The Press. — London, England, 1856-12-27 00:00:00

1228 jortign otarresp►anbence. Bncssms, Dec. 24. TEE Minister of the Interior has conveyed to the provincial governors the manifesto of King Leopold, addressed to the "Communes" of Belgium in an swer to their congratulatory manifestations on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his reign. The expres sions are simple and trite, befitting the word of truth: His Majesty says : It would have been pleasing to me, and it was my wish, to have personally visited every village in Belgium, even to the smallest hamlet, and to have found myself in the midst of my faithful people, to whose welfare I have de voted every hour of my existence. lam happy, however, in being able to assure the Belgian people, through the medium of the Communal Administrations, that my heart is deeply sensible of the confidence and affection that they have so generously testified for me. It is precisely in " the smallest hamlet" that the King is more particularly regarded with profound attachment. His sympathy for the poor on all occa sions, and the deep anxiety with which he has constantly endeavoured to relieve their wants, have won their undivided favour, and have been adverse, alone, to the integrity of the well-known line of the friend of Beaumarchais, sculptured on the pedestal of the statue of " Henri Qultre " Seul Roi de qui le pauvre ait garde la memoire. And the memory of the Hero• King will not be injured by a royal companionship in the grateful annals of the poor. Free trade is making progress. The Ministers brought forward a proposition to take off the duties on the exportation of "denrees alimentaires," and to reduce those on imports to a trifling sum. The debates on the prohibition of exports first took place. Various amendments were proposed : these were defeated, and it ended in a complete triumph of the Ministerial measure—that all duties on the export of cereals should cease after the next 15th of February. Then followed the more serious discussion ou im ports. M. Mercier, the Minister of Finance, finding the sense of the Chamber to be unmistakeably in favour of unrestricted commerce, proposed that, as a provisional law, the importation of corn should be free until the Ist of September, 1857. M. Frere Orban moved an amendment that such law should be extended to the 31st of December, and it was carried by a majority of 54 to 30. The Ministerial measure, thus amended, was brought up and carried by a majority of 70 to 1. The importance of this decision must not be underrated, fur although the definitive law has not yet been carried and is in abeyance, the principle of free trade has been adopted oa account of the admitted insufficiency of protection for its required end. The prohibition of exports did not give cheap bread, and was productive of com• mercial injury, whilst a duty on the import of cereals was proved to confer no benefit on the home pro ducer, and fettered the action of international trade. This has not been made a party question ; it has been an honest declaration of principle, and an im portant victor•, of what was termed in the Times of last week, " Tory free trade over Whig protection." The article of the Moniteur has given a forced impidse to the Neufchatel extravagance. France requested through her Entperor that the cantonal prisoners should be pardoned and released without trial, upon the relinquishment of Prussia to certain of her demands. and that the cause of dispute should be referred to amicable intervention. The Federal Council peremptorily refused; the trials are to be proceeded with, and the sentence adjudged. M. Sydow, the Prussian Minister at Berne, in conse quence, has taken his official departure, and France has signified her intention to side with Prussia. On the announcement of the retirement of M. Sydow, the Federal Council held a meeting, and passed the following resolutions : 1. The Federal Assembly is convoked for an ex• traordinary session on the 27th of the present month. 2. The cantons are to be officially informed of the rupture of all diplomatic relations with Pru-sia, and of the immediate convocation of the Federal As sembly. 3. The cantons are requested to complete their respective war contingenLs, and to place them in an efficient state for active service without any delay. The Federal Council has placed 20,000 men under arms ; 10,000, under Colonel Bourgeois, are to be statictied at Baski, and 10,000, commanded by Colonel Zeigler, are to occupy the canton of Schaffhausen. In the debate of the Federal Coun cil, one of the members expressed himself to the following effect :—" ThA council, after long deliberation, has taken a deliberate step ; it is bound to maintain its position, and to accept the consequences. The rebel prisoners, therefore, should be instwntly brought to trial, and prerarations made for a war with Prussia to the death (tine guerre *dazzle° contre la) Prusse)." And Prussia thus THE PRESS. challenged is not backward. She has placed two divisions of her army on a war footing under expe rienced generals, and is prepared with the