The Press. — London, England, 1856-08-30 00:00:00

To CORRESPONDENTS. It Is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive. Their insertion Is often ielayed owing to a press of matter, Lail when omitted, it fs frequently from reasons quite hide pendent of the merits of the euramunication. We cannot undertake to return communication sof whioh we do not avail ourselves. Cemormioations should always belegibly written, and on one side of the paper only. If long it increases the difficulty of Adding space for them. Whateveris Intended forinsertion mast be authenticated by the uame and address of the writer, not necessarily for publica tion, but as s guarantee of his good faith. Advertisements sent from the country must be accompanied by a remittance or a reference for payment in town. TERNS OF SUBSCRIPTION FOR Ebt PrrSS: (STAMPED.) Per Annum .. .. Halt•Yealiy .. .. Quarter') .. .. Payable in adrance. .. Al 6 0 .. 0 19 0 .. 0 6 6 Subscribers are requested to send their Orders through their News Agent; if direct to the °nice. aceorapanied by a remit tance. Advertisements slats mutt have a reference or remittal. ce, Mose.. Orders to be made payable to Mr. ALFRED ht, 110. Stranti, London. Vbx LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 80, 1856 POSTSCRIPT. The Paris correspondent of the Times (second edition) alluding to the presence of Prince Murat at Aiz-les-Barns, refers to the report of a Aluratist- Neapolitan Congress, and writes:— The Prince arrived at Aix some days ago, acoompanied by Messrs. Aurelio Saliceti and Lizabe Rufoni. He has since been joined by his sister, the Countess Pepoli, and by his nephews, Counts Pepoli and Tadini. M. Monte nelli was expected from Paris. It is known that he took out a passport the other day. The three gentlemen above named—Messrs. Saliceti, Rufoni, and Montanelli—for merly Republicans, are said to be the most active and in fluential agents of the Muralist intrigue. There are small grounds for believing that the Mnratitts have any chance of success. All the most respectable and influential Nea politan emigrants have already protested agamst their views, and have signed and published iu the newspapers formal declarations to that effect. None of the letters we receive from Naples speak of the Murat party as of any portance. The mission of Baron de Bach to Milan, says the Coast itutionnel, Appears to be twofold, first, to ascertain whether the state of public opinion is sufficiently satisfactory for the establishment of the representative system, called the. Pro vincial Congre:mtions, and at the same time to satisfy himself as to whether the effect of that measure on the people will be snch that the Emperor Francis Joseph would be well received in the Lombardo-Venetian king dom, which he has au idea of visiting. The Pays asserts as a positive fact that Reni, Ismail, and Kills., are to be declared free ports. Should this statement prove true great commercial advantages will doubtless arise therefrom, as was the case before they were subjected to the rule of Russia. Intelligence from Spain, of the 270, announces the resignation of General San Miguel, Commandant of the Halberdiers. The Epoca states that the Government would shortly notify to the Duke of Valencia, M. Gonzales Bravo, and other personages abroad, that they were at liberty to return to Spain. Baron Von Scheel Plessen, ex-Minister of Holstein, and President of the Holstein Assembly, has been impeached by the Holstein Diet, on the ground of unconstitutional acts. The trial was brought to a close on the 26th. The result will not be made puolic for some days. The Mediterranean electric cable while being laid down between Sardinia and the roisq of Africa, in connection with the submarine line now in service, was lost last week in a tremendous gale off the Galata Wands. The cable was insured at Lloyd's for nearly 30,000/. Colonel Woodford, it is said, has resigned the chief oont4tableship of Lancashire. No successor has been appointed. __ the Rev. Mr. Cnreton, rector of St. Margaret's, Westminster, will it is said succeed the late, Dr. Bucklaud as Dean of Westminster. THE PRESS. THE CORONATION OF TILE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. THE ambassadors since their reception by the Emperor left for Moscow on the 22nd. The Imperial regalia has also taken its departure under the escort of the Chevalier Garde; and St. Petersburg by this time—for the Emperor and Court left early this week—is quite deserted. Some amusing gossip is given in a letter this week of the rivalry between the foreign ambassadors. Speaking of the effect _ _ _ produced in St. Petersburg, the writer says of the English Embassy : Their presence has not caused as much stir and excite- ment as that of their French allies, who have been seen everywhere in their splendid equipages, and doing the thing in grand style at their magnificent hotel. The English residents here, howe%er, console themselves with the reflection that it is the French manner to make a splendid burst at first, either in war or parade, and after wards suddenly to subside after the manner of their own delightful champagne. The British Embassy, it is thought, will come out strongest at Moscow, whither all the plate and state carnages have been sent, and