The Press. — London, England, 1857-12-26 00:00:00

1248 With respect to the English engineers, the Act of Accusation against the prisoners detained for the Cagliari affair includes the two English engineers, who will be tried under the same circumstances as the other prisoners. The trial is not expected to come on before the middle of January. The commercial crisis had reached Milan, and caused the most tremendous convulsion. The following letter, dated Milan, December 15, gives an authentic version of the true state of affairs there The difficulties of the present time are very, very great ; failures are occurring on a frightful scale, and after those of Palleari, of Ballabio and Co., of Cighera, of Redaelli, of Wechler and Mazzola, after the contrecoup of foreign cities, after the suspension of payments by the best houses of Verona, Venice, tidino, and Bergamo, our strongest firms also begin to waver, and to make up their accounts. And the accounts are very sad. Let it suffice to remark that among our great silk houses there is not one that has in warehouse a less quantity than 50,000 lbs. of silk, whence it is easy to calculate that at present prices every one of them must lose from half a million to two millions of francs—the stock of some of them exceeding 150,000 lbs. The firm of Brambilla, Brothers, was supported by a loan of one million and a half of francs ; Battista Gavazzi is liquidating, and others are doing the same. Every man asks himself what we have to look forward to ; so many fortunes vanished, so many reduced by one half; so many families, lately in easy circumstances, now at their last shift ; so many workmen without work or bread, or means subsistence of any kind. A letter from Rome of the 16th gives some account of the ordination of Prince Lucien Bona parte to priest's orders, as already announced : The Pope himself officiated in his private apartments, and all the members of the Bonaparte family now in Rome were present at the ceremony. The young Prince, who is remarkable for his piety, was greatly affected. After the ceremony the Pope entertained all the Bonaparte family at breakfast, Cardinal Antonelli, Secretary of State, being present. This day Monsignor Bonaparte said his first mass, the church he selected being that of Santa Maria, in the Via Leta, in which his mother, the Princess Zenaide, is interred. The church was crowded. A grand breakfast was afterwards given in the Palace Gabrielli, in which the I'rince resides, and it was attended by several personages of distinction, and among them Cardinals Santucci, Grande, Gazzoli, and Barnabo. THE PRESS, DECEMBER 26, 1857. evidence of their being armed and organised, their landing will probably encounter as little opposition from the officers of the United States' Government as did their departure. More precise instructions have since been sent out, but, whether it was so designed or not, they will not arrive in time to affect the present expedition, unless it should be accidentally delayed. LORD SHAFTESBURY'S CHURCH BILL. TO THU EDITOR OF 64 THE PRESS." Sir,—l can heartily subscribe to the greater part of your remarks on Lord Shaftesbury's proposed bill on Saturday, the 12th instant. lam sure there is not, as a whole, a more deserving and hard-work ing class of men than the clergy. The strength of the Church of England lies in her clergy. When she needs defence the clergy, and not the bishops, have to take up arms. When we look at the lists of our parochial charities for the blind, the destitute, and the aged, we shall find that. -most of them have been founded by clergymen—e.g., Hetherington, Gisborne, &c. &c. Still it appears to be the interest of some and the policy of others to run them down, and defraud them of their rights—as in the case of the Registration Acts, the Divorce Bill—and now it is proposed to set them loose upon each other. The parishes which will be mostly affected by this unchristian proposal are the new district parishes. And what is there calling for interference with them ? How have they been formed. For the most part by the labour and at the expense of their in cumbents. My own case represents hundreds of others. On entering upon my labours in this dis trict I found that a Church Building Committee had been in existence for six years, and had wrangled, and contended, and refused to sign the builder's contract. I made myself personally responsible and the church was opened twelve months after, wards. In the same manner I became responsible for schools and teachers' residences. I have acted in a similar manner in other parishes. During seventeen years that I have been in the ministry I have been the means, and that at a very consid?rable expense to myself, of the erection of two churches, and the re pewing of another, and of the building seven schools (and five others have been erected in imitation of my example, of one of which I am a trustee) and two teachers' residences. I bear the expenses of my church and other services, and pay for all repairs, and