NEWS OF TILE WEEK.
TTIE alarm entertained in the City seems not to diminish, and there is some prospect of a serious panic. The country, despite its prosperity, has been doing a great deal of unsound business, a great deal of paper discounted represents nothing at all but speculators' hopes, the reserve in the Bank seems likely to diminish rapidly, the Continent is unwilling to send over money in, the face of a crisis, and should the new banks begin to go we may look out for a crash. Failures are becoming frequent, and the explosion of the Banking Company of Leeds, which will involve an ultimate loss of nearly a million to its shareholders, has not tended to improve matters. That failure seems to have bean due to extremely bad management, bills discounted in London being constantly redis- counted at Leeds, and an extraordinary series of forgeries having been discovered committed by Mr. Marsden, a constituent of the Bank. He bad gone on discounting forged bills for years, and the loss from this cause alone will exceed 80,0001. TTIE alarm entertained in the City seems not to diminish, and there is some prospect of a serious panic. The country, despite its prosperity, has been doing a great deal of unsound business, a great deal of paper discounted represents nothing at all but speculators' hopes, the reserve in the Bank seems likely to diminish rapidly, the Continent is unwilling to send over money in, the face of a crisis, and should the new banks begin to go we may look out for a crash. Failures are becoming frequent, and the explosion of the Banking Company of Leeds, which will involve an ultimate loss of nearly a million to its shareholders, has not tended to improve matters. That failure seems to have bean due to extremely bad management, bills discounted in London being constantly redis- counted at Leeds, and an extraordinary series of forgeries having been discovered committed by Mr. Marsden, a constituent of the Bank. He bad gone on discounting forged bills for years, and the loss from this cause alone will exceed 80,0001.
The military news from America is not very important, but what there is is favourable to the North. On the 19th ultimo, after a visit from General Grant, General Sheridan attacked the Confederate General Early's position at Opeqnan Creek, in the Shenandoah Valley, and after a furious battle which Lasted all day, drove General Early through Winchester, which he then occupied. The Federal loss was, it is said, 3,000, and the Confederate 4,500. General Sheridan captured 2,500 prisoners and five cannon. The loss of officers was very great on the Confederate side—Generals Gordon, Rhodes, Wharton, and Ramsen being amongst the killed or wounded. On the Federal side General Russell was killed, and Generals M'Intosh, Chapman, and Upton wounded. General Grant is said to be massing his forces for an attack on the Danville Railroad, the only Southern line now left open to Richmond.
The signs of something like exhaustion at the South are not few. On the 22nd August a meeting was held at Sumter, South Carolina, at which a military officer from General Lee's army attended, and stated that the army must be supplied with food from South Carolina. A committee of forty-two was appointed to raise supplies, and a resolution passed, "That we have heard with the deepest interest and anxiety the appeal of the Secretary of War, the Quartermaster-General, and Major Carrington, in rela- tion to the want of corn in the army of Virginia,—a want which must be supplied by South Carolina alone, the other States of the Confederacy having been drained of supplies." Again the Rich- m9nti Despatch of September 9 admits that it will be necessary to strengthen Lee's army by calling on "the reserves,"—and it explains the reserves as meaning the employes of the State Govern- ments, the men detached to overlook negroes, drive teams, and so on, and those who have escaped conscription by living in counties recently occupied by the enemy. These do not sound like very rich reserves.
