The Welshman

THE NEW AMERICAN MINISTER On Thursday the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor of London and the Lady Mayoress entertained his Excellency Mr. Dallas, the new American Minister, at dinner at the Mansion-house, in honour of his arrival in this country as the accredited representative of the great Transatlantic Republic. A numerous and distinguished company were invited on the occasion. The Lord Mayor, in proposing the health of his Ex- cellency the representative of the United States, who had kindly honoured him with his company, said he rejoiced to see him at his table, because he was the representative of that great kindred nation on the other side of the Atlantic. Ever since he had the honour of being connected with the corporation of London he had always found the American Minister one of the most honoured guests at the banquets at the Hansions-house. He remembered how often he had had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Abbott Lawrence, a former American Minister, on such occasions. There the American Minister, whoever he might be, was always wel- comed, and it had invariably afforded the greatest pleasure to the citizens of London to meet him there, inasmuch as it afforded them an opportunity of reciprocating those kindly feelings which it was the interest as well as the duty of Englishmen to cultivate towards their fellow- citizens and national kinsmen on the opposite side of the Atlantic. There was no reason whatever why they should be jealous of the Americans; but, on the contrary, there was every reason why they should be proud of them. He was sure be rightly interpreted the feelings of the people of this country when he said that all they desired with respect to the American people was that the most intimate social relations should ever exist between the two countries. They spoke the same language, and possessed a common literature, and he could hardly understand how any question could arise, the settlement of which could render it neces- sary to have recourse to the dreadful alternative of war. He presided there on behalf of his fellow-citizens who entertained no other feelings than those of the most cordial friendship towards the American people, which feelings they desired to perpetuate and had invited Mr. Dallas to partake of his hospitality because his Excellency was the representative of a kindred nation, to whom the people of Great Britain were united by considerations of a common origin and a common language. He begged to propose The Health of Mr. Dallas, and Prosperity to the great Republic to which he had the honour to belong." The toast was drunk with enthusiasm, the band playing Hail Columbia and Yankee Doodle." Mr. Dallas, on rising to respond to the compliment, was greeted with enthusiastic cheers. He said,—My Lord Mayor, ladies, and gentlemen, the very kind and compli. mentary language with which your Lordship has prefaced the last toast and the cordial manner in which it has been received by this distinguished assembly are entitled to, and I hope will receive, my return of gratitude. In truth, I am almost bankrupt in the language of thanks; for ever since I landed in the dominions of your illustrious Queen, as the representative of the American Government and people, I have met with nothing but a series of the most flattering demonstrations of welcome and hospitality. I perfectly well know that these manifestations are not ad- dressed to an individual so utterly unworthy as myself, and that they are the profuse and generous tribute to a nation whose messenger I am. But oa its behalf, with a sensi- bility that I know it would unanimously feel, I beg this distinguished company to accept the assurance of my pro- found acknowledgments. There are some subjects on which it would be ill-timed, and more enterprising than wise, for me to touch on this occasion and in this presence. Indeed, my arrival is so recent that I scarcely can pretend to know the subjects which would be most acceptable to you. I dare say, however, I shall incur but little hazard if I venture, according to a provincialism natural to a western tongue, to guess that the Sffltit and purpose of a new comer may have excited at least some little curiosity. Well, my Lord, let me say that I am not autho- rized to feel, and do not feel, any desire other than that of giving my exertions and energies unreservedly to the res- toration of the most harmonious sentiments and friendly relations. Animated by this spirit, and aiming at such a purpose, if I fail-and I may fail-it will be because of some inexorable, overruling State policy, or some forgone conclusion not to be undone by uniform, steady, perse- vering, frank, and honourable conciliation My Lord, permit me, in conclusion-for my object is to be exceed- ingly brief-to tender to your Lordship and the guests assembled here my congratulations on the great event consummated since my arrival among you- the restoration ¡ of the peace to Europe. War, although undoubted accom- I panied by its moral benefits or alleviations, is at best an evil; and the vast powers of this empire, although for a time, and however gallantly, enlisted and ably directed, will find more genial and more fruitful employment in those channels, agricultural, commercial, and manufac- turing, and those pursuits which have hitherto so signally illustrated the exertions of her people.

