The Press.
London, England, 1854-06-03 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Monday's performance of the Prophhe at the Paris
Opera was cut short by a melancholy incident. One
of the spectators, in a front box, drew a pistol from
his pocket, placed it at his head, and blew his brains
out. The performance was at once closed, and the
audience quitted the house. The perpetrator of this
act was a young Prussian, an officer, named Kruine,
one who is said to have come to Paris for his
health.
GERMANY.
Rumours of diplomatic movements, and surmises
concerning the movements of diplomatists, have
been rife in Germany during the existing complica-
tions. The last statement, or invention, on this sub-
ject is reported by the Berlin Lithographic Corre-
apondenz to the effect that Baron Meyendorfl;
Russian Ambassador at Vienna, and Baron Budberg,
acting in the same capacity at Berlin, have respec-
tively received leave of absence, and will go, the first
to Spa Gastern, and the second to Dresden, in search
of health. The Austro-Prussian treaty is assigned
as the real cause of this change.
A Vienna despatch of Wednesday reports that the
concurrence of the Germanic Confederation in the
Austro-Prussian treaty is secured. A committee has
been appointed by the Frankfort Diet to prepare the
document of adhesion.
A decree has appeared in Vienna announcing that
the carrying of articles contraband of war in Austrian
vessels is prohibited, and will be punished accord-
ingly. Aust►ian vessels on the open sea must sub-
mit to search. The only Austrian port to which cap-
tured vessels can be taken is Trieste, but they can
only be sold when condemned as lawful prizes by a
competent court.
The first steps to mobilising the ermy in Prussia
are already taken.
The religious trouble seems increasing rather
than subsiding in Baden. Riots have taken
place at Brezingen. News from Freiburg states
that the archbishop is under close arrest,
and confined to his apartments. The peoplo
had to be dispersed by the military. The clergy have
interdicted the use of church bells ; they no longer
celebrate high mass nor chant nor permit music in
the churches. The local authorities interfered about
the bells and ordered them to be used as usual, and
on this point the clergy have submitted.

DENMARK.
A coup d'itat has been effected in Copenhagen.
All the Oppositionjournals are to be prosecuted. This
is the intelligence conveyed by a despatch of the 31st
ult.
SWEDEN.

Important negotiations are said to be going on be-
tween England and Sweden. The exchange of
couriers from London to Stockholm, and vice versa,
is very frequent, and the fast-approaching conclusion
of some treaty of vast importance is said (in a
Hamburg letter) to be quite certain.
THE PENINSULA.
The English and French Governments are still
pushing negotiations with Spain and Portugal, in
tho hope of inducing those two Governments to
furnish a contingent of auxiliaries in the war in
the East. As respects Portugal, there will, it is
said, be no difficulty, as she is bound by treaty to
furnish contingent on being called upon by England
to do so—England paying the expenses. Spain is
not bound by any such treaty ; and hitherto the
negotiations do not appear to have led to any good

result.
The Madrid Government have sent down engineer:
to examine and report on the state of the Langreo
Railway, preparatory, as is supposed, to becoming
the purchasers of the enterprise. The company
formed to construct this short line has been placed
in a state of liquidation. All the capital, 35 millions
of reels, has been expended, and the works are still
incomplete. The Duke of Rianzares, who holds
shares to the amount of 25 out of the 35 millions,
has made propositions for carrying on the works to
completion, on acquiring the shares of the other pro-
prietors.
RUSSIA.
The Frankfort Journal announces that the Fm.
peror of Russia in person will go to the Danube at
the end of this month.
Fresh accounts of the perturbations in the Russian
capital arrive from various quarters. The Paris
Patrie states :
" The last letters from different Russian provinces an-
nounce that marked agitation prevailed both in St. Peters-
burg and several of the neighbouring towns. Trade was
suffering intensely, and misery was on the increase. A
recent fact strikingly illustrates both the fears of the
Russian Government and its method of proceeding. A
tradesman of the capital having failed closed his shop,
situated in one of the most frequented quarters of the city.
This circumstance, apparently so ordinary, excited a
sensation, and the Government arrested the tradesman
and transported him at once to Siberia for having failed
at such a time, and thus betrayed the uneasy state of
trade. The police found upon inquiry that the immediate
cause of the failure was a claim made by a nobleman for a
sum of money due to him. This nobleman was fined

