The Press. — London, England, 1858-05-29 00:00:00

520 joreign orrrsganbeitte. PARIS, Thursday. THE Conference which was deputed by the Congress that drew up the treaty of peace between Russia and the Western powers to settle sundry matters with which the Congress itself had not time or did not think it politic to deal, has recommenced its sittings in this capital, for the purpose of coming to a defini tive conclusion respecting the organization of the Danubian principalities. The Conference, jou are aware, consists of the Ambassadors or Ministers at Paris of the powers which took part in the Con gress, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Walewski, being the president. Its proceedings are, of course, kept secret; but it is known that each power represented maintains more or less firmly the opinion it has espoused on the Danubian question— that is to say, that whilst some are favourable, others are opposed to the union of the Principalities. In spite, however, of this divergence of view, it is not doubted that an understanding will be come to— though, perhaps, it may take time to arrive at—so as not to hurt the self-love or ruffle the dignity of the powers which will have, more or less, to give up the positions they have assumed. The general opinion in political quarters is that England, Austria, and Turkey will carry their point of preventing the union of the Principalities as a separate State ; but that, as is just, they must in return make certain con cessions to France and Russia, which are favour able to it. Great uneasiness was occasioned recently by the French Government having " assumed an attitude " (as diplomatists say) of scarcely disguised hostility to Austria on the Montenegro question, and it was increased greatly by the said Government having thought fit to despatch two ships of the line to the Adriatic to cruise off the coast nearest Montenegro, and by Austria responding to that demonstration by despatching frigates to the same destination. The un easiness has, however, been removed by the receipt of the news that a conference is to assemble at Con stantinople to arrange the Montenegro affair. Nevertheless, it is impossible to shut one's eyes to the fact that the relations between France and Austria cannot be very satisfactory, when they, with rather hot haste, make demonstrations against each other with ships of war. 1 have reason to believe that the King of Naples has decidedly intimated his readiness to accept the arbitration of a great power in his dispute with Sardinia, and that Prussia is the power he would prefer to have chosen. I suppose that the arbitra tion, if it takes place, will be made to comprise the dispute between England and Naples. The Government has done some very impolitic things in the course of the last few months ; but it has just done one which outstrips them all, and which is vehemently denounced on all hands. The Minister of the Interior, in its name, has ordered the prefects of departments to make the boards of management of hospitals, and of what are called bureaux de bienfaisance (offices for relieving the in digent), sell the houses and lands belonging to the hospitals and bureaux, and invest the money ob tained by the sale in the public funds. The ground he assigns for this extraordinary proceeding is that at present the real property in question only yields on an average two and a half per cent.—nay, strictly speaking, even less than two; and that the invest ment in rente of the capital it is worth would yield a revenue of at least double. But as the value of the said property is 500,000,0001 r. (20,000,0001.), the sale of it at once, or in the space of a few years, and the investment of the proceeds in Government Stock, would create a tremendous economic perturbation, which would produce consequences none can foresee. It would at the same time be a gross violation of the rights of property, for almost all the houses and lands held by the hospitals and bureaux were bequeathed to them on the express or implied con dition that they should not be sold. It would, besides, be a most unsafe operation, for there is no t elling what will become of the rente at the next grand smash, and in this unfortunate country a smash is always " looming in the future;" whereas, though the value of houses and lands may be depre ciated by political convulsion, it is never destroyed, and reviv.•s and increases on the return of calm ; besides which, it appears that it is a well established fact that in France 1001. invested in rente are abso lutely worth less after the lapse of a certain number of years than 1001. invested in houses or land. In addition to all this, it is to be remembered that of late years socialist doctrines have unhappily been evidently embraced by a large portion of the ignorant population of this country, and that the essence (.1 such doctrines is that the difference which laws and society have hitherto maintained between what is /mine and whet is theirs is erroneous, and should he abolished. Now, if the Government can justly say to the hospitals, " Sell, and btu my Threesper-Cent, Stook," it no ssy ato eat so oltiag to ou noble. THE PRESS, MAY 29, 1858. gentle, or peasant landowner of France, and in so saying it