The Press. — London, England, 1855-04-14 00:00:00

jortign 10 (Colonial 3nttlligtnce. FRANCE. The Assets, screw steam-corvette, is the vessel selected to convey the Emperor and Empress from Boulogne to England. Four line of-battle ships are to serve as an escort to their Majesties in crossing the Channel. A most important state paper appears in the Moniteur of Wednesday upon the subject of the Eastern expedition. The military portion of the undertaking is that first entered upon. The docu ment, which is strictly of an historical character, is ably written, and consists in the general instructions furnished by the Emperor to Marshal St. Arnaud, which the latter appears not to have comprehended, or else declined to carry out. In either case the disasters of the Crimea are thrown upon the deceased Commander-in-Chief for not adopting the recom mendations given to him by the Emperor at the out set of the expedition. The whole paper is highly interesting, and finishes by claiming for the soldiers all that is due to the most approved courage, and for the chiefs all that is deserved by the highest talent. The Moniteur promises a following article in which shall be discussed, with impartiality, the objects and purposes of the negotiations. The appearance and contents of this paper caused some little discouragement on the Bourse, and prices declined. Respecting the impression produced by this pike justiftcatif on the French public, the Paris corre spondent of the Times remarks : The article is generally attributed, and I have some reason to suspect with truth, to M. A. de Laguerroniere, but it bears evident marks of having been touched by the hand of the Emperor, particularly in the scientific or technical parts. That the tone of the article is warlike cannot be doubted, but the impression produced in high political quarters is, that the plan of military operations hitherto followed is about to be modified, otherwise the vastness of the undertaking, as against Sebastopol, and the superio ity of the Russians in position and material, would hardly be dwelt on so much. Altogether, the article is considered as intended to prepare the army and the nation for the transfer of the operations to some other place, and opinion is merely divided as to the locality. Some believe the theatre will be in another part of the Crimea ; others that the troops will embark and proceed towards Odessa, and that the war will be carried on in the southern provinces of Russia, under the direction of the Emperor himself. The Exhibition will open on the Ist of May as originally intended, no postponement having taken place as erroneously reported. GERMANY. M. Drouyn de Lhuys arrived at Vienna on the evening of the Bth. Baron de Bourqueney and all the staff of the French Embassy received him at the railway station. Next day (Saturday last) he was received by the Emperor of Austria in a pri vate audience. The ninth conference was held on Monday ; it was very short, and not satisfactory. It is uncertain when the next conference will take place. The definitive answer of the Czar to the points contained in Pnnce Gortschakon despatch is not expected to arrive before the 20th. Aali Pacha arrived at Trieste on Saturday en route to Vienna, to take part in the conferences. In consequence of counter orders received, en route, General Wedell has returned to Berlin to pass the Easter holidays. He is afterwards to proceed directly to his post at Luxembourg. M. de Usedom is also expected from London. From Vienna we learn that the sickness among the Austrian troops was unhappily making alarming progress in the army of observation on the Polish frontiers. The remnant of the Dragoon regiment " Bavaria," which was reduced to a mere skeleton in an incredibly short space of time by epidemic diseases, is ordered to Biala for change of quarters ; and the infantry regiment, " King of Belgium," which has lost more than half its numbers from sickness, is recalled from Galicia, and will exchange garrisons with a regiment now in Hungary. TURKEY. News from Constantinople to the 31st of March has been received. The execution of the sentence of exile pronounced against Mustapha Pacha has been for the moment suspended on account of his illness. The Egyptian troops, sent to the army of Omer Paeha, have arrived at Eupatoria in good condition. The Consuls-General of France and England, who have returned to Bucharest after a prolonged absence, hoisted their flags on the 25th ult., and thus indicated in ofEcial style that the diplomatic relations between those powers and the Government of Wallachia were re-established. RUSSIA. Private letters from St. Petersburg received by im portant mercantile houses state confidently that the fanatical war party has completely got the upper hand, and that Alexander ll.'s throne would not be THE PRESS. worth a week's purchase if he were to attempt to thwart the current of national feeling. The rich nobles, who in their hearts long for peace, and will be the greatest sufferers by the war, are compelled to swell the popular cry. They offer large contribu tions in the hope of averting a sweeping ad valorem property tax amounting to confiscation. A telegraphic despatch from Warsaw says : The