Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 22nd May 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 489

Page 489
Page 9
9 of 24

On this page

  • Text (2)

      Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      M . de Pfene , and he protested against the second duel , out to no purpose . The officer who gave what it is feared will prove the fatal wounds is said to be a relative of General Espinasse * The chief editor of Figaro has demanded an interview with the Emperor , but has been refused . M . Proudhon has sent a petition to the Senate , praying for the suppression of the Roman Catholic Church , on the grounds put forth in his late work . Some points in the French law of marriage were brought forward in a case recently submitted to the Civil Tribunal . A dissipated young Frenchman , named Ruttinger , had married a lady in Peru , where he was at

      that time living in a commercial capacity . In two months he abandoned her , though she was then pregnant by him ; and shortly afterwards he returned to Paris . She followed him there , and for a week he again . ' -lived with her , Tmt then once more left . He sold off all his furniture , and told the concierge of the house not to let her have anything , bufc to inform her that she had better take a lover if she could find one . She fell into the Utmost distress , and sorae charitable Peruvians gave her money to return to her own country . . Huttinger ' s father

      and mother now applied to the Civil Tribunal to declare the marriage null and void , on the ground that they had not given their consent , which -was necessary , as the young man was only tliree-and-twenty , and therefore a minor as regards marriage : they also urged that the marriage had not been duly published and registered in France . The tribunal decided that the want of the parents' consent made the marriage void ; but , considering that , in contracting it , the young lady was ignorant of the French law , it ruled that she should enjoy the civ il advantages to which it entitled her .

      " A series of manoeuvres , says the Times Paris correspondent , " are to be practised l > y the troops to be assembled , at the camp of Chalons , with the object of testing * the advantage of forming an army on two lines . The words of command adapted to these new manoeuvres have been prepared by the Emperor himself . " The Emperor reviewed , on Monday , in the Bois de Boulogne , in honour of the Prince Royal of Wurtemberg , the six regiments of heavy , cavalry which form part of the garrison of Paris-The director of the joint-stock company called the Societe' des Marbri&res du Maine has been sentenced by the Court of Correctional Police to pay a fine for having declared and paid a fictitious dividend . It is said that tlie French naval squadron in the Pacific is about to be reinforced . The command of the

      squadron has just been given to Commander Saisset . The position of Suez is now considered of so much importance by the Trench Government , that the Consulate there is to be raised to a Consulate-General . It is rumoured in Paris that the Dutch Government has been chosen by the Kings of Naples and Piedmont as mediator in the affair of the Cagliari .

      BELGIUM . Someapprehension of a French invasion Is being felt in Belgium . Defensive preparations are said to be actively going on , and the necessity of adding' to the defensive strength of Antwerp has been much talked of . The alarm , however , does not appear to have any goo < l foundation . About 20 , 000 St . Helena medals have been distributed to those Belgians wlio served hi the armies of the first Napoleon ; and it is affirmed tliat , through them , a certain propagandism I 1 J 13 been going on .

      An English half-pay officer living at Brussels has been denounced to the police by a discharged maid , servant as a man constantly employed in writing sedition against the Emperor Napoleon . His dwelling was searched , but nothing ; was found more alarming than a work about Napoleon I . and the year 1815 . No reference to the present Emperor could be discovered . Nevertheless , all his manuscripts were put in a bag , and carried of by the police . The officer . compl ained to the English Ambassador at Brussels , who is said to have made a representation to tlio Minister for Foreign Affairs .

      ITALY . " The excavations in the Via Latino , " says a letter from Rome of the 8 th inst ., " have led to the discovery of two other sepulchral chambers ; the second , in particular , ia in a wonderful state of preservation . 'JHie marble tombs aTe covered with sculptures of great boauty ; but what is of still more decided interest are tlio paintings with which the roof and sides are ornamented , and which arc m fresh and bright as if only executed yesterday . Some of the compartments contain animal and human heads of a perfection nearly equal to that of the best cameos . The whole w ould bo jus t n » they were the first day , had not some Tialgoth secretly detached one of the heads . It is thought that the Roman Government will purchase theso monuments and the

      surround-1 he trials at Naples of tlio Ciigli . iri prisoners hove beon again suspended . The important silk house of Felix Uig « On and Co ., of 1 win , has suspended payment . The failure has givO , » n great shock to tlio commercial world . rotB ^ J ' ? / Orre 8 pomlentof tU ° Time ° eivoa nn elubos a S { my appropriate this Derby week ) of the moTiLl hich . ' 7 ° ««« ntly taken place near the Viodmo tcso capital . The good people appear to bo very enthusiastic about thia English importation ; but th « y do

