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    752 T H E Ii E A D E R. [No. 333, Saturd...

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    Continental Notes. France. Marshal Pelis...

    she has undermined her own throne ; and yet the Moniteur supports all this , and reprints an article from the Debate , which declares the late events m Spam a legitimate use on the part of the Queen of her constitutional sovereignty . Such a line of policy will do infinite injury to the Emperor of the French , and prejudice the half of Europe against his Government . lnese rather startling opinions—startling as coming from the Palmerston and Napoleonic organ — are but poorly neutralized by the observation that " it is quite time the Emperor came home to Paris , for all goes wrong in his absence" and by the assertion that the Emperor has no

    , desire to see such a Government as O'Donnell s succeed in establishing itself . From the same writer we learn that the Emperor is currently believed to have declared that he will not , under any circumstances , send French troops across the frontier . He adds : —" Spain , I find , is continually interrogating France—that is to say , the Queen and her advisers want to depend on the will of the Emperor , whilst his Majesty wants the Queen and her Government to depend on themselves . The Queen has always supposed that Napoleon III . would be delighted with anything like a coup d ' etat , although she has been told the contrary over and over again . "

    It is said that O'Donnell does not propose either to call the existing Cortes , or to convoke another , fearful , probably , of the opposition he would meet with ; but that it is his intention to frame a model constitution , and to force it on the people without choice . " Other announcements which come simultaneously with that of this masterpiece of constitutions , " says the Paris correspondent of the Times , who appears to be very well informed on Spanish affairs , " plainly indicate the means by which its framers reckon on being obliged to sustain and enorce it . The Government , we are told , taking into consideration the recent conduct of the National Guard throughout Spain , is indisposed to reorganize it , but talks of forming , by-and-by , at some remote and undefined period , a sort of rosewater National Guard , consisting of persons who are qualified by paying- a certain amount of taxes—such a force as would never dream of

    fighting or of giving trouble to any government . On the other hand , we hear that the army and the Civil Guards—the latter a highly-paid corps , composed chiefly of old soldiers , and generally noted for its fidelity to the existing government , whatever that may be—are to be augmented . In the present state of Spain , these are dangerous announcements , well adapted to revive the smouldering embers of resistance . " Further details are still received of the slaughter inflicted by the Queen ' s troops at Barcelona , and other localities of the insurrection . "We also hear of several

    . executions inflicted on the ringleaders . On the 28 th ult ., at the former town , seventeen individuals were shot three by three , on a charge of having assassinated Colonel Olviedo and six officers of the garrison , taken prisoners by the people on the 19 th ult . The Carlists have again made their appearance in the province of Burgos . They have already stopped several mail and stage coaches , of which they carried away the horses ; but they neither robbed nor ill-treated the passengers .

    All the insurgents who betook themselves , after the conflict at Barcelona , to the hills beyond the suburb of Garcia , submitted to General Zapatero on a promise of mild treatment . The Minister of War has since written to the General , desiring him to show mercy to the vanquished . The Gazette publishes the returns of the loss suffered by the Queen ' s troops during the collision . The number of killed was 45 , among whom were three chiefs and six officers ; the wounded were 209 , two chiefs and 17 officers ; and the contused 89 .

    Of the insurrection at Malaga , we read that Colonel Buceta , abandoning his post of Military Governor of Melilla , came and placed himself nt the head of the revolters . A striking anecdote of the Madrid coup d ' etat is given by a writer in the Times : —" The day on which the last Council of Ministers was held , when Espartcro presented his resignation to the Queen , the two Marshals ( Espartero and O'Donnell ) happened to meet on the staircase of the palace as one was quitting it and the other entering . ' I fully expected what lias happened , said Espartero . ' So did I , ' was the reply . ' Some day a fearful responsibility will be exacted of you for what has occurred , ' said Espartero . ' It is you , ' answered O'Donnell , ' who are responsible for what has taken place for the last two years ( forgetting that he , O'DonncIJ , was his colleague the whole of that time ) . Now / have the upper hand , and I will and shall conquer , or I will lay Madrid in ruins ( arrasare' U Madrid ); and , if I am driven to extremity , I will carry off the Queen by force , if necessary , and deposit her in a place of safety . ' " ' Colonel Nereis , M . Goccurico , and thirty other pereontf , have been arrested for being found in a cafd after half-past twelve at night , contrary to a new regulation just pr 6 mulgatod by the Government . ' . General SausK , the commandant-general of Zamora , committed suicide on , the 26 th ult . A letter found in his house leads to the belief that a feeling of despair , induced by the recent political events , prompted him to commit the act . ' : ¦ A . battalion of chasseure , stationed in the quarter of St . Isabel , at Madrid , mutinied on the 29 th ult ., and Tvefe only appeased by a bribe of five franca to each of

