LONDON.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXI, Issue 2395, 31 July 1866, Page 6

LONDON.

(FBOM OUH OWN COBKEBPONDENT.) Fon the last few days we Lave been breathing somewhat more freely. Hopes — albeit not sanguine — are entertained that the peace of Europe will not be broken, and that the forthcoming Conference will find some means for evading a conflict which, if it breakforth, will certainly be one of the mo3t sanguinary and disastrous on record, and for which a parallel must be sought in tho desolating campaigns of the thirty years' war, when Germany became tho battle field of Europe, and when the hosts of the Protestant Champion, Gustavus Adolphus, were hurled with terrible fury against tho redoubtable and relentless legions of Tilly and of Wallensteic. Considerably upwards of two centuries have elapsed since that fratricidal and devastating struggle took place botween the nations of Germany. In the meantime, civilization, literature, science, and art have progressed with gigantic strides throughout the world — but certainly the arts of peace have not kept pace with the onward march of education and enlightment. In some respect, the nations of Europe are just where they were. Ambition, lust of power, and territory are just as rife as ever. The greed of Princes and Rulers, and tho dissimulation of great. Ministers of State remain unchanged. Monarclis appear now to be as willing as they were in the days of Charles the Fifth, of Louis tho Fourteenth, and of Frederick tbe Great to plunge their subjects into the vortex of war, for the sake of extending the limits of their territories, and of acquiring that questionable " glory" which attaches to great warlike achievements. Fields uncultivated, ' peaceful homesteads laid in ashes, towns and villages overthrown, states depopulated, treasuries bankrupt, trade and commerce ruined, aud whole hecatombs of human beings sacrificed to Moloch ; theao are as " unconsidered trifles" in the oyes of men whose minds have once become a prey to ambition. It is sad to think thia of human nature, especially when that nature belongs to the " blue blood," the " divine ichor" of princes, and not to the base fluid that runs through the veins of ordinary mortals. What room is there for boasting of the vaunted civilization of this nineteenth century — the age par excellence of science, travel, and international exhibitions — when vro find the rulers of the people, men standing pre-eminent on the pinnacle of the social edifice — thus insanely urging on their subjects to deeds of dire vengeance and ensanguined slaughter. Only a few years since we gave way to the pleasing and grateful illusion that the age of intericine conflicts was past, and that a new epoch — a period of peace and plenty, of commei'' cial prosperity, and of harmony between nations had set in, and that this golden age was destined to endure for many generations. Such wero the hopes to which the great International Exhibitional of 1851 gave rise. But the illusion was of brief duration ; for the peace of Europe was shortly after broken by the ambitious designs of llussin, and tho Crimean war was the consequence. Since then we have had the wars of Italy struggling for its independence, tho gigantic civil war in America, our own wars in India, China, Japan, and N.Z., and lastly tho war in Denmark. All of the nations here enumerated, including thegreat "Fatherland",of Germany, were fully represented at tho Exhibition in Hyde Park, and they all exchanged courtesies and mutual good wishes in that Temple of Peace and Commerce; but they soon forgot their vows, and their prayers and good wishes died upon their lips, and all their aspirations were vain. Such is the mutability of human affairs. We are now at a critical period of European history, and certainly neither prayers nor good wishes nor good works are wanting to exercise tho demon of discord who has once more raised his baleful head in our midst. Still, despite all efforts' to the contrary, it is doubtful if he will not succeed in baffling the peacemakers, and in running riot over the plains of Germany and Italy — brandishing the torch of war, and trampling down the breastworks of civilization and national progress. And surely if this " devil incarnate" should appear in human form, it will be in the person of his most un Gracious Majesty tho King of Prussia; for to lhat misguided monarch will history assign the " bad preeminence" of having instigated and brought about a ruinous war between the several States of Germany. If, instead of coveting the little Duchies of SchleswigaudHolsteiu, he had allowed tho Germanic Confederation, at tho outset, to settle their just quarrel with Denmark in the proper and legitimate way, all these warlike demonstrations, and the hostile passions which havo been evoked, might have been completely obviated j aud instead of fanning the flames of war, ho might havo been advantageously occupied in adjusting the conflicts which for years past have existed between himself and his Chambers. In fact, a Constitutional Government no longer exists in Prussia, except in name. The Administration, and not the Parliament, exercise supreme control. Neither the 1 people nor their representatives are in favour of this war. They clearly foresee that it will

