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

SEPT. 20, 1856. with which, having dipped it in the consecrated oil, he anoints the forehead, eyelids, nostrils, ears, hands, arid breast of the Emperor, pronouncing the solemn words, impres4io doni Spiritus Sancti." The act is done, and Russian eyes look with awe upon the Anointed of God, the Delegate of His power, the High Priest of his Church, at once Emperor and Patriarch, consecrated and installed in his high temporal and spiritual otlice.—M. The Sacrament was then administered, and at the conclusion of the service the Emperor rose from his throne and retired from the church, followed by the Empress and Empress Mother, and presented him self to his people. In the rear of the Emperor walked TODTLEBEN. His carriage is noble and full of hero•like decision, but Itis step falters, and lie limps on with the aid of a cane, which tells how sorely lie still suffers from a wound re ceived in the trenches before the town which his genius so long defended. His countenance is full of intelligence, yet mild and modest; his chin, the most remarkable fea• tore in his face, is finely developed, and bespeaks the iron will which belongs to the great soldier. All eyes are upon him. There too walks the friend of the Emperor Nicholas, the guardian of his son, the negotiator of the treaty of Paris, the upright and gallant Orloff. There too stands the Ambassador of France, and beside him that of England, wearing the distinction (as Prince Metternich called it) of an embroidered coat, unadorned with a single star ur order. Upon the Emperor's appearance in the outer court the enthusiasm of the people surpassed anything ever witnessed. He presented himself for a few mo ments and then proceeded round the courts, visit;ng the three churches within the Kremlin ; after which he retired to the grand banquet in the throne-room, and the ceremonial was over. At night the city was illuminated. The Kremlin presented a most en. chanting view. A good anecdote is preserved of the Princess of Mingrelia : Her highness, who is a remarkably fine woman of about thirty years of age, was gorgeously dressed in gold brocade, with a broad blue sash, on the shoulder-knot of which she wore the Order of St. Katherine in diamonds, conferred on her for her distinguished feats of arms when Omer l'acha ravaged her mountain kingdom, and on her head a splen did coronet of emeralds and rubies. She was accompanied by her son, the reigning prince, a fine little boy eight years old, dressed as an able•de camp of the Emperor, an honour which had been conferred on his little highness only the previous day. Hearing that some " special correspon dent" had ventured within the sacred precincts, her high ness sent her interpreter to the representative of a well known continental journal, requesting a for minutes' con versation. It is needless to add that the gentleman in question was only too ready to obey the summons, and was excessively surprised to find that her highness was fully acquainted with, and duly appreciated the value of, the Fourth Estate. She told him in excellent French that she hoped herself and her dress would be noticed in the journal he represented, and detailed her heroic struggles against Omer niche, who she said had plundered and ravaged lier little kingdom. Her highness, then returning to the great question for which the newspaper plenipoten tiary had been summoned to an audience, said, with much naivete, " Comment me tronvez sons?" The gentleman was of course cbloui, and the interview terminated with a pressing invitation for self and friends to the chateau in the Caucase. if they ever should happen to pass in that direction.—D. News cur. THE WINE DUTIES. Mn. OLIVEIRA was entertained at a public dinner given by the Chamber of Commerce at Montpellier on Saturday last. In replying to his health, Mr. Oliveira referred to the question of the reduction of duties upon wine, and said in the course of his re marks : Gentlemen, since my visit to Montpellier, I have wit nessed the inexhaustible productiveness of this great wine district of France, the goodness of the quality of its product and its e'onomical price. In the cause of free trade, and of our intimate alliance, I demand the use of this wholesome article for the people of England. The only impediment is our high duty, which for many of the wines you have shown me is equal to 2(X) per cent. on their value. This is in effect a prohibition. and it must not continue. You know that I have devoted myself to this interesting question in England, and I feel the strongest confidence that I shall succeed ; but I must have your support. You must endeavour to assist me by obtaining for the French people the use of many articles of manufacture, which we can supply cheap ani good. Let us unite together to carry out real free trade between the two countries. Early this year I accepted an invita tion to the potteries of Stnffordshire, and there I met 20,000 intelligent persons woo all declared by the resolu tions which were passed that they wanted cheap wine in England. Gentlemen those manufacturers of pottery have formed a society of 2.000 members, and they are our warm friends. They are devoted to the French alliance, and are called " The Anglo. French Free Trade Association." One of the mottoes on their banners is " Wine for Pots, and