SATURDAY,

15,000 roubles, and ordered to leave St. Petersburg and
reside on his property."
In Riga the vast merchant quarter of the city has
been levelled by the military authorities, in appre-
hension of the landing of hostile forces. It is stated
further that all the working part of the citizens,
even women, children, and old men, were set to work
and made to dig trenches, and throw up mounds of
earth at the gates of the city.
The port of Wyborg has also been declared in a
state of siege. Great activity is displayed in
strengthening the citadel, which is not very strong.
Some hundreds of persons belonging to the town
were forced to dig trenches and aid in raising the
fortifications. Fears seem to be entertained of a
landing, Wyborg being only eighteen miles from St.
Petersburg.
The Russian Government has prohibited the ex-
port of cattle from the southern provinces of the
empire. The annual wool fair will, hcwever, be held
as usual at Warsaw during the current month.

TURKEY.
General Baragnay d'Hillers has been temporarily
replaced as French envoy at the Porte by M. Bene-
detti, the chargé d'affaires. M. Benedetti is an
honourable and clever functionary, enjoying the
esteem of all who are acquainted with him.
Lord Napier, the new secretary to the British em-
bassy, arrived at Constantinople on the 16th ult.
Lord Stratford de Redchfle, British Ambassador,
has been suffering from a severe attack of gout.
GREECE.

The ultimatum sent by the British and French
Governments to King Otho produced consider.
able agitation in Athens. At first we are told his
Hellenic Majesty was indignant at the restraint
offered to his free action, and threatened to retire
into the interior, and even to place himself at the
head of the insurgent population. Wiser councils,
however, seem to have prevailed, under the influence
probably of the announcement that a first contingent
of French troops, 8,000 strong, under General Furey,
had landed at the Pirteus, and were followed by the
arrival of fresh transports bringing more soldiers,
both English and French. The Greek Ministry,
pledged friends to Russia, thereupon resigned, the
Greek ships in harbour were taken possession of by
the French, and after some brief resistance the King
yielded to the representations of the ambassadors of
the two powers, helped, it is said, by the mediation
of the representative of Prussia, and consented to
sign a treaty of complete neutrality. One of the
terms of this treaty, according to the Dibats, im
ported that, while King Otho accepted the ultima-
tum, .the two powers were to cease or forego the
occupation of the Pincus. The English and French
Ambassadors have sincepresented the list of a new
Cabinet, with Mavrocordato at its head, which his
Majesty has promised also to accept.
The Czar has made a splendid present to King
Otho. The corvette Ariadne, 12 guns, and the brig
Orphei, 6 guns, were, by order of Baron Meyendorfi,
given to the Greek Government, with everything on

board.
The French Government announces in the Moni-
teur that it has received very satisfactory intelligence
from Epirus and Macedonia. In Epirus all the vil-
lages which the flellenes had coerced into insurrec-
tion had submitted to Fuad Effendi.
Admiral de Tinan has captured four Greek pirates
at Nicaria, carried them to Rhodes, and delivered
them over to justice.

THE CAPE.
News from the Cape of Good Hope to April 21 has
arrived by the Indiana mail steamer. Few public
events had occurred since the previous despatches.
The attention of the inhabitants has been chiefly
occupied with the elections for their first Parliament,
which was to assemble for the despatch of business
between the 23rd and 341 th of June. General Jack-
son left Graham's Town on the 23rd March for
British CafFraria, where, with Governor Cathcart, he
intended to undertake a tour of inspection. Governor
Cathcart was expected to arrive in Cape Town during
April, en route for England.
The abandonment of the Orange River sovereignty
has been carried into full effect. The troops have
been withdrawn into the colony, and the fort at
Blomfontein left guarded by burghers, under the
government of the yolks Raad.
Copper ore of excellent quality continues to be
raised in Momahnaland. Gold is still found on the
norther frontier, but in small quantities.

His Excellency the Governor of Mauritius was
about to leave that colony for England, on account of
ill health.
INDIA.
The arrival of the full despatches brought by the
last overland mail enables us to add a few items of
interest to the brief telegraphic summary
in news given
our last PRESS.
The Indian Government has sent home a scheme
to the Court of Dir ectors for the establishment of a
Presidency College in Calcutta, which will in reality

JUNE 3, 1854.