Russians have concentrated 120,000 men in the Baltic provinces. Two divisons of the Russian fleet are at Cmnstadt ; a third is divided between Sweaborg and Revel. Three hundred gun-boats, armed and ready for service, are now afloat in the Baltic. A private letter from Simferopol, published in the Vienna Prase, and dated March 8, mentions amongst other mattsrs that the city is almost entirely converted into a place d'armes—none but soldiers are to be seen. The high prices of provisions are quite beyond the means of the civil officials, who can only afford to purchase provisions absolutely indispensable. The churches are thronged with suppliants, who pray fervently for peace. PERSIA. The despatches received from the East, viA Vienna, report that Persia is assembling 5 1,000 men on the Turkish frontier, and her attitude is still suspicious. It is said that Russia is feeding her with hopes of the cession of some of the Turkish provinces. Mr. Mur ray, the English Minister, was ably opposing this in fluence. THE PARIS EXPOSITION. THE number of jurors destined to decide upon the merits of the British section of the Exhibition has been fixed at forty. The English engravings have arrived, and are in course of arrangement; but the French department of the Exhibition will undoubtedly be the latest. Some enterprising carpenters have undertaken to prepare cases for goods by the '2oth of May, the Exhibition opening on the Ist. Among the curious arrangements effected by the Imperial Com missioners is a medical department of the Palais de l'lndustrie, to which four doctors have been attached, with assistants. These will be in waiting, relieving each other at stated intervals throughout the time of the exhibition. Thus people suddenly taken ill may find succour in the palace. There are to be four or five hundred Exhibition remises, decorated with the arms of Paris, to ply from the palaces to various parts of the capital, at moderate fares. As regards the prices of entrance some important changes have been made. It was originally deter mined that there should be an aristocratic five-franc day ; a franc day ; the rest being four-sou days. To English people such prices may appear extremely reasonable ; but they would not have satisfied the French. For, it must be remembered, that hitherto the French Government has allowed the public free ac cess to the Industrial Exhibitions on certain days—just RS the public enter freely, on certain days,the French Academy Exhibition. In England the people are ac customed to pay everywhere ; in France, the people expect the Government to prepare festivities for them gratuitously. The Imperial Commissioners have taken this fact into consideration. They have decided that the four-sou days are too dear. But here they have been met, as in other matters, by the represen tatives of the company. The dividends must be looked after. Four sous was too low, instead of too high. The prices accordingly now stand thus : One three-franc day, one franc day, and remaining public days, entrance fee two sous. For this resolu tion the Imperial Commissioners deserve credit : it is conceived in the right spirit. It appeals from the ex clusive few to the masses. It will enable the working classes of England and Germany to walk about the Palace of Industry arm and arm with their working brothers of France. According to all appearances, the prices that will be demanded by lodging-housekeepers, hotelkeepers, and other worthy citizens of the same class who profit by the amusements or the weaknesses of man kind, during the corning Exhibition, will be exor bitant, and in some cases fabulous. The expecta tions of every one, whether he has a mansion, a suite of rooms, or even a bicoque to let, are at the highest pitch. The increase in every article of con sumption—for here luxuries are out of the question —has been in proportion to that of house-rent for a long time past, and if it go on in the same ratio a table &hate in a first or even a second class hotel is likely to be as inaccessible to moderate people as Sebastopol and Cronstadt are said to be to our ar mies. There are no more skilful diplomatists than lodging housekeepers. In the present instance it ap pears several of them will not let their apartments for a shorter term than a month ; though of those who come from England out of curiosity, and for no other object than to visit the Exhibition, few will re main longer than halt that time, if even so long. There are, however, several agreeable towns and vil lages in the neighbourhood of Paris within a short distance by railroad, where apartments might be got, and where it is hoped some who have a conscience will set up opposition to the Paris people. SATURDAY, THE EASTER HAM FAIR IN PARIS. AMONG the many sights of Paris during Passion week there is, perhaps, none more curious than the Foire our Jantbowc, on the Boulevard Bourdon. VI bile the fashion able promenade of Lougcharaps becomes, year by year, more insignificant, the ham fair, at the people's end of the town, revels in more than all its ancient glory. The title gives but a very inadequate idea of the exhibition. Not hams alone, but the " whole hog," in every conceivable variety of shape, is exposed