all the salaries of curates, or ganist, clerk, and pew-openers. I have secured for the parish in perpetuity, in pensions for the poor, medical aid and help for the distressed, more than 1001. per annum, and raise for the same purposes by means of collections and subscriptions 4001. per annum more. I superintend the movements of an organised staff of visitors, from whom I learn the condition and wants of every individual in my parish where my visits are required, and in what cases help is needed. Through this medium, and by other means, I give away annually about 20,000 books and tracts. I have every week to inspect the journal of my Scripture-reader, and direct him in his work. Every week in the winter I have six public services— in summer, four ; besides Bible-classes, Sunday school teachers' meetings, and other meetings. In short, I am working for my people by day and night. I feel I have the cure of souls ; I know that I am responsible for my cure, and shall have to give account. I delight in my work. 1 dwell in the midst of my people. Who can have an equal interest in them ? Who can know them so well, or care for them so much? My bishop, who lives forty or fifty miles off, knows nothing about them; no speculating clergyman, who might by the proposed bill open a room in my district, could do them any good. He would neglect his own charge, and not benefit mine. He would be here to-day, and gene to-morrow. We all know that impressions must be followed up. The parson is useless, unless he is the pastor as well as the preacher. The only way to benefit the masses is to take the Gospel to their doors—to preach in their cottages. They are always ready to offer them for that purpose. Let the minister vary his weekly meetings ; holding them one week in one cottage, the next in another. The people, he will find, boon become interested. But what, I ask, would be the effect of Lord Shaftes bury's proposal ? It would set the clergy in an tagonism one against another; create divisions; foster jealous feelings ; and terminate in indifference and disorder. Suppose an itinerant preacher opens a room for service. He draws away horn the parish church a few of two classes of hearers, one class of which contributes to the chanties of the parish. When this class leave the church they drop their subscriptions. A few of the poor go to hear the strange preacher ; their pastor loses sight of them, and in time of want no one knows them. The mere preacher does not, cannot, visit them. The parochial funds are diminished. There is no help. In what way, then, are the working classes benefited? . They cannot be benefited but by a stated ministry--a ministry that reaches their cot- TURKEY. The newly-established British Consular Court has commenced its proceedings. M. de Lesseps has arrived at Constantinople. . _ The Turkish Government has recently despatched an expedition to put down an insurrection at Tri poli. The Paris Paya mentions the existence of another notice issued by the Turkish Government to its representatives at foreign Courts respecting the Danubian principalities question. With the excep tion of its postscriptum, that document consists merely of a repetition of the circular notes already published. It is dated December 1. We subjoin the postscript : You must make it clearly understood that we have no wieh to bring about the dissolution of the Divans before they have terminated their labours, in conformity with the provisions of the treaty of the 30th of March. Our sole desire is, that they should nct be allowed to subsist during the meeting of the Conference to deliberate on the wishes these assemblies have expressed; that is to say, the alternative should not be admitted to allow them to exist until the points relative to the political organisation (of the Danubian principalities) shall have been settled by the Congress, in order that they should have to be asked afterwards to complete their work. To sum up. What we mean is, that when the European commission shall have presented their final report, the assemblies should break up, as is, moreover, laid down in the above-men tioned treaty, whether they have completed their allotted task. or whether they persist in their demand to be allowed to wait until the first part of their labours is settled, and undertake, at a litter period, the discussion of the second. (Signed) AMERICA. Intelligence from New York to the 12th inst. announces the resumption of specie payments at New York. The Secretary for the Treasury has proposed to supply an issue of treasury notes not to exceed 20,000,000 dollars. He also proposes the paJsage of compulhory Bankrupt Act, by which insolvent banks and railway companies may be wound up, whether they like it or not. There has been a skirmish between Colonel Alexander's forces and the Mormons. A large force is sent against the latter, and a protracted war is considered inevitable. With respect to the filibusters, the Washington correspondent of the New York Post publishes the following report : The preparations of the filibusters for their last expedi• tion were ninth inure complete, and the situation of affairs in Central America is much more favourable to their encores than was at first supposed. The officers of the United States' vessels on that coast are instructed to in tercept ally parties coming there with hostile purposes— the responsibility of deciding upun the intentions being thrown upon them ; so that if Walker and his patty to be simply emigrants, and there is no palpable tages. If districts are too large, divide them. Let my Lord Shaftesbury raise a fund for building new churches and endowing them. Let him never become the means of setting, the clergy upon detouring one another. By such means he will bring the Church, and religion itself, into contempt. His proposal will work evil in every way alike to the Tractarian as to the Evangelical. In fact, the pro moter of error is more active than the preacher of truth. Really respectable and godly men, I know, would not avail themselves of any such liberty, par.. ticularly if they knew it were in opposition to the wishes of the incumbent. As to the late services in Exeter-hall, I deny that they answered the purpose for which they were intended. Why, we have Lord Panmure telling us he want. Though my district is several miles from the Strand, I found two or three of my people going there as they had a predilection for this or that preacher. I would tell my Lord Shaftesbury that a district of two thousand is not sufficient to maintain a clergyman by the pew rents, particularly as he has the charities of his parish mainly to support. I repeat it, none but conceited clergymen will ever avail themselves of this new fangled proposal, and as regards themselves it will only foster pride. They will seek to please men, and so prove they are not the servants of Christ. And with regard to their bearers, they will only create itching ears, and all the evils mentioned by St. Paul in 1 Cor. chap. 3. Whoever heard of Paul placarding the walls of Athens or Corinth announcing his intention to preach ? No ;he went amm p , the masses : where multitudes were gathered, thither he went. Let the intinerating ministers of our own day go and preach to the heathen—there is a wide field wherein they will not build on another man's Lunde • tion ; and let my Lord Shaftesbury act with con sistency and Christian feeling and charity. " What soever ye would that men should do unto you do ye likewise unto them." While he would limit parishes to two thousand souls, he would swell congregations to twice that amount. He may depend upon it he will destroy local effort and charity for the poor. I was about to build a third school in my parish, and devising means for its endowment, but I shall now wait and see the issue of his proposal. I beg to remind the Bishop of London of the fact that he has had no acquaintance with parochial work, and also tbat bishops sit in the House of Peers to represent the clergy (who are excluded). His Lordship never speaks in the House of Lords but to misrepresent the clergy of his diocese. He recom mended the clergy to accept the Divorce Bill when from the tenor of his speech he felt they abhorred it. He seems to think that it is his duty to represent the Premier rather than the clergy. The ded is not far distant when our bishops must be elected by the clergy of their respective dioceses, or otherwise be expelled the House of Lords. I beg to thank you, sir, for the stand you make against all these innovations on the institutions of our country. Go on, sir, and show the clergy their danger, and urge them to unity.—Yours, &c., A CLERGYMAN. court Ant las4ton. Her Majesty and the Royal Family are at Windsor. The u,ual bounty and alms have beendistributed during the week. His Excellency Ferouk Khan, Persian Envoy Extraordinary, has received an audience of leave from her Majesty the Queen, and has paid farewell visits to their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess Mary, and to their Excellencies the French and the Turkish Ambassa dors. The Duke and Duchess of Wellington will pass the Christmas holidays at Hatfield-house. The Right Hon. B. Disraeli and Mrs. Disraeli have left town for Hughendon. The Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., and Mrs. Herbert are entertaining a succession of company at Wilton•house. VWlcal. THE GOVERNMENT AND THE FAST INDIA CO M PAN Y. THE Globe of Monday writes,—" We are enabled to confirm the following annouucetunt, which appears in the Times' City article: — It is understood the FAst India Company have receiveil formal notice that it is the intention of the Government to bring in a Bill for the abolition of the idoublo govern ment. The announcement is substantially correct ; the Chairman has received an intimation that it is the intention of Lord Pahnerston's Cabinet to introduce a bill for bringing the administration of India under the direct government of the queen. The intimation canuot have surprised any one. For some time Fast