The Press. — London, England, 1857-01-24 00:00:00

JANUARY 23, 1857. jartign 6orrtsgonbtatt, BIR ROBERT PEEL AND THE PRINCE DE LIGNE. BnusseLs, January 21. ON Monday, the 19th, a numerous deputation of the English residents at Brussels, naval, military, and civilian, waited upon the Prince de Ligne at his hotel in the Rue Royale, to declare their reprobation of the personal vulgarities uttered by Sir Robert Peel against the Prince in his disreputable speech at Bir mingham. The deputation expressed a hope that the offence would be judged by him to be—as it was in fact—an isolated ebullition of low breeding, highly displeasing to the English of all parties, and which the unanimous censure of the Anglican press had placed in its true light—as unbecoming a gentleman. A deep regret was also signified that the nobleman selected by the King of the Belgians to be his special ambassador at the coronation of the Queen of Eng land, in 1838, and lately deputed in the same capacity to the Emperor of Russia, should have met with an insult from an Englishman, utterly unpro voked, and couched in terms unknown to the lan guage awl to the sentiments of honourable men. The Prince de Ligne, in warm terms, acknowledged the compliments pail him by the deputation, and observed : Gentlemen, believe me that I am most grateful for this your spontaneous act of courtesy and goodwill ; and I am deeply sensible of the generous kindness that has prompted you thus to repel the vulgar aggression unwarrantably made upon me by Sir Robert Peel. I conjure you to be per suaded that I do not suffer the displeasure I may experience at this low•bred indignity to affect, for one instant, the high respect and sincere regard long and cordially entertained by me for England and the English. The coarse verbiage adopted by Sir Robert Peel to revile me belongs only to a sot (ivropee) and a blackguard (gamin), and as such I regard it with proper contempt; but, without seeking that personage, should chance ever place me in unpalatable contact with him, i shall not hesitate to say that his con- duct towards me has been that of an underbred puppy (mad dere et raurien). And now, gentlemen, on my part, I have to express my sorrow and extreme displeasure that countryman of mine, and without my authority, should have used this untoward circumstanue for a reason to offer you the incivility of refusing your admission to the dial Noble." Such conduct on their part appertains to that category of social offences which we have had occasion to deplore. I have been greatly pained at such inbred and unworthy conduct. Allow me, gentlemen, to say that out of this unpleasant occurrence I have, at any rate, derived the pleasure of making your personal acquaintance, and of being able, in returning you my hearty thanks for your considerate attention, publicly to testify my constant and ardent regard for your country, its inhabitants, and its institutions. A violent demonstration was lately mule at Ghent and at Antwerp against the liberty of worship expressly conceded by the Belgian Constitution. On the vigil of the Epiphany an Ultramontane Jesuit preached a sermon in condemnation of the false doctrines of Protestantism, and especially denuncia tory of the reading and dissemination of the Bible. The possession of a bible he authoritatively declared to be a crime ; the reading of it to be perilous to salvation ; and the adoption of its heresies to be a renunciation of the redemption by Christ. The Bible, he said, is the book of hell. (L'evangile Protestante appartient a l'enfer.) Excited by these Jesuit appeals to passion, a Romanist crowd assem bled at the Protestant chapel on the " Canal Falcon," during the time of divine service, forced themselves into the chapel, demolished the pews, maltreated the congregation, threatened the clergy. man, and tore all the bibles into pieces, amidst the most blasphemous execrations. The psalmodies and French liturgies partially escaped ; but the bibles were the principal objects of this destructive rage. It was not without the active interference of the commissary of police, M. Vanden Bogaerts, that the disorders of these Jesuit emissaries were arrested, and that the Protestant congregation could depart homewards. At one time it was feared that the Romanist fanatics would set fire to the chapel. An outrage of this nature cannot pass unnoticed by the authorities, as it is certain to be brought to the notice of the Chambers. The Liberal and Con