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    October 18, 1856.] ___ THE LEAPE B. . 98...

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    Continental Notes. ¦ ¦ " ¦¦ ¦ . ¦ Fkajfc...

    between Switzerland and Germany would be very prejudicial to the former . GEK 3 IANY . The session of tie Chamber of Deputies of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was opened , on the 7 th inst . by the Xieutenant of the Grand-Duke , Prince Henry of the Netherlands . The Prince , in his address , described the state of the country as satisfactory , and then alluded to the measures which would be submitted to the Chamber for adoption . They include a partial revision of the constitution granted in 1848 ( which , in the words of the Prince , "is no longer in harmony with the imperious and inevitable exactions of the statutes of the Germanic Confederation" ) , and the approval of the Concordat vhich is about to be concluded , j ' "A . statement , " says a letter from Munich , " which has been made , that Prince Adalbert would not submit ] to the condition of Article 40 of the Greek Constitution , j requiring that the sovereign of that country shall belong to the . Greek Church , is unfounded . " ¦ ; ' : ¦ ¦ ¦ . ' SPAIN Another Ministerial change has taken place in Spain , and Narv ' aez now stands at the head of affairs . The Marshal arrived 5 n Madrid on the 5 th instant . Immediately after his arrival , he waited on the President of the Council , and In the evening paid his homage to the Queen . The JSpoca states that the conference of the General-with her Majesty and his interview with Marshal O'Donnell were highly satisfactory . But , in the course of a very few days , O'Donnell found it necessary to retire , and the new ministry is thus composed ;—Marshal Narvaez , President of the Council ; M . Pidal , Foreign Affairs ; M . Barzanallana , Financej M .

    Nocedal , Iaterior ; M . Seyas , Justice ; General Urbistondo , "War ; General Lersundi , Marine ; II . Moyano , Minister of Public Works ( Fomanto ); a Minister of the Colonies is created ; M . Zarogoza is appointed Captain-General of Madrid , General Pezuela , Director of the Cavalry ; and the Duke of Ahamuda , Director of the Civil Guard . All these gentlemen are pledged to a more or less reactionary policy . The cause of the change of ministry is not yet known ; nor are we informed of the reception given to the new Government by the country . It does not appear that there have been any risings . All the ensuing paragraphs having reference to acts of the Government must be understood as having reference to the O'Donnell Ministrv .

    Narvaez had scarcely arrived in Madrid before he got into a ' row , ' as it would be called in vulgar English . "He wentj" says a letter from the Spanish capital , " to pay a visit to General Aleson , the new Captain-General of the Philippine Isles , but , not finding him at home , repaired to the drawing-room to wait for him . There he found , in addition to Madame Aleson , Seiior Jose Guelly ! Rcnte and his wife , who had also called to pay a visit . The latter is an Infanta of Spain , being sister to the King and cousin to the Queen . The conversation was very animated between the lady of the house and

    Seiior Guelly Rente , and in the course of it Marshal Narvaez , on several occasions , looked at the latter in a peculiar manner . At length , the gentleman , annoyed at being so regarded , cried , ' I am Guelly Rente ! ' On this some sharp observations were exchanged , and , the lady of the house having intervened , the Marshal expressed regret that he had given way to anger ; but taking his hat he left the house , and immediately after sent a friend to challenge Seiior Guelly Rente to fight him . " Another account states that the Marshal accused Sefior Guelly Rente of having spoken lies of him in the Cortes , and that he struck him several blows . A hostile

    meeting was arranged ; but it is said that the Queen wrote to the Marshal , saying that his sword and his life belonged to her , and that she might want them . It is also asserted that she sent for him , and made him give his word of honour not to fight ; The other gentleman has been sent off to San Sebastian to join his wife . Sefior Mora , the gentleman who lias been imprisoned at Madrid for yrofeasing Protestantism , hns been released , and is no > w in London , owing to the exertions of the English Minister , Mr . Otway . The latter gentleman lias also , nfter much exertion , obtained from the Spanish Government a . concession in favour of English subjects which had been long desired , namely , that English Consuls in the Spanish colonies shall be allowed to administer to the effects and property of our countrymen dying there intestate .

    A great number of Carlist emigrants who have lately fixed their residence close to the Spanish frontier have been removed to the interior of France by order of Louis Napoleon , " who , " says the Ej > oca , " is determined not to allow the peace of Spain to be disturbed . " Political delinquents are not in future to bo banished to the Philippines or West India Islands . A royal decree ilxcs as tha place of transportation of that class of offenders the Ladroncs or Marianne Islands , in the Novth Pacific Ocean . The Government has ordered that in districts where no burial places exist for persons not professing the Catholic religion , sites should bo sot apart for tho purpose .