be the downfall of several of the minor States which cannot remain neutral, and that it will be tho destruction of the Confederation. But Prussia is jealous of the power of Austria, and ambitious of being the leader of Germany ; and she calculates that in the conflict she will not only be able to seize Schleswig-Holstcin as a permanent ! accession of territory, but also to swallow up 'in her insatiable maw such of the minor States as lie adjacent to her present dominions. Such are the designs of Prussia at the present moment. Meanwhile, Austria is more reasonable, and there are sypratoms that she is not unwilling to give up her claims upon Venefcia (confirmed to her by the Treaty of Vienna, in 1815) for a valid consideration. Certainly, Austria is not the aggressor in this case. On tho contrar3 r , she has shown a high and honorable spirit in rejecting the offers of Prussia to allow tho latter power to seize the Duchies in consideration of a pecuniary bribe. This, I think, is the reason why Austria commands the sympathies of England at the present moment. It is said that the Queen of England is laudably exercising her private influence with the King of Prussia to dissuade him from his ambitious projects ; and it is well known that her Majesty takes a deep interest in whatever concerns the welfare of Germany at large, and especially of Prussia, of which her eldest daughter is destined to be the future Queen. The fact that the war has not already broken out is a fnvorable symptom ; for the train has been laid for the fovst three weeks, and only requires the application of the match to produce an explosion at any moment. The armies of the three powers, Austria, Prussia and Italy, are in a state of high efficiency as regards their equipments and the materiel of war. The Prussian infantry are very highly trained aud disciplined, and are furnished with arms of precision of the most approved kind and pattern. I believe all soldiers of tho line in Prussia carry the breech-loading needle gun (Zund-Nadel G-ewehr) which enables them to fire off at least three times as many shots as can be done with the ordinary muzzle-load-ing rifle. This will give them very great advantage against tho Austrians, who are not so well provided in that respect, but who are said, on the other hand, to possess better artillery and finer cavalry. Notwithstanding the prospect of the Conference meeting next week, preparations are still going on all over the Continent with undiminished vigor anil activity. The railroads are all taken up with the transport of troops, and there arc tens of thousands of workmen employed in preparing earthworks iv the vicinity of certain fortified places in Austria and elsewhere, In Italy,, all is activity from Naples to Milan. Students and even lads are joining the army as Volunteers, and Garibaldi is now said to have under his standard close upon 40,000 men. The Prince Napoleon has lately made a tour through Italy, for the purpose, it is said, of taking stock of things in general, and of the progress of military preparations in particular; and he is said to have expressed himself perfectly satisfied with all he saw and heard. The Prince is a great lover of Italy, and being the son-in-law of Victor Emmanuel, he is naturally anxious that the latter should acquire Venice as soon as possible. He is of opinion that war is inevitable, and that a Conference will bo powerless to avert it. There is at the present moment a little "hitch" iv ! Eastern Europe, in the case of the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallacliia. These Principalities, as you will remember, have for a long time been tributary to the Porte, though governed by a Hospodar of their own choosing, subject to the sanction and confirmation of the Forte. Not many years 'since theso principalities became united, and entered the family of nations as a new state. Their subjection to the Porte is more nominal than real ; they pay an annual tribute, but they have their own way and are rather refractory. They are all Christians of the Greek or Roman Church, and their subjection to the Sultan is rather galling. Their new state is called " Roumania." Some time since they had a revolution, and kicked Prince Conza out of his palace one morning. Since then they have been beating about in search of a new Prince to come and rule over them, and their choice having fallen upon a young man, " Prince Charles of Hohenzollern" a captain in the Prussian army and a scion of the Royal Family of Prussia they offered him the Crown " as good as new," of their new state, and he "jumped at the offer" without any misgiving, mock-modesty or bashfulness, and he has been raised to the throne accordingly. But as yet the new Sovereign is far from being firmly fixed in his soat. The election appoars to have been irregular. The Sultan should have been consulted in tho matter — but he was not; and the other nations of Europe, under whose protection the principalities were placed by tho treaty of Paris, have been equally ignored in the matter. For this reason, I think they will decline to recognise his highness the new Prince, until further enquiry. But the Roumanians don't much care. In the complicated state of European affairs they have good reason to believe that they would be supported by Russia, in the event of any aggressive measures being taken by the Porte ; aud certainly if a general war wero to break out in Europe the complications that would ari.se would afford the Czar a favorable opportunity of killing off tho "sick man" without let or hindrance. It has haon rumored that the principalities would be offered to Austria by way of recompense for Venetia should she consent to relinquish the latter to Victor Emmanuel. For my own part I should doubt the possibility of such an arrangement to which neither the Roumanians nor the Russians or Turks would be likely to give their consent. Some other solution than that of " territorial compensation" will havo to be found for the Venetian question. A money payment will if I mistake not be suggested and accepted. There are no new combinations or complications upon this important subject since I last wrote. Tho belligerents are in an attitude of expectanc}', with their hands grasping the hilts of their swords — ready for action. When next I take up this topic the question of pea^e or war will be definitely settled. The stock and share market has shown symptoms of improvement during the past week and hopes arc now entertained that we have seen the worst of the panic. The most marked event in the money market has been the suspension of the Consolidated Bank, which was found on Monday morning" last with its doors closed. This establishment was formed three years ago by a junction of the Bank of Manchester with two of the oldest private Banks of London, Messrs. Hey wood, ICennnrd& Co., and Messrs. Hankeys. Its subscribed capital was £1,500,000

