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Fitema.—The debate on the Roman credits was continued through Friday, and brought to a close on Saturday; General Cavaignac, M. Victor Hugo, M. de Montalembert, M. Emmanuel Arago, and hl. Odilon Barrot, having been the principal occupants of the tribune.
General Cavaignae defended with perspicacity, and a moderation much landed, the policy of the Provisional Government in relation to Rome. That Government had simply proposed an intervention for the protection of the Pontiff's person; and as soon as the Pontiff retreated to Gaits, the idea of devatehing forces to Civita Vecchia was abandoned as unnecessary. He declared himself on the pre- sent aspect of the question; opposing 111. Tbiers's report., to the President's letter to At Edgar Ney; and declaring his opinion that the latter was a most dignified and patriotic piece of writing, which had produced on him a most profound emo- tion. As to the expedition, however, he thought it had failed in both of its pos- sible objects, and neither maintained the dignity.of France nor the liberty of the Romans. He opposed the credits. M. Victor Hugo gained the attention of the Assembly by an impassioned com- ment on the Austrian cruelties to the Magyar prisoners, and then passed to the
subject in hand. He declaimed against the Pope's motu proprio, as uuwoi thy of a clement and liberal power—as a measure which indeed seemed but little literal even to the Court of Vienna itself. He urged a striking manifestation ; though
mindful that battalions can do nothing against dogmas—(Cheersfrora the Right) —nor put down ideas--(Cheers from the Left)—battalions could no more con- strain a Pope than they could put down a people. (General laughter.) However, he would exact the amnesty; for it is impossible for France to lavish her soldiers and treasures for nothing—for shame.
M. de Montalembert caused an immense uproar by his opening observation. He said that the speech of M. Hugo had already received its recompense, or
rather its chastisement, in the applause given to it by the Left. After a vehe-
ment contest between the offended Left and M. Dupin the President, which at last terminated in the subjugation of the former and the restoration of order, M. de Montalembert withdrew the word "chastisement," and left only the word " re- compense." He vindicated the clemency of the proprio motu, and of the Cardinal Government. A preventive system had been adopted in order to avoid the neces- sity of a repressive one. lie defended the persistence in an ecclesiastical ma- chinery for the Roman Government, in preference to a laical machinery. You might as well ask the Emperor of Russia to carry on his military government with lawyers, as ask the Pope to rule solely by lay functionaries. Of al. de Tocque- ville's demand of a lay consults, however, M. de Montalembert cordially approved; though he would not make it an ultimatum. In conclusion, M. de Montalembert delivered a panegyric on Pius the Ninth; who had done all that man could do for liberty, and in return been dethroned. " You say that the Pope has changed. No he has not changed; but he has seen, he has profited by the ter- rible lesson which God has given him; and I add, that he would be inexcusable if that were not the case. And, gentlemen, if he had changed, would he have been the only one who has done so? Yesterday, allusion was made to the apostacy of the great Liberal party. Do you suppose that in this
world liberty and progress are now looked on as formerly Do you imagine that a bloody light has not risen for many ? (Sensation.) Go search ob-
scure depths ; penetrate into the most isolated homesteads; interrogate those
persons who have not meddled with public affairs; probe their consciences, and ask them if they love progress and liberty as they loved it once? (Fresh movement.) Ask them if their faith in them is not shaken ? (Exclamations on the Left.) I
can conceive the affliction this truth causes you-1 also feel it. Well, then, out of a thousand Liberals you will not find a single one at present who has not a hun- dred times less ardour than he had formerly I . . . . My friends and I hailed with joy the forward march of Pio None; but we have met with cruel disappointment. Yes, the tide has turned, not against Pio None but against liberty. (Applause.) Ah I how I should like to have these demagogues, these anarchists, here before
me, to tell them once for all the truths which they ought to hear. (Alurmurs on the Left.) I would say to them—' The greatest of your crimes is not to have
shed blood, which, however, cries out against you; it is not to have scattered ruin over all Europe; it is to have disenchanted the world of its ideas of liberty, and to have forced back towards its source the current of human truths.' "
M. de Montalembert retired greeted by rapturous applause. M. Victor Hugo rushed to the tribune and strove to gain a hearing, but in vain. The Assembly closed its sitting for that day in great emotion.
