The Press.
London, England, 1856-10-18 00:00:00

PRESS.

the want of house-room seems past remedy. Great
precautions are adopted against any sudden out-
break, of which grave apprehensions have been
entertained, as there is no question that the Repub-
licans and Bourbonists are actively at work. Still I
have little reason to doubt that they have met ten
times their match in the Emperor Napoleon, and one
who will stand on no ceremony with them, but
triumph over all their cabals. Marshal Pelissier
passed through here two days ago, en route to Lord
Gough's residence, near Dublin.
As to the French Embassy at Naples being re-
called, no message has yet been sent, nor will he,
nor will any fleet go there ; the conferences are sup-
posed to be the new mode of adjustment, and the Impe-
rial Government, whatever they may think of Bomba,
will not openly countenance the Muralists, nor follow
up Lord John Russell's protest about the foreign
troops in the Italian Legations. To do that would
be to withdraw their own from Rome ; and the Papal
party (I mean the Ultramontanists) here are too
important to run the risk of displeasing them by
such a step. In fact, either England must pursue
a separate policy of her own in Italy, or Lord Pal-
merston must " eat dirt," to use the Oriental phrase,
by doing nothing after all the braggadocio he has
put forth in the Government organs in England.
People, however, who remember the fate of Sicily in
1848, and Hungary in 1840, when, having been en-
couraged by the noble lord to revolt, were afterwards
abandoned by him to their aggressors, will not much
wonder now if the old story is acted over again by
the same great Minister. Happening to have wit-
nessed with my own eyes the fates of both on those
occasions, I feel little hesitation in assuring you
that such will be the case at present, so far (01 it lies
in the power of your Premier and his straightforward
Foreign Secretary to promote it.
An abdication is hinted at to-day in Neapolitan
correspondence, and, as it is the usual Bourbon way
of evading a difficulty, it may take place ; but my
own opinion is that for the present the King is obdu-
rate and will hold out, backed by Russia and Austria,
and that the whole thing will end in certain reforms
being promised at the forthcoming conferences.
Meantime, rely on it., nothing imminent is at hand.
It is rumoured to day that M. de Persigny is to take
a place in the Ministry here, and a new ambassador
to go to London ; but I do not believe it. The
change of Ministry in Spain has produced some
effect, as the Paris papers would not credit its being
at hand ; and the funds have again fallen. People
are beginn.ng to ask what Lord John is cruising
about Italy for just now, as it looks like the Minto
business over again. C. H. G.

BURGOS, S PAIN, OCt. 11.
As I told you some weeks since, the O'Donnell
Ministry, then as I conceived doomed, has at length
fallen, fallen deservedly and unregretted. The new
Ministry is in every respect an improvement, even
supposing Narvaez not equal—as I think is very
doubtful—to his post. Pidal, the Foreign Minister,
is eminently fitted for that office ; and General Ler-
sundi is supposed one of the ablest men in Spain.
To be sure, it is an odd thing putting a general at
the head of a naval department, and savours of the
old Russian Tchichakoff, who was both admiral and
general ; but then, considering that there is almost
no navy in Spain, and that not unfrequently ashore
somewhere, it matters little : besides, have they not
a precedent in that great soldier and sailor, Mr.
Bernal Osborne, in England!
What is to be done with O'Donnell it is hard to
say, but a captain-generalcy is probably his destina-
tion. The truth is, had he not resigned, a general
outbreak would have taken place which he would
have been powerless to put down. It was, as I
told you, brewing in the old quarter towards Cata-
lonia, though nearer Pampeluna and Arragon.
Hence the Queen, who has not much popularity to
part with, was too glad to get rid of O'Donnell and
instal Narvaez, who is not a man to be trifled with,
and rules everybody, Queen and all. Brigandage,
which had got up a little, must hide its diminished
head now, if Narvaez is what he used to be in that
way. He made rapid clearances of the mina pente
in Andalusia and La Mancha in old days, and will
doubtless do the same thing in this quarter now.