in £10 snares, with £4 paid on each. Its dividend in January was 17\ per cent, and shares stood at 6 prera. This failure or suspension, whichever it be, is owing to the circumstance of the Directors having taken up the business of the Bank of London somewhat hastily, and as it would appear without a due sense of the responsibilities which they were incurring. The arrangement was that the Bank of London was to hand over assets aud securities to the amount of two millions to the Consolidated Bank, which would then charge itself with tho deposit and current accounts of the London. But no provision whatever was made for taking up the Bills falling duo. An undiio preference was then givon to depositors, aud the holders of Bills accordingly obtained an injunction against the Consolidated Bank on Saturday last, and the Directors not finding themselves in a position to meet the Bills that wore out, resolved to shut their doors. They appear to havo acted under tho impression, fortified by tho opinion of counsel that the course which they were taking in respect of the. liabilities of the Bank of London was a legal one — but the Court of Chancery decided otherwise. The Consolidated Bank had been regarded as One of the safest in London, for its Directors were some of tho best men of business iv tho City of London, and its connections were good and of old standing. On the very day on which it closed its shares were at a considerable premiums Within the last week the "Bears" of the Stock Exchange who speculate for a fall, have considerably modified their " operations." There has been a somewhat spirited rally on the part of some of the shareholders of Banks, Finance, and Discount Companies, and they have themselves gone into the market and have boughb up all shares offered at a depreciated price, so that when " settling day" came, the Bears could get no shares to deliver to those to whom they had "sold" them, and many of them were driven to their wits' end. Had this course been adopted a few weeks sooner the suspension of several companies might have been obviated. But it must bo confessed there has been a kind of JN"emesis, or retributive justice connected withlhe fate of several of theso Finance Companies. One of the leading functions of these financial establishments (the principle of which we have borrowed from France) is that of " floating " new Companies, which operation is effected by buying up the shares of I tho proposed Company in a lump, at a very low figure, aud then putting them upon the market at a premium. By this transaction, ! they realise a double profic — namely, the difference between the buying and selling prices of the shares, in addition to the heavy bonus which they recoive for their "agency" in the matter. It need scarcely be said that shares brought out under auspices of this kind have merely a fictitious value, and that very soon after they are thus " placed " upon the market they soon come tumbling down from the upland plains of a handsome premium to the low-lyingawamps of a ruinous discount. The outside public who buy shares of this description upon the strength of the quotation upon 'Change, know nothing of the " financing" operations which have given those shares a spurious and fleeting value ; they know but little of the ruinous exI pensea incurred in the "promotion" of ! tho Company — still less of its soundness as a commercial enterprise, and acting thus in the dark, it is little wonder if they speedily part with their shares — not to hona fide " holders," but merely to speculators and stock jobbers, Meanwhile, the " works" of the new Company are going on, and the cash is exhausted. The directors know that if they keep on making fresh, " calls" out of season tho shares will inevitably fall, and so they have recourse to borrowing. Once more they have recourse to a Finance Company, offer an enormous rate of interest for advances, and give bouds aud debentures as security. Tho prospect of large profits tempts tho lenders, and they part with the cask of depositors for inconvertible securities ; and then, by a singular concatenation of circumstances — the Financial Companies eventually become the victims of the hundreds of little Companies which they havo ushered into existence, and then fleeced, and of the thousands of shareholders whom they have first duped and then ruined; themselves devoured by their own children of spurious and monstrous birth. Here, then, we have the Nemesis of Finance — the Law of Retributive Justice carried out to its ultimated ends. And a wholesome warning it will furnish for ;{ promoters" of Companies and " financiers" and shareholders for the tune to come. Only in one point has the lex and tulionis been, at fault, and that is, that the ] innocent have suffered with the guilty, in one wide vortex of ruin.