solemnly sanctions and practises socialism. In a few days a decree is to appear in the Moniteur nominating Prince Napoleon, the Emperor's cousin, "Imperial Lieutenant of Algeria," with powers which place him above all Ministers, and subject him to the Emperor alone. Both the title and the position are new—Algeria having hitherto had at its bead only a " Governor," and he being a mere functionary of the War Department, just as one of our colonial gover nors is nothing more than a subordinate of the Colonial Minister. The change of title and position is not approved of in governmental circles, and it is said that several eminent official dignitaries, who have for years been connected with Algeria, intend to resign rather than accept it. The Emperor in creating a new post and title has, of course, had no other object than to provide becomingly for his cousin, and the latter in accepting them has pro. bably desired to relieve himself from the sort of stigma which has hitherto attached to him of doing nothing and being nothing in the State, when King Louis Philippe's sons, one and all, were made to work bard in their respective professions. The Prince will probably confine himself chiefly to civil duties—the work of the army being pretty well accomplished in Algeria. It is lucky on many accounts that he will not have much to do with the army, for he is very unpopular in its ranks. The Court is now at Fontainebleau, and the Queen of Holland has accompanied it. As the weather is unsettled, and not at all spring-like (people out of doors are wrapped up in great-coats and cloaks), and as the Dutch Sovereign manifested great delight with Paris, it is whispered that the Emperor's object in going there is to indulge one of the new foibles he possesses—that of having grand stag-hunts, or, at least, making grand parades with his magnificent hunting establishment, in their gorgeous uniforms of green and gold a /a Louis XV.—a uniform which he dons himself with predilection. The Queen of Holland, it appears, is of a literary and scientific turn, and courtiers say that her Majesty is so won derfully learned in all the " ologies," and so fond of talking about them, that they soon get out of their depth with her. The literary gentleman, M. de Pena, who was wounded in the late duel with an officer of the army, not having died, as it was at one time feared he would do, the interest excited by the melancholy event has considerably abated. Nevertheless, that event has left behind it ill-feeling between the mili tary on the one hand and civilians on the other—the former thinking that there is a general disposition to quiz them, the latter fearing that the former contem plate reestablishing that arrogant treatment of civilians in which the military indulged some thirty or forty years ago. I hear that this ill-feeling would in all probability have before this produced several duels hal not the Government notified to officers of regiments, through the colonels, its desire that they shall for the present be moderate and circumspect in their intercourse with civilians. The Government has also, I understand, directed military men to abstain from publishing in newspapers any more epistles relative to the late duel. The manner in which the new law for prohibiting the assumption of false names and titles is to be carried out causes great anxiety in the better classes of society. You are aware that there are thousands, and tens of thousands, of respectable and wealthy persons in this country who, from puerile vanity, call themselves counts and marquises, vicomtes or barons, or De This or De That, without any manner of right whatsoever, and that there are even hundreds of really noble families who are utterly unable to give legal proof of their nobility. Consequently, the Government, if it pleases, can make the new law a tremendous weapon of offence —can, by means of it, carry mortification and humiliation and shame into countless families ir. all parts of France. Will it do this? The thing seems hardly likely, for to do it would raise up a host of implacable enemies whom it would not be easy to withstand. And yet if it does it not, what is the utility, what the object of the law ? From an incident of recent occurrence, it would appear that the Emperor's present intention is to have the law executed coute qae coute. A well known political writer, M. de --, waited on his Majesty, and stated what his Majesty knew per fectly well, that his cognomen is simply —, and that he added to it " de —," from the name of a village in which he lives, in order to make it more sonorous, and to distinguish himself from a myriad of other —s. He then went on to say that as he had become famous by the name of -- de --, it would be very painful to him to abandon it, and he respectfully solicited the Emperor to give him formal authorization to bear it. He hinted that his services to the Imperial Government in the press entitled him to hope that his request would not be refused. The Emperor readily acknowledged that the gentle man had rendered great services to the Bonapartist cause in the presE, and that he was entitled to a recompense. "But," oontinued his Majesty, "it is desirable that my kited& and sdbersum should l always set the