28 JANUARY 1854, Page 7

Ziorttlaututs.

A "suppressed pamphlet," said to contain something dreadful about Prince Albert, has been the subject of a nine-days wonder. A letter from Mr. William Coningham, of Brighton, published by a morning paper, made the first distinct allusion to the brochure ; and Mr. Coningham has since explained that he described it on the authority of the writer of the pamphlet. The story was, that when Lord Palmerston left office in 1851, he placed in the hands of that writer a quantity of documents, including private letters, which showed how certain high personages had impro- perly meddled with our foreign policy : the pamphlet, however, found its way to Windsor, and was hurriedly "suppressed "—a few copies only being "confidentially shown to favoured quidnuncs. [" I am glad," said Charles Lamb to a whispering gossip, "you told me it was a secret ; for I will only tell it to five people."] That was the story : the true facts have since been stated. A pamphlet was written, but not from private documents, or at the instance of Lord Palmerston; and when it was submitted to him on the eve of publication, he requested that it might be suppressed. The pamphlet itself has this week been pub- lished in the Times. It is called "Palmerston—What has he done?" It contains a defence of Lord Palmerston, a bitter attack on Lord John Rus- sell, and an elaborate commentary on the famous paragraph in the Bres- lau Gazette announcing the probable withdrawal of Lord Palmerston, in consequence of negotiations at Vienna carried on unknown to him, before the event occurred. There is nothing in the work but what was patent to every reader of the journals in the winter of 1851-'52. Such is the Brighton pamphlet : but how did it come into existence ? The loose gossip about it designated some unnamed " Baronet " as having played the part of Luciva in bringing forth the brochure ; and many at once assumed that the Baronet "must be Bulwer "—Sir Edward Lytton. No such thing : another guess, that Sir John Easthope had a hand in it, was more correct. Sir John has always been an admirer of Lord Pal- merston, and when that statesman was somewhat abruptly obliged to leave the Foreign Office, Sir John rushed forward to vindicate his fame. Sir John was always liberal with his morn y, and he had no difficulty in procuring, from the staff of a leading in:1.nel, a pungent writer to com- pose the Philippic against the Court. The only wonder is, that a writer generally so pungent should have produced so very tame an affair as this composition; or that it should have been thought necessary to suppress it.

Perhaps its publication now is an equally curious event. Much having been made of the thing while it lay unknown, the writer, it is said, be- came uneasy at the fuss made about the uncourtly production : hence the expedient of quashing the talk by actually publishing the pamphlet ; which has thus, after raising a fire and a smoke, oddly enough served the purpose of a wet blanket to put out its own ineendiarism.

A paragraph appeared in the Morning Advertiser, on the 14th instant, asserting that if Lord Westmoreland and Lord Stratford were called on to state what had passed in writing between an Illustrious Personage and themselves relative to the Eastern question, and to produce the cor- respondence, England would be startled from its propriety. Lord West- moreland, in a letter dated "Vienna, January 22," replies with an ex- plicit denial of the statement thus put forward—

"I have not had any communication, directly or indirectly, with the 'Il- lustrious Personage' alluded to, since I first came to Vienna. I never re- ceived a letter from the Prince containing one word upon politics, public men, or public affairs. The only letters with which his Royal Highness has honoured me have related to matters of art and benevolence."

The following letter, originally addressed to the editor of the Morning Herald, has been published in the journals.

"Claremont, Tan. 21.

" Sir—A letter, purporting to have been addressed by her Royal Highness the Duchess of Orleans to the Duke de Nemours, appeared in your columns of the 16th instant: and, as the authenticity of that letter has obtained some credit, I received his Royal Highness's commands to acquaint you that such a letter has never existed. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, "J. GAIITHLEIt."

A Cabinet Council, attended by all the :Ministers, was held at the Foreign Office on Saturday. The Council sat four hours and a half.

A second Cabinet Council was held at the Foreign Office on Tuesday. The only Minister absent was the Marquis of Lansdowne. The Council sat four hours.

There was a third Cabinet Council on Thursday, at which all the Ministers were present. The Council sat two hours and a half.

