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Leader (1850-1860), 27th September 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 918

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      spot to the other pointed staves of aoine eight or ten feet in length , and provided at one end with , the proper insulating bed for tie 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 on 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 be expected at Berlin on a visit to the Court about the end of October . Baron Humboldt attained his eighty-seventh birthday on Sunday week , which he passed in strict retirement . His health is still remarkably TJgorous 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 truth 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 :- ? - " The newly married couple took their places with the King and Queen on the dais under the throne canopy , and the Princesses ranged themselves on the Tight 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 do by walking a Polonaise ,

      preceded by the twelve Ministers of Slate , each holding a taper of white wax in his hand . After performing one tour of the saloon , which is of very considerable extent , the procession stops before the < la'is , and the newly married Princess invite 3 the King to dance , -with which he complies , and accomplishes a turn with considerable grace and gallantry , being all the time preceded as before , by the Ministers of State with their % cux 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 -wholesome . Tvco of the Ministers ¦ on this occasion excused themselves on the score of ill health , jzncl their places were filled vj ? by the two eldest Privy Councillors . " Oh , flesh , flesh ! how art thou flunkeyfied ! The feat thus described is followed by the scrambling for the bride ' sgaiter—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 coroaet of the tride embroidered in silver , and prepared in advance , and carried by the Lady-in-Waiting in her pocket , together with a pair of scissors . At the critical moment , site 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 bo grotesque and barbarous , is certainly pre-Christian . It is believed to be a tradition of the dances performed by the Greeks in honour of Hymen , whose emblem was a torch : from Greece the practice was transplanted to Rome" 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 . "

      In connexion with the Neufcbatel affair , M . Manteaffel has addressed a circular to the representatives of Prussia at the courts of Franco , England , Austria , an d Russia , invoking the protocol of London , dated May 24 , 1852 , and following also the principle laid down at the Paris Congress , in its sitting of April 14 , 185 G , namely , " that States between which any serious diflcrenco shall arise shall , instead of appealing to arms , have recourse , as far as circumstances will admit , to the good offices of tUo other Powers . " Prussia has just sent a note to Denmark , in which she declares herself in principle favourable to the redemption oftho Sound Dues , and proposes opening negotiations between all . the Governments interested in the question , in order to Hx . the amount of indemnity . A special conference will bo held at Copenhagen for this purpose in XTovember .

      The Empress Dowager and the Grand Duke Coustantine are about to proceed to Italy . GERMA 3 JY . The police of the town of Breslau , in Silesia , have teen 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 now to a monthly inspection and trial by the authorized officers of the municipality . Friday-week being the anniversary of the battle of ¦ the barricades of 184 : 8 , some democratic demonstrations were made at Francfort , and a young man was arrested whilst holding in his hands a red flag , and delivering a speech to the public assembled at the cemetery to place fresh flowers and wreaths on the graves of those of the working class who fell on the barricades . DENMARK . ' : Recent 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 peculations and embezzlements in the contracts for clothing and provisioning the army har e just been detected in Denmark . Above sixty persons are supposed to be implicated in them , including many apparently respectable manufacturers -and . tradesmen , with several Government officials -who held a high rank i n the civil or the military service . These frauds appear to have been , carried ou systematically for ten years past , and it is asserted that not less than two millions and a hah ? of francs will cover the amount which the Government has lost by them . Contracts for meat are known to have been inade , 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 Mauro ( one of the accused ) and of his companions . Mauro , it seems , was confined alone in consequence of his irreligiosita . On . several occasions , the prisoners were found without their irons ; oil which , Acuti suggested that they should

      be flogged ( though this was in direct violation of the law ) , aud the King , acceding to the proposal , ordered fifty lashes to be given in each case . Fifty-six , persons were thus savagely and illegally punished . On the day after this statement was made , the Procurator-Generaie asserted that Captain Acuti had told positive falsehoods , contended that forty stripes might legally be given , and averred , that the increase had been ordered , not by the King , but by his Ministers . Acuti will be again examined . The question is exciting intense interest .

      The defenders of "Venice and Rome residing ; there ¦ Lave 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 the town have been thrown into prison under the 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 the 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 £ that the provinces of Romagua and Ombria have been lately visited by Mazziuian agents , who gave out that tliey wero sent by the Sardinian Government to revolutionize the country . They stated that Piedmont would shortly raise the standard of Italian independence , and that lier Parliament would proclaim itself the National Italian Parliament . These Muaudnian manoeuvres were kuown to the Austrian authorities , but , as they were directed in reality against Piedmont , they were supposed to bo eucouraged under-handedly by those authorities .

      the 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 tile spontaneous and universal co-operation of the whole people to secure one of the bulwarks of the independence of Piedmont—find we may say also of Ital y—should provoke remarks which are not friendly from an Italian Govern , ment . But not on that account can we grant to the Tuscan , any more than to other Governments the rieht

