Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 2nd October 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1025, Untitled Article

Page 1025
Page 9
9 of 32

On this page

  • Text (4)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      went to hold a large electioneering meeting in the capital and M . Olozaga , the chairman of the central Progre ' ssista election committee , has issued invitations to it . AUSTRIA . Letters from Vienna give some details relative to the laws which are to regulate the provincial representation in Austria , and the communal statutes . The former will be of two kinds , a general provincial assembly « nd provincial committees' ! The general assembly will only be called together tinder particular circumstances , on the convocation of the Emperor , and will not exercise any action on the affairs of the province . The provincial committees will be divided into two parts , grand and lesser , and the condition of admission will differ according to the provinces . Every member must possess landed property in the province to an amount fixed for each . These bodies will also be convoked by the Emperor . The lesser committee will be permanent , and will he presided over by the governor of the province . These laws cannot be promulgated until after the return to Vienna of M . de Bach , Minister of the Interior . The Austrian Government is actively engaged in fortifying the harbours it possesses in the Adriatic , and in increasing its naval forces . Advices from Vienna confirm previous reports touching the projects of Austria for the increase of lier maritime power , and cite the fact that the young Archduke Louis Victor has entered the naval service as lieutenant of a frigate . The Military Gazette of Vienna declares that the journals -which have published an account of projected fortifications round the capital have been the victims of n mvcfifrmtinn .

      conspiracy had been formed to weaken the Government , and to recal on democratic principles the family of the old princes of Servia . No means are neglected to excite the population , and at this moment a ^ petition is being signed , praying that a grand meeting of the people , in which all shall appear armed , may be allowed . A letter from the island of Candia , dated the loth ult ., describes the country as being in a very disturbed statel The new Governor has not been able to carry out the instructions he received at Constantinople . He endeavoured to arrest some of the chiefs in the late disturbances , but his agents were forced to desist , in consequence of the resistance they experienced . Armed Turks have even dared to traverse the capital of the island , vociferating " Death to the Christians ! " Some of them were arrested , but were immediately released , so great is Mussulman influence .

      The commission entrusted with the regulation of the Montenegrin frontier has carried the fruit of its labours to Constantinople . It is there to pass into the hands of the ambassadors , to serve as a basis for a convention between Turkey and the Great Powers , which is to put a stop to all further contests between Montenegrin and Turk , arising out of disputed territory . __ , Accounts from Tunis state that the financial position of that Turkish province presents a pleasing contrast with the penury which exists at Constantinople . Since

      the death of Achmed Bey the treasury , which was then empty , is now full , and the public debt has been paid off . The present Bey has promised all his subjects , Turks , Moors , Arabs , and Jews , that they shall be all equal in the eye of the law . There are no more arbitrary taxes levied , and the customs duties are nearly nominal . His army has been reduced from 25 , 00 () to 6000 men . He has organised a municipal council in his capital , which he has endowed with landed property and cash to defrav its first expenses .

      ITALY . The negotiations between the Holy See and the Grand Duchy of Baden for a concordat have been broken off , the Holy See refusing to submit to the conditions which that Protestant Government wishes to place , on the hierarchal influence of the Pope in its country . As Baden contains a catholic university , that of Freiburg , the affair is rather a serious one for the Holy See . The points on which the rupture has taken place are not yet knowTi . " ' ~ ¦ The election of the new Regents of the little Republic of San Marino lately took place . They are—Philip Belluzzi and Pasquale Marucci , both lawyers . Their names were drawn by lot .

      RUSSIA . The Amoor River , which now forms the boundary of the Chinese and Russian empires , can be made navigable through the whole of Eastern Siberia , nearly half-way to St . Petersburg , and its embouchure is sheltered by the island of Saghalien . By means of this river Russia has ^ speedy access to the Japan and Yellow Seas . Steamers are already plying on it , and it maybe the medium of an extensive commerce . It was up the Amoor River that a Russian fleet effectually escaped from the English and French naval squadrons during the Crimean war . A letter from St . Petersburg states that the Grand Duke Constantine is about to make an excursion in the Mediterranean , in command of a portion of the Russian fleet . w It is announced that telegraphic messages in French " or German can be received at the stations at Simpheropol , Nicoiaieff , and Krementschouck . SWEDEN " . Letters from Stockholm state . that the cholera is raging there . Up to the 18 th ult . there had been altogether 511 cases , and 217 deaths . The authorities had ordered that the dead from cholera should be buried beyond thecity walls . . BELGIUM . A large meeting of French refugees is about to be held in Brussels , if the Government consent , with a view of consulting as to the means of obtaining work for the great number of them who are suffering much distress . The Duchess de Brabant is officially announced to be aerain Drecnant .

