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

Sub-Lieutenants Gallet de Santerre, Bernard, Brisson, De Courmont, Fleece, Lades, Laclede Tieequey, Lafon, Becoulet de Tarragon, De Illanpy, Thierry, Morin, Pretnion Bas, Dufilhol, Desrayaud, Chatelein, Liston, Godeirin. Abbeville, May 20. Gentlemen,—Figuro, .in its number of May 6, inserted an art i c le which was an Insult to all the officers of the army. In giving an account of a soiree this journal said, " Remark. able improvement—the inevitable sub-lieutenant was not t h e m" &c. On reading this article, M. Courtiel, a sub lieutenant of the 9th Chasseurs, in garrison at Amiens, addressed a letter to M. de Pene (the " Nemo " of Figaro), the author of the article, calling upon him for satisfaction for the insult. Almost simultaneously, M. Hyenne, an officer of the same regiment, in garrison at Abbeville, also sent a challenge to M. de Pens. No answer was sent to either of these letters, but Figaro of the 13th contained a second article, replying, in coarse terms, to M. Courtiers letter. Thereupon thin officer came to Yetis, accompanied by his two seconds, MM. Hyenne and Rosé. The meeting between M. de Pine and M. Courtiel took place in Vesinet roo d. 1.1. Courtiel having received a wound in the fore part of his arm was compelled to renounce the combat setich had been of very short duration (tine minute). M. Hyenne, then approaching M. de Pene, addressed him with the most perfect coolness, and the following dialogue occurred:—" I also, sir, wrote to you on the subject of your article, and I signed my name to my letter. Do you re member it ?" " Yes, sir. I do." " Then you owe me satisfaction, and I demand it of you." " But it would he ver y difficult fur me to fight with all the officers of the army." " You have insulted them all, and they have all the tight to force you to draw the sword." " I refer to my seconds." In this state of things, the seconds having jai• mated their intention to leave the ground, M. Hyenne urgently repeated his demand to fight. He told these gentlemen that he was determined to fight M. de Pene, and that if a meeting were refused he should be under the painful necessity of insulting him. M. de Nile and his seconds continuing to refuse, M. Hyenne, after a last entreaty, which produced no effect, used an insulting ges. tore (a chiquenaud) towards his adversary, who thereupon asked his seconds what he should do. They replied " You must fight." But one of them objected that M. Hyenne ought not to be allowed to measure swords with an adversary whose method of fighting he had just had an opportunity of studying. M. Hyenne, who had pistols about him, insisted that M. de Pene should choose the arm which he preferred. The sword was chosen, and M. de Pone received two wounds. We think it necessary to give you all the details of this double meeting, in order that your opinion may not be misled by reading the eon tnidictory and malicious comments of certain journals. For instance, in the Industriel of St. Germain, which first gave an account of the duel, it was stated that after M. Court.el was wounded M. Hyenne thought tit to take up the affair. This way of telling the story is insulting and incorrect, for M. Hyenne did not avenge M. Couttiel, but the entire army. This is the proper place to assert in the most unequivocal manner that M. de Pene was responsible for his aitcle, not only to an individual but to a class. In the Figaro Programme of the 17th, M. de Villemesasnt, in allusion to the energetic and calm intervention of M. Hyenne, calls it an " indescribable scene." He takes care to uotict only the provocation, and passes over the entirely proper conduct of that officer. The army, which is such a good judge in affairs of honour, will appreciate the facts. The officers of the cavalry and artillery of the guard, as as well as those of the 84th Regiment, have spontaneously assured me of their entire sympathy. Gentlemen, my desire is that the army, to whom the original insult was addressed, should know precisely in what way it was avenged. (Signed) Roos:, one of the seconds. M. de Pene remains in a precarious state. Figaro has been ordered not to publish any more bulletins concerning his health, and to close the book in which persons calling to make inquiries write their names. The II morial d'Amiens says : MM. Courtiel and Hvenne, principals in the two duels With M. de Pine, and M. Hoge, second to these gentle men, all three officers in the 9th Itegunent of Chasseurs, in garrison at Abbeville, have been summoned by the Juge d'lnstruction of Versailles to appear before him and undergo an interrogatory. The proprietor of the Figaro has also been required to attend. The Minister of War, wishing to stop the cmise quences of the duel between M. de Pelle and Lieu tenant Hyenne, has addressed a circular to the colonels commanding regiments to forbid the writing of letters by officers to the directors of newspapers, adding that the " honour " of the army stands too high in the estimation of the French people and of the whole world to be effected by the ill-timed pleasantry of an obscure journal. There was nothing against the " honour" of the army in the Figaro ; the paragraph had merely reference to their de meanour in society. M. de Pene is said to be still in a dangerous state. In the second edition of yesterday's Times we read :- 1 have just heard that M. de Nile, who was wounded in a duel with Lieutenant Hye► n te, of the 9th Chasseurs, is dying. It is not expected that he will survive this night. In none of his death, his rather will institute proceedings against Lieutenant Ilyenae. PRUSSIA. In a communication from an occasional corre "Pondent, the Times inserts a good deal of woniler at the emting ewe of things in Prussia. The Prince of