The Press. — London, England, 1856-09-20 00:00:00

892 Sortign 6.orresponbtatt. BRUSSELS, September IA. AMIDST the jarrings of rampant Romanism and insatiate despotism, the streams of pacific commerce irresistibly work their way. There is no better instructor than want. The demand for that which is not possessed is regardless of obstacle to obtain the supply and facilitates reciprocity of benefit. Free trade cannot deserve the name, when one hand gives and the other refuses. Much loss and still more suffering would have been spared had the maxim been earlier recognised. The Belgian association " pour les reformes Douaniers " held its first meeting on the Bth, preliminary to the inter. national congress, which will take place on the 22nd, 23rd, and 21th of September. The two questions to be proposed to the members of the congress are :- 1. " What are the artificial and natural obstacles that oppose themselves to an extension of commercial relations in the country which you represent?" 2. S' What are the practical means proposed, or to be proposed, in each country, to destroy or diminish the obstacles to an extension of foreign trade ?" All the English towns have expressed their approbation of the commercial congress, and have signified their in tention to send deputies, except Liverpool, and that chan6er, for the present, together with the Brussels Chamber of Commerce, has dissented from the policy cf the congress. Holland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Piedmont, and England adhere to the prin ciple that, to use the language of the association, "Le tarif protecteur est une contribution prelevie sur la masse au profit de quelques privilegies. C'est cette intquete qua l'on doit faire disparaitre ii tout prix. Not less praiseworthy is the " congres de bien faisance " which has met and held its first meeting under the presidency of M. Ch. Rogier. He defended the society from the attack of the Jesuits as having materialist and social tendencies, which he com pletely disproved. The Jesuit should remember that although one should give all one's goods to feed the poor, without the charity of spiritual benevolence it availeth nothing. Charity rejoiceth not in the dark ness of conventual ascetism, dwelling on the abstrac tion of original sin and imaginary ills, but rather re joiceth in the truth of Gospel light, that encourageth industry, and bringeth content and peace. The speakers were MM. Ward of London ; Wolowski, Scrive, and Perrot, from France ; Shubert, Leman, and Hubert, of Berlin; and Baurnhauer, de la Haye s and Jolles, of Amsterdam. Mme. Frederika Bremer, the Swedish novelist, was present. In the magnificent display of the Imperial coro nation at Moscow a gallant determination was shown to brave reverse and to challenge the assertion of exhausted resources. Russia possesses ample means for rapid recovery. These are comprised in the abun dance of agricultural produce—far more than sufficient for home purposes—in mineral wealth, in almost exclusive articles of commerce, in an industrious population, in a military organisation or the masses, and, lastly, in a loyal devotion to the sovereign and Head of the Church—amounting almost to a per• sonal worship. With these combinations of national resources, it would be difficult for Richard Cobden so to crumple up the country that it should never again present a fair surface. That the resolve of the present Emperor is to develop its internal production of wealth, improve its commerce, and thereby raise the moral standard of the people, is generally admitted. There might have been a tinge, somewhat, of boast fulness in the extravagant gorgeousness of the Moscow coronation, and the ostentation extended to other persons in the pageantry. At the evening re ception of the English Ambassador in the Graziani Palace, there was a full muster of the several embas sies, excepting that of the French, an omission which was probably accidental. It was further remarked that, on the day of coronation, M. de Morny assumed the privilege of having equerries at each carriage door, a courtly etiquette of peculiar distinction usually reserved for the person of royalty. It may be truly said that the courtesies and appearances of goodwill between Russia and the potentates of Europe displayed at Moscow were highly satisfac tory, and it will be well indeed if that promise of good be kept for the future. A new Ministry has been formed by the Prince Kairoakan, at Bucharest, in the following manner:— President of the Council, M. Constantine Canta cuzem ; Minister of the Interior, the Beyzade, Con streitine Ghika ; Justice, M. Constant ne Balatziano ; Finances, M. Constantine Sontzo; Public Instruction and Worship, M. Scarlati Cretzulesco ; Secretary of State, ad interim, 14, Alexmder purnitreseo ; Comp- THE PRESS. troller-General of Accounts, M. J. H. Tudorachi; Under Secretary of Justice, M. Scarlati Folcoyano ; Under-Secretary of the Interior, M. Nicolas Pacia liano. Umbrage has been given to the Boyar& at the nomination to office of MM. Dumitresco and Tudorachi, as not belonging to th..ir