where a salon has actually been built, as I understand, in order that our Ambassador may have ample scope and verge to do justice to our proverbial insular hospitality. The rivalry between the special embassies will, 1 believe, be considerable, and a rather humorous indication of it has already got into circulation. It is said that Prince Esterhazy's agent 1t Moscow, from having been early in the field. was able to obtain a suitable house for his serene highness at the moderate charge of 17,000 roubles the month, but that the prince subsequently hearing that the British and French Ambassadors were respectively payirg 40.000, he indig nantly cancelled his contract, and insisted on having a house at the same price. The serene ambition was easily gratified. A new coat of paint, a new name, and a new rate of rental, soon brought the original house up to the prince's notion of what was suitable for the representative of the Emperor. The two important religious ceremonies, the blessing of the "water " and the " apples" used in the ceremony of coronation, took place last week : The first was solemnised at Peterhoff, in the presence of the Emperor, on a small piece of ornamental water, con secrated for the purpose. The Greek prelates and priests walked in procession. dressed in their most gorgeous vest ments, followed by the Imperial family, also walking, and when they came to the waterside the Cross was plunged in, the choristers singing a solemn chaunt as the officiating prelate performed the rite. The distance from town pre vented the presence of many strangers, but I recognised some English faces amongst the crowd. The second, " The blessing of the apples," a ceremony which forms an indispensable preliminary to the mastication of that re freshing fruit, took place yesterday in every church through out St. Petersburg, but with peculiar pomp in the Kazan Cathedral, by the metropolitan and fifteen officiating priests. The costumes were most gorgeous, and the arch bishop, who was robed in the middle of the church, was one blaze of gold and jewels. The ceremonies, which seemed exceedingly complex, consisted of numerous genuflexions, and symbolic groupings on the part of the priests, who formed themselves into squares, triangles, and other figures typical of the Trinity, the Tabernacle, and the various doctrinal data of Eastern Christianity. The con gregation, amongst whom there was no classification, and who stood the whole time of service, was of the most varied appearance and character. Russian princes, and generals covered with decorations, prayed side by side with the poor mujik, and both seemed equally impressed with the solemnity of the occasion; while the Russian countess, in the most fashionable Parisian toilette. did not feel her dignity ruffled by the vicinity of the poor Livonien or Fin. land woman, whose quaint national costume gave wonder ful variety to the scene. In the churches here there are no carefully stuffed pews or separation of ranks—all pray together, and perform their genuflexions, which are ex ceedingly numerous, in the same earnest and profoundly devout manner —D. News eor , Aug. 19. The Russian choral singing is highly impres sive : They have on one side the trebles, on the other the basses, the latter of peculiar dt pth and force, being selected front the whole population of the empire, without any con• si leration of expense. The boys, who have beautiful voices, sing, for instance, " The Lord have mercy on us," and hardly has the lutelike sweetness of their tones tired the ear, then, from the other side, the tremendous basses thunder torth the same burden in reply. This music. which is without instrumental accompaniment. sounds strangely at first, but soon begins to attract by its strange and unearthly solemnity. The Emperor's personal appearance is not so striking as that of his father, and his expression is described as peznliarly thoughtful and German. He appears to be readily accessible on certain occa sions to all petitioners : Alexander the Second is a slight well•made man above the middle size, but nothing approaching the Jove•like pro portions of the late Emperor. His face is quite German, with a mild, almost saddened, expression, but full of thoughtfulness and intelligence. His Majesty's close appli cation to business, which is well known, may affect his looks, but certainly he has by no means the appearance of robust health. He drove up to the palace in an open car riage without the slightest parade, and received into his own hand the petitions of a number of poor women who were permitted thus to approach the tountain•head of authority. This custom, which puts one in wind of the Arabian Nights, is only followed in certain e ef , es, as it must be obvious that, if general, it would occupy the entite time of the Emperor. As his Majesty received them there was not the slightest SATURDAY, appearance of hauteur on his part, nor of undue servility on that of his fair petitioners, who simply curtseyed in a busi ness-like offhand way. and retired much more composedly than I have seen municipal dignitaries (loin England when they were permitted to approin h the throne. The Empress is a tall, ladylike woman, hut beyond that nothing remarkable. Her toilette was in excellent