      not at present know how to manage the sport properly . The running is bad ; the course is defective ; tie horses are not well trained ; the jockeys ' ( Italians ) are wanting in science . But the ladies attend in the most brilliant of costumes ; the gentlemen talk a great deal of semi-English stable slang ; the king and princes honour the ceremonial with their presence ; and the papers pronounce the races " very splendid . " AUSTRIA . Austria ( says the Morning Star ) is evidently at issue

      with the propaganda of the Greek . Church , at the most oppose sides of her domains . We have had to record tbe arest of the Greek Archimandrite at Zara , in Dalmatia , and there is now a communication from Gallicia , sneaking of the arrest of some students of the university of Lemberg , who seem to have been engaged in persuading their Ruthenian countrymen , belonging to the Greek Church , to join that branch of the Church which , acknowledges the Emperor of Russia , and not the Greek Patriarch , jis its spiritual head .

      GREECE . The settlement of the dispute between Turkey and Greece as to the extent of consular jurisdiction , has been entrusted to the Austrian Internuncio at Constantinople . PRUSSIA . The fortifications of Kiinigsberg are to be considerably strengthened . The works are to be commenced immediately . Additional forts are about to be . erected at Spandau . A line of eighteen detached forts , extendiug as far of tlie heights of Pichelsdorf , about a mile and a lialf beyond the town , are to be erected , and Spandau will become a fortress of the first rank .

      -. . - , ' RUSSIA . The Emperor of Russia has decided that theatres shall be established in the nineteen chief towns of the governments of Great Russia , four in LitUe Russia , four in the Baltic provinces , five in the kingdom of Kasan , three in the kingdom of Astrakan , five in Southern Russia , eight in "Western Russia , Finland , and Siberia , arid five in . Poland . All these theatres are to receive subventions . Schools for superior instruction are also to be established in all the chief towns of governments and other large places . The Custom-house officers on the Russian frontier have received the strictest orders not to allow any books printed abroad in the Russian language to enter the country . It is well known that many Russian travellers bring back with them works of a subversive tendency , which are printed in London .

      TUKKET . The internal condition of European Turkey becomes every day more alarming , and it appears not unlikely that it will graduall y split up , owing to t"he discontent of the various nationalities subjected to the Porte . The Austrian correspondent of the Times writes : —" Persons who are well acquainted with "what is passing in the Slavonic provinces of Turkey inform me that numerous Russian agents arc busily employed in preparing the people for a general insurrection . Prince Danilo ( of

      Montenegro ) will probably be the leader of the movement , as he is again in favour at St . Petersburg , and the Servian Hospodnr is a man without energy or spirit of enterprise . At the beginning of this , month there was an emevte among the peasants on the estates of Prince Miloscli , in " Wallachia . The persons wlio farmed the property had been guilty of such abominable extortion that the serfs lost patience and rose as one man . The farmers sought safety in flight ; but order was not restored until tbe military power intervened . "

      MONU'ENEGBO . The Turks have sustained a severe defeat at thc . liamls of their Montenegrin foes . At dawn on the 13 th inst ., the Christians captured a convoy of provisions , and at a later hour they attacked the soldiers of the Sultan , whom they completely routed . The Ottoman General , Kadei Pacha , is said to have been killed ; all the guns belonging to his force were taken , and the force itself was almost annihilated . This took place near Grahovo . With respect to the fight 011 the lltli , in which the Turks were victorious , the Afonifeuv reports that the Montenegrins lost fifty killed and one hundred and twenty wounded , and that the Turks afterwards occupied Grahovo , which has since been burnt down—it is . said , by the inhabitants . Tlio Turks wore about seven thousand strong ; the Montenegrins , five thousand .

      Two French men-of-war have received orders to proceed to the Adriatic , to prevent the landing of further Turkish reinforcements at Kick . Tlie Pnri . s Monittw has published tlio following : — " The lamentable confiicta which have followed the entrance of the Turkish troops into the territory of Grahovo havn induced the Government of the Kniperor , and the Powers which have hastened to act in the same ficusi 1 , to take new measures with tho Ottoman Porte . The Government of his Majesty the Sultan , paying deference to theno coun . sels , . sent on tlio 14 th instant a formal order ti > his Commissary and to the Commander of hi . s Forces to suspend hostilities . There is , therefore , every reason to hope , thut , thanks to the common efforts of the Powers aiul to the disposition manifested by the Ottoman Government , thi . i nlluir will soon be brought to an amicable solution . " The victorious Montenegrins havo ' sent a negotiator to Vienna in the person of Princo Danilo ' s Adjutant .

      Hussein Pacha has assumed the command of the remnant of the Turkish forces at Trebigna , where he is reorganizing them . . . SPAIN . ¦ ¦ . ¦ "" ¦ . The Queen has reinstated the Isturitz Ministry with a few alterations , and has closed the session of the Cortes . Posada Herrera has been nominated Minister of the Interior in the place of Diaz . Herrera sits in Congress as member for Torrelavega , in the province of Santander , and is a nobleman and conservative of the Christino stamp . PORTUGAL . One of tbe most eminent of Portuguese statesmen —*• Senhor Rodrigo da Fonseca Magalhaens—is just dead .

