The Press.
London, England, 1855-01-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

" eminent ability and unhappy success" with
which Lord ABERDEEN, Sir JAMES GRAHAM, and
Mr. GLADSTONE, defended the Pope against
writers of deceitful Durham letters, of igin
sting in sound and fury, and ending in nothing.
Peelites were praised, and the future doom of
English Protestantism was, perhaps, exultingly
foretold inthe most jubilant strains of prophetic
Jesuitry. But others also must claim the
liberty of prophesying. And if England be
true to her glorious traditions, and to her sub-
lime mission amongst the nations, a voice
may yet issue from the councils of her
Legislature, which shall obtain ample se-
curity for the faith for which her worthiest
martyrs died, and for which her highest
patriots toiled against a host of foes. Such a
policy England can insist upon without in-
juring the social privileges of any of her citi-
zens, and such a policy under Protestant
statesmanship England must emphatically
declare, if she desires to conserve the liberties
of all.

PORPHYROGENITUS.
OUR Paris contemporary Galignani has given
us what our neighbours call an " exposé des
motifs" of the war. The facts are curious,
though we do not vouch for the accuracy of
the conclusions drawn from them. The Em-
peror of RUSSIA has two eldest sons : the one,
ALEXANDER, whom most of us remember some
fifteen years ago in England as, apparently,
a quiet and amiable youth ; the other, CoN-
STANTINE, a thorough-bred Muscovite. The
former is the eldest-born of Prince NICHOLAS,
the latter of Czar NICHOLAS, Porphyrogenitus,
" corn in the purple"; one the son of the man,
the other of the Emperor; and the younger
is not disposed to waive his claim.
The claim itself is an old one, and seems to
commend itself to Eastern sympathies. As
long ago as HERODOTUS'S time, XERXES ousted
his elder brother from the throne of Persia on
this plea. There is also a Constantine Por-
phyrogenitus in the list of the Byzantine Em-
perors, and Russia is very conservative of
Byzantine precedents. He reigned from A.D.
911 to 919, was deposed, and, curiously enough,
it was the first Russian expedition against Con-
stantinople that restored him, 945-959. VLA-
DIMIR the Great of Russia married into the
family, and hence the claim of the present
Czar to be the true Byzantine CEesar.
Omitting traditions, which Russia uses
whenever they are useful, the question for the
present Czar has long been, if possible, to
reconcile the claims of ALEXANDER and CoN•
STANTINE. They were likely to come into
competition; and the great secret of the
Czar's power in Russia is the implicit belief
in the unbroken, God-given, God-sustained
unity of the Czardom. A civil war between
his sons, besides other inconveniences—such
as letting people take sides, judge for them-
selves, have their own opinions, and the like—
would be the death of this unity. The ques-
is, how to mend matters ?
The old traditional policy of the Empire
pointed of course to Constantinople. Galva-
nise the old Eastern Empire, and CoN-
STANTINE is natural King of Constantine's
city. Hence the Emperor's visit to England,
the " Czar's Cup" at Ascot, and the rest of his
amenities. He waited his time, and the ac-
cession to power of " ABERDEEN, for instance,"
determined the moment. " England wants
" Egypt, the highway to ber India; I want
" Constantinople ; mutual accommodation,
" nothing can be more convenient." England,
though by no fault of her rulers, was not in
the humour for ary closer intimacy with
Russia. France was tried next; but France
remained loyal and true to the interests of
Europe. Moreover, France had at the moment
no particular love for porphyrogeniti, and had
reasons of its own for suspecting the Czar; so
nothing came of it.
But a new scheme has been, it seems, sug-
gesting itself of late; the " protection" of
Austria, in 1849, gave a valuable hint, and it
has not been lost sight of. If Austria cannot
manage Hungary she must not keep it ; so

27

we learn that the magnates of Hungary have
been sounded on the question whether they
will accept Russia's recognition of their free
nationality on condition of receiving CON..
STANTINE for king.
The prospect, for Russia, is not a bad one.
Transylvania is of course swallowed up at
once; Servia, the Principalities, Montenegro,
and other baby-kingdoms, will be easily ab-
sorbed ; and, practically, the Russian frontier
will be pushed within a few leagues of Vienna.
If there be any truth in these statements,
Austria, at least, has good reason for fighting.
The misfortune hitherto has been that Austria
has taken so long to discover in which direction
her interests really lay ; and that our men have
been dying by thousands while she has been
meditating, and our Ministers contentedly
looking on.

