The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-15 00:00:00


NOVEMBER 15, 1856.

render the schism more signal, and prevent a return to the
old paths.

BELGIUM.

The session of the Belgian Legislative Chambers
was opened on the llth by a speech from the King.
His Majesty, in the course of his speech, said that
the commercial situation of the country was on the
whole satisfactory :

A law voted in the last session has settled the basis
of our commercial regime. I expect from the wisdom of
tie Chambers that the revision of the tariff of our Customs'
duties will be continued in that spirit of prudence and of
moderation which measures to which such vast interests
are attached must necessarily demand.

Upon the question of education the King observed :
The triennial reports which have just been published
prove the solicitude of my Uovernment for the advance•
ment of primary and secondary instruction. An interest
no le-s great is felt by it for the dissemination of a
superior system of instruction. The opening of the
academical year has furnished it recently with the oppor•
tunity of reverting to those principles, the firm and sincere
application of which must insure the prosperity of the
universities of the State.
The movement of our national literature has not
lessened. The arts and sciences shine now with the same
splendour, and are extending every day their useful appli-
cation.

The speech of the King was loudly applauded.
The sanction of his Majesty to the system of educa-
tion fullowed at the universities, and his concurrence
in the addresses made on the late opening of the
university session, created marked satisfaction.
Tlie King looked remarkably weil, and was enthu-
siastically received by the deputies and people.

PRUSSIA.
PRUSSIA AND NEUFCHATEL.

The Germanic Diet has resolved, in reference to
the Neufchatel affair—

To adhere to the principles expressed in the Protocol of
London of the 24th ht.ty, lti•'r2, regulating the position of
the Principality of Neufchatel.
The Prussian official paper, the Zeit, highly ap-
proves of a Russo-French alliance.

THE PRESS.

Royal Council. The Vice-President is M. Martinez
de la Rosa, M. Calderon Collantes, Ruiz de la Vega,
General Cordova, General Camptizano, and twenty-
four other persons, less generally known, are named
ordinary members of the Council. _ •

There is a report that on the anniversary of the
Queen's birthday the state of siege will be raised.
A telegraphic despatch of the 10th inst., from
Madrid, states that a decree has been promulgated
prohibiting the press from discussing religious
questions, matters relating to foreign Sovereigns, and
Socialist doctrines.
The Marquis de Rivera is appointed Spanish
Minister at Berlin.

The Government has accorded a credit of sixty
millions for subsistence.

The Madrid Gazette of the 3rd contains the royal
decree, which re-establishes the decree of 1845 on
the press.
The Espana publishes an article insisting on the
necessity of Spain drawing closer her alliances with
the Northern powers. This article had created a
considerable sensation.

The Epoca says that, after all, M. Pacheco will
probably not be removed from the embassy at
London.

A letter of the sth, from a Ministerial source,
says :

It is reported that, in addition to the reestablishment
of the octroi duties, the Minister of Finance thinks, on
account of the necessities of the State, of levying a forced
loan, and of raising money by means of notes secured on
national property. The real nature of his plans is, how-
ever, still kept secret. The Hoja Alitografa, the most
confidential organ of the Cabinet, has been deprived of
the large allowance of money it has hitherto received—
a change in its tone is consequently expected.

1085

have protested warmly against the measures which
are contemplated by the Austrian Government, en-
croaching upon the privileges which the Protestants
of that portion of the empire at present enjoy.
Da. Pauli, the historian of King Alfred, has left
Bonn and repaired to Munich, in consequence of an
invitation addressed to him by the King of Bavaria.
Tt would appear that he is to be in future one of the
scientific celebrities with whom King Maximilian
loves to surround himself.
THE FOLLOWING AUTOGRAPH LETTER of the Em-
press Eugenie to Lady Franklin is quoted by M. de
la Roquette in his memoir of Sir John Franklin,
recently submitted to the Geographical Society in
Paris:—

It is, above all, as a woman and a wife that I should
with pleasure see France associated with England in those
generous expeditions, the first object of which is to rescue
a man whose private virtues are surely equal to his talent
and his courage, since he has inspired in you Ruch an ad-
mirable devotion. Ultimately, 1 hope that Heaven will
grant you the success that your conjugal affection merits ;
and then, madam, there will be a person who will most
sincerely participate in the joy of the wife of Captain
Franklin—the wife of the Emperor Napoleon.

