The Press. — London, England, 1853-12-10 00:00:00

748 screen which separates the court from the passen gers iu Piccadilly gives no promise of the beauty it conceals. While large sums are demanded every year for the increase of our National Museum, and while a picture gallery is admitted by ell to be an imperious necessity, the opportunity of purchasing a palace unrivalled in beauty, and adapted equally by size, space, and situation for the purpose, is offered, and will be, we fear to the lasting regret of all per sons of taste, rejected. The palace, independent of its architectural merits, pi spa•ious and handsome, while the garden to its rear would permit future additions upon any scale that might be required. The Casino utta•hed to the larger building would affi,rd convenient residence for the officers of the establishment; and the colonnade, while offering a matchless embellishment to the national seat of art, would oppose a barrier to the close approach of those idlers whom it is desirable to keep away from the immediate precincts of a public building. •• Burlington house, our readers are aware, was built by Cotix CAMPBELL at t h e b e ginning of the last cen tury, tinder the active superintendence of the second Lord Itritmoros, to whom the merit of the design must be attributed. " Who plants," says Peer, "like " Bathurst, and who builds like Boyle ?" lie who built the beautiful villa nt Chiswick, now belonging to the Duke of InwoNsitinc, and whose taste and knowledge in architecture were universally acknow. lodged by his contemporaries. No other design of 'AurnEts. approaches the fancy, elegance, and classic simplicity of this. We wish that nt this moment our own influence were greater; but if the most beautiful ',Awe—not in Loudon shine, but in any country north of the Alps—is to bo desoro 441, the mischief shall not be consummaksl, at least without our rucording our protest. SECURITY At f.IINST RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. Lout► CAwrurt.t.'s " Railway Accident Act" is begin ing to work well. The M.N.ttis family were offered 5,000/. by the Southern and IVestern Railway Com• patty as compensation for the calamitous death of their relative. The case, however, was brought be f►►re a jury, who awarded only 3,5n0i., thus s h ow i n g that the company hail really made a handsome offer. In another instance, where a young lady lost a limb, the company settled um annuity of 110/. a year on her, and thus evinced a liberal sense of its responsi bility. Though in this direction the imptovement is ol►v' , we question, however, whether this is the only security that can be obtained fur the public safety. IT is feared in Prussia that many failures will take !Jaye among the manufacturers of cloth, who have been deprived of their usual markets in the Danubian provinces. They have solicited the assist ance Or the ( iovcrnrat•nl, which the hitter finds it im possible to grant. Tim Paris Pres 4.. publishes a correspondence lie tween M. Alexandre DlllllO4 and the directors of the Theatre Francais. M. I►umas had written a piece for that theatre, which the Uovernment refused to sanction, and it was laid aside. At a few• days' notice he wrote another. which has also been prohibited. In announcing this the director says, •• 1 do not ad vise you to mite a third." M. I►umas replies that he will write a third. anal that it shall be ready fur the manager to read on the 1 - stli. A CoNvEsTiox has been agreed to between France and the timid Ihu•hyof tbldenburg for t h e reciprocal guarantee of all works of literature and art. IN BONE the last Sunday Of November was en livened first by a balloon ascent, which attracted a vast crowd. null aftorwards by a 14e1111011 preached Lt - Cardinal Wiseman in the Church of St. Andrea I•'rati, near the Propaganda. Among other tellies, MS eminence eo n ;,n•atulated the Homan Ca tholics on the schisms among the various dissenting bodies in England, and especially on the ditference of opinion in the Church of England on the subject of baptismal regeneratioom w hi c h h e be tokened the speedy dissolution of that establishment, adding that more converts had been made to the Roman Catholic Church in England during the last ten years than in :WO previously. lle then enlcu•ged on its immutability, and the delight he experienced on returning to Rome after am absence of ten years, during which (inie the whole wo rld h ai l b een s h a k en by revolutions, but without any effect or alteration being produced in the holy see. The unfortunate aeronaut who had previously ascended was found frozen to death in his balloon, which had fallen in the neighbourlicoi of 31ount Seracte, about twenty live miles distant from Home : lie was an old man, and a native of Bologna. THE PRESS. THE POLES AND THE EASTERN QUESTION. LAST week was celebrated in Paris the anniversary• of the Polish revolution of 1830. The section of re fugees from that country who had selected France for their asylum did not follow the example set them by their compatriots in England. Instead of a pub lic meeting, at which " sympathisers " from various nations took the opportunity of ventilating their own peculiar dogmas and hopes, and linked the cause of Poland with diff..zent developinents of socialistic or de mocratic systems, the Poles in Paris piously attended divine service at the Eglise de PAssetnption, whence they adjourned to the 116 tel Lembert, where the recognised chief of their body, Prince Czartoryski, read them a congratulatory and exhortatory address. We give the most interesting paragraphs. The prince observed " A variety of great calamities and sufferings has caused an interruption to our meetings. To-day, on the miniver- Nary of so many reminiscences and regrets, 1 have thought it my duty ugam to address a 1 . 