The Press. — London, England, 1856-11-01 00:00:00

I NOVEMBER 1, 1856. attachment. M. Verhaegen, the deputy of Brussels, in giving the toast, "A Union of the Liberal Pro vinces," pointed out the imminent danger of this contumacious movement cf the clergy against the Constitution. lie observed— That to be a Liberal in the true signification of the word was to be a Conservative ; and that the first duty of loyalty was to preserve the integrity of the Constitution against any inroad, be it republican, or be it clerical and absolu tist. On the 14th of June, 1846, a congress of Liberals was held in the Hotel de Ville at Brussels. M. de Facqz, the president of the assembly, in a speech even now well re membered, made clear the necessity of organising an op position to the encroachments of the clergy (il demontra la necessity dune forte organisation afin de mettre un terme aux empietements du clergy ). The Liberal asso ciations of that day, opened and determined, and insti tuted for the preservation of the Constitution, bravely triumphed. Those provincial committees have never been formally dissolved; they exist still, and only re quire to be again put into active operation for the same cause and with the same success. The time of concession is past. As ill 1817 the Liberal party must be up and doing. It was then that the cause of the King and Con stitution was saved by Flanders, and Flanders will a second time raise its voice and defend the country. Inaccessible to fear, confident in the righteousness of their cause, and resolute of purpose, the Flemish patriots well know who ere their foes and how they must be treated. The policy of conciliation and moderation must be abandoned, since it has been preache 1 by the clergy only to dupe the loyal and unsuspecting. That is a game never played twice. (On ne trausige pas deux fois sur le metne sniat.) We will now exact the most rigid obedience to the letter of the law and the Constitution. " Je hots, messieurs, aux Flandres, et a l'unioo. des liberaux dans toutes lea provinces." In obedience to this advice the old associations are again brought into play, and are being actively or ganised throughout the provinces to oppose the clerical pretensions put forth in the pastoral of the Bishop of Bruges. The Bien Public and other ultramontane journals, not being able to deny the importance of the Ghent manifestation in honour of M. 11Ianilius, content themselves with criticising the modesty of the fare, in comparison with the more artistic displays of their sacerdotal partisans. Such a " facilis descensus " is rather more than question able in taste. One less discreet than the rest brings back to the recollection of the priestly wassailers the sumptuous feast given by the Bishop of Ghent in celebration of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The first post-prandial toast was rro posed by the Bishop of Ghent himself, " a bocce plena," in terms that amounted in religions, not to say decent, ears to a direct blasphemy. A " carte" of this bacchanalian revel in honour of the Immaculate Conception has been furnished by one of the guests, and it may thereby be seen how the elect of Rome— haughty prelates and mendicant friars—having sworn obedience to the observances of charity, poverty, and chastity, secretly disport themselves when free from restraint and the uncongenial austerities of the con fessional : TO THE EDITOR OF " THE MESSAGER." Sir,—A fortunate chance has placed in my hands the "menu " or bill of fare of the famous dinner given by the Bishop of Ghent in honour of the Immaculate Conception. On the back of the " carte," a precise copy of which I inclose—observing that the ori g inal bears a profusion of bacchanalian stains—is a raised border, and in the centre, within a chaplet of flowers, appears the name of the invited guest. Above the name is a goblet between two baccha• nalian thy rses, "Hunc est bibenditm." I trust, sir, that you will not fail to make a few edifying remarks on this list of thirty and more dishes gorged by these roystering sons of the Church in honour of the Immaculate Conception. —Yours, &c. 11 nitres Glaces a la vanille Putage a la Reine Glaces a la frambuises Ilouchees aux ecrivisses Ananas Relevees. Oranges Turbot—sauce Hollandaise Fruits, confita, Jtc. Filets de bceuf it la Alonglas Nudes vilifies ViM. Enlries. Poullar (41) Gratins de pluviers ala Pa• Chateau I,eoville risienne Chateau 3largaux Suprimue de volailles a la Sauterne Richelieu Haut Barsac Caisses de filets de lievre u Grave rimperiale Chambertin Ris de veau a la duchesse Pommard Aspic de foie gras Chablis Legumes. Champagn e Asperges au beurre Fleurs de Sillery Petits pois Fleurs de Banzy Rolia. Rudescheimer Gigot de Clievreuil Asmanhauser Poulardes de Mans Steinberger Beessies Braumberger Fuisans de Boheme argentes Pisporter Plats Froids. Nadere Buisson de Homards Vid ,nia Jambons decores