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meanwhile ? No one knows . The Russian embassy alleges that it received last night a despatch from Vienna , announcing that the Porte had accepted the ultimatum . The next intelligence will tell us how far this is true or false . In Prance , meanwhile , the Government expects war , and is silently preparing the army for it . Hitherto the several garrisons had all been isolated frona each other ; they have now been all grouped into brigades ,
consisting of two or three regiments , and divisions comprising three brigades . To each brigade there has been assigned a common ground for muster and exercise , and also a point of rendezvous on the frontiers of Belgium and Prussia . Bourges , Limoges , Bourdeaux , Toulouse , Bennes , Tours , Luneville , St . Omer , Versailles , Lyons , and Montpellier , are places fixed on for the establishment of camps , where the troops are to be exercised for three months in field movements .
While awaiting the time to take the field , General St . Arnaud goes to confession . The old debauche , the desperate gambler , the actor of the Boulevard du Temple , has had a sudden visitation of grace , is converted , and goes to mass every day . As he has not yet made the army go there too , the emissaries of the various parties work upon it , while they may , with all tneir might . Some artillery officers of the garrison of Vinnennes have been included in the arrests of
Legitimists made this week . The majority of the persons arrested are members of the extinct Legitimist club of the Rue Duphot . Jeanne , the stationer of the Passage Choiseul is also among the number . Some republican non-commissioned officers of the same artillery regiment have been sent to prison along with their officers . They are accused of having plotted to cause a mutiny of the regiment on the first day Bonaparte should visit Vincennes , and put him to death . Common report points to Quartermaster Isoard as the ringleader of the plot .
It is alleged that the law for establishing capital punishment has been proposed solely with a view to counteract by force of terror this spirit of disaffection in the troops . Be that as it may , as if the Bonapartists had not trouble enough on their hands both at home and abroad , they are suffering from intestine distractions in their own ranks . The " pures , " secretly led by Persigny , want to oust Fould , the chief of the " impures , " the stockjobbery , and stags . Supported by Morny , Fould had hitherto stoutly maintained his position in his confidential post , the Ministry of State .
His subtle enemy , Persigny , however , has begun a new attack upon him ; only , instead of appearing to lead it in person , he has put forward his lieutenant , M . de Maupas , Minister of Police . The explosion of the quarrel occurred yesterday ( Wednesday ) at the Council Board . After the scene which took place on this occasion , Fould declared to Bonaparte , that he could not retain his office if De Maupas kept his . Bonaparte replied , that he would consider the matter . Thereupon the report became current that Fould was about to be dismissed , and that Persigny was to fill his
pluce . Great commercial uneasiness continues to prevail in Paris . The returns of the bank , showing that the discounts have fallen in four months from 360 millions to 167 , is an unmistakable symptom . As to the rise in rents , we are entering upon a now phasi . s of that phenomenon . ' Even the Presse , which has been ho reserved during the last six months , affirms the fact in these terms : — - " House proprietors have again raised their rents this
quarter , and generally to a most deplorably exorbitant extent . The rent , for instance , of lodgings for the working-clusH , in the neighbourhood of the Place do la Bastille , which had been rnisod from twenty-five to thirty francs last quarter , iB now at an advance of from fifty to sixty francs . The rent of superior apartments has risen in the same proportion . House proprietors lire giving notice to quit in all directions , and the July quarter , in which there usually occur few changes of domicile , will this year see as many of them as any
other . The opposition Htill goes on in the Corps Legislatif , and , moreover , it is wiccessful . It makes head boldly against the Government , which has receded before it three or four times thin week . The discussion on the civil pensions occupied no less than six sittings . On the first article the Opposition mustered 100 votes against a majority of 130 , ami it ia certain that the real oppo-Bition was more than 150 . The Chamber began first of
all by voting on the article by show of hands { par assit et Iev 6 ) , when there waa n very largo majority against tlm Government ; but M . Billault , the prexident , nntonished at a spectacle so new to him , would not believe hid own eyes , nnd declared , amidst the murmurs of tho assembly , that tho decision wns doubtful , and that ho would take the sense of tho Chamber by open ballot . Tho courago of many members shrank from sustaining this public test , and at least fifty Who had