    the soldiers . A regiment of engineers did the same ; and the Spanish army is altogether in a very discontented state . Sefior Madoz , Commander of the Fifth Battalion of the Madrid National Guard , and a highly respectable citizen and merchant , who was at one time Minister of Finance , has voluntarily presented himself before the Council of War , in order to answer any questions that might be put to him in connexion with his resistance to the troops during the late insurrection . The damage done by the soldiers to private property during the conflict at Madrid was very great . The Duke de Medina Celi has sent in a claim to the amount of two millions and a quarter of francs , on account of the destruction of his pictures and furniture . The Countess of Montijo , mother of the French Empress Euge ' nie , has written to . Queen Isabella complaining that her house was plundered and her property destroyed by the royal troops . All the editors of the Madrid journals who were condemned to several years' imprisonment under the previous ministry , have been set at liberty . The militia commandants will not be prosecuted . The bands which had taken refuge in the mountains of Catalonia are said to be dispersing . Several large fires have occurred in various parts of Spain . They have been imputed—whether truthfully or not—to the malcontents . The Government is seriously preoccupied with the food question . The Ayuntamiento of Madrid has for some weeks paid out of the municipal funds 20 , 000 or 30 , 000 reals dailv , in order to prevent a rise of half a real in the price of bread . Still greater difficulties have presented themselves in some towns of the province . At Vicalvaro , no bread was to be had on the 31 st ult . The authorities , on being apprised of the fact , immediately sent off the secretary of the Civil Governor , who , having assembled the proprietors and farmers , insured the supply of the town , where a regiment of cavalry is quartjred . The Government is preparing an administrative programme which will be shortly carried into execution . The country is at present divided into twelve captainciesgeneral and forty-five intendanciee , taking their names from the capital towns . Among the intended reforms , one is said to be the creation of ninety sub-intendancies , which Avould correspond with the French sub-prefectures . ITALY . The Neapolitan Government has been so much alarmed at the proclamation recently put forth by the Liberal party that , in addition to doubling their ordinary precautions in the way of military and police , they , have been reduced to resort to that hated instrument the pro s , and to issue a counter-address , beseeching the people' to maintain " order . " After a great deal of coarse vituperation of the Liberals , whom the Government feels sure the people will " annihilate with the lightning of their contempt , " the concoctors of the address goon to say : —" Our language is that of truth , and we appeal to pvhlic opinion . Remember , Neapolitans , the Utopias of 1799 ; the errors of 1820 ; the follies of 1848 . What was the result of those subversive attempts ? Grief and desolation . Let all honest men unite , then , to crush those whose depraved objects nre to break down our altars , to bring infamy on our families , to get possession of our property . Let all be ready and decided as we are to resist every' seduction , that we may prove" to the foreigner , whom it is wished to impose upon by announcing a unity of action which docs not exist , that the Neapolitans , reunited under the flag of their national and fearless Government , are decided on opposing any base attempt whatever upon order—reposing as they do confidently and tranquilly on the good sense of their august Sovereign , from whom nlone all good and prosperity nre to be expected , " The idea of King Boinba and his Government appealing to " public opinion" is truly ludicrous . A gardener at Home has been sentenced to four years ' imprisonment for eating meat on Christmas-eve . Sir William Temple , who has been for a long time the Englinh minister at Naples , left that city on the 28 th ult ., on his way home , in a most precarious state of health . IJi . s sympathies have always been with the oppressed people , and he will bo greatly regretted . The Austrian military force in Lombardy lias been augmented by several battalions and nearly one hundred guns . In Parma , General Uaumgnxtcn replaces Count Crenvillc aa General commanding the Austrian troops . An inquiry has been instituted by the Sardinian Government in Turin and Genoa oh to the cuhmch of the late outbreak on the Modcnese frontier . It is intended to publish a summary of the evidence collected on the subject . rnussiA . Voas ' tt Gazette has been seized and confiscated for an article of unti-Rusaian tendency , severely censuring the UuHHiari Government for attempting to evade the stipulatioiiH of the Treaty of Paris . The palace long occupied by the lute King of Prussia , and in which ho died , is net apart for tho residence of the English Princess Koyal after her marriage . liKi . auiM . Tho fetes still continue , nnd are likely to do bo till tho

    last day of the present month . Lord Westmoreland left Brussels on the 1 st inst ., after a very satisfactory mission . On the day the King arrived at Bruges , the Earl presented an address to his Majesty , expressive of the pleasure with which the Queen of England regards the happy . development of constitutional liberty in Bel - gium . On this occasion , " God save the Queen " was played , and received with great enthusiasm .

