The Press. — London, England, 1857-06-06 00:00:00

JJ rr 2 jortign dorrtsponbtutt, THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES. BUCHAREST, May 19th. IT is difficult to depict the state of indignation into which the Moldavians have been thrown by the way in which the Commissioners have treated them. It is needless to recapitulate the thousand modes of petty tyranny and oppression practised by Vogorides, the Kaimakan. The French Commissioner has accordingly applied for his recall ; but, as not only Austria but the English Government has thought fit to approve of the tyranny of the Kaimakan, of course the Porte will uphold him. Vogorides has one claim to the respect of the Moldavians; he mar ried a lady of the country, Miss Konaki, who brought him sixty thousand ducats a year in landed property ! By her right he claimed to be a Moldavian boyard. But Yogorides has spent nearly all her property, and he is about to divorce his wife, without imputing the least fault to her. The Home Minister of Moldavia, Basil Ghika, did precisely the same thing ; married a wife with large fortune, spent it, and then divorced her! Let it not be supposed that this is the habit of Moldavia. When divorce takes place, the fortune is always restored. Where it is not, infamy marks the perpetrator of so great a crime. England has entered into an arrangement with Austria by which both are to defend the union, and then England is to name the prince in Wallachia and Austria the one in Moldavia. In obedience to this arrangement, Sir Henry litilwer supports the claim of Alexander Ghika, the present Kaimakan, to be Hos podar. The four exiles—the two Golescos, Bratiani, and Rosetti—remain at Rutschuk, where, by-the-bye, there is a report of three houses having been fired upon. The Kaimakan has proposed to let in the Golescos if they would sign a promise to abstain from politics. The Golescos are boyards and fart landed proprietors, chiefly known for their enmity ro Russia and their great ability. The wife of cne of the proscribed applied to Sir Henry Bulwer. He replied that he felt for the hardship of the case, but that in his position he could do nothing. Everything in fact goes on in the Principalities as Russia would desire, for in reality it is not Austria that is likely to profit, but Russia; for Russia keeps aloof from the present policy of oppression, and pretends at least to sympathise with all the wants and all the grievances of the people. Their gratitude consequently is becoming deep, however silent, both to France and to Russia, whilst their abhorrence of Englishmen, Austrians, and Turks is in equal proportion. Should the present policy towards the Principalities be persevered in, and should a war at any time arise, Russia will have but to send arms across the Pruth ; the Roumans of themselves would soon drive Turk and Austrian out of the country, and join themselves to Russia. No country could have been more averse to the Russians than the Roumans were; but since the last two months that they have felt the tyranny of the Turk, the treacherous ill-will of Austria, and the indifference of the English Government, the Roumans aro becoming Russian to a man. This is not so much the case as yet in Wal lachia as in Moldavia. The Moldavians, to avoid Vogorides, would welcome Gortscha koff himself. As to the Wallachians, they must endure for another term of years the present hos podarite system. We may be assured, however, they will shake it off when they can. If the consequences of the policy of the English Government were confined to Moldo- Wallachia, it would be bad enough ; hut the cha racter we have gained there will stick in the minds of the whole Levantine race. Will the rayahs of Turkey trust to England for emancipation when they see England rivet the chains of the Rottman ? England has done nothing for the Christians of the East ; they number millions, and in their hands are the future fortunes of the East. But we have taught them to put trust in France and Russia, and to curse the name of England as the flatterer of Austrian and of Turkish prejudice. THE HISTRII3UTION 01' THE VICTORIA CROSS (the Or der of Valour), will, it is understood, take place early in the ensuing month. The precise day has not been decided on. Her Majesty will personally award the decoration to those gallant men entitled to the honour, and the ceremony will take place on the parade in front of the Horse Guards, as was the case when the Crimean medals were distributed. ScnEw STEAM Stool" Cordelia, 11, Commander Vernon, has been for several days in Plymouth Sound. She made a successful trial of her engines, and it is expected that her destination will be the Red Sea, where she will be employed, in conjunction with the Imaum of Muscat, to protect British ship ping engaged in the guano trade at the Kooria Alooria Wands. THE PRESS. • loretgn anb• 6olonid 3attiligente. FRANCE. The elections absorb the columns of the