The Press. — London, England, 1855-01-20 00:00:00

58 jortign ant( dolonial 3nttiligente. FRANCE. The subscription - book for the new loan closed on Tuesday evening, and on Thursday the Moniteur announced that the sum total subscribed for amounted to 2,175,000,000 f. 177,000 persons took part in the loan. Algeria, Corsica, and the offers inscribed in some of the departments during the last few days are not comprised in this amount. The departments furnished 126,000 subscribers, the sub scriptions of whom give a capital of 777,000,000 f. At Paris there were 51,000 subscribers, with a capital of 1,398,000,000 f. The foreign subscriptions were then divided England provided a capital of 150,000,000 f. (6,000,0001.), and Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, &c., a similar amount. In the original programme of the loan there was a promise that the minor capitalists who offered for amounts not ex ceeding 500 f. (201.) of annual Rentes, should have a preferential claim to the allotments. It turns out that the whole twenty millions sterling has been subscribed for by this class, who will accordingly absorb the entire loan, so that all the large capi talists and foreign subscribers must be altogether refused. It is stated that the French Government have returned the ten per cent. deposit paid on the larger subscriptions. Messrs. Rothschild and Baring have notified to the English subscribers that their deposits will also be repaid. Before the Imperial Guard left Paris on their way to the Crimea the officers were entertained at a magnificent banquet given by the Emperor at the Tuileries. After dinner the Emperor and Empress mingled with the groups of the guests, addressing words of sympathy to each of those brave men. At the moment of departure, the Emperor, raising his voice, and in accent full of emotion, uttered some words, the latter portion of which were as follows : " Go," said his Majesty, " my thoughts will follow you in the distant country to which you go to fight for the cause of right and for the country's honour. I shall be with you yet more when absent than when present." His Majesty afterwards presented to each of the officers a magnificent pelisse, lined with fur. Before marching to the terminus of the Lyons railway, the detachments assembled under the windows of the Emperor at the Tuileries. There, in the presence of a crowd, which joined its accla mations to those of the soldiers, the air resounded with enthusiastic cries of " Vive l'Empereur !" From the height of the balcony the Emperor responded by waving an adieu. The first detachment of the Guard, 1,100 strong, sailed from Marseilles on Tuesday, on board the English steamers Vulcan and Ripon. GERMANY. Instructions to open the conferences for peace, at Vienna, were on Wednesday received by Lord West morelaud and Baron de Bourqueney by telegraphic despatches from the respective Governments. Regular advices to the same effect were transmitted on the same day to the envoys from London and Paris by special couriers. The Emperor received a deputation from the National Back of Vienna on Sunday, and in the course of the interview is said to have expressed his hope in the re-establishment of peace. Baron Baumgartner, Austrian Minister of Finances and Commerce, tendered his resignation on the 11th. It was accepted, and a telegraphic despatch imme diately forwarded to Trieste, to be thence transmitted to the Baron de Bruck at Constantinople, inviting that diplomatist to take the vacant porfolio. The Baron de Bruck formerly held the post which M. Baum gartner has quitted. Baron Prokesch, the present Austrian Minister at Frankfort, will, it is believed, succeed Baron Bruck as ambassador at Constanti nople. The negotiations with the Vatican for a Concordat are very far advanced. The Austrian negotiators are the Cardinal-Archbishop of Prague and the Arch bishop of Vienna ; the latter also has credentials from the Primate of Hungary. The addition of the Radetsky steam-frigate to the Austrian navy was celebrated at Trieste on the 10th inst., with prayers, church music, the national hymn, firing of cannons, and a ball at which the Archduke Max was present. SWEDEN AND DENMARK. It is stated that the Swedish Miuister in London has intimated to the British Cabinet the desire of his Government to give in its adhesion to the treaty of the 2nd December. Six members of the Danish House of Commons laid on Tuesday before the Volkthing a bill for the impeachment of the former (Oersted) Ministry. It was believed that the motion would ce defeated by a majority of the house. PIEDMONT. A treaty was signed on the 10th inst. by which Sardinia gives its