    According to official returns , the sale of national property down to tho 80 th of September has produced 7 GG , 138 , 000 reals .

    The chairman and secretary of the commission charged with drawing up the project of law on the Council of State has presented the result of its labours to the Minister of the Interior . The project is to be shortly submitted to the Council of Ministers , who will lose no time in examining it and appointing the new Councillors of State . Espartero is said to have drawn up a manifesto defending his conduct in the recent crisis . Those who have seen it think it not entirely satisfactory .

    TURKEY . Some disturbances have occurred at Kutaia , excited by the Grand Judge Chukri , who is opposed to reform . The Porte has sent a body of troops to the spot . Fears are entertained for the tran ^ -uillity of Syria . The Porte has invited the Ambassadors to a meeting preparatory to the convocation of the Divans , which are to make known their wishes on the subject of the reorganization of the Principalities .

    I he fin ancial companies who are soliciting the ' privilege of a-hank are-to " send hi sealed propositions on the 1 . 1 th . T 3 ie Porte is to guarantee six per cent , for the execution of the Euphrates Railway . A portion of the shares is "to be reserved for the East India Company and for Turkey . The railway company will enjoy an exclusive privilege , will receive the land gratuitously , and will also be allowed to work the mines near it . They are also to establish a telegraphic line and steam-packets , intended to unite India with England .

    The Persian Ambassador has arrived at Trebizonde , on his way to France . He has a large suite , and is the bearer of numerous presents . A firman has been published at Constantinople touching the " national representation" in the Danubian Principalities . It makes no mention of the union of Moldavia and Wallachia . A Ministerial crisis was expected , and Redschid Pacha was looked upon as the future Grand Vizier .

    : ¦ ., '¦ .. ¦ " ¦ . ' / . ¦ -ITALY . , . . . ¦ . ' ¦ . - ... - The following notice , in writing , has been stuck on the walls of Naples : —" Two fleets have been lost in the Mediterranean . Should any one find them , and bring notice of them to a Minister , he shall be rewarded . " A bitter sarcasm on the do-nothing i > olicy and idle threats of France and England . Of the same mortifying character is the following anecdote :- —When he went to Gaeta , he said to his guards , ¦ " Adieu , Messieurs ! to our next meeting ! If you happen to hear anything about the French aud English fleets , pray be so good as to come and tell me . "

    A novel entertainment has taken place at the Vatican , in the shape of a dinner given by the Pope , The . guests were selected from the different ecclesiastical colleges , the rectors of each being invited to bring with them four students ^ The thing passed off with much enthusiasm . Great was the feasting ; pleasant the odour of sanctity , and of viands . The guests represented the various nations of the world ; and after dinner there was a lottery for prizes in a summer-house in the Vatican gardens . The dispute between the Courts of Sardinia and Tuscany has been settled , M . Baldasseroni , the Tuscan Minister , having in an official note expressed his regret at the expulsion of the Genoese tourists from Florence . The total sentences on the political prisoners , of which the chief were mentioned in our Postscript last week , stnnd thus : —A sentence of perpetual exile from the kingdom on Mignona ; and on the three others , who also had been adjudged worthy of death by the Attorney-General— Ycntre , Mauro , and Do Angelistwelve years in irons . The reason of the difference in the punishment was , that these latter were already political prisoners condemned to twenty-live years , to which twelve tnore are added . This ia virtually a sentence of " irons for life . " Tho priest Cicco , for having known and not revealed the conspiracy , was condemned to two years'imprisonment . The Padres Ruggiero ( orRoggero ) , the Augustine monk , to one year ' s imprisonment ; and , as regards the remaining iivc— Avitabile , Mortati , Palmicri , E > e Rosa , a priest , and Donna Antonietta Pacethere was a verdict of acquittal , Ruggiero and another have since been pardoned . Some interesting particulars of tho trials are given in a letter from Naples , the writer of which says : — " The President of the Court , M . Griinaldi , and tho judge oi ' the trial , M . Canofuri , on the morning of the day on which tlie court was to meet in order to pronounce tho judgment , were sent for by M . Pionati , director of the judicial department . M . Pionati informed them that tho desho of the king was thut this time justice should bo observed ! When tho Attorney-General Nicoletti heard of tho judgment of tho court , he did not conceal his anger and astonishment , and caused some persons , who , after the reading of the judgment cried out , * Viva la justizhi dclla Gran Corte f to be immediately arrested . The live persons accused , who Avere acquitted , arc still in prison . It is mud that this result is owing to the fears thut the news'of the allied fleets occasion the Government . " Tho assertion that the King of NnplcsMias written an autograph letter to the Emperor of France and the Queen of England , offering to send a representative to the Par in Congress , hna been denied by sonic of tho Continental papers .

