The Press. — London, England, 1853-07-16 00:00:00

RIX 16, 1853. sive occasions, between the eleventh and thir- teenth centu►ies, Western Europe should have ISprung up at the call of fanaticism, and pre cipitated itself on Asia for the gratification of a sentiment; and it may be assumed as a proof that the Emperor NICHOLAS eonsiders Russia to be still so fair in the rear of enlightenment as to rally at his summons round the " blazing cross," and direct, its hordes upon the scene Av hi& witnessed the ancient struggles of Chris tendom for the liberation of the Holy Places. The progress of events has, however. worked one remarkable change, which distinguishes the crusade of the nineteenth century from that of the thirteenth. The latter afforded a vent for the rage of the Latin Church against the schismatic Greeks ; whilst, in the sacred war which is now impending, the champions of the Greek Church are preparing to enforce retribution for the wrongs inflicted by the Popes. In one commanding feature both agree—the Emperor NICHOLAS, like the Em peror BALDWIN, is preparing to reduce Con stantinople on his march to Jerusalem. It has long been notorious that the squabbles of the Greeks and Latins who have access conjointly to the churches of Beth lehem and Jerusalem have been a reproach to civilisation and an insult to Christianity. And now, for the adjustment of this clerical wrangle, the wide breadth of Western Europe is to encounter the strength of Russia and the North on the shores of the Bosphorus. When, some years ago, the Emperor NICHO LAS made it visit to Italy during the conva lescence of the Empress, he so thy humbled himself as to solicit from the Pope permission to erect a building at Rome for the worship of the Greeks, as a similar privilege had been tacitly conveyed to the Protestants. This was sternly, and we have been told even offensirely, refused ; the Pope assuring the Emperor that to yield such a concession would alienate every member of the Church of Rome from the college of cardinals down to the humblest priest in every village of Christendom. The irritation caused by this refusal was re vived in the course of last year, when the Em peror of FRANCE, in order to conciliate these same cardinals and priests, despatched M. LAVALETTE to Constantinople, who obtained from the good, easy Sultan certain privileges for the Church of Rome at the Holy Places, which of necessity had to be conferred at the expense of the Greeks, at least by giving superior advantages to the Romanists. On the intelligence reaching St. Petersburg that the Pope had thus stolen a march upon the Patriarch, the Emperor forthwith des patched the Prince MENSCHIKOFF to the Porte to demand the instant reed of the Sultan's ill-considered concession tea the Church of Rome. The Sultan, with the same insouciance with which he had granted the favour, agreed to recal it ; perhaps somewhat in astonishment at the unintelligible importance which the potentates of two empires attached to the rival pretensions of two sets of competing priests. But the readiness with which he made and unmade his pledges, about one and the same arrangement, not unnaturally attracted the at tention of the Czar, and led to his further inad missible demand that, as the two Churches had been now restored to their relative shalt* quo at Jerusalem, the Sultan should bind him self, in an unconstitutional form, that what he had thus solemnly done, on the representation of Russia, should not ho again heedlessly un done, at the solicitation of France. The foreseen refusal has led to the an nouncement of war, and this we cannot regard otherwise than as an emanation of that deeper and more envenomed feeling which inflames the two militant Churches of the East and the West; and which, more than the mere lust of conquest, impels the Czar, by the capture of Constantinople, to compass the kng-desired humiliation of Rome. Once master of the Sultan's territory, the Emperor, as the self-created head of the Greek Church, would not be long in proclaiming its right to the exclusive possession of the Holy Places, and the consequent expulsion of the Latin priesthood from their interior, if not their precincts. And looking to this, and all the inevitable provocatives to hostility which must follow, it is no groundless THE PRESS. speculation to calculate hoir holy the power qf the Popethom in Italy might survive the eapulsiou if the Turks .frosii Saint Sophia. No more deplorable calamity could befal the world than that Europe should be involved in an outspread war, arising &MI leakelf squabble, even though one of its tumorresuits should be the overthrow of the temporal au thority of the head of the Roman Church. But if, as there is reason to suppose, the proba bilities of war with Russia had been increased by the mistaken policy of men who are not un reasonably suspected of being anything but unfriendly to the pretensions alike of Rome and Of Russia, then it is time dim. the real friends of the Popes should be put upon their guard as to the result which may probably ensue to the HEAP if the Roman Catholic Chureb. in the event if the doirtfal of the Ottoman empire. COMATION " COFFEE. AN elaborate Ntatillilellt ham been lately pre sented to the Prime ':Minister regarding the systematic adulteration of coffee. This griev- ance was first brought to light timing the administration of Sir ROBERT NEI.. It culmi nated under the powerful patronage of Sir Cumu.Es Wool). It was effectively redressed by Mr. Disnam.r, and it has now been no less effectively revived by his successor. The proof•:+ of this unhappy consummation are manifest, but, before refening to them, let us take a hasty glance at the true origin and pro. gress of the chicory and entree controversy. So tar back as the year lsll, an art was passed which imposed high penalties on the adulteration of coffee. This statute is still unrepealed, but its operation was suspended by a Treasury minute in 1840, which sanctioned the sale of this article mixed with chicory. This relaxation led to innumerable frauds, of • which the consumer complained more and inure loudly each succeeding year. The colo nist, too. complained with still greater reason. for his produce, burdened as it was with a heavy duty, was thus brought into direct com petition with