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• - gl3 THE LEADER. Saturday ,
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CONTINENTAL NOTES. Everything in Paris i...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Letters From Paris. The Financial Abyss ...
City ' of'Paris , for public works , for the purpose of rendering the Government popular . When the forthcoming loan appears in the market , the Funded debt alone will have risen from 5 516 194 , 600 francs , the amount it had reached on the 1 st of January , 1852 , to 7 , 806 , 194 , 600 francs . We are approaching , you observe , a debt of 8 , 000 , 000 , 000 ( francs ) of capital , and 400 , 000 , 000 ( francs ) of rentes . , COMPARATIVE STATEMENT . The Bourbons ( of the elder branch ) cost us annually about . . . 181 , 000 , 000 fr . Louis Philippe ( a cheap king ) . . 50 , 000 , 000 Louis Bonaparte 1 , 400 , 000 , 000
Observe , moreover , that I have made no reference to the enormous increase which has taken place these last five years in the debt of towns and of communes , all obliged to raise money for the execution of extraordinary public works , or to meet difficulties of a political nature arising from the dearness of provisions . These calculations -would lead to monstrous results in bare figures . But where do the figures themselves lead us to ?
• - Gl3 The Leader. Saturday ,
• - gl 3 THE LEADER . Saturday ,
Continental Notes. Everything In Paris I...
CONTINENTAL NOTES . Everything in Paris is very quiet . On Monday next there is to be a review by the Emperor of all the garrison in Paris , some 30 , 000 infantry , and 6000 cavalry . On Monday l ast , no less than five persons were tried for offences against the person of the Emperor , that is , indul ging in a joke at his expense , and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment . The free day at the Exhibition on Sunday last was a complete failure . The working classes did not appear to care at all for the Exhibition , and preferred -their usual trips to the
banlieue . You could walk in and out of the Palace ( says a private letter ) easily , and the barriers , and notices that the palace would be cleared every two hours to admit fresh crowds , had a ludicrous appearance . The Emperor is angry and disgusted at the failure of the Exhibition . As for general opinion , it is unanimous in condemnation of the blunders and incapacity of the Company , and it is already rumoured that the Government proposes to take the Exhibition out of their hands , at an enormous expense . The sum paid by the Government to the Company on the Free Day was said to be 5000 franc * ( 200 ? . )
A bell placed in the private cabinet of the Emperor informs him instantly of the arrival of telegraphic despatches from the seat of war , before any of his ministers are even aware of their transmission . It is reported that there will be a short legislative session in July , for the purpose of sanctioning a new loan of 750 , 000 , 000 francs . M . Vaulabelle , who was Minister of Public Instruction in the Government of General Cavaignac , has been prohibited from publishing a second serial edition of his Histoire des deux Restaurations . The authorisation was refused on a report of M / de la GueVonniere , President of the Commission de Colportage .
The provincial press has been struck by repeated warnings of late , chiefly for attacks on friendly governments . The ultramontane journals more particularly for their attacks on the Spanish and Sardinian Governments ; the liberal journals for their indiscreet criticisms of Austrian policy . The Parisian press has for some time evaded interference . Sinco his retirement from oiKce , M . Drouyn de Lhuys has resided at his country seat between Saint Me " gens and Palaiscau . The deputation of the French Academy to protest against the recent decree emanating from the Ministry of Public Instruction , and destroying their traditional
privileges and liberties , consisted of the Due do NoailleTs , the Bishop of Orleans , and M \ Villemain . The Emperor accused the Academy of transgressing its " attributions . " M . " Villemain replied that the Academy was purely a literary institution . The Emperor rejoined , that the Academy had occupied itself with politics when it gave a prize to the work of a professor who had refused the oath of allegiance . This allusion was to the esteemed M . Jule 3 Simon , some time Professor of Moral Philosophy , and author of n treatise Le Devoir , which has reached a third edition . M , Jules Simon was a member of the Constituent Assembly , and he resigned his professorship after the coup d'iiitat . It ia said that the obnoxious decree will not bo withdrawn nor modified .