ONLY THINK I-Colonel Rawlinson, who is engaged in prosecuting the discoveries commenced by Layard and Botta, has lately discovered, in a state of perfect preserva- tion, what is believed to be the mummy of Nebuchad- nezzar The relic is for the present preserved in the museum of the East India Company

I BETRAYAL OF EUROPEAN LIBERALISM BY THE I BRITISH GOVERNMENT. I (From the I We pointed out at the conclusion of an article upon Lord Palrnerston's systematic betrayals of the Liberal cause throughout Europe, a very remarkable fact connected with the campaign of 1854, namely, that the lamentable Sebas- tnpol expedition was undertaken without the knowledge ot of Austria, and that it was undertaken at the very moment when that power was on the point of committing herself to direct hostility with Russia by taking the left of an advance which, from the magnitude of the forces employed, would inevitably have included the liusso-Polish territories within its scope. These facts have only lately come to our knowledge in a shape upon which we could place implicit reliance, and are now put forward, not in defence of Austrian tergiversation, but in inculpation of our omi Government for treachery to the common cause. We have good reason for believing that the Austrian Government, upon hearing from the Times that it was the determination of the allied powers to carry the war into the Crimea, at once fell back upon their former dilatory policy, in the double conviction that they were themselves left totally wilted, and that not a single soldier of the expe- ditionary armies would ever return. The latter conviction we fear has been but too nearly fulfilled, at least as far as the body of troops originally sent was concerned. Of course the enormous power of England and France in a degree repaired the fearful losses; but, alas, we fear that few of the gallant army, either French or English, which landed at Old Fort are ever destined to re- visit the shores of their native lands. We recur to this subject because we are aware that many of our readers may be anxious to know why so monstrous a departure from the great objects of European independence should have been sanctioned by our Government, and so great an opportunity lost. We answer in a few words-by a reference to what we said above—the movement in advance, including the armies of four great powers, would have made Russian Poland the field of battle, and involved the English Government at once in a conflict, upon Polish ground, with a Sovereign "whose rights are," as Lord Palmerston asserts, incon- testible." Every one knows that—call it selfish or otherwise—the Austrian policy has been, for 50 years, that of giving up Gallicia as her contribution to the establishment of an in- dependent kingdom of Poland. She knew well that the advance thus contemplated would have raised the whole Polish question. The same inevit- able consequences was also patent to the Western Govern- ments; and we now see the fact that sooner than raise the question of Polish independence, they run the risk-too I fatally f. ifilleii-of sacrificing their armies in the fearful conflict with famine and disease on the fatal plateau in front of Sebastopol. The foregoing considerations may be taken as a preface to the following painful extracts from the address of the officers of Cossacks of the Sultan to their friend and general, Zamoyski, a melancholy record of disappointed hopes. I TO GENERAL COUXT ZAMOYSKI, COMMANDING THE POLISH DIVISION OF COSSACKS OF THE SULTAN. I Gerieral,-United under your command, aitnough under a very humble appellation, we considered ourselves as forming the nucleus of a future Polish national army, and were prepared to undergo fresh sacrifices for the sake of our country. We know well what cares- and labours you heve undergone, unceasingly and untiringly, in forming the Polish division. Your hopes and ours are now, we will not .say destroyed, but suspended for a whilp, by the news of peace, which, while bestowing a temporary quiet upon Europe, fills the heart of the Poles with sadness, for it renders doubtful the cause of our nation—a cause which we alone serve." [ F rom the Su?'