Miscellaneous.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 371, 24 May 1856, Page 8

Miscellaneous.

The loss of Kars has greatly complicated the position of the Turks in Asia, and placed Omar Pasha in a very critical situation. He has fallen back on Batoum, where he is compelled to remain, from the severity of the weather, and the want of the means of transport. At Constantinople, there has been great excitement at the news of the surrender of General Williams. No blame whatever is attached to the English commander, who is proved to have /.behaved with the utmost judgment and heroism. He was Hierally starved into surrender, nor would he have been justified in holding out so long, had he not been in daily expectation of relief from the army of Seliin Pasha—a gentleman who seems to have ueenjin no hurry to put himself in the way of danger. The ' Times' of this morning, deliberately charges Lord Stratford «le Rericlifie with having neglected to attend to the repeated appeals of General Williams, fur help and succour; and demands a parliwmentaiy investigation into the conduct of the British ambassador. 'It is alledged that Lord .Stratford who is a man of the most obstinate, arbitrary, and unrelenting disposition,had a private grudge against General Williams, inasmuch as the latter was appointed to his post without the knowledge or the recommendation of the ain-bat-ador. No doubt, when Parliament opens y^e fchall hear more of this extraordinary affair ■»tbc consequences of which have oeeu so

disastrous to the cause of the Allies, and so fatal to the brare garrison of Kars, and its noble commander. The Turkish government, it is said, is inclined to throw the blame upon Omer Pasha, who was to have gone-to the relief of the beleaguered city :^_but, if we may credit the accounts from the Mushir's army, he had neither a force nor the means sufficient to enable him to undertake so bold an enterprise. Flushed with his success, General Mouvavieff, would appear to be extending his forces towards Erzeroum, and that city, which rather than Kars, is the key of the Turkish empire in the East—may be considered as be;.ng in great danger.—Correspondent " S. M. Herald.''

: Cardinal Wiseman is shocked because Lord John Russell recommends the Christian Asso : ciation of Young Men to study Locke nnd ■ Milton as guides to toleration : but Locke, says the Cardinal, " includes Atheism in his toleration," and excludes Popery. Locke, defending i the right of discussion, vindicates it against Popery, which claims a rig-lit to put down discussion. The Cardinal quotes Lingard to show that Protestant England was formerly celebrated for its persecutions: hut the question is of the present day. He might have used an argument much more received in his own Church. It all depends upon the motive. The civil reformer who opens the convent-door, and tells the nun that she may go out or stop in at her pleasure, is a persecutor : he is persecuting the Pope, who has told the mm that she must not go out; and he is persecuting the nun, for he is risking her eternal welfare, and tempting her with gauds of the present. There is no limit to this argument. The Protestant who converted the monk Borzinski persecuted the monk as well as his faith ; the unconverted monks, who confined him as a lunatic, protected him. As the Inquisition is reviving, they might render their protection yet more effective: they might, for example, place Borziuski under the rack, and coerce his spirit back to the true faith. "O fovtunati nirriium !" This would be mercy ; since at the pain of a little present and transient suffering, it would rescue him from eternal agony. To slop the rack would be to persecute him. •The newspaper-reporters tell us that Cardinal Wiseman commented upon the evils and difficulties which beset the English Church "in language of 'savage unctuousness.'" This is a commodity which may be vaguely fancied, but „which it is difficult to bring with any distinctness before the mind. "Savage unctuousness"!— it must be equivalent to a sort of greasy ferocity. The phenomenon happened, however, in a church where the Cardinal was politely fulminating at the sins of this country: perhaps the reporter had actually procured a specimen of a curiosity some time since mentioned, but never yet seen—"buttered thunder."

