The Press. — London, England, 1854-01-21 00:00:00

JANUARY 21, 1854. SA tign Rub' dolonial ntritigtutt. FRANCE. The returns of the French revenue from indirect taxation during the year 1853 have been published in the Moniteur , a nd exhibit a far more satisfactory result than could have been anticipated in the face of a bad harvest and probable war. Before these contingencies appeared above the horizon, indeed, the Finance Minister fully expected to find that the large expansion of receipt experienced in 1852, and to 67,000,000 f., attributable to the sudden amounting impulse given to trade by returning credit after e a long period of stagnation, would be followed by a reaction, and the income of 1853 fall something short of its prosperous predecessor. So far from this being the case, however, there has been a posi tive increase of 42,000,000 f., notwithstanding the ad ditional causes of embarrassment that have latterly presented themselves. The chilling influences which the elements and the Eastern entanglement have exer cised upon commerce, and as a natural consequence upon revenue, are shown by the retrogression in the receipts during the latter months of the year. Throughout the summer months the revenue was rapidly increasing. In July the excess over the corresponding month of 1852 was 4,500,000 f. ; in August, 5,500,000 f. ; and in September, 7,500,000 f. Then the tide turned : in October the excess dropped to 4,1345,000 f.; in November it was something under 2,000,000 E; and in the last month of the year was exchanged for a decrease of 3i millions on the com parison with 1852. Still on the twelvemonth there is left an excess of 42,000,000 f., arising chiefly under the following heads :—Register duties, 18,500,000 f.; stamps, 2,000,000 f. ; corn and grain, 1,170,0001. ; colonial sugars,l,ooo,ooof. ; foreign sugars, 1,362,000 f. ; home sugars, 3,084,000 f.; salt, 2,000,000 f.; drinks, :1,529,000f.; tobacco, 8,000,000 f.; post-office, 2,300,000 f. The only head in which there was any important diminution is the customs, in which the falling off is 1,700,000 f. During Louis Philippe's reign the average rate of progression in the revenue was from twenty-two to twenty-three million francs a year. The total revenue received from these sources of taxation during the year amount to 846,800,000 f. The direct taxes have been paid with even greater punctuality than last year, and the number of pro. ceedings taken against defaulters has diminished. The Moniteur published on Tuesday a series of measures. Two decrees open extraordinary credits; one of 2,000,000 f., in aid of charitable establish ments; and another of 4,000,000 f., to indemnify the city of Paris for the expenses it incurred in 1848 in the general interest of public order. A third decree grants judiciary assistance to the indigent inhabi tants of Martinique, Guadaloupe, and Bourbon ; and a fourth regulates the terms upon which the present possessors of the soil in Pondicherry may be come absolute proprietors of the lands which they cultivate. The Hon. J. Y. Mason, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, has arrived in Paris. Three men-of-war of the first class, the Louis XIV., the Turenne, and the Ulm, are about to be launched at Itochefort. One will probably be ready on the !Mil of next month, and the others in April or May next. The trial of the Opera Comique and Hippodrome conspirators was brought to a close on Monday. Four were acquitted. The remainder, thirty-six in number, were found guilty of belonging to a secret society. No sentence was passed upon those who are already condemned to transportation. Of the remainder five, viz., Bratiano the Wallachian, Furet, atteau, Francois, and Alavoine," were found to be the founders of the society, and were sentened to three years' imprisonment with fines of 500 f. each. The others were sentenced to a year's imprisonment with 100 f. fine. All of them are besides deprived of civic rights for five years. General Prim has arrived in Paris from Constan tinople, and intends shortly proceeding to Madrid, to render an account of his mission. He hopes to be able to return to the East in the spring, should political affairs continue of a warlike character. AUSTRIA. - - A Ministerial Council was held in Vienna on the 12 th inst., at w hi c h t h e E mperor pres id e d . It is nnderstood that military preparations were the sub ject of deliberation. The mobilisation of a corps of fro m 30 ,000 to 40,000 m en t o b e sen t t o th e frontier was again projected, and Field-Marshal Coronini and General Schlick were each spoken of as its probable commander. The Austrian Correspondence of the oth con tained a lengthy and important article on the Ori ental question. It comme nces by alluding to the a pprehensions which the recent note of M. Drouyn de LHuys had called