body. Per sonal merit, and th s high consideration in which these persons are held in the country, have alone caused their appointment, which may be said to be a departure from the ancient ways that augurs a better state of things. How.3ver, the maintenance of the Vornik, Javou Mano, an instrument of the ex-Hospodar Stirbey, at the head of the Divan, makes it clear that the Porte preserves a fatal as cendancy. This is again shown in the peremptory refusal to verify the powers, accorded in all faith to the Bank of Dessau, for the establishment of a Jassy bank of credit. In this opposition the Austrian Cabinet has brought into play its utmost influence, inattentive to time immediate advantages that an extension of capital would bring to the Danubian navigation—a benefit of which Austria would reap the first and latest fruits. In a similar spirit, is conceived the revocation of a contract made with a French company for a steam navigation of the rivers Pruth and Sereth. This breach of con tract has also been the work of Austrian intrigue. Nothing has more tended to bring into discredit the undue power and pr.tsumption of the Court of Vienna than the arrogant and insulting letter of General Count Corocini, on his quitting the principalities. It amounts to an assertion of the right of Austria to enter and occupy the provinces with her armks whenever she may deem such a course proper for their defence. Until the treaties between the Porte and Russia were abrogated, Austria never had any pretension to meddle with the Moldo-Wallachian territory; for when the Russians evacuated those districts, during the late war, the Austrian troops wera permitted to enter in order that Russia might swell her numbers in the Crimea against the allies. It was a temporary arrangement, now sought to be converted into a right; but if such right belonged to any power conjointly with the Porte, it would pro perly appertain to Russia. One of the objects gained by the war—the independence of the princi• palities—Austria seek to disannul for her sole benefit, although never having contributed either a man or a thaler towards the freedom of the navigation in the Black Sea and the Danube, and having garrisoned and provisioned a large army, ready for selfish ends, at the expense of Turkey. A petition to the Grand Council Helvetic is cir culating for signature in the different parts of the canton, praying, 1. That the properties of the parti cipators in the late rebellion shall be confiscated to make good the loss, pillage, and devastation that their misconduct caused ; 2. Tha.t further sums shall be appropriated from their possessions for the wounded, and for the support of the widows and orphans of both parties ; 3. That the guilty shall be punished according to the law of high treason, and be deprived of their civil rights ; and, 4. That all royalist societies be declared illegal and treasonable. M. de Pourtales, Sandoz, and Colonel Meuron were brought back in a boat to Neufchatel. They were given over by the prefect of the department to the custody of Colonel Denzler, who received them at the head of his staff, and they were slowly marched to the Castle, escorted by the entire battalion of Bernese No. 80. The appearance of the aged Count Pourtales was most venerable, and Colonel Meuron had the air of a determined soldier. All attempt at a rescue was impossible. Among the documents found in the possession of Count Pourtales Steiger are some of the highest importance, fully establish ing a correspondence with parties at Berlin, and compromising persons of official note. He was not long since in that capital, and returned shortly before the insurrection. The reception given to the prisoners by the people augurs little for the clemency that M. So:civil de scribes to be peculiar to Swiss law. M. de Pourtales Steiger was taken by Colonel Denzler himself in the Castle, and saved from the fury of a republican soldier, who had torn off his Prussian decorations and was about to cut him down. Count Pourtales Gorgier, MM. de Rougetnont, Tarrisse, De Petit. pierre Wesdelilen, and Lardy an attorney, were found concealed in a vineyard. Colonel Meuron was taken on the confines of Fribourg, and M. de Montmollin was drawn from under a bed in the Castle. The royalists oommitted most unjustifiable cruelties during the short time they were in possession of the town, and this has exasperated the republicans against them. Austria has signified her intention to defend the sovereign rights of Prussia to the Neufchatel principality. The " Congregazione Provincials di Brescia," in Lombardy, presented a petition to Baron Burger, showing the injustice of its present financial burdens. It is therein frankly declared and proved that the annual income of the province amounts to 12,000 francs, and that the taxation exceeds 13,000. As the members of these " Congregazioni " are selected by the Austrian authorities, this proce•iiime comes with SATURDAY, a double weight. It will assuredly be the signal for other Lombardo-Venetian provinces to follow the same example. Affairs are not so thor o ughly