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    9ft3 THE LEADER; [No. 340, Saturday ,

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    Continental Notes. ¦' ¦ • . '¦'¦ ¦ ¦ Pba...

    spot to the other pointed staves of some eight or ten feet In length , and provided at one end with the proper insulating bed for . the wire , are let down at intervals from the vehicle . A sufficient supply of manual labour being at hand to drive into the ground these staves or poles on ¦ which the wire is supported , the electric communication may be said to be established . as rapidly as the vehicle with Its materiel can . be conveyed from one part of the field of operations to the other , and certainly within a very few minutes of its arrival messages can be transmitted . It has also been used-without supporting the wire en poles , by simply running the wire out and letting it lie on the ground , but I am not aware-what the comparative results of the two methods have been . " The King of the Belgians is said to he expected at Berlin on a visit to the Court about the end of October . Baron Humboldi . attained his eighty-seventh birthday on Sunday week , -which he passed in strict retirement . His health is still remarkably vigorous for his age .

    The nuptials of the Princess Louisa of Prussia-with the Grand Duke of Baden -were solemnized on Saturday evening in the Royal Schloss with all the prescriptive solemnities . —It has been remarked , " The poetry of earth is never dead . " It might with equal trutli be averred , " The foolery of courts will never die . " The Times Berlin correspondent , in giving an account of- the court ceremonies , records this astounding antic : — t ( The newly married couple took their places with the Xing and Queen on the dais under the throne canopy , and the Princesses ranged themselves on the right hand of the throne , and the Princes on the left , according to their rank . At a signal from the King , the Lord High Marshal approaches the young couple and requests them to open the dance , -which they < lo by walking a Polonaise ,

    preceded by the twelve Ministers of State , each holding a taper of white wax in his hand . After performing one tonr of the saloon , which is of very considerable extent , the procession stops before the dais , and the newly married Princess invites the King to dance , with which he complies , and accomplishes a turm , yith considerable grace and gallantry , being all the time preceded as before , by the Ministers of State with their wax tapers . Thus did these unfortunate Ministers perform the round of the White Saloon full seventeen . times , carrying their white tapers—an exertion about equal to a good morning ' s shooting " , only not so wholesoine . Two of the Ministers on this occasion excused themselves on the score of ill health , and their places were filled wp by the two eldest Privy Councillors . " Oh , flesh , flesh ! how art tnou fiunkeyfied ! The feat thus described is followed by the scrambling for tie bride's garter—but start not , oh proper' English reader ! The garter is no garter , but a very inoffensive piece of blue ribbon , " fringed , with silver lace , and

    having the initials and coronet of the bride embroidered in silver , and prepared in advance , and carried by the X < adr-in-Waiting in her pocket , together with a pair of scissors . At the critical moment , she draws this ribbon from her pocket , holds it for an instant or two against the bride ' s robe to identify it with her , and then cuts it off in lengths , which are scrambled for . " The correspondent adds : —" The origin of this torch dance , which appears so grotesque and barbarous , is certainly pre-Christian . It is believed to be a tradition of the < dance 3 performed by the Greeks iu honour of Jlyr aen , whose emblem was a torch : from Greece the practice was transplanted to Home with the Greek mythology , and thence carried by Constantino the Great to Byzantium . " But the grave Ministers of State walking about candle in hand , surpasses Gray ' s picture of Sir Christopher Hatton ;—" Full oft within the spacious walls , When he had fifty winters o ' er him , My grave Lord Keeper led the brawls : — The seal and maces danced before him . "

    la connexion with the Neufchatol affair , M , Manteuffel has addressed a circular to the representatives of Prussia at the courts of France , England , Austria , and Russia , invoking the protocol of London , dated May 24 , 1852 , ofcd following also the principle laid down at the PaTis Congress , in its sitting of April 14 , 185 C , namely , " tliat States between which any serious difference shall arise shall , instead of appealing to arms , have recourse , as far as circumstances will admit , to the good offices of the other Powers . " Prussia has just sent a note to Denmark , in wnich sho declares herself in principle favourable to the redemption of the Sound Dues , and proposes opening negotiations between all the Governments interested in tho question , in order to fix the amount of indemnity . A special conference will be held at Copenhagen lor this purpose in November .

    nuaaiA . The Russian Government has juat decided , that the populations of the vast territory which it possesses beyond the Lake oi Baikal , in Northern Asia , shall , receive an ovganizatkm similar to tbat of coy tain populations of tha Blade Sea and the Don , and shall be called " Cos-Backs of th e B « Ucal j" also that they ahall form a special a ™ y >« m » isti » g Kbwever only of cavalry , commanded by a betmaa . The « ovemnicaai has likowiae decided that tho Q oremoiyGMMTOi „ , TSsmUan Siberia shall have under his comauuad the Maritime deportment which has juat bejeuertablkkodatfctauak , ftTwf £ Uicacompri 8 e « theadm » irtr «* ioa of th % ««*» an 4 ^^ ^ jo « f the