consent, of Germany to march through Sigmaringen, and to attack and occupy the canton of Schaffhausen. The Swiss are far from having all the right on their side. They are not an actual confederation of states under a particular frame of laws. They realise a number of petty sovereignties, distinct in government, with particular privileges, and confederated in a Diet, to which each canton sends a delegate, with the power of debating only on subjects external to the canton, and even then with certain reservations. By the Federal Act of the 7th of August, 1815, and until 1830, the twenty-two cantons formed in truth tw , nty.four different states under diverse forms of government, that may be classed in the following manner,--eight democratic ref üblics, viz., Uri, Sweitz, Glarus, Zug, inner and outer Appenzeil, upper and lower Unterwald; two democratic repre sentative republics, viz., the Grisons and the Valais ; six representative republics, viz., St. Gall, Aargau, Thurgau, Vaud, Geneva, and Tessin ; three other representative republics, whose capitals enjoy great privileges in comparison with the rest of the terri tory, viz., Zurich, Basle, and Schaffhausen ; four aristocratic republics, viz., Bern, Lucerne, Fribourg, and Soleure ; and the canton of Neufchatel, subject to the King of Prussia. By the Federal pact of 1815 the canton of Neufchatel became part of con• federated Switzerland, on the express stipulation of recognising the rights of the King of Prussia. Whether such disposition was a political anomaly is not the question, for the stipulation was agreed upon and accepted by the Diet. The administration of each canton was also left under its own control ; and the diversities and nature of such governments have been already shown. This state of things continued until 1830, when there was a change. A still more violent disruption of the Cantonal Governments occurred in 1848, and the Federal pact of 1815 entered into with the European powers was violated by the Confederation, "par le droit du plus fort." Against this act, whereby the King of Prussia was forcibly deprived of his rights in Neufchatel, that sovereign entered his protest, confirmed by the pro. tocol of the powers in 1831, upon which he takes his ground. An allusion to natural and mountain boundaries, and to democratic predilections, by the Swiss council, is irrelevant to the political bearing of the case. The Federal Act of the 7th of August, 1815, is the only title-deed that can be made valid for the claims of the Confederation upon the canton of Neufchatel. Peace has been made with the Pope by the Feda ral Council, and Monsigoor Man Hey, Bishop of Fribourg, exiled since 1848, has returned to his diocese. The Government of the canton sent a coun cillor of state to the Chateau of Divonne, the resi dence of the prelate, and he was conducted to Fribourg with great pomp, and amidst much re joiciug. 31. de Bismarck Shonhausen has reappeared at the Diet of Frankfort with increased enmity towards the policy of England. The cause of his present dissatisfaction is the supposed leaning of England towards the Swiss Confederation in the dispute with the King of Prussia. He has delivered to the Diet the circular of his royal master on the affair of Neufchatel, in which he petitions for the approbation of the Diet. Whilst Prussia counts with some degree of certainty upon the friendly inclination of the Diet, she treats with haughtiness any proffer of support from Austria. The " fatherland" of Germany, in the mouth of an Austrian diplomatist, is a word of affected patriotism employed for ambitious and sinister designs. It means, in strict parlance, the use of Germany by Austria for private ends. Upon a late occasion the Gazette of Vienna taunted Prussia with a want of energy in defending German interests on the Danish question. The Zeit of Berlin has replied to those transparent insinuations, and referred to the events of 1850, when Austria ex pressed herself in language totally opposed to that she now sees convenient to adopt, and remarks with a sly quietude, " Prussia will never separate her cause from that of Germany, but, above all, she will rely with confidence on her national influence, and will never be inveigled into the silly act of drawing the chesnuts out of the fire for the benefit of others." Hastily overlooking the comparisons of "lo chat" and " le singe," it will be well to point out a fresh cause of irritation betwixt Prusla, the Diet, and Austria. The Diet had appointed a commission to examine the project of a commercial code propos e d by Prussia to serve as a basis for a general act of commercial legislation in the German States. By the common consent of Prussia and the Diet the committee was instructed to hold its sittings at Nuremberg, in Bavaria. This has been opposed by a counter-proposition on the part of Austria that the committee shall meet at Frankfort, wLere it will be more accessible to Austrian influence. The Car respondance Prussienne, the organ of the Berlin Cabinet, remarks that it would be preferable to withdraw the proposal than to give it a character