The Times correspondent in New York extracts at great length a certainly very savage and shocking address of Brigadier- General Paine, who was supreme in the Western division of Kentucky. This gentleman in assuming command in July last is reported to have told the disaffected slaveholders of Kentucky that they should not circulate a dollar of capital, that their drafts should not be honoured by the banks, and that no commercial transactions by them should be held valid. They need not, he said, talk to him of their rights, for they hod no rights to talk of. "Talk to me of giving you a banking privilege ! Great God the devil might as well ask the Almighty for a front seat in Heaven." The General evidently had been accustomed to confound Heaven with a "banking privilege," and let his secret feeling escape unawares. This was, however, the least violent part of his speech. "I shall shoot every guerilla taken in my district," he said, "and if your Southern brethren retaliate by shooting a Federal soldier I will. walk out five of your rich bankers, brokers, and cotton men, and make them kneel down and shoot them." This is all very shocking. and furious, but the Times correspondent perhaps did not know,— or at all events he forgot to say, that this fire-eating Northerner was superseded,—we believe by a General Meredith,—when his. arbitrary proceedings became known to Mr. Lincoln.
General BI'Clellan's letter accepting his nomination has seriously damaged the party. Mr. Vallandigham, who had already quitted' Chicago to "stump" the West, stopped short disgusted, Benjamin- Wood is doubtful, and the Peace Democrat vote seems to be lost. It never was large, but it included a good many of the class who furnish tbemoneyfor electioneering campaigns, and their secession will be severely felt. The fall of Atlanta, moreover, has revived the spirits of the Republicans, Fremont has fairly• resigned, and, the contest which ends on the 4th of November is now reduced to a bare question between the Union with slavery and the Union without it. It is just possible that the Irish in their hatred for the negro may vote en masse for the former alternative, but if they do not Mr. Lincoln's vote will probably be one of the heaviest ever thrown for President.
The Pungolo of Milan gives an account of the recent nego- tiations and of the King's views on the change of capital in Italy —on what authority 'of course we cannot tell. The Emperor, according to this account, himself hinted to the Marquis Pepoli that Italy should fix on a new capital as the condition of any concession on his part. When the Italian Ministers proposed it to the King, it is said that Victor Emanuel was much moved, being profoundly attached to Turin. For eight days he shut himself up, and then at length decided to accept the measure as the first step towards Rome. . He is said to have declared that if he should ever lead Italy to the Capitol he would then abdicate and return to Turin as a private citizen. No doubt so.ne part of this is true,—Victor Emanuel at least has no idea of accepting Florence as the capital of Italy. The bloody work at Turin has moved him deeply. He. demanded the resignation of his Ministry, and commissioned General Della Marmora, a stout soldier, scarcely a politician, to form a new Cabinet. Baron Rieasoli, the greatest man left to Italy, has been taken into council ; but we fear he has not yet accepted a place in the new Ministry.
The Convention has already produced one disastrous result. The Turinese, though willing to submit to the historiCal supre- macy of Rome, are very unwilling to admit the claims of any other city, more especially as the transfer of the capital takes away at least half the income of every citizen. On the 22nd of September the bitterness exploded in open violence. The crowd which had gathered in the square of San Carlo insulted and pelted the troops drawn up in the arcades, and musket shots were fired from the centre of the mob. The soldiers in one arcade, un- accustomed to deal with riots, and angry at the insults poured on them, opened fire without orders, and as the bullets crossed the square the soldiers in the opposite colonnade fired also. SOIXte twenty persons were killed, the crowd lied, and the affair has been taken up by the 'furinese with natural bitterness. It appears certain that the soldiers were a great deal too impatient, but also that two privates had been killed before they fired, and the heaviest
nation of the Ministry. eitablished.
The Prussians hay the Danes keep them waiting, that in fact they do not show any alacrity in helping enemies to rob them effectually. The conquerors have consequently resolved to try the efficacy of
• 'torture. All communication between Jutland and Copenhagen has been forbidden, exports have been prohibited, and fifty thousand men quartered upon the wretched peninsula for the winter. In fact the country is to be gutted in order that the aufferers may- by their cries create consternation at Copenhagen. The robber orders his victim's wife to be whipped in order that he may pay up quickly. Nothing so atrocious has been done in Europe since 1815, and the example will exaggerate the obstinacy of every luture defence. Had Jutland one range of mountains the Prussians would even now have to face a peasant war.