      PRUSSIA . The New Prussian Gazette , of the 25 th ult ., announces that the King will make a journey to the Tyrol nnd . perhaps to Italy , and that his Majesty will start during this month , " The premier , Von Manteuffel , carries to "Warsaw , where he has followed the Prince of Prussia , the King ' s signature to the arrangement , which has now been effected , concerning the conditions of the regency . The Landtag , the present one , is to bo convoked once more , and is to meet on the 19 th inst . Private letters say the King is to leave for the Tyrol on the 10 th . The Prince of Prussia was to leave Warsaw on the 27 th ult . for Baden . Seizures of newspapers huve taken place , on account of leading articles on the regencjjojuestion . This time the old-established journal called Voss ' s Gasette , a very widely-read and usually very dull paper , is the object of the police anger . The public excitement is very groat . Difficulties of a financial nature havo interfered with the settlement of the regency . Tho Prince of Prussia ' s wholo annual revenue is estimated at about 80 , 000 £ a year , a sum sufficiently handsome for tho first subject of tho kingdom , and worth a good deal more than a similar amount would go for in England , but inadequate to defray tho expenses of a regal establishment . Tho Princo therefore required the possession of the crown domains to bo transforrod to him on accepting tho ofRco of Rogont . Tho Queen was unwilling to agree to this arrangement , which would leavo her husband and herself virtually dependent upon tho Prince ' s generosity for tho amount of their annual income .

      SARDINIA , Tho great Russian Stoam . Navigation Company took ' possession on tho 20 th ult . of tho establishment at Villa- franca * granted to thorn by tho Sardinian Government . TURKEY . Sorvia is at preaont in a otate of groat agitation , A

      Untitled Article

      CHINA . We extract the following remarks from the Overland China Mail of the 22 nd July—which in turn quotes from the China Mail—having reason to believe that they are well grounded : — Hong-Kong Corruption . —Perhaps the worst charge which can be brought against Hong-Kong with any degree of truth , is a resemblance to that ill bird which had no respect for its own nest . The colony has got into a suspicious , morbid , unhealthy state , in which every man is apt to suspect his neighbour ; the most ordinary occurrences are seen in a blue sulphuric light ; and several respectable and decent , not to say ordinary , people , are laboriously trying to cut one another ' s throats ( figuratively speaking , ) , by proving each other guilty of great crimes which would at least entitle them to a degree of respect which most of them have yet to prove that they deserve . For this state of matters a variety of causes are responsible . In small isolated communities , where there is scarcity of proper excitement and amusement , and no grent pressure of competition as at home , tho natural instinct for strife is gratified chiefly by assaulting the character of one's neighbour , or else offering devout attention to his wife . Hong-Kong being in tho first stnge , officials hero are especially liablo to assault ; and tho evil has boon aggravated by tho conduct of a portion of tho mercantile community , who afiect to take no interest in tho affairs of tho colony , and who take advantage of this affectation to shirk their duties and gratify their resentments . Some of tho local editors have been dismissed ( not always fairly ) from Government employ , and so are ever ready to see a dead man under overy official bed . Some of thorn , also , have

      not till the tables are turned against him shall we basely run him down . Lastly , as a punishment for its many sins , an affliction has been sent upon Hong-Kong , in the shape of an official such as might make all officialdom shudder to its inmost tape , for he combines the simplicity and honesty ( if not the purity ) of an angel , with the ferocity of a demon , the recklessness of a lunatic , and the tact of a civilised man . . . . . Official corruption is only possible when the community is corrupt or grossly neglects its duties . If the colony , to illustrate ,

      had taken the least pains to provide several properly qualified agents for the government of its Chinese subjects , it would never have been dependent in this matter on one man . One-tenth of the energy which has been expended in mere stupid abuse , could have coerced any local government to take the necessary steps to place affairs on a right footing . The Caldwell Commission is now almost at the close of its inquiry , the defence of the accused having been read yesterday , and when its proceedings become open to public discussion we shall probably return to the subject entered on above . official