adhesion to the alliance of April, 1854, between England, France, and the Porte. By this convention Sardinia binds herself to plums 16,000 THE PRESS. men at the disposal of the Western powers, It is not yet known how soon this contingent will be called for. At the meeting of the Chamber of Representa tives on the following day, the President of the Council announced that General Dabormida had re signed the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, which had been provisionally intrusted to the Minister of Finance (Count Cavour). This resignation is believed to have arisen out of the conclusion of the new treaty. A bill of great importance is now under disctussion in the Turin Chamber, into which it was introduced under Government auspices. The measure is designed to suppress, with certain exceptions, the conventual and monastic institutions throughout Piedmont, to re-distribute a large amount of church revenue s , and to prevent preperty becoming vested in eccle siastical corporations. The bill has received strenuous opposition from the Church party, and the debate was still pending when the Chambers ad journed for a brief recess on the 12th inst., in con sequence of the death of the Queen Dowager. TURKEY. At a great diplomatic dinner given in Constanti nople on the 9th, the Austrian Internuncio, M. Bruck, gave as a toast, " The Sultan and his brave army of the Danube, who are the admiration of all Europe." "There," the Internuncio exclaimed, "they have, in every action, defeated the Russians; they have taught the Russian Court that they were able gloriously to defend the rights of Turkey against Muscovite ambition. !Like the Western powers, Austria was willing to fight for the rights of Turkey and of justice, whatever might be the result." And he stated in conclusion, with remarkable energy, that Russia was no longer to be feared— she must yield. The emotion of the guests was ex treme ; and the Grand Vizier warmly thanked the Internuncio. The Sultan has issued a firman, in which his Highness thanks the army of Omer Pacha for its conduct on the Danube, and expresses a hope that it will continue the same in the campaign which is about to open in the Crimea. The command of the Turkish army of the Danube has been given to Ismail Pacha, surnamed Kalafat. The army consists only of 0,000 men, distributed over Bucharest, Ibraila, and Giurgevo. The firman authorising the cutting of a navigable canal across the Isthmus of Suez, has been signed by the Porte. RUSSIA. The Russian Ministry of the Marine has published numerous promotions amongst the officers of the Baltic and Black Sea squadrons. It was the Grand Duke Constantine who proposed it to the Emperor, and the latter was very well disposed to reward the sailors of the Black Sea fleet, whom he has already eulogised in his proclamations. By a new decree, the exportation from Poland of wheat, and all other provisions of which the export was not already prohibited, is strictly forbidden. Reports have reached Vienna that the Russians had occupied the Danube and obtained several ad vantages over the Turks. Official accounts of these movements are still wanting. According to one des patch, from Brailow, 20,000 Russians had entered the Dobrudscha, and a body of 15,000, with 50 guns, was advancing tows/cis Baltchick. Other advices stated, that during the night of the 7th inst. a Russian detachment crossed the Danube, and ad vanced as far as Babadagh. The Russians captured 83 Turks and one flag. After this exploit the whole Russian detachment returned to Ismail, in Bes. sarabia. The Turks had a few men killed, and the Russians also suffered a small loss. In order to accelerate the communication with the Crimea, the Government has ordered the estab lishment of a service of malle-poster from St. Peters burg to Simferopol, which are to commence running immediately. UNITED STATES. New York advices to the 2nd inst. have been re ceived by the America mail steamship. A bill had been introduced into the House of Representatives, and referred to the Committee of Commerce, for prohibiting the introduction into the United States of foreign criminals and paupers. It is understood that John ➢Mitchell has withdrawn from the editorship of the Citizen. He confesses that he hes. i been grevioasly disappointed in the temper of the American people—finding them much less dis posed than he imagined to encourage the free expres sion of opinion upon all subjects. Mexican news to the 19th December had arrived via New Orleans. General Santa Anna had been elected by nearly an unanimous vote. Reports of additional victories of the Government troops were pre valent. General