The Press. — London, England, 1858-12-25 00:00:00

1254 THE PRESS, DECEMBER 25, 1858. a fair degree of talent, independence, and dignity are deserving of all honour. Decidedly, the situation of commercial matters in this country, and especially in this city, is not satisfactory. The Customs' returns show a decline, both in imports and exports, compared with the cor. responding month of the previous years. The Bourse, in spite of the efforts made by speculators, continues to be greatly depressed, and I hear that in various branches of trade work is so scarce that many bands are out of employ, and o hers are working short time. All this is more serious in France than it would be elsewhere, because here commercial distress always causes political discontent, arid not unfrequently tumult and barricades. jortign 110 Colonial latttligtut. FRANCE. COI7NT DIONTALEMBERT'S APPEAL. The appeal of Count de Montalembert against the judgment of the Court of Police Correctionnel, which sentenced him on the 25th of November to imprison ment for six months and a fine of 3,000 f., was heard on Tuesday in the Appeal Court of the imperial Court of Paris. The charges of which Count de Montalembert was pronounced guilty by the Police Court are-1. Of having excited hatred and contempt against the Government. 2. Of an attack against the principle of universal suffrage and against the right and authority the Chief of the State holds from the Constitution. 3. Of an attack against the respect due to the laws and to the inviolability of the rights which they have consecrate I ;—offences contained in an article entitled " A Debate on India in the English Parliament." As early as nine o'clock the entrance to the court was thronged with an immense crowd, and the persons provided with tickets had great difficulty in procuring seats. The doors were opened at ten, and the Court sat at half-past eleven. M. Dafaure commenced in support of the appeal, and M. Chaix d'Est-Ange, on the part of the prosecution, replied to M. Dufaure amidst signs of disapprobation which were immediately checked. THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH. The passage in the American President's speech regarding Spain has excited much attention in Paris, and hes given occasion for rumours of a warlike tendency. and pre-emption system be extended to the people of Utah by the establishment of a land office in that territory. THE CHINESE TREATY. M. Berryer then rose on behalf of M. de Monta lembert. He said it was useless to try to impose silence on his client, as you could not impose it on the rest of mankind, or prevent them by the most stringent laws from expressing their love of liberal institutions. He denied that the debate in the English Parliament was the vain and sterile contest the Procurenr-General described. It was not merely the struggle for piece and power—nut the hunt after portfolios ; it was something of a high and a noble character. He eulogized Lord Ellenborough for having given up his place in the Cabinet when he found that his despatch to Lord Canning was con demned in Parliament. lle alluded to the grace accorded to M. de Montalembert, as announced in the Moniteur, and said it was couched in a form offen sive to M. de Montalembert. He described the conduct of his client on the 2nd of December. M. de Montalembert, as President of the Electoral Com mittee of the Rue des Pyramids, had signed a protest against the forcible dissolution of the National Assembly, and he read portions of his letter of the 12th of December. M. Berryer defended his client for not having accepted the grace of the Emperor. In this he only imitated the Emperor himself, who declared to M. Berryer, when visiting him in the fortress of Ham, in 1545, that he should not ask for an amnesty from the Government of Louis Philippe. M. Berryer spoke for two hours and a half, and in the course of his speech was more than once applauded by the auditory. At five o'clock the judges retired to deliberate. They remained in deliberation full two hours and a half. On again taking their seats the President, M. Perrot de Chezelles, delivered the judgment of the Court, which reduced to thrae months, instead of six, the term of imprisonment imposed by the Police Court ; maintained the :I.ooof. fine, but by the with drawal of one of the counts in the indictment com pletely freed M. de Montalembert from the effects of the law of the 27th of February, 1858, under which, even after completing his punishment, he was liable to be transported to Algeria or be exiled. As this was one of the principal objects of the appeal against the sentence of the Police Court the judgment of the Cour Imperiale is regarded as a triumph over the Government. The decision, which was pronounced at half-past seven o'clock, was received by all present with the greatest satisfaction, and M. de Montalem bert was warmly congratulated by his friends. M. Villemain, M. de Falloux, and many other literary and political celebrities were present. After the judgment of the Court was announced the crowd retired peaceably. The relations of the United States and China are thus mentioned : I have occasion, also, to congratulate you on the result of our negotiations with China. You were informed by my last annual message, that our Minister had been in