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Leader (1850-1860), 26th December 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1228, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      sepoys never were and never will be fit to cope with European bayonets , or to face for hours a destructive fire of artillery without wavering . In a foreign , war , even say in Persia or in Egypt , we must always rely for the masses of our army on the British race . But for light cavalry I know not where we are to look except to India , and I believe that the Indian Irregular Cavalry , if properly paid and organized , would be found far superior in both men and horses—the men superior in daring and dexterity , the horses in weight , swiftness , and endurance- —to the Cossacks of the Czar . Foster the Irregular Cavalry , cut down the Regular Infantry sepoys to a minimum , and above all never allow any European officer to have a command or to have the least official

      intercourse with aepoya who is not well qualified , by a knowledge of their language and experience of their customs , to exercise supreme and summary authority ; and let us have no more cadetships . Dam up the stream « f patronage , and let us select from the vast superfluity of very raw material we have in the country already . We have many more English officers both civil and military in the country than we ought to have . But both this and the subject of the more extensive employment of natives in the higher grades of the public service are topics of such weighty importance in all their bearings , that I must keep them to form the theme of a future letter . E B .

      Untitled Article

      ACCIDENTS AND SUDDEN DEATHS . An express train from Euston-square broke down on Friday week about five miles from Hahdborough . The guard immediately returned along the line ( which is there single ) to stop the next train—an ordinary one . He carried his lamp , but the night was foggy , and the expected train passed him without seeing the signal to stop . The consequence was that it ran into the brokendown express , and a good many persons were injured . Two trains have met on the South Staffordshire and

      Stour "Valley Junction line . A passenger train , when about a hundred yards from the Dudley Port station , came into collision with a coal train which was about to be shunted . The driver of the latter was half-an-hour before his time ; and the result of his culpable neglect of orders was that the engine and tender of his train ¦ were thrown off the line , and that about twenty persona in the passenger train were a good deal hurl . There was no fatal case . The drivers of the two trains saved themselves by jumping off .

      A child has been killed at the Bankside saw mills , by the fall of a high stack of timber . . A man , his wife , and child have been burnt to death at a house in Anchor-street , Shoreditch , which was consumed by fire last Saturday morning . On the night of the same day , two children perished in a fire which broke out in "U pper Byranstone-street , Edgware-road . A woman also has been burnt to death at a fire which broke out on Monday in Bermondsey .- —The inquest on the bodies in the first of these cases has led to the apprehension of Mr . Haxman , the tenant of the house , on a charge of arson . The house and property were insured for 300 / . An adjournment of the inquest has been agreed on . Harraan has been brought before the Wor-¦ hip-street magistrate and remanded .

      Three men were a few days ago excavating some earth between Bromley and Beckenham , when it suddenly gave way , burying them beneath . They were extricated as soon as possible ; but it is doubtful whether they can live . A large mass of rock fell like an avalanche on Monday week on some men who were working a fresh opening in the Dorothea Slateworks , IN " orth Wales . It was a task of great labour , in which blasting was frequently resorted to , to remove the fragments so as to get at the dead bodies , which were not reached till between four and five days after the catastrophe . Five men were killed ; and all , with the exception of one , leave children . The entire fall is estimated at several thousand tons .

      A portable steam thrashing machine , carried about the country near Thorne , Yorkshire , by a man named Johnson , has burst while at -work on a farm . Johnson himself was killed on the spot , and so was the son of the farmer on whose premises the machine was being worked . The two sons of a neighbouring farmer were seriously injured , and a haystack waa completely blown over . Johneon appears to have ignorantly screwed down the safety valve , and to have increased the fire , when the steam was very strong .

      Two boys were playing last Saturday near a lime kiln at Broughton Low Houses , in the neighbourhood of Cockermouth . One of th « m stepped on the top , and instantly sank into the burning mass . A largo body of flame burst forth , preventing any one going to the poor child's assistance ; and so he perished , absolutely before the eyes of the workmen . Nothing but his bonea was recovered . When his mother was told of the accident , she rushed to the kiln , and would havo thrown herself in had she not been restrained .

      Untitled Article

      STATE OF TRADE . Business continued as stagnant as ever during the weok ending last Saturday . Fresh failures occurred ; manufacturers hold back ; orders were almost entirely suspended ; largo numbers of working men remained unemployed in the greut centres of industry ; and in the iron

      districts of South Staffordshire forty-seven furnaces , which had bsen blown out at the commencement of the panic , continued idle . Unfortunately , there is no immediate prospect of a brighter state of things . The colliers of South Staffordshire are at issue with their employers with respect to a reduction of wages . The disputants have had an interview ; and there seems to be some prospect of an amicable settlement . —A strike has taken place at Middlesborough , and the men have been rather riotous ; but the arrival of a detachment of the 4 th Dragoons from York put a stop to the disturbances .

