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to see . As soon as I reached the guard-room , the officer , who had before commanded the gendarmes ' to feel for letters sewed tinder my clothes , ' , undertook to examine me again . On my manifesting surprise , he ordered one of the soldiers * Cock your gan' ( Spann den Hahn } . He then thrust his hands into my pantaloons pockets , rifled them of iriy paper money , miscounted it , and put it away . Without undressing I l ay down upon the bed , a prisoner , while the gendarmes in the guard-room played at cards , drank , quarrelled , and swore during the remainder of the night . I asked permission in the morning to telegraph or write to the American ambassador in Vienna . Refused , At ten a . m . I was taken to the Kittmeister ( commander of Hussars ) Herr Von Falkenhayn , who meantime bad become alarmed by the
possible consequences of these proceedings executed under his orders . I must confess that the accused and the judge rapidly changed places , and on bis questioning me I replied , the matter was now out of my hands , and must be settled between the . Austrian empire and my country . He promised to restore my papers and set me at liberty , if I would immediately depart I reminded him of the declaration of the Apostle Paul , ' They hare beaten us openly and uncondemned , being Romans ;* and told him it was easier to arrest an American citizen than to set him at liberty . It was finally resolved on my part that I should demand satisfaction from Austria through the American ambassador , and on his that I should remain under police observation till the answer eame down from Vienna . This last was only a ruse to alarm me , for in an hour my papers and passport were sent to me , with a wish that I would leave the place . This I
shall do as soon as it suits my convenience . I have not been invited to pay for the broken door . " It is absolutely necessary that this occasion should be used to teach the Austrian Government that an American innocent trave ller ^ whose papers are almost more than perfect ( my passport is covered with signatures of Austrian ambassadors , from Baron Hulsemann . through , Paris , Italy , here , &c ., &c . ) , cannot , with impunity , between Christmas and December 29 , be searched , ordered out , violently arrested , imprisoned , and twice minutely searched again , with exposure to an hourly and childish repetition of these capricious and dangerous proceedings . They most learn that there is an important difference between their subjects—exposed without remedy to all their whims—and a freeman from , the United States . Not doubting that the Peesident will take immediate and decided steps in this important matter , 1 remain with the highest regard as before , &c ., * 'J % C . B . "
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LETTERS FROM PARIS . Letter CVTI . Paris , Thursday Evening , Jan . 12 , 1854 . At last we are at war , or something very like it . Bonaparte seems to have quite made up his mind , if we may judge by the vast preparations in every branch of the service : —40 , 000 men of the class of 1852 have been called into service : the 80 , 000 men of the class of 1853 have been drafted since ;
and don ' t believe that rumour ; whereas I have proof of the Bank affair . Perhaps this has been the secret of the heavy fall of the funds to 69 ; two franca lower than a year ago , when a financial panic hailed the proclamation of the Empire . The worst of it is that no "takers" can be found for the new loan . A thousand rumours have been flying about . Some pretend that Rothschild gave the mot d ' ordre not to touch the loan ; others that the Fusion declines to acknowledge it eventually .
The Fusionists are lifting up their heads with amazing impudence , as if every morning we might expecr to find Henry V . at the Tuileries and Bonaparte at Vincennes . Some of the functionaries ( that rat species ) seem to be shaken in their confidence , not to speak of loyalty . They turn 4 heir anxious gaze to the horizon ; to republicans they talk of the resurrection of the republic ; to the Fusionists , of the restoration of the monarchy in the spring . The demeanour of the judge in the new trial of the prisoners concerned in the plot of the Hippodrome and the Opera Comique has been remarked . Four months since , when the accused breathed the name of the " Republic , " the President ,
Zanjiacomi , reduced them to silence ; when they declined to acknowledge the Emperor , he burst into- a passion . This time , on the contrary , when Ruault , one of the accused , persisted in eajing three times that not recognising the existing Government , he could not recognise its judges , and so had nothing to say in his defence , he was not interrupted . Seven warnings have been given to Legitimist journals this week only . Several domiciliary visits of the police have taken place in the provinces . Even the priests have been struck . A . college kept by priests has been closed by the Government . True the youths educated at this college , all belonging to the old noblesse , had smashed a bust of the Emperor , and shouted " Vive Henry V ! " ....
