The Press. — London, England, 1856-04-12 00:00:00

346 defends the privilege that is the foundation and safeguard of representative institutions. The parties, unpopular and popular, are not evenly balanced : that of the " Croix " is composed of obdurate mate rials, clinging to worn-out principles belonging to the time of the Great Fredenck, and designated in France by the word "rococo "; and the other, re moved alike from the licence of democracy and the injustice of despotism, marches onward in accord ance with the views and necessities of civilisation. Both, equally opposed to Austria, have distinct views on the German question. On European politics, the peculiar opinions of the "Croix" despotists have been advanced by M. de Gerlach in his pamphlet, "Les Francais en Allemagne—oui ou non "; whilst the Gotha Liberals loudly condemn the crusading ad jurations against France as unwise and uncalled for. Whatever loss Prussia may have sustained in national importance has been an immediate addition to that of Russia, and cannot be remedied ; neither is it desired by England and France that there shoqld be a remedy, since it is their object and determina tion that Russia should be scrupulously preserved in her elevation as one of the three primary powers. Crooked courses rarely lead to a safe haven. If Sardinia was anxious that Italian affairs should have had a more prominent place in the discussions at the Conference, there is the ready consolation that recent occurrences will compel the European powers to interfere without further loss of time. To explain away or to justify the crimes, hot and heavy, of the King of Naples, is a specimen of that blind infatuation and craven submission to tyranny, that has brought more than one sovereign into irre• mediable trouble. Neither is the Pope a less grievous blight to Italian freedom and good go vernment. The nature of his spiritual power is in eternal conflict with the temporal, to the injury of both, and the wretchedness of his subjects; and this crying evil has directed popular opinion against the person of the priest. Should the army of France be withdrawn from Rome, the Papal States would be instantly disorganised from Ferrara to Ponte Corvo: and the question would arise whether Austria would be permitted to occupy the place of the French troops. The plenipotentiaries of Sardinia, there fore, may be assured that the affairs of Italy will force themselves upon the notice of European states man without fear of inattention or neglect. Much money and more blood has been spent to preserve the entirety of the Ottoman empire. But Turkey is one thing, and the Turks are another. It is the distinction between the Snitan and the Ulemah. To save the shattered influence of Turkey in the Danubian principalities, the provinces should be united under a Christian prince, chosen by Europe, and not belonging to the house of Hapsburg, who should pay a guaranteed tribute to the Porte. This plan is displeasing to Turkish ideas of suze• rainty, and to the designs of Austria, and a claim is made speciously to maintain the Porte in the precise state " ante quo helium," according to promise. It is as a draft drawn at sight on the assumed liabilities of the allies, and which, if honoured, would plunge the principalities into their former course of in trigues and revolutions. The fifth point of the propositions that was said to be charged with peril has been facile of solution, and that of the Danube, which, from th e first, has been treated in THE PRESS as the key of the Eastern question, will prove the real difficulty. Austria will use every energy—fair and foul—without scruple as without compunction, to keep the Moldo-Wallachian provinces in a state incapable of good government, so that at a future time they may be dealt with in a bargain and for the personal profit of the house of Hapsburg-Lorraine. The fate of Europe, with the hope that the peace may be of long duration, depends upon the prepon derating influence of the three great powers. The moment the war has ceased, the sincerity of the peace has been tested and proved by the frank union and determined co-operation of England, France, and Russia, in a policy that will not permit secondary States to disturb the restored tranquillity of Europe. J. E. L. Foreign 30 criolonial 33telligente. FRANCE. The brilliant and remarkable speech of the Due do Broglie, upon his admission into the Academy, has not only created a considerable sensation in Paris, been a godsend to the journals, and af forded novel matter for conversation, but it has excited serious apprehensions that the whole acade mical system may possibly be reorganised or swept away. The aim of the Due de Broglie, in his sketch of Mazarin, is evident, and the dexterity with which the sarcasm is conveyed is not the least remarkable point of that portion of his oration : It is very certain that Mazarin, although he did not want courage, had neither the greatness of soul, nor the trepidity of Mathieu Mole ; although he had served in 103 youth, be had neither the impetuous heroism of Conde, liii._ THE PRESS. nor the calmer heroism of Turenne; although he tho roughly knew the human heart, and was an adept in the management of men, he had not when the storm was at its height, and when boldness and eloquence were re quired, either the coup-d'osil, the rapid instinct, or the prompt and firm decision of Cardinal Retz ; although he was a man of expedients, and faithful to his royal mistress, others, whoever may have been their chiefs, or whatever their party, were as faithful as be, and as fertile in re sources ; but because he had but one object—to keep power, and but one councillor, himself—because, in different to means, a stranger to scruples, he determined to carry his point at any cost; because neither time (for he knew how to wait), nor money (for he supplied himself from the public treasury), nor protestations, nor promises, were obstacles in his path ; because he could dissimulate, be patient, and watch for the favorable moment ; he, a foreigner, without other support than the great name of his predecessor, without having (up to that time at least) done anything to give any éclat to his own, defini tively got the better of all the most illustrious men of his time. Regardless of the outcries of the vulgar and the ballads of the wits, he gagged the parliaments, destroyed their best work, rallied Turenne and Mole to his cause, sent Retz to Vincennes, banished Conde to the Low Countries; and, remaining master of the field, displayed in the exercise of power the same qualities that he had shown in obtaining and keeping it. He enjoyed undivided authority for many years without let or hindrance ; he reigned over the King, the regent, and the kingdom ; signed the treaty of the Pyrenees, his real title to glory ; and left, it must be said, his private fortune in a much better condition than he did the finances of the State. The Pays and the Patrie both admit the brilliancy of M. de Broglie's address, but they denounce it as " a rehabilitation of the Fronde, and of the political system established in 1830." "The Academy" con tinues the Pays, " should not abandon its great tra dition as the foyer of letters, to descend into th• arena of politics," while the Patrie taunted the duke, who is a partisan of regulated liberty, with having signed the ordinances of September. The Siècle defends the Academyjand M. de Broglie, and com pares the alarm of its contemporaries at the use of the term " liberty," to the nuns of Loudon who fell into convulsions whenever the names of Behemoth or Asmodeus were pronounced : Is it not a mistake (continues the Slide) thus cease lessly to declaim against liberal institutions, as though they were not the crowning piece of the edifice? Is it consistent with propriety incessantly to attack the repre sentative system and deliberative assemblies? Are those qualifications not those of the Corps Legislatif and of the Senate ? The ratifications of the telegraphic treaty con cluded at Paris on the 28th of December last by France, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, and Sardinia, have been exchanged. This treaty, which will come into operation immediately after its promulgation, will make important reductions in the charge for telegraphic communications. The elections for the Legislative Corps are not expected to take place before 1857. The Assemblie Nationale, in an article on the treaties of 1815, attacks the foreign policy of England since that date. The present war it re marks is concluded, but the Eastern question is not terminated. The health of the Empress and Impe rial Prince is satisfactory. AUSTRIA. The reductions in the Austrian army are still con tinued, and the army, it is reported, will be brought down to the level of 1847. Enormous fortifications are at the same time being erected at Cracow. The return of Count Buol is not anticipated for some little time at Vienna. Negotiations with Berlin had already commenced, with the view of obtaining from Russia some moditi• cation of her prohibitive system, and the Austrian Government is certainly showing some desire to amend the errors of her own old commercial policy. An Imperial ordonance decrees the free admission of several articles subject to import duty. Upon the subject of the peace, the Austrian jour• nals are not very communicative ; the Correspondence is convinced that it is " honourable for all parties," but the feeling at Vienna was not satisfactory as regards the position Austria has been compelled to hold at the Conferences. The Queen of Greece is expected at Vienna in the course of the summer. PRUSSIA. The Prussian Moniteur, of the fith, publishes a decree restricting the negotiation of securities at the Bourse, and demanding an examination of the ques tion whether the propagation of non .official bulletins of prices cannot be prevented by administrative or legislative measures. RUSSIA. The intelligence of the conclusion of peace