example of obeying the law, and there. fore, M. I doubt not tbat y ou w ill at once cease to call yourself -- de -- !" Trembling with rage, the miter made his obeisance and departed ; and he vows that he will write no more in defence of the Emperor. foreign and (Colonial 3ntelligenct. FRANCE. THE LATE DUEL AT PARIS. The editor of the Figaro has sent the following letter to the editor of the Nord : My dear Sir,—The Nord of the 19th of May, in its account of the duel of my friend and collaborator, M. Henri de Pena, says that my interview with his Excellency the Minister of Justice has been variously appreciated. As the most upright intentions are open to false inter pretations, I shall feel much obliged to you if you will insert these few lines to explain the object 1 had in view in the step I took under the melancholy circumstances. I did not ask for an interview to lodge a complaint on account of the deplorable incidents which are connected with the second duel of M. de Pen., because magistrates in France are aware of the duties they have to fulfil with. out need of admonition. I never for a moment doubted that full justice would he rendered. My visit to the Keeper of the Seals was made with another object in view. On arriving at Paris from Blois, after this lamentable affair, I found much excitement. I found various letters addressed to me by men who emulated each other in offers to avenge our lost comrade. Many other persons sent their cards to the office of the Figaro with the same intentions; all expressed the same disgust at the second duel, knowing well that a blow was not necessary to compel M. de Pene to fight a second duel. On the other hand, it has been statod that after a warm discussion on the topic which still excites Paris another duel was to take place between M. de Pommereux and M. de Gallifet. _ _ . Feeling the gravity of the circumstances, I felt it my duty to cell upon the Minister of Justice to assure him that I should do everything in my power to prevent further bloodshed. _ _ The excitement in the public mind was such that a prompt explanation was necessary. lat once published an enra sheet in explanation, the moderation of which I hope all honourable men will approve. • I have endeavoured especially to show that the army is not responsible for the acts of one of its members. In support of this idea I have published a letter from two officers in the Guides, MM. Grangier and Comroinges, and I adverted to the courteous conduct of M. Courtiel, the first opponent of M. de Pine. One word more. The Nord says that my friend M. de Pine was the victim of the duties which a certain portion of the press imposes upon its contributor,. Frenoh journalists never needed to be reminded of courage. Duels are not confined to the lesser journals. may mention those of Armand Carrel, of Dujarrier, and Amodio Achard. I only mention three—l could mention thirty.—l am, dec., H. DE VILLIMESSANT. In reply to the above letter the editor of the Nord says : We have only a word to say in reply, which is, M. de Villemessant has misunderstood our meaning. When we said M. de Pens was the victim of the duties which a certain portion of the press imposes upon its contributors, we meant to say that be was the victim of the obligation of the necessity of the contributors to such a paper to make a joke at. the expense of others at the risk of a dis agreeable result. Between the meaning of our words and that of M. de Villemessant there is the same difference as between the causes and the character of the duel of M. de Pens and the causes and character of the duels alluded to by the editor of the Figaro. It would appear that the letter of MM. Grangier and De Comminges, officers of the Guides, with- drawing their challenges against M. de Pine, when they heard he was mortally wounded, has been con strued in certain quarters as a weakness on the pat of those officers. The Constitutionnel contains a paragraph which must be " communicated " from some more or less authoritative source, which depre cates the supposition that MM. "the fficers of the Guides did share the sentiments of their comrades in other regiments on the subject of the duel with M. de Pine." Their only intention "was to with draw after the calamity which had happened, and to express their hope that the result might not be fatal." That is precisely what they said in their letter, but the objeot of this coramuniqui is mani festly to affirm that they approve of the system of hunting a man to death by successive challenges from military men. Forty-two officers in uniform went to the office of the Incluatriel of St. Germain, and delivered in person the following summons : To the Director and Reilacteur-in-Chief of the Gentlemen,—The officers of the garrison of Saint Ger main ( Ist liegitnent of the Cuirassiers of the Guards) re quest, and in case of need require you to insert in y our next number the following letter, which they have ust received from their comrade, M. lice, officer of the ) 11th Chasseura. (Signed) : Captains Deshautschamps, Schlosser, Collet, Dequeu, Champigneule, Du Boisberanger, Griffaud, Guillon, De Bullet, Villard, Cordier. Lieutenants De Vathaire, Tristan de L'Hersult, Loudia , &Mob, De As* Dimas, A. Potia, A. Mann. U