Lieutenant-Colonel Vickers, the leader of the gallant " enemy" at Chohhain, and three other engineer officers, have been ordered to attend the British squadron in the Black Sea.

We mentioned some days since that it was intended by Government to enrol 20,000 Irish Militia. To these we understand 10,000 Scotch Militia will be added. It is intended that these men shall be used to replace any troops that may be sent to the Alediterraneen.—Slandarel, Jan. 23.

"A Maltese" suggests, that as Malta "is the nursery of a fine, brave, and hardy race of seamen," the Admiralty might find the island a good place for naval recruits.

A report was circulated early in the week, that Mr. Joseph Sturge, Mr. Pease of Darlington, and Mr. Charlton of Bristol, had been deputed by the Peace Society to proceed to St. Petersburg and endeavour to in- duce the Czar to come to terms with Turkey. Mr. Richards, the Secre- tary of the Peace Society, however, states that they have not gone from that body, but from the Society of Friends.

A letter from Stockholm states that it will be difficult for Sweden to main' - tain her neutrality in ease of war. The Russians have fortified the island of Aland, from which they menace Stockholm itself. The writer dwells much on the importance of a union between Sweden, Norway, and Den- mark, with an army of 200,000 men, and a fleet of more than 400 sail, manned by more than 60,000 seamen, in case of a rupture. The entire North would thus be raised against Russia, and Finland itself would pro- bably join Sweden.

The prospects of the Manchester trade under the influences of war, dear food, and strikes, arc estimated in the following extract from a circular issued by Messrs. Heugh, Balfour, and Company.

"it is possible that the large exports to the United States may prove to have been too much for their spring trade, which had hardly opened at the date of the latest adviees from New York ; and the purchases for the fall trade may therefore be on a smaller scale than last year's. It is also pro- bable that war would diminish the demand for the Continent of Europe, as well as generally curtail operations for all long markets. It is also difficult to believe that the rise in grain, which has doubled the price of bread in the last eight months, will not very sensibly affect the home consumption of cotton goods. On the other hand, there is as yet no appearance that the United States consumption of our goods will not be maintained at the rate of last year, and it is certain we shall take as much cotton and more bread- stuffs from them than we did last year. It is not likely that many months can now pass without some demand from the Chinese, even if the country continues as disturbed as it is ; for we continue to take their tea and silks largely, and probably have sent above four millions in specie to them during the last year. There is also no doubt that we have already felt the curtail- ing of operations for long markets, and the dulness of the home trade ; for there has been the greatest caution among shippers and the home trade houses for more than three mouths. So that it appears, reduced as it latterly has been for the Continent of Europe, the Eastern markets, and the home trade, the general demand is yet equal to our present production, and prepared to take it off at existing prices, while there are at least as many quarters from which we may anticipate an increase as there are from which we may fear a diminution in the present amount of purchasing. So far as we can learn, there is no present prospect of the mills now closed resuming work. Possibly the total number of these amounts to the equivalent of one- seventh to one-sixth part of the total production of the cotton manufacturing districts. While, therefore, we admit the serious consequences that war and dear food may lead to, we see no immediate prospect of prices falling here ; and, unless a general European war is to result from the present political disturbances, it is difficult to see either why the consumption of our manu- factures should be materially checked in the leading foreign markets, far removed from the seat of war, or how we are to be hindered from carrying our supplies to those markets."

Milder weather has diminished the mortality of the Metropolis. Last week the deaths were 1195—a decrease of 61 on the calculated average of 1256. There was only one case of cholera.

Count Walewski, the French Ambassador, had an interview with Lord Clarendon on Monday, and again on Tuesday. Lord Elphinstone arrived at Bombay on the 25th December. Lord Falk- land left Bombay on the 3d, and arrived at Cairo on the 12th of January. The Hospodar of Wallachia, Prince Georges Stirbey, has arrived at Mar- seilles.

Mr. Colquhoun, our Consul-General at Bucharest, had been recalled, and arrived at Constantinople on the 9th instant.