Frontignan Potisseries. Liqw urs. Meringue Pavillon Venitien Curscoa Gelee en Macedoine de fruits Absinthe Suisse .._ ..... Croquant aim roches Creme de Meulle Giteau de Dinant Marssquin Gelee en Msra4gnin Cognac Gitean an punch Kirchenwamen Scheidam THE PRESS. A missive has arrived from the Pope, conveying stringent censure of the Bishops of Ghent and Bruges, for having deeply injured the cause of Rome by their vehement and insensate pastorals. Allowing them credit for zeal, the Holy Father commands for the future a less ingenious line of conduct, and, whilst approving the holy (?) determi• nation to obtain the desired object, enjoins a policy less obtrusive, but not less favorable to success ; because prudently carried on " par dessous main." When the head of a Church charges his subordinate agents to compass their design by moans not strictly legitimate, "per insidie e lacci," it may be truly said that the principle of action and the " modus operandi" stand in a just proportion of value to each other. The condemnation of M. Lindenberg, at Berlin, to nine months' imprisonment for a libel against the Prince of Prussia, contained in a letter to General de Gerlach, inconveniently resuscitates the question of the stolen despatches. T—, the real agent and purloiner of the private papers, had been bribed by a foreign power to procure and sell the State secrets of Prussia. Having accepted "the thirty pieces of silver," the respectable agent immediately sought an audience of M. de B—, the Russian " employe " in delicate affairs, produced his credentials, and de manded another thirty pieces, of gold this time, to betray the betrayer. The Russian was incredulous, but the other persisted in and swore to the truth of his statement. A meeting was arranged at Stutt gardt between the agents, the briber, and the bribed; but beforehand the Russian Prince L-- had been lodged in a closet of the chamber in which the interview took place. The intelligence was afforded and the secret papers delivered according to bond ; the price was paid, the agents separated, and the Russian walked out of the closet. This was sharp practice, awl without blame to Russia. The marriage law, according to the provisions of the Austro-Papal Concordat, is to come into opera• tion throughout the Austrian States on the Ist of January, 1857. By this statutary enactment abso lute power is given to ecclesiastical tribunals to pro hibit marriages either from diversity of faith, bad conduct, infirmity of health, poverty, or any other cause. If an Austrian, having been married in a foreign country, declares before a competent and clerical tribunal that the ceremony had not been performed according to the rights of the Roman Church, then such marriage may be annulled upon a simple affidavit of fact. A marriage between a Roman and non-Roman, according to the rites of Rome, is to be valid ; but any other contract entered into without the pale of the Roman Church is to be held as void and of no effect. This is made to touch Protestant property, except under fines amounting to confiscation. These courts matri monial and ecclesiastical can peremptorily compel separation of married people without appeal, and disobedience will entail excommunication and a sus pension of civil rights. In Hungary the discontent is alarming. The Roman and Ultramontane Association of Germany, at a congregational meeting held at Linz, on the Danube, passed censure on the professors of natural and physical sciences of Vienna for having discussed at their late meeting the phenomena of physic and geology without declaring as the primary condition that in science cause and effect should be attributed to the immediate action of the Deity alone. The professors were strongly reprimanded for not constantly using the name of God (sic) in their lectures, and from abstaining to trace to his ex clusive power the disposition and the revelation of the secrets of nature. It is to be regretted that the English press should tolerate and publish appeals to the public for the assassination of kings and for brute revolutions without a defined object of government. " Mort aux Rois" comes with a bad grace from the subjects of a sovereign cherished in the hearts of all her sub jects. There is this unavoidable result, also, that it ben }fits the very cause which is sought to be sup pressed. To the Emperor of Austria and the King of Naples is given a "to quoque " argument espe cially damnifying to Liberalism. A delinquent can n)t justly be called to account for crime if the misuser and judge offer a premium for trespass of a nature precisely similar. The edict of the Holy Inquisition, placed everywhere on the walls of Rome, and which gives the lie direct to those who have asserted that the Roman religion is modified in any essential either of superstition, intolerance, or cruelty, will require a lengthened notice. It is a bold demand that 