BRUSSELS, October 15.
WITHOUT participating directly in the affairs that
engross the public attention of Europe, and with an
appearance of quietude that would not afford a pre-
text for particular curiosity, Bolgium nevertheless
gives sign of being linked to the chain of passing
events. In order to appropriate an undue shara of
power, damaging to constitutional interest, the Roman
ecclesiastics bestir themselves with increased energy.
The success of the Austro-Papal Concordat, won by

SATURDAY,

Rome against the goodwill of the Austrian people,
arms them with an unwise courage. It is known to
them—it has been heralded in the Univers of Paris,
and admitted by the Bien Public of Ghent—that the
exaltation of the priest proper can only be secured at
the expense of public liberty :—" Representative in-
stitutions are inimical to the Roman Catholic faith."
The Belgian priest, taking the maxim of Lamartine
for his device, "Dieu seul sait les secrets de Dieu,"
and forcing the construction, assumes by virtue of
his apostolic office to be initiated into those " secrets ;"
he therefore claims to have the exclusive care to the
education of youth, and to impart such a measure of
knowledge only as shall conduce to sacerdotal ad-
vantage.

In the pastoral of the Bishop of Bruges, liberty of
conscience, liberty of speech or debate, and the liberty
of the press, in conjunction with toleration of " cut te "
and a freedom of knowledge, are episcopally charac-
terised to be a " peste effroy able," and essentially
inconsistent with the welfare of the Roman Catholic
Church. This overt attack of the compact of 1830
left no other course open to the ministerial custo-
dians of public liberty and of the integrity of the
constitution than to deny peremptorily the presump-
tuous demand for exclusive power by a part of the
fabric political, and to eschew the maxims of the
Austro-Pipal Concordat, that served at once as an
incitement to, and a connecting link with, this clerical
conspiracy. M. Vilain XIV., Minister of Foreign
Affairs, a conscientious Catholic, officially resisted
the papal and episcopal encroachment, and M. de
Decker, a not less praiseworthy religionist, cautioned
the bishops against the dangerous temerity of their
unconstitutional conduct. To subvert, or to endea-
vour to subvert, openly and advisedly by episcopat
pastoral, under the presumed sanction of Rome, the
liberty of conscience, the liberty of speech, and the
liberty of the press, is to nullify the principles of
1830, and for which the Roman nliramontanes re-
belled successfully against the Orange dynasty.
Firmness and decision have been displayed by these
two Ministers, especially M. Vilain XIV., against the
clerical raid, at the same time carefully preserving
that deferential subjection to the dignitaries and to
the head of the Raman Church which is the bounden
duty of those belonging to their creed. They deserve
well of their Bing and country, and they have gained
the respect of all.
The conduct of Austria in the principalities
appears ambiguous. It was determined by the
treaty of Paris (Protocol XXI., April 4, 1856) that
all foreign troops then in occupation of Turkish
provinces should evacuate such territory in the
space of six months. In Protocol XXI., April
4, the Count de Buol, the representative of
Austria, expressed himself gratified at the pro-
mised alacrity of the allies to evacuate the Turkish
ground. " Austria," he continued, " also will take
care to withdraw her troops from the principalities,"
and he made the important addition that, as the
difficulties of a withdrawal would be less than those
experienced by the allies, it would necessarily be
more prompt :