French papers. The electoral colleges are convoked for the 21st of June, and the electors of every district are bestirring themselves. The official lists of the Go vernment candidates are printed, and a circular from the Minister of the Interior, addressed to the pre fects, has appeared in the Illoniteur. The Minister recommends as candidates the members of the past Legislative Corps, whose devotion and patriotism he warmly commends; at the same time he directs that the greatest freedom of choice and action be per mitted consistent with a due observance of the limits established by law:— - - - If, however (adds the Minister), the enemies of the public peace should think to find in this latitude an occa. sion to make a seditious protest against our institutions, if they should attempt to use the liberty granted as an instrument of trouble or scandal, you know your duty, M. le Prefet, and justice will also know how to fulfil its duties with severity. The Presse, upon this, remarks : Is it absolutely necessary to belong to a hostile party in order to vote against the official candidate ? Cannot, for example, local objections and difficulties arise totally inde• pendent of party split? This manner of constituting an Opposition is not that of the English. In England the Opposition, let it be Tory, Whig, or Radical, is called, and calls itself, her Majesty's Opposition. The other journals in general find little to object to in the circular; while M. Granier de Cassagnac, in the Constitutionnel, delivers a clever commentary upon the text of M. Bitient, the gist of whose address ho interprets as follows : When France, loyally consulted, has three times, by a majority amounting to unanimity, pronounced her u ill, no group of opinions has a right to hold itself exonerated from the obedience and respect due to that expressed will 4 the nation. General Cavaignac has declined to be put in nomination for Paris. The Emperor will shortly leave Paris for Plom. bieres, Stuttgard, awl Biarritz. It is rumoured that in the course of the month at Kissengen his Majesty will have an interview with the Emperor of Russia. Marshal Randon has been successful so far at all points in his conquest of Kulllia. The tribes of Beni-Ratten and Beni-Danclo have intimated their readiness to submit to terms. Count de Morny is expected to arrive at Paris from St. Petersburg on the 25th inst. He will take up his quarters at the ra4idenoe of the President of the Legislative Body, where preparations are being made to receive him. M. de Germiny has been appointed, though not yet officially, to the direction of the Bank of France. The King of Bavaria will remain in Paris until the 12th June. BELGIUM. The kingdom of Belgium has been the scene of seri ous Anti-Jesuit disturbances during the past few days. A warm debate in the Belgian Chambers last Wednes- Jay week, resulting in two of the most obnoxious clauses of the Bill for the Endowment of Religious Institutions being carried, excited the mob of Brussels to that degree, that the same evening vast crowds paraded the streets singing the " Brabaneonae," shouting " A bas les convents," and breaking the windows of the Jesuit college and Capuchin monas tery. At midnight the crowd dispersed. On Thurs day and Friday a similar scene was repeated, and the manifestation became so serious that the bill was adjourned on Friday. Meanwhile the Civic Guard was called out, and the troops kept under arms, while on Saturday the King issued a royal decree proroguing the sittings of the Chamber of Representatives and of the Senate, for an indefinite period. This act at once checked the popular demonstration, and before night the town had re sumed its peaceful appearance, and all disturbances were at an end. Not so, however, in the provinces. At Antwerp, Mons, Liege, Namur, Bruges, riots, more or less, occurred ; the Jesuit schools and colleges, the houses of the obnoxious members, or of the heads of the Church, being attacked and gutted. At Bruges, M. Melon, the bishop, was forced to take refuge in a convent, and leave his palace to its fate. The hatred of the Ultramontane party was very distinctly shown throughout the country, but the intelligence of the abandonment of the bill will, no doubt, restore the towns to their usual tranquillity. AUSTRIA. The infant Archduchess Sophia died at Buda on Friday week. The Emperor and Empress arrived in time to spend with their child the last hours of her life. The imperial tour through Hungary is adjourned, and the Emper,r and Empress have returned to Vienna. ITALY. The Pope continues his tour through his States, and everywhere mcets with the warmest demonstra tions of respect. SATURDA The state of siege has been raised from Romagna, Ancona, and part of the province of Pesaro. The King of Sardinia arrived at Stresa on the 30th ult. on a visit to the King of Saxony. RUSSIA. The Emperor will leave St. Petersburg on the 13th of June with the