structed to occupy a neutral position in the hostilities con ducted by Great Britain and France against Canton. Ile was, however, at the same time directed to co-operate cor dially with the British and French Ministers, in all peace ful measures, to secure by treaty those just concessions to foreign commerce which the nations of the world had a right to demand. It was impossible for me to proceed further than this on my own authority, without usurping the war-making power, which, under the Constitution, belongs exclusively to Congress. Besides, after a careful examination of the nature and extent of our griemees, I diit not believe they were of such a pressing and aggravated character as would have justified Congress in declaring war against the Chinese empire, without first making another earliest attempt to adjust Clem by peaceful nego- tiation. I was the more inclined to this opinion, because of the severe chastisement which had then but recently been inflicted upon the Chinese by our squadron, in the capture and destruction of the Barrier Forts, to avenge an alleged insult to our flag. The event has proved the wisdom of our neutrality. Our Minister has executed his instruc firma with eminent skill and ability. In conjunction with the Russian Plenipotentiary, he has peacefully, but effec• tually, co-operated with the English and French Plenipo tentiaries, and each of the four powers has concluded la separate treaty with China, of • highly satisfacOry cha racter. The treaty concluded by our own Plempoteutiary will Immediately be submitted to the Senate. JAPAN. The treaty with Japan is briefly referred to, and is to be submitted to the Senate. THE GRAND DUKE CONSTANTINE. RELATIONS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. On the important subjects of the Right of Search and the Clayton•Bulwer Treaty the President says:-- I am truly sorry that I cannot also inform you that the complications between Great Britain and the United States, arising out. of the Clayton and Bulwer Treaty of April, 1850, have been filially adjusted. At the zommence ment of your last session I had reason to hope that, eman cipating themselves from farther unavailing discussions, the two Governments would proceed to settle the Central American question in a practical manner, alike honour able and satisfactory to both ; and this hope I have not yet abandoned. In my last annual message I stated that overtures had been made by the British Government for this purpose, in a friendly spirit, which I cordially reci• procated. Their proposal was to withdraw these questions from direct negotiation between the two Governments ; but to accomplish the same object, by a negotiation between the British Government and each of the Central American republics whose territorial interests are imme• diately involved. The settlement was to be made in ac cordance with the general tenor of the interpretation placed upon the Clayton and Bulwer Treaty by the United States, with certain modifications. As negotiations are still pending upon this basis, it would not be proper for me now to communicate their present condition. A final settlement of these questions is greatly to be desired, as this would wipe out the last remaining subject of dispute between the two countries. Our relations with the great empires of France and Russia, as well as with all other Governments on the continent of Europe, except that of Spain, continue to be of the most friendly character. His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Constan tine of Russia, travelling incog., as the "Grand Admiral Romanoff," has visited Paris, which city he left on Wednesday es route to his flotilla at Villa franca. THE PORTUGUESE AFFAIR. The Baron de Paiva, the Portuguese Ambassador to France, who has been residing in Brussels for the last few days, has received orders to return to his post in Paris, and is expected there immediately, so that it is manifest that the difficulty between Fra►►ce and Portugal has been definitively arranged. SPAIN. THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR. By telegram from Madrid of Dec. 111 we learn that M. Barrot, the new French Ambassador, had been received with great honour by the Queen, and that the draft of the address of the Chamber of Deputies is favourable to the Government. SW E DEN. THE KING'S HEALTH. Intelligence from Stockholm states that the health of the King of Sireeen is seriously impaired. Ilk appetite and power to sleep diminish, and his strength fails. ITALY. THE CaiDINALATE. Rumours are afloat of the nomination of two new cardinals, one for Rome and the other for America. If this should actually come to pass, it will be the first time that America will have been blessed with a cardinal. The ecclesiastics generally mentioned as likely to be nominated aro the Auditor of the Chamber and the Archbishop of Baltimore. THE UNITED STATES. THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. The Message from President Buchanan was read in the House of Representatives on the 6th instant. We select the most salient passages in this important document : TRorDLES IN KANSAS. The President enters at great length into the history of the troubles in Kansas, which he ascribes solely and emphatically to the refusal of the people of that territory to join in