The Press. — London, England, 1856-11-01 00:00:00

1038 The Madrid journals of the 25th contain a Royal decree. based on a report of the Minister of Grace and Justice, enacting that a general statistical account of the clergy shall be drawn up. It was said that General Prim was about to place himself at the head of the Progressist party. It was also reported that M. Barzanalla, Minister of Finance, was about to resign, and to be replaced by M. Bravo Murillo. TURKEY. RESIGNATION OF THE TURKISH MINISTRY. A despatch from Paris arrived on Monday from Constantinople, announcing the following : A telegraphic despatch from Constantinople, via Vienna, announces the resignation of the entire Turkish Ministry. The French Pays contains the following remarks: — We yesterday published a telegraphic despatch from Trieste, announcing the resignation of the Ottoman Ministry. Intelligence has this day reached Paris that the resignation was in fact given, but that it was after wards withdrawn. The following, if our information is correct, were the circumstances attending this incident : After the Ottoman Cabinet had taken the resolution to call for the evacuation of the Turkish territory and the Black Sea within the time fixed by the treaty, efforts were made by the powers directly interested in the question to induce the Sultan to change his mind. The Cabinet then thought fit to offer its resignation, but in consequence of an autograph letter addressed by the Sultan to Aali Pacha, the Grand Vizier, assuring him that his highness had never at any period had greater confidence in him than now, the resignation was withdrawn. We need not add that the continuance of the Ministry in power im plies the maintenance of the policy which they had adopted. The Journal de Constantinople of the 20th contra dicts the news of the approaching departure of the English squadron. There is nothing new from the Black Sea. H.M.S. Magicienne has returned to the Bosphorus from a cruise. She touched at Sebastopol, and went along the Crimean and Circassian shore, as far south as Soudjak Kaleb. Sebastopol is as the allies left it : there is no trace of any attempt to clear away the ruins or to build up the town, and the whole plateau is still deserted. At Anapa the Russians have begun repairing the fortifications, but Soudjak Kaleh is nct reoccupied. The Russian Ambassador has proposed to the Porte to have the disputed points of Serpents' Island and Bolgrad settled at Constantinople. There has been a severe earthquake throughout the whole of Egypt. At Cairo many houses were thrown down, and more are much damaged. Six persons were killed. The inhabitants encamped outside the city. Shocks have also been felt at Smyrna and in the Archipelago. _ . _ RhOdes - was severely injured. SWEDEN• The King of Sweden opened the Diet on the 23rd ult. His Majesty's speech contained the following paragraphs:— Two commissions, consisting of an equal number of Swedes and Norwegians, have just drawn up the draught of a bill for regulating the commerce and navigation be tween Sweden and Norway. A. mixed commission is occupied with fixing the con tingents which each country has to provide for the defence of the independence and for the maintenance of the com mon glory. An enlightened toleration for the faith of others, based upon the love of one's neighbour, and inspired by an in domitable conviction, constitutes the essence of the dogmas of the Protestant Church. The ancient laws which impede the freedom of worship must therefore give way, so that the community may be in harmony with the Constitution. Bills for the abolition of the punishment of exile, and for reforms of the criminal code, will be laid before you. NAPLES. WITHDRAWAL OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH LEGATIONS. The following telegraphic despatch has been re ceived at Marseilles : Naples, Oct. 27. The two Legations leave this city to•morrow (Tuesday) for Rome. They will embark at Cirita Vecchia, and arrive at Mar seilles on Saturaay evening. There is no change in the position of affairs. A letter from Vienna, in the Augsburg Gazette, says : M. de Martini having spoken to M. de Carafe, Minister of Foreign Affsirs at Naples, on the subject of Naples being represented in the Congress of Paris, the Minister replied in the following sense :—" The aim of the congress is to settle the afairs of the East, and not those of Italy; it would be necessary, in order to deliberate on the ques tions of Italy, for all the Governments of the peninsula to be representea at it. Now, the congress, as at present composed, consists simply of powers that are hostile to the Government if the Two Sicilies, and any discussion on its affairs would therefore be superfluous." The French Moniteur of Saturday last published the despatches between Count Walewski and M. Bremer on the Neapolitan question. The de spatches are dated May 21. Count Walewski to M. Brenier says the situation of Naples and Sicily con stitutes a danger for the repose of Italy, and recom mends reforms. THE PRESS. The Neapolitan Government replies that no Go vernment has a right to interfere with the internal affairs of