21 OCTOBER 1854, Page 6

glut Ilatanno.

The first autumn Cabinet Council was held on Tuesday, at the Foreign Offioe. All the Ministers were present, and the sitting occupied three hours and a half. A second Cabinet Council sat yesterday, for two hours.

The further prorogation of Parliament, nominally to Thursday the 16th November, took place on Thursday. The Lords Commissienere were the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Argyll, and Earl Granville.

We were not premature in our counsel to capitalists to hold their hands from any advances on next year's shipments of Russian produce. We have now reason to believe that the British Government is about to take actual measures, which for some time have been anticipated as ultimately unavoidable, for stopping all indirect as well as direct traffic in that pro- duce, brought overland, and shipped from neutral (if Prussian are to be termed neutral) ports.—Globe, Oct. 17.

A controversy has raged in the journals this week respecting the treat- ment of the wounded at the battle of the Alma. On one side it is alleged, by newspaper correspondents and others, that the wounded were shame- fully neglected, especially in the transit by sea from the Crimea to Scu- tari, and "graphic" descriptions of their terrible sufferings have not been wanting. In one ship, it is said, there were only four surgeons to 300 wounded and 170 cholera patients ; another, 553 wounded and four sur- geons, one of them the ship surgeon ; and so on. " Clericus" reports a "fact" in the Times : that his brother, ill of a fever in the hospital at Scutari, had not been attended by a medical man for a fortnight ; and that he describes "the state of the patients, from want of adequate medi- cal and spiritual attendance, to be most frightful." On the other hand, we have official testimony of the most positive kind as to the number of medical men in the East and the amount of medical stores sent thither. Dr. Smith, the Director-General of the Army and Ordnance Medical De- partment, makes this statement— "The number of medical officers with the British forces in the East at the time of the battle of the Alma was 276, being 1 to every 97 of strength. In the Peninsula the number of medical officers was 1 to every 151 of strength.

"At the present moment there are 30 more medical officers on their way to Constantinople, and 16 more are waiting embarkation.

"Dr. Smith is happy in being able to state confidently that the medical officers at Scutari (he believes 21 in number) have at their command every- thing necessary to the treatment of the wounded soldier : hence there is no necessity whatever for any effort being made by the public to send out to Constantinople lint, old linen, &c."

Dr. Smith gives in.detail.a list of the medical appliances and comforts sent out, so long that it fills nearly three close columns of the Morning Chronicle.

But the evidence is not confined to the official departments. The fol- lowing letter by an officer direct from Scutari has also been published in the Morning Chronicle.

"Sir—Having just returned from Scutari, on sick leave, learn with as- tonishment and regret that reports have been prothinently put forward in certaid newspapers, to the effect that the sick and wounded pf our expedi- tionary army have been grossly neglected ; and that there was a great want of lint, bandages, and dressings for the wopnded, as well as of wine and other comforts for the use of the sick.

"I hasten to inform you that these reports, to my cords& knowk3dge, are utterly false and groundless. "I was myself under treatment for sonic timeat the military hospital at Scutari, and can speak confidently and truly in praise of that establishment, and of its staff. I saw the wounded arrive from the Crimea. I went on board the Andes and Vulcan : the wounded in both ships were very well cared for. There were awnings and screens to protect them from the wea- ther; and each man had his cot, bed, and blankets. The wounded officers had also been made as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, and I heard no complaints whatever. On the contrary, all, both officers and men, were ready to testify to the unremitting attention and the extreme kindness and humanity of the overworked medical officers. Further ,.I visit- ed the wounded after their removal to the hospital at Scutari—I spent hours with them • and Lean safely say that, with the exception of those who were only slightly wounded, and who were assisting-their less fortunate brethren in arma, every man had a comfortabk bed, and all necessary attention and care bestowed by the medical officers and attendants.

"The wounded officers, in my hearing, frequently express their satisfac- tion with the arrangements made for them. When any one of them uttered a cry of pain, at once was a medical officer by his side.

