The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-29 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

SATURDAY,

disturbing policy seem to have led him to cultivate close relations
with the Court of Vienna lately. ft is a strange spectacle to witness
Adminietrations which have had in recent years such sharp and acri-
monious passages of arms, even temporarily drawn together, by what
seems to them for the moment• a common interest. _ _

..-
Spain is the most considerable of the second-rate Powers, and her
Government seems intent on showing how well it remembers, and how
deeply it resents, the interference of Lord PALMERSTON with it on
a former occasion. General NARVAEZ is not the man to forget the
orders from England to favour an insurrection against his Govern-
ment. If it be true that GONzALEs BRAVO is appointed to this country,
the nomination would seem to he intended as a slight to our Adminis-
tration, since no man could be more unacceptable to it.
With the next of the second-rate Powers, the Two Sicilies, ourt
relations are still more uneasy. It is to be hoped that Mr. MORRIS,
MOORE will not think it necessary to pay a visit to Naples. Should l►e
do so, an occasion for a petty (pal rel might soon be found.
The next of the second-rate Powers, Sardinia, seems to have lost
all confidence in our Administration, though it had deserved so well,
and had expected so much from it. According to general report, Lord
PALMERSTON s Administration insisted that in the event of the Paris
Conference being renewed Sardinia should be excluded, as her voice
might be favorable to Russia. This is scarcely credible. But it is not
to be doubted that Sardinia engaged with the Allies in the war from a
confident expectation that the Western Powers would support her pre-
tensions in Italy against those of Austria. It is no wonder that she
should feel bitterly aggrieved at the turn affairs have taken, and at
the growing intimacy of the relations between the Courts of Vienna
and St. James.

.....
The aspect of our foreign relations is not, it must be confessed,
very encouraging at a time when it is expected that the Paris Con-
ference is about to assemble, notwithstanding the strong opposition
of the English Government. It will he curious to mark the position
which our representative will fill in the assembled Council.

Sir J. OUTRAM has left England to take the command of the
expedition destined for the Persian Gulf. Though organised in India,
this expedition is in reality directed by the Queen's Government. It
will probably be the commencement of hostilities on an extended
scale, as, should Persia refuse to yield, a war with
that kingdom must be the result. The course of all wars
is too well known to admit the supposition that the operation of
our forces will be confined to retaining possession of the places
they may seize in the Persian Gulf. Their position will soon be turned
into a base of operations, from which an army will be organised to
march upon Ispahan, or some considerable Persian town. In its com-
mencement, at least, this affair resembles the expedition organised for
the conquest of Affghanistan. Then, as now, it was held by Lord
PALMERSTON'S admirers that it was necessary to prevent the growth of
Russian influence in Central Asia; and if this plea is to hold good,
the country must prepare for a virtual contest with Russia in the heart
of the Persian kingdom, or in the yet more remote wilds of Inde-
pendent Tartary. The expedition has not yet attracted much notice
from our public,—a circumstance attributable to the responsibility of
the first step in the war being thrown upon the Indian Government.
But from the facts of the case, and from our terrible Affghan experi-
ence, it is necessary that the country should be emphatically advised
of the Duke of WELLINGTON'S warning against it being supposed that
we could engage in " a little war !"

Prussia is threatened with a double embarrassment. The police
of Berlin have had the audacity to arrest no less a person than Mr.
MORRIS MOORE, who has lost no time in making the most of his griev-
ance by a most vehement remonstrance to Lord BLOOMFIELD, and pub-
lishing the whole of his correspondence in the Times. It appears that
the Procureur du Roi before whom Mr. MORRIS MOORE was brought
attempted to console him for an unintentional mistake by saying that
he had himself been once subject to arrest in London. Our gallant
countryman refused to accept this assurance as any consolation for his
wrong. He insisted on it that he was not a gentleman; he totally repu-
diated the notion that he shouldconduct himself as oue, and has drawn
an appalling catalogue of the hardships ho suffered during his four-
teen hours' confinement. There was only a dirty sofa for him to lie
down on, and no washhand-basin in which to perform his
accustomed ablution. So far we have only Mr. MORRIS MOORE'S
version of the matter. A correspondent friendly to him
hints that he was in communication with some of the sus-
pected politicians of Berlin. But Mr. MooRE states that
his arrest was due to much higher influences. Dr. WAAOEN is
mentioned by name, and there is a person behind Dr. WAAOEN partly
hinted at, though we do not think it proper to piece out the vagaries
of Nil-. MOORE'S imagination by any reference of our own. The truth
probably is that the arrest was made through one of those mistakes by
which every person visiting a foreign country is liable to he tempo-
rarily inconvenienced. An apology is, perhaps, due to Mr. Mortars
MOORE for the error, and there the matter must end. The Neachat, 1
business is more serious. By the Congress of Vienna in 181
the suzerainty of the King of PRUSSIA over Neufchatel was distinctly
recognised. In the revolutionary troubles of 1848 that suzerainty was
annulled by the canon of Neufchatel, expelling the office of the King
from power. The Government of Prussia protested, but no collision
ensued. The King, it is to be presumed, in vindication of his rights
of suzerainty, now demands the release of the persons who are at
present confined in the canton for their late attempt to restore the
Royal authority. The Government of the canton has positively re-
fused to accede to the demand, and the attitude of the two countries