The Count de Chambord has taken a house at Prague. The Earl of Carlisle was at Malta on the 14th instant, and he was to ad- dress the members of the Literary and Scientific Institution that evening. Dr. Routh, the President of Magdalen College, Oxford, who is in his ninety-ninth year, has just completed a work consisting of extracts from the Fathers, with an original introduction. {Honourable mention has been made in the Portuguese Cones of the memory of Lord Beresford, by the Duke of Terceira and other officers who served under him ; and his death has been recorded upon the journals of both Houses, with the same sentiments of regret as in the case of the Duke of Wellington. Marshal Beresford has bequeathed his estates in Carlow county, with 15,0001. to build a house, to the second son of one of his old companions in arms—the late General Sir Denis Pack. Captain Denis William Pack, Lord Beresford's godson, is to assume the arms and name of Beresford. Lieutenant-Colonel Croker, who served through the Peninsular war and finished his military career at Waterloo, died recently at Leamington, aged sixty-four. The Empress Eugenie having been prescribed exercise, she had a pair of skates made fitted with wheels, and on these she skims the polished floors of the salons in the Tuileries.

Louis Napoleon is received in public now with the most respectful obei- sances, and he rides unattended through the streets. A New York paper announces the receipt of letters from Kossuth, in which he intimated his intention of proceeding to Constantinople. Elihu Burritt is agitating in New York in favour of ocean penny postage. Bishop Bedini, the Pope's Nuncio in the United States, has been burnt in effigy at Wheeling ; and the mob broke the windows of the cathedral after the Nuncio had officiated there. Mademoiselle Sophie Cruvelli has entered into an engagement with the Opera at Paris for two years, at a salary of 4000/. per annum. She is to play twice a week for eight months in the year, with extra pay for additional service; and is allowed to choose her own parts. M. Mouginot, a detached captain on the staff of the French army, has been killed in a sword duel at Constantinople, by M. Marceau, captain of dragoons. Both these officers were military instructors in the service of the Porte. M. Marceau proceeds to France, where the matter will be in- quired into by a military court in the usual manner. The Espana of the 15th instant, a Madrid journal, tells a pretty story of that model of piety the Queen Dowager Christina. "As Queen Maria Chris- tina was yesterday passing along the Calle de Akala, she met a priest carry- ing the sacrament to a poor sick man. Her Majesty immediately got out of her carriage, made the In-lest enter it, and followed the vehicle, with a wax candle in her hand, through the dirty streets, to the sick man's residence ; after which she proceeded on foot to the parish-church." Per contra, Queen Christina is one of the warmest supporters of the Cuban slave traffic.

Marechetti's statue of Creur de Lion has been placed on a temporary pedestal facing the entrance to Westminster Hall, to test its harmony with the Parliament Palace.

A circular memorandum from the Horse Guards, dated 13th January, directs that in the event of troops being called out in aid of the civil power, the officer Commanding shall immediately report the same' by telegraph, to the military secretary, as also the fact of his actual arrival at the place where the presence of the troops is required ; continuing bo report to the same authority, in the usual manner, the progress and completion of the service on which he may have been detached.— United Service Gazette.

The prospect of war has made " villanous saltpetre" rise in price in the London markets.

The Austrian policy of appointing soldiers to fill inferior civil posts is to be further extended : the Emperor-has ordered that all deserving noncommis- sioned officers and men who have received their discharge shall be placed in Government offices.

The Emperor of Austria has hinted to the Vienna courts-martial that he wishes them to be a little more expeditious in their proceedings: it is mali- ciously bruited about that the officers have spun out the trials for the sake of the extra pay they obtain for the duty.

The large landed proprietors of Prussia, whose interests have been so strongly defended by the New Prussian Gazette, have just presented M. Wagner' ex-editor of that journal, with 100,000 thalers, to indemnify him for the annoyances to which he has been subjected by his devotedness to their cause.

The East India Company has sent to the Manchester Commercial Associa- tion certain species of grass grown in Assam and other parts of Hindostan, which are pronounced a good rival to Russian hemp.