      , of demanding explanations relative to an act -which does not concern it , and which injures no one , lcast of all Tuscany , who has ¦ nothing to do . with the frontiers , for the defence of which the fortifications of Alessandria are destined . As for the subscription of 4 he 10 , 000 muskets you have already made the opportune remark to the President of the Government of the Grand Duke , that his 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 has been committed on sonic of the men of the Anglo-Italian Legion by the despotic powers of Nothern Italy . " Twenty -seven , privates and four non-commissioned officers , recently discharged at Malta , " says tbe Globe , " were forthwith on . their arrival in the Austrian states , Tuscany , and ' Parma , incarcerated . saws ceremoiile in the prisons of the two latter states : the Lombards , thirteen in number were forwarded , on their arrival on the frontiers , under military escort to Mantua , to be tried by court-martial for accepting service in a foreign state without the permission of the ruling power . The English ministers at these courts have protested agains * the course pursued with regard to the treatment the men have received , and have demanded their release . " The inhabitants of Carrara ( Modena ) have sent 535 f . as their subscription for the hundred guns of Alessandria . The letter which accompanies this sum offers likewise the voluntary enrolment of a number of artulerymen . sufficient to serve at least one gun . ' .. . . : . ' ¦' - . . SPAIN . ' - ¦ ¦¦' . . ¦ '¦¦' . . . ' . . A Ministerial crisis has taken jilace , owing to considerable dissensions in 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 tlie 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 Bale of the estates in mortmain , tinder the existing law for the secularization of that kind of property . Rios Rosas was not present on this occasion , but at a subsequent sitting he opposed the decree , and censured his colleagues for the course they had taken . Senor Cantero , however , said that , the

      plan were not adopted , he should . resign . He was supported by O'Donnell and Bayarri , while several of tbe others sided with Rios Rosas O'Donnell went so far as to say that he , too , would resign if the Queen did not concede the 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 bo the case if they were to separate because of a difference of opinion about " a question o less than secondary interest . " She refused , however , to give way , and the O'Donnell Cabinet has accordingly sustained a rupture . The Queen refused to accept the resignation of the Premier ; but Cantero has retired , and Senor Salavcrrin , Director-General of Finance , has been appointed to the office of Minister of Finance .

      In connexion with the arrest in Tuscany of some collogiane from Genoa , mentioned by us last week , the Sardinian Government has addressed to its minister in Tuscany a note signed by Count Cavour , which commences thus : — " Although the Tuscan Government has for some time past Accustomed his Majesty's Government to that display of scant courtesy , not to uso stronger language , which they exhibit towards those Piedmonteso subjects who visit tho Grand Duchy , nevertheless , I admit that I lieard . with surprise from your confidential despatches of tho dato of tho 2 nd instant , tho abrupt expulsion , " &c . Ho proceeds , further on : — " Tho President of the Grand Ducal Government ia not satisfied with tho voluntary subscription which is actually going on in the Sardinian States for tho purpose of making the present to his Majesty ' s Government of one hundred cannons intended for tho fortifications of Alessandria . Wo regret that a demonstration , whoso object ia to testify and to increase

      Marshal Narvacx lias received permission to return to Spain , and is expected shortly at Madrid . The Bishop of Barcelona , who was banished to Carthagena , lias been authorized to return to his diocese . General Zabala , ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs has returned to Madrid . The Government has ordered the Captains-General throughout the kingdom to suspend prosecutions directed against persons or members of popular corporations implicated in the late events . A severe engagement took place on the 9 th instant between the garrison of Melilla and the Moors , of the environs , in -which tho latter suffered a serious loss . Tlio Spanish troops had nineteen killed and seventy wounded . A melancholy accident has just occurred on the Aranjuez Railway , by which five persona ljnvo lost their lives .

      With respect to tho great question of the moment , we rend in tlie lloja Autoyrapha , a Ministerial publication : " We should not be surprised if tho sale of ecclesiastical . property wcro suspended . The suspension , however , would not bo an indefinite adjournment of the sales , but only a temporary interruption , to afford time to tho Government to como to an understanding with tho Holy See on the subject . Tho sale of tho national and communal property would continue . An insurrectionary band has made its appearance In tho mountains of Toledo , and is being hotly pursued . r-oRTuaA . i ~ Tho cholera is raging fiercely ut St . Vincent . Tho medical juicu have fullen victims , and the inhabitants are left without assistance . The deud bodies remain , uuburicd ia tho streets .

      RUSSIA . The Russian Government has just deckled thattlie populations of the vast territory -which it possosses beyemd the Lake of Baikal , in Northern Asia , shall , receive an , organization similar to that of certain populations of tho Blade "Sea and the Don , and shall bo called " Cossacka < rt ttt 6 Baikal ; " also that they shall form a special ar wi ^? IMl 8 t * n'B * ll 0 W 0 VBr onlv of cavalry , commanded by a hetman . Tke « ovemnaentiias likewise decided that tho Uowraor-Omwai jjUwtem Siberia j 8 hall have under KL ^ F'SFi t > V ? w » ° * «« P « tmont which has just mSZiS ! J * n S . > " ^ * comprises tWad-

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      9 & 8 _____ THE LEADEE .- - [ No . 340 , Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 27, 1856, page 918, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2160/page/6/