The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

PRUSSIA.
Fresh arrests, effected during the last few days of
the past year, have proved that the conspiracy of
March, 1853, was more extensive than had been sup
posed. Sentence on the prisoners of that period is
still deferred ; one of them has been confined for
nine months ; another of them, Dr. Lindersdorff, is
suffering under mental alienation.
The King of Prussia went in person on the 27th
ult. to pay a visit of condolence to the family of
General de Radowitz.

HOLLAND.
M. Lightenvelt, lately Minister in Holland of affairs
connected with the Roman Catholic religion, has
been appointed to succeed Baron }sage' as Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the

Court of France.
BELGIUM.
The King of the Belgians has given the royal sanc-
tion to the bill, voted in both chambers, authorising
the Government to reduce or entirely suspend the
import duties on coal. His Majesty, moreover,
acting on that bill, has been pleased to decree the
total suppression of those duties (fourteen francs
ninety centimes per kilogramme) till further notice.

ITALY.
The Pope held a public consistory on the
22nd ult. in the Vatican, to perform the ceremony
of conferring the cardinal's hat upon Monsignors
Brunelli and Peed. The candidates, after kissing
the Pope's slipper, received the Papal embrace, and
afterwards those of their new colleagues. The Am-
brosial hymn was then sung in the Sistine Chapel,
and a secret consistory held, in which the Pope pro-
posed several bishops. Cardinal Brunelli has since
been appointed a member of the Congregation of
Regular Bishops, of those of the Council, the Index,
and Examination of Bishops; and Cardinal Perri
has also been appointed to those of the Council,
Sacred Rites, Ecclesiastical Immunities, and Regular
Discipline.
Prince Frederic William of Prussia arrived in the
Holy City, incognito, on the 26th of December, under
the title of Count de Berg.
SPAIN.
The Generals Sauzet and Lersundi have been
dismissed from the Captain Ueneralcies of Galicia
and Andalusia.
The medical report issued on the 28th respecting
M. de Turgot is unsatisfactory. The inflammation
was complicated with gout, and he had passed an-
other sleepless night. It is reported that M. Turgot
had received by telegraph a despatch from Paris,
stating that the Emperor approved of his conduct.
A Malaga letter of the 23rd states that a sad
disaster occurred there that morning. There
had been continued heavy rains for many days,
which bad loosened the foundations of the barrack
of La Mercid, a great part of which fell down. The
building was occupied by two companies of the
Savoy Regiment. 26 dead bodies, and 22 wounded
men, mostly severely so, had been taken out of the
ruins.

AUSTRIA.
Recent commercial letters from Vienna speak of
the resumption of the loan project by the Austrian
Government, which it is supposed will be accom-
plished by Austrian bankers alone, as those of
Frankfort, London, and Paris do not seem to enter
into the plan. The new loan will amount to
50,000,01 X) florins at 5 per cent., 4,000,000 of which
will be employed for the payment of the due interests,
and 1,000,000 tor the establishment of a lottery.
Meanwhile, the Prussian Government is also said to
contemplate a loan, the project of which is about to
be submitted to the Chambers.
All the soldiers on furlough in the Russian army
have been recalled, also the reserve of the sixth i
corps of infantry of the Caucasus, and the supple-
mentary divisions of the whole active army have
been put in motion.
RUSSIA AND TURKEY.
The Grand Council which met on the lath ult.
in Constantinople is announced to have given the
Ministers authority to enter upon negotiations pre-
liminary to a peace, on these conditions :—" That
the Danubian principalities be evacuated. That
the independence and integrity of the Ottoman em-
pire and the sovereignty of the Sultan be perfectly
secured." The Porte accordingly accepted the note
of the four powers on the evening of the 20th. It
is agreeable to an armistice ; insists on the evacua-
tion of the principalities ; consents to a congress
in a neutral town, the revision of existing treaties,
and to reforms tending to the amelioration of the
condition of the Christians.
This decision, or the intention to arrive at it,
having transpired in the capital, a large body
of students, excited by some of the Ulemahs, as-
sembled tumultuously, to present a petition against
the pacific intentions of the Government. Some
confusion ensued, and for a time, on the 22nd ult.,
disturbances were apprehended, but the outbreak
was quelled; and, after the arrest of some 300 stu-

SATURDAY,

dents, quiet was restored. Several of the perbom
arrested were afterwards ordered to be exiled to

