The Press.
London, England, 1855-12-29 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

cetta oraison funebre.—Revue des Deux hfondes.
Charles John understood the quality of that tear, and
replied without circumlocution :—" Je dois me pro-
noncer contre l'executton du projet pour la portage
de la Suede entre le Danemark et la Russie."
iLIt cannot be denied that Charles John was a man
shrewd and able, and still less can it be doubted,
after the publication of the " Souvenirs de l'Histoire
Contemporaine de la Suede," that the King entertained
a suspicion to the last of the covert designs of Russia
upon Sweden and Norway. And with this fact estab-
lished in the absolute, let M. de Bismarck SchOn-
hausen, with the other politicians of the Diet, if they
so please, feign to hold cheap the treaty of November
which sets at rest the project of Peter and Catherine.
What said the fifth clause of the will of Peter, that
will the injunctions of which have been faithfully
and Orientally obeyed in 1853?-
5. Prendre to plus qu'on pourra a la Suede, et savoir se
fair attaquer par elle pour avoir pretexts de la aubjuquer.
J. E. L.

SIENA, Dec. 24.
THF. Jesuit journals have spread the report that
petitions are everywhere in course of signature to the
Governments of Tuscany and Naples, for the benefit
of a Papal Concordat, similar to that betwixt Austria
and Rome. There may be some truth in the Jesuit
attempt to make it appear that a popular desire
exists on the subject, but it is on the other side, and
the people everywhere in Tuscany and in other coun-
tries would resist the introduction of any sacerdotal
tyranny that would place the executive, bad as it
might be, in subjection to an ecclesiastical tribunal.
A certain degree of liberty, however slender, is pos-
sessed at present, which makes the secret introduc-
tion of bibles into the country a matter of profit.
Biblical " contrabandisti" have been created by the
sound rule in political economy of demand and
supply, and these have a constant provision of bibles
ready to be conveyed according to order. In the
Cascine of Pisa there are several farm establish-
ments of the Grand Duke, and the carriage labour
is performed by camels, bred and reared in the ad-
jacent pine forests. Long strings of these animals
are daily met in the avenue to Pisa, laden with wood,
corn, or oil, and other farming produce. On a recent
occasion, a sack in the open panier of one of the
camels became unstitched, the contents dropped in
the road, and amongst the corn appealed an Italian
bible, not single in its evangelical mission. The
affair got bruited, and the outcry was great. How-
ever, the Testaments escaped detection at the " Porta
al Mare," and, as the facts were stoutly denied, the
drivers were not punished, from a want of proof.
The spread of Protestant education by means of the
Bible is far more extensive than is supposed in
England, and the women are amongst the principal
converts. These, too, for the most part, belong to
the middle class, and are indefatigable in their
crusade against the priest. if once the Roman loses
the direction of the household, his game is lost.
The Red Republicans continue to follow the
directions of their chief in London. Unable to cope
with their enemies in open warfare, they have a
ready and bidden recourse to assassination. One of
the most unscrupulous agents of Cardinal Antonelli
was the well-known " Gennarachio " of the Sanfe-
dist& party, and to these are committed the more
particular or the more abominable atrocities of the
" hautes oeuvres " of sacerdotal and Roman persecu-
tion, without limit or reservation. Charged with an
amount of secret crime, or acts of " sante fede," that
would have sent a battalion to execution, he still
pursued his Roman avocations without fail and
without remorse. He had lately performed one or
two actions of unusual barbarity in the service of
the Immacolata, and several families had been de-
prived of the presence of some well-beloved face
through his instrumentality. Gennarachio was
coming out of the dark street in Transtevere, lead-
ing to the " Ponte rotto, when he received a " colfo
di coltello" between the shoulder blades, and he
dropped without uttering a word. The blow must
have been given with great force, as it went through
the folds of the mantle, yet reaching the vital part in-
stantly. There can be no pity at the late of a man
without heart or compunction, who had caused the
unjust death of many, and ruined families,
and had torn asunder the dearest ties of domes-
ticity; but the act of murder remains the same in
guilt, and proves the abettor of it to be the enemy of
civilisation. It is this foul evil that Mazzini has
prompted, that be has encouraged and justified,
which makes every honest man turn with disgust
from such iniquitous republicanism. It is this sore,
this damning blight of arch-democracy, that para-
lyses the efforts of the Italians for constitutional
liberty, and induces them to submit to the spoiler
rather than sanction the infamy of republican crime.
Whilst London holds the triumvirate of assassins,
the cause of Italian regeneration will stagnate.
M. T. A.

1235

3ortign ad goictnial InitUigenct.

FRANCE.

The Swedish treaty has supplied the principal
topic for the French papers during the week. The
view generally taken is, that it has been framed, not
so much with the intention of preventing any future
encroachments of Russia, as to show that power that
the neutral policy of Sweden is at the least consi-
derably modified ; and that, should the war continue,
circumstances may occur which will render all fur-
ther hesitation on the part of the Scandinavian
powers impossible.
The Debats, in an article upon the prospects
of peace, asserts that while France, having by the
war regained her ascendancy and iniependence of
action, is naturally desirous of peace, to consolidate
these advantages, England, on the other hand, be-
lieving that Russian supremacy is destroyed in
Europe, fears that she will turn all her efforts to the
East, and accepting the challenge of Russia in Asia
is determined to carry on the war. "The war,"
says M. St.. Marc Girardin " is regarded in France as
a purely political war, undertaken for the interests
of Europe, and not as a popular or patriotic war.
The entry of the Imperial Guard into Paris this
day had given rise to an article in the Constitu-
tional, recalling the imposing ceremonies upon
several similar occasions at the conclusion of the
various great wars under the first empire.
AUSTRIA.

The Oat Deutsche Post of the 21st contained en
article, supposed to emanate from high authority,
upon the subject of the propositions carried to St.
Petersburg by Count Esterhazy, iu which the funda-
mental conditions of peace consist of a material pro-
tection of the Turkish frontier on both land and sea
sides, with a political protection from any encroach-
ments possible to be deduced from existing treaties
between Russia and the Porte. That Count Ester-
hazy is the bearer of an ultimatum is rejected by all
the Vienna papers. The Vienna Presse says :

He is simply commissioned to communicate to the
Russian Cabinet propositions which may ultimately lead
to peace. A perfect understanding prevails between
Vienna, Paris, and London, but a reject►on of the pro-
posals now made will hardly immediately lead to the direct
participation of Austria in the war. Austria will make
another political demonstration before she resolves on taking
a step of such extreme importance.
The Oesterreithische Zeitung, though denying that
Austria will insist on the complete destruction of
the Russia strongholds in the Black Sea, and the
cession of a part of Bessarabia, says that she will
imperatively demand "the neutralisation of the
Euxine and the right to send consuls to all the ports
of the sea," but concludes by asserting that " up to
the present moment Austria has not pledged her-
self to enforce the conditions of peace as they now
stand with the sword."