The Press. — London, England, 1856-11-15 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 15, 1856. render the schism more signal, and prevent a return to the old paths. BELGIUM. The session of the Belgian Legislative Chambers was opened on the llth by a speech from the King. His Majesty, in the course of his speech, said that the commercial situation of the country was on the whole satisfactory : A law voted in the last session has settled the basis of our commercial regime. I expect from the wisdom of tie Chambers that the revision of the tariff of our Customs' duties will be continued in that spirit of prudence and of moderation which measures to which such vast interests are attached must necessarily demand. Upon the question of education the King observed : The triennial reports which have just been published prove the solicitude of my Uovernment for the advance• ment of primary and secondary instruction. An interest no le-s great is felt by it for the dissemination of a superior system of instruction. The opening of the academical year has furnished it recently with the oppor• tunity of reverting to those principles, the firm and sincere application of which must insure the prosperity of the universities of the State. The movement of our national literature has not lessened. The arts and sciences shine now with the same splendour, and are extending every day their useful appli cation. The speech of the King was loudly applauded. The sanction of his Majesty to the system of educa tion fullowed at the universities, and his concurrence in the addresses made on the late opening of the university session, created marked satisfaction. Tlie King looked remarkably weil, and was enthu siastically received by the deputies and people. PRUSSIA. PRUSSIA AND NEUFCHATEL. The Germanic Diet has resolved, in reference to the Neufchatel affair— To adhere to the principles expressed in the Protocol of London of the 24th ht.ty, lti•'r2, regulating the position of the Principality of Neufchatel. The Prussian official paper, the Zeit, highly ap proves of a Russo-French alliance. THE PRESS. Royal Council. The Vice-President is M. Martinez de la Rosa, M. Calderon Collantes, Ruiz de la Vega, General Cordova, General Camptizano, and twenty four other persons, less generally known, are named ordinary members of the Council. _ • There is a report that on the anniversary of the Queen's birthday the state of siege will be raised. A telegraphic despatch of the 10th inst., from Madrid, states that a decree has been promulgated prohibiting the press from discussing religious questions, matters relating to foreign Sovereigns, and Socialist doctrines. The Marquis de Rivera is appointed Spanish Minister at Berlin. The Government has accorded a credit of sixty millions for subsistence. The Madrid Gazette of the 3rd contains the royal decree, which re-establishes the decree of 1845 on the press. The Espana publishes an article insisting on the necessity of Spain drawing closer her alliances with the Northern powers. This article had created a considerable sensation. The Epoca says that, after all, M. Pacheco will probably not be removed from the embassy at London. A letter of the sth, from a Ministerial source, says : It is reported that, in addition to the reestablishment of the octroi duties, the Minister of Finance thinks, on account of the necessities of the State, of levying a forced loan, and of raising money by means of notes secured on national property. The real nature of his plans is, how ever, still kept secret. The Hoja Alitografa, the most confidential organ of the Cabinet, has been deprived of the large allowance of money it has hitherto received— a change in its tone is consequently expected. 1085 have protested warmly against the measures which are contemplated by the Austrian Government, en croaching upon the privileges which the Protestants of that portion of the empire at present enjoy. Da. Pauli, the historian of King Alfred, has left Bonn and repaired to Munich, in consequence of an invitation addressed to him by the King of Bavaria. Tt would appear that he is to be in future one of the scientific celebrities with whom King Maximilian loves to surround himself. THE FOLLOWING AUTOGRAPH LETTER of the Em press Eugenie to Lady Franklin is quoted by M. de la Roquette in his memoir of Sir John Franklin, recently submitted to the Geographical Society in Paris:— It is, above all, as a woman and a wife that I should with pleasure see France associated with England in those generous expeditions, the first object of which is to rescue a man whose private virtues are surely equal to his talent and his courage, since he has inspired in you Ruch an ad mirable devotion. Ultimately, 1 hope that Heaven will grant you the success that your conjugal affection merits ; and then, madam, there will be a person who will most sincerely participate in the joy