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and Admiral Dundas had no reason to be satisfied with hi * attack at Sebastopol . Will you tell me why Lord Kelson and Lord Collingwood did not attack Toulon or Cadiz ? Neither of them was so strong as Sweaborg or Cronatadt . Why did not Lord Howe , Lord Bridport ; and Lord St . Vincent attack Brest , Lorient , Rochefort , &c ? Because they knew they would have been defeated . Why did the French admiral and myself refuse to attack Sweaborg ? Because we had not means , and because the narrow entrance was blocked up . Had , it been opened ( even without gun-boats ) the allied flags would have been flying on the inner road of Sweaborg . A ship attack on a strong fortress is at all times difficult ; add to that the intricacy of the navigation and bad weather , and it becomes impossible . "
In answer to Sir James Graham ' s assertion , that Sir Charles had stated in May , and again in July , that Sweaborg was unassailable either by sea or land , the latter makes certain statements and quotations from letters written at the time , but puts these forth in so confused a manner that it is not very easy to discover his meaning . It would seem , however , that "he only stated the fortress to be unassailable without the assistance of a greater number of " "—by which we understand him to mean
soldiers . " Had there been 30 , 000 men , " he says , " instead of 10 , 000 , we should have gone to Sweaborg . " Sir Charles , who writes very wratlifully , calls Sir James " this man , " and concludes as follows : " As to keeping my flag up under Sir James Graham , no consideration on earth would have induced me to do it . Ifo officer of honour and character is safe in his hands . I leave him now before the public , accused by me of wilfully perverting my letters and goading me to risk lier Majesty ' s fleet . "
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CONTINENTAL NOTES . THE VIENNA CONFERENCES . The first meeting of the Congress took place on Thursday . There were present one French , two Ottoman , two English , and two Austrian plenipotentiaries . The discussion on the general principles of the basis of the negotiation terminated satisfactorily ^ It is said that the proceedings opened with a pacific speech by Count Buol .
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The Sardinian Government has issued a circular to the foreign ministers at its court , and to its own diplomatic agents abroad , in which it declares war with Eussia , and thus defends itself from the charges of treachery and ingratitude contained in the despatch of Count Nesselrode of which we gave an abstract the week before last : — * ' His Majesty has not seen without painful surprise that while the act of accession , unratified , had not yet any absolute legal value , and was in no ways executory , the Emperor Nicholas , by a note of Count Nesselrode ' s , and in language full of bitterness , taking the initiative in hostilities , has accused him of violating the rights of nations , by sending an expedition to the Crimea without a previous declaration of war , and reproached him with
fargetfulneas of the marks of friendship shown in past timesi by ^ KusiiatoSafdiniar Concerning the pretended violation of the rights of nations , it is sufficient to compare the date of Count Nesselrode ' s circular ( 5 th ( 17 th ) of January last ) with that of the ratification of the act of accession ( 4 th of March ) , to be convinced of the astonishing flippancy with which the Chancellor of the Russian Empire has advanced so grave an accusation , and which is so inappropriate to the Princes of Savoy , iiud , above all , to a Monarch to whom the voice of the whole people has accorded the title of Loyal . As to the reproach of ingratitude , the Emperor Nicholas , instead of recalling the marks of friendship which two of his
predecessors formerly showed towards Sardinia , ought to have recollected that in 1848 , without any personal motive , he withdrew his Minister from the Conrt of Turin , and hastily sent the Sardinian representative at St . Petersburg his passports ; that in 1849 ho refused to receive the letter of notification of the accession to the throne of King Victor Emanuel II ., a refusal highly injurious , which finds few precedents in the history of diplomacy , * and which appears to indicate , on the part of the Czar , the ' strange pretension to interfere in our interior affairs , affecting not to recognise tho transformationnot revolutionary , but legal—which had been made in our political institutions . "
It is said that already nearly 30 , 000 signatures have boon attached to petitions in favour of tho Sardinian Convent Bill . Don Carlos died at Trieste last Saturday . Ho was tho second son of King Charles IV ., and was born on tho 28 th of March , 1788 . On tho death of liis brother , Ferdinand VII ., hia claim to ttio throne gnvo rise to thoso protracted civil wars which arc associated with his name but in 1845 tho deceased Don , who was then in France , abdicated all his rights to the crown of Spain in favour of his oldest son , tho Infante Charles Louis Marie Ferdinand , who took tho title of Count do Montomolino . Owing to t * ho breaking' lip of tho ico on tho Rhine , there have recently been some torriblo inundations in Holland and North Brabant . Houses wore undermined and beaten down ; and , in a village near Dnanoldorf , tho inhabitants had not thno to effect their oscnpo , and many
were in consequence drowned . At some places , people might be seen sitting o " n the roofs of their houses , only just out of reach of the waters and the drifting ice . The church of Veenendaal , being situated on a rising ground , is almost the only building in that locality uninjured by the flood ; and it is" filled by the shelterless victims of the inundation . Dykes . have been broken down , bridges carried away , and the town of Bois-le-Duc completely islanded in water . The King has given a thousand florins towards the relief of the sufferers ; and subscriptions are in progress . that the Committee of the
From Copenhagen we learn Volksthing appointed to examine the late ministers has begun its sittings . The ministers were charged with having illegally exceeded the budget , and arbitrarily spent money not voted by the Diet ; and their defence is , that they felt it their duty , in the present disturbed state of Europe , to put the army and a part of the navy on a war footing . They add , that they did not take the opinion of the Chambers , because they thought it undesirable " to make the preparations then going on known to the public . The committee has resolved to ignore the whole of the sums thus arbitrarily spent , and also to impeach the late Ministry . The Espana states that the printing of the Protestant Bible , -which had been commenced in Madrid had been prohibited by the authorities .
