The Press.
London, England, 1856-03-01 00:00:00

AN ARMISTICE.

The first meeting of the Congress took place yesterday
(Monday), at the hotel of the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, at one o'clock. The sitting lasted until halt•past
four o'clock. It was resolved that AN ARMISTICE shall be
concluded between the belligerent armies, and that the
armistice shall cease of full right on the 31st of March
next. This armistice will not affect the blockades
established, nor those which are yet to be established.

M. NValewski gave a banquet at seven p.m. on
Monday evening, to the Plenipotentaries, and drank
to a speedy peace. At ten o'clock he threw open his
magnificent salons to upwards of seven hundred of
the lite of French and toreign society in Paris, and
entertained them with a grand concert, at which
Mariu, Frezzclini, and the first singers of Europe
performed.
The Union gives some pleasant gossip on the
occasion :

Some details have been communicated to us concerning
the concert of Count Walewaki, at which all the plenipo-
tentiaries were present. Count Orloff, with the ease of a
grand Russian nobleman, and with that elegance of
manner which seems so charming when allied with mili-
tary bearing, conversed readily with the various groups
which in succession collected around him. After the
count, one of the high personages who most attracted
notice was the Grand 'Vizier, Aali niche, the Turkish
representative. He is a man of delic; t* appearance, and
apparently in not very strong health presented a
striking contrast with the tall, manly, and animated figure
of the Russian envoy. But his intelligent and keen
glance, his strongly-marked features, and his severe phy-
siognomy, give evidence of a resolute and energetic cha-
racter. Count de Cavour also attracted much attention.
He is a man of middle stature, rather stout, with features
remarkable for their frankness and openness, and over
which a smile loves to play. Turning to another class of
guests, we may state that Generals Canrobert and Bosquet
were much observed. The concert took place in the
gallery in which the statue of Napoleon 111. stands, and
from that apartment the guests could enter freely into the
other rooms of the long suite thrown open on the occa-
sion. Every one examined with curiosity the Salon des
Ambassadeurs, in which the sittings of the Congress take
place. The crowd circulated round the centre table,
reading the names of the several powers written in pencil
on a sheet of paper, placed before the seat which each
representative occupies. It was then easy to see that the
accounts given in some of the public journals of tbe posi-
tion of the powers were incorrect. The real place of each
is this :—The French Pleniputentiaries are in the centre,

the English representatives on the right, and the Austrian
on the left; next to the English are the Russian envoys,
and next to the Austrian the Turks ; the Sardinians are
between the Turks and the Russians. At the concert,
although not a word was spoken by the plenipotentiaries
to infringe the secrecy which they are bound to observe,
the features of all of them bore that look of satisfaction
which would imply that all was going on smoothly towards
the reestablishment of peace.

On Thnrsday the second Conference was held. Of
the result nothing official has yet appeared. It is
believed to have turned upon the fifth point, and
rumour strongly asserts that Count Orloff' had de-
manded a Congress for the solution of the question.

FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE.
Tuesday, Feb. 26.

BANKRUPTS.— SIMON COHEN and JOSEPH LUBLINER,
Hatton garden, manufacturing goldsmiths—HENßY DENTON,
Dunstable, straw-hat manufacturer—JOHN KING GURNEY,
Uxbridge, COOK—'SARAH BREWIN, Wisbeach St. Peter, miller—
THomAs KNOWLES, Seymour-street, Euston-square, chemist—
LOUIS BI EN stimoL, Broad.street.buildings,mercliant—WlLLlAlt
SMITH SL►TER, Birkenhead and Liverpool, Umber merchant—
GEORGE GOODRICH, DUISIey,GIOLICSSISCSIIICS, chemist—SAMUEL
HARVEY, Cardiff, outfitter—GEOßGE CLARK MEDD, Leeds,
grocer—GEORGE UNWIN, Sheffield, scale presser—JOHN TRAVIS,
Crompton, Lancashire, cotton spinner—JOHN SMITH, }Wend ale,
grocer—HENßY and WILLIAM Coop, Chequerbent, near West•
houghton, Lancashire, silk wanufacturers—JoHN OWEN, Salford,
baker. .

--SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS.—J. M'LEon, Glasgow, book.
seller—D. G. F. MACDONALD, Edinburgh, civil engineer—J.
M'F. SMITH, Glasgow, merohant—R CAIIPBNLL, Dowd('ld, Hen•
frewehi.re, bleacher.

Friday, February 29.

BANKRUPTCIES ANNULLED.—Enwtx Wittscom, Croy-
don, pianoforte dealer—Tuomes WHITEHEAD and JOSEPH
LASSEY, York, dyers.
BANKRUPTS.—JamEs Tommx, City, shipowner—RoßEßY
DuLLam, Tipton, chemist, druggist, and grocer—HENßY Sturm,
Sedgeley, Staffordshire, farmer—GEOßOE DAVIS, Wigmore-street,
Cavendish-square, cabinet maker—Jacos Wm. HENRY SolarEa
and Wm. HENRY BROWN, Fenchurch-street. City, merchants—
THOMAS JOHN NICKS, Coleman-street, City, rope maker—
RICHARD JENKIN POLOLASE, Borough-road, millwright and
engineer—Wit. IiicKEcHNEY, Broadway, Plaistiw, Essex, mer-
chant JAMES MECHIE, Battersea•tields, engineer JOHN
DOUGLAS, York, hosier—CHARLES Fox, Scarborough, merchant
—Wm. SOTHERN, Liverpool, glass dealer—TßoMAS BURNET ,
Blaydon, Durham, glass-bottle manufacturer—Wm. CARTER,
jun., Leamington Priors, Warwickshire, ironmonger—THOMAS
SMITH, Nottingham, lace _ Old
GRIDDLE,—HENRY
Bristol, ).

Market, , baker and flour dealer—mica...nu
I'ilton, Devon, carpenter and builder—Tacomas Emansorr,
Milton street, City, builder—iki.razn Joint Gulls, rievecut,
Lambeth, brusbmaker.

T.; -

207

SWEDEN AND THE LATE TREATY.

M. BE Lallenstaedt, a Swedish diplomatist is about to
publish a pamphlet on the relations between Sweden
and the Western powers, which is calculated t‘)
throw much new light on the negotiations which pre-
ceded and led to the treaty of November. Accord-
ing to this authority both the King and the Crown
Prince Charles were from the very beginning of the
Oriental complication of affairs perfectly aware of
the necessity of abandoning the traditional policy of
King Charles John, and making an alliance with the
Western powers, although such a step must natu-
rally be only taken with the greatest caution, to
evade the attacks of the opposition press, which
would not fail to cry out at seeing the traditions of
1812 abandoned :

It is true that the offer of the Aland Islands was rejected
by Sweden in the autumn of 1854, after the capture and
destruction of Bomarsund ; but it was for the same reason
that France and England abandoned them, namely, that
they were considered untenable without the possession of
Finland. The treaty of the 2nd of December, 1854, had
the effect of inducing King Oscar to come forward more
boldly than he had hitherto done, being led to believe that
Austria was going to take an active part in the war. In
the month of March last year the negotiations were opened
at Paris by Count Tascher (the grand master of the house-
hold of the Empress Eugenie), who is alike related to the
present dynasties of France and Sweden. King Oscar
demanded a guarantee for the continued possession of his
territory and a powerful material support. In consequence
of this a lively correspondence took place between the
Emperor of the French and the King and the Crown
Prince of Sweden. and a detailed report of the resources of
Sweden was transmitted to Paris. The King demanded
pecuniary subsidies and an army of a hundred thousand
men, the operations of whom should be shared and sup-
ported by sixty thousand Swedes. If they succeeded in
conquering Finland, it was to be given again to Sweden.
In the meantime, when the negotiations had proceeded
thus far, the allies decided on confining their operations for
the year ISM to the Crimea, with merely a demonstration
in the Baltic. The real bond fide Baltic campaign was
adjourned, and it was only after the fall of Sebastopol that
the negotiations with Sweden were renewed by the me-
morable mission of General Canrobert to Stockholm,
which led to the conclusion of the treaty of November.