PM's* the King's representative, tube is bum THE PRE S S, MAY 29, 1858. to be of Liberal tendencies, is restrained from giving effect to his principles by a refusal of the Regency : The King is still in an intermediate state, as it seems, of fitness and unfitness, and his medical attendants, of whoa' he has three, declare that his recovery is possible at any moment, or that be may live for 3 ears without any change either for better or worse It is difficult, however, for the public to believe this to be the real opinion of the doctors, as for the last three mouths there has not been the slightest attempt on their part to ameliorate by any medical treatment the state of the King, whic% has given rise to the general belief that he is incurable. The Prince, in the meantime, acting upon the opinion of the doctrra, has refused to take the Regency according to the Constitution, which in Article 56 says that " in case the King is a minor or otherwise lastingly hindered (dauernd verhindern from governing, the next in succession to the Crown is to take the Regency with the concurrency of the Chambers." Now, what is "lasting?" If this question were to be discussed according to the old sophistic problem of " How many grains of corn go to form a heap ?" the discussion itself might last throughout eternity ; but if decided in a reasonable and practical point of view, the term " lasting " ceitsinly means a period to which no definite end can be assigned. This is precisely the case with the present illness of the King. A fair trial has been given to his recovery during eight months, and now, at the end of these eight months, the only positive statement which the doctors have made is that no definite end can be assigned to the period of hindrance. It is therefore easy to see that the present manlier of canning on the Government has become illegal, and that the longer it lasts the more the Prince places himself in flagrant oppo- sition to the Constitution. The best interpretation of the Prince's conduct is, that lie is actuated by feelings of delicacy towards his brother. But it is thought to be a remarkable fact that none of the Prince's former friends and advisers are at this moment to be found by his side. SARDINIA. In the Sardinian Chamber of Deputies, the debate upon the financial situation of the kingdom, which had arisen with reference to the proposed loan of 40,000,000 of lire, now approaches its termination, and a speech was commenced by Count Cavour on Thursday, and continued on Friday, in which he presented a comprehensive view of the whole sub i ject, and thoroughly vindicated tits Alinisteria policy. The following remarks on the subject of the Church estates deserve attention : He repudiated the suggestions which had been thrown out of an appropriation of the Church estates, and moat emphatically declared his conviction that to reduce the clergy to the position of salaried; dependants upon the State would be to render them more hostile to the liberties, and more widely estranged from the sympathies, of the nation, since it would deprive them of the common inte rest which, as possessors of property, they might other- wise still retain in civil society, from which, by their state of celibacy, they were already separated in some degree. He remarked that the clergy of Savoy, where the confisca tion of Church estates hod (under the French Republic) actually token place, were found to use their influence more decidedly against the Liberal policy than those of t'ie Piedmontese districts, where the Church was richly endowed ; and he pointed to the State-paid priests of France and Belgium as more Ultramontsne in their spirit than those of Italy, whilst the Roman Catholic priesthood of Ireland, on the other hand, by the fanaticism they too often betrayed, exemplified the dangerous tendency of the system which reduced the clergy to depend on tbe contri butions of their flocks for a livelihood. For these reasons, as well as because he believed such a measure would invest the Government with a dangerous amount of power, and establish an administrative despotism, he should always he opposed to the confiscation or incamarameato of the Church property. MONTENEGRO. The Algesiras and Eylau, French screw line of battle ships, anchored on the 20th at Gravosa, on the coast of the Adriatic. The port of Gravosa is situated on the coast of Dalmatia, in the circle of Ragusa, and at a short distance from that town, of which it is considered a suburb. It is at Gravosa, which is very well sheltered, that large vessels which cannot enter Ragusa come to an anchor, and it is there also that all the building yards are situated. Gravosa derives its name from a large village close by on the coast, containing the church of Santa Croce, celebrated throughout the whole of Dalmatia for the number of pilgrimages made to it. The arrival of these two vessels excited considerable interest, and on the 21st they were visited by a number of the principal inhabitants of Ragusa and the neighbourhood. The Austrian Gazette says:— According to private letters from Caitlin it appears that the combat of the I:ith took place without anything being known of the negotiations which Feronk Pacha was carrying on with the Montenegrin chiet Philippotf, in order to bring boot an armistice. The attack of the Pith was principally directed, as already stated, by Mirco. who had been for two days operating in the rear of the Turks, and who could not be acquainted with the fact of negotiations being in progress on another point. A Vienna letter in the Augsburg Gazette wates that the Montenegrins, in consequence of their vie. Writs of the 11th awl 13tb, are in possession of the 521 heights of Kleck, and of the left mouth of the Narenta. By assuming the defensive, they could not only