another State. Count Walewski writes to M. Brenier (Oct. 101, ordering the mission to withdraw from Naples. iki,__ AMERICA. Intelligence from New York to the 15th has arrived this week. The Kansas elections had terminated favorably to the Pro-slavery party. The Free State party did not vote. The Presidential election is the only political topic. The State election in Pennsylvania had terminated in a decisive democratic majority. The New York Herald, referring to this intelligence, says : The vantage ground thus far held by Mr. Fremont is now held by Mr. Buchanan, and something more than trusting to luck will now he required of the opponents of the alarmed and aroused democracy. The returns of the town elections in Connecticut show that of 126 towns heard from 73 have gone to Fremont, 48 for Buchanan, and 5 divided. This is a gain of 23 for Fremont, and 14 for the democrats. Returns from Florida show that the democrats have carried the State by a majority of 500. INDIA AND THE CAI'E. ENOLAND AND PERSIA. A despatch from Trieste, Oct. 29th, states : The intelligence from Bombay is to the effect that the English expedition against Persia will probably not proceed to the Persian Gulf; the Shah having, it is said, yielded to the demands of Great Britain. The usual mails with dates to the 22nd Sept. from Calcutta, 3rd Oct. frnin Bombay, 12th Sept. from Hong Kong, and 25th July from Melbourne, have arrived this week. The intelligence brought is of slight political importance. India is generally tranquil. The preparations for the Persian expedition were being pushed forward with vigour, but it was not anticipated that the troops would really leave Bombay. Later intelligence announces the submis sion of the Shah to our terms. The Paris papers of Wednesday contained the following : The French Ambassador at the Court of Persia has ar rived at Teheran, on his return from Constantinople ; and it is said that his Excellency had prevailed on the Shah to make peace with England. The preparations for the English expedition to the Persian Gulf was nevertheless continued, and on its side Persia was fortifying Herat, a Frenchman named Huhler directing the works. Two great afflictions have fallen upon India with respect to domestic affairs,—the cholera and floods. From the Punjab to the valley of the Ganges nothing but tales of loss of life and property and universal suffering are heard. The cholera broke out in Agra in May last, and in a few months slew upwards of 16,001) people. Thence it struck the native cities of Rajbootana, Bhurtpore, Kurnaul, Ferozepore, and finally concentrated its strength on the cantonment of Mean Meer. One-third of the European artillery perished in a fortnight. Men died two hours after seizure. No certain statistics have yet been pub lished. but a very moderate calculation gives the total loss of life at upwards of 9U,000 persons. With respect to the floods, a correspondent writes : The rains this year have been universally severe. The downpour in Affghanistan was unprecedented, and in August its effects began to be visible. The torrent of water which at this season rolls down the water system of the Indus gradually increased, then overtopped the banks, and then burst on the plains with a force which swept whole towns from the face of the earth. The canton. ment of Naoshera, only half built, was carried away. The great cantonment of llehra•Ghazee Khan was totally ruined, the sun-burnt bricks of the building melting in the flood. The Lund, or dyke, which defends Leia burst, and Leia has disappeared. The loss of life has not been in proportion, four thousand or five thousand villagers not counting for much in India; but the destruction of pro perty is incalculable. The Governor-General continues at Calcutta. The subscriptions for the West Loan had not been filled up. From China there is no news of importance. From Melbourne the gold production for the fort night ending July 10 amounts to 58,508 ounces—a higher average than usual. From the Cape intelligence up to the list August has arrived. The news from Kaffirland is not encouraging. A "witch doctor," timhlakaza, has roused the religious feeling of the tribes to the highest pitch by prophesy ing a great convulsion of nature. and the restitution to the Kaffirs of all their lost lands, cattle, and pro• perty. Great excitement exists at Cape Town, as Kreli, Sandilli, and the principal Kaffir chiefs, aro known to be under the influence of Umlulakaza. The Government had issued a proclamation to allay apprehension, but every preparation for war was being made, and every precautionary step taken, in case of a Kaffir inroad. SNrURDAY, EARL FORTESCUE ON ITALIAN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. EARL FORTESCUE, Lord Lieutenant of Devonshire, presided at the annual meeting of the Devon anti Exeter Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society at Exeter on Tuesday, and delivered an eloquent speech, in the course of which he made the following observations upon religious freedom in Italy : I must be permitted to observe, in conclusion, that heard with peculiar pleasure from my hon. friend, Mr. Sillifant, the