Rumours are flying about Germany of .the action of England in the matter of the Italian Convention. It is said that Lord .Clarendon has informed the Austrian Government that if they make no opposition to this Convention England will support Austria-1 statement which as-it stands is nonsense. The only
• account rendered probable by an analysis of different reports is that Austria seriously expects a conflict for Venice in the spring, that she has asked the' British Government as to the course they will take, and has been informed that in no case will England oppose the evacuation of • Rome. As to England assisting Austria to retain Venice, no Government which had given such a pledge could dur vive for a week. The amount of foundation for
the Austrian alarm is of course known only to the Emperor of the French, but the evidence suggests the existence, in spite of official denials, of some secret understanding between France and Italy. Napoleon will be paid somehow for a concession half France dislikes.
The Greek Government has decided on an important constitu- tional experiment. It has proposed to abolish its Upper Chamber, and the representatives have accepted the proposal by 211 to 62. The change is experimental, but will, we think, prove wise. Wherever the Upper House is historical as in England, Sweden, and Austria, or where as in America it represents a real and sepa- rate element in the constitution, it is probably useful, though its effect in all cases is to democratize the Lower Chamber. But. in a country without a historic peerage or independent municipalities its only effect is to deprive the Lower Chamber of a great amount of strictly Conservative ability. Earl Grey tried to abolish it in the Colonies, but Earl Grey is acid, and consequently the best ideas of the most original among our statesmen have been rejected by Parliament. There is one experiment remaining to be tried in politics which will one day be essayed, and perhaps produce unex- pected results, i.e., a sovereign Legislature , without an independent Executive. Conservatives always wince at it, but'it lasted pretty long in Rome, and has succeeded pretty well in England.
The Polish" National Government" has addressed a strange proclamation to the nation. It is worded in that lyric style common in Polish manifestoes, and declares that in the slaughter of 50,000 men and the transportation of 100,000 more it sees only another reason for commencing the second phase of the struggle, the true popular war. It hints in fact that it can and will raise a levy en mane, and will rely upon the "fraternal support of the peoples." If the "National Government" has no means at its dis- posal this is merely eloquent bombast ; if it has, it chooses its time very badly. The chance for the Poles is either an alliance with the Hungarians or the discontented in Russia, and the time for either arrangement is not yet. The " peoples " are very good allies, but Garibaldi is powerless in Central Europe, and Colonel Charras is not French Minister at War.
The Taeping rebellion, as an organized movement, seems to be at an end. The Tien-wang, the rebel Emperor, had, as a last resource, flung himself into Nankin with some 20,000 men, and here he was attacked by the Imperialists, guided but not com- manded by Major Gordon. The rebels fought desperately, but their two largest batteries were silenced by the fire from an American steamer in the Imperial pay, -the outer wall was blown• up by a mine, and when the resistance ceased, the " Emperor " was found in the palace, killed by his own hand, with several of his wives hanging on the garden trees. The city was found full of the bodies of citizens who had died of starvation, and the soldiers were little better off. Most submitted, but many fled, and
blame rests with those who placed them in front of an angry mob the 'son a the Emperor was saved by the devotion of a general, without the clearest instructions how to act. This appears to be who gave up to hitn his own pony. We may hear of this lad the View taken by the King, and the calamity has led to the resig- again, but for the present the Imperial authority see.ns to be re- The three maritime colonies of North Amariesai Prince Edward's Island, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia, have held a Convention, at which it was agreed to form the three into a federation to be called by the ancient name of the settlement, Acadia. It seems to be believed in Canada that this step will facilitate the Federation of the whole group of colonies, and they will be wise if they all accept the old name. Acadian is a good and a pro- nounceable description of the new nationality, which "British North American" can never be, and ii will not, moreover, interfere with the use of the present names as provincial designations. A Newfoundlander can well call himself such and also an Acadian.