Candle.
At the Council on the 18th the Minister of Finance
is reported to have spoken at much length, and
represented matters as being very unsatisfactory.
He stated that the amount already expended in
military preparations had exceeded the sum of
4,000,0001. This had been collected on the antici.
paled revenues and taxes of the corning year, and
therefore, in case Namik Pacha failed in negotiating a
loan, a national loan must be raised. This pro-
position caused great enthusiasm, and several mem-
bers immediately proposed that all the employi's,
according to their rank, should give up a portion of
the pay received from Government. The Minister
of War afterwards stated that the standing army of
the Government has been raised to 400,000 men,
and that 100,000 men were on their way to the
capital: with such forces he was of opinion that
war must turn in favour of the Sultan's cause. The
Capudan Pacha gave, in his turn, a list of the
Turkish fleet, and declared that in the spring the
officers and men would be all prepared to take re-
venge for the Sinope misfortune.
Her Majesty's ship Caradoc reached Marseilles on
Monday, having sailed from Constantinople on the
25th ult. with despatches from Lord Stratford. She
brings word that up to the date of her leaving the
combined fleets had not been able to avail them-
selves of their instructions to enter the Black Sea,
but it was supposed that, should the weather
moderate, they would sail in on an early day in
January.
Lord Stratford de Bedcliffe, on the 15th ult., gave
a grand entertainment to the whole of the corps
diplomatique, and on the 17th the British residents of
Constantinople were invited by his lordship to an en-
tertainment on a large scale. Upwards of forty
covers were laid, and the Queen's health was pro-
posed by the ambassador, and drunk with acclama•
tions, the band playing " God save the Queen."
Two firmans have been sent to Servia. One
guaranteed all the Servian privileges, the other
declared all the Turco-Russian treaties null and void,
but that Setvie might demand the protection of all
the powers.
There is no recent intelligence from the armies on
either side. Heavy snow had fallen around Bucha-
rest and throughout the principalities, by which all
military operations were brought to a complete
stand-still.
Accounts have been received from Erzeroum of
the retreat of the Turkish army to its winter quar
ters. The sieges of Ahaltchiek and Alexandroi.ol
had been raised. On crossing the Turkish frontier,
the Russians, with 30,000 men, fell upon the van
guard of the Turkish army, and did much mischief.
The Bashihozouks disbanded, and created the
greatest confusion ; their commanders, ♦-ely and
Ahmet Pachas, exerted themselves most strenuously
to keep them in order, but it was useless. The num-
ber of killed and wounded is not considerable, but
the Turks, if they had acted with energy, might, it is
►tated, have annihilated the Russians, who were in-
ferior in numbers.
The correspondent of the Ost. Deutsche Post writes
from Constantinople that orders have been sent to
Asia to raise fresh troops for the Caucasian fumy.
The squadron which was destroyed at Sinope had
accomplished its task, having landed2o,ooo muskets,
40 cannon, and 500,000 cartridges on the Caucasian
coast, and left five Turkish officers with the Cir-
cassians.
A Russian man-of-war schooner, driven by stress
of weather into the Bosphorus, was captured by
Colonel Moustafa Bey, Commandant of the fortress
of Anadole-Kavak. The Russian captain, before
falling into the hands of the Turks, threw his guns
and ammunition into the sea, in the hope of being
taken for a merchant vessel ; but her papers and her
name, Aloupka (a village belonging to Prince Woron-
zoff), betrayed her. The Aloupka was commanded
by Captain Davidoff, three officers, and thirty sailors,
all made prisoners. She now bears the Ottoman
flag, and will be got ready for active service.
The German journals notice the passage of Count
de Reiset, on his way from Paris to St. Petersburg
with the official announcement that the Black Sea is
to be entered by the combined fleets. The severity
of the season will prevent the Count from ar-
riving in the Russian capital before the Bth or oth,
so that the reply of Russia to the announcement
cannot well be known, even by telegraph, before the
15th or 10th. M. de Brunnow, at London, and M.
de Kisseleff, at Paris, have already received their in-
structions, it is reported, as to their conduct in case
the united fleets are to enter the Black Sea. As
soon as that event is officially declared, both, it is
said, are to take their departure.
The New Prussian Gazette of the 20th ult. con-
firms the account of the Emperor of Russia having
ordered that all the forces in his empire shall be
placed on a war footing. This measure, it adds,
will bring up the nominal strength of the Mogen

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