SATURDAY, exclusively Austrian. The Diet also calls Austria to account for the continued occupation of the Princi. polities : Le qui se passe dans la Mer Noire et les Principanti.s doit inspirer de vives inquietudes a la Confederation Ger manique. The Prussian bank of M. Nulandt represented the capital, the industry, and the activity of Germany, which it was desirable should be extended to the Princi palities. That establishment was unhandsomely sup ported through Austrian influence. It is easy to predict the fate of German interests whenever Austria—mistress of the Principalities, and possessing both, side,' of the. Danube (a cheval sur le Danube )—shall i command the ingress and egress of that river. Germ any will thPri become the tributary of Austria, and depert.lent upon her for commercial existence, and the debasement of her social and political position will immediately follow. C'est lu un avenir atiquel l'Allemagne nest guere disposOe a se preparer de gaiete de cceur. The EmperDr of Austria and his Court from Venice, will go to Padua, Rovigo, Vicenza, and Bres cia ; and from thence to Milan, where they will arrive on the Bth of January. _ C. A. H. foreign ad Colonial 3nttlligtnte. PRUSSIA AND SWITZERLAND. The rumours of war, and the preparations for in vasion on the one side, and defence on the other, have been active during the week, but it is now be lieved that the anticipated occupation of part of Switzerland by the Prussian troops will not take place. The Frankfort Journal of the 23rd contains a despatch, according to which the hopes of averting war are strongly on the increase, although it cannot be said that a decisive change has as yet taken place. Mediatory proposals are alluded to as having been brought forward by diplomatic persons, and that the same had been forwarded to Berlin ; while diplomatic conferences are spoken of as being fre quently held at the residence of the President of the Fe:feral Council, and at the time of the despatch ltaving the Federal Council was still sitting. The f3rmal rupture of relations with Switzerland has been announced in the Prussian Correspondenz. The Federal Assembly have convoked an extraor dinary session, to open this day, for the consideration of the report and propositions relating to the canton and affairs of Neufchatel. Meanwhile, nine corps of the Prussian army are at once to be put upon full war footing and mobilised, giving in all 135,000 men ready for active service. On the part of Switzerland, 20,000 men have been called out for the defence of the frontier, while reserves are being organised, and unlimited supplies granted by the Federal Council. La Suisse of the 21st of December publishes the following note : The representatives, at Berne, of the Foreign powers held a conference at the house of M. de Salignac, the French Minister. on the subject of Neufchatel. M. Stcempfli attended the meeting. It is said, but we do not vouch for the fact, that the Prussian Government addressed an ultimatum to the Federal Council, fixing the 2nd of January next as the last period for the unconditional libe- ration of the prisoners. A letter from Vienna of the 20th in the Post Gazette of Frankfort, says : The Cabinet of Vienna has again expressed its regret at the Federal Council of Switzerland not having complied with the conciliatory demands of Prussia and the German Confederation, by setting at liberty the prisoners of Neuf chatel. The Austrian Cabinet has expressed the same Ben. timents to Prussia, and has given it the strongest assurance that it considers it in the right. The conflict having become aggravated to such a point that the parties have abandoned all direct negotiation, the powers which formed the Congress of London believe that the moment has arrived for arranging the affair by taking collective pro ceetlings. The Paris correspondent of the Morning Post expee:s in a few days to be " able to announce that the Government of the Emperor of the French, whilst acknowledging the sovereign rights of Prussia to Neufchatel, protests against an armed interven tion in Switzerland." A telegraphic despatch from Berlin, dated Mon day, in the Nord of Brussels, says:— On the initiative of representatives of the United States, the Minister of England has invited the missions of the powers which have not yet intervened in the Neuf chatel affair to recommend the Federal Council to set the royalist prisoners at liberty. The object of this intervention appears to be to arrive at an arrangement, towards which Prussia might be induced to make an important conces sion, after the Federal Council should have manifested a sincere desire of conciliation and peace. FRANCE. The French papers during the week have fully discussed the Neufchatel question. The Constitu tionnel, following the note in the Mon iteur, maintains that the question at issue is " much less between the Cabinet of Beriin and the Helvetic Confedera tion, considered as an independent and neutral nation, than between the King of Prussia and Federal Council sitting at Berne." This distinction the Presse maintains is utterly untenable, and ob serves :