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    iO76 THE LEADER. [No. 294, Saturday,

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    THE DRAINAGE QUESTION. The dispute betwe...

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    Continental, Notes. General Canrobert Ha...

    the re ^ elecdoii of the Hospodars , if the Procedure be in accordance with public feeling and with the will of the Pt eicl S of the brigands " abont Rome are growing nwraserious every day . A battalion ^ ' Svnsa is about to bewsnt against them ; and a reward of 20 , 000 francs is offered for the arrest of the noted chief , Lazzarini . Prom Spain we hear that the noted Carlist leader , Estartofl , has been taken prissier , and that the factious bands in Catalonia continue to make their submission . Cholera is decreasing . have been

    The assertion that munitions of war conveyed from Prussia to Russia is confirmed by a document published by the provincial government of Liegnitz , in Silesia , forbidding the exportation of all such articles unless produced in the Zollverein—the exception being rendered necessary by the fact of Prussia ' s engagements towards that association not permitting her to exclude their products . The notification states that false certificates , stating the ammunition to be of Zollverein origin when it is not , have been constantly obtained ; and adds , * ' With reference to particular articles of ammunition , we hereby point out that lead does not , by any mere process of smelting down , nor sulphur , by any refining , acquire the character of a product of the Zollverein ; that , moreover , sulphur is obtained only in very small quantities in

    Silesia and Hanover . Should suspicion of false swearing attach to any case of affidavit a judicial investigation is to be immediately applied for , and , should the goods be already over the frontier , information is to be immediately given to the Customs * officers for the purpose of investigating the suspected smuggling of contraband . ' A carrier recently gave information that he had been employed to smuggle ammunition into Russia ; but , being interrogated by the police authorities , he asserted that this information was false , and had been invented by him for the sake of the money payment which he had been promised . It is thought , however , that this second assertion was made under the iufljience of fear . Certain it is that articles of war have been frequently passed through Prussia ,

    and that the government has recently made seizures . The Times Berlin correspondent gives the following account of the mode of transit : —" The goods , being forwarded by railway , are stopped at one or two stations short of the frontier , and delivered into a warehouse at the neighbouring town . They are there distributed into small packages , and conveyed across the frontiers by individual smugglers . Clans are thrust into sacks of wool , gunpowder into rice barrels , & c . When once over they are re-collected and re-packed at a friendly carrier's , and despatched further by railway . This process is the same whether on importing into or exporting out of Prussia Their transit through , the country is secured by the carrier getting a certificate of origin from the authorities of the place where he first put them on to a Prussian rail . ''

    According to the Ost Deutsche Post , the Austrian Credit Bank has received a patent" for ninety years . The new institution will , like the French Credit Mobilier , undertake all kinds of business . The capital will be 60 , 000 , 000 florins , with the right to raise it to 100 , 000 , 000 florins . 300 , 000 shares at 200 florins will be issued . Each of the five houses belonging to the Rothschild family will take shares to the amount of 5 , 000 , 000 florins , and the firm , of Lamel , in Prague , and the Bohemian nobles ¦ will be concerned for a very large amount . The administrative council of the company will be composed of twenty - one members , a third of whom must be foreigners . The regular sittings of the Germanic Diet were reopened at Frankfort on the 25 th ult ., by Baron de Prokeacb . Osteu , who informed his colleagues that he had been appointed Intern uncio at Constantinople , and would be r eplaced in the Presidency of the Federal Diet by Count de Rechberg .

    One of the churches of Athens lately conceded to the Russians ( says the Moniteur ) has been splendidly repaired by order of tho Russian Government . A few days ago , the King and Queen of Greece , returning > from a" drive , entered the church , tinder the pretext of examining the worts , which had just been finished . Their majesties found assembled in the building the clergy , the chanters , and the personnel of the Russian embassy in full uniform . A solemn service wns immediately celebrated , and , af ter prayers had been addressed to Heaven for the triumph of the Russians over the enemies of the orthodox faith , a Te Deum was sumg . A musical Jite has boon given at Toulouse for the benefit of the wounded soldiers in the Crimea . On this

    occasion , " Gou save tho Queen" was given by a full chorus , with ( for the first time in France ) the English words . The offeot was ao great that the whole midionce stood up in honour of the Queen . The Germanic Diet has adopted the following resolution relative to tho grievances submitted to its consideration with respect to tliu violation of their rights by the "Wurtomberg nobility : —" Tho Diet requests the Government of "VVurtomberg to continue , on tho basis of tho federal law , tho negotiations pending with regard to tho compensation to bo granted tho lords for tho property rights they have been doprived of , and to effect a compromise in accord with the constitution ; to continue on the same basis tho measures taken for tho abolition of the laws , tlie prescriptions of which affecting the manorial estates are not conformable to the federal compact , in order to arrive t a constitutional result . ' *