On Saturday, M. Emmanuel Arago attacked the policy of the expedition; which he contended had overturned at Rome a regular government, founded as lawfully as that of the French Republic, and acting just as legitimately: the Emperor of Russia had just as much right to send an army and change the government of France.
M. Odilon 13.i-rot wound up the debate by a speech of two hours' length.
He defended the expedition, on the grounds fully explained at the time it was first proposed. He expressed his regret that the Cardinals had not responded to the liberal views for which the expedition had been sent. Ho avowed that the President's letter to M. Edgar Ney was the faithful expression of the policy and sentiments of the Cabinet; and slighted as mere speculation of those who aimed at power all the rumours which had prevailed in Paris as to the an- tagonism between the President and the Ministry. There was an absolute neces- sity for the carrying out at Rome of the reforms specified ; yet when he saw the reforms granted in the motu proprio, he should then imagine that the liberal institutions desired for the Roman people had been effectively accorded.
A number of formal propositions were made during the debate, as amendments on the order of the day for the simple proposal of the credits; among others, one by M. Victor Hugo, in these terms- " The National Assembly, adopting the principles contained in the letter of the President of the Republic, invites the Government to maintain and to preserve the rights and liberties of the Roman people, and passes to the order of the day." After considerable discussion, all these amendments were set aside; the order of the day was adopted; and the Assembly, by 469 votes to 180, affirmed the ensemble of the bill granting the credits. Subsidiary bills were immediately voted for granting to the Minister of War an extra- ordinary credit of 6,817,920 francs, and the Minister of Marine 1,945,200 francs "as complement of expenses for the expeditionary corps in the Mediterranean."
On Wednesday, the proposition of M. Cretin to permit the return of the exiled Bourbons to France was debated. The proposer asked only that the exiles shoald be allowed to reside in France—they might be under such surveillance as the Government deemed fit: no members of the exiled families could sit in the Assembly for six years, nor be competent to the Presidency of the Republic for eight years. M. Berryer created some sensation by the line which he adopted in combating hi. Cretin's proposition. The two great fundamental principles, the hereditary and the elective prin- ciples, invariably and absolutely exclude each other: the principle of the propo- sition was in decided contradiction to that of the Revolution of February, and therefore no one could be serious who ventured to declare that the Bourbons can now enter France and fulfil there the functions of simple citizens. Under the semblance of generosity the propositions concealed a snare. Not having power to annihilate the past, these descendants of the illustrious family which reigned over France will always be looked upon as parties apart, no matter whatever place in Europe they may reside in: their part is therefore to remain at a distance from France. If any member returned thither, how could he be otherwise than ells- honoured ? "Suppose you gave him the title of Duke, Marquis, Baron, would he not merit contempt for accepting the title—for, by such an act, deserting the opinion to which he had dedicated his whole life? . . . . The descendants of Icings could not place themselves in such a position. I again declare that I oppose these propositions, first, because they would be inefficacious, and next, because they would be the means of exciting disorder in the country. In consequence, I call on you to reject them unanimously and inexorably." M. Pascal considered the remarks of M. Berryer most dangerous. His party had cried "Vine la Republique" while thinking of the Monarchy. He had intended to oppose the motion; but M. Berryer had converted him
and he should now support it. M. Napoleon Bonaparte attacked M. Bar- ryer for answering a conciliatory proposition with a declaration of war to the death. But the people were now warned that Absolutism still held its head aloft. M. Dufaure admitted that the principle of the proposition was ineontestible; but part of France entertained so strong a feeling in favour of the elder branch of the Bourbon family, that if any members of it now appeared, they might raise the idea that Providence had sent back the ancient line of kings. Confidence was now returning, and business reviving; and the appearance of any of the members of the families alluded to might teed to disturb that state of things. Hereafter, when possible, the Government would come forward and ex- piate its present vote in favour of a suspension, by presenting a bill to the came effect as the present propositions. On a division, the proposition was rejected, by 484 to 103.