. ] Considerable doubts have from time to time been ex- pressed, both in Parliament and by some of the public journals, respecting the policy of the invasion of the Cri- mea and the attack on Sebastopol. It has been positively asserted that the movement was made without the privity or assent of Austtia that the Cabinet of Vienna had at 'he very moment arranged to take an active part in the operations of the war by an advance of a large body of troops on the Russian frontier, which would inevitably have included the Russo-Polish territories within its scope; and that the course then adopted was the real cause of the Austrian tergiversation and backsliding. On the first part of this case we shall express no opinion. Our contemporary has usually excellent information, and would not be inclined to put forward a distinct and positive statement without prima facie evidence of its accuracy, and we fully concur in its views of the treachery of the then Government of England. It was, in fact, the deliberate determination of Lord Aberdeen, and the colleagues whom he had contrived to place at the head of all the deDart- ments connected with the management of the war, that no I real inj ury should be inflicted on Russia. The dear and excellent" Premier would not hurt his "friend of forty years' standing," who had been betrayed into the prema- ture development of his intentions by the advent to office of the Joint-Stock Administration. A demonstration was all that was ever contemplated, which it was hoped would have induced the Autocrat to postpone the administration of the sick man's assets to a more convenient season. But we cannot believe that Austria would, under any circum- stances, have acted with good faith or straightforward in- tegrity, or that she would have taken any step that might have committed her to hostilities with her quondam friend and benefactor, or by any possibility have conducted to the benefit, perhaps the resuscitation, of much-wronged and deeply-injured Poland That she might have held out hopes to that effect is by no means improbable. That she might have endeavoured to procrastinate, and persuade the Allies not to besiege the Russian stronghold is very likely We are prepared to lend an easy credence to any degree of duplicity and insin- cerity that may be alleged against that treacherous and selfish Power. But nothing could have led her to drawing the sword against a formidable enemy. She would only be valiant in tyrannising and oppressing those who could offer no serious icsistance. It would have been well if, from the beginning and at the first symptoms of indecision, the Allied Powers had altogether ignored her existence, and treated her as they were subsequently obliged to do Prussia. Had the British Ministry been in earnest at that time, when Louis Napoleon had no recent dynastic considerations to influence his con- duct, the War would ha-;e been brought to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion. Hut it was "starved" under the pellny.wise-and-pound-fuolish" financial administration of Mr. Gladstone and the morbid sentimentality that spared Odessa, and strove to wage a rose-water contest, that recognised the assassins who perpetrated the sanguin- ary massacre at Sinope as magnimous enemies-with whom there might be a copious interchange of courtesies as if the battle was to be gained by "booing, and booing, and booing," without any exhibition of the rougher quali- ties more becoming the soldiers and seamen of England and of France. Had there been an honest intention to in- jure or humiliate the adversary, a decisive attack on Sebas- topol would have been the veiy best course that could be adopted. But there was no such intention. The necessary preparations were not made for the purpose. Nothing could possibly have been achieved with the existing ma- terials save by a sudden coup do main while the enemy were still depressed fllid panic striken by their unexpected defeat at the Alma. But that was cautiously avoided, and there were not, and Mr. Gladstone took care that there should not be, adequate means for conducting a protracted siege. Hence the calamities that occurred, the fearful loss of life among the Allied forces, and the protracted resistance of the Russian stronghold. But these were matters fur which the Aberdeenites were chiefly, if not altogether responsible. They had contrived I to secure for their own party a monopoly of tiie offices connected with the Administration of the War, and, as is unfortunately but too notorious, they took their inspiration from a quarter, that would neither hurt Russia nor oppose the dictates of Germanism, however unpalatable to the country or injurious to its best interests. Hence the mis- conduct that aggravated tenfold the evils of the War, and hence, we fear, the dictation that led to its most lame and impotent conclusion."

THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER AT MOSCOW. We are bound to say that, judging from the speech as it has reached us the Emperor's words in the ancient capital of Russia, where national pride and religious fervour are supposed especially to reign, are moderate, dignified, and becoming. He announced to his hearers that the war was over, and that he had ratified the Treaty of Peace before leaving St. Petersbnrg. It is possible that these words fell on unwilling ears, and were received with a silence in which respect had a greater place than enthusiasm. The nobility, the clergy, the peasantry of Moscow were far from either seat of war, and, though the burdens of the last two years cannot have been untelt by them, they have neither beheld their lands wasted by the necessities of a vast army, nor had to dread the visits of an invading force. We may conceive, then, that national pride is more exalted in the old capital than in St. Petersburg or Nicholaieff. The Emperor speaks almost in a tone of apology, yet with firmness and openly. Russia was able to defend herself for many yens longer, and was invulnerable on her own territory. No fear for the future, therefore, he says, induced him to listen to the Austrian proposals but he made peace partly because war is an abnormal state of which the benefits can never counterbalance the evils, and partly because Russian commerce was suffering from a conflict in which no object was to be gained. Then follows a remarkable admission, which embodies all that Wejtern politicians have said or written on the war:—" I should have carried on hostilities had not the voice of neighbouring States pronounced itself against the policy of late years." This is, indeed, the case, and the universal de- sertion of the Russian cause by her old allies was, no doubt, the main reason for the altered tone and lowered pretensions of the Emperor's Cabinet. When Austria became hostile when Prussia, though a friend, took all a friend's liberties of earnest and passionate remonstrance; when Sweden entered into new relations, at, d threw off the vassalage of a century; when among the small States of Germany there was something like an approach to a new Confederation of the Rhine, then it was time for the boldest autocrat to pause, and consider whether the system which had been built up with so much care did not really want a founda- tion in human interests and human sympathies. The Emperor Alexander expresses, as is natftral, much respect for his father's memory and intentions, and some- what more conventionally declares his adherence to the old policy of the empire. But in every sentence he reflects with unconscious severity on all for which Nicholas was distinguished. The plans of the late Emperor entitled him to be called, though in no praiseworthy sense, a Napoleon of peace. His object was aggression, the more dangerous to other States because it was concealed and gradual. He had all the ambition of a great conqueror, but seemed to be convinced that in modern Europe conquest by an armed inroad was impossible. The great Captain of France had falleu,-he would be warned by his catastrophe, and adopt a different course. He therefore, from his accession to his death, never entered willingly into any great war. Hie whole policy was directed to the gradual disintegration of the States nearest to him, and when, as in 1828 and 1849, he saw an empirp divided and paralysed, he would interfere for or againsttt, as was most conducive to its own power. To be always ready for this kind of aggression was his great military aim. To have on every frontier a numerous army equipped for an immediate march was necessary t;, overawe his neighbours. But he determined never, if pos- sible, to go to war with great military Powers, nor did it enter into his thoughts that the progress of science and the enthusiasm of the West would ever send to his own shores the armies of a new crusade. Hence, with threcfourths oj a million of men under arms and two vast naval fortress s protecting two powerful fleets, Russia has never had the true means of supporting war. Railways, canals, even good roads, have never existed. No preparations have ever been made for a long war it has never been calculated that Russia might be cut off from the rest of Europe, that half the community of nations might be in arms against her and the other half trembling on the verge of a rupture. A besieging army at Sebastopol, an invading force in Georgia, a blockade in the Baltic, Constantinople a hostile harbour, occupied by an irresistible fleet, were eventualities which he never contemplated, and which were, in reality, so strange, that not to have foreseen them may be pardoned even to the wisest statesman. But the laws of politics, as of nature, are relentless and, though Nicholas might well deem his plans wise and farsighted, the punishment of his error has not been the less complete. His successor speaks to Moscow and the world in a tone of strange humiliation. "I am sure," says he to his subjects, that allowances will be made for the difficult position in which I was placed, and that every friend of Russia will render justice to my views and intentions for the welfare of the country." "Supposing," he adds, that the war should have remained favourable to us, as it has been in Asia, yet the empire would have exhaus- ted itself in keeping up armies on different points, the soldiers of which would have been taken away from agri- culture and labour." Such are the words in which the Muscovite ruler confesses the collapse of the system of which Peter; Catherine, and Nicholas were proud. Yet, after forty jears of military display, after the construction of fortifications to be measured by miles, wherever there was a frontier, a harbour, or a delta in the empire, after guns by the thousand had been stored in the arsenals of the two