NEWS OF THE WEEK.
BEFORE the authorities in Paris have left off explaining away the memorable words ascribed to the Emperor Napoleon on the 1st of the year,--inThit-ve,new portents-of a similir kind, further complications arising from-llre 'movements of armies, and, strange to say, an alarminc, adjunct to these hostile actions in the shape of a matrimonial alliance, which is understood to be imminent. The Emperor of Austria answers the Emperor Napoleon's per- sonal eourtesieit, with a marked silence as to the state of political relations between the two Governments ; and this interchange of verbal compliments is accompanied by the most energetic ac- tion in pushing forward powerful armies to the frontier of Italy, and even into the duchies ; though Napoleon had desired Francis Joseph rather to withdraw than to advance. A third corps d'armee, it is said, has only stopped at Laybach on its march towards Lombardy for some purpose which is not yet explained ; though it has been interpreted is evincing the intentions of Austria to interfere in Servia. Already the posts upon the Austtio-Italian frontier had been placed in a condition of great strength and efficiency.
In Italy the tumultuous feeling has continued to increase day by day, aid at last something like an authentic expression has been given to it by the speech of King Victor Emmanuel in opening the session of the Sardinian Chambers. He spoke in measured terms, but with unconcealed feeling. The horizon in which the new year dawned, he said, is not serene. "Our country, though small in extent, has acquired credit in the councils of Europe, because it is great with regard to the ideas it represents and the sympathy it inspires. This condition is not free from danger, since while we respect treaties we are not insensible to the cry of grief which reaches us from so many parts of Italy" ; but "we shall wait the decrees of Divine Pro- vidence with prudence and resolution." The words were uttered with the Sing's-Powerful voice, with manifest feeling, and with all the emphasis that is supplied by a loud response from a public assembly. The King, it will be noted, acknowledges that the position of Piedmont is one of danger, that his Government is prepared for events, that it cannot refuse its attention to the claim from other parts of Italy besides the Sardinian territory, and that it is resolved.
The recognition given to the other parts of the Peninsula be- sides the Piedmontese territories is also a response to the move- ments which have been going on in the Roman States, in Mo- dena, and in Naples. Indeed, King Ferdinand has betrayed the alarm .which he feels by suddenly granting an amnesty to sixty- one .political prisoners, including Poen° and Settembrini. He has obviously performed this tardy act of clemency at the dictate Of fear, and, it is said, of Russia. Russia, therefore, has become the active patron of Italians in the southern extremity as well as the northern ; her influence is favourable to the popular aspira- tions and immediate hopes from Niee to Brindisi.
Prince Napoleon, the son of Jerome, cousin to the Emperor of the French, took his departure from Paris on Thursday for the purpose, say Court whispers, of paying his devoira to the Prin- eess Clotilda of Sardinia, whose father has actually consented to the union of the Princess with Prince Napoleon. It is a matri- monial step which implies an unexpectedly compact alliance between France and Sardinia. The monetary crisis has perhaps reached its maximum,—and it was time. The panic continued until the fall exceeded 5 per cent. But on Thursday the expected recovery set in, the speen- lators "realised," and the settlement was pronounced to be "satisfactory."