saf e in those quarters as to justify Marshal Radetsky iii giving the toast of " fhe King of Sardinia, to whom he intended to pay a visit in the ensuing spring." To say the least, it was dangerous badinage. General Stackelberg, the Russian Minister, expressed to the King, at a Royal audience, the desire of his Imperial master to cultivate the most intimate relations with him, and the same assurances were personally given to General Broglia by the Emperor Alexander at St. Petersburg. An amnesty has been pro. claimed by King Victor Emanuel to all political exiles, without distinction or reservation----an act that will deservedly render him still more popular. M. d'Aste and his pupil have returned from Lig holm, where they were ordered to quit the Tuscan territory within three hours. M. Gianotti, the Sar dinian secretary at Florence in the absence of the Marchese Sauli, made a strong appeal to the Minister Landucci, who persisted in his determination. There are two things that haunt the mind of this ultra montane Minister and frighten him t* om his pro priety,--a constitutionalist and a bible• It is said that the Sardinian pupils possessed, or were said to possess, the dreaded "Book." M. Leonidas Lan. ducci is a native of Siena. He studied at the University of Pisa, and was at that time rather in clined to what were termed, twenty years ago, liberal opinions, and was utterly free from the taint of Jesuit intolerance. Years have subtracted from his ability and added to his bigotry, until he has become the most narrowminded instrument of Jesuit ultramontanism. Of the posthumous works of Gioberti, now published at Turin, some trouble will be given to M. Landucci to prevent their entrance into Tuscany. Gioberti, in dealing with the temporal power of the Pope, asserts it to be impossible of pre servation in its present state; that either darkness must again prevail over the human intellect, or the Pontiff must be content to relinquish mundane dominion. A severe article lately appeared in the Opinion, and has been privately circulated through out Italy, entitled "La Diplomatia Inglese in Italia." It is a severe censure on Lord Normanby, and although the position of that Minister with parties at borne is described wrongfully, yet the inefficiency of the ambassadorial influence of Eng land in Italy is thoroughly demonstrated. Sir James Hudson is the only Minister that the author exempts from blame. A struggle betwixt the Cardinals Antonelli and Viale Preia is daily expected. Whenever the French troops quit Rome for Civita Vecchia the tocsin of internal strife will commence, and it will then be seen whether Count Colleredo will take possession of the ground abandoned by the French. It has been pro posed to arm the rural population for self-protection against the brigands. The police are wilfully ineffec tive, and the soldiers not to be depended upon. This state of things is the consequence of a pontifical Government—abounding in evil, impotent of good, proud and powerless, protecting vice and persecuting virtue : and yet the Austro Papal Concordat was sys tematically devised for a preservation of these enor mities against the canons of civil polity, C. A. H. THE EX-KING LOUIS OF BAVARIA, who recently attained his seventieth year, was, a few days ago, waited on at his chateau at Ludwigshohe, in the Palatinate, by a deputation from Strasburg, in which place he was born, who paid their respects to him on the occasion. The King received them most kindly promised to visit their city, and related to them a curious circumstance. At the time of his birth, in August, 1780, his father, who was then only Prince de De►ux Punts, commanded the Alsace Regiment in the service of France, which was in the garrison at Strasburg ; and a few days after the birth he was astonished to see that all his grenadiers had cut off their beards and moustaches. On inquiring why they had done so one of the men stepped forward and said that they had determined to beg his accep tance of a velvet mattress for the newly-born Prince, and that they had stuffed it with their oeards and n-owtaches. " I have the mattress still," cried the King, " and will show it to you." The mattress was produced, and the King added, " I do not think that there ii in the world a bed which can be called more strictly military than that." THE PREPARATION OF THE KREMLIN for lllumina tion was one of considerable personal danger to the muj.ks employed : A few days before the coronation (writes a corre spondent) I stopped to watch the poor mujika poised high up in the air, and fixing the lamps on the innumerable hooks of the framework. I saw one poor fellow slung up to the top of a high tower by a dozen men. As he rise he swung to and fro in the wind; but when he got iiebr the top, the men below giving a sudden pull to bring loin "home," the rope broke, and down he came, tumbling er and over like a ball, a distance of 2.50 feet Th. re was a shriek, a dull heavy plump, and all was over ; the poor mujik never spoke or stirred, and his companions who had done the deed scampered away in every direction !