"Nothing could exceed the devoted attention of the medical staff to the wounded, both officers and men. No distinction was made; all were treated alike (the officers being in separate wards) ; and all fared well—as well, nay much better than might have been expected. "The Turkish Seraskier, when he visited the hospital, was equally sur- prised and delighted with the arrangements which had been made for the requirements of the sick and wounded. "Lastly, during my stay at Scutari, I learned from several officers of the Medical Staff, that there was in the British hospital a profusion of medical stores of every kind—many thousands of yards of plaster, of lint, bandages, and every needful appliance—as well as abundance of wine, brandy, and nutritious delicacies tor the sick and wounded.

"I trust you will give immediate insertion to this contradiction of these false rumours, in order to alleviate the painful anxiety and agonizing sus- pense which have been excited in the minds of the relatives of the sick and wounded by these cruel and harrowing reports, which have been but too eagerly ,circulated and believed.

I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,

" HENRI( FOSTER, Lieutenant Ninety-fifth Regiment. "October 17, 1854."

Mrs. Nightingale, who has been for some time acting as Superintendent of the Ladies' Hospital in Harley Street, has undertaken to select, certify, and organize a staff of female nurses, and proceed at once to Scutari, at the cost of the Government, to be employed in the English hospitals there.

Official intelligence was received on Tuesday, at the War Office, of the deaths of the following officers in the Crimea, in addition to those who fell in the battle of the Alma- Lieutenant-Colonel William Francis Rosy, of the 30th Regiment; Cap- tain John A. Freemen, of- the &eta Greys ; Captain Longmore, of the 8th Hussars; Captain the Hon. C. L. Hare, of the 7th Fusiliers. Lieutenant and Adjutant Themes Irwin, of the 18th Light Dragoons; Lieutenant Ram- say Wardlaw, d'the 19th Footi Ensign William Frederick Phipps, of the 19th Foot ; Ensign William Y. Johnston, of the 30th loot; Quartermaster John Lettay, of the 4th Foot.

Viscount Melville having accepted the command of the Foroes in North Britain, Major-General Allen Maclean, an old. and meritorious Waterloo officer, succeeds to his Lordship's command in India.

Nine steam floating batteries are about to be constructed, chiefly in the Thames shipyards, for service in the Baltic next year.

Five men, well versed in all matters connected with the causing of sub- marine explosiona, are to sail today for the Black Sea for the purpose of blowing up the Russian ships sunk at the mouth of the harbour of Sebas- topol They take with them four sets of diving apparatus, twenty gal- vanic batteries, and five miles of copper wire. The operations will be under the charge of Sergeant Carne, of the Sappers and Miners.

The second edition of our last number included the following corre- spondence extracted from the Globe of Saturday.

" Hampton Court, 14th October 18.54.

Sir—In reference to your letter of the 12th, I have carefully read over the report of my speech at the anniversary meeting of the Hinchford Agri- cultural and Conservative Club, as published in the Essex Gazette, which I have just received. "r have consulted a friend on whose judgment I rely, and he considers that the language to which you refer is unduly offensive; in which opinion, on reflection, I coincide. One word, coward,' slipped out unintentionally. I therefore retract it ; and I beg to express to you my feeling of regret that I should have been betrayed, in the warmth of the moment, into transgress- ing the fair bounds of courtesy. "I remain your obedient humble servant, War. BERHSFORD. "The Right Hon. Sir James Graham, Bart., M.P."

"Admiralty, 14th October 18.54.

" Sir—I have received your note of this day, which relates to an inquiry addressed by me to you on the 12th instant. "I am satisfied with the retraction of the most offensive word, which you say was unintentionally used by you; and when a gentleman expresses re- gret for having been betrayed into the transgression of the fair bounds of courtesy, I can neither ask nor desire more.

"Such is the opinion of the friend whom I have consulted. "Ism, Sir, your obedient servant, J. R. G. GB.AHAM. "The Right Hon. William Bereaford, M.P."

The death of the Earl of Abingdon at Wytham Abbey, near Oxford, creates a vacancy in the representation of Abingdon, as Lord Norreys, its present Member, succeeds to his father's seat in the House of Peers.

