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    536 THE LEADER. [No. 324, Saturday,

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    CONTINENTAL NOTES. FRANCE. The Universal...

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    America. The One Step Which Was Required...

    In the Senate , Mr . Cass has given notice that he would ask leave , when a convenient opportunity presented itself , to show that he had been »»«? * « £ * £ . £ certain correspondence by Mr . Crampton with the British

    Government . . T .. The Washington correspondence of the Tribune reports , in reference to the dispute between Mr . Clayton and Mr . Crampton , that the latter explains the issue of veracity by saying that Mr . Clayton called on him to examine some old English maps on which Buatan and Jamaica were designated and coloured in the same way ; whereupon Mr . Clayton admitted that loth were evidently British possessions . With regard to the new Nicaraguan Minister , the same correspondence says : — " The foreign legat ions determine not to recognize the Padre Vigil , socially or officially . M . Sartiges has endeavoured to effect an arrangement between the Governments of England and the United States . "

    Information has been laid before Mr . Marcy , showing that Commodore Vanderbilt and Joseph L . White ' s party in New York had sent a special message out to inform the British commander in the waters of San Juan that the steamer had five hundred Filibusters on board , and to invite his interposition to prevent their landing . A terrible accident on the Panama railway has resulted in the deaths of between thirty and forty persons , and severe injuries to seventy or eighty . This occurred about nine miles from Aspinwall , to which place the sufferers were sent back ; but , the hospital being overcrowded , application was made to the inhabitants to receive the wounded at their houses . In nearly every instance , however , the white inhabitants , who are principally hotel-keepers , refused , and closed their doors ! The sufferers were then crammed into the hospital , where the scene was appalling .

    The lamentable state of things in Kansas continues , and amounts almost to civil war . The pro-slavery men have proclaimed the most open hostility to the antislavery advocates ; the town of Lawrence is in a state of siege , expecting the arrival of armed border ruffians' ; Governor Robinson has been arrested , and Reeder is threatened with capture ; the investigating committee , appointed by the Washington Legislature , is treated with contempt by President Pierce ' s agents ; and the prominent men of the Free State party have been indicted for treason . Governor Robinson , before his arrest , contrived to put the despatches which he was conveying to Washington into the hands of his wife , who , with great courage and heroism , made her way by an unsuspected route to the seat of the Federal Legislature . One of the main objects of the pro-slavery party is to destroy the evidence taken by the investigating committee ; but they have been thus defeated .

    From British America we hear that Governor Sutton has dissolved the New Brunswick Assembly , that the Council has resigned , and that tbe Canadian Ministry has given up office .

    536 The Leader. [No. 324, Saturday,

    536 THE LEADER . [ No . 324 , Saturday

    Continental Notes. France. The Universal...

    CONTINENTAL NOTES . FRANCE . The Universal Cattle Show and Agricultural Exhibition was opened in the Palais de l'lndustrie at noon on Sunday . The building was crowded , and the show of cattle , which was very fine , seehied to give universal satisfaction . The commercial world of Paris has been painfully excited by the failure of M . Henri Place , one of the administrators of the Credit Mobilier , and until recently a member of the banking firm of Noel and Place , of Paris . The liabilities are stated at about three-quarters of a million sterling ; the available assets are very small . It is believed that the Credit Mobilier is involved in the loss to only a slight extent ; but among the creditors are Messrs . Pereire , Ernest Andre * , Count do Moray , Fre'de ' ric Greininger , and the Due de Galliera—all of them members of the Council of Administration of the Credit . The Emperor lias left Paris for Lyons , to preside in person at the distribution of aid to tho sufferers by the inundations in the south . The floods still continue , and most lamentable accounts are received from tho seats of tho various disasters . Houses and bridges have been carried bodily away , massive buildings considerably damaged , embankments burst , trees uprooted , cattle carried off" by tho tide , and a considerable amount of property lost . Several persons , also , have been killed . Large tracts of country are under water , and at Vienne all the manufactories in the suburbs are stopped by the place being inundated . It is expected that the Emperor will leave Franco for Algeria about the end of tho present month . The 14 th inut . ( this day week ) is appointed for tho baptism ! at Notre Dame of tho Imperial Prince . The Government has resolved to remedy an abuse , repeatedly complained of by tho English and American captains trading with Havre . There are but nine naval brokers or interpreters licensed in that port , of whom only four are authorized to translate English . By tho Emperor's directions , tho number of interpreters has already been increased at Marseilles , Bordeaux , and Nantos , and a similar meaauro will shortly put an end to tho Inconvenience *! tho English and American captains

    have to suffer from the coalition formed by the Havre brokers . —Times Paris Correspondent . M . Bergougnoux , formerly the editor of the Emancipation of Toulouse , was lately sentenced by the tribunal of Villeneuve-sur-Lot to two years' imprisonment for having spoken ill of the Emperor of the French in a ' public carriage . The public prosecutor appealed against the sentence as too light for the offence , and the Imperial Court at Agen has now condemned M . Bergougnoux to five years' imprisonment » nd five years' deprivation of civil rights ! _