ARCHDEACON DENISON.
nissioners in the case of Archdeacon

DENISON have unanimously decided that " there are

" primd facie grounds for further proceedings" in
the matter. Notwithstanding Dr. PRILLIMORE'S

obstinate defence, we cannot see how any Commission
could possibly come to any other conclusion. To
omit other questionable sentences, when a person
asserts that all partakers of the Sacrament of the
Eucharist (whether partaking worthily or unworthily)
partake of that spiritual grace of which it is the sign
or Sacrament, and Article xxix. of the English
Church asserts,
The Wicked and such as be void of a faith, although
they do carnally and visibly press with their teeth (as
Saint Augustine saith) the Sacrament of the body and
blood of Christ, yet in no wise are they partakers of
Christ,
we cannot understand how the Archdeacon or any
one else can fail to discern, at all events, a primd
fucie contradiction between the two statements.
Whether the Archdeacon will be able to satisfy the
higher tribunal that there is only an apparent, and
not a real, contradiction, remains to be seen. At
present we refrain from prejudging a case which is
as yet untried, and content ourselves with informing
such of our readers ELS are unaware of the provisions
of the recent Church Discipline Act, that the pro-
ceedings before the Commissioners are entirely
preparatory; their verdict is, in fact, exactly equiva-
lent to the " true bill" found by the grand jury in
criminal cases, but does not at all necessarily imply
a verdict of the same tenorthe trial itself.

CHAPLAINS TO THE ARMY IN THE EAST.
IT is gratifying to learn that the system adopted to
provide for the spiritual wants of our troops in the
East is working in a very satisfactory manner. The
following list shows the chaplains appointed, with
their several stations, at the date of the last ad-
vices

•
Rev.— R. Hamilton, Varna. Rev. J. Parker, Ist division.
R. Lawless, Scutari. H. W. Wyatt (assis-
H. Egan, light division. tent), light division.
J. Hayward, Balaklays. Hobson, Scutari.
J. Sabin, Scutari. Eade, engineers, right
HughHtileatt, 4th div. attack and siege train.
J. Gilbume, 3rd div. Dr. Blackwood, Scutari.
E. Owen, 2nd division. Proctor (assistant),
Dr. Freeth, engineer 4th division.
department, and siege Wenham (assistant),
train, left attack. 2nd division.
E. Freeman, cavalry. II adow, Scutari.
E. Taylor (assistant), Pierce Butler, unap-
Battiklava pointed.
J. Lewes, Scutari. H. P. Wright, prin-
Parsons, ambulance cipal chaplain.
corps.

THE ABSOLUTE--AUSTRIA.
(From a Correspondent.)
THE principle of the Absolute, immutable in its
nature, is nevertheless plastic according to the
variety of the material with which it has to contend.
In Austria it takes a form purely military, and the
organisation of the army is so shaped that it is
enabled to perform the double duties of a police and
military agency. It must not be supposed that the
Absolute, although essentially despotic, is of neces-
sity tyrannical in its immediate action. The exercise
of governmental tyranny does not, as a cardinal
canon of policy, circumscribe the personal comforts
of man, to detract from the enjoyments of life.
It is in the second stage of its course, and when
irritated by formidable opposition, that it acquires
the vices and exercises the prerogative of cruelty.
The aim of the Absolute is to enslave the mind and
to crush the faculty of thought upon the principle of
government. A peremptory subjection of this disturb-
ing force, although triumphant over physical energy,