Mr. Samuel Phillips, the reputed author of various literary contribu- tions to the Times, Blackwood, &c. as well as of the General Handbook of the Crystal Palace, died on the 14th, at Brighton, at the early age of thirty-nine. He had long been a sufferer from a pulmonary affection, and was constantly at the mercy of his disease.

The authenticity of the Chinese letter announcing war against the "foreign devils," and alleged to have been sent to Hongkong under the seal of Yang seu Tsing, is called in question by Captain Edward Fishbourne,R.N., in a letter to the Dublin Express. Captain Fishbourne pronounces it a forgery, concocted either by the Imperialists or by those who think differently from the insurgents on religious matters. He points to the fact that all the English, French, and Americans,. who visited Nankin, state that they are celled not "foreign devils' but "foreign brethren."

Itesult of the Registrar-General's return of mortality:in the Metropolis for the week ending on Saturday last.

Colonel Talbot Clifton, commanding the First Royal Lancashire Militia, stationed at Portsmouth, asked the men on Saturday last, what answer they Would give if requested to serve in the Mediterranean or elsewhere ? The answer was an universal shout that they would go to the East if their Colonel would lead them.

The Third West York Militia, now serving at Dublin, have attained great military proficiency. They are reported to be anxious to be embodied in the Line.

The Forty-sixth Regiment is now on its way to the East.

The arrivals of the precious metals last week amounted to 1,000,000/. Among the exports were 200,0001. to pay the troops in the Crimea.

A gratifying fact is mentioned in connexion with the Valorous steam- frigate, which left Sheerness for the Black Sea on Saturday—every sailor duly returned to the ship after enjoying a ten-days leave.

Finland is suffering severely from the effects of the war : there is great scarcity, and bread, meat, and forage, are very dear.

Seiler Salamanca has contracted to supply the French army in the East with 3,000,000 arobas of wine: the aroba contains thirty-two pinta.

The Emperor and 'Empress of the French have been in such danger of being smothered with flowers and petitions when they ride abroad, that the Prefect of Police has been compelled to issue a prohibition against throwing bouquets and letters into the Imperial carriages- But every facility is to be afforded for bringing petitions under the eye of the Emperor.

Mademoiselle Sofie Cruvelli has run away from the Paris Grand Opera. She was to have performed in Les Huguenots oa the evening of the 9th ; when the audience had assembled, it was suddenly discovered that the lady had left Paris for-Boulogne. It was first rumoured that she had been tempted by a brilliant engagement in America, next that she was in pursuit of a bridegroom. This is not the first escapade of the eccentric young lady. The Minister of the Interior has caused proceedings to be taken against her for Ten Weeks • Week- of

1611-'53. of 1854. Zymotic Diseases 2,78i .... 610

Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat • 475 .... 49

Tubercular Diseases • 1,629 .... 188 Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 1022 •••• 93

Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 344 .••. 48 Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration 1,155 . • • . 131 Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 597 .... 69 i

Deases of the Kidneys, Ac. 134 .... 12 Childbirth, diseases of the Uteras, Ac 102 .... 10 Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, JoInts,dte• 61 .... 10 Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, ac. 11 .• •. 2 Malformations 36 .... 5 Premature Birth 241 Atrophy 258 Age ... 995 Sudden 68

Tiolence,Privetioo,Oold, and Intemperance 220

— Totaltbododlng unspecified causes) 9,071 1,391

damages : her furniture has been seized, and what money she had at her banker's.

The last advices from Portugal are very unfavourable, both as regards the wine-districts and the general position of commercial affairs. At Lisbon many failures had occurred, including some of the French houses established there, as well as several native firms.

