The Press.
London, England, 1858-10-30 00:00:00

efortign 6orrtspontentt.

Etats, Thursday.
WHEN the dissension betwaen France and Portugal
became known to the public, THE PRESS was able to
announce (exclusively, if i mistake not) that it was
in a satisfactory way of solution. The solution has
been arrived at even more promptly than bad been
anticipated. On Sunday last the French Govern-
ment received a telegraphic despatch from Lisbon
stating that the Portuguese Cabinet had consented
to give up the ship seized, the Charles et Georges,
and to release the captain of it from custody ; and
to-day the same official organ, in an explanatory
article on the whole affair, confirms that statement,
and adds to it that an indemnity is to be paid to the
parties who suffered by the seizure. It is asserted,
I see, in some London journals that Portugal only
made concessions under protest : but this is positively
denied by the French Government;—she yielded, in
diplomatic parlance, " purely and simply." Belgium
and other foreign journals have taken on themselves
to declare that the indemnity, which was originally
fixed at 18,0001. sterling, has been reduced by the
French Government to 7,2001. This also is an
error ;—that Government not having yet decided
what amount it will claim. The Emperor and his
Ministers are, I am assured, highly pleased at the
manner in which the English Cabinet has acted in
this affair—from the moment that it saw that his
Majesty and his councillors had take❑ the matter to
heart it advised Portugal to yield, and it has since
not failed to repeat the recommendation. This,
at least, is the report here.
It is not impossible, from what is said in the high
political circles, that the dissension between France
and Portugal may be followed by one between France
and Brazil. Squabb!es have already taken place be•
tween the diplomatic and consular agents of France
in that country and certain local authorities as to
whether, under existing treaties, it is the former or
the latter who are to superintend the disposal of the
property of Frenchmen dying in Brazil, and as to
whether the disposal is to he in accordance with
French or Brazilian law. And now a graver matter
has arisen. It is said that the French Government
has discovered some documents in its archives which
prove that, in consenting in the treaties of Vienna
to accept the river Oyapoke as the boundary between
its province of Guiana and the empire of Brazil, it
committed a grievous mistake, the real boundary to
which it was entitled being some other river farther
off; and it accordingly proposes to demand the in-
termediate territory from Brazil. I, however,' only
give you this as an on dit.

The affair of the Jew child Mortara has been a
standing topic of discussion iu the newspapers and
of conversation in society during the whole of the
past week, and the interest it excites amongst the
public appears not to have diminished. It is, how-
ever, becoming a bore in political circles, and 1 have
some reason to believe that the Government will
shortly direct that nothing more shall be said about
it. The Papal Court has shown a marked reluctance
—it might almost be said has given a firm refusal—
to comply with the recommendations which the
French Cabinet has addressed to it to restore the
child to his parents, and is greatly irritated at the
language of the Paris poss ou the subject.

It is said, also, that the Romish Church, with its
usual cunning, has adopted a marvellous plan for
smothering the affair: it has, either by threats, or
bribes, or both, induced the parents to consent
to having their child brought up as a Christian.
What I said in my last on the subject of an at-
tempted re-establishment of aristocracy as a distinct
political order was correct. The Emperonhas caused
the draft of a decree to be sent to the Council of
State proposing the restoration of what is called a
" Conseil du Sceau," a " Board of Titles," charged to
advise on the proposed grant ot' new titles, to register
them when conferred, and to decide any doubts
which exist or may be raised as to the validity of
existing titles. Evidently, the real object of this
board will be to execute the law which was passed
some months ago to put down the practice of
" usurping titles," which has prevailed to an immense
extent in this country, and thereby to form a real
bona fide order of nobility. The grant of new titles
by the Emperor as a reward to his personal friends,
and to those persons who may render important
services either to him or the State, will follow as a
matter of course. These titles will be, as I have
already informed you, dukes, counts, and barons;
but there will be none of marquis, the first Emperor
having rejected that one when he re-established
titles, and Moliere and other dramatic writers having
succeeded in casting Ea certain degree of ridicule on
it. I hear doubts exttiressed by some persons as to
the prudence of the Imperial project. The preju-
dices of the French are, they say, strong against any-
thing of the kind, and it is opposed, they add, to the
fundamental principles of the French codes, which
prohibit anything like privilege, and effectually to
destroy privilege make the equal division, or nearly
so, of landed estates or personal property of a parent
amongst all his children compulsory. But, on the
other hand, some of the wisest men in France hold
that the absence ot a regular aristocracy is one of
the greatest evils under which the country has to
labour. They hold, also, that the excessive division
and subdivision of real and personal possessions
which have been going on for upwards of sixty years,
and which are increasing every year, ought, both fur
economic and political reasons, to be diminished;
and they think that the re-establishment of an aris-
tocracy is the first step to be taken towards amending
those evils

Some months back a great outcry was raised against
the Emperor for having resulved to inclose a large
portion of the Tuileries gardens for his own private
use ; and I myself, I remember, ventured in your
columns to express doubts that the measure was a
wise one. But truth requires the confession, that
the inelosure which is now nearly completed has
been turned to such account, as to add greatly
to the beauty of the gardens. Formerly, as all your
readers know, the part of the grounds nearest the
palace was nothing but deserts of gravel and par-
terries—the latter filled with sickly shrubs and
flowers, and formed with that mathematical square-
ness which is hateful to behold. Now a sort of lawn
has been laid out, and it is ornamented with beds of
flowers, and clumps of shrubs and winding walks.
The green grass is refreshing to the eye, and, if the
expression may be allowed, forms an admirable con-
necting link between the weather stained old palace
and the fine trees that face it. To English residents
in particular the new arrangement is full of charm,
because it is like what they were ;accustomed to see
in front of country mansions at home.
I hear that the Government contemplates appoint.
ing four grand dignitaries, and eight smaller ones, to
watch over the manner in which the departmental
prefects discharge their duties. Considering that
every prefect of the empire is within speaking dis-
tance of the central Government by telegraph, and
within a few hours' ride of it by rail, the utility of
these functionaries may be doubted ; and it is certain
that the nomination of them will bo disagreeable
to the prefects. But in France it appears to be
thought that there can never be too many place•
holders.