4 - 1 1 / words to you. " Ihe important events which are happening in the East inculcate again the truth of the nmxim that ' mis fortune should be met with iserseverance. and that we should never despair sit the success of a just and sacred cause. %t ho, indeed, aould a twelvemonth, or eV4-11 three months, ago have foreseen thatwhich is now actually taking place on the banks of the Danube and in Asia? Those e vents have not been brought about by the efforts of mor tals. Vainly did the Porte do her best to pacify her mighty adv.-Nary. Vainly slid Europe endeavour—in vain does she still attempt—to fool the means of satisfying that adversary, awl of lending him a helping hand to extri cate him from the embarrassing position in which he has placed himself. Is there, among the 'sowers which can imam war, any one power which desires war? Certainly nut. Nations and t iovernments—alive to the blessings of pewee, and in Ilse enjoyment of the wealth procured by J -ree and industry—recoil with a just horror front war; and yet, in spite of all their cares, aid in spite of all their wills, the war has broken tout, mud it appears that it will and t spread. "The time is rife with signs which show us that the ruling of the world lielongs n o t no human hands, but only to Providence, and that fret idenee alone leads us to those ends which defy our subtlest calculations, lint in which it is easyto understand that criwe cafe never expect im punity, and that, sooner or later, it meets with its punish ment. This conviction gives hope to the oppressed when they are furthest from hope; it comforts them and con firms them in their confidence that the good time will ret turn. _ _ _ ._"The great convulsions which before this held out sollle hopes to us have pwosed away like shadows and clouds. They have left us more miserable and MO►e abandoned than ever. Among these convulsions many of our countrymen were, by disorganised Governments, driven into frantic insurrections; and in 011 c part of our country they Ilia to undergo the most cruel sufferings. The bulk of the nation, however, dill not take part in those convulsions, and this proof of prudent reserve has never been justly appreciated lay other nations. " Europe soon resumed the appearance of order, disci. pline, and peace. without their true foundations, and the eonseometwe was that misunderstandings arose and war broke out. between the great !sowers. lids war wits not caused by internal disorders : on the contrary, those this. sorders had strengthened the alliences of the Governments, but those alliances, those bonds, were altogether ephemeo sal and destined soon to break. . " Von, my dear countrymon, have borne your misfor tunes with dikmity. The blows which struck you again tool again el Mid not Shakr your perseverance, and I nin therOGWO. W4(011611141 to WO you, at the rumour of such important events, here assembled to ask what fresh duties those events impost) upon you. May we, chastened by so many trial-, mold the faults and etTurs which were so ti►tal to and which would be equally fatal to any other soeiety. _ _ . " It is a mistake to btliere that Poland desires rcvolu• t • . Pt , land desires justice, and vertainly no one can be astonished that she does desire it, She dots not hurl her mnitslive at her worst enemies :in her dearest hopes she never thinks of desiring their ruin. She wishes that all countries, within their own limits, should enjoy power and prosperity, but she prays to (foul that lie may grant to her also her part of the general peace and prosperity. :She would prove to the world, and especially to the nations which oppress her, that it is better to immure in her a friendly. peaceable, :owl useful neighbour, than a province frantic w ith despair, whieli it is impossible to keep down, unless you crush it with soldiers, anti uproot systematically all the foundations of social older, and even all religious feelings. " Political straits, like those which may porhaps decide our destiny. eminot be conatteted clawr by assemblies or by elections and votes. Surrounded by numbem of enc• mies, beset with obstacles, and set ea upon by ever-changing circumstances, we need the tat st perfect discretion and tact. at one time to accelerate, at 'mother to slacken, our progress. The moat perfect unity is necessary in time di. reetion of affairs. The patriotism of eery one will consist in being prepared, without impatience, to come to mom apopeal whirl volume fail to be /114 r, and not to divide our flares by isolated attempts which clash with one another, and which most surely world destror the fruits of long labotthi and of hopes which may hold out a promise of fresh efforts. These are necessary virtues, which have been too frequently neglected, and to the level of which it behoves us to rise. Let ns avoid confusion and its f e arful consequences. These are the sacrifices to which God, in Ills mem : hill grant thy aid of the arm. lioyeriv SATURDAY, ment which of all is most interested in our success is fully alive to the necessity of unity among us. Hence it has long honoured me with its confidence. Hence, also, gentlemen, have I a particular and urgent motive fur de. mantling your confidence and support. The post I occupy is one of those which cannot be deserted, for I know that there I am useful—that no other man can at this time supply my place—and that I alone can direct the affairs of the nation w•itk a hope of success, and in preserving the country as much as possible from the blows la hicli threaten it." THF ORLEANIST FUSION. THE following t rates and comments upon the