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Leader (1850-1860), 2nd January 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 5

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      Direct Railroad From London To Calcutta....

      skirt the shores of that bay , and then follow the coast of the Indian Ocean , and thus continue , through the Valley of the Indus , into the very heart of India . This would be a real Overland Route '—one which must be carried out at no very distant period—and which would be of incalculable advantage to our great Indian Empire , as well as t » England and to the world , and I would at once put my project into execution if I could obtain a concession for the line , guaranteed by England , in concert with the other great powers interested . I am convinced such a work of public utility would yield an immense return on money invested , and on such conditions 1 am ready to undertake the completion of a through railway communication direct from London to Calcuttaand to find all the capital for the same .

      , Science is ever progressing , ingenuit y is constantly at work , and in modern engineering there is no obstacle , however great , that cannot be overcome by time and money , and the very fact of having such a work to accomplish would lead to new inventions , more extraordinary than any of the neue Erfindungen we have yet seen , but which would suggest themselves as naturally on emergency as the Britannia Tube , the Crystal Palace , or the Submerged Cable . Trusting that your Lordship will see the high importance of this suggestion , and the interest that the British Government would have in its accomplishment , and at the same time , as an engineer , assuring your Lordship

      that extraordinary as is my project it is eminently practicable , and in the hope that you will therefore bring your powerful aid to bear , so as to enable me to achieve so gigantic , but so useful an undertaking , both by explaining my views to the Cabinet of which your Lordship is so distinguished a member , and in persuading foreign Governments to join in adopting my plan , and likewise in inserting clauses in any treaty that may be made hereafter with Persia , so as to facilitate my great object , —I have the honour to be , my Lord , your Lordship ' s most obedient servant , WM . H . VlLLJERS SANKEY , January 10 th , 1857 . Civil Engineer .

      No. 106, January 2, 1858.] The Leader, 5...

      No . 106 , January 2 , 1858 . ] THE LEADER , 5 _

      The Orient. China. The American And Russ...

      THE ORIENT . CHINA . The American and Russian Commissioner has Arrived at Hong-Kong . The fleet was about to move into Canton River at the last dates . The French fleet will co-operate with the English . Operations against Canton are about to be commenced , and Yeh has issued an address to his ' braves . The rebellion appears to be spreading , and to have gained the province in which Shanghai is situated . The persecutions of the Chinese against the Christians are increasing . CABUL . The Cabul advices of the Lahore Chronicle are down to the 25 th of October . Their correspondent writes that " on the 15 th of October a letter was received from Golam Hyder Khan , at Kandahar , who informed Dost Mahomed that he had received intelligence from Herat , to the effect that Mahomed Akrcem Khan , of Oochuekzye , had seized a number of his tribe and sent them prisoners to Herat . The tribe had consequently collected and attacked Mahomed Akreem Khan , at Subazwar , killing many of his men . On hearing of this , Hooltan Ahmed Jan , Governor of Herat , pent five hundred horsemen and two guns to the assistance of Akreem Khan . " There haa been considerable fighting between the Turkomans and the Persians .

      Kovrr . The steam-transports Sultan and Nemesis have arrived at Suez , carrying different detachments to tho East , under the command of Colonel Mackirdy . Out of the 1100 men forming the detachments , only four were on the sick list , and these , it is affirmed in the despatch from Alexandria which brings the news , are not laid up with any serious indisposition . The arrangements for the transit from Southampton to Suez have been most satisfactorily carried out . Tho East India Company have also made arrangements , it is stated , for the passage of a thousand men a month across the Isthmus for Bombay and Calcutta .

      PERSIA . Tho Shah of Persia ( says a telegraphic despatch from Marseilles ) hns invited the various ambassadors to be present at tho coronation of his son , in whose favour he intends to resign . The English Minister , it is said , him refused to attend , making a reservation in favour of tho rights of another hoir to tho throne , now a refugee ul Bagdad .

      Jl'ublic Mketinos. Aiu. Tkackiiluy And T...

      JL'UBLIC MKETINOS . AIU . TKACKIilUY AND TU 1 C COMMERCIAL TKAVRI . iT . KKH . TMl { rTH"AOKBnAY-pre 8 l ( led ~ lnst ^ anturday-at ^ the'annual festival of tho Commercial Travellers' Schools , hold at the London Tavern . The oininont novelist made an admirable speech , full of humour and good fooling . After alluding to tho commercial distresses and tho commercial dishonesty of tho present period , Mr . Thackeray aaid ho wished that gentlemen of tho literary profusion hud an institution lor tho education of their children as good as that tho foundation of which they wore then celebrating

