The Press. — London, England, 1855-11-24 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 24, 1855. more aggressive, and several persons, among whom was a French priest, were insulted and otherwise ill-treated. About five o'clock on Sunday evening last a corporal of Sappers, who happened to be going from the hospital of the University, was suddenly surrounded by Tunisian soldiers. One of them begun his insults by catching hold of the beard of the Sapper, and pulling it. The corporal at first thought it was a mere pleasantry, and took it so; but be was soon un deceived when he beheld one of these fanatics attack him with his fists, and another attempt to throw him to the ground. Another drew his sabre, but, in spite of the assist• ance of his comrades, the corporal disarmed him and called out for succour. A Commissariat officer brought up some soldiers, and the Tunisians at once made oft, excepting the man who had drawn his sabre, and who was conducted to the neighbouring French post at the hospital of the Univer sity. A few minutes afterwards the Tunisians, who had gone to their barracks, returned with from 100 to 120 of their comrades, all armed with sabres, pistols, and clubs. They demanded the release of their companion to the cry of " Death to the French ;" and, without waiting for areply, commenced flinging stones at the windows, and rushed like madmen to the assault of the hospital. It was clear that an energetic repression of the disturbance had become neces sary. Some officers of the Commissariat, two gendarmes, the twenty-three soldiers that constituted the post, and the hospital attendants charged the Tunisians with the bayonet or sword. There were no other means of bringing tliese barbarians to reason, and they had to retire, carrying such of their comrades as were wounded. Among the latter were a few of the Boftas, and these had not been the least forward at flinging stones at the win dows. The Tunisians, having returned to the barracks, again issued forth completely armed, and in defiance of the Turkish officer who commanded the post of the barrack, and who was himself maltreated in his efforts to appease their violence. It was then that from the angles of the streets and the houses near the University the Tunisians opened a vigorous and well•sustained fire on the windows of the balls where the sick and wounded were lying. The hospital attendants, to whom arms were issued for their protection, replied ; the soldiers of the post, and the gendarmes who guarded the principal entrance to the hospital, also fired on the Tunisians, who had to beat a re treat again, leaving on the ground several of their comrades hors de combat. One fact excited great indignation. Two hospital attendants, who were quietly returning to the hoe pita', were assassinated, and their dead bodies mutilated in the most horrible manner. M. liaise, lieutenant in the navy, and two Commissariat officers were attacked in front of the Tunisianartillery barracks. The former, who bad no weapon but a walking-cain, received sabre cuts which cut his head open. He staggered on to the gate of the hospital, where every attention and care were ad ministered to him. The two Commissariat officers took refuge in the house of a Turk, the door of which was open, and they remained there till the following morning. M. Blaise had also tried to take refuge in a Turkish guard house, but the officer exhibited the greatest pusillanimity, and made no attempt to protect the three Frenchmen, who were thus exposed unarmed in the midst of these miscreants. Another French soldier, who was passing near the Sublime Porte, was, in a most cowardly manner, killed by a pistol•shot tired by two Tunisian soldiers. Dismay spread throughout the whole quarter of the city, and couriers were sent off to the French authorities at Vera. Generals Larehey and Parizels, Sub-Intendant Missi, and M. Bouttier, Commandant of Gendarmerie, at once proceeded to Constantinople with a detachment of troops from the posts of Galata and Pere; but all was over ay the time they arrived. klehernet Rushdi-Pacha, Minis ter of War, and Mehemet Ali Pacha, Minister of Marine, also proceeded to the hospital of the University. The hos pital attendants of Gnlhane, who had been sent for, were not needed. Thus this unfortunate affair has cost us three men assassinated ; a naval officer, an apothecary, and three Commissariat officers have been more or less severely wounded, as also four hospital orderlies and two gendarmes. The very same evening the Seraskier had the Tunisians, to the number of 250, disarmed, and conducted to the Seras lariat, where they are in custody. A mixed commission has been formed for the purpose of inquiring into the affair. The guilty parties will be punished in an exem plary manner, and the rest of the body will be sent at once to Asia. A commission of investigation, presided over by the Seraskier I'acha, has since inquired minutely into the affair. M. de Thouvenel, the French Am bassador, took up the matter warmly, and the result has been that several Tunisians were condemned and shot as instigators of the riot. PRIJSSIA. The supplementary elections have not much altered the character of the House of Deputies. The Government will have a majority of about 50. A Royal edict on the 17th restored the privileged courts of justice, abolished in 1848. The object of this edict is to conciliate the princes and Courts of the German empire, who hitherto have