The Press.
London, England, 1856-05-24 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Nevertheless, the King has confirmed by royal sign
manual the unpopular act of the Legislature.
A singular occurrence has happened at Potsdam
relating to a person sentenced to be decapitated.
The condemned criminal had been found guilty of
the murder of it widow, " Spillner," of Potsdam, and
execution had been delayed on account of the heads-
man of Berlin refusing to act under the order of a
provincial court of justice. It was derogatory to the
position of the " executuer des hautes oeuvres" of
the capital to •Je subject to an inferior court, and a
substitute had to be provided. Certain facts in the
meantime had become known strongly corroborative
of the assertion of innocence; and upon the repre-
sentation of the confessor and governor of the prison
a reprieve was granted by the King immediately
before the intended execution. There seems to be
little doubt that the result of the fresh investigation
will be in favour of the prisoner.
The mission of Prince Windkchgraetz to Berlin is
plain and simple. Austria would persuade Prussia
to guarantee by treaty the integrity of her non-
German States without any countervailing equiva-
lent. Prussian interests are not concerned in the
preservation of the Lombardo-Venetian, Dalmatian,
or Sclavonian provinces ; and the declination of
Austrian power in Germany by weakness from with-
out cannot be supposed to excite any great amount
of Prussian sympathy. Neither is the intimacy of
French relations, advanced by M. de Buol as an
" arguinentum in terrorein," at all calculated to have
the desired effect. It will merely give an additional
value to the English alliance, and draw more strin-
gently the Russian bond of amity and interest.

• .
But it is remarkable that Austria should have
made overtures to Prussia at the moment when the
promulgation of the tripartite treaty of April
15 is declaratory of a want of confi lence in the
sincerity of the Northern powers. Either the treaty
of Paris was sufficient for the preservation of the
peace of Europe, or it was not. If held to be satin•
factory, there was no occasion for a separate and
underhand covenant betwixt a portion of the Euro-
pean powers to the exclusion and ignorance of the
others. The guarded secrecy of the contracting par-
ties betrayed the spirit of the conspiration. Austria
has ranged herself against Russia and Prussia, and
has aided, " ipsi mann," to cement s close alliance
betwixt the Courts of St. Petersburg and Turin.
Prince Windischgraetz has an ungrateful task.
A proposal similar to that made to Prussia will be
submitted to the German Diet ; and here M. de
Buol will have to confront the indirect, but not less
powerful, opposition of that Nestor of German
princes the King of Wurtembarg. If Prussia and
the Dist were to bind themselves to protect the in-
tegrity of the Austrian States—meaning thereby the
undisturbed possession of the Italian provinces—
they would incur the risk of a proximate war, which
they claim credit for having avoided on Oriental
affairs.

A report has been prepared by the Grand Council
of the Austrian Empire on the reorganisation or re-
form of the political institutions. It is proposed to
preserve the ancient division of the States into four
orders ; namely, the order of prelates ; the order of
nobles—princes, counts, and barons ; the equestrian
order, comprising the minor aristocracy and small
landholders; and the municipal order. The chief
reforms affect the latter, whose civil powers will be
augmented in proportion to the advance of wealth
and intelligence. Hitherto the commercial classes
have been debarred from many of the privileges,
civil and political, to which their national consequence
gave them an unquestionable right; and, as money
in this age has an all commanding influence, tha
channels whereby that necessary ingredient of well-
being flows into the coffers of a nation have a claim
to have reversed in their favour those effete and
statutory enactments—impediments to progress—
which were based upon privileges solely aristocratic
and exclusive. When an ancient country like
Austria voluntarily acknowledges the progress of the
middle classes, and prepares to meet the demands
that are made by the altered circumstances of a por-
tion of the community, in their increase of wealth
and intelligence, by a becoming spirit of legislation,
all other liberal States will applaud, as all must re-
spect, the deed. There is no personal dislike to
Austria and the Austrians, " per se ;" it is only against
the "modus operandi" in the system of government,
by the adoption of force instead of reason,—by
tyranny instead of clemency,—by restriction of popu-
lar right instead of the generalisation of public in-
terests,—that the country has earned the animad-
version of more liberal Governments. Another line
of conduct will meet with other treatment, and a
more favorable judgment. The contemplated re-
forms will completely subvert the old Constitution of
Hungary, which, in spite of its seeming freedom, was
replete with signorial abuses.
The pastoral letter of Archbishop Rauscher, pro-
hibiting the sepulture of I'rotestants on Catholic
ground, is more than ever the subject of contention.
So bigoted a denunciation of Protestantism has
elicited marks of general disfavour. The Gazette

487

of Augsburg recounts the determined opposition of
many of the Romau bishops; and the prelates of
Hungary have declared, in conclave, that the teach-
ing and practice of Archbishop Rauscher is incom-
patible with the spirit of the age, and contrary to the
word of God. Austria cannot count upon an ad-
herent throughout Protestant Germany; and her
own population is turning against the Rauscher or-
dinances.