      As it is , he remarked , the young ones of the literary Paterfamilias are generally victimized by some schoolmaster of the Mr . Squeers order . He mentioned the case of a literary friend earning 1000 / . a year , who the other day received a bill amounting to 75 * . for the half-year ' s schooling and boarding of two little boys , of the ages of six or seven . " Now , think of this poor man . earning his moderate 1000 t a year , out of which he has his life assurance , his income-tax , and his house-rent to pay , with three or four poor relations to support—for , doubtless , we are all blessed with these appendages ( a laugh ) —and wilh the heavy bills of his wife and daughters for millinery and mantua-making , to meet , especially at their present enormous rates and sizes—( renewed laughter )

      —think of this over-burdened man having to pay 751 . for one half-year's schooling of his little boys ,. ( Hear , hear . ) Let the gentlemen of the press , then , try to devise some scheme which shall benefit them , as you have undoubtedly benefited by what you have accomplished for yourselves . " As a proof of the business habits of commercial travellers , Mr . Thackeray related an amusing anecdote connected with his last visit to America : — " The Africa was steaming out of Liverpool one fine blowy October day , and was hardly over the bar , when , animated by those peculiar sensations not uncommon to landsmen at the commencement of a sea voyage , I was holding on amidships . ( A laugh . ) Up comes a quick-eyed , shrewd-looking little man who holds on by the next rope to me , and

      says , ' Mr . Thackeray , I am the representative of the house of Appleton and Co ., of Broadway , New York—a most liberal and enterprising publishing firm , who will be most happy to do business with you . ' I don't know that we then did any business in the line thus delicately hinted at , because at that particular juncture we were both of us called , by a heavy lurch of the ship , to a casting-up of accounts of a far less agreeable character . " ( Laughter ?) He had parted that day from a very famous traveller , belonging to a celebrated publishing firm in Printing House-square—Mr . William Howard Russell . " He is now on his way to Marseilles . In another month he will be in India ( cheers ) , and he will see the shattered gates around which the brave young engineers died at

      their duty , and through which >\ uson and his gallant comrades passed over heaps of enemies , until they reached the Imperial Palace of Delhi , in which , amid shouts of victory , the health of Queen Victoria was drunk . That , gentlemen , was a melancholy dinner of his yesterday ^—his Christmas dinner , the last meal He was to take here at home . The little children sat round the table on that sad evening , and the poor wife must have gazed at them with a wistful eye . But now the parting is over , and this day he has taken his first step on his long journey . But for his children , he might have been among us now , gentlemen , as he was last year . He separates from them in order to do his duty—in order to toil that thev may

      be comfortable—in order to earn the means of one day coming back to them , and seeing them growing up around him educated and happy . " { Hear , hear . ) Mr . Thackeray concluded by drinking prosperity to the schools established by the commercial travellers . Various complimentary toasts followed , and a liberal subscription in aid of the charity was made by the company present . The treasurer stated that the building erected by the society at Pinner , which contains one hundred boys and forty-seven girls , has now been paid for and freed from mortgage , but that , while the annual expenditure of the institution amounts to 5000 / ., the gross income is only 4827 / .

      State Of Trade. We Have Still To Report ...

      STATE OF TRADE . We have still to report a very stagnant condition of trade in tho chief manufacturing towns , though in some there are a few symptoms of reviving activity . The Birmingham gun-makers are moderately active upon Government contracts , and two or three of the largest brass-foundry establishments of the town are doing a fair amount of business . The Nottingham trades , too , are a little more active , and some signs of returning confidence have been noted at Bradford and Halifax . Still , during the whole of tho week ending laBt Saturday , the prevailing feeling was one of gloom , based on the small amount of business doing , and tho numbers of artisans out of employ . The South Staffordshire colliers , who have been out on strike fur some time past , have accepted tho reduced wages offered by tho employers , and resumed work . This result was effected by an interview between some of tho largo colliery owners and a deputation of tho moii . Tho operative chaimnakcrs near Cradloy have turned out on account of a reduction of wagos , and have committed some excesses . A special meeting of the shareholders of tho Nortliiimberhuul and Durham District Bank was hold last Saturday at NcwcutUlc-on-Tync , when it was unanimoubly—ugiood ~ - ' . thut-tho-, conipany ^ -bo _ rogibt (; red _ aa _ uJ company other than a limited company , under tho Joint-Stock Banking Companies Act , 1857 . '

      " In tho general business of tho port of London during tho , week ending last Saturday , " aaya tho Time « , " there haa been litilo change Tho numbor of ships reported inward was 196 , including 89 with cargoes of corn , rice , flour , & c , 19 with sugar , and 4 with fruit ; tho number of ships cleared outward wai 94 , including