refused to treat separately with the Government. Such privi leges as cannot be restored to them are to be made the subject of indemnity. A visit from General Canrobert on his route to Paris was not unexpected at Berlin. The general's mission to Sweden was regarded as certain to be un successful as far as any endeavour to seduce Sweden out of her present neutrality could be made. SARDINIA AND ITALY. ------ The King embarked on the morning of the 20th from Genoa for Marseilles, with a brilliant military suite. The Duke de Gramont accompanied his Majesty. Count Cavour and M. d'Azeglio had left for Leone, where they will rejoin the King. THE PRESS. Count Cavour, on the 17th, had made his financial statement in Parliament. The war expenditure for the year ensuing would, independently of the 1,000,0001. sterling to be advanced by England, require a loan of 30,000,000 francs : Estimating the expenses of the war for 1858 at 48,500,000 f., it will have cost 74,000,000 f. should it be protracted to January, 1857 • and calculating the English loan for next year at 25,000,000 f., the total deficiency will be 2t4,680,000f., a sum for which it will be necessary to make a demand on the public credit. To meet this, the Government calculated that a loan of :10,00 o,ooof. would be sufficient, with power to issue and keep in circulation Treasury bills up to that amount, in order that the Gu vemment might be enabled to choose the most favorable time for concluding the loan. - - - • According to this estimate, Sardinia is increasing her debt at the rate of two millions sterling annually, a very considerable augmentation for so small and poor a State. The affair with Tuscany was about to be arranged, it was stated, entirely to the advantage of that State. Political arrests of some importance had been made at Borne in the capture of Mancini and lucenC, the chief agents of Mazzini, and papers compro• mising upwards of two thousand persons had been seized. It is to bo hoped this may not have the effect of filling the Papal prisons. With French troops to guard his capital, and Austria at his feet, the Pope may not be much disposed to show mercy to his political opponents. NAPLES. The Morning Poet of Thursday published in a prominent place the following announcement. — We learn by the most recent advises from Naples that the Neepolithn Government had resolved on presenting a note to the English Government, acknowledging that it had, at the instance of the Cabinet of St. James, removed M. Mazza entirely from the direction of the Neapolitan police, and expressing the sentiments of the King of Naples in terms such as to leave no doubt of a con• siderable change having been effect of late in his Majesty's views. This note, we have every reason to believe, will be ac• eepted by the British Government as satisfactory. The appointment of M. Brennier as French Minis ter to the Court of Naples had excited some uneasi ness in that Court. M. Brennier, it will be re►nem. bered, some two years since made a tour in Italy, and put himself chiefly into communication with the revolutionary party, and is well known to possess strong Muralist tendencies. SPAIN. - - The late disturbances in Saraossa and Valencia have been suppressed, and the provinces are gene rally tranquil. The question of the " Western Alliance," accord ing to the Epoca, was indefinitely adjourned Spain, or, to speak more correctly, the Government which represents her, desires that if our country be celled on to intervene actively in the great events which are being prepared in Europe, she shall do so as becomes a great nation, which, though fallen, has not yet lost the remembrance and the pride of her ancient glory. But Spain cannot act in this way until she shall be constituted, shall have at least 100,000 soldiers under arms, and shall have a budget in which the real and permanent resources shall be equal to the expense. The day on which this shall be the case, the Spanish Government, stipulating for what is due to the honour and interests of the nation, will place itself by the side of the European powers, to which it is bound by its sympathies and its principles, and Western Europe will the more appreciate the Spanish alliance the more our position in the interior shall be strong, and our means of influence abroad efficacious. GREECE. King Otho opened the Greek Chambers on the 12th. In his speech his Majesty declared that the Ministerial change which had taken place had been necessary in order to uphold the royal dignity, in jured by the preceding Cabinet. The King thanked the nation for the attachment it had evinced, and promised the politic maintenance of neutrality, preserving, at the same time, the friend ship of foreign powers. His Majesty further announced somewhat indefinitely that a treaty had been concluded with Turkey. A slight difference with the United States had been settled to the satis faction of all parties. M. Tricoupi refuses to accept office, and will not go to Athens. M. Di; ViNesE, the well-known Liberal member of the Prussian Chamber, has refused IA) accept his nomination for Hagen at the late election. The reason given is, that the King on passing through Hagen immediately after the election meeting with an enthusiastic reception, observed to the authorities—" This reception gives me the greatest pleasure, proceeding as it does from a town which has elected as deputy to the Chamber one of my enemies." LIEUTENANT GENERAL GERLACH, high in the con fidence of the King of Prussia, has had, it is said, State papers and private despatches systematically purloined from him by two valets-de chambre. A foreign embassy at Berlin is stated to he deeply im plicated in the matter. 