    Count Montalembert has uttered in the Legislative Body a remarkable speech on the bill which inflicts & yet heavier tax on political journals than that which is borne by merely literary papers . Alluding to the restrictions on the liberty of journalistic comment , the Count observed : — " I admit that formerly , considering the overwhelming political excitement of the country , a moderating check was necessary . That check never sufficiently existed , but , as always is the case in France , the absence of a check has been supplied by an excess of one—and what has been the result ? What has been gained ? The suppression of all political life . And that political agitation which might with justice be deplored , by what has it been replaced ? By the whirl of

    speculation : the great French nation could not resign itself to slumber , to inactivity . Political life was replaced by the fever of speculation , by the thirst for lucre , by the infatuation of gambling The real source of all that evil is the sleep of all political spirit in France . . . . At the sight of this fearful mania of gambling , which has made a vast gambling booth of nearly all France , the position of tbe masses which has been invaded by Socialists has felt itself more dominated than ever by the avidity of gain . Hence an unquestionable progress in secret societies , a greater and deeper development of those savage passions , which almost calumniate

    Socialism by adopting its name , and which have been recently well shown up in all their intensity in recent trials / at Paris , Angers , and elsewhere . Admitting " the glorious situation of France abroad , " the Count proceeded to remark : " It may be feared that , while everything is satisfaction and glory without , all will not be allowed to live at home which the intelligence , the heart , and the imagination of France exact . These are the reasons which induce me to regret the terms of the new bill , which tend to hamper and compress political ideas and discussions . As it is not in my power to amend it , I shall vote against it . rendering justice at the same time

    to the ameliorations which it contains . AUSTRIA . The Frankfort Journal publishes the following as the substance of an Austrian circular addressed by Count Buol to Austrian diplomatic agents abroad , in reply to Count Cavour ' s memorandum of the 16 th of April : — " Like the Sardinian Plenipotentiaries , Count Buol starts from the principle that reforms in Italy are much needed , but , as to the means of those reforms , comes to a conclusion diametrically opposed to Sardinian policy . AVhile the memorandum of the 16 th of April seeks the causes of the state of affairs in Italy in the measures which Austria , and the Italian sovereigns who have called in that Power to their aid , have had recourse to to put down revolutionary excitement in Italy , the Austrian circular considers such a state of things as the

    immediate consequence of a secret and wide spread propagandism which continues to act in Italy . Sardinia , the only Italian state , according to Count Cavour , capable of opposing a firm barrier to the revolutionary spirit , is designated in Count Buol ' s note as the focus of this propagandism . Tho Vienna Cabinet hurls back at that of Turin tho accusations brought by the Sardinian Plenipotentiaries against Austria and the Italian states above-mentioned . The circular observes that it is just possible that Sardinia is working the revolutionary spirit with a view to her own territorial aggrandizement . It also points out that tho barrier opposed to a revolutionary movement in Italy is not erected by Piedmont , but that it is based on tho Austrian system and on foreign occupation , and attributes the bitterness of Piedmont against Austria and the above-cited Italian stated solely to the obstacles which this barrier opposes to tho projects which Austria attributes to Sardinia . "

    A " mysterious religious society" has been discovered , according to tho Frankfort Post Ztitung , among the working men of infidel Vienna . About a year ago , the police received information that tho manners of the artisans und labourers in the suburbs had undergone a great change ; that they were more orderly and regular in their habits ; und that , although they did not go to church , they read tho IJiblo at homo—thia ( Htrango to Hiiy in so orthodox a Pupal country ) not being ugainst tho law in Austria . Last Whit Sunday they wcro surprised by tho police at a conventicle . The authorities then discovered that tho portions arrested , who amounted in number to between sixty and seventy , culled themselves " Brethren of St . John , " and thut they belonged to a new religious sect , which is supposed to have hoiiio connexion with tho Hungarian ProtestuntH . It ia probable that a long time will uluneo before tho men will be net at liberty . Hungary ia in a very disturbed Btato from highway robbers .