created a profound sensation as St. Petersiurg. The people were enthusiastic, and had received the Emperor on his return from Finland with the warmest demon• stration.9. A grand review of 75,000 men had taken place. A new loan of 60,000,000 roubles was anticipated. An article in the Abeille du Nereid preaching up the emancipation of Russian civilisation from foreign SATURDAY, - • influence, and violently attacking England, had pro duced a great sensation in the capital. Russian valour and the victories of Sweaborg, &c., are ex tolled ; while the navy and army of England aro taunted with " ignominious defeat." The conclud ing passage observes Albion has lost her prestige. The IVest has shown to vs what we were to expect from it. Let us profit by the lesson we have received; for, in the end, Russia, by her armies, her population, and her geographical positition, is the most vigorous of all empires. Only her productive forces are not sufficiently developed, and from that cause she is poorer than other countries. The Emperor's reception in Finland was very favorable. In an Ordre du Jour the Emperor ex presses his satisfaction at the state of the fleet and coast defences. The manning of the row-boat flotilla at Riga had been stopped. TURKEY. The new Hatti-Scheriff has been ill-received in several towns of Asia, which manifest no little hos tility to the reforms recently decreed ; at Aidin, especially, the Christians have been maltreated. It was said that the cavalry repressed a disturbance by the Turkish population at Ismid. ITALY. Great agitation still exists in Parma, and the in tervention of the Austrians causes serious apprehen sions to Sardinia. A letter from Genoa, of April 4, in the Constitu tionnel, says Piedmont, which has reversionary rights upon the Duchy of Parma, does not see the Austrians exercising command there, as they have done since the state of siege, without feeling some annoyance. General Crenneville has in stalled himself in Parma in the name of the Emperor of Austria; he makes arrests en masse, and sends all his prisoners that he intends to try, before an Austrian court martial at Mantua. DENMARK. The High Danish Chamber, after a long discus sion, and in spite of a strong opposition on the part of the Ministers, have decided that every member has a right to demand explanations from the Uovern ment. The proposal made by Denmark for the capitalisa tion of the Sound dues, has been definitely declined by our Government, though Lord Palmerston expresses a willingness to receive fresh propositions. PERSIA. Intelligence from Tiflis, April 7, states: — The Persians have taken possession of the Island of Karate, in the Persian Gulf. The Minister at War of the shah is dead. The Khan of Barabchan has been arrested. AMERICA. Intelligence to the 28th ult. has arrived this week from New York. No intelligence of the Pacific. The American ship John Rutledge, Captain Kelly, which sailed Jan. 16, from Liverpool, with emigrants for New York, ran into icebergs, 19th Feb., breaking in her bows, and was subsequently abandoned. One man, named Nye, was rescued from an open boat, after drifting about for nine days, by the Germania, which has arrived at New York. Nye reports that all the passengers, 120 in number, and the crew, thirty.five, got into boats, excepting the mate and carpenter. Hopes were cherished that some vessel passing might pick them up, but a storm succeeded the wreck. Nye, who underwent great privations in the boat, gave a frightful account of his sufferings, twelve of his companions having died in the boat one by one in great agony, during the time it was adrift. When rescued he was nearly frozen to death, and had been without food for two days. There was no political news of any importance. Mr. Clayton had concluded his speech on the Central American affair, and declared that the British people, he believed, would rather turn out any Ministry than go to war with America. It was supposed as not improbable that General. Walker would appeal to England for support in his seizure of the property of the Transit Company, who have demanded the interference of the American Government on their behalf. AUSTRALIA. Intelligence from Australia to the 20th Jan. details the funeral of the late governor, and the assumption of the reins of Government by General M'Artbur. The colony was tranquil. Lady Hotham was on the point of starting for England. AN EXPEDITION TO MADAGASCAR, to punish the Queen for her cool treatment of some French sub jects on a late occasion, is much talked of just now in Paris. Charivari has ceased to publish carica tures of Russia, and has now begun to familiarise the public mind with a war with Madagascar. One of its sketches depicts a non-commissioncd officer as giving directions to a soldier practising at a target " We must alter our system of firing," says he, "for we are going to war with Madagascar." "Salt, caporal," replies the soldier, "au lieu de per eU le Wawa je vela tire( stir is nein' r II ■