The departure of the Emperor and Empress for
Compiegne, which was to have taken place last Sun-
day, has been postponed to Tuesday or Wednesday
next. Some intention was entertained of giving LIP
the visit altogether, owing, it is whispered, to the
Imperial Exchequer being, from the heavy drain
made on it by the " progresses" to Cherbourg and
Brittany, rather low ; but the Empress pouted a little
at such an idea, and so the Emperor, ever anxious to
please her Majesty, gave orders that the visit should
take
place. It may now be considered irrevocable,.
as invitations have been issued, and as a regiment of
the Guard is to be sent off to-morrow to do duty at
the Palace during their Majesties' stay. Some doubt
prevails as to the length to which the visit will ex+
tend, some of the Palace authorities thinking that it
will be a month, whilst the Guard have only received
orders to remain a fortnight. Whatever the length,
grand will be the hunts, and splendid the in-door
festivities ; but, contrary to custom, they will not be
adorned by the presence of any member of any roydi
family of Europe.

...,

fittraturt.

The Quarterly Review. London

: Murray.

(Second Notice.)
THIS number of the Quarterly Review is so un-
usually suggestive, both in the subjects of which
it treats and in the mode in which it handles
them, that it has drawn us into longer and more
numerous disquisitions than we should usually
anticipate being called upon to devote to serial
literature. Of the many able Essays with which
Mr. Murray has supplied his readers in the
autumn quarter, not the least remarkable and inte-
resting, especially at the present juncture, is that
upon the life and career of that great Genius in war,
the late Sir Charles Napier. It is not often that the
public have had placed in their bands such ample
means of mastering the character of a very sin-
gular man as they have had in the case of Sir
Charles Napier. Not even in the instance of
Benvenuto Cellini, nor of Pepys, nor of Babb
Dodington, have we had handed down to us such
an honest, complete, and detailed record of the
feelings, impulses, and flying thoughts which
eventuate in opinion and lead to action, as in
those four volumes of the diary of Sir Charles
Napier, the title of which heads the sixth article
of the October number of the Quarterly. We
know now what injustice Sir Charles Napier did
himself, and what injustice he induced too many
of his countrymen to do him too, by the manner
in which he wore his heart upon his sleeve, by
the unreserve with which he allowed every im-
pulse to explode, giving to his life and to his opi-
nions an appearance of violent vacillation of which
they were not really guilty. We know that with
the most ardent temperament and the most fiery
conduct in war, he possessed the most tender and
the most gentle heart, the most genuine and un-
strained quality of mercy, and the highest kind
of personal disinterestedness. We know that the
man who was repeatedly accused of greediness
for money landed in India in his fifty-ninth year,
after a long career of hardship and suffering, with
two pounds in his pocket and a family to provide
for, of whom he ever thought far more than of
himself. There is nothing, perhaps, more inte-
resting in the life, both of this remarkable man
and in that of Lord Collingwood—another noble
Englishman who denied himself and his most
earnest personal aspirations for England's sake—
than their strong family affection and unceasing
yearnings, amidst all their greatness and Glory,
for the gentle joys of domestic intercourse. They
were both great instances of that abnegation of
self which De Vigny has so admirably painted in
his " Servitude et Grandeur Militaire." We
have not, however, space in our narrow limits to
do justice to the peculiarities of the Conqueror
and Administrator of Scinde, and we find the
reviewer in the Quarterly so entirely in accord
with ourselves, that we prefer giving his admi-
rable summary of Sir Charles Napier's character
to going more fully into a dissection of it our-
selves :

Great in strategy, chivalrous in courage, careful of the
soldier's life, and prodigal of his own, inflexible in physical
endurance, untiring in industry, sagacious in government,
beneficent in his aim, stern in his integrity, and strong in
his affections, he presents a combination of which there
are few such examples in the history of the world. The
observation of Lord Halifax that a man has rarely a good
quality but he possesses too much of it, may now and then
have been true of him, and, as he says of himself, he may
have been at times "too arbitrary and violent." With a
soul of fire, his warmth may occasionally have carried him
too far; with an iron will, he may not always have been as
supple as policy required; but without that fiery soul and
iron will he would not have been the conqueror and
civilizer of Scinde ; be would not have defeated the wild
Beloech in war or tamed him in peace. His very failings
were of the heroic kind ; the failings of a mind impatient
of injustice, fancied or real—of opposition to designs for
the benefit of mankind—of individual selfishness preferring
personal interest to the public weal. To the dead fame is
not even that empty sound which it is proverbially called.
But though it can never more affect the departed, it is
of the utmost importance to the living that deeds like those
of Sir Charles Napier should be kept blazoned before the
world, that future soldiers who have not been gifted with
his genius may yet learn from his example to what propor-
tions a hero can attain, and that no difficulty is too arduous,
120 danger too appalling, no toil too excessive, no sacrifices
too
costly, where humanity is to be benefited and the nation
be served.
We will only add to this brilliant description the
single remark that Sir Charles's inconsistency was
more apparent than real, and that his reputation
for it Was created /let mgch by ft real incon-