The Press.
London, England, 1858-07-10 00:00:00

or tign (forrtsguittenct.

PARIS, Thursday.
THE clouds which for some time past hung over the
political horizon have rolled away, and all has be-
come serene. In the sitting of the Conference on
Saturday last, the English plenipotentiary, Lord
Cowley, is understood (I speak dubitatively because
the proceedings of the Conference are kept secret) to
have made a proposition relative to the Danubian
Principalities, which, whilst declating, in compliance
with the wishes of England, Austria, and Turkey,
that those Principalities shall not be formed into a
separate State, nor be politically united, yet, to please
France and Russia, permits them to decide in com-
mon certain matters interesting to each. This pro.
position appears to have been accepted ; and thus
has disappeared the only real cause of dissension
which existed between France and England. Be-
tween France and the other powers also the arrange
ment of that affair has created a much better
feeling; and the consequence is that no difficulty is
now apprehended about the Montenegro, the Turkish,
or any other question.
Let due honour be paid to the English Cabinet for
having brought about this great result. It has done
its duty to England right nobly, and has relieved
Europe from a load of anxiety. The affair of the
Principalities, though it excited comparatively little
interest in England, was of really momentous im-
portance, and it was so regarded all over the Conti-
nent! As it stood, it appeared that self•love, the
interests, it may even be said the very honour of two
great p wers, France and Russia, were staked on
having it decided in a particular way ; those of two
other great powers, England and Austria, on having
it decided in a contrary way. War, consequently,
might have sprung out of it—and more than once, if
what is said in the highest political circles be true,
was war trembling in the balance. Nothing short,
then, of consummate tact could avert war, and at the
same time preserve unimpaired the dignity of each
of the great powers ; and that tact my Lord Malmes-
bury has displayed.

The pleasure caused by the arrangement of the
Principalities, difficulty was enhanced by the• an-
nouncement made on Tuesday last that the Queen
of England had consented to accept an invitation
from the Emperor Napoleon to attend the grand
nautical and other fetes which are to come off next
month at Cherbourg. Although no corroboration of
the announcement has been received from London
up to this moment, no doubt of its truth is enter-
tained here ; though, perhaps, the acceptance of the
invitation has only been virtually, not formally made.
The presence of the Queen a second time in France
will of course have the effect of extinguishing alto-
gether the ill-feeling which the colonels' addresses,
the refugee question, and some other matters created
between the two Governments, and to a certain ex-
tent between their respective peoples, and of placing
the Anglo-French alliance on the same solid basis as
that on which it stood during the wer against
Russia. In advising ber Majesty to visit France
anew, and at this juncture, my Lord Malmeshury
has displayed remarkable political sagacity ; for you
must know that of late Russia has been labouring
more energetically than ever—by her diplomatists,
her nobles, and her journals —by flatteries, promises,
and gold—to bring about a breach between England
and France; and that her efforts, aided by what may
be called the accidental misunderstandings of the
last few months, bad been so far successful as to
give her reasonable hope of an eventual and even an
early triumph.

The pamphlet on the Danubian Principalities, of
which mention was made in my last (THE PRESS,
by the way, was the very first journal in all Europe
to notice it), created an immense sensation here, and
even caused a fall in the public funds. But, as I
anticipated, it turns out, contrary to what was
positively asserted, not to have been produced by
any one connected with the Government, nor in any

.Tll.
•

THE PRESS, JULY 10, 1858.

way " inspired " by it; it is, in fact, the production
of a Roumain. It has nct, it is true, been disavowed
in the official Moniteur; but the semi-official organs
of the Government have declared that it is in no
respect authorized, and the correspondents of foreign
journals who derive "inspiration" from govern-
mental sources have been instructed to say the same
thing. The noise it has created has been so great
that not only have two large editions been disposed
of, but it is still raad with curiosity, though now
known to be only the effusion of a simple individual.
To be sure a pamphlet which proclaims war against
England and Austria is somewhat of a phenomenon
in a country where the press is subjected to severe
restraint.

The Emperor is living very quietly indeed at
Plombieres ; so much in that a stranger arriving
there would not suspect his presence in the place .
And great would be the surprise of the stranger to
be toll that the stoutish gentleman in garments cf
the simplest kind and a wide-awake, whom he sees
trudging, sometimes quite unattended, through
woods and across fields, or it may bo chatting
familiarly with peasants, is the Imperial Majesty of
France, against whose life the hand of the assassin
has been more than ones raised, and whose dis-
appearance from the political stage, come when or
how it may, will create dire confusion in Europe.
It is believed that the Emperor, being at no great
distance from Baden-Baden, will, before his return
to Paris, accompany the Duchess of Hamilton (in
the absence of the Empress it is the Due bess who
does the honours of his Majesty's simple household)
on a visit to her and his august relatives in that
place.

I bear it said that the Empress already looks
forward with the greatest pleasure to the prospect of
meeting the Queen of England at Cherbourg. Of all
the imperial and royal personages with whom the
Empress has come in contact, since her elevation to
the throne, the English Queen is incomparably the
greatest; and yet none treated the Empress with
more kindness, cordiality, and distinction, than her
Majesty. On the amiable disposition of the Empress
this made a deep impression ; end she has ever
since entertained a respectful but strong attachment
for the Queen.

Count de Persigny has gone to London, it is be.
lieved, to present the formal invitation to the Queen
to come to Cherbourg, to receive the formal accep-
tance of it, and to submit to her Majesty a plan of
the ceremonial to be observed. But in addition to
these Lord•Chamberlaiuly duties, M. de Persigny
will of course have something to say about politics ;
and that something we may be sure will tend to the
consolidation of the alliance between the two
countries, of which he has always been a firm sup.
porter. It was said a week or two back that Marshal
Pelissier was rather anxious to resign the embassy
at London; and in the event of his leaving you, it is,
I believe, already certain that his successor would be
M. de Persigny.
The Government has not deemed it convenient to
allow any account of the sanguinary frays between
the French and the Papal soldiery, and between the
French and the populace, at Rome, to be published
in the newspapers here ; and the consequence is that
exaggerated reports, based partly on private letters,
partly on foreign journals, are current. It appears,
however, that the frays were really vet), grave, and
that the French authorities, at one time, expected to
be obliged to declare Rome in a state of siege. Of
course the French are strong enough to put down
any movement at Rome, short of a rising en masse ;
but the fact of there being any revolt against them at
all, proves that Italy, though calm on the surface, is
as troubled as ever. And it is to be feared that she
will continue so until she gets rid of the Papal
Government, the great cause of all her woes.
The new Minister of the Interior in this country,
M. Delangle, is acting with far greater liberality than
his predecessor. He has, I hear, amongst other
things, given orders that one hundred persons wbo
were exiled by General Et:pinasse shall be allowed
to return to France.
Some of the newspapers have lately been engaged
in a discussion as to the propriety of the Government's
granting a larger share of liberty to the people, and
modifying the severe laws of the press. From a fear
that this discussion, if continued, might produce in-
conveniences, the Government has intimated a wish
to the editors of newspapers that it shall cease—and
of coarse it will now drop.