      Now , the meaning of all this is , that the world , petty as it is , in her Majesty ' s settlement of Hong-Kong , has been occupied for many weeks , if not months , prior to the sailing of the last mails , in the prosecution of deadly civil feuds , not without detriment to the public service ? and we believe that the Colonial Office has been appealed to to investigate charges and recriminations of a painful nature , forwarded home by some of the combustible natures whoni fortuitous concourse has coupled together on that wretched island for their own inflammation by mere interattrition . Tbe materials of the colonial service salad should , indeed , be more judiciously distributed . If private letters and public journals received from Hong-Kong during the last fewmonths can be credited , that settlement must have been allotted a sadly undue proportion of the pepper and vinegar .

      tarried so long in tho East as to havo lost sight of tho Occidental distinction between truth and falsehood , and are in a fair way of becoming Eastern saints ; for of them it may bo truly said , that they havo counted neither houses nor lunda , ships nor lorchus , gold nor reputation , as at all comparable- with tho pleasures of a crooked path , and that when they enter into paradiso it will be only after passing through groat tribulations , Again , tho reins of Government have not been hold tightly of late , and officials have plunged into disputes which have hoen carried , wo fancy , rather farther than any o . f tho parties expected at tho outm * t : so far has this evil gone , wo havo even hoard it questioned whether our friend Mr . Dunn or Sir John Kowriiig is tho Governor of Hong-Kong ; and wo need scarcely say that wo havo stood up for Dunn , bocauso ho has had tho boat of it as yet , and

      Untitled Article

      INDIA . Telegraphic despatches received this week state that on the 26 th of August Sir Hope Grant sent a force across the Goomtee at Sultanpore , and occupied three villages in his front . The fugitive rebels from Gwalior , after being defeated on the J 4 th August by General Roberts , retreated towards Chumbul . They left some seven-hundred killed on the field : our loss was very trifling . A further despatch says the Gwalior rebels , after their defeat on the 14 th of August , fled in a south-easterly direction , giving out that it was their intention to enter the Bombay Presidency via Mundisore . However , on finding this line of retreat was menaced by the force from Neemuch under Colonel Franks , they turned . north towards Bheelwarra . On the 28 th of August they reached Jalza Pattern , which they surrendered after some daj-s' fighting with the Rana ' s troops . They obtained possession of the town , which they have plundered . The Rana fled , and is now in Colonel Lookhart ' s camp at Soosneen . Soosneen is fifty-five miles north of Oojein .

      A column under Colonel Hope left Indore on the 3 rd ult . to support the one which had been previously despatched under the command of Colonel Lockhart , her Majesty's 92 nd Highlanders . The rebels are in full possession of Patteen , repairing defences and throwing up breastworks on the roads approaching . The fort of Pocurce , after thirty hours' shelling , surrendered to General Napier on the 24 th of August . A message , dated Kurrachee , September 4 , says that at noon on the 31 st ult . the 69 th and 62 nd Native

      Infantry and the Native Artillery , all disarmed , broke out and tried to seize the guns and arms of the Fusiliers . They were repulsed , great numbers slain , and the rest driven from the cantonment to jungles towards the river . Our loss was four men of the Royal Artillery , and , we regret to say , Captain Mules of the Fusiliers . Major Hamilton heard of tho intended outbreak in time to warn tho military authorities . Ho had , with tho Police Battalion , already arrested 90 of the fugitives . Tho locality in which this affair occurred is not clearly indicated by tho telegram ^ -tho nanie given is " Moortas . "

      Untitled Article

      AMERICA . The Africa has brought intelligence from New York to tho 15 th ult . Tho excitement in regard to tho electric cablo had nearly died out , though tho news of its temporary failure had not reached tho States . Tho yellow f % ver was etill raging at Now Orleans . All was quiot at tho Quarantine , a good fooling existing between tho military and tho rebels . Tho news from Salt Lake- reports all quiot , except that tho Indiana wore rather troublesome . From San Francisco wo loarn that a firo at Sonora on tho 8 th ult . consumed 40 , 000 dollars' worth of property . Tho Presbyterian church was destroyed . Largo numbers of tho advonturera woro roturninff from Fraser River . Thoro had been a groat destruction of property by flro at Georgetown , El Dorado county . Gonorul Harnov was to euil for tho Pacific on the 20 fcU instant . Ho will havo a foroo of about 8000 men when all tho contingentd arrlvo , and oxpQOta to makq short

      Untitled Article

      Vo 4 , 4 5 October 2 , 1858 . 1 THE LEADER , 1025

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 2, 1858, page 1025, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2262/page/9/