Correspondents of the Times complain of the abominable treatment of travellers at the lazarettoes of Lisbon and Madeira. At the former place, the accommodation is very restricted, and filthy, with exorbitant charges. "Two gentlemen, their wives, a child, and maid-servant, were stowed away in a room without window, and about nine feet square ; five Itclies found se- clusion in a garret ; while others, including three invalids, had to put up with the floor and benches of the diningroom, in some instances without a particle of bedding." The complainants from Madeira were put in quaran- tine for five days, because cholera exists in England, though the disease had not appeared during the voyage. " We are upwards of forty in number, and are all crowded into a place calculated to hold twenty-two, huddled into bedrooms eight and ten together ; some obliged to sleep in a mere out-house; others, eight in number, in a loft over the cow-house ; the servants all crowded for the night into the only sitting-room—a room about 14 feet by 10 in size, and in which the thermometer is at this moment at about 79' with door and window open."

At the election for London district in Victoria, there were two candidates, but no returning-officer, and no electors : the returning-officer was in Eng- land, and the electors—nowhere. This beats Old Sarum.

There is a great scarcity of vegetables in Victoria, and even mutton has become dear. Numbers of sheep are afflicted with disease, and they are killed and burnt by hundreds.

Some Chinamen at Bendigo employ gangs of fifty or sixty of their country- men to dig gold. These gentlemen adopt European costume, and they ap- pear to have more energy and animation than most Celestials.

Though wine is made in Australia, the vintage is not carried on with that perseverance and largeness of scale needed to make the golden land a wine- country.

The carriage of a ton of goods from Sydney to Bathurst, 130 miles, coats eight times the expense of its conveyance from London to Sydney, 16,000 miles.

The oldest man in Tasmania, who worked at West Tamar, died recently in his hundred-and-sixth year : he retained his faculties to the last.

Considerable quantities of rich copper ore continue to arrive at Cape Town from the mines in Namaqualand.

An outbreak of cholera has occurred in the town and among the mili- tary stationed at Bristol.

The epidemic is rapidly decreasing in Liverpool and Oxford.

Cholera has broken out virulently in a small village called Cold East, near Ashburton. The people are said to have drunk water which issues from a lead-mine. Other villages in the vicinity are also afflicted.

At New York, by the last accounts, cholera was on the decline : the num- ber of deaths this year had amounted to 2325; in 1849 the total was up- wards of 5000.

The village of Pont de l'Arche, twelve miles from Rouen, was exceedingly filthy in 1849, while its population is always poor : in 1849 the cholera carried off 85 persons out of a population of 1800. This year, when there was an alarm of cholera, the Maire had the village cleansed, kept it clean, physicked every one who had premonitory symptoms, (300 in number,) and turned a cart-load of unripe plums into the Seine : there has been no case of cholera.

The first Council of Roman Catholic Bishops ever held in New York State assembled on the let instant.

Emigration from New York to the Old World has lately become so ex- tensive as to attract attention.

In consequence of the many Germans located in New_York, beer-drinking is becoming one of the customs of that city.

The Reverend Dr. Potter succeeds the late Dr. Wainwright as Bishop of New York. "Dr. Potter," says the Times correspondent, "was the Low Church candidate, and prevailed, on the eighth ballet, by 20 majority of the clergy and 4 of the laity out of 320 votes. High Church in New York, how- ever, is not quite St. Barnabas—wax candles, mumbling, chanting, and in- tonation. It only means a comfortable pew, (very comfortable indeed,) a fashionable church, a very fashionable preacher, who does not give too much strong meat to the babes, stained windows of approved patterns, sentimental. charities, and opera music."

A " wonder " is rising in the New World which may well oompete with those of the Old—the Victoria Bridge at Montreal. It is a tubular bridge for the railway across the St. Lawrence, The whole construction will be two miles long; an abutment of solid masonry 1200 feet long will stretch from the North shore, one of 600 feet from the South shore, and the space between will be spanned by iron tubes resting on twenty-four piers. The distance between the under surface of the centre tube and the average sum- mer level of the river will be sixty feet. It is hoped that the first train will pass through this bridge by the summer of 1858. We shall soon have the Canadians borrowing the Yankee boast when talking to a " stranger "— " We arc a great people, sir." An old man stopped a train on the Boston and Providence Railroad, by placing a wooden house across the rails, which he said was full of gunpowder, and threatening to blow it up if the train approached, or if any persons ate- tempted to seize him. After a time the police broke into the house and seized the owner : very little gunpowder was found. The old men said that some land of his had been taken for the railway and badly paid for.