    It is now understood that the King of Sardinia will leave Turin for Paris on the 20 th of the present month , after opening the Chambers in person on the 12 th . Be will be attended by Count Cavour ( President of the Council of Ministers ) , the Marquis Massimo d'Azeglio , General Dabormida , M-- Nigra ( Intendente of the Civil List ) , and the whole of his military household . The Austrian Government , having endeavoured in vain to obtain the assistance of foreign speculative companies in forming railways in Lombardy , has addressed itself to the native capitalists , Who have declared themselves ready to enter into such speculations . The profits , therefore , will remain in the hands of Italians , instead of going into those of foreigners .

    Count Schwerin , who , in the last Prussian elections , was elected in five different places , seems likely to be left without a seat after all . He has chosen to abide by the election at Anclam , where he had only a majority of one ; and the officials have since discovered that two of the electors had not been summoned to the place of meeting , and that consequently the result was void . It remains to be seen which way the two will jump ; but the zeal of the authorities may very possibly be traced to the fact of the Count being an anti-Ministerialist . The story of ths so-called Prince of Armenia , who has turned out to be a mere impostor , excites considerable interest in Germany , and the more his antecedents are investigated , the more clearly does his fraud stand out . " There is an old officer living here , " says the Times ' Berlin correspondent , " who has been for a long time in the service of the Dutch Government in Java , and was well acquainted with Johannis's family there ; his fatfaer

    was , as stated before , a shipowner at Sam a rang , and lixs mother was the daughter of a German physician from Electoral Hesse , of the name of Uellwig . The family is not Jewish , as was at first believed ; Joseph Johannis is indebted to his own personal appearance for this latter ' soft impeachment * He was found to be acquainted with only a few words of Armenian , which he had probably learned from a grammar o £ that language found among his effects ; he was found , on examination , equally gnorant of the history of the present living notabilities of that country . The only genuine paper of a nature to show who he actually is , was a passport made out by Lord Abercromby at the Hague in favour of Ameer Khan ( the enigmatical Flugel-adjutant that Johannis was always corresponding with ) . On all sides , men , women , and tailors are rising up in judgment against the soi-discint Prince , and an amount of evidence has been collected that puts his adventurous and inventive career beyond a doubt . "

    Commercial transactions in Paris were extremely few during the past week , every branch of trade being more or less affected by the restrictive measures of the Bank . The fall in the price of corn has been suddenly checked , and a slight upward tendency has even manifested itself . The accounts from the provinces , however , do not j ustify the apprehension of a further rise , for the markets are beginning to be everywhere abundantly subplied , and considerable quantities of grain have already arrived at Marseilles and Havre . The first qualities of flour fetched from 104 f . to l 05 f . per sack of 159 kilogrammes on the Paris market , although the stock maintained itself at between 19 , 000 and 20 , 000 metrical quintals . Wheat rose about If . per hectolitre and a half . The Paris butchers persist in their unwillingness to comply with the Prefect ' s ordinance relative to the sale of meat , but the

    numerous sentences they have already undergone , and the energy displayed by tho authorities in enforcing the execution , have rendered them somewhat more manageable . The wine produced will not suffice to meet the wants of internal consumption or the demands of foreign countriees ; but the vine disease seems ^ disappearing . — - Times ' Paris Correspondent . A reform of the Germanic band , to be inaugurated by Austria , has been talked of lately ; but , in a confidential despatch to Bavaria and Prussia , Austria says that , although late events have shown the great necessity of a reform of the hand , she docs not look upou the present as a fitting time to introduce any attempt of that kind .

    According to a letter from Berlin of the 1 st , in the Post Ampt G axe tie of Frankfort , tho Danish Governmont perceives that its project for abolishing tho Sound dues on payment of an indemnity equal to their value , will encounter insurmountable obstacles ; and "it therefore proposes to jrender thorn less onerous , by allowing commercial ships to pay them to tho Duniah Consuls in the Baltic por « s from which they may have to sail , instead of having to stop in the Sound . A commission has been just inatitutod nt the Department of Finance " charged with examining the position of the Credit Poncier of France , and concerting measures to enable that establishment to carry on its functions in tho interest of tho agriculturist