servative press of Belgium has inveighed strongly against this insurgent liolupou pr 1139 i‘ vtcle padanaptay! - - ~ --•: LTHE PRESS. The Prusso•Swiss quarrel is now terminated. On the 17th the Procureur-General left Berne for Neufchatel in order to release the ro)alist prisoners ; and on the 18th they were conducted, under strong escort, to I'ontarlier, beyond the Jura, on the confines of France. The Federal Ccuncil has ordered the army to be disbanded, and General Dufour, in an nouncing the pacific solution of the international dispute, took leave of the army preparatory to re• signing the command. But, as it has been before stated, neither of the bellicose parties are perfectly satisfied. The King of Prussia is displeased that the royalists should not have been liberated openly and at once. It is complained at Berlin that whilst they remained on Swiss ground they received the treatment of malefactors without any disguise of public opinion, and with official sanction. They were guarded with intentional rigour, and subject to personal annoyances during the progress to Pontarlier, that completely belied the act of gracious liberation. These discourtesies towards the prisoners sufficiently attest that the Swiss were reluctantly compelled to yield their vantage-ground. By consenting to with• draw the State prosecution, they have to a certain extent lost their cause. And this is the true version with which the King of Prussia should be contented. The debates in the National Assembly were violent. Although the immense majority of ninety-one to four would seem to denote an almost unanimous opinion, yet the four dissentients, MM. Camperio and Denier of Geneva, Thury of Vaud, and Weingart of Berne, represented a large section of Swiss malcontents. Their language in opposing the articles agreed upon at Paris was brutally truculent, unstatesmanlike, and passionately low. In the States Council the question was decided by a majority of thirty-two to three. Here again the deputies of Geneva, MM. Fazy and Vught, signalised themselves by their earnest opposi tion to the acceptance of the articles submitted to the National Assembly. Each of the deputies of Geneva spoke with acrimony at the conduct of Switzerland in yielding the point relating to the prisoners. Henceforth Geneva, by a public mani festation, assumes to be the centre of the ultra democratic party in Switzerland, and the haven of refuge for European revolutionists. Lazzarini, the celebrated Roman brigand, has been captured. It was known to the Papal police that he was in the neighbourhood of Poggin, on the Tuscan frontier. Having concerted measures with the Tuscan detachment, the Papal gendarmes sur rounded the house of a farmer named Ledin, at Casella, nod entered the premises. The brigands fought with determination in the large kitchen of the " fattoria." Enrico Casadin, known by the na m e of Pasottiuo, the second in command of the bend, was shot; and Lazzarini, whose proper name is Giuseppe Afflitti, was afterwards secured. Brigadier Andrea Tanesini, a fine young man, who commanded the attack, fell in the encounter by a pistol-shot from Lazzarini. Many of the gang escaped ; but without their famed leader they will cease to be dangerous. C. A. H. foreign anti doionial ]ittelligtna. THE WAR IN CHINA. A telegraphic despatch from Constantinople, dated " Thursday, Jan. 22," brings the fol lowing important intelligence : ALEXANDRIA, Jan. 15. The Calcutta steamer hss arrived at Suez with advices from Hong Kong to the 10th of December. Yeh, backed up by the gentry and people, con tinued obdurate. The French Folly Fort hal been taken and de stroyed. The Chinese had set fire to the factories, and all the Aongs were destroyed. The Oriental, Agra, and Mercantile Banks were on fire, with no hopes of saving them. One fatal accident at occurred—O. T. Lane, ne phew of Sir J. Bowring, being killed by the falling of a wall. It was said the city of Canton would no longer be spared, and that the discharge of rockets and shells had already commenced. THE EXPEDITION TO THE PEESIAN GULF. A despatch received yesterday from Trieste. by way of Vienna, contains the following:— The Lloyd steamer arrived this evening at Trieste with the following news : " The British fleet has taken possession of the fort pf ''biro agd the island of liarralsf". 