The Spanish Cortes have sanctioned , by a majority of 200 against 12 , the measures introduced by M . Madoz , intended to effect a great reduction of public expenditure . Mdlle . Doudet has been convicted before the Tribunal of Correctional" Police of Paris , of having voluntarily given blows and inflicted personal injuries on the four daughters of Dr . Marsden , and sentenced to two years ' imprisonment , 20 Of . fine , and the costs ; which is the maximum penalty . It will be recollected that she was acquitted upon the charge of manslaughter . The Mpniteur announces that General de Wedell was received on Thursday by the Emperor . A telegraph has-been received at Paris from Constantinople , dated March 10 , which says that Lord Stratford de Kedcliffe is seriously ill .
The journey of the Emperor of the French to the Crimea continues to be the subject of many contradictory rumours . According to some authorities , the idea is given up ; according to others ' he will still infallibly go ; but , at any rate , J ; he date of his departureris unknown . It has been asserted that preparations are being made in Constantinople for his reception . Rumour attributes a sort of death-bed repentance to the Emperor Nicholas , who is said to have told his heir that it was necessary to make peace , even at the cost of reducing the Russian power in the Black "Sea ; that France and England were too strong for Russia ; and that God had humbled him at the close of his life for having carried his pride too high . . The story is evidently a fiction .
The new Emperor Alexander has issued two addresses to his armv , communicating to them the news of his father ' s death , and thanking them for their past services . At the sitting of the Federal Diet at Frankfort , on February 22 , M . de Prokesch von Osten ( the Austrian representative ) made a statement , . with ... respect to the troops assembled and ready to take the field to cover the territories placed under the common protection of the Confederation , in virtue of the resolutions of the 24 th of July and 9 th of December , 1854 . Free-Trade ix America . —The American Congress has passed an act for lessening the duties on imports . About twenty articles which have hitherto paid duty arc now to be admitted free . No doubt is felt that the bill will pass tho Senate .
The Mayor op New York has published a letter denouncing the plan pursued by Belgium , Switzerland , and other European states , of sending over their paupers to America , and leaving them , there helpless . This is ' the more absurd hi the caso of Switzerland , since in that country " a pauper resident in one canton is not permitted to become a resident in another canton . " Efforts have been made to induce the Government to take tho matter in hand , and compel tho offending countries to observe tho laws of nations . A HoHiunLE Ai ' -FAin . —Accounts from the Transvaal Republic announce the return of General Pretorius , after inflicting signal punishment on the Kafir chief
Makapan , for the murder of Fiold-Cornot Potgioter and soven or eight men , and tho massacre of several women , accompanied by circumstances of tho most horrible cruelty . Tho Goncral reports that towards tho end of October his force , united to that of "Commandant-General Potgieter , reached tho subterranean caverns in which tho onomy had entrenched themselves . Tho former then blocked up tho caverns Avith stonca and treos , and imprisoned tho Kafirs . Thia lasted from November 8 th to 21 st , during which time tho savages would sometimes burst forth to procure water'during the night . On the raising of tho sieges , the Kafirs surrendered ; and it was found that upwards of nino hundred had boon killed outside tho caverns , and a much greater number inside . Nat at ,. '—From Natal wo hear that an expedition against tho chiof Dushani , of oattlo-stonling . celebrity , has been fmcceanful , and without bloodshed . Dushani , buing terrifiod , mnde an abject fiubmifision , and ngrood to p : iy a lino of 101 ) 8 head of cattle .