for sale. There are the sausages of Strasbourg, Lyons, and Arles, cum tnnigis the horrible black puddings and andoulleltes of Troyes ; sides of bacon, some yellow, some white, some black, ac cording to the customary mode of curing in the province from which they come ; dried sucking pigs ; b r a wn ; boars' heads ; and every description of eatable comprised under the generic term charcuterie. The respective merits of all these savoury provisions are loudly chaunted in the vernacular specially appurtenant to the department which furnishes the merchandise. A Gascon butcher may be heard eloquently descanting upon the unapproachable ex cellence of his Bayonne hams ; while in the next stall, a comely lady from Lorraine, in the costume of her country, exhorts her auditors not to be led away by a name—de scribes the pedigree and feeding of her swine—beseeches people to taste, to touch, to smell, and to judge for them selves—and singles out witnesses in the crowd to bear testimony to the excellent bargains she sold them last year. Every stall is labelled with the name of the depart ment which the occupant comes from—as the Meuse, Moselle, Sarthe, or Basses Pyrenees. In many instances a dust-covered cart stationed in the rear, containing re serve stores—and perchance womankind, children, and dogs—is a palpable epitome of rustic enterprise and anxiety, bringing forcibly home to the mind of the beholder the fact that the owner is really " from the country." Accordingly many housekeepers who firmly believe that cats and horseflesh are the staple materials of sausages made in Paris come to the fair to make their provisions for the year. The great fun is to stand round a stall and watch the progress of a bargain. Not one visitor in ten comes to buy, although most of those who have any money in their pockets are tempted to purchase something before they go away. Concerning the sausages, the strongest faith would not be always without misgivings, although they do come from the country. It is notorious that a Lille manufacturer, when convicted of adulteration and fined, excused himself by affirming that nothing but horseflesh would give the flavour the Parisians looked for. It was formerly the custom for the clergy to open this fair by pronouncing a benediction upon the hams, and a special form of °remits for this purpose is to be found in the old rituals. This is no doubt the origin of the habit still prevalent in many Parisian households of eating ham at the first meal after the long lenten fast. It is estimated that the quantity of hams, bacon, &c., brought to the fair this year amounts to 1,000,0001b5. THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL reports the deaths of 1,220 persons in the week that ended last Saturday. The corrected average of deaths for the corresponding weeks of 1845-54 is 1,253. These figures are satis factory evidence of an improved state of the public health. The mortality, which has for many weeks been excessive, showed a decrease last week on the ordinary amount. But the mortality from bronchitis and also from hooping-cough is still great. Last week the births of 828 boys and 689 girls, in all 1,517 children, were registered in London. In the thirteen weeks of severe weather that ended on the 31st March, 19,027 deaths were registered, or, in ex cess of the average, nearly 4,000 persons in advanced age , weakly children, the sufferers from chronic diseases, and others who, when winter set in, were in sound health. Congestion and inflammation of the lungs were the most prevalent fatal diseases. IT was stated some time since that on therestora tion of St. Thomas's Church, Newport, Isle of Wight, her Majesty intended to erect a monument to the Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of the unfortunate Charles 1., who was buried in that church. Baron Marochetti, the sculptor, is now carrying out the Queen's design. The monument will consist of a statue, representing the unhappy princess in her last moments, having in her hand the Bible given to her by her father. The statue will be placed in a niche in the church. UPWARDS of fifty thousand stocks of walnut•wood, in the rough, for Minie and other rifles, have been received in the Tower from the Continent. They are issued to the fitter in this state to prepare and mount in readiness for the contractors. The barrels and locks of the regulation firelocks being all of a size, the stocks require little or no alteration. Five thousand stocks were sent down on Wednesday to the titters in Birmingham to prepare for the contractors at that place. Miss HEBERDEN, the benevolent lady whose de cease at Exeter was announced a few weeks since, has by her will bequeathed the following donations Parent Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1,000/. ; Parent Society for Employ ing Additional Curates, 1,000/. ; Governesses' Insti tution, 1,0001.; Colonial Bishops, 1,0001. ; Infant Asylum for Orphans, 5001.; Exeter Dispensary, 1001. ; Exeter Penitentiary, 1001.; Exeter Branch of the Society for the Employment of Additional Curates, 100/. ; Devon and Exeter Institutions for the Blind, 1001.; St. Sidwell's Schools, 501.; and St. James Schools, 50/. ; making a total of 5,0001.