AFFAIRS IN EUROPE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 168, 1 April 1864, Page 5 (Supplement)

AFFAIRS IN EUROPE.

[Prom Correspondent.] JaitoaHl 18TB, 1904. The most notable event of the present month is the discovery of a plot against the life of Louis Napoleon 111. Four men, three of them Italians, and one of whom has turned approver, and accused his companions with an eagerness that throws grave doubts on the reality of the whole affair. If the conspiracy is not got up by the French police, for the sake of once more proving that the life of the Emperor is under the special protection of Heaven, it is a very clumsy, ill-con-trived affair. There is but another possible explanation of it. It may be that four Italians have determined to sacrifice themselves for their country, incurring all the odium attached to the name of assassins, without the slightest intention of attempting to do the deed for which they will suffer death. It would be a sort of “demonstration, which, they might hope, would induce the Emperor to withdraw his troops from Home; an event cheaply purchased with the lives of four sons of Italy. Orsini bombs, revolvers, daggers and ammunition were found in the possession of the conspirators. It was also asserted that Mazzini was the instigator of the plot, but he denies all complicity with it. The French police are said to have been aware of all the intentions, as well as the movements of the conspirators from the moment they entered France, which they did from Switzerland.

The French Chambers were delighted lately with a speech from M. Thiers, who has accepted a seat, and sworn allegiance to the Emperor. He alluded to his former political career, and to his long absence from the political arena; asserted that he would be faithful to the empire; but assured the Government that it must grant liberty to France, or France would take liberty for itself. This is a sort of threat, which may mean that Thiers would like to govern the empire, or it may mean that he will be as ready as others to disavow his allegiance as soon as a convenient opportunity arrives. The Emperor has been presenting a cardinal’s hat, or, at least, congratulating the receiver of that distinction, and used some words auent the folly of “ those who, having but narrowly escaped shipwreck, summon the tempest to their aid an allusion that Thiers may perhaps find advisable to ponder well. The Schleswig-Holstein question is near a crisis ; it is uncertain whether Austria and Prussia will avoid a war, now that they cannot mistake the fact that England will be bound to support Denmark, notwithstanding the sympathy of the Queen with her German relatives. A firm, but decided assertion of England’s views of her obligations and engagements, if made at an earlier stage of the proceedings, might have prevented Austria and Prussia committing themselves so far as they have done; but, doubtless, both Powers have relied on England’s desire for peace, coupled with the influence of the Cobourg family over the Queen. Duke Ernest, brother to the late Prince Consort, has assumed the position of a leader in the German view of the case. Denmark has, under pressure from England and other neutrals, yielded somewhat, but cannot be expected to yield much more; while the minor German States sre eager to invade Schleswig, which the Danes will feel bound to resist. German troops have occupied Holstein without resistance, it being admittedly German; but Schleswig is not considered German by the Danes. The Poles still continue the struggle with Russia; it is a war of extermination. Prisoners are executed, suspected persons apprehended, deported to Siberia, or tortured to extort confessions against others. The Prussian Chambers have refused to vote the “ requisite” for the extraordinary expenses of the army. Should, however, the King enter into war with Denmark, the money might be voted, a strong feeling existing in the Prussian Chamber in favor of appropriating Schleswig-Holstein. Should war begin, it would probably soon be general. Sweden and Norway, first, then England, would have to help Denmark; Austria, Prus’ sia, and Germany on the other side mitdit find further employment with Italy on one side and France on the other; while Hungary would probably rise to throw off the Austrian yoke. Such a war could not fail to alter the map of Europe, and Austria, especially, ought to dread the result of a war in which she has so much to lose and so little to gain. Possibly Russia might also coalesce with Germany, to obtain facilities for exterminating the Poles. AMEEICA. The state of affairs is but little altered lately. Both parties appear determined to continue the struggle, which appears unlikely