statement he made, and which, if I mistake not, is the result of his own recent observation, that with respect to the security and freedom now enjoyed by the long persecuted Church of the Vaudois, which we may consider as the foundation of all Protestantism in Europe —I say it gave me peculiar satisfaction to hear that, after all the persecution which that primitive Church has had to endure during more than five centuries, it is at length established on a firm basis, enabled to perform its rites in security under the constitutional Government of that brave and good nation, Sardinia—whose army lately stood beside us so gallantly, and covered themselves with glory in the recent struggle in the Crimea, not for the sake of advan tage to themselves, but for the sake of justice and right, for the sake of' upholding the weak against the strong. I say, to me, as a lt.ver of civil and religious liberty, it is cheering to find the liberty of that Church has been estab- lished under the good and constitutional Government of Sardinia—a Government which, be it recollected. all Roman Catholic as it is, and surrounded by countries more perhaps than any other under Papal influence, has neverthe less set the example of saying, of itself, to the Roman Catholic Church, " Thus far and no further may you exercise your authority in ecclesiastical matters. but you shall not interfere with the freedom of our civil tribunes." These are the doctrines which have been held in Sardinia, and these are the doctrines which I trust, under God, will always find favour. It has, therefore, been peculiarly gratifying to me to hear what I have to-day with respect to the security and the immunity granted to that Church ; and I venture to hope, from what we see with respect to the cir culation of the Scriptures in Sardinia, that the circulation of our Protestant Bible there will not have fallen upon an unfruitful soil, but that true religion, under the advantage of a constitutional Government, and from the example of that country, will gradually but surely spread over the misgoverned but benighted States of Italy ; and though I cannot at my age hold out to myself the prospect of seeing this result, yet 1 do believe it is allotted to the younger men amongst you to see that Italy will yet acknowledge and appreciate the advantage of a free Government and the still greater blessing of a pure religion. The noble earl then resumed his seat, and the pro ceedings terminated. COLONEL P. S. BROOKS, so celebrated for his assault upon Mr. Sumner, has made a speech in South Carolina in view of Colonel Fremont's elec tion. He said : I am by no means confident of the election of Mr. Buchanan. I think it probable that John C. Fremont may be the next President. With the platform upon which he goes into power, with 80,000,000 dollars at his control, with the army and navy at his command, what is to be done to you when all these elements of power are in the hands of a dangerous bad man ? I tell you, fellow-citizens, from the bottom of my heart, that the only mode which I think available is just to tear the Constitution of the United States, trample it under foot, and form a Southern Con federacy, every State of which will be a slave-holding State. I believe it, as I stand in the face of my Maker—l believe it on my responsibility to you as your honoured repre sentative, that the only hope of the South is in the South; and that the only available means of making that hope effective is to cut asunder the bonds that tie us together, and take our separate position in the family of nations. I speak on my individual responsibility ; if Fremont be elected President of the United States, I am for the people in their majesty rising above the law and leaders, taking the power into their own hands, going by concert or not by concert, and laying the strong arm of Southern freemen upon the treasury and archives of the Government. I speak for myself; I do not say what I do not intend to do. If you, people of the Fourth Congressial District, 50, 100, 500, or 1,000 of you, intimate to me that you want me to go with you, my life, my fortune, my reputation, shall be at your service. MARSHAL CLAUSEL, in the first expedition against Constantine, was accompanied by a now celebrated Arabic scholar, who, then a young man, acted as bis secretary, and was not at that time so accus tomed to be under fire as he has since become. The marshal, when he came in view of the city, rode forward with a slight escort to obtain a nearer sight of the place. Every gun that could be brought to bear was immediately fired at him. " Avez•vous vu Toledo ?" asked the marshal, turning to his secre tary. The secretary did not answer, for he was at that moment watching with some interest the course of the shot, and looking askant at a Spahi who had been rolled over close to him. " Avez-vous vu Toledo ?" repeated the imperturbable marshal. Again no answer, and again, " Avez-vous vu Toiedo ?" "Ma foi, mon general, dans ce moment ci je ne me rappelle pas." "Ah, bah, si vous avez vu Toledo "—and he went on to explain the points of resemblance and distinction between the two places.