The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-18 00:00:00

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THE PRINCIPALITIES.

BUCHAREST, DEC. 17.

Prince Couza has made a speech, in which he
declared that he was always ready to abdicate if
his retirement could assure the realisation of the
wishes of the country ; that he bad proclaimed his
readiness to do so when only a simple deputy, and
repeated it now after his double election.
The speech excited enthusiastic applause.

BERNE, DEC. 18.

Large popular meetings were held yesterday at
Langenthall, in the Canton of Berne, and at Coire,
in the Grisons, when resolutions were passed in
favour of summoning the Federal Assembly for the
object of again revising the Constitution.

Reception of the Emperor of Austria in

Hungary.

(RETJTER'S EXPRESS.)
PEsTri, Dec. 12.

Great preparations were made in this capital to
afford a hearty reception to the Sovereign upon his
arrival to-day. Lofty poles, surmounted with gilt
lances, and decorated with flags, streamers, and
escutcheons bearing the arms of the different
countries belonging to the Crown of St. Stephen,
marked the road the imperial cortege was to take.
Long previous to the Emperor's arrival the streets
were filled with crowds in holiday dress.. By half-
past one the great majority of the guilds, with their
flags and banners, with various schools and corpo-
rations, had taken up their positions. Between
the flags of the guilds and the schools were borne
the shields of the 52 counties and.l6 coats of arms
of the principal towns of Hungary. The railway
station was magnificently decorated by the com-
pany, the Court waiting-room and the vestibule
being lined with beautiful flowers and tropical
plants. At one o'clock a guard of honour, furnished
by the Count Gondrecourt Regiment, marched into
the station, headed by a band,f and shortly after-
wards arrived the chief burgermeister, the town
judge, the majority of the magisterial and civil
officials, members of the municipality, &c. Shortly
before two the locomotive steamed into the station,
and all present broke into repeated shouts of enthu-
siastic welcome as the Emperor, wearing the uniform
of a Hungarian general, stepped on the platform.
The chief burgermeister then addressed his Majesty
in the following speech:—

4, Your Imperial and Apostolic Majesty : Most
gracious Lord,—The Hungarian nation have always
entertained the warmest desire, expressed also in
their laws, to behold their King amongst them.
They have recognised it as their greatest joy, have
always considered it a day of national rejoicing,
whenever this wish has been fulfilled, for they have
always been firmly convinced that their intellectual
and material prosperity can only be attained by
union between the monarch and the people. It is
this conviction which at the present moment ani-

mates the entire nation, but in especial the com-
mune of the royal free city of Pesth, while it receives
your Majesty with the deepest and most respect-
ful devotion in the capital of the country, and bids
you welceme from the bottom of its heart. The day
when your Majesty visited your faithful Hungarian
people with the gracious intention of opening, in
conformity with your promise, in person that Diet
whose mission it is, by confirming the good under-
standing between King and people, to restore their
constitutional life—this day will ever remain im-
printed on our hearts. And should Divine Provi-
dence lead your Majesty's princely efforts, under
the co-operation of this faithful nation, to the de-
sired end, later generations in Hungary will look
back with grateful thanks to that brilliant page of
history upon which your Majesty's famous work
will shine forth as the restorer of the constitutional
freedom of the nation cherished for 800 years."
The Emperor replied—
" I am glad to be now able to fulfil the intention

I expressed here some months ago, and it affords
me especial pleasure again to receive the assurances
of your fidelity and attachment. I have come to
you in confidence, and I expect confidence, and be-
cause I feel convinced of meeting it, you may rest
assured of my royal grace."
The Emperor and his brilliant suite then left the
station, and drove in court carriages, escorted by
a strong troop of horsemen with drawn sabres,
along the route to the suspension bridge. Through-
out the road his Majesty was most enthusiastically
cheered by the enormous masses lining the streets.
Upon reaching the Buda side of the bridge the
Emperor was received by the burgermeister and
municipality of the town, who delivered an address
of welcome, to which the Emperor replied :
" Hearty as is your greeting I accept its expres-
sion with feelings of equal pleasure. Buda, as the
dwelling of my ancestors, has always been an agree-
able place of sojourn, and I am glad to repose
within its walls. Assure those who have sent you
that my royal grace will always correspond to your
faithful attachment."

The procession then continued its route to the
Castle of Buda, where his Majesty was received by
the grand dignitaries of the country, the magnates,
nobles, members of the Diet, &c., with loud and
repeated cheers and shouts of welcome. The Em-
peror warmly thanked those assembled for the en-
thusiasm of their reception, and, after attending a
Te Deum in the chapel, performed by the Prince
Primate, retired to his apartments.