held up their hands against the article m question gave their voices for it . Afany of the Opposition deputies have openly declared the names of members of the majority whom they had seen among the " Noes , " in the first division . In the final division on the ensemble of the bill there was again a defalcation . Only 76 members voted in the minority j they had been abandoned by 24 more deserters . After all , we cannot but regard this minority of 100 and of 76 as a very significant indication of the growing independence of the Corps Legislatif . The Opposition is beginning to feel its own strength , and has at last
adopted a system of tactics adjusted to circumstances , and which is very well suited to restore to the representatives of the country the foremost rank which they lost through the coup d ' etat of December . In vain has Bonaparte ' s constitution restricted them to a session of ninety days : by prolonging the labours of their committees , and spinning out all sorts of business , they have succeeded in extorting from him an additional fortnight . Nor are they content even with this . They have since devoted six long sittings to the discussion of the civil pension bill ; first , to show that they were resolved to discuss freely and at their ease ; and ,
secondly , in order to leave themselves no time to discuss the Budget , and so force Bonaparte to add another fortnight to the session . Another bit of tactics they have adopted , and of which they have just proved the signal efficacy , is to make no report at all on the bills they do not likdt By withholding reports they make the passing of laws impossible . This has been the case with the bill for bestowing an indemnity of 300 , 000 francs on the widow of Marshal Ney . This measure encountered strong opposition in the bureaux , the secret of which is , that the deputies are in general
exlegitimists , loaded with debts , who joined the Government in order that it might pay off their incumbrances But in their secret souls they still cling to all the prejudices and traditions of their party—a party whose act it was to send Marshal Ney to trial and execution . Hence the legitimist members of the Chamber saw in the bill an insult offered to their party , and they repudiated it with proportional energy . The bill was referred to a thoroughly hostile committee , which resolved unanimously to make no report upon it ; and the Government has consequently been constrained to
withdraw it . The bill for re-establishing the punishment of death has encountered universal reprobat ion ; nor have the deputies shown themselves on this- occasion at all at variance with the unequivocal manifestations of public opinion . There is a considerable majority in all the bureaux against the 87 th article , whichenactathepenalty of death for " attempts to destroy or to change the Government , or to excite the citizens to take up arms against the authority of the Sovereign . " M . de Flavigny , a Legitimist , jesuitically and hypocritically urged against this article , that had it been applied after the
affairs of Boulogne and Strasbourg , " we should not now have to thank the Emp eror for the services he has rendered to Prance . " Immediately after this speech , M . de Flavigny was unanimously elected commissioner of his bureau . Another deputy , Commandant Mdsonau , who had been convicted for the share he took in the Boulogne affair , said frankly , " How can I think of re-establishing thin article against others , when I owe my life to tho fact that it had fallen into desuetude V In fine , four out of seven members of the committee
have been chosen all but unanimously , and all four are hostile to the measure . In order to confirm the deputies in their generous disposition , M . de Girardin has happily seized the opportunity to re-publish the text of the decree of the 25 th February , 1848 , which abolished the penalty of death . The publication of this truly sublime production of Lainartine ' s pen , which contrasts bo dazzlingly with tho proceedings of tlio existing regime , has produced an immense sensation in Paris .
It is rumoured that the Government are about to withdraw the Bill ; that they will be content with reestablishing tho penalty of dcutli only in case of attempts on the life or the person of the Emperor . Tho rumour , however , awaits confirmation . Meanwhile , the discussion of the Budget has begun , and lias given ocension for another very piquant speech by M . do Flaviffiiy , which has been called in tho
Chamber a coup de poujnard jlmrdelysc . The orator was merciless ; he enumerated one after the other nil tho grievances which the adversaries of the present Government can nllege against it , —the balanced Budget , civil pensions , cumulation , huge salaries , Stock-exchange scandals , jobbery— -all were overhauled amidst the loud applause of the assembly . Tho speech has had an extraordinary success ; tho Government , I imagine , rcu no fun in it . But the most curious thing of all is the now attitude of the Senate . The laurels of the Corps
Legislatif , and its success in the eyes of the public , deprived the Senate of sleep . That being the case , the august body resolved that it would itself do a bit of opposition . Consequently , a committee appointed to examine the Bill on the Naval Service , has unanimously declared the measure to be unconstitutional , and has proposed its rejection . And Bonaparte calls his rSgime the regime of authority ! S .
