M. Delangle has issued a circular to the Prefects directing
them to re- press the contradictory comments in the journals on the Emperor's speech. "It is important that the journals should say to the population, for this is the thought of the Emperor, that war without a legitimate motive is impos- sible, but that if the preservation of his honour demands it, if one of those causes should arise to which France is at all times passionately attached, the government will not retreat from the idea of war, for war would then be a necessity. Let the papers say and say again that towards whatever result the will of the Emperor may lead it, it is the duty of the nation which has so often received the benefit of his wisdom, and which he has made so great, to follow without hesitation."
The Levant Herald says, that Colonel Couza in his address to the Mol- davian Assembly said that his "two-fold nomination being a proof of the general feeling for the Union, he offers to abdicate in its favour under a foreign Prince and hopes Europe will not throw the country into de- spair by a refusal. The fusion of the two Assemblies into one, with one Ministry for both Principalities is on the tapis."
It is stated in a despatch from " Vienna, February 17," that Austria will send representatives to the Paris Conference, provided England and
Prussia guarantee thit the Italian question shall be mooted.
On the Italian question the Prussian Government, while quietly pre- paring for any contingency, will take no open part beyond that of urging Austria to introduce reforms in case the signs of war increase. At Ber- lin as elsewhere, it is felt that the affairs of Italy cannot remain as they are, and that "something must be done."
Telegraphic despatches from Naples state that the King is too ill to be moved from Caserta.
The definite election of the President of the Lower Chamber of Berlin took place on the 14th. Count Schwerin, the well-known liberal, ob- tained 249 out of 288 votes, and therefore the seat fell to him. The Vice-Presidents elected were Reiehensperger, leader of the Roman Ca- tholic party, and Mathis, a Ministerialist. The Kreuz party vainly put forward von Arnim, for each office in succession.
It is stated that the Emperor of Austria will be one of the godfathers of the child of the Prince and Princess Frederick William.
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