'tome shall be triumphant, that the priest shall be the archruler, that he shall be above the executive, and control the government of man. It follows, in its proper place, the Jesuit demonstrations in Austria, Spain, and Berlin. The Russian Ambassador at Naples, Count Kakos chine, is in constant communication with M. Carafa. Although expressing himself with some degree of bitterness against the Western alliance, and con demning the withdrawal of the English and French Embassies, yet the has questioned the conduct of 1037 the authorities and that of the King in the prose cution of Mignogna. In a conversation with the Minister, he made use of the words, " les details affreux de ce proces iname." He is endeavour ing to persuade the King that his position is untenable, and that he ea snot expect an armed in terference in his favour. The preparations of de fence, however, are not the less active. The adv 3. cate Pascal Amodio has been released from prison, where he had been since 1852. He was an able man, of moderate and constitutional opinions, and was the deputy elected for the province of Basilicata in 1848. C. A. H. BURGOS, SPAIN, Oct. 23. MARSHAL SERRANO continues, as I told you in my last he would, Ambassador iu France. The Ministry of Narvaez Aill last for the present, but there are already rumours that he will soon be succeeded by Serrano, or, as some say, by General Prim. Tho latter is not likely. He is harsh and disagreeable. One of the largest Spanish silver-mines is said to be in a bad way, and that the shareholders therein will have to refund all they had received. Senor Sala manca, the Financier, San Luis, the ez.Minister, and Count (le Purnard (a relation of the Premier), are said to be deeply interested in it, and the first and last are accordingly on their return from Paris, where they have resided for some time past. What I told you of the dislike of a French protectorate here is daily confirmed. It would not be tolerated for a day; in fact, no foreigner is liked in Spain, no matter who he may be. L. foreign an dolonial 3ntelligenre. FRANCE. The French papers during the week have been entirely taken up with the continued occupation of the Principalities by Austria. The French journals generally assert that the Porte has protested against the occupation, and doubt the official denial given by the Austrian Correspondance. Baron Brenier is expected from Naples in Paris to-day (Saturday). Arrests of workmen for posting up seditious pla cards continue to be daily made. AUSTRIA. The Ministerial Oest. Correspondenz denies the statements of the French papers that the Porte has desired Austria to evacuate the Danubian principali ties, and that the British fleet will have quitted the Black Sea by the end of this month. The Oest. Correspondenz further states that the occupation of the Principalities by the Austrian troops, and the stay of the British fleet in the Black Sea, will cease so soon as the frontier and Isle of Serpents questions are settled, and not before. The Augsburg Gazette this week also contains an article on the " Realisation of the Cjnditions of the Peace," a corollary to the official article in the Oest. Correspondenz. By the article in the Augsburg Gazette we learn the following important facts:- 1. That the Russian Government still has troops in the whole of that territory which it will have to cede to Moldavia; and, 2, that the statements of some respectable Austrian papers that " the evacuation of the Danubian principalities will not take place until the internal affairs of those provinces are regulated " are incorrect. Baron Bruck's project for raising the direct taxes five per cent. has been withdrawn. RUSSIA. The reports published by the Constantinople jour nals of a victory having been gained over the Rus sians by Safer Pacha, at the head of a considerable army of Tcherkesses, is contradicted by the Prussian papers. A letter from St. Petersburg announces that the Emperor has just decreed two measures which have made a very favorable impression on the public mind. The military colonies established by General Araktcheep under Alexander I. are abo. lished as a military organisation, and the admi nistration is devolved upon the department of impe rial domains, a civil board. The naval companies of discipline are at the same time abolished. The Journal de St. Petersbourg contains a brief announcement that Government companies, having for their object the working of the coal deposits in the Don Cossack country, will he permitted, without limitation as respects number, and under the sole reserve of certain conditions bearing on the system of operation, the preservation of the workmen's health, Sc. The conditions are published in the Gazette du Commerce. The Russian squadron has left Kiel. SPAIN. Telegraphic despatches to the 27th contain no news of importance. Lord Howden left Paris for Mikrid on th 41 I .