of the wife of Captain Franklin—the wife of the Emperor Napoleon. THE QUEEN OF SPAIN, says a letter from Madrid, of the 6th, in the Brussels Ind4endance, "paid a visit yesterday to the Theatre Royal. When she entered at the close of the first act of Lucia di Lamer moor, the orchestra, as usual, struck up the royal anthem; but the mutterings and murmurs, and even hisses and whistling of the audience, drowned the music. This scene lasted for more than a quarter of an hour. The Queen, who stood, looked very pale ; she remained until the close of the opera." FIELD-MARSHAL RADETZICT, who is still corn. mander-in-chief of the Austrian forces in Italy. attained the ninetieth year of his age on the 2nd of November, when his birthday was celebrated by the performance of mass in the private chapel of the Castle of Trehnic, in Galicia, formerly the residence of his father, Count Peter Radetzky, at which place the field marshal was born in 1766. A party of his friends dined together in the room where the gallant old soldier first saw the light, and drank to his continued health. WHAT IS A VAGABOND was the question submitted the other day to the Imperial Court of Metz, arising on the point whether a man whose wife possesses a domicile can be considered a vagabond. Ono Midoux was some time ago, after twenty-four years' service as superintendent under the Board of Ponts-et-Chaus sees, dismissed for misconduct, and he then began leading a roving, drunken life. In August last, after visiting a great number of places. he arrived at Vouziers, in the department of the Moselle, and as he appeared to be without any means of subsistence, he was ordered to leave the town, 'but he refused, and was arrested. lie was then brought to trial before the Tribunal of Correctional Police of the place on the charge of vagabondage ; but, as it appeared that his wife, a most respectable woman, kept a school at Poitiers, and that he had relatives and friends who had more than once given him money, the tribunal decided that he was not, though in a state of meat pecuniary embarrassment, a vaga bond in the technical meaning of the term, and it acquitted him. The public prosecutor appealed to the Imperial Court against this decision, and proved that the man, from the testimony of all who knew him, was a debauched, drunken, worthless fellow, that he had no regular means of livelihood, and was too lazy to earn any, and that his wife had, to avoirl his constant demands for money, been obliged to make over her school to her sister, and accept a place in it as teacher. He therefore contended that he was a vagabond, and must be condemned as such. The man, who opposed the appeal in person, main tained that his wife still kept the school at Poitiers, though it had been put in the name of her sister, and in high-flowing language he represented himself as the victim of calumny and persecution, quoted verses from Victor Hugo, dm The court decided that he could not be considered a vagabond, and confirmed the previous judgment. A TERRIBLE DESCENT IN ♦ BALLOON is related in a letter from Verona. M. Brunet, the Green of Verona, made an ascent a few days ago from the Verona Arena. The balloon rose with tremendous velocity to an altitude of 7,200 feet, when, owing to the extreme rarefaction of the air and the bad state of the valve, which it seems could not be opened to let out the gas, the balloon burst in three distinct places. Fortunately the shreds adhered to the outer net, so as to form a kind of parachute, and the aeronaut found himself descending with appalling velocity, but yet with sufficient regularity to enable him to climb up the net and to arrange the flapping silk, so as to render the descent less precipitous. He then, being still at a height of about 400 feet, got again cut of the car, but this time to cling to its bottom, in order to avoid the concussion and break the violence of the landing by the elasticity of his l e gs. He succeeded, and landed at Santa Lucia, a place near Verona. He returned to Verona that same evening, with only few slight bruises. RUSSIA. A letter from St. Petersburg in the Nord, dated the Ist of November, contains the following items of intelligence : The Emperor is still residing at Gatchina. He visited St. Petersburg to review a body of troops. General Milioutine has been appointed Cnief of the Staff of the army in the Caucasus. Rear• Admiral Boutakoff, head of the Admireltyotflce at Nicolait.ff, has been invested with all the powers enjoyed by the Commander in Chief of the Black Sea fleet. This nomination was made, it is said, in consequence of the presence of the English squadron. The first exportation of Russian tobacco from the interior was made a few days since. Letters from St. Petersburg state that M. de Monty, the French Ambassador, is entirely occupied there in preparing the bases of a treaty of ccmmerce between France and Russia, by