Justice Crampton says chat the whole body of the law rests upon the oath ; and if the Bible be burned the superstructure of the administration of justice tumbles to pieces, with all the obligations of society. Now it is the doctrine of our law that an oath may be administered in a form binding upon the conscience of the witness, and we allow Chinese witnesses to attest their oath by the breaking of a saucer. Will Justice Crampton assert that to treat a saucer with contempt, or to break it, would destroy British administration qua Chinese ? The answer will be important in Hongkong. Further, we may ask, would the breaking of saucers effect a break-down of the Chinese empire ? The subject is worth the attention of missionaries.

Mr. Cobden has just issued a pamphlet on the War entitled, 'What next? and Next?' which has caused a great stir. It is denounced by the whole of the London press, daily and weekly, and is calculated to do much harm by giving a false prejudicial notion i.i Russia.

The Queenjias con-tituted the colony of Western Australia to he a Bishop's see and diocese, to be called the Bishoprick of Perth, and has appointed the Venerable M. B. Hall, Archdeacon of Adelaide, to be consecrated Bishop of the said see.

The minor states of Germany have urged Russia to consent to terms of peace.

The colonial wool sales in London have been fixed for the 14th instant, when about 14,000 bales will he offered.

There has been one or two panics lately in the corn trade. To-day wheat has gone down 55., making in all a fall of from 10s. to 155., in consequence of the prospects of peace with Russia. The French Government is gradually moving in the direction of free trade. A new scale of dutie3 on wool imported into France lias been issued, a copy of which I enclose. It concerns Australian interests.

The Union Bank of Australia has declared a dividend of 13 14 per cent, for the half year. The position of the concern is sound.

The Russian Black^Sea. Fleet.— The JMoniteur publishes a document of some interest, beinol the official list drawn up by the Russian Admiralty for the financial period of 1852—3, of all the ship* of war then constituting the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. According to this document, the Russian fleet at the Black Sea at the moment when hostilities commenced, was planned ro comprise a series of 187 numbers, 127 of which were in commission, the remaining number being either in the stocks or in dock for repairs. The gross amount of 137 vessels consisted of;i6 ships, 7 frigates 5 corvettes, 12 brigs, 6 war steamers, &c. This fleet is now utterly destroyed or dispersed. Of the 16 ships enumerated in this list, 15 hare been sunk hv the Russians in the roadstead itself of Sebastopol*the last one, the Maria, Was a few days before the assault burned by our bombs. 5 sailing frigates 3 corvettes. 7 brigs, 1 ] war steamers, among which are the Vladimir, that played so important a partin the defence of the place, the Bess;irabia and the Gromonossets, that conveyed to Constantinople the celebrated embassy of Prince Menschikoff; the Star of the North and Peter the Great, commissioned for the use of the imperial family in their trips to various parts of the Crimea ; a certain number of other inferior vessels, such as transports, mortar vessels, &c, forming with the ships a total of about 60 men of war, also perished at Sebastopol. A few that have taken refuge in the creeks to the north of the roadsteads are doomed to certain destruction The remainder of the fleet, consisting chiefly of steam-rs and large military transports, has been destroyed m the Sea of Azoff, or lies stranded in the mouth of the Don and in the Putrid Sea. A few vessels employed in the Dnieper were alone able at the commencement ot the war, to take refuse' at Cherson or Nicolaieff, where they are blockaded by our naval division of Kinbmn.

