The Press.
London, England, 1855-04-07 00:00:00

(To be continued.)

A GENERAL ORDER has been issued respecting the
promotion of officers who are taken prisoners of war.
During the Peninsular war the rank of officers who
were taken prisoners was held in abeyance. Promo•
Lions took place in their regiments, and they were in-
variably passed over. Henceforth the accidents of
service will not be held to disentitle officers to regi-
mental advancement.

THE following entry appeared in one of the recent
returns made by the Vienna police agents to their
superiors :—" Lord John Russell has walked arm-in-
arm on the glacis with Prince Gortschakoff."
THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL reports the births of
2,099 children and the deaths of 1,004 persons in the
week that ended last Saturday, which was the last
week of the quarter. At this period the registration
usually shows an increase, arising from cases which
occurred in previous weeks, but were not registered
at the time of their occurrence. The deaths that be-
long properly to a former date are cases on which
coroners have held inquests, and chiefly consist of
deaths from external causes, such as fractures,
wounds, burns, suffocation, &c.—a class which, in
the present return, numbers 139. In the thirteenth
week of the years 1845-54 the average number of
deaths was 1,243, which with a correction for in-
crease of population becomes 1,307. It appears
therefore that about 200 persons died last week above
the usual number, in consequence apparently of the
coldness of the season.

SATURDAY,

fort ft gorrtspoiOtntt.

FRANKFORT, April 4.
A TRUCE or a peace—a hasty and deceitful cessation
of hostilities, temporary and insincere—or a firm
and binding treaty, with real security and guarantees,
that shall become penal upon a faithless forfeiture
of word? There may be, probably, either the one or
the other. The game of king militant is costly.
When, therefore, the people perceive that the game
has been played with marvellous folly, and to their
disadvantage, they will disburse the loss grudgingly,
and insist upon a fresh game to have their revenge.
Whatever may have been the motive for the rapid
visit of M. Drouyn de Lhuys to London, whether to
relax the austerity or to correct the vacillation of the
Austrian conference, certain it is that the precision
of the terms to be demanded were peremptorily
fixed. Lord John Russell left Paris with a tolerable
understanding of his duties, and of the purport of
his Vienna mission ; his perception became less clear
at Brussels, was not bettered at Berlin, and when ho
arrived at Vienna he was prepared to fraternise with
Lord Westmoreland. It must be remembered that
Lord Westmoreland framed the celebrated Vienna
note, which would have bound England to a Russian
policy had it not been for the good sense and acute•
ness of Turkey.
The secrecy of the diplomatic debates has been
moderately well preserved, but no inspiration was
necessary to know it was not to Lord John Russell
or to Lord Westmoreland that was owing the ob•
-
stacle which required fresh instructions to overcome.
The plastic material which had received its last im-
pression at Brussels would have been sufficiently
ductile for the emergency, had it not been for the
single reptesentative of France, who did not hold to
the being authorised to compromise principle. and,
it way be truly said, to compound dishonour. When
M. Drouyn de Lhuys quitted London, war or peace
had been decided on—in other words, the terms of
the latter were finally shaped which would continue
or dispel the former, without further circumlocution.
No additional instructions, from France at least, are

necessary.
The relative positions of France and England have
ceased to be the same as at the commencement of
hostilities. The one has receded in power and in-
fluence, whilst the other has advanced. England
entered into the Russian war with the advantage of
ancient reputation, stable government, and an army
of renown. France was fresh from three revolu-
tions—viz. the Constitution, the Republic, and the Em.
pire ; her administration was novel, her sovereign in a
certain degree insecure, disrelished by the continental
powers, and personally abused by the Ministers of
Lord Aberdeen ; but he had a " volonte de fer," au
imperishable name, and a grand army. What is the
present state of the two nations Y In one short year
England has by herself tarnished her ancient fame—
all but impeached the Aberdeen Ministry—her Go-
vernment is null and void—and her army destroyed,
not by the enemy, but by her own miserable and ad-
ministrativelimbecility. In that satne year the throne
of France has been consolidated, her Imperial Go-
vernment is more than respected, the grand army
has been trebled, and the Emperor has been told by
M. Guizot that in power he rivals Russia, and that
Europe is waiting his will. Thus spoke at the
Casino one of the representatives at the Diet.
If the English question is understood at Frank-
fort, the German one is not comprehended in Lon-
don, and certainly not by Lord John Russell. The
constitution of Magna Charta is not at present held
in estimation, seeing its disastrous incapacity in mo-
ments of sudden peril—" ca marche mal." The On-
ental dispute settled, the accidental embarrassment
lingers with its vicious intricacies. M. de Bismarck
ShOnhansen, foiled in his attempt at ascendancy,
vents his displeasure with undiplomatic virulence
against England. He boasts of Prussian control
over the German principalities ; and herein he does
not vainly exalt his master, although shining by a
reflected light ; neither is he wrong in his assertion
that the house of Saze is prepared to aide with
Northern Germany. And these, with Russia in the
background, are ready to receive a French emperor
at the head of the armies of France. It was against
this threat, diplomatically denied and confidentially
expressed, that Austria protested; and it has had the
effect of inducing Bavaria to withdraw from a close
communion with the old empire. Let the affairs of
Turkey bo arranged, there yet will remain 300,000
Austrians on the eastern side of Germany, and
400,000 French on the Rhineland, or, in round num-
bers, there will be nearly a million of soldiers divided
in several armies, with the most complete and profuse
materiel, hanging on the frontiers of Germany.
J. E. L.

1

APRIL 7, 1855.

clortign ad' 6oloitial 3nttiligente.

FRANCE.

M. Drouyn de Lhuys left Paris on Monday morn-
ing for Vienna. M. Thouvenel has been intrusted with
the Foreign-office department during the absence of
the Minister.
The French Legislative Body have it in contem-
plation to impose a duty on dogs. A committee
has already reported in its favour. The new bill to
establish a tax on horses and carriages in Paris will,
it is estimated, produce an annual revenue of
620,000 f. The tax is to be 60f. for a carriage and
two horses, 40f. for a carriage and one horse, and 30f.
for a riding horse.
The French Government have formally complained
to the King of the Belgians of a calumnious pamphlet,
published at Brussels, respecting the Crimean expe-
dition. The subject was at once referred to the
judicial authority.