seas, after the whole genius, energy, and ambition of so many races had been devoted almost exclusively to the one pursuit of war, the master of all these resources is compelled to tell his subjects, after two years' trial, that, though they may condemn him, though they may despise him, yet common care for the safetv of Russia forced hi;ii to snatch at offers of peace, and to meditate the total abandonment of his ancestors' plans. What indemnity, what territorial gain, could be a greater triumph to the Western Powers than this acknowledgment ? How can the future safety of Europe receive a surer guarantee than is derived from the humbled tone of the man who alone has the power to threaten it ? Indeed, it was time for Russia to recede from the con- test which she had provoked. What her state is we hear from the unwilling lips of her ruler. What the resources of the Western Powers, and especially of England are, .we are only beginning to learn. Russian trade has been ruined, Russian provinces have been depopulated, Russian arsenals have been exhausted, just when the energies of this country have been fully roused, and its wealth and resources ascertained by trial. In a few hours there will be assembled at Portsmouth a fleet such as the world has never seen before, manned by seamen which an enormous commerce furnishes in unfailing numbers. All the newest discoveries of science combine to give efficiency to each of these powerful vessels, the possession of any half-dozen of .which would entitle a State to consider itself somewhat of a naval Power. The pageant which will be witnessed is in celebration of peace, and it is a fitting spectacle to illustrate the greatness of our triumph and the solidity of our strength. The fleet which will man- oeuvre before the eyes of thousands would, but for the concessions of Russia, be now on its way to the north, ready to assail the stronghold and capital of the Czar with almost irresistible power. Can any doubt remain of the relative strength of the two nations ? And if the little island can so far outdo the extended empire, which num- bers twice its population, can there be any one who fails to recognize the principle of such a superiority? Industry, liberty, private energy, the arts of peace having given Eng- land the strength to fight barbarism with its own arms. Warlike systems have fallen exhausted in the hour of trial, while those who have never desired or studied war are best prepated for it within a short period of its outbreak. The lesson has not been lost on the Czar. His speech at Moscow is said to have developed plans for railways, roads river navigation, and Custom-house reforms. We are told that already the frontier traffic is open and vessels are arriving at Russian ports. The old protective and isolating system of the late Cnr we cannot doubt is doomed. If Russia's present ruler, adopt a more liberal code, and forget her ancient ambition, we have little doubt that her people will one day confess that the disasters lately suffered have been the teachings of a wholesome adversity.

I MOVEMENTS AT NAPLES. The latest reports from Naples speak of some change in 'I the policy at head quarters. Political prosecutions have been suspended in certain cases; and persons who had been detained under police surveillance have returned to their homes. It is supposed that Naples is malting these same concessions to public opinion in the hope of staving off cer- tain interventions. The fact is known by this time throug- out Italy, that the Memorandum of the Piedmontese Plenipotentiaries was laid before the Emperor Napoleon in reply to a deliberate questions; and the phrase in the Patrie, that a certain moral unity" may be introduced into Italy is as well understood in every capital of the Peninsula as in London or Paris. It is evident that royal Naples derives no confidence from the advance of Austrian troops towards the Piedmontese frontier. On the contrary, these movements all appear to increase its alarm; and it resorts to measures for purposes of counteraction. It is pro- ceeding into active consultation with its chief men it may even go to the extent of somewhat improving its administra- tion by the infusion of better blood it has already resorted even to an extreme-to leniency; and is said to plead that the establishment of a Constitution in Naples "would Ifod to a republic." Now nothing has been more clearly established by all the recent history of Italy than the fact that absolutism and re- publicanism are reciprocally supporting; and that the upper or middle classes of the country throughout the Peninsula, who would favour constitutional reform, are equally opposed to despotism and to the republic. It certainly is the height of folly to advance a plea (if truly ascribed to to the Neapolitan government) the baselessness of which is known. I But there is another movement going on in Europe, which has its effect in Naples. With the restoration of peace there is an immediate impulse to the extension of commerce. This has been observed in France, where already the Go- vernment bad been induced to place a check upon specula- tion. Several houses of great standing and wealth are com- peting for the right of establishing an institution in St. Petersburg similar to the Credit Mobilier in I'aris, in order to develope industry and commerce under the new policy of the Emperor Alexander. Railways and commerce are the cry of the middle-class throughout Italy. The recent policy of the Government at Naples has induced it to tamper with commerce and with the curreucy in a manner as fatal to its own authority as it is to the free working of trade. Now it seems scarcely possible that the Neapolitans, habi- tuated as they are to be kept down," can see trade growing in every country of the world, even in Russia, and consent to be entirely cut off from that healthy movement. -Globe.

