The Press. — London, England, 1856-07-12 00:00:00

JULY 12, 1856. habitants of several places have signified to the Papal Government their determination not to pay taxes unless their property and persons are pro tected. The King of Naples, in his answer to the remonstrances of England and France, in which he rejects the advice of reformation, evidently leans upon the force of the tripartite or Clarendonian treaty. His Ministers and friends maintain that by the construction of the treaty the power of Austria in the Italian peninsula has been confirmed, with the full consent of France and the reluctant neutrality of England secured. There is an old saying that what England gains by the sword is lost by the pen. C. A. H. lortign an golonial 3itttitigenct. FRANCE. The Moniteur of Wednesday officially denies the rumour of an intended meeting between the Em peror Napoleon and the Emperor of Austria:— Various journals in France and abroad have for some time announced, and endeavoured to spread the belief, that the Emperor intends proceeding shortly to Arenemberg, and thence to Bregenz, to meet the Emperor of Austria. This announcement is totally devoid of foundation. The Emperor Napoleon continues at Plombieres. M. Fortoul, the Minister of Public Instruction, died suddenly on Monday at Ems. Count Morny was to leave Paris for Wildbad, en route to St. Petersburg, at the end of this or early next week. The grape disease has broken out with great viru lence in the southern districts. The Regency Bill was passed through the Senate on Tuesday after a lengthened debate. AUSTRIA. The accouchement of the Empress is hourly ex pected. A letter from Vienna, in the The Austrian Bank has Just published its balance-sheet for the past month, from which appears that the specie has augmented 4,182.000 florins, so that its stock of specie now amounts to 61,000,000 against 368,000,000 of notes in circulation. The proportion of specie to notes, which was as Ito 6 . 47 last month, is now 1 to 6 . 02. The notes in circulation, however, have only diminished 184,826 florins. says : King Otho waited the return of the Minister sent round to the different German Courts, to confer with them respecting the arrangement of the Greek suc cession, before leaving Vienna. He left on the fifth for Carlsbad. _ _ A letter from Vienna, in the Cologne Gazette, says : The overtures made to Count Buol by the Baron de Talle}•rand, representative of France in the commission for the organisation of the principalities at the conferences which have taken place on the subject here, have satisfied. it is said, our Cabinet, inasmuch as it proves that if France has not pronounced herself in favour of the separation, she, on the other hand, attaches no great importance to the union of the principalities. Some important arrests have lately been effected in Hamburg. A Polish emigrant, M. J. Olsceski, was suddenly visited by the police, his rooms searched, and a vast number of revolutionary hand bills, addresses, and proclamations to the Poles dis covered. M. Olsceski was seized, and will be deli vered over to the Russian military authorities. The assassination at Giurgevo of a French soldier by some Austrian troops, has caused some lively apprehensions at Vienna. The Austrian Govern ment has hastened to offer every explanation, to pro mise a searching inquiry, and the execution of severe justile on the culprits. The Emperor of Austria has also deigned to grant a pension to the murdered man's widow and children. RUSSIA. Tha Emperor received Lord Wodehouse on the 3rd inst. at the Palace of Tsarkoe Selo. Count Orloff arrived safely at St. Petersburg on the Ist. The German bankers have declined to negotiate the new Russian loan upon the terms offered. A fresh plan is under the consideration of the Russian Government for the gradual abolition of serfdom. This plan is described as consisting of a loan, to be raised by the Government, with the pro ceeds of which it would purchase serfs of the private owners, and then convert them into Crown tribute• ries, or, in case of their devoting themselves to agri. cultural pursuits, into hereditary tenants. The revenues arising from these liberated serfs, now left to follow the bent of their individual talent and capa cities, with no other obligation than an obrok, or rent paid to the Crown, would, it is considered, amply provide for the interest and redemption of the oan. ITALY. The King of Naples, on the 2nd instant, paid a vi,it to the Pope at Porto D'Anzio. The two Sove reigns held a private interview for nearly two hours, and report states the tht.y resolved to resist the THE PRESS. aggressive policy of the Western powers. The King returned to Gaeta and the Pope to Rome the same evening. The Neapolitans have