THE QUEEN OF SPAIN, says a letter from Madrid,
of the 6th, in the Brussels Ind4endance, "paid a
visit yesterday to the Theatre Royal. When she
entered at the close of the first act of Lucia di Lamer-
moor, the orchestra, as usual, struck up the royal
anthem; but the mutterings and murmurs, and even
hisses and whistling of the audience, drowned the
music. This scene lasted for more than a quarter of
an hour. The Queen, who stood, looked very pale ;
she remained until the close of the opera."
FIELD-MARSHAL RADETZICT, who is still corn.
mander-in-chief of the Austrian forces in Italy.
attained the ninetieth year of his age on the 2nd of
November, when his birthday was celebrated by the
performance of mass in the private chapel of the
Castle of Trehnic, in Galicia, formerly the residence
of his father, Count Peter Radetzky, at which place
the field marshal was born in 1766. A party of his
friends dined together in the room where the gallant
old soldier first saw the light, and drank to his
continued health.

WHAT IS A VAGABOND was the question submitted
the other day to the Imperial Court of Metz, arising
on the point whether a man whose wife possesses a
domicile can be considered a vagabond. Ono Midoux
was some time ago, after twenty-four years' service as
superintendent under the Board of Ponts-et-Chaus-
sees, dismissed for misconduct, and he then began
leading a roving, drunken life. In August last, after
visiting a great number of places. he arrived at
Vouziers, in the department of the Moselle, and as
he appeared to be without any means of subsistence,
he was ordered to leave the town, 'but he refused,
and was arrested. lie was then brought to trial
before the Tribunal of Correctional Police of the
place on the charge of vagabondage ; but, as it
appeared that his wife, a most respectable woman,
kept a school at Poitiers, and that he had relatives
and friends who had more than once given him
money, the tribunal decided that he was not, though
in a state of meat pecuniary embarrassment, a vaga-
bond in the technical meaning of the term, and it
acquitted him. The public prosecutor appealed to
the Imperial Court against this decision, and proved
that the man, from the testimony of all who knew
him, was a debauched, drunken, worthless fellow,
that he had no regular means of livelihood, and was
too lazy to earn any, and that his wife had, to avoirl
his constant demands for money, been obliged to
make over her school to her sister, and accept a place
in it as teacher. He therefore contended that he
was a vagabond, and must be condemned as such.
The man, who opposed the appeal in person, main-
tained that his wife still kept the school at Poitiers,
though it had been put in the name of her sister,
and in high-flowing language he represented himself
as the victim of calumny and persecution, quoted
verses from Victor Hugo, dm The court decided
that he could not be considered a vagabond, and
confirmed the previous judgment.
A TERRIBLE DESCENT IN ♦ BALLOON is related in
a letter from Verona. M. Brunet, the Green of
Verona, made an ascent a few days ago from the
Verona Arena. The balloon rose with tremendous
velocity to an altitude of 7,200 feet, when, owing to
the extreme rarefaction of the air and the bad state
of the valve, which it seems could not be opened to
let out the gas, the balloon burst in three distinct
places. Fortunately the shreds adhered to the outer
net, so as to form a kind of parachute, and the
aeronaut found himself descending with appalling
velocity, but yet with sufficient regularity to enable
him to climb up the net and to arrange the flapping
silk, so as to render the descent less precipitous.
He then, being still at a height of about 400 feet,
got again cut of the car, but this time to cling to its
bottom, in order to avoid the concussion and break
the violence of the landing by the elasticity of his
legs. He succeeded, and landed at Santa Lucia, a
place near Verona. He returned to Verona that
same evening, with only few slight bruises.