1117 THE AUSTRIAN CONCORDAT. Taus remarkable document, which has aroused the attention of Europe, has at length appeared in extenso. The convention between the Pope and the Emperor of Austiia, signed on the 18th of August, and ratified on the 25th of September last, is prefaced by an imperial patent signed by the Emperor and his Ministers, making known to the subjects of the Austrian empire "that at desire to strengthen the moral foundations or social order, and' to further the happiness of the nation," has induced the Government to conclude a "Compre hensive Convention," which is henceforward to have full legal fcrce throughout the empire. The con vention itself comprises thirty-six articles in all. The Roman Catholic religion, with all its rights and privileges, is first declared pre-eminent, and hence forth ever to be maintained intact throughout the em pire, while by Art. 10 no attack either by word, deed, or writing against the Church is to be allowed : Art. 16. His Majesty the Emperor will net allow (non patietur) the Catholic Church and its faith, its liturgy, and its institutions, to be contemned by word, deed, or writing, or its dignitaries or ministers impeded in the practice of their duties, particularly when it is the question of the maintenance of the faith, of the laws of morality, or of the discipline of the Church. By the 2nd and 14th Articles of the Convention, the clergy are rendered in all respects independent of the civil authority : Art. 2. As the Roman Pope has, by Divine law, the primacy of honour and jurisdiction throughout the whole pale of the Church, the direct communication between the bishops, the clergy, the people, and the Papal chair, in all spiritual and clerical matters, is a necessity. This com munication has nut, therefore, in future to depend on the ruler of the country, but is to be completely free. The 14th Article, while admitting that priests who have committed offences against the criminal lay may be brought before a tempozal tribunal, claims a right for the bishop of the diocese to be immediately informed of the fact and charges, and continues : Art. 14. If the sentence passed on a priest is that of death or of imprisonment for more than five years, the proceedings are always to be made known to the bishop, in order that he may be able to examine the criminal and know what clerical punishment to inflict on him. If the sentence is less heavy the same proceedings must be ob served should the bishop require it. Priests will always be imprisoned in places where they are separated from civil delinquents. In case a priest is sentenced to impribon ment for a crime or miedenieanour (ex delielo ref (mum gressione), he will be confined in a monastery or other ecclesiastical building. By Articles 5 and 6 the whole system of education is left entirely in the hands of the Church : Art. 5. The bishops, in virtue of their pastoral office, will superintend the religious education of young people in all publics and private schools, and will take the greatest care that in no object of study anything shall occur which is incompatible with the Homan Catholic faith and strict morality. Art. 6. No one can teach sacred theology (merlins lheologiani), catechism, or the doctrines of the Church, in any public or private institution, if be has not received from the bishop of the diocese the necessary permission, which permission can be recalled if it should be considered necessary. Art. M. All teachers appointed for public schools in tended for Catholics will be under clerical superin tendence. While by Article 9, the clergy have the absolute control over all books dangerous, in the Church's opinion, to "morality, religion, and true believers." With regard to questions concerning clerical duties, marriage, and betrothments, the ecclesiastical courts are to decide according to the ordinances of the Council of Trent. The great question of Church property is handed over to the entire control of the Pope ; indemnification is to be given in lieu of tithes now not raised in certain parts of the empire ; while by Art. 20, any property now held, or in future ac quired by the Church, is to be considered inviolable : Art. 29. Tho Church will he entitled to acquire new pos sessions in every legal wiy, and the property which it now possesses or may in future acquire will be inviolable. Neither older nor more recent clerical foundations can be done away with or united without the consent of the Papal chair, but this without prejudice to the powers granted to the bishops by the holy Council of Trent. Such are the leading features of this Concordat, by which the rule of the Roman Catholic Church in Aiihtria is rendered supreme, the obsolete pri vileges of its clergy revived, and every other ordi nance, treaty, or agreement, abrogated in favour of this great Convention. ie Vrcron Woo is about to retire to Spain. Tt said that the illtistrioug author has taken a tun se in Madrid, and that his works are already being trans lated into Spanish. M. PAILLFTT, the eminent French barrister, who, defended Madame lAtfarge, fell gormless while pleading in the Tint Chamber of the Civil Tribunal of the Seine, at Pan', on the 10th inst., and died sherd' af te rwards.