Alvarez had approached to within eighteen leagues of the city. INDIA AND CHINA. The overland mail has arrived with Calcutta dates of the 18th, Madras 10th, and Bombay 14th mite SATURDAY, The Burmese ambassador had arrived at Calcutta, and had an audience on the 11th of December. The Nepaulese army is to march through our territory to attack the Grand Lama. It has been decided to open the Legislative Council of Calcutta to the public and the press. This seems the beginning of a sort of parliamentary chamber, which will possibly be realised at some future period. An engineering class has been opened at Calcutta under Colonel Goodwyn, chiefly intanded for the instruction of the natives, who now, it is hoped, will begin to see the importance of this branch of knowledge. So short is the supply of civilians in Bombay suited for high appointments, that young men not six years in the service, and not seven and twenty years of age, are holding appointments wor►h close on 2,0001. a year, others of from ten to fourteen years' service holding those from 2,0001. to 3,0001., for which no special or Haileybury qualification is required. From China it is reported that Sir John Bowing had returned to Hong-Kong from the north without reaching Pekin. The rebels had captured a largo part of thu impe. rial squadron, and there was a panic at Canton. (lout int (Ostia. THE Court has remained at Windsor during the week, where the French Ambassador and Countess Walewski, and his Serene Highness Prince Ernest of Leiningen, have been among the guests honoured with invitations from her Mt‘jesty. The Earl of Cardigan and Viscount Hardinge dined with the Queen on Thursday. Her Mikjesty's magnificent new steam-yacht the Victoria and Albert, to complete which every artisan of the establishment has of late been employed from daylight until ten at night, was launched at Pem broke on Tuesday last. Letters have been received from the Duke of Cambridge, who is now at Malta, waiting to see what effect the change of air may have on his debilitated health. His Royal Highness intends to remain in the island to try and recruit his health, in order that he may return to the British army in the Crimea immediately after its restoration, and will not hear of coming home until all other means have failed. The vacant blue ribbon, according to the Globe, is to be conferred on the Earl of Aberdeen. _ _ . On Tuesday, a Cabinet Council was held, which was summoned to meet at two o'clock, and did not break up until nearly seven. Lord John Russell, who had returned that morning from Paris, joined his colleagues during the progress of their consultation. Another Council met on Thursday, and sat for three hours. His Excellency the Hon. Sir William Temple, brother to Viscount Palmerston, has left. Paris to re _ assume his diplomatic functions at the Court of King Ferdinand of the Two Sicilies. The venerable Countess of Carlisle has been attacked by severe illness, and but slight hopes are entertained of her recovery. It will be very gratifying to the sick and wounded at Scutari to learn that the newspapers and books which reach them so regularly through the War office are the personal gifts of the Queen, purchased of her Majesty's newsman, according to a list of which her Majesty has expressed her approval Her Royal Highness the Countess of Trapini was on the 7th happily delivered at Naples of a princess, who has received the name of Maria Theresa. The Duke of Brabant had left Vienna to make an excursion in Greece and Egypt. It is expected that he will stop some time at Cairo, and afterwards visit Naples and Rome, and return to Belgium about the middle of summer. The health of the Prince in spired no uneasiness to the physicians of Vienna who had been consulted. THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND REVENUE have caused it to be intimated that although there is no express exemption in favour of receipts given for subscriptions to charitable institutions, but the board think that where the sum acknowledged to have been received is a mere voluntary gift, not entitling the person making the payment to any advantage, the acknowledgment may be regarded as not liable to stamp duty. The nature of the gift should, however, be expressed in the acknowledgment. THE EAST INDIA RAILWAY COMPANY are stated to have paid into the treasury at the India-house up to Saturday last 780,0001. out of the 1,500,0001. re quired by the 15th of February. During the current week they have paid about 000,000/. more, the re cent call having been promptly met, while that for February has in numerous cases been anticipated. Many shareholders, also, have paid up in full,