Mr. Walter deprecates Mr. Disraeli's idea of crossing his "Downs with Cotswolds" in order to get a longer wooL He thinks it must injure the mutton. If the hair is to be long, the flesh will be leas juicy ; if the flesh is to be juicy, the hair will be short. Mr. Walter thinks the productive part of a sheep is, as the mathematicians- say, a constant ; the wool varies inversely as the meat, and Mi. Disraeli will only get a slightly better wool by 'getting a slightly worse mutton. This, however, is rather h priori reasoning of Mr. Walter's. At all events the experiment remains to be tried.
A correspondence has been going on in the Times as to the pro- priety of the English poor eating rice. It is said that brown rice, which is just as good as white rice, can be sold at 10s. per cwt., or a fraction over a penny a pound, The offer seems tempting, but the popular instinct which rejects rice is, we suspect, sound. As an excuse for eating milk, rice is of course good food, but even Ben- galees' the instant they are ill prescribe themselves a course of bread. Wet rice without milk is pasty, parched rice though better wants spices toanake it palatable, and in both forms the food pro- duces habitual constipation. That suits the Bengalee, —it would not snit Englishmen. The only two articles of grain food really neglected in England are oats and Indian corn, in both cases for the same reason —that nobody seems to know how to cook them. The true cure for a deficiency of carbon in the labourer's food is higher wages.
Sir Stephen Lakeman deserves the gratitude of all Englishmen. He has brought us something new to eat. It is a mighty pond fish called the silurus granis, or let us hope the allure, which grows in Moldavia to a weight of 200 lbs. It eats little fish and frogs, grows very fast, and is better eating than salmon; having something of the richness Of the eel. Sir Stephen has brought over fourteen out of thirty six specimens with which he started, and the " Piseicul- tural Director to the Acclimatization Society" says he has no doubt of the success of the experiment. What with the new supply of salmon under the protective laws, the new bank of cod, and the allures, there is a chance of fish to eat at reasonable prices, a com- pensation for that stringiness which, according to the member for Berks, Mr. Disraeli wants to impart to English mutton.
One of those strange cases in which a criminal has added unne- cessary horrors to his crime, as if mere atrocity titillated hint pleasantly, has occurred in Bohemia. A man of Eicllitz named Antony, and nicknamed the Russian," had been jilted by a girl, and he resolved to be revenged on the first woman he met. This was an old widow named Conrad, whom he took into the forest, violated, and killed. Then cutting off her arms, legs, and breasts, he cooked and ate them with potatoes. When arrested he confes- sed the crime and its motive with the greatest coolness—a coolness which almost destroys the charitable hope that he is mad.
A friend recently at York complains bitterly of the avarice and incapacity shown in the arrangements for the show of the Minster. The Dean and Chapter not only demand sixpence from every person visiting the choir, which is the actual church" for service, but they insist on visitors waiting till parties of not less than ten have been formed, and when admitted will not allow them to inspect at will. They must follow an uneducated verger, who repeats in a droning singsong his lesson about the monuments. To prevent the possibility of people shutting their ears to this rubbish, the inside of the choir is divided into com- partments by locked gates, and to secure incivility the Chapter take the sixpences and only pay the vergers bare wages. Finally, in order to" dodge" people who might visit the choir during ser- vice time, the gates are locked after the first lesson. The whole arrangement is utterly clerical. Surely if the Chapter must take
people's sixpences, and so shut out all the poor from a church built for them, they might have the decency after toll has been paid to leave their visitors alone, unlock the interior gates, and leave people to muse unharassed by the jokes of a sort of Toole in a blaek coat. . - A great advance is said to have been recently made in photo- graphy. Photographs by any process now used fade. A German named Wothly has, however, discovered one which gives ex- quisite pictures that do not fade. At least water, sun, and wind have no effect upon them, and it .only remains to ascertain what injury time may do. The process has been purchased and patented by a company, headed by Colonel Stuart Wortley, who himself perhaps the best among amateur photographers, quite believes in the invention. Should it realize expectation it will remain only to fix colour to bring the art to perfection.