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STATE OF TRADE , LABOUR , AND THE POOR . The condition of our great manufacturing towns hag not greatly improved since the cessation of the frost . A little more activity is observable in some branches of industry ; but the general tone is that of depression . The reports from the iron districts of Birmingham are gloomy ; orders are scarce , and many of the works are only partially employed . The Birmingham Journal of last Saturday says : — " Rumour is again busy in attributing insolvency to several houses of noto in the district , and this time , we
regret to add , there is some foundation for the reports . The embarrassments are less serious , however , than in generally supposed , and the aettml stoppages aro confined to two firms . Other firms still more eminent aro spoken of , and wo cannot say that tho reports are wholly unfounded ; but this we know , that thoir embarrassments arise , not from insolvency , but from the slackncsH of sales and tho difficulty of realising tho means to meet pressing engagements . Wo believe that in tho majority of cases this temporary difficulty will bo overcome , and credit maintained . At tho meeting of the two firms embarrassments have
specified , it came out that thoir chiefly arison from tho free uso of accommodation bills . Tho notice to tho puddlers has expired ; and tho greater number have consented to resume work ft tho reduced fnto of umgw , though floma still-hold oat . It is thought that an endeavour will be mado to lower tho vvnges of their mine workmen in tho collieries : but the present demand for coals renders such a stop unlikely for the next fo * months . A Chamber of Commerce has been established nt Bnpminfrham : and , with two exceptions , It ww unaiuniouslv desired that tho njurabcr * , in their diacu « .
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I M * B . cn \ % , 1855 . J THE LEADER . 24 fr
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THE AUSTRALIAN RIOTS . The Australian disturbances are , for the present at least , at an end . The encounter between the military and the diggers has apparently quelled the spirit of the latter ; and , order haying been restored , SirCharle ? Hpthatn issued a proclamation on tfee 8 th of December , -revoking the martial law which had been proclaimed on the 6 th . ¦ On that day the Legislative Council of Melbourne pledged itself to aid the Lieutenant-Governor in maintaining order ; on which occasion the Colonial Secretary gave the following particulars with respect to the rioters :
" Most of the disaffected , who did not form ( he bulk of the diggers , and many of the leaders , were foreigners , while the real hard-working diggers were delighted with the timely intervention of the Government . Order was now entirely restored , and 417 licenses had been issued in one day . He was also truly happy to say that the majority of the prisoners , as well as of those killed , were foreigners . " The legislative Council passed a vote of thanks to the military . " We find in the Melbourne Argus the subjoined details of the composition of the insurrectionary body : —
" I am informed that about thirty of the one hundred and fifty in the stockade were of those who had been convicts , and that of these thirty , twenty might be regarded as induced to connect themselves with the agitation with a view to plunder . Even a temporary success would have furnished the most favourable opportunity for aggrandisement . Besides the robbery of the stores , &c , a course which was commenced and carried to some extent , many shafts were known besides in which valuable washing stuff had been collected , and there was every probability that even a few days of successful rebellion would leave these heaps in the power of the rebels . " A letter from Ballarat , dated December 14 tb ,
says : — " The speech of the new Colonial Secretary has given great satisfaction , as well as the manner of the Lieutenant-Governor , in paying such marked attention to the deputation from the diggers of Bendigo , and the prospective repeal of the unjust license-tax is taken' as a populaTitriumph . In fact , this law is impracticable as well as harassing ; one-half of the diggers never paid the tax , and the other half never will again , and it is < doomed to be thrown out of the Legislative CounciL
- "At the Ballarat Police Court , on December 8 th , several of the rioters engaged in the Eureka riots were committed oh the charge of high treason . An inquest had been held on the body of one of the diggers killed in the attack , -which resulted in a verdict against Arthur Purcell Akehurst , clerk of the Bench at Ballarat , who had volunteered to accompany the troops . The jury also presented that they viewed with the greatest horror the cool-Wooded butchery of the troopers , in cutting down manv innocent persons of both sexes .
" The orderly and respectable portion of the colony are using all their efforts to promote peace and security , and counteract the designs of the rebellious . But it is confidently spoken-that- concessions and . amendmentaon the part of the Government must be made—an export duty instead of a license tax . Everything is improving in Ballarat . "
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1855, page 247, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2082/page/7/
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