The Press. — London, England, 1857-04-18 00:00:00

378 lon* a 0 Colonial ptaligtne. FRANCE. The Neufchatel Conferences have not been resumed. The Federal Government declines to make any further concessions, and refuses to recog nise the rights of sovereignty claimed by the King of Prussia. The Bund denies that the Federal Council has ever consented to admit as just the payment of an indemnity by Switzerland to the King of Prussia : It is possible (adds the Bead) that the plenipotentiaries may have admitted that condition into the project of arrangement, hut Switzerland has not given her consent to this combination. The government of Berne, on the con trary, maintains its first opinion not to pay anything as an indemnity. The same journal declares that a direct under standing between Prussia and Switzerland is impos sible, and expresses the opinion that probably the plenipotentiaries will draw up a project of arrange. ment, which they will propose separately to each of the two powers interested. The Grand Duke Constantine is expected at Toulon on the 20th or 21st. The expedition against the Kabyles, which forms so prominent a topic in Frenzh military circles, is fixed to commence on the 10th of May. The Moniteur Algeria gives the following details : The first movement of the troops necessitated by the campaign of Kabylia has commenced to-day throughout the whole extent of French Africa. At Algiers two brunt lions, one of Zouaves and the other of infantry of the line, have commenced their march on the road leading to Denys; and, to-morrow, two other battalions will follow for the same destination. The expeditionary army will be com posed of about 20,000 men. It will have an imposing force of cavalry, amounting to not less than eight squa drons. The cavalry in this campaign will fill a double office, equally important and useful ; it will in the first place occupy the high grounds, and, after having ceded that position to the infantry, will guard the valley of the Sebaon, in order to prevent the Kabyle contingents from coming to the assistance of the enemy. The army, which will be divided into several columns, will first operate on the territory of the Tizi•Ouzous and the Guechloulas, in order to attack the Ileni•Rattens on two sides at once. The last-named tribe are about 3,000 in number, but this number will probably be increased by contingents from t ie neighbouring confederations. General Bonrbakai has been appointed to the com mand of a division. AUSTRIA AND SARDINIA. A letter from Vienna in the Augsburg Gazette states : A camp for manoeuvres is to be established this year near Somme, in the environs of Sesto Calende, and another near Barlassina. Both these places are in Lom. hardy. In the neighbourhood of Vienna two are to be established, one near Wollerdorf, at a short distance from Solnan, the other near Wimpassing. In the autumn a large camp of cavalry, consisting of fourteen regiments, under the command of Prince Charles de Lichtenstein, is to be established near Pahrendorf, beyond the Leitha. In these camps the troops are to be exeieited by brigades fir forty days. This statement, immediately after the assurance of the Ost Deutsche Post and the Oesterreichische Zeitung that no counter-demonstration against the formation at Alessandria by Sardinia of a camp of 20,000 men would be made by Austria, must be received with caution. The report that the Sardinian Government would form such a camp of 20,000 men at Alessandria wa.4 premature. The subject will be discussed in the Chambeis. A letter from Vienna, in the Lloyd of Pesth, de nies that M. de Bourqueney has taken any step to prove that France has the intention of assuming the role of mediator in the Austro-Sardinian difficulty, or that Count Buol has declared in a note his readiness t) accept that mediation. The journey of the Emperor of Austria into Hun gary is announced by the preparations, which are being made on a grand scale. His Majesty's departure is fixed for the 3rd of May, and his return for the 20th of June. The preliminary negotiations for the restoration of friendly relations between the Courts of Turin and Rome have been completed. RUSSIA. The following is the text of the late Imperial or ler regulating the Baltic quarantine :- 1. In future neither receipts for the payment of Sound dies nor Danish quarantine certificates are to be required or vessels as indispensable to their admission into our natio ports. 