which French commerce will obtain important advanttges for the entry of its productions into the Russian territory. ITALY. Naples remains perfectly tranquil. The correspondent of the Oesterreichisehe Zeitung writes that the King now appears inclined to make some slight concessions. The expected amnesty is likely to be delayed for a few days, as some altera tions are to be made in the royal decree "in favour of the prisoners." Other advices received by the Augsburg Gazette from Rome state that it is positively known there that the Neapolitan Minister of Justice is drawing up a new list of the persons who are to be amnestied. The Pope is employing all his personal influence on King Ferdinand 11., and hopes to be able to persuade him to put an end to his misunderstanding with the Western powers '° by a judicious compliance with their wishes." A letter from Modena of the 9th, in the Opinione of Turin, states that several persons suspected of having subscribed to the hundred guns of Alessandria have been arrested at Carrara. The Austrian Government has promulgated the ordinance restoring the Representative Assemblies, known as Central Congregations, in the Lombardo- Venetian kingdom. Several political arrests have taken place in Brescia. GREECE. V AO., • ...•• . • 4... • King Oho embarked on the Bth at Trieste on his return to his kingdom. A letter in th e G erman Journal of Frankfort says, with reference to the succession to the throne : It is positively stated that the Cabinet of St. Petersburg has come to a decision relative to the succession to the throne of Greece. It will he Prince Ypsilanti, the only soon now living of that illustrious family, who will be called to the throne of Greece after the death or abdication of King Otho. SPAIN. In the Spani,b papers to the Bth inst., there is no news of political interest, except the appointment hy royal decree of the members of the established TURKEY. Intelligence from Constantinople to the 3rd inst. states that the investiture of the Sultan with the Order of the Garter by Lord Stratford de Redcliffe hed been accomplished with éclat. Lord Stratford addressed his Imperial Highness in a complimentary speech on the cccasion, and the statutes of the Order were read and translated to the Sultan. The return to power of Redscliid Pacha was viewed with great satisfaction in Constantinople. H. M. ships Cressy and the Desperate (corvette) had arrived to reinforce the squadron of Adm'ral Lord Lyons. The St. Jean d'Acrc was expected. The fleet winters in the Bosphorus. INDIA. A telegraphic despatch from Trieste, Tuesday, announced the arrival of the steamer Calcutta. She left Alexandria on the sth inst. The India mail was to leave Alexandria on the 6th, with advices from Calcutta to October 9 ; Bom bay, October 17; Madras, October 15; Ceylon, October 16. Preparations continued on an enlarged scale for the expedition ':o the Persian Gulf. The English expedition was to leave Bombay about the end of October. The Imaum of Muscat would furnish re inforcements and munitions of war. A detachment from the Persian army before Herat had captured the Affghan city of Furrath, sending the governor a captive to Teheran. The dates from Cabul are to the Ist of October. Herat still held out. The directors of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway have issued an advertisement for tenders for a line from Wassma to Nagpore, a distance of 487 miles. The native troops at Peshawur were suffering very severely from fever. The new Government loan was making little progress. FOREIGN MISCELLANEA. LETTERS FROM MADEIRA state that there are symptoms of improvement in the vines, and it is hoped that they may continue, so that the supplies of wine may be kept up. The failure of the vine crops has had the effect of turning the native indus try of Madeira into other profitable channels. The sugarcane has been planted largely during the last few years, and the results have been highly satisfactory. RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN GERMANY is shown in a speech lately delivered by the Cardinal Archbishop of Cologne, Baron Von Geissel, who laid it down as an axiom not admitting any doubt that " nothing but a Catholic could compose a mass or build a house of God," as in both cases it was necessary to be fully convinced of the great truths of Catholicism and the doctrines held by the " only true Church." It happens, however, that many of the most beautiful masses daily performed in Catholic cathedrals and churches are the works of Protestant composers ; and it may be further remarked that the completion of the cathedral of Cologne is intrusted to a l'ro testant architect, in the person of the Aulic coun cillor, Herr Zwirner. The Ultramontane party is already agitating for the dismissal of this gentleman. THE EVANGELICAL CHURCHES throughout Hungary, both of the Augsburg and of the Geneva confession,