At the last ball at the Tuileries , few were the manteaux de cour . These few were too warmly received to desire to re-appear . M . de Kisseleff makes no apparent preparations to depart . It will be a hard case for him , a bachelor saturated with Parisian life and a great man here , to go back 4 o Russia , where he is nothing , and where he will find nothing but ennui / The Russians have again been signally defeated . The action took place , I am inclined to think ; on the
26 th ult ., not on the 7 th ult ., as the telegraph asserts . In my last letter I announced a great movement of the right - wing of the Russian forces onKalafat ; my information seems to have been correct . The Russians advanced on the Danube in three columns . The right column , 22 , 000 men , advanced by Kraiova on Kalafat ; the centre by Karakal on the Danube ; the left descended the Aluta on Turaul . The total of the Russian forces engaged in this movement is estimated at 50 , 000 . Omer Pasha is said to have
attacked their right column in the front with 15 , 000 men , and to have thrown himself with 20 , 000 men on the left flank of that column , which he routed . The centre column tried to get up to the support of the right , but was too late , and was routed also . S .
the 1 st mst . among the different corps . The drawing for the ( class of 1854 is to be immediately proceeded with , so as to throw 80 , 000 men more into the regiments next April . By these successive measures the army will be restored to its total of 1848—540 , 000 men . Three armies are to be formed in the north , at Metz , and in the Var . Three generals are already named for the command , viz ., Canrobert , Eandon , and Pelissier .
Pour days since an aide-de-camp of the Emperor left for Algeria . 50 , 000 out of the 80 , 000 men there stationed are to be formed into an active force , to be dispatched to Constantinople . This army of Algeria will be accompanied by 20 , 000 Arab cavalry drawn from the different provinces , to march with the French forces to the defence of Constantinople . A decree has just augmented by 2 , 000 men the effective force of the artillery , and a second decree orders that the
ten new battalions of Chasseurs de Vincennes shall be organised and called together on the 14 th inst ., the day after to-morrow . I say nothing here of the navy , for the increase of which the most pressing orders have been given . The Bonapartists are talking already of a brilliant campaign in Italy for the spring , nothing doubting that the treachery of Austria , and her declaration in favour of Russia , will lead to this . They even say that Bonaparte will command the army in Italy in person .
Unfortunately , the sinews of war are wanting . On New YearVday Bonaparte took fifty millions of francs ( 2 , 000 , 000 / . ) out of the Bank of France ; just what he took for the coup d'etat . Persigny was charged with this mission . Booted and spurred he stalked into the council-room of theBank ^ I don't know whether he had a whip in his hand , a la Louis XIV . ) , and then and there he held forth to the Governor and Council of the Bank in a language that dismayed them . " We are at war now , " he is reported to have said ; " we want money and plenty of it ; the treasury is empty j his Majesty appeals to you for funds . The Emperor
wanted to negotiate a loan of 200 millions of francs ( 800 , 000 / 1 ) on the Bourse ; he has not succeeded , and he would not insist , lest lie should alarm the capitalists . He therefore sends » ne here to-day to propose to you to negotiate this loan ; here are the securities for the amount ; meanwhile his Majesty is in immediate want of 50 , 000 , 000 of francs ( 2 , 000 , 000 / . ) " An hour after , the Jburgons of the Bank took away the 50 , 000 , 000 francs . It hae been rumoured that a similar scone was enacted before the Syndicate of stockbrokers ) , and that they , too , werp done to the tune of 200 millions of francs . But I cannot certify ,
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CONTINENTAL NOTES . Tux following circular to the diplomatic representatives of France appeared in the Moniteur of Friday week : " Parig , Dec . 30 , 1853 . *• The affairs of the East are taking a too serious turn not to recal your attention , even at the moment when circumstances impose , new duties upon the Government of his Imperial Majesty , to the efforts which we have not ceased to make , for the purpose of preventing the com plications with which Europe is so seriously menaced . " The question about the Holy Places , either misrepreented or misunderstood , had excited the apprehensions of
the Russian Cabinet ; we have tried to calm these alarms by frank and complete explanations . It did appear to us that in preserving the rights of the Porte , a question of such a nature might well be cleared up at a distance from the scene where it originally arose . Our opinion , however , was not shared by Russia , and Prince Mentschikoff received the order to repair to Constantinople . I will merely say , that had we really entertained tlie exclusive views which are imputed to us—if the claiming of our ancient and incontestable rights had not been sustained by so much "moderation—the mission of that Extraordinary Ambassador would at once liav « become the object of & conflict , which we knew how to avoid .