I THE FLEET AT SPITHEAD. a I (From Wednesday's lost. The fleets which this day manoauvre off Spithead, in presence of the Queen of England, the greater portion of the Houses of Peers and Commons, the Foreign Ministers, and an immense assemblage of spectators, could at the rate of one discharge from each gun in every quarter of an hour, send into a hostile place upwards of six hundred and eighteen thousand shot and shell between sunrise and sun- set they could encounter, without a doubt of the issue, the combined navies of the world; they exhibit the last improvements of marine architecture, of gunnery, of en- ginee rlng-tlie last and highest refinements of science they are almost wholly propelled by steam, and, in great part, by steam applied to the screw they are pre-eminently independent of the winds and currents they could assail any seaboard fortress; they have surmounted the difficulties of shoal-water; and there is not a shallow, a lagune—we had almost said a morass, where a pleasure-boat or a fetry skiff could ply-into which they could not penetrate with a flotilla as terrible in its destructive powers as it is imper- ceptible and perplexing in its movements, while they could line the outside of the circle from which this vanguard had been despatched, protecting and enforcing the continuance of the attack. Such are a few characteristics of those stu- pendous armaments reviewed to-day off Spithead. (From Wednesday's Times.) By the time that these colums are circulating half over I' her empire the Queen of England will be holding a more brilliant Court than any contemporary Sovereign can convene. Nowhere in the world can be paralleled that j scene which will be witnessed this morning on the waters of the Solent. There are many capitals richer than ours in the historic magnificence of their structures, and cities which tower with a more stately grandeur above the ocean than any which guard our coasts there are many palaces more worthy of the wealth or the pretensions of other Monarchs than St. James's and even Windsor are of the English Crown. There are many kingdoms where a more imposing array of soldiery-horse, foot, and artillery-can be drawn up for the satisfaction of a Court or for the admiration of connoisseurs; but no other country except England can afford an exhibition at once so impressive by its magnitude, so imposing by its character, so fascinating bv the sympathies which it excites, as the apectacle which this morning's sun will reveal at Spithead. There will be collected about the Sovereign of these kingdoms an armament which reckons in all no fewer than two hundred and forty steam-vessels of different sizes. Of these three have more than 100 guns, and six have 91 The rest vary from 80 guns to 6; and, besides these larger f vessels, there is a fleet of 160 gunboats, the great majority constructed for the Russia war. In all, they carry 3,002 guns, and are propelled by 30,671 horse power. To man this fleet not less than 30,000 men are required. Nor are these 14,4re holyday ships and holyday crews, fit to figure in a brilliant pageant, but without the materials or the capacity for real work. On the contrary, they are all fit for service, and many of these ships have been tossing through two campaigns in the Baltic and Black Sea; not, indeed, contesting or conquering the enemy, but defying, and dismaying, and driving him to take refuge in self- destruction. But, magnificent as is the fleet manoeuvring under the Sovereign's eye—stupendous as is that brute might of wood and iron which our artificers have welded into ocean for- tresses-there is something grander and nobler in contem- plating the moral energy which animates that mass. The qrews whieh man these ships and the omcer? who command t em are worthy of their profession and its most glorious traditions. In all that host there is not one who has been forced into his Queen's service. All are volunteers. Th war burst suddenly on a nation employing tens of thousands in the oonduct of its mercantile marine. Spontaneously, and with the enthusiasm which kindles at the prospect of strife and distinction, largo bodies of seamen transferred themselves at once to tho more exciting service. Each suc- cessive year of the war has perfected them in their vocation and stimulated fresh recruits by their example. The few I opportuuities which have presented themselves for the exer- tion of professional daring they have turned to all possible account. When debarred on their own element from such a display as they coveted they have betaken themselves with alacrity to help their comrades on shore. Every kind of duty, from assisting in the transport of materiel to manning the guns of a battery, has been perforated with a cheerfulness and a cordiality which must have made those who witnessed it regret that so much zeal should not have found its most congenial field, and that no other achievements should have been allowed to rival those which are associated with KertelL and Sweaborg. It would be idle to vapour about the possible prowess of