Death of a Roman Catholic Bishop.

The Glasgow Evening Citizen of Friday says :
_ _

" Much regret will be felt by the entire Catholic
community throughout Scotland at the news Of the
decease of the esteemed Bishop Murdoch, of Glas-
gow, which took place at his residence in Great
Clyde-street, this morning, at a quarter before 3
o'clock. Though not, comparatively, an old man
—for he had accomplished the period of threescore
and ten—the bishop had latterly appeared to age
considerably, and to feel the effects on his system of
about 40 years of constant and devoted labour in
the exercise of his sacred calling. Especially during
the first visitation of cholera in this country in 1832,
and the fever epidemics of 1837 and 1847, and the
cholera period of 1849, were his labours among the
poor of his flock protracted and indefatigable, to the
positive impairing of his own health. Frequently
at these periods, for nights together, he never un-
dressed or went to bed, but took what brief snatches
of rest were allowed him reclined on a sofa, with a
cloak around him, in readiness to attend the bed-
side of any one whatever who desired to see him
on any mission. Almost the last, if not indeed the
very last, time he preached in St. Andrew's,
was on the occasion of the funeral of Bishop
Smith, fully two years ago ; but although unable for
public or active exertion, it is only a week or two
ago that fears were entertained of the end being
near. It is about a fortnight ago that he took to
his bed, never to rise from it again ; and during the
time which has since elapsed, the number of inquiries
as to his condition, and of visitors to his bedside,
has been great. Amongst the latter, it may be re-
corded, were some who came to implore his forgive-
ness for wrongs which it is generally believed, which
he believed himself, materially assisted to shorten
his days. We need scarcely add that they received
it, and with it let us hope they imbibed a life-long
lesson to eschew the foul vice of slander. The Right
Rev. John Murdoch, vicar apostolic of the western
district of Scotland, was a native of Enzie, iu Banff-
shire, where he was born on the 11th Nov., 1796.
He was ordained priest on the 19th March, 1821,
and consecrated bishop on 20th October, 1833. Al-
most the whole of his life has been spent in Glas-
gow, and few pastors of any denomination have been
more generally esteemed and beloved by their flock,
or we may add, have done more to deserve it. To
every charity in the city he was a contributor; and
almost so long as strength was given him, his time
and personal services were ever at the disposal of
the humblest of his co-religionists, or available for
any good work whatever.

The Negro and the Freedmen's Bureau

We regret to discover in the tone of certain influenti

journals a disposition to misrepresent and do great injus-
tice to the freedmen of the South. For the sake of poli-
tical capital assertions are made in regard to the state of
affairs here for which there is not the slightest foundation.
It is not deemed of the slightest consideration that this
disregard for the truth may prove of injury to the negro.
He has been talked about so much that almost every one
has come to look upon him as common property, and it is
hardly possible to say anything about him that will not
find approval somewhere. Circumstances over which he
lould have no control have placed him between the crosss
Tire of parties for years, and the result has been that he
has suffered as well through the zeal of those who made
pretensions of being his friends as the embittered hostility
of his enemies. While he was under the protecting care
of his master, whose interest in him and oftentimes his love
for him, made him shield him from abuse, it did not make
so much difference what was said or done. Now that he
is free, and thrown thus suddenly on his own resources,
the case is very different, and it should bo remembered that
whatever obstacle is placed in his way has a direct ten-
dency to dispirit him in his efforts to accomplish something
for himself. There are those who urge that this class of
people, whom our chief magistrate quite recently addressed
as fellow-citizens, are on the eve of insurrection, and are
liable, at any moment, to break out into excesses too brutal
and horrible to contemplate. This is used as an argument
in favor of a speedy restoration of Georgia and other
States to all their rights, that they may find within them-
selves the means of repressing such threatening evils. We
feel, perhaps, as deep an interest in this matter of restora-
tion as any one. We would be glad if our State could
pass under the control of our properly-elected officials, and
be relieved from this quasi-territorial Government under
which we are living every day. It would quicken the life
of our people—shake off that feeling of lethargy and
despair which clouds the prospects of so many, and infuse
new energy into all branches of industry. But we would
not resort to the mean subterfuge of lying, or disparage
the efforts of these unfortunate blacks, in order to give
efficacy to our reasons for entertaining such laudable de-
sires. There are many instances in which the Freedmen
—the worthless portion of them—have behaved badly, and
have overlooked the fact that they are amenable to the
laws. We do not hold them blameless by any means, but

that as a class they are lawless or inclined to be so, we
stoutly deny. The statements, but one example of which
we have given, which these journals would palm off on
the people as true, are utterly false, manufactured out of
whole cloth to suit the purposes for which they were in-
tended.