Convict Bates.—Mr. Bates has drawn up a memoral to the Queen appealing for mercy on account of the peculiar position which he held in the firm of Strahan and Co. He sets forth the history of his connection with the house. He is in his sixty-sixth year, and has a wife and five vouusr children dependent upon him. In the year 1820 he was appointed a junior clerk in th* house of "Snow, Paul, and Paul" ; in 1837 he rose to the confidential position of ledger-clerk, with an income of 520*., and free apartments in Norfolk-street- in 1841 he was invited to become partner in the firm of" Strahan and Co.';—that is, he was to be called partner, and accept the responsibilities of the position ; but he was only to receive 8001. a year and to continue his former duties, He had no im' portant control over the business—in any considerable matters he had to refer persons to the other partners. Jn 18i8 he got his allowance raised to 1000/. ; he never received any further advantage and he continued to live economically in his free apartments. In 1852 persons named Gandall beo-an to obtain advances from the bank, without Bates' concurrence or knowledge; these advances were increased ; when Bates' knew of them he remonstrated but in vain, for early in 1854 the Gandals had trot 100,000 Z. advanced to them. Bates told Sir John Paul that one advance of 40.000/. would prove the ruin of the house. In December. 1853, he advised that the bank should stop payment ; but his partners said they could rely on their resources. Bates was not aware that Dr. Griffith's Danish Bonds had been sold in March 1854, till after the event ; Sir John Paul assured him that they should be replaced. From May 1854, to, May this year, Bates was mostly in Paris, engaged in endeavouring to obtain money fron? the Gandalls, and he took no active part in the business of the bank. When, in April last, he told Dr. Griffith that his 5,000/. of Danish Bonds were safe in the bank, he believed that they were—that the former bonds had been replaced byothers bought in Dr. Griffith's name. On the 28th April, Bates left London for Paris, and returned on the 9th May; he had no intimation before he left England that his parthers were about to raise money on the securities of their customers ; *a large sum was raised whilst he was absent, when Strahan and Paul tendered in the Bankuptcy Court the list of securities disposed of, Bates assented to it but not as a participant in the operation. Affidavits had been prepared and signed by Strahan and Paul which they proposed to swear to, but were not permitted, in which they stated the position Bates held, and distinctly admitted that they alone had dealt with the securities. In conclusion, the petition represents—" That your petitioner was not cognizant of or in any manner, directly or' indirectly, privy or assenting to any act of selling, pledging, con verting or using, any of the said securities of the customers of the bank, and deposited, with them for safe custody. That your petitioner most humbly submits that, under the ciruumstances hereinbefore setforth, he is not guilty of the crime of which he was convicted. And your petitioner humbly prays and implores your Majesiy, to take into your gracious consideration the facts and circumstances above set forth, and to extend to your petitioner, now hastening to the close of a life, which up to this fatal event had been one ofunsullied honour and integrity, your Majesty's most gracious pardon."

The Queen has conferred the honour of nighthood upon Richard Graves M'Donnell, Esq., C.8., Captain-General and Governoi-in-chief of South Australia.

Her Majesty's Emigration Commissioners will despatch a vessel to Adelaide (S.A.), between the 17th and 2ith of March, with convicts.

The creation of Baron Parke to the Peerage for life only, has created a great stir in the higher circles, and other circles, and the subject has been brought before the House of Lords ; as it will form a precedent for the ceation of several others, the question has been referred to a Committee of Privileges Mr. Lowe's Limited Liability and Partnership Amendment Acts, passed their second reading last night, and will be committed on Monday, the 25th February. The deficiency to be made good by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he brings forward his budget of vavs and means for the year 1856, will it is said be

A most fearful murder, has been committed in Oxfoni-street. A wife and three young children had their throats cut by the husband and father ; unless from temporary insanity, there does not appear any reason to account for the dreadful crimeMurders have lately very much increased; not a day passes that there is not reference made in the public prints of one or two such crimes.

A singular and ludicrous conteschas lately occurred between Royalty and a theatrical manager. Mr- E. T. Smith, the lessee of Drury Lane, being offended at the Queen's wot patronizing his theatre, has refused to permit Mr. Charles Matthews—one of the company of actors—to play before her Majesty, at Windsor. It is a very pretty quarrel as it stands—the House of Smith versus the House of Guelph.

Another Ocean Line of Telegraph. Since the partial failure of the attempt to lay the submarine telegraph at Point au Basque, public attention has been directed to the other route proposed, via Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands- Mr. Horace B. Tebbets, of this city, has obtained the exclusive right from the government of Denmark, to land cables on the shores of its dependencies, and the Philadelphia Board of Trade has recently passed a resolution calling upon government to send out a surveying, exploring, and sounding expedition, to explore the coasts and waters of the countries above named.