Empress, who is about to repair to a German spring ; they will land at Liibeck, and proceed in the first instance to Darmstadt, the Em press's native place; after a short stay there the Emperor will take the Empress to Kissengen, where she is to drink the waters, and, leaving her there, will go to Wildbad, where the Empress-Mother will by that time be. While on his visit to his mother at Wildbad, the Emperor will repair to Stuttgard to see his sister, the Grand Duchess Olga, married to the Crown Prince of Wirtemberg, and while there it is affirmed that he will have a meeting with the Empe ror Louis Napoleon, who will between the middle and end of June be in the neighbourhood of Stutt. gard. After waiting over the 13th of July, which is the Dowager Empress's birthday, the Emperor and his mother will come on to Potsdam, and stay for some time with the Royal Family at Sans Souci. The Emperor will be accompanied the whole time by Prince Gortschakoff, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. AMERICA. There is no political intelligence of any impor tance. The Government of the United States are waiting to receive intelligence of the ratification of the treaty between Great Britain and Honduras before they take any further steps with respect to the Dallas-Clarendon Convention. A strong body of troops was to be sent to Utah. It was rumoured that General Walker had escaped from Nicaragua, and had taken refuge in some town on the Pacific. INDIA AND CHINA. The Indian intelligence is, on the whole, satis factory. The mutinous feeling of the Sepoys was gradually subsiding. The Jemadar of the guard and the sepoy of the 34th who attempted to assassi nate Lieutenant Baugh had both been hanged, and died confessing their crime and admitting the justice of the sentence. Some slight symptoms of disturbance had been exhibited at Umbella, and the empty European barracks, with the native infantry hospital, had been burned down. Goolab Singh was reported to be dead; and, in consequence of "the train of events not being clearly foreseen " in Cachnere, British officers at Peshawar were forbidden to enter the State. The discovery of coaNin Scinde, upon the Vera Plain, about twenty-eight miles from Kotree, is con firmed. The British town of Bassein, in Pegu, had been burned to the ground. Not a house was saved. The notorious outlaw of Oude, Fuzil Ali, who so lately murdered Mr. Boileau, was surprised on the Nepaul frontier by a company of the 3rd Infantry, and, with four of his gang, shot dead in the struggle. From China there is no warlike news of impor tance. Boat engagements with junks were constantly occurring up and down the coast, and several sail of junk had been destroyed with great gallantry by the boats of the Sampson, Hamel, Sybille, Nankin, and Auckland. The Chinese upon each occasion appear to have fought well, and to have displayed very creditable knowledge both of seamanship and gunnery. In one of these boat expeditions against a fleet of war junks cruising in Deep Bay for the purpose of cutting off supplies from Hong Kong, a series of important Government despatches were taken on board the "flag junk." A correspondent of the Times states the result of the examination lof the MSS. as follows : The poisoning case "is referred to approvingly, but not so as to implicate the poisoners or to clear them, but the burning of the st .re of the Englishman who, after their arrest, bought the poisoner's bread and biscuit bakery, and accepted the contracts by which the " devil soldiery " are fed, is the anbject first of a despatch approving the plan, and, when suet essful, of another avowing and glorying in it. Assassinations, kidnappings, capture of vessels, are in like manner planned beforehand, and boasted of after exe cution. Attempts to commit them and other crimes— among which may be mentioned one to destroy a steamer, and several to blow up the buildings and magazines of Victoria with gunpowder—are freely talked of, and their failure or postponement fully explained. The pains which leb, as you know, has been taking of late to soothe public feeling at Canton into a belief that the " devils are broken" and "rubbed down," and suing for "leave to ask pardon," are also explained. His exchequer is empty! From the beginning of these troubles he had been obliged to depend upon his " braves," as the " people and gentry " were dis inclined to b ear th e b runt o f t h e ac ti on . B u t the " braves'. were not volunteers, and his donations were immense. Further, considerable sums had been lavished on the taking of heads, for the service was a perilous one. To meet all these demands, forced or else voluntary subscrip tions were offered to the choice of the discerning public ; and the result was answerable, but only for a season. The money is all gone. The " Canton Committee " can no longer pay even for heads. In vain their economy; in vain the reduction of reward from 100 to 30 tads) and lower