    RUSSIA . The duty on sugar in Russia is to be reduced for the space of six years from the 13 th of the present month . The Emperor has commanded that the clergy of all the different confessions in the empire , not even excluding the non-Christians , shall be invited officially to the coronation . This is a very creditable concession to the spirit of religious tolerance . Great things are related of Prince Esterhazy ' s splendours on the approaching occasion . The housings of his charger are to consist of a tiger ' s skin , studded with a fabulous amount of diamonds . It is now said that the coronation will not take place till the 7 th of September . Jews have been declared eligible to public situations .

    The Mixed Commission appointed to fix the boundary line in Bessarabia have returned to Bolgrad ; but th « y have not yet been able to decide whether that town shall continue attached to Russia or be restored to Turkey . The English , French , Austrian , and Turkish Commissioners are of opinion that it belongs to Turkey . Several members of the Russian Embassy , together with the archives , have anived at Constantinople . Officers of the English Commissariat who reached the Turkish capital by tlie

    last packet state that the Russian clergy have celebrated at Balaklava a high mass , at which everybody attended barefooted , as a sign of mortification . A grand procession afterwards took place , when holy water was poured Jbrth in profusion , in order to purify the town . Colonel Stamati , commander of Balaklava , has issued a proclamation , recommending his men and the inhabitants to respect the funeral monuments of the Allied armies . A camp of six thousand men has been established on the heis-hts of Inkerman .

    Sir Charles Napier has been spending some time in St . Petersburg , where he has excited so much curiosity , that he has been followed about from place to place by crowds of persons , and has experienced the greatest difficulty in escaping from their observation . He has been well received by the Emperor , and is to take part in a grand naval review . Quarantine is re-established in the Russian ports . General Mouravieff resigns , at his own request , the superior command of the Caucasus , and has been appointed a member of the Imperial Senate . He is tc be succeeded in his command by General Prince Baryatinsky .

    THE GERMANIC DIET . The Germanic Diet adjourned on the 2 nd inst . until the 30 th of October . The question of the fortifications of Rastadt has been settled to the satisfaction of all parties , by a unanimous vote , declaring that Rastadt is to be not only a fortress , but an entrenched camp . GKKECE . A formidable band of tAventy-three brigands has been attacked by the troops and civilians at the spot where CEdipus slew Laius . Nineteen were killed on the spot ; tho other four were badly wounded , and w ere taken prisoners .

    TURKEY . A fire broke out , on the 11 th ult ., at an inn at Salonica . It was promptly suppressed , but not before it had communicated itself to an adjacent house , where about two hundred barrels of gunpowder ( contraband ) were secreted . A terrible explosion ensued ; more than a hundred persons were killed ; and the fire spread far and wido , causing an immense destruction of property . Admiral Lyons ( now Lord Edmund Lyons ) has been sumptuously feted and honoured at Constantinop le , where , in company with Sir William Codrington , be was admitted to an audience by the Sultan , who after wards entertained both officers at a magnificent collation . Redschid Pacha has returned to Constantinop le from

    Egypt . It is stated at " Vienna that the Austrian Cabinet has addressed a note to Russia , couched in extremely energetic language , and containing a serious protest against tho Russian occupation of the Islo of Serpents , nt tin ! mouth of the Danube . At Constantinop le , it wiw nt first intended to despatch an aimed force to the Minna , in order to drive out tho Russians ; but thin design wiw abandoned , on tho ground that tho isluad belong * to tno Danubian Principalities , nnd could not therefore bo garrisoned by Turkish troops .

    i MONTKNKGItO . Princo Mirko , in his recent expedition against sonic disaffected Montenegrins who had manifested a wn" <<> incorporate Montenegro with Turkey , comm itted an _ act of great treachery . Ho pretended to open n egotiations with tho malcontents , but suddenly , in tlio course ol uk . night , he made a sanguinary attack on them , killed more than one hundred persons , mostly old men , women , aiui children , burned three hundred houses , and carried a \ v « y more than six thousand head of cattle .

    752 T H E Ii E A D E R. [No. 333, Saturd...

    752 T H E Ii E A D E R . [ No . 333 , Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 9, 1856, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09081856/page/8/