Since I last wrote to you, I have seen the Bill now beforo Parliament, touching the status of the Episcopal Church in the Colonies, and the purport of this Bill is what I havo already described, namely to make Colonial Bishops in every sense of the term free — free to perform all the functions pertaining to their office aud ministry, without any interference on the part of tho Homo Govcrnuient or of the mother church of England ; froe, therefore, to adopt the whole or any portion of the Prayer Book, Rubric, aud Articles, that may seem mo3t consonant with their own views of dogmatic teaching. This, no doubt, will be regarded as a great boon — one much coveted by scores of Churchmen at home, who, with the Episcopal body, are held ia trammels by the State, and havo no real posver or authority to alter, abrogate, or amend, any of the laws or ordinances of the Church of which they are Ministers, without the sanction and co-operatiou of the Secular powers. In the eye of tho law, however, tho Colonial Bishops will hare no peculiar priviliges, aud will stand precisely on the sume footing, in respect of any causes coming before the ordinary Courts of Justice, as any other Ministers of other communions —just as in Scotland or America. This arrangement, I should suppose, can scarcely bo otherwise than satisfactory to all parties concerned.

The latest accounts from America state that tho President is still at logerheads with tho Seuui.c and Congress. There is a perpetual and unseemly squabble, between Democrats, aud Copperheads, and Republicans — of a character but little creditable to the dignity or Majesty of republican forms of Government — upou the vexed questions of reconstruction and readmission of the Southern States. President Johnson has taken up his stand, or put clown his foot, upon the position that the question of readinission cannot purely arise — inasmuch as the Southern States ha 3 never been out of the Uuiou at all — aofc at least tfc^'wc though cle facto, they may havo beeu. We also learn that ex- President Davis is to be put upon his trial forthwith for high treason. His health, for some time past has been, giving