The Ministerial crisis is deemed to be not yet entirely past. The Pre- sident of the Republic is understood to be offended at the secondary im- portance given to his Roman note by M. de Tocqueville. On the other hand, the President has conceived new offence from a step taken by M. de Falloux. It seems that the Anti de to Religion opened a subscription for the publication of M. de Montalembert's speech, as a pamphlet. M. de Falloux wrote to M. de Riancey expressing his liveliest pleasure at this idea, offering to subscribe 200 francs towards carrying it out, and suggest- ing the publication in the same brochure of the speech by M. de la Rosier° —so to "make a complete treatise refuting all kinds of contradiction." The Bishop of Langres also sent 100 francs, and suggested that the pamph- let should also include the report by M. Thiers; to which the editor seems to assent. M. de Falloux's implied avowal of a policy directly at variance with that of the President's letter is said to have so committed M. de Falloux that his definitive resignation immediately is looked for; or, if he should be unwilling to retire, it is said that the President is prepared to venture upon a total reconstitution of his Cabinet in a more Republican sense.
Lieutenant Petit, whose avowal that he thrust a sword into the breast of an unarmed man gave rise to the explosion in the High Court of Versailles last week, has been promoted by General Changarnier to a captaincy. This unexpected step was made the more significant by the General's mode of taking it: he invited Lieutenant Petit to a dinner, and before the assembled guests announced to him the presentation of his epaulets.
Srans.—After months of abeyance, the politics of Spain promise a phase of some interest. Despatches were received in Paris on Wednesday, dated Madrid the 19th instant, which announced the resignation of Narvaez and the dissolution of his Ministry; with the formation of a new Ministry under General Cleonard, as President of the Council and Minister of War. A courier arrived at Paris later on the same day, with the announcement that the new Ministry had fallen, and Narvaez had been requested to form a fresh Ministry; but a still later telegraphic despatch announced that on the 23d instant Narvaez had definitively resigned, and the new Ministry been reestablished as follows: President and Minister of War, General Cleonard; Interior, General Balboa; Finances, Sefior Armesta; Justice, Seiler Manresa; Foreign Affairs, &nor Benuudez de Castro. It is stated that Popish influence is at the bottom of the plot which has ousted Nar- vaez: the influence was founded on the diminished ardour with which Nar- vaez had lately upheld the Spanish expedition to the Roman States, and it has worked through the instrumentality of the Queen Mother and the King Consort. The change of Cabinets will facilitate any intended change of policy on the question of the broken relations between the Spanish and the British Governments.
AIISTIIIA.—The political executions at Pesth and Arad have been staid, by an Imperial order from Vienna; and it is stated that Haynau was so incensed at this step, and moreover so angry because the officer was not disgraced who disobeyed his express injunctions to hang and not shoot Batthyani, that he has resigned his command in disgust, and set out for Vienna to enforce by his presence more violent counsels.
The official Gazette has announced that the loan of 71,000,000 florins is completed: but it is stated by other papers that the Austrian bankers were " induced " to subscribe for the whole of it by misrepresentations, and that now, in a panic, they are getting rid of the stock.
Generals Schonhals and Baron Kabeck have been definitively appointed representatives of Austria to the new Central Power.
GERMANY.—Letters from Berlin, of the 21st instant, state that Hanover and Saxony have availed themselves of former reservations made by them, to withdraw their adhesion to the "triple bond." Their respective Minis- ters received their letters of' recall on the 20th, and immediately sent in their letters of farewell.
Munich advices, of the 19th, state that the treaty of Vienna for the es- tablishment of a new Central Power had just been officially communicated to the Bavarian Government; and they report that the Government in- tended to refuse its assent "except on certain conditions."
General Klapka has arrived in Hamburg, and has been received with public courtesies by the citizens. It is said that he is coming to reside in England, and is about to publish memoirs of the war in Hungary.