    The Empress Dowager and the Grand Duke Constautine are about to proceed to Italy . GERMANT . Tie police of the town of Breslau , in Silesia , have been , instructed to see to the tuning of the hand-organs which , are allowed to be played in the streets , and to take care that they do not offend musical ears by unpleasing discords , to prevent which they are subjected no-w to a monthly inspection and trial by the authorized officers of tlie municipality / Friday week being the anniversary of the battle of the / barricades of 1848 , some democratic demonstrations were made at Francforr , and a young man was arrested whilst holding in his hands a red flag r and delivering a speech to the public assembled at the cemetery to place fresh flowers and wreaths on tbo graves of those of the working class who fell on the barricades . DENMARK . Kecent advices from Copenhagen speak of the deliberations of the Sound Dues Conferences as proceeding very satisfactorily , so that a result may be expected about the middle of October . ¦ Extensive peculationsand embezzlements in the contracts for clotuitig and provisioning tlie army have just been detected in Denmark . Above sixty persons are supposed to be implicated in them , including many apparently respectable manufacturers arid tradesmen , with several Government officials who held a high rank in the civil or the military service . These frauds appear to have been carried on systematically for . ten years past , and it is asserted that not less than two millions and a half of francs will cover the amount which the Government has lost by them . Contracts for meat are known to Lave been made , by a dishonest collusion , at double the market price . : , ; . ¦ - . . ITALY . . . .. . ' . .. On the resumption of the political trials at Naples , another damning fact against the King and his Ministers came out . " One of the witnesses—Captain Acuti , the commander of the Bagni of Procida , in 1855—testified to the tranquil and orderly conduct of Maurd ( one of the accused ) an d of his companions . Mauro , it seems , was confined alone in consequence of his irreliffiosita . On several occasions , the prisoners were found without thenfirons ; on which , Acuti suggested that they should be flogged ( though this was in direct violation of the law ) , and the King , acceding to the proposal , ordered fifty lashes to t > e given in each , case Fifty-six persons were thus savagely and illegally punished . On the dav after this statement was made , the Procurator-tieneralo asserted that Captain Acuti had told positive falsehoods , contended that forty stripes might legally be given , and averred that the increase had bceu ordered , not by the King , but by his Ministera . Acuti will be again exa-: mined . The question is exciting intense interest . The defenders of "Venice and Rome residing there have subscribed a sum sufficient to purchase one of the hundred guns for Alessandria , on ¦ which these words are to be inscribed : — " Offered to Piedmont by the Defenders of Venice and Rome . " Numerous arrests have lately been made at Lecce . At Trani , in the district of Barletta , some of the most respectable inhabitants of tike town have been thrown into prison under tho most futile pretext ? - Among them are several lawyers , one of whom , Teodorico Soria , is brother-in-law to M . Joseph Pisanelli , former member of the Parliament of 1848 , and at present a refugee in Piedmont . By an express order of tho police , the Sicilians desirous to proceed to Naples , must hereafter be provided with a special authorization to that effect from the Government . This injunction applies Also to those already furnished with passports for the interior or for foreign countries . Wo learn from Bologna jjthat tlio provinces of Romagna and Ombria have been lately visited by Mazzinian agents , who gave out that tlioy were sent by the Sardinian Government to revolutionize the country . They stated that Piedmont wouM shortly raise the standard of Italian independence , and that her Parliament would proclaim itself tho National Italian Parliament . These Mazzinian manoeuvres were known to the Austrian authorities , but , as they were directed in reality against Piedmont , they were supposed to bo encouraged imder-handedly by tlioso authorities . In connexion with the arrest in Tuscany of some collegians from Genoa , mentioned by us last week , the Sardinian Government has addressed to its minister in Tuscany a note signed by Count Cavour , which oomnionces thus : — " Although tho Tuscan Government has for some timo past accustomed his Majesty's Government to that display of scant courtesy , not to uso strongor language , which they exhibit towards those Piedmonteso subjects who visit the Grand Duchy , nevertheless , I admit that I heard with surprise from your confidential despatches of the date of the 2 nd instant , the abrupt expulsion , " & c . . Ho proceeds , further on : — " Tho President of the Grand Ducal Government is mot satisfied with the voluntary subscription which is actually going on in the Sardinian States for tho purpose of making tlie present to his Majesty ' s Government of one hundred , cannons intended for the fortifioationa of ALoasandrio . We regret that a demonstration , whose object is to testify and , to increase