such a fleet. We are celebrating the conclusion, not the commencement, of a war We arc not throwing down the gage of defiance or seeking an arena of aggrandizement. We have no ambition to satisfy by the implied menace of a warlike pageant; but we hope we are nooarftsotfable in asking other nations to bear witness to our moderation when, with means of offence in our hands not only so ample all these, but also as capable of rapid production and vitality as these have been—with armaments su costly and with crews so eager for war as ours notoriously are-we have foregone all changes of glory, aggrandizement, and revenge, in order to arrest the calamities of war and guarantee the blessings of peace. of With respect to the effect of such a display in deterring or cowing any hostile attempts, we simply thInk it is not necessary. It does not require a naval review at Spithead to satisfy foreign statesmen that England can equip squadrons equal to the-finest of olden days, or man them with crews whose courage beats as high as that of their forefathers. Those who doubt the truth of this are not likely to be con- vinced even by the Spithead pageant. But the many who do not doubt it at all may find useful food for contemplation when they see what a free nation can do, even amid the at- tractions of commerce and the enjoyments of opulence, ia the way of warlike preparation to help the right and sombat the wrongdoer. Great fears were entertained at New Orleans, of an over- flow of the Mississipi river. It is rumoured that the Marquis of Clanricarde is likely to be appointed British Minister at St. Petersburg. A step in the peerage has, it is said, been most graciously offered to the Earl of Clarendon, and respectfully declined by his lordship. The antiquities from Nineveh, which were sunk in the Tiyris by accident on their way to France, have been mostly recovered. The ceremony of laying the first stone of the Wellington College by the Queen will take place on the 3rd of May. Sir C. Eastlake has brought under the notice of the Go- vernment the absolute necessity of beginning the construc- tion of a new National Gallery. The height for recruits to the army is being raised to its former standard. At the last Saturday's concert at the Crystal Palace a Ma lie. Tornberg, a young lady about 20, played the flute with great success. A plague has broken out at Chin-kiapg-too, and carried off upwards of 100,000 persons. It is called the black tongue plague from its peculiar symptoms. Paris letters corroborate the report that Baron StiegUtz, the Russian Court banker is coming to Paris. It is stated that his visit is in connexion with the formation of a credit bank at St. Petersburg. A statue in white marble, father larger than life, of the Empress Josephine has just been placed in the nave of the Palace of Industry, in the Champ Elysees. It is intended for a monument which is to be erected at Martinique. A Russian ukase authorises the export from Poland of sheepskins, cattle, horses, pork, fresh and salted provisions, spirits, linen, woollen goods, hay, and ship stores. It is reported that the French government have for- the present abandoned their designs against Madagascar, and that orders have been given at Toulon to suspend the fitting out of the fleet which was originally destined for that place. An article in the St. Petersburg- Northern Bee has created a sensation at Berlin by its virulence against England: "Albion," it says, "has lost its prestige: but Russia is the most vigorous of all empires. Simply, its productive powers are not sufficiently developed, and that makes it poorer than other countries." A copy of all official reports of the hospitals at Scutari. Kululee, Abvdos, and Smyrna, since Feb. 185-5, has been presented to the Houses of Parliament from the War De- partment. These reports are now quito out of date. They were ordered to be printed on the 1st of August last. A letter from Brussels says The colony of Russians who have passed the la-t two winters here are about to dis- perse. A great number of them will leave for Paris, when their strength will be increased by reinforcements direct from Russia." A political prisoner, named Felice Orsini, has escaped from the dungeon of Mantua. He had cut the bars of his window with a file, and let himself down by his sheets and bedclothes. His escape had been carefully prepared, a carriage being in waiting for him at some distance from the prison. The Royal Horticultural Society proposes to hold its meeting for the year 1857 in some city or town in the district composed of the counties of Dorset, Hants, Somer- set, and Wilts: and communications have been made to the authorities of the places within the district, inviting them to compete for the honour. General Pelissier is expected at Marseilles about the be- ginning of this month. A grand banquet will be given to him at that place by the municipal authorities. A letter from St. Petersburg states that the general belief in that city is tl it the coronation of the Emperor will take place on the 30th of August, the day of the patron saint of the Emperor Alexander. The Earl of Dalhousie," says tho Malta Tunes of tho 15th who has taken up his temporary reg?,,Ience at DUDS- ford's hotel, is sunning from what was origin,?lly nly a slight scratch on the leg, but which, from the effect o. ?  