Princo Napoleon Je ' romo lias announced a senos of receptions at the Palais Royal . The gueata arc admitted in evening dross—Vhabit da ville ; in contradistinction to the extravagant etiquotto of the Tuileriea . The King of Portugal was present at tho last reception . The great Hackney Carrinye Company , so long talked of , has at length received the approval of the Government , and is now established . It undertakes the entire supply of Paris with nacres , cabriolets , coupe ' s , & c . The Company is ooinposed of the Administrators of tlio Lafitto ot Caillard Mceaageriea , whoso traffic has been nearly destroyed by the railways .. The capital of the Company is 25 , 000 , 000 franca ( 1 , 000 , 000 / . ) . It undertakes to lower the fares und to furnish better
carriages and horses . The shares of this Company are already at a premium of 25 francs . Its success , which is scarcely doubtful , is a matter of public interest . Would that a similar Company were established in London ! The Morality of the Church in France . —On Wednesday week last , at the station of the Chemin de Fer du Nord , a priest named Kermann , Vicar of Saint Sulpice , was caught Jagrante delicto in the commission wanted to
of an offence which shows , if anything were show , the tendencies of a celibate priesthood . The French papers have suppressed the fact . When apprehended , the priest said , " Mon Dieu ! that I should have been so mad as to do it where I could be discovered ! " An exclamation which comprises all the morality of the French priesthood . The mob surrounded the prison of St . Lazare , and seemed disposed to make a disturbance , but the Archbishop of Paris sent for the priest , and he is now in some ecclesiastical prison .
Law v . Love in Hanover . —Love it would seem is as much in leading-strings as Liberty even in our dear dynastic domain of Hanover . A coach-and-four to Gretna Green is but a tame affair to the runaway romance enacted in that kingdom to which we owe the unutterable blessing of all the Georges . Let the Lydia Languishes no longer despair . The son of a wealthy miller in the Kedinger Lane , one of the fertile marshes within the kingdom of Hanover , loved a young orphan girl , without parental permission . The lovers in vain essayed
to turn the stony heart of the miller ; they had no matrimonial course but flight . The lady provided purse , and-a sympathising friend the scrip—in shape of a trunk . A bark , lay conveniently in the Elbe for " bonnie Dundee ; " lovers embarked ; and favouring winds wafted them swiftly to the hymeneal land so kindly to fugitive lovers . A Scottish minister tied the knot , and the twain returned to Fatherland by the same vessel , one flesh . Now all gentle readers will doubtless imagine that the Kedinger miller is about to enact the mollified father of all time-honoured third or fifth acts ; the
gentle reader is very much mistaken : the miller was a patriarch , and knew the blessings of a paternal government . He applied to the Royal Consistory , which annulled the marriage ; and the public prosecutor , according to art . 15 of the Bremen Matrimonial Law , summoned the delinquent before the police court , which sentenced our unhappy lovers , married and divorced , to six weeks' imprisonment , with five days to the sympathising friend who lent the trunk . Both parties appealed against the sentence . The public
prosecutor , a very moral officer no doubt , likewise appealed , on the ground that the full penalty required by violated law had not been inflicted , in the addition of a bread and water diet for the culprits . The High Court of Justice at Stade has dismissed the charge against the sympathetic friend , but has ordered ( how must we describe those whom " God hath joined together" under such illegal circumstances ?) to be imprisoned for fourteen days . What a pleasant country for young folks enamoured—but not of the patriarchal system !
A Carlist insurrection has burst out in Spain , and seems to be spreading . The cry of the rebels is , " The King ! Religion ! Death to heretics ! " The Government has sent off troops to Aragon , the chief scat of the movement ; and the Captain-General of Navarre has formed the soldiers at his disposal into three columnsone to defend his own territory , and the other two to proceed to Aragon . Some of the insurgent soldiers of Catalonia have gone in the direction of Moncayo , and the others in that of Carinena . A telegraphic message from Madrid , dated May 26 th , says : — " The majority of the committee appointed to consider the Government application for extraordinary powers has granted the request . The cavalry of the Baylen regiment , which
revolted at Saragossa , have marched to join the infantry insurgents . Six columns of regulars pursue them . The forced loan project is postponed . " The Paris correspondent of the Morning Post says : —" The Government finds it necessary to bestow extraordinary powers on the local authorities , and place military force at their disposal . The journals are to be suspended , and such measures adopted as may insure the public tranquillity . There appears to be little doubt of the Cortes supporting the Queen ' s Government . The Carlist chiefs are said to be in a great state of irritution on account of the bill
which has passed the Cortes restricting Church influence and revenue , as well as the severe rules which the Government of France has imposed on the Spanish frontiers , bo long the head-quarters of Carlist intrigue . " The same writer nays ho has received the following despatch : — "This movement is much more extensive than is generally believed in Madrid ; and no doubt foreign influence has induced the Carliat party to make the present attempt at revolution on account of England and Franco "being engaged in a great war . " The latest intelligence is contained in the annexed telegraphic messages , dated Madrid , the 29 th and 80 th ult .:
— " A band of the insurgents were yesterday dispersed by the Queen ' s troops near Abunto ; thirty prisoners with their arms , and « bc horsea , were taken . A' most active pursuit atill continues . The Cortes yesterday rejected an amendment of M . Snlmeron against the authorisation for extensive powera demanded by the Government , by a majority of 161 to 66 . The report of
the majority of the commission is now under discussion . The most perfect tranquillity prevails i n the capital and hi the provinces . " " The insurgents at Caspi and Alcanitz were defeated on the 28 th , at Valonquiza . The two leaders and a cure * were shot . " Letters from Rome say that the news of the Spanish Queen having sanctioned the law of desamortizacion had caused a great sensation . The Moderados , it appears , had announced that she would refuse her sanction , and that the refusal would be the signal for rising against the present Government . The Pope is said to be profoundly afflicted , and the general opinion was , that diplomatic relations between Spain and Rome would speedily cease .