- An establishment for the manufacture of oil from the cotton-seed has been Railed in New Orleans. It is stated that the oil is of a bland pleasant taste, possessing all the qualities of olive oil; that it burns with great brilliancy, and is peculiarly fitted for using upon machinery, on account of not gum- ming Of drying. If the oil is really valuable, the manufacture will 1300II be- come an important one, for the quantity of raw material is unbounded.

At the date of the last advices from Cuba, five vessels were known to be fitting out in that island for the slave-trade. It was reported that a cargo of slaves had been landed.

A steamer now plies between the group forming the Sandwich Islands.

A bed of amber has been discovered in a coal-mine near Prague. Pieces weighing two and three pounds each have been extracted.

The Turkish Government, on the recommendation of General Baragnay d'Hilliers, has decided on establishing a line of electric telegraph from Con- stantinople to Schumla.

A telegraphic office has been established at Orsova. A despatch containing twenty words is conveyed from Paris to Orsova, vii Baden, for 27 francs 10 centimes.

So great is the demand for labour at Odessa, to load the numerous ships eager to get cargoes and be oft; that as much as 16s. 3d. a day is paid to the porters, , It seems probable that the French Government will introduce the English system of " bonding " taxable imports. II. Arthur Berryer has been sent to England to gather information on the subject. The Napoleon Docks in Paris will be the first to enjoy the privilege.

The French Minister of the Interior has addressed a circular to the Pre- fects; informing them that the Emperor has just opened a credit of 2,000,000 francs from the budget of the Interior, to be divided among the various in- stitutions in France for affording immediate relief to the poor, and recom- mending them to provide at once for the proper distribution of such sums as are allowed to the communes placed under their jurisdiction. The Emperor of the French has a "model farm" at Lamotte-Beiivron. The farmers who have taken land in that locality from the Emperor, and the labourers and poor of the district, appear to have been very liberally treated. A society has been established at Bordeaux, with the sanction of the Pre- fect of the Gironde, for promoting the observance of Sunday as a day of rest. Female schools are about to be established by the Government in the island of Sardinia. The Roumelians of the Danubian Provinces have opened a chapel in Parks. The Archimandritte Snagoyano officiated at the opening.

A "freehold land society" has been started for Melbourne and Coning- wood.

The Weimar Cabinet warns parents to dissuade their sons from the study of the law, as the profession is overstocked.

Durham Cathedral is warmed by no fewer than a dozen stoves : the flue-pipes are thrust through the windows—not to the improvement of the appearance of the building.

Experiments were tried last week on the London and North-Western Railway with Professor Glukmann's invention for effecting a communication between the guard and driver of a train. There is a constantly-charged battery at each end of the train ; also a large bell; a wire,communicates be- tween the two batteries. The guard can ring the driver's bell, and vice versa. If a part of the train broke away, the bells would commence ringing, and continue to ring. The trial last week was a rough one, bat it appeared. to be successful.

At the solicitation of the local government of Patras, a subscription is about to be raised in London to alleviate the distress caused in the Mores by the blight of the currants. The sharp frost is said to have had a beneficial effect on the diseased vines in the department of the Rhone; at any rate it has improved their appear- ance.

It is too bad of the Parisians to flout us about our suicidal November weather—Paris is not without fogs. On Monday morning, far two hours, the whole city was obscured with a fog as thick as any of genuine London growth. New York, like London, has been visited by extremes of temperature : mild spring weather has succeeded sharp frost and deep snow. Numbers of grouse have been found dead on the Stanhope and Tyne Rail- way, killed by flying against the telegraph-wires. The Californian papers in announcing births add the weight of the child. The Parisians have been amused by seeing a gentleman vaulting in the air with prodigious bounds : he effected this by attaching to his body a ma- chine containing bladders of hydrogen, not sufficient in power to make hins ascend, but overcoming so much of his weight that he could make great leaps with ease.

A timber bridge over the Rhone at Lacey, connecting France and Savoy, recently fell down. A man had passed over it with a load of corn just be- fore it gave way. The theatres and other public places of amusement in Paris were better attended last year than in 1852; the receipts were 13,157,000 francs, or an increase of 1,868,000 francs.