Pots for Wine." They think you can give them cheap wine to drink out of their cheap pots, and they want you to have their cheap pots to drink your wine from. I think this is very reasonable, and I hope we shall accom plish it. He dwelt much on the advantages of the pro posal : One great public benefit to be anticipated is, that we shall get pure wines, instead of counterfeit wines, many THE PRESS. of which are made in England; for adulteration neces sarily results from high duty. M. CHEVALIER, who was present, in proposing the health of her Majesty Queen Victoria, said : The friendship of France and England was, in the words of the plet, " a present front the Gods," not' only to each nation, but also to the world, for it was the most solid guarantee for the repose of the universe, and the best pledge of general peace. It was also a pledge of general progress, for two peoples so great could not be associated and united but for the accomplishment of great designs, and the maintenance of justice upon the earth. The Eastern war had written the proof of this in characters of iron and fire. Queen Victoria had pursued this accord (luring many years with an unflinching constancy which deserved all gratitude. lint, whatever may have been said or thought to the contrary, it was impossible that the alliance could be consummated and become truly cordial before the present day. It was praiseworthy in statesmen to wish for the alliance, but in France the national sym pathy could not till now respond to the call of political men. We felt that we were the vanquished of Waterloo, and that by the treaties of 1815 we had been stripped of the rank which we had held for centuries in Eu►ope. Under these circumstances, the English alliance, whatever good will there might have been on the part of the two Govern• ments, could never have been an alliance t.n a footing of equality. This the public conscience knew and felt, and yet it would never have accepted the alliance on any other terms. Now all was changed. We were no longer the vanquished of Europe. We had recovered ourselves, and we had a right to hold our heads so high that no nation in the world could consider herself above us. The Emperor, to whom the national will freely confided our destinies, belonged to that family which the treaties of 1815 deposed and prescribed with multiplied threats and precautions to maintain their work. As to the disaster of Waterloo, we had effaced the recollection of it by the fraternity of arms. He would say more, we had taken in the valley of Inker• mann a brilliant revenge—a revenge such as became a chivalrous and Christian nation. For if in France the people were delighted to bear witness that our brave allies were heroic on that glorious day by their intrepidity and solidity, England proclaims that but for French im petuosity the valiant English Guards had nothing for it but to wrap themselves iu their colours and die, like the Old Guard at Mont St. Jean. THE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS NAPOLEON witnessed a bull fight at Bayonne on Sunday last. The first bull crept out, as it were, stealthily, and, when least ex pected, made a rush at Aguirre, the torero of the blue cloak, who by a slight but skilful movement evaded the dangerous horns, but yet remained still, and allowed the disappointed animal to rush blindly on until he perceived that his enemy had disappeared. A crowd of ehulos then began to distract his atten tion. They roused him to fury by shaking their cloaks in his face, and the espada Egana, profiting by thefavorable opportunity, for which he had remained quietly on the watch, advanced under his very horns, and executed an admirable suerte is la Navarra. Banderillas, or darts, were planted in the animals neck with much dexterity by Aguirre and Condoya; and in less than half an hour Egana killed his beast at one stroke, without causing him to shed a drop of blood. The second bull, on his first rush from the den, went bounding round the ring in great fury and leaped the barriers; but he soon got tired, and showed no great desire to fight. Egana planted in his neck a couple of darts with gunpowder at the points, and the heated weapons soon produced their effect; his apathy disappeared, and be was quickly roused to fury. He pawed the earth, and made desperate but useless efforts to fling off his torturing appendages. Hceret lethalis arundo. In a few minutes two French bull fighters and two Spaniards were sprawling on the ground. A fresh pair of fire banderillas were planted by Baquez, and a third by Condoya. When the moment for despatching him came he was killed by Egana at the second blow ; and the public were so pleased that the carcase was given to him as a perquisite. Three more bulls were killed, but Egana was much mauled with the second, and carried out. The Emperor and Empress remained to the last. BARON HUBNER, says a letter from Naples, declared on his arrival to the Chevalier Carafa that he had no mission of any kind, but that, if the King would deign to speak to him on political affairs, he would most willingly reply to any questions his Majesty might think proper to address to him. The audience was appointed for Tuesday, the oth, and, punctual to the hour named, Baron Hubner presented himself at the palace, en franc and white neckcloth, as if ex pecting a private audience. To his surprise and mortification he found himself ushered into the State reception-room, where were assembled the King and Queen, the Royal Family, the Ministers of State, and the Ministers of Spain and Portugal, all in Court dress : What could an unfortunate diplomatist do under such adverse circumstances, having left his uniform in his trunk? The audience proved to be merely one of etiquette, and no confidences were either made to, or asked from, Baron Hubner; and to show that his Majesty had no intention of takiiig counsel with the Austrian olive-bearer, he had decided to start that very evening for Gaeta, and was only Prevented from doing so by the tempestuous state of the sea. 6eart so Bastian. 