      The failures this week are—Messrs . Charles Nicholson and Co ., warehousemen ; Messrs . Lloyd Brothers , picture dealers and exporters to the United States ; Mr . William Reid , of Edinburgh , wholesale grocer , with liabilities to the amount of 20 , 000 ? . or 30 , 000 / . ; Messrs . Pinkerton and Thompson , merchants , of Dublin ; Mr . W . C . Haigh , of Bradford , largely engaged in the woollen trade ; Messrs . Hands , Marcher , and Co ., Dutch merchants at Hull ; and Messrs . Stevenson , Vermehren , and Scott , merchants at Newcastle . The Trade and Navigation Returns for the month ending the 30 th of November , and for the eleven months

      terminating on the same day , were published on Thursday . The declared value of articles of British produce exported last month was 8 , 285 , 000 * . as compared with 10 , 272 , 000 / . in the corresponding month of last year , and with 8 , 759 , 000 * . in 1855 . On the eleven months there is no falling off . The exports for the last eleven months amounted to 11 , 500 , 7000 / ., compared with 105 , 845 , 000 / . in 1856 , and 86 , 847 , 000 / . in 185 f ) . In imports , the principal articles for home consumption decreased during- the last month . The Navigation returns exhibit a steady increase in the total number and tonnage of vessels entering and clearing .

      Untitled Article

      IRELAND . Mr . Justick Jackson died on Sunday , leaving a vacant seat in the Dublin Court of Common Pleas . Mb . Smith O'Brien has delivered a lecture on Selfreliance-before the Limerick Mechanics ' Institute . He spoke very sensibly of the necessity for Irishmen looking to their own efforts , and not to extraneous help , for raising their country out of a state of mere provincialism ; and he exhorted bus auditors not to give way to the tendency , now too common , of seeking situations under Government .

      Tub Bank of Ireland . —The directors have just declared a dividend to be made to the proprietors of hank stock of six per cent ., free of income-tax , for the halfyear ending the 25 th inst ., and which is to be payable on and after the 1 st of January , 1858 . The last price of this stock was 235 . From a statement made by the Governor it appeared that after payment of this dividend there -would remain a sum of about 23 , 000 / ., according to the estimate of profits for the half-year , which balance the directors recommended should be added to the rest or reserve fund , it being prudent , in their opinion , in times like the present , to strengthen this reserve . — Times .

      Thb Great Slamder Trial . — -The case of Strevens v . Campion has continued through the greater part of the present week to occupy the attention of Judge , jury , and lawyers , in tho Dublin Court of Exchequer . The whole story of the murder has thus been again unfolded ; and one day Mr . Campion was so overcome by his feelings 'Jin . relating some particulars of the deed , that he was removed for a time into a private room . According to the latest news from Dublin , the trial lias not yet been brought to a conclusion .

      Untitled Article

      AMERICA . The chief new 3 from the United States this week is the Presidential message which was delivered to Congress on the 8 th inst ., the day the vessel sailed which brought it to England . The vessel arrived at Liverpool on Sunday , and the -whole of the message appeared in the Daily News of the following morning , having been transmitted by . telegraph—the longest ' message' ever sent along the wires in England . The other papers of that day only presented a summary . The President commences by referring to the financial crisis . The principal cause of this is said to he the over-issue of paper money and the existence of Bank credits without a metallic basis , causing excessive stock gambling and over-speculation . Mr . Buchanan suggests that the issue of bills of less denomination than twenty

      or fifty dollars ought to bo prohibited , and that Congress should pass a bankruptcy law to close any bank which shall suspend specie payments . Government will alleviate the sufferings caused by tlio crisis by suspending all public works not at present commenced ; and the President hopes to find no difficulty in contracting a small loan . Foreign relations are described as b * sing on the whole in a satisfactory condition ; but Mr . Buchanan regrota that so much time was loat in discussing the clauses of the Clayton-Bulwor treaty . The Central American negotiations with this country , liowevcr , arc eoid to be progressing satisfactorily . The point at issue has reference to tlio Hay Islands off the coast of Honduras , to winch England has Hought to give a » omiindepondence , while the United States desire to secure the entire sovereignty of the Kopublic of Honduras . Mr .

