each gallery , tho charges were exploded simultaneously by means of the voltaic battery , -which was under the direction of Captain C K . Cumberland , Iloyal Engineers . The only sight visible to the spectators waa a violent upheaving of tho water , und the disappearance of tho large pier . "
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Jantjaby 17 , 1857 ] THE LEADEB , 53
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 17, 1857, page 53, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2176/page/5/
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