At Moscow the discourse of Archbishop Philareta,
in priestly exaltation of the Greek Church, drew to-
gether an immense assemblage of persons. The
successes of the Russians, in resistance, were attri-
buted to the conquering virtues of the orthodox
faith, militant against heretics and unbelievers, and
the excited diocesan reviled equally both the French
Roman Catholic and the Anglican Protestant as
workers of religious evil and iniquity. M. Lanskoi,
Minister of the Interior, has issued a proclamation
to reassure the Russian nobles who were alarmed at
the reported emancipation of the serfs by order of
Government. In addressing the latter, the Minister
says—" In resisting the legal order of things, and
the obedience due to the masters, the serfs will
cause the anger and bring down the chastisement of
the monarch." The military commission or court-
martial upon the irregularities connected with the
hospital of Simferopol, is creating a great sensation.
General Ouschakoff, Major Generals Tcherwinsky
and Ostrogradsky, have been severely reprimanded,
and the chief physician and Counsellor of State
Protopokaff, now on trial by a court-martial, has
little chance of escaping severe punishment The
peculations upon medicines, stores, provisions for
the sick, clothing, and hospital furniture, Sec., are
incredible, and the guilt is of such extensive ramifi-
cation that it creates embarrassment to draw a line
of demarcation.

In the Conferences of Paris no suspicion could be
fairly entertained of the sincerity of Count Orloff.
The return for this candour has not been paid back
in the same coin, and the tripartite treaty of the 15th
of April causes a deep-rooted dissatisfaction. There
is also a conjecture that more remains to be re-
vealed. But it is with Austria that the Court of St.
Petersburg is most seriously offended. The selec-
tion of Count Chreptovitch for the English mission
cannot fail to be acceptable. To an open frankness
of manner and disposition, the Count adds the
courtesy which is a distinguishing mark of the Rus-
sian noble; and his ready participation in social
amenities, which are the natural consequence of
ample means, will not detract from his certain
popularity.
In Sardinia Count Cavour takes his stand openly
upon the broad basis of opposition to the Papacy.
This is the true state of the case. It is the priest

that is the impediment to Italian amelioration—it is
the Jesuit that foments republicanism, and leagues
secretly with Mazzini to maintain a state of perpe-
tual fermentation and discord. A measure has been
submitted and carried in the Piedmontese Chambers
placing popular education under the control of the
Minister of Public Instruction. Against this whole
some act of legislation the bishops and clergy have
protested as an invasion of the rights belonging to
the sacred college.
The Grand Duke of Tuscany, unwillingly, and
with regret, has been constrained to abandon the
project of a Tuscan concordat. He was told by his
Minister that it would be the signal for a general
insurrection of the Tuscan towns. His sister, the
Archduchess Louisa, had been residing at Rome
during the winter with the hope of arranging
matters, and the Grand Duchess, a sister of the
King of Naples, equally favoured toe Papal alliance.
The Minister Baldasseroni was peremptory in his
determination to resign bad the Grand 'Jake per-
sisted. The ovation preparing at Florence in com-
pliment to the Grand Duke for withholding his con-
sent to the Papal Concordat is somewhat of a
farce.

The Cardinal Viale Prela publicly advanced at
Vienna, with the semblance of authority, that no
powers have a right to intervene in the affairs of
States except those exclusively Catholic, and he
quotes M. de Buol as protesting, in the case of
Piedmont, that "les actes accomplis par des grandes
puissances soient critiques par des puissances da
second ordre." The conduct of the English Ministry
appears to favour this arrogant fallacy.
C. A. H.

jortign ad (Colonial jntellignut.

FRANCE.
The visit of Prince Oscar of Sweden
Archduke Maximilian of Austria, the
by Baron Brunow of his credentials
Extraordinary to the French Court,"
dations of the rivers which have laid waste
the departments and caused the most !!"
hensions, are the sole facts of importance
with the past week's news at Paris.
the baptism of the Imperial Prince,
cided, will be attended only by a legate


xUlgen e.
den and the
le presentation
as " Minister
' and the inun-
waste many of
serious appre-
ance connected
e, it is now de-
from Rome.