CAFE OF GOOD HOPE—We have papers from the Cape of Good Hope to the 291 of August. The convicts from Bermuda had not yet arrived. The tone of feeling among the:colonists is seemingly less heated and angry, but not a whit less firm : indeed, their resolution was strengthened by an incident which seemed to pave the way for a complete succumbing of the Colonial Office. On the 4th of August, arrivals from England made the colonists aware that the Neptune would bring a larger number of convicts direct from England than of political convicts from Bermuda; that she had orders, in fact, to touch at Bermuda, land 82 convicts there, and fill up from that place her number of 289 convicts, whom she would take on to the Cape. The news revived a feeling of anger which had somewhat abated.
"Duplicity to the end !" exclaims the Cape Town 31a11. 'His Lordship would send only picked men—men who had been undergoing a reformatory dis- cipline at Ber=da, and who had been recommended by Governor Elliot as 'entitled to any extenuating circumstances which he could advance in their be- half.' It was the fear that the Cape would lose the advantage of having such an addition to its population, that induced his Lordship to break his promise to await an expression of the opinion of the colonists. So said Earl Grey. And the Neptune has on board just .82 convicts from Bermudas but she has 20/ criminals of the Mother-country, sent, with tickets-of-leave,' direct from London ! "
A meeting of the Anti-Convict Association was convened; "and although notice was given only three-quarters of an hour before the meeting took
place, the large room of the Townhouse was filled, not less than between 400 and 500 persons being present." Documents were read which had been received by the Chairman from the Secretary to Government. One of these was a despatch from Earl Grey to Sir Harry Smith, dated 18thApril 1849, expressing regret that "the proposal to introduce a limited number of convicts deserving of tickets-of-leave should have excited so much dis- satisfaction in the colony," and stating- " If the dislike withwhich the measure has been received should prove insuper- able, I have no wish to disregard the sentiments of the colonists; and I shall not send out any more convicts whilst they entertain such decided objections to that course."
The despatch, however, concluded with this remark-
" It would be inconsistent with the expectations under which the party of ees_ vices already gone to the Cape were taken to the colony, and with the claim which they had established to favourable consideration, to place them under re- straint, as is proposed in one of the resolutions, at a penal station."
The meeting resolved briefly, that the Governor be waited upon with a request " to be so good as to say what he intends to do with the convicts on their arrival." The Governor replied, that he " had subsequently re- ceived a nominal list of the convicts expected; all of whom, as it appeared to his Excellency and the Attorney-General, he had absolute power over to dispose of as circumstances demanded." The meeting resolved, that " the circumstances of this colony imperatively demand that they [the convicts] should be forthwith sent away in the Neptune," on their arrival; and instructed. the Committee of Correspondence to address his Excellency requesting him to carry out the resolution. As the Neptune was hourly expected, a committee of five gentlemen was appointed to watch her ar- rival with glasses, and see to the strict observance of " the pledge" taken by the inhabitants, not to employ any, or in any way aid their admission.
The Governor of Natal, Mr. Martin West, died on the 22d oF August, of a complication of diseases, amongst which dysentery was the most promi- nent.
UNITED STATES AND CANADA.—The arrival of the America has put us in possession of advices later by a few days than those brought last week, but of no additional interest in point of news. The Mayors of New York, Boston, Brooklyn, &c., were making great efforts to give a suitable reception to such of the Hungarian Generals as should make America their home.
Accounts from Boston state that the British brig St. John, from Galway in Ireland, had been wrecked off the Grampus rocks, with the loss of up- wards of 140 emigrant passengers. The captain, officers, and crew, saved their lives with the boats; but only a very few of the passengers were res- cued from the floating masses of wreck.
The Canadian advices are equally barren of news with those from the States. Lord Elgin had returned from his provincial journeyings to Drum- mondville near the Falls, and maintained a very strict privacy. He was to make his entry into Toronto on the 9th—not on the 4th, as stated by the last account; and it was matter of anxious speculation whether his arrival there would or not be the signal for party violence. Mr. Blake was gazetted on the 6th as Solicitor-General for Upper Canada.
WEST INDIES.— The West India mail which left Bermuda on the 5th October arrived at Southampton on Saturday morning, with mews from Jamaica to the 22d September, and of corresponding dates from the other islands. By the American route, however, accounts to the later date of the 2d instant are received.