    He confidence that the Piedmontese people put in their King and in their Government , should not meet with the sympathy of him who holds-the first place in the council of a friendly state . We regret that the spontaneous and universal co-operation of the whole people to secure one of the bulwarks of the independence of Piedmont—and we may say also of Ital y—should provoke remarks which are not friendly from an Italian Government . But not on that account can we grant to the Tuscan , any more than to other Governments , the right of demanding explanations relative to an act which does not concern it , and -which injur-cs no one , least of all Tuscany , who has nothing to do with the frontiers , for the deferfte of which the fortiGcations of Alessandria are destined . As for the subscription of the 10 , 000 muskets you have already made the opportune remark to the President of the Government of the Grand Duke that Jiis Majesty's Government has stopped that subscription and that legal proceedings have been set on foot to act against the promoters of it . "

    A piece of spiteful revenge lias been committed on some of tlie men of the . Anglo-Italian Legion by the despotic powers of Notheru Italy . " Twenty - seven , privates and four non-commis & ioncd officers , recen tly discharged at Malta , " says tbe Globe , " were forthwith on their arrival in the Austrian states , Tuscany , and Parma , incarcerated f-ans ceremoxie in . the prisons of the two latter states : the Lombards , thirteen in number , were forwarded , on tueir arrival on the frontiers , undei military escort to Mantua , to be tried by court-martial for accepting service in a foreig / n state Without the permission of the ruling power . The English ministers at these courts have protested against- the course pursued with , regard to the treatment the men have received , and have demanded their release . "

    . The inhabitants of Carrara ( Moclena ) have sent 535 £ as theirsubscription for the hundred guns of Alessandria . The letter which accompanies this sum otters likewise the voluntary enrolment of a number of artillerymen sufiicient to serve at least oue gun . .

    : ¦ : ¦" . .. - . . spain . . . . . ¦¦ -. ¦ - , A Ministerial crisis lias taken place , owing to considerable dissensions hi the Cabinet with respect to the law for the secularization of ecclesiastical property . On the 9 th instant , a ! decree was submitted to the consideration of the Cabinet by the Minister of finance , Senor Cantero , to authorize the treasury to make advances for the repair of churches and religious edifices to the amount of seven and a half millions of francs , which , were to be reimbursed to the treasury by the sale of the estates ia mortmain , lTndp . r the existing law for the secularization of that kind of property . Kioa Rosas was not present on this occasion , but at a subsequent sitting lie opposed tie decree , arid censured his colleagues for tlie course they had taken . Senor Cantero , however r said , that , if the plan were not adopted , he should resign . He was supported by O'Donnell and Bayarri , while several of tie others sided with Rios Rosas O'Donnell went so far as

    to say that he , too , would resign if the Queen did not concede tlie point . Her Majesty is said to have been much affected at this , and to have remarked that she would not have Spain " made the laughing-stock of all Europe , " which would be the case if they were to separate because of a difference of opinion abont " a question of less than secondary interest . " She refused , however , to give way , and the O'Donnell Cabinet l » os accordingly sustained a rupture . The Queen refused to accept the resignation of the Premier ; but Cantero has retired , and Senor Salaverria , Dii'ectoi' -General of Finance , has been appointed to tho office of Minister of Finance . Marshal Narvacz has reeciv-cd permission , to return to Spain , and is expected shortly at Madrid , The Uiahop of Barcelona , who was banished to Carthagena , has been authorized to return to his diocese . General Zabala , ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs ha 3 returned to Madrid .

    Tho Government has ordered the Captains-General throughout the kingdom to suspend prosecutions directed against persons or members of popular coTporatious implicated in the late events . A severe engagement took place on tlie 9 th instant between the garrison of Melilla and tho Moors of the environs , in which the latter suffered a serious loss . The Spanish troops had nineteen killed and seventy wounded . A melancholy accident has juat occurred on tho Aranjucz Railway , by -which five persona have lost their lives .

    With respect to the groat question of tlio moment , we read in the Iloja Auloyrapha , a Ministerial publication : " Wo should not be surprised if the sale of ecclesiiistical property were suspended . Tho suspension , however , would not bo nn indefinite adjournment o > f tho sales , but only a temporary interruption , to afford time to tlio Government to como to nn understanding with tbo Holy See on the subject . Tho sale of the national and communal property would continue . An insurrectionary band has mndo its appearance in . tho mountains of Toledo , and is being hotly pursued .

    rORTUOAL . The cholera is raging fiercely at St . Vincent . Tho medical men have fallen victims , and tho inliabitanta uro loft without assistance Tho dead bodies remaia uuburied in tho streets .

    9ft3 The Leader; [No. 340, Saturday ,

    9 ft 3 THE LEADER ; [ No . 340 , Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 27, 1856, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27091856/page/6/