the voting for delegates to the convention which was to frame a constitution, and their subsequent refusal to acknowledge the authority of the convention so elected. He com• mends the " wiser and better spirit " which was matiiiested last January, when the majority of the people voted for a governor and State officers, jus tifies his own recommendation that Kansas should be admitted as a State, recalls the rejection by Con grees of the constitution as voted by the people or Kansas, and the rejection in turn by the people of Kansas, in the month of August last, of the proposi tions put forward by the Congress. On the present state or the question he says : The people of the territory are now authorized to form another constitution, preparatory to admission into the Union, but not until their number, as ascertained by a census % shall equal or exceed the ratio required to elect a member to the House of Representatives. It is not pro• bable, in the present state of the case, that a third consti tution can be :awfully framed and presented to Congress by Kansas before its population shall have reached the designated number. Nor is it to be presumed that, after their sad experience in resisting the tertitorial laws, they will attempt to adopt a constitution iu express violation of the provisions of an Act of Congress. During the session of 1"56 much of the time of Congress was occupied on the question of admitting Kansas under the Topeka constitution. Attain, nearly the whole of the last session was devoted to the question of its admission under the Lecompton constitution. Surely it is not unreasonable to require the pecple of Kansas to wait before making a third attempt, until the number of their inhabitants shall amount to 93,420. During this brief period the harmony of the States. as well as the great business interests of the country, demand that the people of the Union shall not for a third time be convulsed by another agitation on the Kansas question. By waiting for a short time, and acting in obe dience to law, Kansas will glide into the Union without the slightest impediment. AFFAIRS IN UTAH. A considerable portion of the Message is devoted to the histcry of the course pursued towards the Mormons. Ha praises the army, the commissioners, Governor Canning and Colonel Kane, the volunteer pacificator ; and, as a result of the measures take.n, says : The Governor and other civil officers of Utah are now performing their approprilte functions without resistance. Tho authority of the Constitution and the laws has been fully restored, and peace prevails throughout the territory. A portion of the troops sent to Utah are now encamped in Cedar Valley, forty four miles south-west of Salt Lake City, and the remainder have been ordered to Oregon to suppress Indian hostilities. The march of the army to Salt Lake City, through the Indian territory, has bad a powerful effect in restraining the hostile feelings against the United States which existed among the Indians in that region, and in securing emigrants to the far west against their depredations. This will also be the means of estab lishing military posts and promoting settlements along the route. I recommend that the benefits of our land laws THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN. The relations of the United States with Spain form perhaps the most important topic of the present Message. The President says : With Spain our relations remain in an unsatisfacto►y condition. The mission to Spain has been intrusted to a distinguished citizen of Kentucky, who will proceed to Madrid without delay, and mike another and final attempt to obtain justice from that Government. Spanish (Arial', under the direct control of the Captain• General of Cuba, have insulted our national flag, and, in repeated instances, have from time to time inflicted injuries on the persons ant property of our citizens. These have given birth to numerous claims against the Spanish Government, the merits of which have been abl; discussed for a series of years by our successive diplomatic representatives. Not withstanding this, we have not arrived at a practical result in any single instance, unless we may except the case of the Black Warrior, under the late Administration ; and that presented au outrage of such a character as would have justified an immediate resort to war. All our attempts to obtain redress have been baffled and defeated. The frequent and oft•recurring changes in the Spanish Ministry have been employed as reasons for delay. We have been compelled to wait again and again, until the new Minister shall have had time to investigate the justice of our demands. The claims are of fourteen years' standir.g, in which about one hundred American citizens are interested for duties illegally exacted at Cuba are brought for ward, and it is complained that instead of a just resti tution of the original sum extorted, with interest, about one•third of the amount is offered, and that as a special favour. The President also points out as an intolerable grievance that while injustice is freely done at Havannah, Americans demanding justice are referred to Madrid. Then comes the following important passage : The truth is, that Cuba, in its existing colonial condition is a constant source of injury and annoyance to the