to end except with the exhaustion of the combatants. Winter keeps the armies from action at present. Charleston still held out at the date of our latest news. Money and men are scarce in the South; in the North another draft will have to be made in the spring; meanwhile, the large immigration from Ireland is said to supply the North with a large proportion of the raw material known as “ food for powder.” No doubt the large amount of bounty is irresistible to many of the newly-arrived, who find the recruiting office the place to fill their pockets with “green-backs,” representing what to them will appear unexpected wealth. Meanwhile, both North and South appear to have violated our neutrality by enlisting, or attempting to enlist, within the ports of the United Kingdom, Cork and Liverpol to wit. LOCAL. Parliament is to meet on the 4th of February. Lord Henry Lennox has already giver, notice of his intention to call the attention of the House to the exercise of the royal prerogative; the case of Towneley doubtless is the one that will be brought forward. Towneley was convicted at Derby of the murder of Miss Goodwin, and sentenced to death. Judge Martin, while approving of the verdict, suggested to Sir G. Grey the advisability of an enquiry into his sanity; the Lunacy Commissioners were put in motion, and, after personal examination, decided that he appeared to be as sane at present as when he committed the crime; meanwhile the prisoner’s friends exerted themselves, got petitions numerously signed in favor of a reprieve; nnaily, got a select company of magistrates and doctors to visit the prisoner and sign a certificate of his insanity; on which Sir G. Grey appears so have ordered the prisoner’s removal to a lunatic asylum, “ until he becomes sane.” This is in accordance with some Act of Parliament, under which “ two magistrates and two doctors” appear to be sufficient to obtain the reprieve of a prisoner, by certifying his insanity. After this, forty of the magistrates of Derbyshire signed a remonstrance to the Home Secretary on the subject, complaining, and justly, of the interference with the due course of justice. Thus the matter remains at present, and it remains to be seen whether “ two magistrates and two doctors,” selected by the prisoner’s friends, and all more or less pledged beforehand to a reprieve, can save a murderer from the gallows. A similarly signed certificate of the prisoner’s sanity ought to be sufficient to return him to the custody of the sheriff and his assistant (Calcraft.) Considerable excitement has been caused by this case, particularly so as it has been followed by the execution of other murdeiers in other parts of the country. Of these, Wright, who was hung on the 12th inst., for killing a woman who lived with him, had pleaded guilty, so precluded the possibilty of any escape from the capital charge, otherwise possibly the verdict might have been manslaughter. Petitions in his favor were sent to the Home Secretary, but he declined to interfere. There was a very strong feeling exhibited at his execution, marking, as it did, in the eyes of the populace, the difference in the treatment of a man belonging to the lower, and another belonging to the middle, classes. The general feeling was that Towneley’s friends* had saved him by money ; and that Wright, no more guilty, must suffer for his poverty. Such a feeling, so contrary to the usual confidence in the equality of all men in the eye of the law, cannot exist without ultimate danger to the state. THE CRAWLEY COURT-MARTIAL Ended in the verdict of acquittal of the prisoner, a decision that is approved by most of the class to which the prisoner belongs, but can only be considered most tinsatisfactory by the general public. That Sergeant-Major Lilley was a good soldier, and was in good health when imprisoned, was established ; that his death was hastened by his imprisonment is not denied ; a lame attempt to prove that he drank deeply during his confinement was made; the only evidence against Lilley on this head were a native trader who professed to have supplied liquors not to Lilley himself, but on his account; and the sergeant-major who succeeded to the office on Lilley’s removal; evidence which would have carried little wmight in almost any other court. That Lilley’s arrest was illegal can scarcely be denied; but on this head “ Crawley was shielded by the approval of the Generals under whom he was serving. The Times took Col. Crawley’s side, not avowedly, bat by publishing articles during the progress of the trial that, while professing to be impartial, were really favorable to the prisoner: and openly, at the conclusion of the trial, before the decision had been given, by assuming his acquittal as a certainty, and

publishing correspondeuce in his favor from his legal advisers. It is probable something will be said of the whole case when Parliament meets. The unsatisfactory manner in which criminals are treated has furnished a subject for discussion at the justices’ meetings in some of the counties. Among others. Sir John Pakington has reminded his hearers that the primary object in imprisoning offenders is to punish them, and thereby to deter others, not, as some people appear to imagine, to teach them that they ought not not to meddle with other men’s property, as they know that already. INCENDIARY FIRES. The Yorkshire Wolds, a purely agricultural district, hitherto seldom troubled with serious crimes, except those consequent on breaches of the game Laws, has been startled by a number of incendiary fires, occurring at different times, and in places widely distant from each other. Up to the end of the year eleven stackyards had been fired, and hitherto no clue to the perpetrators has been obtained. It is to be hoped that the fire-rais-ers will be caught and punished. The Farmers are naturally very much alarmed, and many of them employ night watchmen.