A farmer at Ricknal in Durham finished his harvest as late as the 2d of the present month. Upwards of 400/. has been raised to reward the four brave fishermen who saved the survivors of the Eva steamer.

The mate of the Dewdrop, of Whitby, recently wrecked at Arbroath, de- clares that the rats, which had infested the ship by thousands, quitted it be- fore it left Hartlepool on its fatal voyage.

The numbers of chargeable letters delivered in the United Kingdom by the Post-office increased from 76,000,000 in 1839 to 411,000,000 last year.

A "difficulty" about land occurred between judge Gates and Jonathan.' Harrold, in Sutter township, California; the luminary of the law settled it by shooting Harrold through the head. The Judge gave himself into cus- tody, and he has been held to bail. A singular suicide has been committed at Potsdam. The beadle took a traveller to view the Frederick Church. No sooner had they entered than. they heard slight meanings. They hastened to the spot, and found a young man hanging by the neck to a large marble figure of Jesus Christ on the cross. They immediately cut him down, and conveyed him to the hospital. Having partially recovered, he stated that he belonged to the sect of Old Lutherans, or Pietists ; and that, being anxious to secure Ids salvation in the world to come, he had long determined to die as Christ died ; that he had frequently attempted to crucify himself, but had not courage to execute the design ; and that at last, after a violent struggle with his bad passions, he had hanged himself to the cross. About a quarter of an hour after making this statement he died.

An impostor has been duping the "best society" at Venice and neigh- bouring places, by calling himself "Apostolic Vicar-General of Fez." His reception was almost "brilliant" : he was admitted to the confidence of bishops • he got large contributions for pious purposes ; celebrated mass in the cathedrals, and was about to receive the privilege of confirming bishops, when the police unmasked him. He turns out to be an old offender ; he was expelled from the ecclesiastical seminary of Petrioli in 1843; his epis- copal insignia were made of yellow metal and paper!

MM. de Crevecceur, Landre, Leroy, and de Sassenay, employes of the Orleans Railway, who had been sentenced to imprisonment and fine for , having occasioned by their neglect the death of six persons, appealed against the sentence to the Imperial Court of Poitiers. The case was again tried on the 21st instant; when the Court acquitted the first three, and maintained the penalty to which M. de Sassenay was condemned,—namely, two years' imprisonment and 1500 francs fine.

Dr. Lutener, an ear-doctor of New York, who was rather noted, though a family man, for intrigues with married females, has been murdered in a, mysterious manner. Ile was found dead in his office in the Broadway; he' had been shot, and a pistol lay on the floor near him—not his pistol; in his right hand he still grasped a newspaper which he had borrowed of a neigh- bour. Suspicion fell on Mr. and Mrs. Hays, and they were arrested : there had been unpleasantness about Lutener's attentions to the lady.

A correspondent, who is unusually competent to handle the subject, points to at least one obvious conclusion from the loss of the Tayleur' — a " crack ship," built at Warrington, and only just out of Liverpool on her first voyage- " One thing is clear, that the sinking was not a matter of necessity, but a result of imperfect structural arrangement. She could not have been strong compared with her bulk, nor could she have been framed with proper water-tight compartments. If efficiently constructed, the blow on the rock ought only to have damaged the vessel locally. And one of the results will be the keeping back improvement for a longer period, as in the ease of the accident to the Great Britain. This question of structure should be the subject of inquiry, in order to make it understood that iron vessels may be so constructed that they can neither be burned by fire nor sunk in water. American steamers were at one time frequently sunk in the Mississippi by striking on snags.' To meet this difficulty, the Americans invented the 'snag chamber.' Now if it be needful that vessels leaving Liverpool should try the hardness of Irish rocks in Dun- drum Bay and on Lambay Island, the bottoms ought to be provided with rock chambers. Let it be clearly understood by the surveyors at Lloyd's, that more is required in an iron steamer than mere floating qualities; that, like locomo- tive engines, they must be submitted to occasional shocks, and made strong accordingly ; and the public will understand that it is a possible thing to go to sea without the risk of drowning."