The Press.
London, England, 1856-12-06 00:00:00

1158

/ortign 6ortespoulunct.

BRUSSELS, Dec. 4.
THE vote on the Address of the Belgian Chambers
has terminated in an inglorious victory for the
Rrimanists. By stolidtv 1.. „, „„ies,
amendment after having agreed to the Ministerial
alteration, the Constitutionalists threw away the staff
with which they had belaboured the priest party with
laudable severity, and allowed their antagonists to
defeat them on an unnecessary division. The
Ultramontanes wisely withdrew their amendment,
and sided with the, to them, unpalatable Minister to
defeat their opponents. Notwithstanding this partial
success, the Address has been carried in a sense ad-
verse to the Ultramontanes, for the principle was
admitted by M. Dedecker, and caused the amend-
ment of M. Felix Merode. When M. de Merode
waived his proposition was the moment of triumph to
the Constitutionalists ; they should have strenuously
supported the Minister, and placed the Romanists in
a false position. In refusing to accept this advan•
tage their adversaries stole a march not otherwise
than creditable to their tactics. The parliamentary
ground of the Constitutionalists has been lost by
their own act and deed, so that, instead of beginning
the session with a brilliant move in advance, they
have been checked in the outset.

During the debate, and when allusion had been
made to the " Index Expurgatorius," M. Dedecker ob-
served that an obedience to such sacerdotal enact-
ment would render the Ultramontanes a " genera-
tion de cretins." This crushing obloquy from a
Roman " ipsissime " has brought down a full measure
of vituperation from the ultras, upon whom this
cognomen of deformity has been ruthlessly aggluti-
nated. "Le mot pour rire " is at times a sharp cor-
rective. In this instance the effect has been made
more evident by the adulation of the Romanist
journals.
The coasts of Sweden are being put in a state of
defence from Tornea, on the north of the Gulf of
Bothnia, to Stockholm, and the towns of Lulea,
Pitea, Ulmea, and Soderham, with the islands of
Ornoe and Duloroe, are being strongly fortified. On
the part of Russia, and, as it were, in answer to these
defensive preparations, the Island of Kasko, in the
Gulf of Bothnia, will be converted into a fortress of
magnitude which will more than counterbalance the
loss of Bomarsund.
A

of the treaty of Paris has been
made a ground of complaint against Russia, and
quoted as a pretext for the continued occupation of
the Principalities by Austria, and of the Black Sea
by the fleets of England. An exemption from such
observance, it would seem, was claimed by the Porte.
By article 24 of the treaty of Paris it was deter-
mined that:—

The principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia should
continue to enjoy, under the suzerainty of the Porte and
the protection of the contracting powers, the rights and
privileges already possessed by them. Art. 23—The
Sublime Porte engages that the Principalities shall have
an independent and national administration, and that the
laws and statutes shall be revised, for which purpose a
special commission, nominated by the high powers, shall
meet without delay at Bucharest. Art. 24—A Divan "ad
hoc," composed of members proper to represent the
several classes of the Moldo•Wallachian communities,
shall be convened to express the wishes of the inhabi-
tants of the Principalities on the subject of reorganisation.
In nominating a Kaimakan in Wallachia and 'Mol-
davia. the Porte has violated the constitution of the
country guaranteed by the treaty of I'aris ; and, in
a firman addressed to these illegal functionaries, the
Sultan adopts the following language :

It is our will and we command, that in our Imperial
provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia there shall be an
administrative reform, and a revision of the statutes,
kc., and we deem the time arrived when such reorgani•
sation of these provinces of our empire may be effected.
It is of importance and we order, that the utmost impar•
tiality shall be observed by the administration in the dis.
eussion and furtherance of these reforms. Until the
revision of the statutes, we will that the existing laws be
obeyed ; and any change whatever contemplated for the
future shall at the present be considered as " non•avenu."
It must be admitted that the document is some-
what singular. The provinces are treated as being
part and parcel of the Imperial empire, without na-
tional rights and privileges. Sultanic impartiality
has displayed itself by paying for signatures to peti-
tions against a magisterial junction of the provinces.
The reception of the Emperor and Empress of
Austria at Venice has been very different from that
of Trieste. It was frigid in the extreme. Exertions
are making at Milan to secure a warmer welcome.

The Gallenga affair at Turin has had unpleasant
consequences. A clue has been obtained by which
an establishment of assassin tribunals has been
discovered, fashioned after the old Vehmic courts—