recent interviews between the Duke de Nemours awl the Count do Chambord at Frohsdorff have been pub lished by a morning paper, ou the authority of a correspondent : " The reconciliation which has recently been effected between the princes of the house of Orleans and the head of the elder branch of the Bourbons continues to create a great deal of interest among the adherents of both families, and in many quarters a degree of political importance is attached to the event which it certainly is not entitled to tt the present momeut, and which it may perhaps not have during the exi,tence of the present generation. No (MO can for a moment doubt that it is of mutual ndvantage to both families, whether as regards their own comfort or their consideration with the world, that they should live on tern a of friendehip becoming members of the acme family, in d ferget differences created by events long gone by, and which are now of no interest to any one, excepting as matters of history. But, while in this sense the 'Alston ' must be considered a gratifying fact by all the friends of the two families, it is very doubtful if the manner in which it has been carried into enact is calculated to meet with the same unanimous applause. It is (Tashi that some of the most sincere friends of both branches consider the fus' 'as inopportune, and the ostentatious publicity given to it as injudicious and impolitic. 11litch as they wish to see a good understanding existing between the two families, they would have much preferred seeing the ' fission,' when accomplished, represented as simply an act of kindliness and good feeling on the part of the meuthe:s of the families than to have it represented, as it now is, as an important political text, from which consequences may Le expected which will change the aspect of Europe. " It has been remarked that, in the elaborate accounts published throughout Europe of the interview betwei u the Duke de Nemours and the Count. de Chambord, there has not been one word said of the Duchess of Orleans, and that the Duke de 'CPIIIOIII% spoke, not in the name of the whole of the members of the family (of which the Count de Paris is the undoubted head), but merely in that of his brothers. I have reason to believe that the Duchess of Orleans and the Count de Paris have kept themselves aloof from the whole MEM% and that they are consequeutly no parties to the so-cellist fusion.' It is not correct to say that the Duchess of Orleans has opposed the ' fusion,' or the interview which has taken place between the Duke de Nemours and Ley cousin. Site has simply declined giving any opinion on the matter, in order that she might not be' considered as a conseuting party to any arising,- melds which may have taken place at the interview between those illustrious personages. " Ity the law of France the Count de Paris will come of age when he reaches eighteen, or in about thirty months. It is the wish of the duchess that on coining of age the young prince may find himself completely unfettered, and at full liberty to adopt whatever course he may consider advisable, whether as respects his own position or that of the other members of his family. It is on this account that she has declined doing anything that could be con sidered as a sanction on her part to any conferences or anungements which would have the effect, or at all events the appearance, of fettering her son. The young prince himself, who is a very precocious lad, fully coincides with his mother's feelings on the subject, and it is in accordance with his opinion that she has adopted an important resolu tion. Having received au intimation from the Duke de Nemours of his intended visit to Frelisdorff, and at the same time an offer on the part of the duke to pay her a visit for the purpose of comminticating to her the result s f the interview with the Count do Chambord, the duchess, in accordance with her own wishes and the wishes of her son, but without consulting any one out of her wrote to the Duke de Nemours, informin hint that she did not see the immediate necessity of the' step he was about to take ; that there were no events at present occur ring which made immediate action desirable; that, on tl o contrary, there was every reason fur the postponement of any family arrangentente of the kind, till her son, who wias the undoubted head of the Orleans family, w as Of 1111 age to he consulted ; and that in these circumstances she was obliges! to request the Duke de Nemours not to come to Eisenach (the residence of the duchess) on his way front Frultsdortf, as she should be under the necessity of declining to receive hint. The duchess has adopted this meths tion, not lion any feeling of bitterness or irritation Kansa the members of either branches of the flintily, but siuqly that she may not have to reproach herself hereafter with having done anything which might be (smoldered binding upon the prince on Isis coming of age, and when Isis intik,. Meld would enable him to act for himself. " It must be said that the course adopted by the Ducks as of Orleans appears to be a wise unc. There scouts to I e no good ground why the uncles of the Count de Paris should have adopted measures which, however great (?f however small may be their ultimate results, will certaitey have the etlivt of forestalling the question, and that at a time when the Count de Paris is not only approaching 11:s majority, but when it is admitted by all parties that tie me is nothing in the internal position (if France which justifies it. In point of fact. any attempt of either breach of the house of Bourbon to disturb the world with their claims wottld neither be an . act of morality nor of utility. Any