climate and other causes, has assumed a serious form. tiv. is confined to his apartment and unable to walk without support." The Journal de Frankfort says that Staudigl, the celebra- ted bass singer, has gone out of his mind. His intellect has been failing for a long time, and he has lately been removed to a lunatic asylum. The same journal says that Madame Heinefetter (who sang in the German operas with Staudigl in London) has died in a state of insanity, brought on by the loss of her fortune. Our Malta correspondent writes under date of Wednesday lastThe Marquis of Dalhousie still continues here in much the same state, his health tolerably good, but his leg continuing so seriously bad as to prevent his moving without assistance. It is intended that he leaves here about the 18th in Her Majesty's ship Tribune (or England direct. Part of his suite will have to go in some other way, the Tribune not having accommodation for all.—Times. EVADING THE LAW.—The authorities of San Francisco recently ordered that all bar-rooms should be closed at twelve o'clock—midnight. They were, and in five minutes opened again for the next day POLICE EXPENSES AND THE CONSOLIDATED FuigD.- The following important passage occurs in the quarterly report of Captain G. Black, chief constable for Norfolk, presented at the quarter sessions for that county on Friday I have to inform the court that the Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury have how objected to pay any expenses that may be incurred prior to the committal of a prisoner for trial at the assizes, upon the ground that no such charge is admissible in the account of sums to be repaid from the consolidated. fund for ciirainal prosecutions. Those expenses consist almost exclusively of the police charges for the apprehension, conveyance, lodging, and maintenance of prisoners upon their arrest and during remand. The actual expenditure will, therefore, have to fall in a great measure upon the rates of the country."

RUSSIAN MATRIMONIAL INFLUENCE. — The grand- mother and mother of Nicholas were German prin- cesses. The widow of Nicholas, Dowager Czarina, sister to the King of Prussis. His brother, Alexander I., married a princess of Baden; his brother the Grand Duke Constantine, a princess of Wurtemberg. One sister is Queen of Wurtemberg, another Dowager Grand Duchess of Weimer. Of Nicholas's children, the present Czar married a daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse; the Grand Duke Constantine a princess of Altenburg; the Grand Duke Nicholas a princess of Oldenburg. One daughter of Nicholas married the Prince Royal of Wur- temberg, the Queen of Wurternberg being a sister of Nicholas. Another daughter married a prince of Hesse- Cassel, but died and he married a princess of Prussia, and is a colonel of Hussars in Russia. A prince of Ol- denburg married a Grand Duchess of Russia and their son is now a Russian General, and President of the de. partment of civil and ecclesiastical affairs, and is styled Imperial Highness by ukase of the Czar. The Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schweiin is a nephew of the King of Prussia, and of a sister of Nicholas he is colonel of a Russian regiment of Carbineers. The Grand Duke of Nassau married a daughter of the late Graud Duke Mi- chael, and is colonel of Russian Uhlans. The sister of the King of Prussia is Dowager-Czarina his eldest bro- ther is colonel of a Russian rifle regiment; and his sonr the proposed husband of our Princess Royal, is major of the 1st regiment of Russian Foot Guards, colonel of the 8th regiment of Russian Infantry, and colonel of the 20th regiment of Russian Infantry. The next brother of the King is at once a colonel in the Russian, Prussian, and Austrian services and Lis son is a mnjor-gelleral of the Russian Horse Guards, and colonel of Russian Hussars. The third brother of the King of Prussia is a general of cavalry, colonel of the 1st regiment of Dragoons, and co- lonel of the 7th regiment of Cuirassiers, in Russia. Be- sides these, there are numerous uncles, aunts, and cousins of the Prussian King, who are interlaced by marriages with the Russian imperial family; the husbands, brothers, and sons being officers of the Russian army. Then there are the families of Saxe-Weimar and Wurtemberg, of Sayn-Wyttgenstein and others, abounding with Russian marriages and Russian officers. The list of all the Ger- man family alliances would occupy many pages and these connections, interlaced a hundred ways, extend themselves to the courts of France and England. The families of both Louis Napoleon and Prince Albert are closely con* cc-ted with -(be Imperial family of Russia. This is, in- deed, a wonderful family alliance-the most wonderful that the world ever knew.— Wettmim^r Review.