The antagonism between the Government of Jamaica and the Assembly was unabated. Mr. Magnus, a member who voted for the retrenchment measure of last session, had started a proposition which aimed at satis- fying both parties,—one to compensate the holders of office with four years' purchase of the difference between the present salaries and the amounts to which it is proposed to reduce them • but the more influential members of the Country party on the one hand, and the leading members of the Council on the other, were so disinclined to the proposal that it was thought not likely to be carried out. The prevailing opinion was, that the Council would again reject the Retrenchment Bill. In the mean time, as the Import-duties Bill would expire on the 1st October, [instant,] the renewal of that bill was moved by the Government; an amendment was proposed, and carried by 24 to 18, substituting a short bill continuing it only to the .31st December.
The American accounts state that the Import-duty Bill was read a third time and passed on the 24th September; and that the Governor -prorogued the Assembly on the 28th, on the ground that the Council had determined not to pass this bill in the form the Assembly had passed it. An address from the Council to the Governor had been presented, regretting that so much precious time had been consumed in a struggle for retrenchment, and stating that all necessary and usual measures to provide these remedies would receive from the Council an immediate concurrence. The Governor replied briefly, that this address confirmed the hope he had formed of an early settlement of the difficulties and differences of the Colonial Legisla- ture.
The consequence of this prorogation of the Assembly had been, that while the new import bill had not passed the Legislature, the old law for levying these duties expired on the let October; and, in the absence of any tariff, all goods, wares, and merchandise, were entitled to entry free of duty.
A return laid on the table of the Assembly shows that the island debt amounted to 582,7351. 7s. 11d. Of this sum 208,274/. is due in respect of the loans under the 8th and 9th Victoria; 36,090/. for island notes issued last year; 31,000/. for savings-banks deposits; 21,665/. for the Rectors' Fund; 27,1961. for Chances), deposits, and a very large sum on account of public charities. There is "not a shilling to meet any one of thee claims." Of the public loan, 11,7131. was due in 1848, 5,685/. in the present year, and no less than 82,8771. will become due in 1850. The island generally was healthy and quiet; and the excitement created by the late general election had passed away. A short crop was anticipa- ted almost universally, even in the most favoured districts. A great many parts of the island where excessive drought had prevailed, had been visited by copious Caine, bit not sufficient-to open all the springs and livers, many of which were till dry. In the parish of St. Elizabeth, 112 horses and 200 horned cattle dicd from want of water. The pimento crop was nearly de- stroyed; and so scarce was water for drinking purposes, that many h:tin- dreds of the small settlers had to travel several miles to obtain a sufficient supply for the use of their families.
There is news from .Antigua to the 291 September. On the 20th, the House of Ass mbly passed a resolution declining to avail itself of the loan
proffered by the Imperial Government for the relief of the Sugar Colonies; the House disapproving both of the purposes to which the money must be applied and to the conditions upon which it must be obtained. The wea- ther was most sultry and oppressive, the thermometer being high while the barometer was falling. There was a great deal of sickness and bowel complaints; bilious diarrhosa and dysentery were very prevalent. One case of spasmodic cholera had occurred, but did not prove fatal. Every part of the country had suffered severely for want of water. In St. Lucia, the Committee appointed to investigate the recent exten- sive frauds in the Treasury had presented their reports to the Council. Up- wards of 10,0001. would be lost to the colony; an immense sum in the present state of the revenue. The peculations had been very ingeniously effected: the chief peculator had absconded.
From Bermuda we learn that the Governor prorogued the island Pailia- ment on the 29th September. In his parting address, he administered some reproof to the Representatives for their dilatory and therefore ex- pensive habits of business. Since the 24th April 1844, the Legislature had been in session for twenty-six months, at an expense which had ab- sorbed a large portion of the whole amount of taxation paid by the inhabi- tants. In the session of 1849, which had occupied more than four months, seventeen laws only had been passed or extended. The revenue amounted to about 12,000/. per annum; the population is about 10,000. The House of Assembly consists of a salaried Speaker and thirty-six members, paid at the rate of 8s. per diem during the session.