    Some serious disturbances have occurred on the territory of the Republic of San Marino . A dispute arose between some refugees and the inhabitants , and a fray ensued , in Which four of the former were seriously injured . It is anticipated that one of them will die . The Roman authorities at Pesaro have compromised their dispute with the inhabitants on tlie subject of the tax on trades and professions by the wealthy agreeing to pay their quota on condition that the poorer classes are let off .

    BELGIUM . The Bishop of Bruges has addressed a pastoral to the clergy of his diocese , which consists of a violent tirade directed against free thought , education , and the Universities of Ghent and Brussels . The latter institution is said to display " the standard of impiety ; " and both it and its fellow at Ghent not merely erect Protestantism over Roman Catholicism , but actually attack the bases of Christianity . " In order to escape the just indignation that this teaching , as absurd as it is impious , would naturally provoke , the authors of these heresies and errors have established quite a puerile distinction between philosophic truth and religious truth . They have affirmed that their erroneous opinions might be true in the domain of philosophy although false in the domain of religion . They have given it to be understood that

    philosophy is founded upon reason , while religion is not ; that Catholic belief does not contain the highest and most sublime philosophy , but that it is the result of an imaginary and arbitrary napticisw , which does not support the least examination . This miserable subterfuge of ' philosophy' driven to the wall is not new , but it is not on that account the more acceptable ; more than three centuries ago , the fifth Council of Lateran de-r prived the sophists of it . v . . . In conclusion , we again implore fathers of families to satisfy themselves as to the dangers which a superior education that is hot sincerely Christian offers for their children , and not to expose themselves to the sad mishaps which always arise when parents are too weak or too interested to oblige their children to attend Catholic schools . It is through a sentiment of affection for them and for their children

    that we give them this counsel . The Lord sees the purity of our intentions , and it will no longer be to us that He will impute the loss of those Catholic young men whom impious and erroneous doctrines shall involve in the abyss of inipiety and . vice . " The Bishop thus disavows the responsibility which Mr . Spurgeon would lay upon the souls of those pastors whose flocks go astray for want of sufficiently zealous tending . He does not expect to see the free-thinking youth of Brussels " come howling after him into hell . " '

    . RUSSIA . : ' During the recent festivities at Moscow , a M . Basile Kokorefr , one of the wealthiest arid most liberal merchants of that city , entertained , the deputations of peasants and merchants assembled from the principal cities of Russia . Iu the course of bis address to the company after dinner , the host observed : —" Russia has always been able to confess her faults as well as recognize her merits . Let us , therefore , frankly declare , gentlemen , that , in point of commerce and industry , we are , in many respects , rather behind . Our merit at present consists in the desire . to improve ourselves by intelligent practice . It is a fact that , in the industrial life of a people , certain and complete success is less easily

    obtained by tho theoretical precepts of books than by a Continuous contact with other peoples . By this contact , we acquire experience , ideas , and taste ; we establish new relations which are sure to be maintained because they rest upon common interests—the only stable securities for treaties of peace . In order to arrive at this end , the surest means is facility and rapidity of communication witli foreign nations . The question of steamboats and railways is at pre ' sent a question of human interest , because it is by their means that nations can bo united in a community of interests and in feelings of fraternity . In regard to commerce , there exists amongst us the most

    contradictory opinions . Some still speak of a Chinese Avail ; others of free trade . But be certain , gentlemen , that such questions aro never resolved by extremes : their true definitions can only result from an international exchange of ideas . . . . When I review in mind all tlie pregnant consequences which must infallibly result to nations from their union , by means of commerce—a union based on common interests—I cannot refrain from proposing to you , gentlemen , to drink at once and unanimously the following toast , * To European commerce , to foreign merchants , our elder brethren iii industry , and to my honourable colleagues tho merchants of Russia . ' " These observations were received with loud applause .

    DISNMAItlC . A final agreement has been conic to between Mr . Buchanan , the English Plenipotentiary at Copenhagen , nnd tho Danish Government , on the amount to bo paid by England to Denmark as n capitalized indemnity for the redemption of the Sound Dues .

    MONTKNE « KO . The preparations for war between Turkey and Montenegro continue on both sides . Tho Porto ia forming t powerful army for the invasion of the territory , while on the other hand , Prince Danilo has ordered all valic men between twenty and fifty to arm . It is said he car

    October 18, 1856.] ___ The Leape B. . 98...

    October 18 , 1856 . ] ___ THE LEAPE B . . 989

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 18, 1856, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18101856/page/5/