forth. The writer then repeats the assurance that Austria holds fast to the promise given by the Emperor of Russia, to the e ffect that the integrity of the Ottoman Porte would limm. THE PRESS. not be interferedwith by him. But the main object of the article is intended to prove to prove that Austria cannot do better than, in the face of this last phase of the Oriental question, to persevere in her system of absolute neutrality; provided always "that the integrity of the Ottoman empire be not en dangered." Tile same official organ in a subsequent number publishes an important article on Austrian finances. The Government will not contract any new loan at present. Other means will be found to cover the deficit. First. To reserve the amount of State paper currency within the fixed maximum of 150 millions. Secondly. The sale of hypothecated assignats on salt-mines, in completion of the fixed 40 millions. Thirdly. A special credit opened for payments abroad. Fourthly. Moore speedy and extended availableness of all moneys in the State coffers. The article finally confirms the recent great increase in the revenue of the State. DENMARK. - - Overtures have been made from St. Petersburg to the Cabinet of Copenhagen for the cession of the island of Bornholm to Russia. Bornholm is an out lying possession of Denmark in the Baltic, and within a day's sail of the Sound and Copenhagen. BADEN. It is stated that the religious difference between the Government and the Jesuits in Baden has been arranged in a satisfactory manner. SWITZERLAND. Owing to the complications of the Eastern ques tion the Swiss Government intend to place a military force on the German frontier. The National Council has refused, by a large majority, to sanction the law against the press which has been in vigour for the last twelve months in the canton of Berne. ITALY. An important bill concerning the Jews has been presented to the Piedmontese Chambers by the Government. By this bill the Israelite population of the kingdom, now divided into the Universities of Piedmont, Monferrato, Alessandria, and Nice, are authorised to exercise self-government in matters relating to their religion and worship. For this purpose they are divided into twenty electoral circles, each of which is to elect a representative to a general assembly, which is to meet at Turin every third year, or whenever the Minister of the Interior shall convoke it. This general assembly fixes the duties of the rabbis, the taxes for the cost of public worship, the general budget, the stipend of grand rabbi, &c. The Government is empowered to deter mine, by royal decrees, the minor rules to be observed in the execution of the measure. All the inhabitants of Brescia who were imprisoned at Mantua for political offences have been restored to liberty. A letter from the Romagna of the 7th states that that province is in great consternation, owing to the increase of brigandage. People are afraid of being out late at night, and at Faenza the theatre is quite deserted. The Countess Radetzky, wife of Field-Marshal Radetzky, Governor-General of the Lombardo- Venetian provinces, died at Verona on the 12th. SPAIN. The Queen was sufficiently recovered on the 12th inst. to rise for a few hours, and would, it was expected, speedily resume the performance of state duties. On that day the corpse of the deceased princess was conveyed from the palace with the usual ceremonies, preliminary to interment in the vaults of the Escurial. A tremendous storm which occurred at Elche, province of Alicant, last month, destroyed, as it appears from an official investigation, 307 houses in that town and neighbourhood, together with the con. vent and church of Santa Clara, and the church del Salvador. The Empress of the French has directed, through her mother, the Countess of Montijo, 30,000 reels to be appropriated from the proceeds of her Spanish estates to the relief of the people of Huetortaga, province of Granada, who were in great misery, having lost three successive harvests, and suffered immense damage, with loss of seeds, dc., by a storm in June last. RUSSIA AND TURKEY. The following are the terms of the message con veyed to the Russian Governor at Sebastopol from the representatives of England and France re spectively " TO THE GOVERNOR OF SEBASTOPOL. " Conformably with the cutlers of my Government, the British (French) squadron, in concert with that of France (England), is on the point of appearing in the Black Sea. The object of this movement is to protect the Ottoman territory from all aggression or hostile act. I apprise your excellency thereof with a view• to prevent all collision tending to disturb the amicable relations existing between our Governments, which I am desirous of pre serving, and which, uo doubt, your excellency is equally anxious to maintain. " To this end, I should