    PRUSSIA . Berlin may be said at present to be crowded with " a mob of kings , " or rather of sovereign princea and an emperor , a queen-consort and an empress-mother grand-dukes , statesmen , and other notabilities ; bat it is affirmed that their visits are merely complimentary and not political . " In addition to the members of the Imperial family of Russia , the Emperor , the Empressmother , and the Grand-Duke Michael , " says the Times Berlin correspondent , " there are visiting here now the Queen of Saxony , the Grand-Duchess of

    Mecklenbunr-Schwerin , the Princess of the Netherlands , Prince William of Mecklenburg , the Crown Prince of Wurtemberg and his consort , the Grand-Duchess Olga , the Grand-Duke of Oldenburg , the Duke of Nassau , Prince Wilhelm of Baden , Prince Moritz of Sachsen-Altenburg , the Prince of Hohenzollern , Prince of Solms , Prince Windischgratz , & c . Further , there are innumerable Russian nobles and state officials attached to the suites of the Emperor and Empress-mother , of whom I will only mention Count Nesselrode , Baron Meyendorff , Prince Gortschakoff , and Prince Woronzoff . "

    A very brilliant military parade took place on the 31 st ult . on the occasion of the meeting of the King of Prussia and his guest , the Emperor Alexander . Sir William Williams , of Kars , dined on the same day at the King ' s table . He has been received with marked honour in Prussia , where he has again met with General Mouravieff . Both generals are in ill health . The Schloss , or Royal Castle , at Berlin caught fire last Saturday night , while the King and the Russian Emperor were at the Opera-house . The Emperor of Russia has left Potsdam on his return to St . Petersburg .

    The King and his Imperial guest have met with what the Times Berlin correspondent calls " a very scurvy adventure , fit only for ' ordinary , uncrowned persons . " The two monarchs were driving home late at night , in thick darkness and a pouring raid ^ when a droschka , " whose driver ' s driving ' seemed like the driving of Jehu , for he drove furiously , ' " came foul of them , and literally poled the royal equipage , so that the King and the Emperor had to get out in the rain and mud , and pick up a vehicle where they could . The unlucky charioteer escaped in the confusion , but was afterwards arrested , only to receive royalty ' s gracious pardon , with a caution to be more careful in future .

    BELGIUM . Some transactions in the Belgian Parliament confirm the recent statements regarding the progress of freetrade opinions in Belgium . It appears that , in a debate just terminated in the Chamber of Representatives , twenty-five members out of sixty-eight were in favour of the free admission of iron of all sorts , and that a reduction of duty upon pig iron from 46 s . 6 d . to 18 s . 7 d . per ton has actually been voted by a large majority in both Houses . The Belgian Government , in order to conciliate France , is about to introduce into the Chambers a bill for rendering more stringent the provisions of the law on the press . This " project of law" applies to three things in particular , —viz . the stamp , the signing the article with the author ' s name , and the power given to the law officers of the Crown to institute proceedings without the necessity of a previous demand from a foreign Government .

    RUSSIA . An Imperial ukase places the educational establishments of Russia under the Emperor ' s special superintendence . A draught plan for constituting a Board of Education , with the assistance of a committee of learned men , has been submitted to the Emperor . General Ney has returned from lift mission to St . Petersburg . General Koinitski lately made an attack , in the columns of the Invalide Jiusse , upon the policy of **""<* Gortschakoff , which led to the battle of the Alma , lh © latter has just replied through tho same channel . Ihis species of controversis new to the Russian press .

    y The Emperor has authorized his representatives aw ° to receive from those who , after tho insurrection of 18 J 0 , illegally quitted Poland and the eastern governments of the Empire , petitions for a permission to return . lucre will be no ulterior proceedings or investigations ; the civil rights of the emigre ' s will bo restored , , after three years of good conduct , they may bo ad mitted to the public service . " From thia act of pardon , " says tne Warsaw Official Gazette , " are oxcepted those emv / rt * who , by thuir proceedings have proved , or continue to prove , their incorrigible hatred towards the Russian , Uovernment . " Tho Emperor has also granted that tue bootrans

    soldiers of the Polish army who , after having n - ferred from tho third category ( that of combatants m tne revolution of 1830 ) , entered the public service , and have conducted themselves well therein , ohull bo udimttcd to tho right of receiving retiring pensions , not only for t « e time of their actual service , but also for that which they passed in tho Polish army before tho revolution . 1 « " 9 privilege will bo extended to tho widows and orphans of soldiers whose death has preceded this net of grace . With respect to the said " act of grace , Messrs . \ - Bulowuki , A . Zubicki , and S . Worcoll , Polish refugees , huvo published in the English papers tho subjoined notification : — " When , in 1830 , we took up anna » g » " « i

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 7, 1856, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07061856/page/8/