      Untitled Article

      THE NEW ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA HOUSE . OPENING NIGHT . This magnificent new theatre , a prodigy of enterprise , and the subject of as many bets as the X ) erby , was opened according to the announcement which many very knowing " men of the world" pronounced impossible , on Saturday evening last , the 15 th of May , 1858 , a date memorable henceforth in operatic annals . "Very considerable sums , we have heard , changed hands on this occasion , and if they fell into the pockets of those who put faith in the energy of contractors as men to whom the word u impossible" is unknown , we cannot but feel that fortune has this time favoured the bold , and that the winners have well deserved their good luck * Soon after seven o ' clock the line of carriages extended from Piccadillycircus through Leicester-square and Long-acre to Bow-street , and the "' tail" of intrepid and impatient bidders for the unreserved seats completely blocked up Bow-street itself , which was decked out with flags and streamers , and all the decorations of a triumphal fete . What amount of discomfort was endured by the public on this occasion it boots not here to say ; it were superfluous to sympathize with people . ' who . are never happy unless they are in a terrible hurry to get into a theatre which has been built and opened in a terrible hurry . / The delay of half an hour in opening the doors appeared , no doubt , to the outsiders , something like a century ; but when they rushed in at last , they found the new house swept and garnished as if the carpenters , and upholsterers , and decorator 3 had not only just hurried out . Tlie first impression was , perhaps , something like disappointment at the apparent small ness of the new house in comparison with the old one ; but as this comparative smallness was only apparent , and due to the enormous ( and perhaps unnecessary ) vastness of the stage , the disappointment soon gave way to surprise and delight at the quiet and simple grandeur and richness cf the general design , and the elaborate but subdued ornamentation . The breadth of the house and the height of the box-tiers disguise at first the largeness of tha space ; but ( as in the case of a ship > constructed on the finest lines ) n near

      approach arid a prolonged gaze open out by degrees th-a full sweep and majestic span of the design . Suck was the impression , we tliinlc , on the excited audience last'Saturday , the . * jrewer «/ impression ; diIll-ring , of course , as to particularities and details . Wlicn the orchestra began to lilL with many of the veHknown instrumentalists , the attention of the public , absorbed in contemplation of the architectural achievement , seemed to rally , and the spectators to become an audience ; and when Mr . Costa appeared in his pujntrc ( although Mr . Costa was as innocent of the prodigious triumph of enterprise us any one present ) he was received with a demonstration fit ior a Sir Colin Campbell on his return from Indian

      conquests . We shall only say of the performance of the opera on the first night , that , underextraordinury difficulties , it was little less than marvellous in completeness and composure ; if the chorus was somewhat uncertain ami unsteady , Mario was in good voice , and sang with a will , ami Grisi surpassed liersclf in the duowith Marcel tind the great finale with liuouf ; Mademoiselle Didic ' o was 11 charming Page , and M . Zulgcr ( in tlie absence of Formes ) u very suniciont and satisfactory Marcel But the most notable fact of all is that the new scenery on that stupendous stage , where twenty-four hours before all was chaos , worked without a hitch ! When the third act was over , and it was already Sunday morning , it been me a gruvc question before and behind the curtain whether the last act ( with Meyerbeer ' s new

      additions ) should be played , or whether the National Anthem ( it buinir not only the opening night , but her Majesty ' * birthday ) should be sung instead , and the audience requested to depart in peace . After some delay , and ominous nmrmurs in the upper regions of the house , Mr . A . Harris ( who , confident und , to uso n vulgar expression , " cocky" as he is on nil other occasions , is singularly humble Jind depressed in these- emergencies ) came forward , and with hated breath : ippe ; ileil to the audience , to decide . A more injudicious proceeding tlian such an appeal , conveyed with bated breath , and with all the semblance of ub : ishcd humility , could not be imagined . lAjr if it be . one peculiarity of 11 British public that it insists on n ilieatro being built in a hurry , it is another that it takes no

      Untitled Article

      JNO . 426 , MAT ZZ , XOOO . j 4- JO . Jtt JU JCi A . JL / X 4 JV . ^ Oi * . — — 1 - ¦ ¦ 1—— . . ¦ . ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦—— - r ' - _ i ^ i _ " _________________^__^___^ J . __ - ______________ . - . — . —___ . ^ - _ .- ____ -- _ - _ -- __^_________^ - ____—¦ — _ . ' .. "" . 'L *_"_ - .-- —^ -- ^^ -l ^ I-- ^ -- — ------ « ----fc

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 22, 1858, page 489, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2243/page/9/