2. It is to be made incumbent on all captains of vessels entering the said ports with cargoes to provide them. selves at the port where they take in their cargoes with certificates attested by our consular agents as to the satis factory sanitary state of the neighbourhood whence they come, or else prepare for themselves quarantine certifi cates in such French, English, D u t c h, or Norwegian ports as they may be obliged to put into; with the proviso THE PRESS. always that these documents be attested by our consular agents ; and that 3. These regulations are to remain in force only frir the term of this year, should the state of the public health during that period remain as satisfactory as it is at present. Advices from St. Petersburg state that the Grand Duke Constantine will prolong his stay abroad until the Emperor commences his trip to his western pro vinces and to Warsaw. There is no mention any where of the Grand Duke visiting England. The expectation that the Grand Duke Michael will, immediately after his marriage, take the Stadt holdership of Poland gains strength and con sistency. SPAIN. The elections have taken place in Galicia, amidst the greatest tranquillity. The Conservative party has triumphed; these elections produce forty-one more votes in its favour. Marshal Espartero has published a manifesto addressed to the electors of Barcelona, justifying his conduct in 1850 by saying that he could not remain at the head of the Government because the Queen would not let him dismiss O'Donnell, though that person had compromised his Cabinet ; and that when the insurrection against O'Donnell broke out, he could not place himself at the headof the insurgents, because, it he had done so, the triumph of the revo lutionary party would have caused the destruction of the Throne, or their defeat the definitive ruin of liberty. Lord Howden and M. de Turgot are making every effort to arrange the Meziaan question. The Courier of Madrid observes:— Spain, satisfied as to her dignity, interests, and honour, has no desire to prolong a lamentable strife between nations so united by the ties of nature. France and England, recognising our rights, will contribute their influence to obtain for us complete satisfaction. The Mexican Government, in a note addressed to the Spanish Cabinet, showed a disposition to give satisfaction to Spain, and stated that, in addition to the four men shot for the assassination of Spaniards, a functionary of the republic named Abarcal, who had been convicted of complicity therein, hal also been put to death. _ _ The - Madrid Gazette of the 9th contains a royal decree, granting "an ample and general amnesty to all those who, in any manner whatsoever, have taken part in the Carlist insurrections and conspira cies of the last two years." M. Lafragua, the Mexican Envoy at Paris, is about to leave for Madrid to negotiate a settlement of the differences between Spain and Mexico. TURKEY AND THE EAST. The British fleet having passed the Dardanelles, and arrived at Smyrna, the Government of the Porte hes closed the Straits henceforth to %ll ships of war not specially provided with a firman of admission, thus re-establishing in its integrity the rule in existence before the war. The first experiment in European colonisation has been made in Turkey. A party of 150 Poles a fort night since embarked for Peneus in Thessaly, an estate of Redschid Pacha. Accounts from Bucharest of the oth state that two days before a deputation of landed proprietors, advocates, and several young boyards of higher station, paid visits to the commissioners of the European powers. On the occasion an address was presented to Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, G.C.8., praying that liberty of action might be secured to them in the approaching elections : We have too long lived without liberty for abuses not to be rife, particularly at a distance from the capital. We solicit the attention of your Excellency to this point. We take great pleasure in reminding you that at the Congress in Paris the representative of her Britannic Majesty was the first to strongly insist on the necessity of taking into account the free wishes of the country ; and from what power can we expect this electoral independence, which is RIO necessary for us, if not from one which has had the happy privilege of enjoying for ages the benefits of free institu tions ? Sir Henry Bulwer replied With regard to the question to which you particularly call my attention, namely, the elections which are shortly to take place, the Ottoman Government has declared its intentions in the most solemn and precise manner, and, arriving direct from Constantinople, I am able to assure you that the Sublime Porte desires with sincerity what it has declared without hesitation. I must also believe that the Government of this principality, at the head of which is placed a prince whose family is ono of the illus- trations of your annals, and who, from his reputation of frankness and straightforward conduct, was pointed out to the confidence of the Sultan, will, in such a critical moment, execute the instructions it has received with scrupulous fidelity. Such is certainly its duty. On the other hand, it is for the Wallachian people, and especi- ally for you, gentlemen, whose position in the centre of society should maintain a proper equilibrium in it, to render, by the prudent ability of your conduct, the task imposed on the authorities easier. Employ then, I beg of you, all your efforts to make yourselves remarkable by these virtues and these civic talents, which perhaps are what is the least expected from you, but which will confer SATURbAIf, on )ou the greatest amount of honour, and which will unite the esteem and confidence of Europe to the sym pathy with which you have already known how to inspire her. A letter from Jassy of the 30th March gives the manifesto published by the electoral committee of the capital of Moldavia. It advocates :-1. The union of the provinces in a single State, reserving the rights of the Sublime Porte according to the spirit and the letter of the ancient capitulations. 