895 Her Majesty the Queen and Royal Family remain at Balmoral. Their Royal Hignesses the Prince of Orange and Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar are at present on a visit to the Queen. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester is daily improving in health. Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston have returned to town from St. Leonards. The Marquis of Westminster is at present on a visit to his son-in-law, Lord Muncaster, of Muncaster Castle. Sir Fitzroy Kelly, who is on a visit to Lord Brougham, in Westmoreland, is confined to his room by indisposition. Lord Pan alure has arrived at Invermark-lodge, his seat in Scotland, and his lordship's tenantry and feuers are about to entertain him at a public dinner. The Marquis of Lansdowne has arrived at the seat of the Count and Countess Flahault. The Right Hon. R. Vernon Smith, M.P., and Mrs. Smith, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Wodehouse Currie, leave Scotland this week for the south. The Right Hon. Henry Labouchere and Lady Mary Labouchere are making a tour of visits in Scotland. Lord Stanley of Alderley is making a series of visits iu Scotland. plittral. COLONEL NORTH, M.P., AND MR. GRANVILLE HARCOURT, M.l'., AT BANBURY. AT the Banbury Agricultural Society's annual dinner, on Tuesday evening, Colonel Nattra, M.P., in reply to the health of " The County Members," observed that in this country every man was at liberty to entertain his peculiar opinions upon political matters, and, more than that, to express them as freely as he liked. It was impossible for a member of Parlia ment to please everybody, but he was certain that as long as he conscientiously performed his duty in a straightforward, manly manner, he would always receive that consideration and marked kindness from his constituents which they had hitherto shown him. Mr. G. HARCOURT, M.P., after thanking the meet ing for the manner in which they had responded to the toast, remarked that the agricultural class of the community was never more prosperous than it was at the present moment, a fact he thought would be ad mitted by all the farmers present. As regarded the peace, he considered that the war had been gloriously concluded, and that we had obtained all that we could desire or reasonably hope for; he trusted, therefore, that the terms upon which the peace had been made would be satisfactory to the whole nation. There was a popular belief that the prosperity of agriculture was promoted much more in time of war than in time of peace. He was persuaded that this statement was erroneous, and proceeded to show that the condition of the country after the peace of 1815 was sufficient to prove that if war temporarily increased prices, its inevitable result was permanently to check the prosperity of the country. The vast debt left by the French war and the increased taxa tion incurred by the late Russian war was a proof that war, so far from being an advantage to agricul turists, was a great evil. With respect to his views upon commercial policy : They were, perhaps, not such as would very much en dear him to an agricultural constituency ; but he had rather more confidence at the present time, because for a few months after the general election of 18:4 he happened to vote with Lord Derby, or rather with Mt. Disraeli and his party, in the House of Commons, upon some question with respect to which he agreed with them. He thought it a pity that the commercial policy adopted by the late Sir Robert Peel was not persevered in, because he be l•.eved if it had been, it would have set at rest the question of free trade. But it was somewhat amusing as well as instructive to contrast the state of things now with those of former years. He recollected perfectly well that in 1822 a gentleman well known to them was examined before a committee of the House of Commons on the question of agricultural distress, foreign wheat not being then admitted until the price was k2s. a quarter. and he complained bitterly that he was selling his wheat at 4s. ed. a bushel. Well, since then they had had what was consi dered a ruinous change in the commercial policy of the country, and notwithstanding that wheat was selling at a good deal more now than 4s. 61. a bushel. Colonel Harcourt concluded by asserting that, on the whole, he thought the course of events of late years had been favorable to the agricultural interest, for it was agreed very generally on all hands that the change in the commercial policy of the country had stimulated the Agricultural interests, roused the energies of the farmers, and led to vast improve ments in the cultivation of land.