Walter Savage Landor has died this week in his ninetieth year. He was a man of sensuous power, of stormy changeful temper, -and great literary ability, which a sect believed to amount to genius. He sold his estate in Monmouthshire, it is said, in 1806 because one tenant absconded. He was the first Englishman to excite the Spanish insurrection against Napoleon in 1808, and
. raised a body of troops at his own expense, conducted them from Corunna to Aguilar, gave 20,000 reale to the Spanish cause, and was made a colonel in the Spanish army. He threw up his com- snission when the provisional constitution of the revolutiOn was subverted by King Ferdinand. Mr. Emerson has said that his genius was essentially military : "He has a wonderful brain, des- potic, violent, inexhaustible, meant for a soldier—by what chance converted to letters, in which there is not a style or a tint unknown to him ?" He is best known in England by, his "Imaginary Cotf- versations," which have been rather harshly termed the work of a bastard Plato.
The Record and the Morning Advertiser in all their attacks on spiritual and intellectual freedom are apparently under one military command. On Wednesday the Record inserted in a conspicuous place a letter signed "Vigil," on occasion of the Bishop of Natal's appearance at the Btitish Association at Bath,. in which it is said to be lamentable that "so far from avoiding public occasions of this kind Dr. Colenso actually appears to court public attention, and to defy the unmistakeable expression of public opinion." That the Bishop of Natal should have proposed the health of Dr. Livingstone "must have been very painful to the feelings" of that eminent missionary, and "these incidents show that while infidelity and respectful sneering at the inspired word of God are taking their seats in high places and as- suming a bold front, there are (thank God!) still to be found" men like Professor Sedgwick, who are both scientific and devout. How 4, Vigil" supposes that Dr. Colenso's respectful reception at Bath " shows" that there are men like Professor Sedgwick, is a very difficult point. We should never suppose that " Vigil's" idiotic horror at the Bishop of Natal venturing still to hold up his head and talk geography and arithmetic, proves the existence of men of sense and liberal feeling who know what an inference means. The Record having printed this on Wednesday, on Thursday the Morning Advertiser has an important communication in large type "from a correspondent," in which the attack is directed against Dr. Livingstone, who had not repudiated the health pro- posed by the Bishop of Natal. "There is too much reason to fear," we are told, "that by this time the missionary has not only sunk into the geographical discoverer, but that he has strong sympathies with the unhappy Bishop of Natal." What these people really wish is, that everybody who objects to their silly parody of the divine counsels should be declared a moral leper. They are furious because no man of sense seems to mind that "unmistake- able expression of public opinion" which means the shriek of their ignorant bigotry.
A correspondent has taken offence at the few lines in which we noticed the return of two regiments of the Guards in our last week's number. We can truly say that nothing was further from our thoughts than to cast any slur on the Brigade. While we cannot but look upon the privileges of the Guards as to rank as a misfor- tune to the country and an injustice to the rest of the Army, we know them to be gallant soldiers who have always served well ; and in their recent sojourn in Canada they have set an excellent example. of steadiness and good conduct. We are very glad therefore to welcome them back, but must repeat in other words that we think an occasional spell of foreign service very good for them on all accounts. Other regiments at least as distinguished spend t 4o-thirds of their time in India and the colonies. Mr. Henry Ross, a sculptor, who if we mistake not will yet reach the highest point in one branch of his great art, has produced an exceedingly fine bust of Garibaldi,—made, we believe, from photo- graphs alone. It seems to us by far the truest likeness of the dreamy patriot and adventurous captain we 'have yet seen: It resembles in some respects, as does Garibaldi's own countenance, the conventional conception of Homer,—the dreamier lines in the face seeming somehow to express a passion for the wide horizons and in-• cessant music of the "many-sounding sea." There is also, however, the dignity and simplicity of a mind that with whatever political shortcomings has truly lived for "an idea," and would as willingly die for it. Sculpture seems to suit the antique style of greatness more than either painting or photography, and Garibaldi's great- ness is truly antique.