2. The neutrality of the territory of the Principalities. 3. Respect of the rights of the Principalities accord ing to the spirit and letter of the same treaties. 4. Heredity of the chief of the State. The hospodariate has served its time—a European system ought to succeed it. 5. The legislative power confided to a single general Assembly, which will represent the interests of the entire nation. 6. Submission of foreigners inhabiting the Principalities to all the laws of the country. 7. The acknowledgment of the right of the Principalities to establish commercial relations according to their interests. 8. All these under the collective guarantee of the powers who signed the Treaty of Paris. AMERICA. Intelligence from New York to the 2nd inst. states that the American Cabinet have the present Chinese dispute under their most serious consideration : One thing (remarks the Herald) is certain, our Govern. went will enter into no tripartite alliance with England and France; and if the Administration have not already informed Lord Napier and Count Sartiges of the fact they will shortly do so. In Central America it appears tbat Walker WWI upon the point of being reduced to submission. The Nicaraguan Government had published a decree revoking all the acts of Walker's Government. _ _ A despatch from New Orleans observes : It is stated upon good authority that, instead of the purchases of Lower California and Sonora, our Government will conciliate the South by paying the designated sum of 15,000,000 dole. for the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. It is also rumoured that Senator Benjamin has been offered an appointment for the purpose of accomplishing this purchase. Another despatch says : It is rumoured that an expedition is fitting ont here for some point in Central America. It is supposed to be the intention to make the first demonstration on Veragua, a province of New Granada, between Costa Rica and Panama. The expedition is said to be friendly to General Walker, and that it is to act in concert with him. It is also reported that a Provisional Government has been formed, and that there are considerable funds raised. INDIA. The intelligence from India by the:last mail brings reports of further mutinies among the native regi ments upon the great cartridge•paper ques►ion— whether or no the paper was in its preparation greased with beef suet or mutton fat, it being pollu tion for a Hindoo to touch the former. At Barrack pore, at Madras, and at Moorsbedabad, disturbances had occurred. At the latter place the affair nearly became serious. A correspondent writes : The men of the 19th Native Infantry, at Moorshedabad, heard of the dispute about the cartridge paper. By way of expressing their feelings they held a parade on their own account with their arms. The colonel commanding remonstrated with the native officers, who, as usual, adhered after a passive fashion to their superiors. The men, however, were still refractory, and he called out a regiment of cavalry and two guns. The two arms in In as seldom coalesce, and the cavalry are usually as trustworthy as marines on board ship. The men were then ordered to ground their arms and return to their barracks. They agreed if the colonel would send away his cavalry. The colonel appears to have dreaded the responsibility of en armed conflict, and acceded to the conditions, for which he has been rebuked. It was undoubtedly a serious error of judgment, as it was almost impossible that the infantry should have ventured to attack the guns, and there were 2,000 Sikh Irregulars within forty miles. I can readily imagine, however, that an old officer would from humanity alone be unwilling to see his own regiment cut to pieces. Terrible sa the necessity may be, however, I question if the difficulty will be overcome without one severe example. This cartridge question is travelling northward, and will excite every Sepoy regiment in India, until in some station a deter• mined brigadier gives the men the option of obedience or death. There is on this subject no weakness either with Government or among the public. Every man feels to the bottom of his heart that the safety of the empire hinges on the instant suppression of mutiny in whatever shape it may appear. Some punishment will, 1 doubt not, be meted out to this regiment. The papers have u story that the King of Oude is at the bottom of it all. l need not say this is absurd. Another suggestive incident had occurred in the north-west provinces : A strange and to some observers a very disagreeable incident has occurred in the northwest. A few nays since a chowkeydar, or village policeman, of Cawnpore ran up to another in Futteghur and gave him two chupat• ties. These are indigestible little unleavened cakes, the common food of the poorer classes. He ordered him to make ten more, and give two to each of the five nearest chowkeydars with the same order. lie was obeyed, and in a few hours the whole country was in commotion with chowkeydars running about with these cakes. The wave