From Turin we hear that the Convents Suppression Bill , with the amendments of the Senate , has been adopted by the Chamber of Deputies by a majority of seventy-two in an assembly of one hundred and nineteen . One member abstained from voting . The new propositions of Austria have been rejected by France and England , upon the ground that they do not contain any sufficient guarantee against Russia attacking Turkey at some future period . It seems probable , therefore , that the Conferences are finally closed . Several very grave and ominous circumstances are at present contributing to throw a gloom over France . The Exhibition , up to the present time , has been a failure ;
and—which is far worse—distress is beginning to exhibit itself amongst the lower classes . The Paris correspondent of the Daily News observes : —" The strikes amongst workmen in many parts of the country are assuming a rather serious aspect . The connexion between the strikes and the dearness of living is the ugliest feature in the business . People remember that 1830 and 1847 were years of scarcity To-day ( Friday week ) , at the Palais de Justice , no less than five cases were tried of offences against the Emperor by word of mouth . In each instance the prisoners were found guilty . The sentences ranged from six months'to a year ' s imprisonment , with fines . "
Some glimpses are every now and then afforded us of what is passing in the heart of the Russian Empire ; and from these it uniformly appears that the pressure of the war is severely felt , and that the financial condition of the country is by no means flourishing . A letter from St . Petersburg , dated the 4 th of May , has been published in the Constitutionnel , the writer of which says : — * ' I could point out to you several changes which have taken place here for the purpose of effecting savings , with a view to the war . One is , that the Emperor has just suppressed the court of the heir apparent , and has ordered that it shall be henceforth blended with that of the Empress Marie Alexandrowna , under the 'presidency of the Marshal of the Court , Olsufieff . In order to root out
the habits of corruption existing amongst the public functionaries , the Emperor Nicholas , a" little before his death , had ordered that every judgment should be made public , with the names of the offenders . This order has been carried into execution to-day for the first time ; and , by order of his Majesty , several oflicials are cashiered and excluded for ever from serving his Majesty for sundry offences , deficits , and irregularities in their accounts , & c . Another fact shows the severity of the Russian laws as regards acts of insubordination . A student of the University of St . Wladimir in a moment of passion struck the chief of the University police . For this act he has been brought before a court-martial , and sentenced to lose his nobility and to serve in the army as a private soldier . "
Prince Mettemich has just given a grand fete at Vienna , to celebrate the eighty-third anniversary of his birthday . A report has been spread in Madrid that a figure of Christ in the church of St . Francisco the Great sweated blood and water , out of grief for the sale of the church property ! Forthwith the people thronged to the place to behold the miracle , and thero was much excitement . It is stated , but for the truth of this I will not vouch , there were shouts of " Death to heretics and Jews I " " Death to the deputies who decreed the sale of God ' s
property ! " Some of the faithful and credulous were heard to declare that they had wiped tho exudations from tho countenance of the graven imago , whose eyes and mouth others imagined they saw move . The ferment was such that tho authorities were obliged to clear the square in front of the church , and some soldiers removed the figure from its niche , as no workmen could bo got to do it . I need hardly any that neither the soldiers nor the oflicera who commanded them detected any supernatural appearances in the imago . — Times Spanish Correspondent . named t &
The youngest aon of tho King of Sardinia , o Duke del Gonoveae , who wua born only a few days before tho Queen ' s death , and who has alwuya been a sickly child , died a week or two ago . Tho Senate of Hamburg has juflt published a nov l » w limiting tho freedom of tho press . In addition < o tue usual restrictions upon tho discussion of politic * ' questions and even upon tho mere publication of such news aa tho Government may desire to suppress , the proposea act decrees that " no person deprived of hfe personal liberty , either from being convicted or gravely suapectca of a contravention of the lawe , can continue to act as editor whilst ao imprisoned . " The mos > vlllanoua p ««
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 2, 1855, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02061855/page/8/
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