The trade between New England and Canada, under the new treaty, is rapidly increasing.

The New Granada Government are so "hard up" that they have been selling some brass guns to an American to raise a supply of cash.

Two women of the village of Holtnes's Hole, in the North of the American Union, have aided a fugitive slave to escape. He wasconcealed in a swamp; the officers of the law were looking for him ; the women went to him in the swamp, disguised him in female attire, drove him in a cart to the sea-side, embarked with him in a boat, took him to New Bedford, and got him for- warded thence to Canada.

The conduct of the authorities and the mob during the late fire at Memel was disgraceful; insomuch that it is no wonder if the greater part of the town was sacrificed. The magistrates did nothing to stop the conflagration, and very nearly sacrificed the shipping by refusing to open a bridge ; but the mariners took the matter into their own hands, and the ships were saved. The gendarmes at one time paced before the blazing buildings and looked fiercely at the flames; at another, they tried to prevent English and Ameri- can sailors from cutting off the fire at one point ; but the sailors persevered, and conquered. As to the rabble, they preferred thieving and getting drunk to working, even at the enormous pay which some of them exacted. The firemen also got drunk, and ceased to trouble themselves about working their engines. So the warehouses, public buildings, and dwellings, were swept away in quick succession.

The steamer Ajax, bound from London to Cork, has been wrecked on the Mewstone, five miles from Plymouth Sound, in broad daylight and in fine weather. The people, including upwards of 200 passengers, were landed be steamers which went from Plymouth to assist the Ajax ; but the vessel itself eventually went down in deep water. Mr. Rochford was the master of the Ajax ; he had been recently appointed, after losing the Minerva steamer in the Irish Channel.

Mr. W. T. Sellers, writing to the Morning Post, states that the American brigantine Haidee, Maine master, witnessed the burning of the Europa transport, on the 31st of May : the master lay-to to look at the fire, but re- fused to attempt to aid the poor people who were perishing in the flames or in the sea! This has been formally declared before the American Consul at Oporto, in the presence of Maine.

Upwards of 70004 has been subscribed for the relief of the sufferers by the calamity at Newcastle and Gateshead. More than three hundred burnt- out and destitute families have been relieved by the committee distributing this fund.

A statement of the receipts and expenditure of the University of Oxford for the year ending the 12th of November 1853, has been printed and sent round to common rooms, in accordance with a resolution of the Hebdomadal Board, made on the 18th of May 1854. It appears from this abstract, that the receipts amounted to 11,095/. 18. Old., and the expenditure to 10,353/. 158. ota., leasing a balance of 741/. 6s. The income of the University ap- pears to be derived mainly from two sources,—first, the fees upon matricula- tions and degrees, which produced last year above 40001.; and, secondly, money invested in the Funds, the interest of which gives an annual sum of nearly the same amount.

In the quarter ended at Michaelmas, there were no fewer than 537,345 bathers in the eleven public baths of London, and 85,260 persons washed clothes in ten of them : the receipts were 84101. The results in the pro- vinces were equally satisfactory.

"Cabby" suggests, in the Times, that the frequent congestion of traffio on London Bridge might be removed or reduced by assorting it—one line of fast vehicles should run each way, and one line of slow : at present, car- riages and waggons are mixed up in the two streams passing each way, and the slow-moving vehicles stop everything.

A Jew tradesman fled from Melbourne without paying his creditors ; he carried with him, it is believed, a good deal of gold, as well as a beautiful girl, and took ship for Liverpool, under the assumed name of "Smith." Mr. Smith was rather surprised when he landed at Liverpool, to find himself ar- rested and confronted with one of his Melbourne creditors, who had come to England by way of India and Egypt, and thus got the start of the rogue.

A musical instrument-maker at Paris has constructed a monster violin to be exhibited in the Exposition. It is so large that the fortunate fiddler who ahall obtain it "might at a pinch make up a bed inside."