prevent the landing of any fresh Turkish troops coming by sea, but could excite the whole province to insurrection. The Times correspondent of yesterday says : The information which you have hitherto received from me respecting the recent conflicts between the Turks and Montenegrins has been extremely disjointed, but intelli gence from Dalmatia now enables me to give you a con nected and probably correct account of what has hap pened. When it was known to the rayaha that Kudri Pacha was advancing towards Grahovo, which he did on the Bth instant, they sent their families and moveables to Montenegro, and followed them, after having destroyed the village of Grahovatz by fire. On the 10th, about 500 Montenearina under the Voivoile Pope Luka Marko vine descended into the plain near Grahovatz, and on thu llth attacked the vanguard of the Turks. After a fierce struggle, during which the Turks used their bayonets and the Montenegrins the butt-ends of their long guns, the latter retreated. The loss of the Turks was very anis% but the mountaineers had 120 men killed, Leming whom were the above-mentioned Vuivode and another man of note, named Pope Gjuro Kussavatz. It is believed that the retreat of the Montenegrins was a note de guerre, fur, as soon as the Teaks quitted their position, and advanced in pursuit of their assailants, Miiko Petrovich, the brother of Prince Daniel, appeared with 7,500 Montenegrins on the heights in their flank and rear. In the evening of the same day the Turks regained their position at Grahovatz, with a loss of 500 men. 280 Turkish noses were cut off, and sent to I'rince Daniel, at Cettinye, and with them the sword of the fallen senator, Pope Gjurn. The cannonade was so violent on the 11th that it was dis tinctly heard at all the Anstrian towns in the Gulf of Cat taro. On the 12 h inst. three steam-frigates landed Turkish troops at Antivari, near the Lake of Scutari, and it wll6 arranged that an attack should at once be made on the southern frontier of Montenegro. The Turkish force under Ahdi Pacha, in Scutari, is a powerful one, but still it is not likely to effect much against the 2.000 Montenegrins who are assembled on the heights near the village of Leintjari. Before the affair of the 11th, which ended so unfavourably for the Mussulmans, the English, French, and Russian Consuls went into tile camp near Trebinye, and endea vont-A to persuade the Turkish commander to agree to a suspension of hostilitir s, in order that the Great Powers might intervene. The Pacha turned a deaf ear to every thing that was said by the consuls until after the disastrous affair of the 11th. In the morning of the 12th he con sented to suspend hostilities fur a short time, and on the same days truce was concluded between him and M. Delarue, the secretary of Prince Daniel. The consuls then per suaded the Turkish commander to withdraw his troops to such a distance from the Montenegrin frontier that hos tilities could not possibly be reneiied. The Pacha did what was required of him, and it was while his troops were retiring on the 13th that they were almost annihilated by the Montenegrins and Itayahs, under Mirko Petrovich, The spoils carried off by the victors consisted of watches money, ornaments, six guns, nine mortars, about 3,000 muskets, and many flags. Some hundreds of heads were cut off, and more than 2 000 noses. Although the total loss of the Turks on the 13th is estimated at more than 2,300 men, the Montenegrins are said to have had but forty men killed and not so many wourdei. Elia Cinkof, the Captain of Zuze, the principal village of the Katunska " uahia" or district, severed the head of a Pacha, who was the Adlalits of the Ferik, Hussein riche, from his body. The Padre—a Genose renegade—had four orders, which Cinkof, as a matter of course, transferred to his own dress. One of the orders is said to have been the Legion of Honour. The news of the ,arrival of two French ships of the line in the Bay of Gravoss is confirmed. The Austrian vessels cruising off tje southern extremity of the Dalmatian coast are two frigates. THE PROTESTANT ALLIANCE held its seventh annual meeting on Monday at the Freemasons'-hall, Queen-street, the Earl of Shaftesbury in the chair. Mr. Macgregor read the report, which stated that for the last two years competitive examinations bad been held and prizes given with a view to encourage the study of controversial subjects among young men, and that 241. had been distributed last year to reward proficiency in that respect. The alliance had made successful representations to the Privy Council on the subject of " Ince's Outlines of English History," but had failed in its attempts to induce the Society of Arts to take the same view of the work complained of. It was still eogaged on the general question of the Privy Council school-books. A correspondenee had also been carried on with the authorities of Oxford University respecting " Lingard's History- of England," which the examiners in law and modern history had recommended, and the result had been that the recommendation hail been set aside. The report then referred to the oppth•ilintl given by the committee of the Alliance to Mr. Bowyer's Bill on Gaols, Mr. Sergeant Deasy's Bill on Reformatory Schools, and to the introduction of the mass into garrison school-houses and chapels. In regard to foreign operations, it stated that their secretary had visited Berlin, snit that a plan had been there sug gested of providing a temporary asylum for priests who should quit the Church of Rome. Memorials had Dean ;Test nted on behalf of Beltrani, Joseppi Borj, and Zezuit. As retarded funds, there was a balance in hand of 291, 13.4. 4fd., the liabilities were 1001,, and receipts were less than in previous years. The report concluded vial an appeal for help.