79 An official despatch, received at Paris, states : BAGDAD, Dec. 22. An English proclamation has been posted here, explaining the causes of the rupture with Persia. An English fleet of forty boats and two steam frigates had arrived before Bushire. The town was not in a state to resist. FRANCE. THE MURDER OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS. The trial of Verges took place on Saturday last at the Cours d'Assisse. After the reading of the " acte d'accusation " the prisoner rose, and in a fluent address protested against his witnesses being denied him. The court overruled his objections, and several witnesses were examined for the prosecution and letters of the prisoner read, during which he con ducted himself with the greatest violence, at times becoming so furious in his abuse and gestures against judge and jury that the gendarmes were com pelled to hold him down, and he was twice removed from the court. In his reply, Verges calmly, slowly, and circumstantially narrated each detail of the murder. For two months he had determined upon it. He declared that he knew perfectly well what lie was doing. He went to the church early in the afternoon. He had first consulted the list of the ceremonies of the day ; lie then placed himself near a bench with the intention of striking the archbishop when he should enter to hear the sermon, but after wards, when he reflected that many of the priests had been his fellow-students, and might on recog nising him prevent the execution of his plan, he quitted the bench and placed himself in the nave. He was there when the archbishop arrived, and re mained there during the entire ceremony. At length he opened the knife, biding it from every eye until his victim approached. " I did not strike twice," said the prisoner, " for I was certain the first blow had taken effect." Upon the reply of the Attorney- General, Verges became again so violent that he was removed from the court, and the trial continued and concluded in his absence. After twenty minutes' deliberation the jury pronounced a verdict of " Guilty " against the assassin Verges on the three points of accusation—namely, wilful murder, preme ditation, and lying in wait. The verdict did not admit extenuating circumstances, and the court, Alta a short deliberation, passed sentence of death upon the prisoner. The prisoner has appealed to the Court of Cassation against the verdict, and has also petitioned the Emperor for pardon. Cardinal Merlot, Archbishop of Toots, will, in all probability, be the new Archbishop of Paris : The cardinal it described as tolerant to religious opinions, and otherwise liberal. no is nighty spoken of, and, in every respect, the Emperor's choice is unexcep tionable. The Emperor presided at a Council of Ministers on Wednesday. Farouk Khan's arrival in Paris has created a great sensation. Baron Brunnow has left Paris for his post at Berlin, and charged, it is said, with •special mission from the Emperor of the French to the Court of Prussia. Count Kisseleff leaves Paris shortly for Nice. A grand dinner was given last week t) the Crimean generals by Prince Napoleon at the Palais Royal. The speeches on the occasion were remarkable for their complimentary tone, and for the utter absence of all mention of the services of the allies of France The immense advantage of this war (said the Trinee) is that yon have proved that France has still het great army ! AUSTRIA. The Emperor is reported to have been rather cordially received upon his entry into Milan ; but the Milanese nobility absent themselves on all official occasions. The Archduke Maximilian of Austria is appointed Governor-General of the Lombardo-Venetian States as successor to Marshal Radetzky, who at length has retired. The inhabitants of Milan have subscribed a consi derable sum of money for the guns of Alessandria, and to raise a monument to the honour of the Sardinian army. The monument is to be erected on one of the public places at Turin. Instructions for the evacuation of the Principalities by the Austrian troops have been sent off to Bucha rest and Jassy. The homeward march is to begin iq the month of March next. PRUSSIA AND SWITZERLAND. The royalist prisoners of Neufchatel, escorted by a detachment of Swiss troops, were conducted on the night of the 17th to the French frontier, which they crossed at Pontarlier. The Federal Council has also given orders to immediately disperse the troops already assembled ; and General Dufour, in an order of the day of the 17th, has announced to the Helvetic army the pacific solution of the dif ference with rrpsis, a44 in tbM the sa;ticl; in