be a Bengal University. Pupils from all the Govern-
ment schools throughout Bengal are to be admissible,
and it is proposed to grant degrees—or rather diplomas
_answering to the University degrees at Oxford and
Cambridge. It is understood that this scheme is ac-
companied by a minute from the Governor-General
giving it his cordial approval, and advising the court
at once to adopt it. A college is proposed to be built,
to cost about 60,0001., and a statrof professors, &c.,
to be organised, at a cost of about 10,0001. per
annum.
The Ganges Canal, the greatest public work as yet
constructed by the English in India, was opened by
the Lieutenant-Governor of Agra cn the Bth of April.
The scene at the opening, as described by the local
papers,— English clergymen reading a form of prayers
for the occasion, Brahmins throwing flowers into the
stream, an imposing display of troops, a general dis-
tribution of sweetmeats, missionaries preaching to
the crowd, racing in sacks, and the like,—formed a
milange that could only have been presented in
British India. The work when completed will have
cost one and a half million sterling, and it is estimated
that the direct net return will be at the rate of about
7 per cent. on the outlay. The total length of channel
navigable throughout, including the trunk and
terminal lines into the great branches, is very nearly
890 miles.
Much scandal has been occasioned by an expose of
the internal economy of one of the regiments of the
Bombay army (the 15th Native Infantry). Its late
commander, Colonel T. Gidley, has been cashiered
by sentence of court marshal, and five of his off►cers
were placed under trial on charges which, if proved,
must be fatal to their commissions. Another officer
of the Bombay army is also to be tried at the Supreme
Court for stealing a ring from a brother officer at
mess; and a late " political " for a defalcation of
nearly 130,000/ of his treasure chest.
A most violent tornado passed on the 10th of April
over, Rnngpoor, in Bengal. It caused the most fearful
loss of property and life, depopulating villages and
carrying before it houses, cattle, and everything that
interrupted its course.

THE WESTERN AND GERMAN POWERS.
NEW TREATIES.
Is our last PRESS we gave the text of the new conven-
tion just concluded between Austriaand Prussia; and
announced the fact that a protocol combining that
convention with the last treaty between England,
France, and Turkey, of which we also recapitulated
the principal terms, had been signed by the represen-
tatives of the four powers at the Vienna Conference
on the 2:trd ult. The text of this protocol has since
been received. It runs as follows :
" The undersigned plenipotentiaries have held it con-
formable to the arrangements contained in the protocol of
the 9th of April to meet in conference to communicate re-
ciprocally and record in one common act the conventions
concluded between France and England on the one hand
and between Austria and Prussia on the other, upon the
10th and 20th of April respectively, in the present year.
" After a careful examination of the aforesaid conventions,
the undersigned have unanimously agreed,
" 1. That the convention concluded between France and
England, as well as that signed on the 20th of April between
Austria and Prussia, bind both of them in the relative
situations to which they apply to secure the maintenance
of the principle established by the series of protocols of the
Conference of Vienna.
" 2. That the integrity of the Ottoman empire and the
evacuation of that portion of its territory which is occupied
by the Russian army are and will continue to be the con-
stant and invariable object of the union of the four powers.
"3. That, consequently, the acts, communicated and
annexed to the present protocol correspond to the engage-
ment which the plenipotentiaries had mutually contracted
on the 9th of April to deliberate and agree upon the means
most fit to accomplish the object of their union, and thus
give a fresh sanction to the firm intentions of the four
powers represented at the Conference of Vienna, to com-
bine all their efforts and their entire resolution to ac-
complish the object which forms the basis of their union.
" BUOL SCHAUSNIiTEIN. " WENTNIORSLAND.
" BOURQUENEY. " ARNIM."
[The conventions of the 10th and 20th of April are an-
nexed.;
Meanwhile the Austro-Prusaian convention has been
transmitted to the Germanic Diet, accompanied by an
elaborate "memorandum," in which the Cabinets of
Vienna and Berlin invite all the Governments repre-
sented at that Diet to become parties in the conven-
tion. The material points of this state paper are
given in the following summary
" Since the state of affairs in the East was last brought
before the Diet, the hopes of returning peace cherished by
the Governments of Austria and I'russia have been dis-
appointed. France and England have joined Turkey as
allies, and Austria, after reducing her army, has seen her-
self compelled to station a large military force on her
southern frontier. Tho Governments of Austria and
Prussia agree with those of France and England in regard-
ing the prolongation of the conflict between Russia and
Turkey as injurious to their own states, together with
those of the rest of Europe. They have acknowledged in
common that the maintenance of the integrity of the Otto-
man empire, and the independence of the Sultan's Govern-
ment, is a necessary condition of the political balance,
sad that the war should, under no circumstance', have for