the untaxed chicory grown in England. Lastly, the NW enue derived from coffee fell off in consequence of its diminished consumption. In 1849 these matters were brought before Parliament, but Sir tlitAni.ss Woo stoutly refused to interfere. The an nouncement was received with becoming grati tude by the grocers of the United Kingdom, and the practice of adulteration became more general than ever. Indeed, the records of our courts will show that substances of a much less wholesome kind than chicory were fre quently employed. The lioveniment of Lord DERBY, when in office, very wisely determined to put a stop to this disgraceful state of things, and did so, simply by rescinding, after due notice, the Treasury order of 1840, and thus reviving the restrictions imposed by the act of 1814. Mr. G LADSTONE, OD his accession to power. took a different view of the matter from either of his predecessors. He was neither for wholesale adulteration, nor for strictly honest dealing ; but, with characteristic ingenuity, he planned it eompromise between these two extremes. The coffee-dealers, he was well aware, belong for the most part to a (gams who exercise a very powerful influence in eleetion eering matters, and he would therefore con ciliate them by the patrtial restoration of a privilege of which they had been most ,justly deprived. He did not, indeed, like Sir e H Anus:at Woon, lend the sanction of his name to unre stricted competition in fraud, but he has done substantially the same thing, for the restric tions ho has imposed are practically worthless. On the 25th of February last there appeared a fresh Treasury minute, once more legalising the sale of coffee mixed with chicory, provided the compound bears a label to that effeet. restriction whatever was imposed as to the relative quonfity of the two ingredients. This modification of the law has already led to strange results. The indefatigable editor of the Lased informs us that he has purchased at a variety of shops ill the metropolis samples of this new compound. Whether it has yet acquired the title of " Oludbtoue's Wiature," or " Coalition cottee," among the trade, we are not aware ; but the authority in question tells► us that in nearly all his purchases the propor tion of ehieory was extravagantly large, while in some it was scarcely possible to detect the presence of coffee at all. But why should the dealers sell the compound in reasonable pro portions ? Coffee with the duty paid is about tour times dearer tha► chieory, and by using in the preparation of the compound even the smallest quantity of the former substance they keep within the letter of the law, and are the Sainte time to realise an exorbi tant rate of profit on their sales. But. in his anxiety to eonciliate this section of the ten-pounders, Mr. GLADSTONE has lost sight of a disagreeable yet inevitable conse quence of his policy. From what we have stated our readers will not be surprised to learn that the eonsumption of coffee is de (gifting, and the revenue of course must sutler in proportion. From the Board of 'Trade returns, just published, we learn that the quan tity of votive taken for home consumption during the month ending the 4th of June last exhibits a decrease as compared with the eor responding period of 1$ f. and a still greater decrease as COMlnired with that of IWI I. When we find fron► the saute returns that there is ample evidenee of nut increased de. mend tin• sugar, spirits, wine, tobacco, and nearly every other commodity, we eau have no diffieulty in iteeounting fi► . the diutiui►hed consumption of entree. NEW FEATURES or BUSH ELECTIONS. Sint': fails in the reeent Irish elections merit part ieular notice. At Sligo and Tralee, Minim terialist mobs have been hounded on by priestly influences, not against Tory candi dates or Protestant landlorila (in that there would be no novelty), but against " popular " politicians and Boman Catholic. gentlemen. At Sligo Mr. Soil Ens was opposed under pecu liar circumstances. For fifteen years he had represented the borough, with which he was eounected by ties of property and kindred. At the general election last year it was resolved that a ',rah* of Cardinal Wilonistes—Mr. Towsimcv of Towneley—should be returned for Sligo. So Rome decreed, and the priests deeided. ',Ord PALMERSTON, however, pre ferred that Mr. SOMERR should continue to re present the town, and, accordingly, there was a spirited resistance made to the attempt of Mr. Towsm.xv to become an M.l'. for a place to which he was an utter stranger. The priests, together with his purse, obtained for him a transient success, but the committee of the House of Commons unseated him, with a severe vote tit' censure on his conduct. Sligo being thus freed from the Cardinal's pet, Mr. SoMERs again offered himself, receiving very general support from all the Protestants, from a great number of the Roman Catholies, and from 501110 oven of the priests. Lord Psi.mEatiTos, whose estates are adjacent to the town, was again willing to promote his return ; but Lord Aut:ancEs hail a. nominee of his own, and Mr. Lord of the Treasury, entirely UN conneried with Sligo—went down from Downing street.. Californian influences, it is said, were resorted to, and, in conjunction with these, system of bullying without parallel even in Ireland ; and mill this was directed against a thulium Cutholie candidate supported by several priests. if Mr. Soimum had been an Orange man of the ohl aseendaney mehool, he could seareely have fared worse with the savages who howled at the heels of Mr. Sviima. But Parliament will again be called on to inter fere. and save a Roman Catholie constituency from being overborne by the power of the Pope and his agents. At Tilde° matters were even worse. Mr. SHINE I ,AWl.oft offered himself for the vu cant seat. Ills claims obtained very general support. lie had talents for public life, con . siilerable attainments, and was an estimable private diameter, though in past times more of " an agitator" than we could eonsistently ap prove ; but on the honour of his character there could not lie two opinions. Ile wits also entitled On the score of property and family a to the position of a representative in the Legislature ; and it would be a gross insult to • Mr. LAWLOR to compare WI personal prcten