      17 in ballast , and those on the berth loading for the Australian colonies amount to 56 . " The failures this week include—Messrs . Oliver and Sons , largely engaged in the lace trade , Nottingham ; Messrs . William and George Grossley , cotton-spinners , Elland , near Halifax ; Messrs . Crossley and Leeming , machine-makers , of Southowram Bank-bottom ; Mr . John Mills , Haley-hill , Halifax , a machine-maker in a small way of business ; Mr . Greenslade , corn-factor , of Bristol ( an old established house ); three suspensions in the woollen trade at Wakefield ; Messrs . Lurton , Hootoon , and Co ., an old house of good repute in the Manchester trade , with liabilities for about 32 , 000 /; and Messrs . Hinton , Brothers , and Co ., Italiam merchants , of old Broad-street .

      Ireland. Sepoyism En The County Of Down....

      IRELAND . Sepoyism en the County of Down . —Under this heading , the Northern Whig reports a case of criminal assault on a girl at the Dundonald railway station . The circumstances are of a peculiarly atrocious character , the assault having been committed by three men , who repeated the offence , and kept the girl fastened in a room for several hours . They intoxicated themselves with whisky , and appear at length to have wrought themselves into a state of maniacal frenzy . They have been apprehended , and committed for trial .

      Military Emeute . —A series of very disgraceful fights have occurred between the Shropshire Militia and the 2 nd battalion of the Coldstream Guards , on the one hand , and the 30 th and 55 th Regiments of the Line , o » the other , all forming part of the garrison of Dublin . The disturbances spread , at intervals , over three days j but they are now suppressed . The Moore Tea Frauds . — It is whispered that a patient investigation made by the Customs authorities into the late tea frauds has ended in the discovery of the fact that tea has been sold by several houses in Dublin ,. besides that of the fugitive Moore , without the duty having been paid .

      America. The American Papers Appear Jusf...

      AMERICA . The American papers appear jusf-now to be chiefly engaged with the approaching war with the Mormons . The expedition is suffering severely from cold , and the cattle are dying very fast . The Mormons are said—but on doubtful , authority—to have-captured all the provisions , mules , and horses belonging to Colonel Johnston ' s army , so that the troops were absolutely obliged to march forthwith on Salt Lake City , or they would have perished by starvation in the mountains . The Mormons have fortified the . passes , and plunderedand murdered emigrants . They are reported to havedetermined on making a desperate stand , and on hoisting the English flag , if necessary , " which they conceive will animate all those of English birth ( of whom there are many ) to fight to the very last . They state that they are in constant secret communication with the English Government , and that England would send an army to the rescue , if she could find any possible avenue ! This preposterous story will of course deceive no one . Dr . Hurt , the only United States officer remaining in Utah alter the flight of the other officials , has got off , and reached Colonel Johnston ' s camp on the Sweet Water . He woa aided in his ' escape by a band of Utah Indians .

      Walker , the Filibuster , and one hundred and fifty men , landed at Punta Arenas , in Nicaragua , on the 25 th of November , without tho least attempt having been made to prevent them , although the steamer Fashion , in which they had arrived from Mobile , passed under the stem of tho United States sloop-of-war Saratoga . Only ten men exhibited themselves on the Fashion ' s deck when passing the aloop-of-war , and the nature of her freight was not suspected . It is stated that Lieutenant Cilloy , of the Saratoga , who was on shore with two men , was ordered off by Walker , who , upon his telling him that ho was an American citizen and had as good a right there as himself , replied that he had one hundred and fifty men to two , and that if ho did not leave immediately ho would arrest him . Tho Filibustering chief is aaid to be short of provisions , and it is anticipated that ho and his band will be starved out in six weeks .

      After tho men woro landed , tho I ' ashion proceeded to Aspinwall , where Commodore Paulding , of the United States frigato Wabush , attempted to seize her ; but , finding her papers correct , ho did not feel justified in taking any further steps . Mr . Jams Slado , of tho firm of Laurence Stono and Co ., Boston , has attempted to commit suicide . His mind was much distressed by tho difficulties in which his firm had been involved , A Htcainboat lwis been burnt on Red L'ivcr . Fifteen to twenty personB perished . Severn ! of tho dams in California h « vo burst , and . ii ^ Uc ) Lda |( UHgoJj , aa ^ wn _ jiojiiiO ^ Sonic convicts at San Francisco wore unloading' a wood "" barge , " wlfo'rit"drlftodaway . Tho guard , thinking they wore endeavouring to escape , fired a charge of grape at them , killing three . Business in tho various parts of tho United States continues to recover from tho depression caused by tho

      lato panic . A horrible narrative has been published In the American papore with respect to tho application of Lynch law

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 2, 1858, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02011858/page/5/