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CONTINENTAL NOTES . Tttbkey is again the source of alarming news ; how much of it is true and how much fictitious remains to be seen . Let us see what it looks like . Here is an article from the Paris Moniteur of Tuesday : — . " It was to be feared at the moment when Prince Menschjikoff went to Constantinople in the quality of ambassador extraordinary of his Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias , that one of the effects of his mission would be to annul the concessions obtained by M . de Lavalette in favour of the Latin fathers of the Holy Land , in the course of 1852 . It will be remembered that on the demand ot the French Legation the Government of his highness had consented to restore to the Patriarch of Jerusalem , deleof the
gated by the Holy See , the key of the great gate church of Bethlehem ; to give the order to replace in the grotto of the Nativity a star ornamented with a Latin inscription which had disappeared in 1847 ; and , finally , to grant to the Latin communion the right of celebrating its rites in the venerated Sanctuary , the church called of the Virgin ' s Tomb . The Government of his imperial majestycould not admit that any of these advantages should be withdrawn from the Latins . The St . Petersburg Cabinet , besides , soon transmitted to the Cabinet of the Tuileries the assurance that its intention was not to constrain the Porte to withdraw the concessions which it had made The last news from Consta ntinople , brought by the Chaptal steamer , dated the 7 th May , permits us to affirm that the maintenance of the status quo at Jerusalem , claimed by Prince Menschikoff , does not imply , in the state of the of
possession of the Latins , any modification susceptible affecting the arrangements settled with the Marquis de Lavalette . This was , for us , the essential point , the point which could not be , on our part , the object of any compromise . As to the ancient treaties with Turkey no diplomatic act , no resolution o f the Porte , can weaken them , without the consent of France . Prince Menschikoff demands also from the Divan the conclusion of a treaty which would place under the guarantee of Russia the rights and immunities of the Church and of the clergy of the Greek rite . That question , completely different from that of the Holy Places , touches interests of which Turkey ought to be the first to appreciate the value . If it should produce any complications , it would become a question of European policy , in which France would find herself engaged by the same title as the otKer Powers which signed the treaty of the 13 th July , 1841 . "
Next we have an explanation from the Paris correspondent of * the Morning Post , dated Wednesday , and written with that diplomatic ability which distinguishes the foreign articles of the journal suspected of being the organ of the Foreign Office in the days of Palmerston : — " I forward you , this morning , by telegraph , the important announcement of the Moniteur relative to Turkey . That announcement was made by the French Government to the public in consequence of the interesting nature of the despatches received from M . de Lacour , which have just arrived by the Chaptal , with dates to the 7 th instant . I am enabled to furnish you with details , and some important facts in elucidation of the extraordinary state of affairs in the East .
" In the first place , then , tho question of the Holy Places is completely settled . The Sultan has issued two firmans of great length , which , have at length put an end to this long-mooted business . Both llussia and France are perfectly satisfied with tho result . Now , here apparently Prince Menschikoff ' s mission was ended . But not so ; the real purpose of his embassy has been at length disclosed , for on the 6 th of May he sent in to the Divan a despatch , together with a draft of a treaty , to which he imperatively demanded an answer by the 10 th inBt . Now , this treaty , which purports to be between tho Sultan and the Emperor of Russia , is altogether ono-sided—llussia making no engagements in return for those of Turkey , and the engagements which she wishes to impose on the Ottoman empire as unheard of as they ore contrary to tho spirit and letter of European treaties . It is proposed thatTurkey should yield to Russia tho complete protectorate of the Russo-Graico Church in tho East . This is tho whole sum and
substance of tho various 'articles ol" tho act . I need not hero enter into any argument to hIiow you what is notorious—viz ., that in tho Greek Church more than religion is mixed up with religious questions , and that tho Greeks would appeal in civil as well as in religious disputes to thoir ' protector . ' In abort , 1 need not argue at length what will be at onco seen and conceded , that is , that if Turkey yield the protectorate of the Greeks to Russia , nho simply , eflectuully , and for ever , gives up to the
dominion of that power no fewer than twelve million of her most valual'lo subjects . Will she do bo ? That is tho question . Prince MensehikofT ' H note was sent in on tho fifth . Tho Chaptal and Caradoc left Constantinople before tho 10 th , the day fixed by tho l ' rinco for tho reply . If Turkey has yielded , she is ruinod for ever , and England , more than any other Power , has sustained a severe cheek in tho East . If a positive- refusal to entertain tho treaty bun been returned to Prince JVlaiiscliikon " , how will . Russia act ? Hho can scarcely pretend to make war on Turkey for no other reason than that the Porto refuson to
give way a most unronaonablo and unfair demand . " It is most probublo that , tho Porto will have asked for timo to reply , in order that it may confer with other Powers , its allies signatories of tho troaty of 1841 . In that case tho demand of Russia is sure of rejection , for there can be no doubt of the decisive nature ot the advice
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4 « , THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), May 21, 1853, page 484, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1987/page/4/
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