* ' The affairs of the sanctuaries at Jerusalem were hardly settled , and , by the admission of Count Nesselrode himself , regulated in a satisfactory manner , when another difficulty preaented itself . Prince Mentschikoff demanded guarantees for the maintenance of the privileges of the Greek Ctourch . The Cabinet of St . Petersburg did not prove by any particular fact that these privileges had been violated ; while the Porte , on the contrary , confirmed solemnly the religious immunities of her Chmtian subjects . Animated by the deaire to appease a difference which , if it concerned on one hand the sovereign rights of the Sultan , touched on the other the conscience of his Majesty the Emperor Nicholas , tha French Government , in concert with , the English , have assiduously tried all means to conciliate the interests , at once so delicate and so complex engnged in the uffuir . The Russian Cabinet cannot have forgotten the zeul and loyalty with which we have endeavoured to accomplish this difficult tusk . Neither can it deny that the resistance of the Porte
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approached the Dardanelles at that moment ; if tie French Government had desired to do so , Ha naval forces miriit have anchored in the roadstead at Constantinople . How ever , though it thought it necessary to establish its right it showed all the more its moderation ' in the step . The nature of the relations of Russia with the Porte had become too abnormal not to allow war to succeed peace , or rather , to call the subject by its real name , that the aggression on the Turkish
territory should not produce its natural consequences . This change in the situation has necessitated a new movement of our fleet , and , at the instance of the Sultan , the French flag has appeared in the Bospborus simultaneously with the British . . . " However , Sir , we had not renounced the hope of an arrangement , and , together with Austria and Prussia , as already previously with England , we pursued once more » pacific end . New , propositions , for the success of which we shall not cease to employ our efforts , have been addressed to the Porte by the representatives of the Four Powers . " None of the treaties concluded with Russia interdicted to our men-of-war the navigation of the Black "Sea . The treaty of tie 13 th of July , 1841 , in closing in time of peace the passage of the Dardanelles and Bospuorus , reserved to
the Sultan the right to open them in time of war , and from the day when the Sultan gave us free permission , to enter the straits the Euxine became equally open to us , ¦ The same nw ^ xeit wi ich had kept us for a long time at the Bay of Besika , stopped our fleets in the road of Beicos . " The French Government was most anxious to inanifest its friendlj sentiments towards Russia , and to reject before the world the responsibility -upon aggravation in the actual state of things , which , despite all considerations , could sot be modified . The French Government thought , inoreover , ' after the contents of the recent despatches of General Castelbaja « , that the Russian Cabinet , satisfied with / the possession of what she considered as a pledge , ? paid not
nave taxen any ottensive part in the struggle which she has so unhappily commenced with Turkey . It seemed to us sufficient that the presence of our flags , in the waters of Constantinople ought to have attested our firm resolution to protect that capital against a sudden danger , and we did not wish that its premature appearance in the quarters nearer the Russian territories should pass for a provocatkb . The state of war rendered , no doubt , possible a collision between tie belligerents both by sea and larid , but we had a right to think that our reserve would be irnitated jby Russia , and that her admirals would avoid with equal car the occasion , for a rencontre , in abstaining front proceeding to aggressive measures , when , had we supposed tDet'Rttsaian Cabinet to be animated by different sentiments , our fleet wxmkt certainlrhave exercised a more active vigilance . The event
of Sinope , Sir , has realised all our apprehensions , ' and this deplorable fact modifies equally the attitude which we ought to nave taken . The agreement which has recently existed at Vienna between France , Austria , England , ana PraMou has established the European character as regards the difference existing between Russia and Turkey . ' - The four Courts have solemnly acknowledged that the territorial integrity of the Ottoman empire was one of the conditions of their balancing policy . Tne occupation of Moldavia tied Wallachia constitutes the first attempt against that integrity , and there can be no doubt that \ th ~ e chances of tout might still more endanger it . Count Nesselrode represented , a- few months back , as a necessary compensation of what he has
since called our ' maritime occupation , ' the invasion of the Danubian Principalities . On our part , Sir , we believe that it has-become indispensable for us to measure , ourselves the extent of the compensation to which we are entitled by right as tlie Powers interested in the existence of Turkey and the military positions already taken b y tha Russian army . Wo must have a pledge which assures us the reestablishment of peace in the East on conditions which do not change the distribution of the respective forces of the great States of Europe . The French and English Governments have consequently decided that their fleets' should enter the Black Sea , and combine their movements in such a manner as to prevent the territory or the Ottoman flag from
being exposed to a new attack by the Russian Davy . The Vico-Admirals Hamelin and Dundas have just received orders , to communicate to all those to whom it concerns , and we hope that this loyal step will prevent conflicts which we should see but with deep regret . The French Government , I repeat , lias but one object—that of contributing to bring about honourable conditions and a reconciliation between the two belligerent parties ; and , as circumstances oblige us to arm ourselves against terrible casualties , we still hope confidently that the Russian Cabinet , which baa given such numerous proofs of wisdom , will not expose Europe to useless wars—to trials of war from which the Sovereigns have saved her for so many years . 44 DltODYN DBS LlIUTS . "
The following is the text of the Note officially presented to the Diran by the Ambassadors of the four European Powers on the 15 th ult .: — 41 The undersigned , , in accord with the representatives of , has the honour to makAknown to tlie Sublime Porte , ttuit their Governments , having still reason to believe that the Emperor of Russia does not regard the thread of the negotiations as broken by the declaration of War , and the facts which have been the consequence of it , and knowing , moreover , from the declarations of his Imperial Majesty . that ho only desires to boo secured a perfect equality of rights and immunities granted b y the Sultan and his ancestors to the Christian communities , subjects . of the Sublime Porte ; and on its bide the Sublime Porte replying to that declaration by the declaration that it regards it as being for its honour to continue to maintain the said rights ana immunities , and that it is constantly disposed to put an nd to tha differences which have arisen between the two empires , the negotiation to be followed shall bo bua « d—1 st ,
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January 14 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 29
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 14, 1854, page 29, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2021/page/5/
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