I way, and if the question of his guilt or inno« ' co nee be not determined before long;, he will shortly spare his keepers the trouble of a State trial. It is generally thought that he will be acquitted, on the ground that he was merely fighting in defeace of State rights. This will be the plea put forward by his counsel ; but for my own part, I doubt if it will beheld a valid one in a bar of judgment, for having transgressed and violated, by armed resistance, the fundamental laws of the federal union — the sovereign power and authority, and the supreme arbiter in all causes — civil and military. The Fenian bubble in America seems at ieugth to havo completely collapsed. The arrival of Stephens in America seems to have had but little effect in the way of pouring oil upon the troubled waters in which the brotherhood have lately been floating about — each in his own tvb — without any recognized captain or helmsrnau — without rudder or compass. When Stephens reached Now York he found nothing but strife, disunion, and discord between the factions into which the Fenian brothei'hood had split up. They were all denouncing each other as a set of imbeciles and swindlers, and the thousands and hundreds of thousauds — nay the millions — of dollars which had been subscribed for the last four years by the Yankee Irish, were all expended in the work oi " organization." And for all this there were no results to show — no "assets or possets": — all — absolutely all — had been squandered and eaten up by President O'Mahoney and his satelites -the " leaders of the people" who swore terrible oaths only six short months ago, that before the end of May they would invg.de Ireland with an army of three hundred thousand men. ,In the Fenian Treasury was found a balance of 500 dollars, which will barely suffice for the immediate wants of the redoubtable head centre and arch -conspirator James Stephens himself ; and if he is a wise -man; (which he is not) he will appropriate this paltry sum for the purpose of taking him back to the Continent of Europe, there to mourn at leisure on tho fallen fortunes of the all bub defunct brotherhood and the barefaced rascality of its ci-devant leaders. But this is not his little game. He will make one more supreme effort to revive this wretched farce by making a grand tour " on his own hook" throughout the States of the Union; and hewill thereby, mayhap, succeed in galvanizing the movement once more into the bare semblance pf vitality. But that will be all. He may gain a little additional notoriety on his march, and " draw" a few additional dollars to pay his way as he goes ; but for all practical purposes lie will find that the credulity of his dupes is at an end — that all faith in the success of Fenianism has died out, and that his former followers will only take him to b» what General Sweeny, the " Commander-in-chief of the Fenian Army," has denounced him a3 being " a spy of the British Government."

I am happy to inform you that the cattld plague is dying out -not indeed quite so fa'afc. as one could wish — but still on the whole ife lias, diminished wonderfully. About the Ist of March last the average number of cases per week ranged from ten to fifteen thousand ; now the number does not exceed three, or four thousand each week. It has made its appearance in two or three places in the .North of Ireland near Lisburn, but it was speedily stamped out, and the most prompt, efficient, and praiseworthy measures were adopted for checking its progress — so that I believo it will not make head in Ireland. " Stamping out" seems to be the mest effectual remedy. The Cattle Plague Commissioners have declared that " strong medicines" of all kiuds are infinitely worse than useless, and only increase the mortality fire fold. Warm drinks and mashes of bran and boiled potatoes seem to afford great relief* Id is feared by some that this disease among cattle is the forerunner of some correspond* ing epidemic among human beings, and that the advent of black fever or some such malady, may be looked for before long.— • Absit omen.

Parliament is at present busy with the Eeforai Bill, and the difficulties of the Government seem to be increasing. They suf« fered a slight defeat in a division a few nights ago, and it is somewhat doubtful after all if they will be able to pas 3 the measure as it stands. The debates seem interminable. Mr. Lowo continues to lash the Government with his accustomed vehemence and power, and is scathing ou the subject of " democracy," which he denounces on all occasions. I must not omit to mention that a paper, said to be very able and interesting, (but which I have not yot seen) was read v few nights since before the Society of Arts by Mr. Gavan Duffy, in defence of Colonial Governments. This paper is doubtless a reply to the fierce and unmeasured denunciation" of flip. Lowe against colonial parliaments and constituencies — of which we hare heard a good deal during the present session of Parliament. The marriage of the Princess Helena is fixed for the sth of July ; rumor lately asserted that the engagement was abruptly broken oft* in cousequonco of its being known to \he Priucess that her future husband was already the father of five children by a Morganatic or " left-handed " marriage with some lady in his own country. Tiiis may or may not be true. I can only vouch for the fact that it is gonerally believed, and that the English public wore very glad when they heard that the " match " was knocked ou the head, for the British people are not quite satisfied with the Prince of Augus ten berg, who is double the age of the Princess, and old enough to be hor father. But then tho young lady herself is said to be quite satisfied with him; and that alter 3 the case, as she is the principal person concerned Prince Alfred is now a man, and is " going about " a good deal, and becoming very papular. Tho Princess Mary of Cambridge will bo married on the 12th inst., to Prince Teclc.