taste, very similar to that of the Empress Eugenie, whose figure is not unlike that of the Czarina. The young archdukes are all fine hearty little fellows, give the salute with true military precision, and look quite smart in their tiny uniforms, each being of course colonel of a regiment. The Czar himself wore the dress of the Gardes 1 Cheval, one of the plainest in the service. After church came the court, the presentations, and the decoration (the presentation of the Legion of Honour), and all the while the grand forms tains played, and the people on the terrace could divide their attention between the glittering crowds that filled the windows of the palace, the grim gigantic Cossack footmen, in full national costume, the splendidly dressed negroes, the relics of more barbaric times and courts, and the mur muring cascades on the other side, through whose long vista of diamond spray they could see the gulf of Find.nd, fit terminus to the perspective, as seen from Peterhoff palace—lb. The diplomatic corps left on the 22nd, and the Imperial family on the 20th instant. Yesterday the Emperor was to make his solemn entry into the an cient capital of the Czars. The preparations for this event have engrossed all available labour. Scaffolding has been erected for spectators all the way from the Petrowski Palace into the town—the road by which the Emperor was to make his entry. On the Cho dynski fields, also, where there are to be tab:es laid for the entertainment of several hundred thousand persons, immense scaffoldings and stands have been erected for spectators who prefer to look from a dis tance on the motley throng that may be expected to take part in the diversions prepared for them there. All the church steeples are decorated or sutrounded with framework for the illumination, innumerable triumphal arches are erected, and all the houses have been renovated and have put the best face upon matters. In the environs the troops are encamped, and when the large surface covered with tents is looked down upon from an eminence, says a corre spondent, " the country thereabouts looks as though covered with snow, with patches of black composed of the uncovered earth showing through. The price for a single window to see the coronation procession pass by seems to vary from 150 to 200 silver roubles." The late King Louis Philippe's MSS., lost in 1848, have at length been recovered by the Orleans family. The history of their discovery is curious. Some time last month the Duc d'Aumale, while at Claremont, received a letter signed " Vallete, Rue du Cherche -Midi, 58, Passage St. Maur," stating that he was charged to negotiate the sale of tho manu scripts, and offering them to the Prince. In this letter Vallete gave this description of them : They are divided into three puts, and form three folio volumes, the first and second containing notes in the King's handwriting on the general plan for continuing the historical work of Father An-elme from the time of Louis XV. to our days. with the history ofthe Royal brwnehes of the house of Bourbon. The third volume consists of various docu menus and confidential autograph letters and biographies. It is neither the least curious nor the least interesting of the collection ; it is the autographic and entirely un• published continuation of the opinions, souveni•s. &c., of Count Stanislas de Girardin, el-general, ex president of the legislative body, &c , of which only four volumes were printed in Hatt, and it refers specially to the reign of Napoleon I. to the political events and principal per. *images of the Imperial Court in the years lt4ll and 18I'2. It contains secret letters on the life and conduct of several of these personages, and on the elections of 1815 and 1823. To this letter the Duc d'Aumale returned no reply. At the beginning of the presen. month the Duc re ceived another letter signed "Vallete, " and announc ing the sale by auction of the MSS. In consequence of these communications the agent of the Orleans family at Paris requested M. Vallete to let him ha'e one of the volumes, in order that it might be examined by the ex-Queen of the French, and, at the same time, he called on him to state how the manuscripts came into his pos session. M. Vallete refused to let a volume leave his bands, and he also refused to give any explanation on the second point. Under these circumstances, the Orleans family, King Leopold of Belgium, and the Duke of Wurtemburg, applied on the 7th to the President of the Civil Ttibunal for an authorisation to seize the manuscripts in question as their property, either at the residence of M. Valletr. or wherever they might happen to be. The Presi dent granted the authorisation, subject to the con dition that the manuscripts should be deposited in the care of the clerk of the Tribunal. On the oth the manuscripts were seized by a commissary of police at Vallete's residence, and were deposited le directed. M. Vallete protested: a trial took place last week, but M. Vallete did not dare to appear, and the Tribunal in consequence declared that tl e volumes in question were the property of the heirs of the late King, and ordered the clerk of the Tribunal to give them up to their agent, M. Bother ; at the same time oonbeem* Valleteto pry the costs. 830