Cette operation ne rencontrant pas lee mgmes ditticultes
qne l'embarquement des armies qui se trouvent en Crimee,
elle pourra a'accomplir plus promptement—et par consequent
que lee troupes Autrichieunes auront evacue lee prioci-
pautes avANr que les armies belligirantes n'aient pu, de lour
completement evacuer l'empire Ottoman.
Where are they now ?
Again, it wag decided that the Danubian princi•
palities ("annexe au protocol 1") should preserve
their national privileges, and that a reformed and
interior organisation s'iould be granted, " conforms
aux besoins et aux vmux des populations.'
Further (Protocol No. VII., seance du 10 Mars,
1856), the Count de Buol declared advisedly and ul-
timately that—
The principalities having received institutions conform-
able to the desires of the people, and which might be con-
sidered as the legitimate organ of the public will, comme
l'organe legitime des voeux du pays ")—the question of a
union might then be properly discussed—(" on pourra
proceder a l'union des deux provinces avec une parfaite
connaissance de cause.")
Protected by Austrian jinfluence, the Kaimakan, in
obedience to the Porte, has suppressed the liberty
of the press, and has forbidden under severe penal-
ties any debate upon the question of union or any
public expression of opinion thereon.
The advent of Lord John Russell in Italy has
been marked by arrests in Tuscany, Parma, and
Modena. If taken as an omen of Whig inter-
ference, it is not happy. All excursion-trains from
Leghorn to Florence are stopped, and the passengers
by the ordinary trains are carefully watched in their
ingress and egress to the stations by the agents of
the secret police. Everywhere the Government
gives sign of fear and doubt, and trusts for safety
al ,ne, not to its own troops, but to the numerous
divis ons of the Austrian army concentrating on the
ii to of the Po—at Borgoforte, Cremona, and Franco-
h to. No change has taken place or will take place
m the bearing of the King of Naples.
C. A. H.

OCTOlitri 18, 1856.

foreign alo ogoloinial 3ntelligcnct.

SPAIN.

DISMISSAL OF O'DONNEL AND RESTORATION
OF NARVAEZ.

A telegraphic despatch from Madrid last Sunday
announced that Marshal O'Donnell, and with him all
his colleagues, had tendered their resignations to the
Queen. Her Majesty accepted their resignations,
and immediately sent for Narvaez, appointed Lim
l'resident of the Council, and charged him to form
a Ministry.

The new Spanish Ministry is composed as
follows :—Narvaez, President of the Council—Pidal,
Foreign Affairs—Seijas, Finances—Nocedal, Inte-
rior—Arasola, Justice—Lersundi, Marine.

General Sanz has been appoinhd Captain-Gene.
ral of Madrid, and General Pezuela Director of
Cavalry.
Intelligence from Madrid up to Wednesday
announces the suspension of the disamortissement
of Church property, and that all sales now pending
are annulled.

TI le Concordat is re-established in full force and
vigour, and all ordinances, provisions, and regula-
tions to the contrary are annulled.
The Governors of Corunna, Ciudad Real, Ponte
Vedra, Alicante, Toledo, and Cordova, are dismissed.
M. Arguelles, and Signor Zaragoza are mentioned
for the Colonies, and Movano for Public Works and
Civil Governor of Madrid.
Of the details of the sudden dismissal of O'Donnell
little is known. It occurred after mass on Sunday.
Marshal Serrano, ambassador at the French Court,
has received a despatch from the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, informing him that the change of Ministry
has no political signification, and is a spontaneous
and personal act of the Queen.
At the reception and ball on the 10th, the
Queen's birthday, her Majesty (writes the Epoca of
the 11th)

Gave the President of the Council and the other
Ministers unequivocal proofs of the pleasure which she
felt at the conciliatory policy of the present Cabinet, which
tends to draw together all the important political men in
Spain. Our august Sovereign did the same at the ball in
the evening. Her Majesty opened the ball with the Presi-
dent of the Council (O'Donnell) as her partner, and Mar-
shal Narvaez had the honour of dancing with her after-
wards. Her Majesty also danced with M. Rios Rosas,
Minister of the Interior, with General de la Concha, and
with General Echagne, Civil Governor of Madrid.
The Queen received on the Bth Count Crevelli,
the Austrian Envoy.
Count Benkendorff, the Russian Envoy, has arrived
in Madrid.

M. Manuel Bermudez de Castro had been ap-
pointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo•
tentiary of Spain at Vienna.
The Gazette denies the truth of the paragraph in
the Debatz last week relative to a misunderstanding
between the British Charge d'Affaires and M. Pastor
Diaz on the removal of the seqaestration of the pro•
perry of Queen Christina.
A letter from Madrid states that the Spanish
Government has at last made a concession in favour
of British subjects which had long been desired,
namely, that her Britannic Majesty's Consuls in the
Spanish colonies should be allowed to administer to
the effects and property of British subjects dying in-
testate.