Spirit-rapping is again in the ascendant, having once more penetrated into the columns of the Times. Two American gentle- men named Davenport, and a Mr. Fay, of German origin, but educated in America—three powerful mediums—have come over to this country with-a Mr. Palmer and a Dr. Ferguson, wh5 appear to perform the task of commentators and interpreters of the so- called phentimena. The seances have been held in a house near Portland Place, and the marvels consist as usual in the ringing of bells, playing on tambourines, -and other musical initruments, without apparent agency,—the only new feature being some re- • markable tricks with a cabinet ør skeleton wardrobe, in two coin- partments of which, after due examination, the Messrs. Davenport are placed, with hands and feet firmly tied so that no movement seems possible, and theit, hands, supposed to be spiritual, are seen and heard working away at the knots,—the result being that the brothers are set free in a couple of minutes. As far as the accounts we have seen go, it is as usual to be noticed that all the remarkabl) facts take place either behind the doors of the cabinet or in dark- ness after the lamps are extinguished. It looks at sight very like a common case of conjuring managed by a secret entrance into the apartment behind the cabinet.
A Prussian artillery officer in the service of the United States, Captain Dilger,—familiarly called " Leatherbreeches," from the material of which his trousers are composed,—and who has recently been fighting under General Sherman in the Georgian campaign, has attained so great a notoriety for taking his guns close up to the lines of the enemy that the humorous Yankees recently presented him with a set of bayonets for his cannon—a delicate compliment under cover of a good joke.
A singular telegram arrived on Friday from Mexico, which is worth republishing. "5,000 French attacked Cortinas (Juarist) at Ilatamoras on the 8th of September. During the engagement the Confederates, under Colonel Forde, espoused the cause of the French and attacked Cortinas. The Federal forces then drove Fords off. Afterthe engagement Cortinas crossed the river and occupied Browns- ville, hoisted the Federal flag, and offered the services of his troops to the Federal Government." In other words, the Federals have attacked French allies during a French battle,—a serious statement.
The Lord Mayor, after a year of very good service thoroughly appreciated by his fellow liverymen., sees at length the term of office near. The Lord Mayor elect is Alderman Warren Stormes Hale, "citizen and tallowchandler."
On Saturday last Consols for money left off at 871 88, and for account at 88i 1. Yesterday the closing prices were :—For transfer, 87k; for time, 871 88. The stock of bullion in the Bank of England is now 13,121,1231.
The following table shows the closing prices of the leading Foreign Securities yesterday and on Friday week :-
Do. Coupons .. Mexican Spanish Passive •• Do. Certificates Turkish 6 per Cents., 1858..
" 1862.. Consoides.. .. .• ..
..
. . • • ..
..
.. Friday. Sept. 23.
23f — 27/ •• 311 14 .. 69 .. 70 •• 501 Friday, Sept 80. 281 26 30 13 .. 08 1 .. 69f .. 501
Yesterday and on Friday week the leading British Railways left off at the annexed quotations :—
Pdday, Sept. 23. Friday, Sept. 80. Caledonian .. .. .. .. 121 .. 1231 Great Eastern .. .. .. 44 .. 43 Great Northern .. .... 128 .. 126 Great Western.. .. .. 6 .. 60 1 113 • • Lancashire and Yorkshire London and North-Western London and Brighton .. London sod flouth•Weatent London, Chatham, and Dover North-Eastern, Berwick .. Midland .. .. .. Do. York .. West Midland, Oxford ... ..
PO
..
OA
•• ..
• . ..
...
94
102 1 02 40 1281 1051 98
47i
..
• •
• • ..
.• • •
VA
111 108 1021 32 80 221 105 93/ 441