    In the Paris correspondence of the Daily Newt , we read as follows : — " Last night ( Monday ) , nrumour "was very generally diflused to tho effect that tho Kmporor had again been shot at . The Little Bourse fell inconsequence . On inquiry , I find that tho following vtry extraordinary story is circulated by persons connected with Government . The Emperor ' s coachman , it ia said , always has a pair of loaded pistols in holsters attached to his coach-I ox , On Monday evening , at about six o ' clock , as his Majesty , on returning from his hunting excursion to Fontainbleau ,

    was proceeding in his carriage along the Bue St . 'Antoine one of the coachman ' s pistols accidentally fell oat . of the holster ^ went off , and wounded a person in the street . Several newspaper offices -were kept open last night to an unusually late hour , in the expectation , that some authentic communique would be made , stating what had happened . Messages were sent to inquire of M . Collet Meygret whether the event might be spoken of , and in what form . But , whether from his absence , or some other cause , no answer was obtained , and tie papers are consequently silent . The Moniteur contains no explanation . Orders were sent last night to the Telegraph-office not to transmit any dispatch on the subject . "

    The Archduke Maximilian , Chief of the Naval Department , was driving on Wednesday morning in Trieste , when the horses took fright and ran away . The Archduke jumped out of the carriage , and , falling on his head , inj ured the skull . His Impsrial Highness is in danger , and the Emperor , his brother , has just left t his city for Trieste . The Royal Bank of Prussia has raised' the rate of discount on commercial paper from 4 to 4 ^ per cent . ; and the interest on loans upon public funds and other securities from 5 to 5 £ per cent . Discoveries had lately been made in St . Petersburg of extensive peculations in several departments , and many persons , occupying high positions , are in disgrace . The dismissal of the Governor of NicholaiefF , -which is said to have taken place , may possibly have had connexion with these circumstances .

    The King of Sweden and Norway ( says a contemporary ) has approved the decision of the United Council of State that a committee of three Swedish and three Norwegian members , conversant with commercial affairs , shall be appointed to prepare a draught of certain modifications of the laws affecting the trade and navigation of the two countries . It is intended to abolish , as far as possible , all the enactments that impede the legal commerce between the two portions of the monarchy—in other words , to lay the foundation of a Customs' Union between the kingdoms . The committee is to commence its sittings at an early day in Stockholm . The commissioners appointed for Sweden are M . Skogman , President of the Chamber of Commerce , M . Karstrom , District Chief in the Customs' Department , and M . Schwan . The measure is warmly advocated both by the Swedish and Norwegian journals .

    Io76 The Leader. [No. 294, Saturday,

    iO 76 THE LEADER . [ No . 294 , Saturday ,

    The Drainage Question. The Dispute Betwe...

    THE DRAINAGE QUESTION . The dispute between Mr . F . O . Ward , the advocate of the system of tubular drainage , and the majority of the Commissioners of Sewers , who support the main drainage plan , has at length been brought to a definite issue . We reprint the following correspondence between Mr . Bobert Stephenson and Mr . Ward from the Times : —

    FROM MB . STEPHENSON . To the JSdilor of tho Times . Sir , —1 cannot permit the attack made by Mr . F . O . Ward ( at the special meeting of the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers on the 30 th wit . ) on Mr . Bazalgette , engineer of the commission , to pass without remark . Mr . F . O . Ward , in this last of a series of attacks of the same nature , endeavoured to show—¦ 1 . That the plan prepared by Messrs , Bazalgette and Hey wood , and approved by Sir "W " . Cubitt and myself , for diverting the sewage of London from the inhabited banks of the Thames , is founded on wrong principles . 2 . That the engineering details for carrying out those principles are badly , unscientifically , and extravagantly arranged .

    3 . That the information in facts and figures supplied by Mr . Bazalgette is not to be depended upon—that it is , in fact , obscure and incorrect . These are questions of a character so purely scientific and technical , involving hyradulic calculations of such intricacy , that they can only be appreciated and understood by professional men . I Venture to say that it is quite impossible thut the commissioners or the mass of the public who read the report of Mr . F . O . Ward ' s speech could have understood the bearing of any part of his arguments , except the positive assertions which he

    made . ^ Mk I shall not enter into ^ Rry discussion on these , whioh are among the most difficult points in my profession , with Mr . F . O . Ward ; but I wish , before I l ^ ave England for some weeks , to state publicly that I have not ussented to tho great intercepting drainuge plan as ft matter of course and without due investigation . This plan wus prepared and submitted to me oa a commissioner by Mr . Frank Forster in 18 & 0-1 ; it has since been altered and Improved by the extended experience of Mr . Bazalgette and Mr . Hay wood , the engineer of tho city Bewers , who have given their attention to it for more than three .

    years . Every detail has been submitted to Sir W . Cubitt and myself ; the levels have been most carefully taken by Mr , J . Smith , the surveyor of the commission . Each part of tho whole plan has been separately anfl conjointly deliberated and reported on by Sir W . CubiM

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 10, 1855, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10111855/page/8/