presented Count Cavour with a congratulatory address upon the conduct of Sardinia in the late war : Your name (says the address), while it is a terror to those who oppress us, and envy us liberty, independence, and morality, is the hope of the oppressed, the comfort of the weak, and the support of the daring. This namo ex cites pride in the followers of the first publicists and economists of this country, and testifies to all that the science of sciences in strong minds does not remain the mere solitary and abstract ornament of the intellect. And this name, which is repeated with not less reverence in the palaces and journals of free and enlightened peoples— this name it is, we trust, which will become, ere long, the herald of the well•secured independence and union of Italy. Lord Normanby had arrived at Parma and held frequent interviews with the Duchess Regent. Great excitement continues throughout Italy. SPAIN. The cholera has appeared at Cadiz, Huelva, and Seville. At the latter town upwards of 100 persons a day were dying. The disturbances at Valladolid were effectually suppressed. A strict inquiry, under M. Escosura, was being held. TURKEY. The Grand Vizier, Aali Pacha, arrived at Constan tinople on the 28th ult., and had an immediate interview with the Sultan. A decree of the Porte orders the immediate levying of atax of 15,000,000 francs. _ The Porte has appointed a governor for the prin cipalities, although no such officer is included in the list of functionaries specified in the organic statute. On the 24th, the day on which the powers of the Hospodars of Wallachia and Moldavia expired, no resolution bad been come to for the purpose of replacing them. In Moldavia, Prince Uhika is at the head of the movement for the reunion of the principalities, and encourages, in every possible way, any manifestation in opposition to the Sublime Porte. The Greeks, the Armenians, and the Jews, are to pay to the Porte, for the right of exemption from military services, an annual sum of 62,500,000 piastres. The commissioners for regulating the 'organisa tion of the principalities were to set out immediately upon the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Turkey. AMERICA. Intelligence from New York up to the 28th states that the forthcoming presidential election was causing great excitement. There had not been so much en thusiasm manifested throughout the North and West at the nomination of a candidate for the Presidency since the Harrison campaign of 1840, as there was in bringing forward Colonel Fremont, the Great Rocky Mountain pathfinder. Large meetings had been held, processions formed, and guns fired. The struggle was expected to be most exciting. From the confident tone, however, of the Democratic jour nals the election of Mr. Buchanan appeared certain. Mr. Buchanan, in his official letter accepting the nomination of the Cincinnati Committee, assumes that America was entitled to a " preponderance and control " in Central America, and concludes : Should I be placed in the Executive chair, I shall use my best exertions to cultivate peace and friendship with all nations, believing this to be our highest policy as well as our most imperative duty ; but, at the same time, shall never forget that in case the necessity should arise— which I do not now apprehend—our national rights and national honour must be preserved at all hazards and at any sacrifice. The grand jury at Washington presented an in dictment against the Hon. Preston S. Brooks for the assault and battery committed on the Hon. Mr Sumner. The latter attended and gave evidence be for the jury. Later advices from Central America state that the election for President of Nicaragua was going on, and Walker was at Leon. Guatemala is stated to have sent an army of 3,000 men against Walker, but being reduced to 500 before crossing the boun • dary of the State, the general marched back to the capital. THE BRAZILS AND RIVER PLATA. Intelligence from Buenos Ayres 28th of May, and Rio Janeiro 14th of June, state that a prolonged peace in the confederate republics was hoped for. At Rio great excitement had been created by the publication of a letter which Mr. Stafford Jerningham, her Majesty's Charge d'Affaires at that capital, had addressed to the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, denouncing, by or,ier of our Government, the conduct of the Government of Brazil in respect of the slave trade, and threatening to put in force the Act of Parliament passed in 1815, empowering British cruisers to interfere for the suppression of the traffic on the coasts and in the ports and rivers of Brazil. Mr. Jerningham accused the agents and 657 officials of the Brazilian Government of neglect, and upbraided the Government, itself with failing to fulfil its many assurances that the slave trade shall be energetically put down. Court nb lastiton. Her Majesty and the Court will leave Buckingham Palace on the 15th, for the Isle of Wight. The King of the Belgians and family took their leave of her Majesty on Wednesday afternoon, and left for Dover en route to Brussels. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of I'russia arrived on a visit to the Queen on Thurs day afternoon. Prince Adelbert of Prussia, during the week, has paid visits to the ships, dockyards, and fortifications at Portsmouth and Plymouth. The Marquis and Marchioness of Westminster gave a grand hall on Thursday evening. Upwards of 1,000 of the nobility were present. _ _ Viscount Palmerston has taken for a term the late Sir Richard Sutton's mansion in Piccadilly, formerly in the occupation for many years of his late Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge. The Earl of Shelburne arrived in town on Tues day night from Bowood, Wilts. On the following day the noble earl entered on his official duties as Under Secretary of State for the Foreign Depart• ment, at the Foreign-office, in Downing-street. The Earl of Listowel has left town for the Con. tinent. ittropolitan. LORD STANLEY, M.P., presided at a meeting of the Early-Closing Association held on Thursday after noon at Willis's-rooms. There was a full attend. ance of noblemen, gentlemen, and ladies. The pro ceedings opened by prayer, after which Lord Stanley rose, and in a vigorous speech addressed himself at once to the practical points of the question he advo cated, viz., that Saturday afternoons should be secured as a holiday : We appeal to public opinion only ; we appeal to the public mind, not heated by declamation nor exasperated by controversy ; we appeal to reason as much as to feeling ; we seek not to stir men's sympathies, but to work upon their deliberate and dispassionate conviction, to show what is their interest as employers and men of business, and that our object coincides with their duty as citizens. The noble lord then entered into the details of the plan proposed : We want the Saturday half•holiday to be the rule, and the reverse the exception. We wish to establish it in every department of human labour where it can be established without absolute and pressing inconvenience. He insisted that the question of labour resolved itself into two branches—production and distribution. With the branch of production, the rule of closing at two p.m. on Saturdays was already very generally fol lowed, and without complaint on the part of the em ployers ; and then, as regarded the case of distribu tion, in the wholesale business the half-holiday could be given, while in the retail business, if customers would refrain from making purchases late on Satur days, and employers pay wages on Friday nights, it could also be given without inconvenience. There were only two objections to the plan—abuse of leisure, and loss of profit. The first was unworthy of reply : The truth is (continued Lord Stanley) that the amount of labour we have is not only sufficient but excessive, and if the want of leisure restrains men from evil on the one hand, it debars them from opportunities of impiovement on the other. The other difficulty is more serious in appearance, but only in appearance. Taking the same division of labour into production and distribution, it is clear as to the last—that the amount of trade is not lessened by reducing the hours of labour. What the people want they will buy in five days and a hid as well as in six. What they don't want, it is better for society, since it is a waste and a loss, that they should not buy. Nor is it proposed to close retail shops altogether, and with these chiefly the public is concerned. He did not wish to recommend idleness : Don't let me be misunderstood. lam the last person to recommend idleness to any man or class; on the con trary, I say from my heart that whoever lives without a profession—that is, without regular work, being in health—is and deserves to be miserable. I should regret to see in Europe, especially in England, the Eastern idea of "labour being a curse " realised; it is not a cut se but a blessing, and a necessity as much as rest itself. But what we ask is, that it shall not monopolise all human life, that the working man shall not go down to his grave a mere worn-out machine, with a mind undeveloped, life unenjoyed, the wonders of nature and of intellect un known, and with no culture except that of the special faculty exercised in his calling. We can do but little, but we can do something, and this is a step in the right direction. The noble lord then concluded, asserting that in greater energy, contentment, cheerfulness, and resit- A