      Buchanan proposes that the Clayton-Bulwer treatv shall be abolished on account of the diverse interpretations put upon it by his own country and England * [ America , it will be remembered , conceives that the renunciation by the contracting parties of all domination in Central America is retrospective as well as prospective : our Government thinks we are entitled to retain what we already possess . ] The relations of the Republic with Spain are unsatisfactory : the causes of complaint against that country remain in force , and the Spanish Government has not exhibited a friendly bearing- but the new Minister about to depart for Madrid is instructed to arrange affairs in an amicable manner . Authority is asked from Congress to permit the employment of a

      naval and military force to maintain the guarantee of neutrality and protection ; and measures are requested to stop filibustering outrages , which are strongly denounced . Satisfaction will be demanded from Paraguay for certain insults . American Ministers in China have been instructed to occupy a neutral position -with respect to existing hostilities between England and the Celestial Empire ; but will cordially co-operate with the English and French Ministers in all peaceful attempts to secure by treaty those concessions to commerce which the nations of the world have a right to expect . A treaty of friendship and commerce has been concluded at Constantinople between the United States and Persia ; and an appropriation is asked from Congress to cover the

      expense of sending a representative to Teheran . Of the tariff the President says : — "It has been in operation for so short a period of time , and under circumstances so unfavourable to a just development of its results as a revenue measure , that I should regard it 33 inexpedient , at least for the present , to undertake its revision . " The Mormons are thus referred to : — " No wise Government will lightly estimate the efforts which maybe inspired by such frenzied fanaticism as exists among the Mormons in Utah . This is the first rebellion which has existed in our territories , and humanity itself requires that we should put it down in such a measure that it shall be the last . To trifle with it would be to

      encourage it , and so render it formidable . We ought to go there with such an imposing force as to convince these deluded people . that resistance would be in vain , and thus spare the effusion of blood . We can in this manner best convince them that we are their friends , and not their enemies . In order to accomplish this object it will be necessary , according to the estimates of the War Department , to raise four additional regiments , and this I earnestly recommend to Congress . " In referring to the affairs of Kansas , the President asserts the legality of the Lecompton convention , and contends that , though the instructions to Governor Walker were to submit the whole constitution to the

      people , the Lecompton programme will be sufficient , as slavery , the only matter in dispute , is there offered to the popular vote . A territorial government for Arizona , and the construction of a railroad to the Pacific , are recommended . The report of the Secretary of the Treasury recommends that authority be given to the Treasury Department to issue Treasury notes for an amount not exceeding twenty millions , payable within a limited time ,

      at a specified rate of interest ; this authority to be exercised only in case of need . He argues against a high protective tariff ; is in favour of freer commercial intercourse with foreign nations , and of a compulsory bankrupt law ; and recommends a totally different act . from either of those which have hithertofore existed . " It should be , " he says , " for the protection of creditors , not the relief of debtors ; to prevent improper credit , not to pay improvident debts ; compulsory , not voluntary ; and to include corporations and companies . "

      In the Senate , Mr . Douglass ha 3 expressed his dissent from tho President ' s views relative to Kansas ; and other Democrats have sided with him . The President has peremptorily dismissed Robert J . Walker and Frederick P . Stanton from tho Governorship and Secretaryship of Kansas . The cause of the dismissal of Mr . Stanton was the fact of his having issued a proclamation calling a special session of the Lecompton Legislature to meet on the 7 th inst . The anti-slavery party are taking nil possible stops to uphold their opinions . The Mormons are giving more trouble to tlio Federal troops . Some of tho former havo been taken prisoners in a skirmish ; but they have succeeded in capturing six hundred cattle . Tho Indianapolis fugitivo slave case has been decided by tho Judge returning the slave to his master , amidst

      great excitement . The riot on tho Eric railroad has been suppressed . Mr . James M . Crane , of California , has been sent to Washington as the representative of tho people of the Great [ Basin , or Ourson Valley , wlio arc desirous of having that portion of Utah lying nour California erected into a new territory scparuto from the Mormon dominion . Tho Treasury Department at Washington , according to tho correspondent of tho New York Herald , hus suspended payment . Requisitions to tho amount of nearly half a million of dollars were hold in tho department . Tlio samo correspondent states that tho Government lifts received nccouuts of tho capture of a slaver by one of her Muyesty ' B shipB . Out of six hundred slaves , two hundred wero drownod .

      Untitled Article

      1228 THE LEADEK , I No . 405 , December 26 , 1857

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 26, 1857, page 1228, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2223/page/4/