feel happy to learn that your excellency, animated by these intentions, had deemed it expedient to give the requisite instructions to the admiral commanding the Russian forces in the Black Sea, so as to obviate any occurrence calculated to endanger peace. " IZEDCLIFFE. " (BARACWAY D'HILLIZIRE.)" The letters of both ambassadors are couched in precisely similar phrase, and with the last word, " peace," italicised in the same manner. In addition, the British captain is charged formally to demand the extradition of two English subjects, the engineers of the Atedari Tidjaret, an Egyptian steamer cap tured at Sinope, and who were kept prisoners by the Russians. The fleets that had entered the Black Sea wera composed of the following ships : ENOUSH. Britannia, Bellerophon, Rodney, Albion, Vengeance, London, Agamemnon (screw), Sanspareil (screw) ; Terrible, Retribution, Furious, Tiger, Firebrand —steamers. FRENCH.- Ville de Paris, Friedland,Jina, Jupiter, Jemmappes, Henri IV., Charlemagne (screw), Gooier, Mogador, Sani, Magellan, Descartes —steamers. Five Turkish steamers, the Tail; Feizi Bahri, Med jidie, Chaaki Chadi, and Muhbiri Suru, followed the combined squadrons, conveying MOM troops and warlike stores under their care towards Batoum or Trebizond. The .Augsburg Gazette states that the Russian admiral had, of his own accord, released the two English engineers who were taken prisoners on board the captured Egyptian steamer. The following modifications were made by the Porte, on the 31st of December, to the note of the four powers : __. _ _ _ First.—lnstead of the evacuation of the princi palities as soon as possible, it is now stipulated to read, "Within fifteen to twenty days after acceptance by Russia." Secondly.—The renewal of treaties to be with special reference to the integrity and independence of Turkey. Thirdly.—The Porte will ameliorate her adminis trative system alone and spontaneously. On the sth Lord Stratford de Redcliffe issued a tranquillising circular, stating that the object of Admiral I)undas was the protection of Turkish in terests, without disturbing friendly relations with Russia. A dreadful fire took place on the 2nd in the Fanar quarter of Constantinople. According to the official report, 103 houses, twenty shop;, one mill, and one guard-house were consumed. The houses of the Greek and Jerusalem patriarchs, and of the Greek bishop, were burnt in this conflagration. M. de Reizet reached St. Petersburg on the 12th inst. with the French categorical note. - It watt pre sented simultaneously with the English note of tho same character, which► Sir Hamilton Seymour had received some days previously. The St. Petersburg Court Gazette of the oth pub lished a most violent article against England. Great Britain, it is said, is the moving cause of all European eommotions, and the mischievous intermeddler who has filled the barren fancy of the Turk with an absurd and whimsical notion of "independence.' A letter from Warsaw, of the 7th inst., states that the chiefs of districts throughout Poland have received orders to draw up a list of all able unmarried men, from the ago of eighteen to forty, and to watch them carefully, not to permit them to leave their dis tricts, because the recruiting, which takes place usually at the end of the year, will take place this year in March. A private letter from Bucharest of the 6th states that formal orders had reached Prince Gortschaltoff to take measures for effecting the passage of the Danube. He was at the same time informed that the reinforcements demanded by him would shortly arrive. From Odessa, on the 11th, it is stated that no more cargoes were allowed to be shipped on board Eng lish or French vessels, and that all the Russian ports on the Black Sea would speedily be, if they were not already, closed against the eomme, those nations. New contracts for supplying the Russian army in the principalities with food and forage, from the month of March next till the end of June, were made at the opening of the present year. At the express desire of the Servian Hospodar the Porte has consented not to publish the new firmans. The fortifications round Kalafat and Widdin con tain 250 pieces of the heaviest calibre. 60,000 men were collected within the rayon. The Patric states that Chainyl has been joined by several distinguished Polish officers, and has, with the arms which he has received from Constan tinople, formed a corps of sharpshooters, 1,200 in number, chiefly composed of Polish deserters from the Russian army. EGYPT. of The Eurotas steam-packet, belonging to the French line of the Messageries Impiriales, was lost on the let inst. about four miles to the northward of the new port of Alexandria. She was coming from Joppa, and bad on board forty passengers and a very valuable cargo. The sea Wad very calm, but the in- MI X