leaves the intellectual properties inspirited with
fresh strength, and gives birth to a catholic sym-
pathy that changes the proud bearing of the victor
into the less respectable aspect of a bigoted and
oruel gaoler. In all contests for the supremacy of
the Absolute, violence is only adopted as a remedy,
and when the more suave influences of seduction
have failed to debase the natural and higher im-
pulses of man.
It has been the egregious folly of unphilosophical
historians and cramped philosophers to lay down as
positive that the unvarying essential of tyranny is a
general state of ignorance. This only holds good in
a sacerdotal sense, but is not an infallible rule, and
the immediate proof is furnished by the mode of war,
whereoy the imperial and pontifical absolute strive for
exclusive power. The temporal and governmental
Absolute, erudite and accomplished, grasps sacerdo-
talism as an engine of service, but the Pontifex, with
angry gesture and ill-suppressed anathema, would
coerce the temporal to re-enact the humility of Bar-
barossa, and would close at once and for ever the
book and the channels of knowledge. Leaving the
diabolism of the Tiara to its own devices, it is neces-
sary for the present to trace the onward path of the
imperial Absolute towards the enslaving of the
subject.
In the first ages of Christianity the priesthood
looked to the princes for support, but after the reign
of Charlemagne the pontiffs of Rome reversed the
ease, and made the princes dependent upon their
will. This enlightened Emperor, who is the origina-
tor of the present European system, in his zeal for
Christianity, and excited by gratitude for having
been crowned Emperor of the West by Leo 111.,
accorded to the Pontiff that temporal sovereignty
which, in its time, has desolated the world and cor-
rupted religion.
Charles V. of Germany successfully fettered the
influence of the Papal Absolute and made it yield to
his will. The Constable of Bourbon, at the bead of
the imperial army, sacked Rome and imprisoned the
Pope. Charles V. ordered prayers to be offered up in
the churches for the release of the Pontiff as a
Spiritual Absolute, whilst in his character of temporal
prince he scrupled not to keep him in durance. The
malicious irony, the biting satire, and the imperial
blow prostrated the Papacy and made it ever after
submissive to the interests of the Germanic empire.
The Emperors of Germany have carefully followed
the policy of Charles V. Claiming to be the eldest
sons of the Rlnnan Catholic Church, they have at
the same thug reduced the apostolic father to a state
of dependance upon their power. The remonstrance
of the Roman Catholic has been listened to with
patient reverence, but has also been systematically
neglected. The Guelph yields to the Ghibelline.
The Justinian paudects have been modelled to a
Christian code of jurisprudence to suit the temper of
the times and the exigencies of the day. The law is
paramount, justice is revered, and the poor are pro-
tected against the encroachment of the noble and
the sufferings of want. Such a Government may
justly be said to be paternal, and such a Government
in cne sense is that of Austria. Where, then, is the
drawback ? Law and justice, protection and punish-
ment, are put into operation by one will, butthe same
Absolute that directed justice can perpetrate injustice,
and the irresponsible power that can create and perfect
can annul and deface. Thereis no security against the
tyranny of the Absolute. In the lectures of the univer-
sity professors, the liberty of the subject and the pri-
mitive rights of man are prohibited themes. These
topics have no proper definition in their dictionary of
science, and in their practical higher and constitu-
tional sense they are the forbidden fruitof knowledge.
Hence the freemasonry of the wild student and his
secret and republican societies. This is the difficulty
and danger of the Austro•-Germanic Government.
It is never safe against conspiracies for its downfall.
Under a paternal Absolute the happiness of the sub-
ject is negative,—he is de facto a slave. Under a
monarchical and constitutional Government his well-
being is self-dependant and affirmative. He is free
in virtue of being a part of the ruling power and the
framer of his own laws through popular representa-
tion.

The unity of a nation depends upon race. The
essentials are a common ancestry, like habits, like
desires, like customs, and like laws. When the word
is used simply as a collective appellation of different
tribes or people, inhabiting a certain extent of tern•
tory under one rule, the word ceases to be correct in
its particular definition. A compulsory obedience to
a law foreign to all is equal to a violation of national
right and custom in each separate province, and the
centralisation of power has as many bands of conspi-
rators as there may be distinct races. To restrain
their ill will and to keep them in subjection force is
the common and readiest means. Let us examine
the present state of Austria.
Napoleon extinguished the prestige of the Holy
Roman Empire of Germany, and the sovereign was
adjudged to assume the less august title of Emperor
of Austria. This was a petty duchy, taken from
Hungary, and annexed to Germany, A.D. 1040. I{un-