On Saturday (Apr. 28) one Pianori, a Roman residing at Paris, by trade a shoemaker, deliberately fired a pistol upon the French Emperor and missed him. The Emperor has at last finally given up his visit to the Crimea—the campaign being irretrievably lost. Sevastopol has held out against the bombardment with scarcely any injury, and the prospects of the allied army grow desperate. You may in future head your articles on any arrival of European news with The Anglo-French army not yet taken, instead of Sevastopol not yet taken. According we hear again of a reassembling of the Vienna Conferences, of Prussian mediation, and of a peace dishonorable to England and France. Napoleon's lease of power cannot be of long duration. He is a European Santa Anna, and his prestige is fading.
Broussa, the early capital and the burial-place of the Ottoman Sultans, severely visited by an earthquake in the beginning of the year, has been entirely destroyed by the recent recurrence of the calamity. A few shocks sufficed to overthrow the magnificent mosques which were the pride of the Turks; and the fact that the mausoleums of the triumphant Sultans, or Othman, Osman, Bayazeed and Achmet, are now in ruins by the hands of Allah, (God,) has impressed the Turks with sinister apprehensions about their FUTURE. They take the earthquake of Broussa, for a bad omen, foretelling their downfall and the end of their rule.
The Russians suffer much from diseases; in the hospital on the northern side, there were 1720 sick in February, of whom only 247 are put down as wounded.
When Gen. Osten-Sacken—who among the Russian soldiers has the reputation of being a sorcerer—ordered the garrison to take the oath of allegiance to Czar Alexander II, the officers sent a deputation to him requesting permission to take one more oath, viz.: Rather to die under the ruins of Sevastopol than to surrender. The Russian soldiers and especially the officers, are full of patriotism, and inspired by religious fanaticism, ready for any sacrifice.
The English keep their bull-dog fighting spirit, but the officers are tired of the tedious service and would sell out if they could. They have no confidence in Lord Raglan, and no hope of taking the fortress. It is altogether impossible ever to guess how the Allies can get out of the scrape in which they got by the "celebrated" flank march to Balaklava, which ruined the prestige of England, and may destroy not only two armies, but even the throne of the Napoleon dynasty.
Still the English Government does not seem to be aware of the impending crisis, while the public at large feel uneasy and lose confidence not only in the present Administration, but altogether in the aristocratic system of Government. Tomorrow (May 5) a batch of influential men of the middle classes, merchants and bankers, meet at the London Tavern to consider the state of the country. This is the first scene of an approaching revolution.