intrign ad Colonial.

FRANcr..—The candidature of the Prince de Joinville has assumed a leading importance in French politics. All the week the Paris journals have been discussing the new aspect of the question since the return of the Orleanists and the Fusionist-Legitimists from their visit to Claremont on the anniversary of the death of Louis Philippe. We last week mentioned how M. Mole was absent from this reunion altogether. It is now stated that M. Guizot and the warmer Fusionists were received coldly, while the known supporters of the Prince de Joinville's pretensions were re- ceived on a much easier and more cordial footing. The Paris corre- spondent of the Times has given a long aocount of the interview, and the narrative is thought to have been inspired by M. Guizot himself. It seems that the Prince de Joinville was absent. Queen Marie Amelie, the Duke de Nemours, and the Duchess d'Orleans, were the prin- cipal personages present. Just at the hour of withdrawal, M. Guizot put some questions on the subject, which produced decla- rations from the Duke de Nemours. The family at Claremont had resolved on nothing to alter their present position or modify that of others; his brother had formed no fixed resolution on the subject of the Presidency ; fie had not authorized his name to be put forward, nor had he considered it his duty to disavow such of his friends as had thought of him—and he would not do so. In a later portion of the conversation, the Duke said, that though himself a partisan of the Fusion, he was bound to confess that the Fusion has made but little progress. "In a word," re- sumes the narrative with ironical brevity, "both adversaries and parti- sans shall be regarded in the same manner." These avowals by the Orleans family are regarded in Paris as a practical declaration that the interests of the Fusion will not for an instant prevent the Prince de Joinville from standing, if there appear any reasonable prospect of his success. Now, the hopes of the Prince would be founded on the probability, not that he would be elected himself, but that he would prevent Louis Napoleon from gaining the requisite majority of votes. In that case, the right of choice reverts to the Assembly, and there is not much doubt that the Assembly would at least prefer the Prince de Joinville to Louis Napoleon. All parties are therefore in a new fer- ment. The Legitimists are enraged at the threatened ruin of the Fusion; the Napoleonists are in terror at the increasing strength of the Orleans party ; and the Orleanists are in some panic at the increased success of the Revision movement, promoted by the Government in the Depart- mental Councils.

The political trials at Lyons have at last, after three weeks' duration, been brought to a close. We described how the counsel for the defence unanimously threw up their cases, "because the liberty and dignity of the defence no longer exist." It is very doubtful whether this step, which is now referred to by the Conservative press as a political ma- nceuvre, did not sacrifice some of the prisoners whose acquittal might have been secured. A writer in Paris observes—" There never was a case in which the calm mind of an able advocate applied to the dissection of the congeries of facts, rumours, and inventions, could have given more service to a political prisoner." However, the play having begun, it was acted out. When the court, in compliance with the law, nominated counsel for the prisoners in lieu of those who had retired from the de- fence, the prisoners, with one exception, refused the services of the new counsel. The court, therefore, proceeded without "the assistance," as we in England describe it, of counsel; and at about noon of Thursday the judges retired to deliberate. Between six and seven they returned, and, "in the name of the French people, the guard presenting arms," delivered the judgment. Thirty-six of the prisoners, including a number "in flight," were found guilty of having taken part in a plot at Lyons "for the purpose of destroying or changing the government of the Republic," and "for the purpose of exciting civil war by arming the citizens against each other." The sentences were—transportation for Alphonse Gent and six others ; periods of detention, falling from fifteen years to five years, against Montegut, H. Delescluze, Borel, and seventeen others; imprison- ment for shorter periods, with fines, for the rest. Pasta and eleven others were acquitted. As the sentences were delivered, a shout of "Viva la Republique!" was raised in the prison ; whereupon the President issued a mandate—" Send a commissary to cause justice to be respected." In the vicinity of the court large crowds were assembled ; but the great mili- tary demonstrations were sufficient to "secure tranquillity," even if any br,ach of the tranquillity had been contemplated by the partisans of the pn404ers,

Suppressed for the moment at Lyons, political conspiracy has been ex- traordinarily busy in the capital, if the Government acts be fair evidence. For several days there were rumours that a plot in Paris had been dis- covered. On Wednesday evening, the Police had perfected their arrange- ments, and nearly fifty persons were arrested in the quarters St. Honore, St. Martin, and St. Marceau. Among the persons seized, was M. Dali- can, the conductor of the Voix the Proscrit, at the Paris office of the paper, in the Rue Montmartre. The Paine throws some light on the motives of the arrests- " It is known that the Voix du Prom* is the organ of the refugees who are in London. It appears that the Central European Committee in that city had close relations with a German Demagog,ical Committee, which had C

chosen Paris as the theatre for its exploits. The chief of this is

a man named Meyer, a German refugee. He has been placed in the hands of justice. On the other hand, Muffled, the ex-secretary of Ledru-Rollin, had come to Paris, accompanied by several delegates, for the purpose of form- ing another committee, which was to be put in connexion with the two just named. The efforts of these three Committees were, according to the in- structions of M. Ledru-Rollin, to tend to the organization in Paris of a so- ciety which was to prepare the elements of an insurrection, and the first fa- vourable occasion was to be seized for the explosion. This society was to be ready to act on the first signal of the Committee in London. The number of arrests already efficted is forty-seven, and numerous other warrants have been issued."

It is said that the German Meyer is the deputy and representative of Ruge, and that he was in communication with forty different towns, German and French. He is accused of designs to overthrow the existing state of society, for the sake of establishing Communism. The Repub- lican journals affect to treat the whole as a Police affair, in aid of some meditated coup d'etat.

GERMANY.—Another marked step has to be noted in the Austrian march of despotic retrogression. The Vienna Gazette of the 26th August contained the following decrees by the Emperor, abolishing the national or Parliamentary responsibility of his Cabinet, declaring their responsi- bility to be solely personal towards himself; and so sweeping away the last fragment of the Stadion Constitution, and establishing autocratic rule over all the Austrian lands.

" Most .11(oh Cabinet Letter to the Minister-President. "Dear Prince Schwarzenberg—As the responsibility of the Cabinet, as it now stands, is devoid of legal distinctness and exactitude, my duties as a Monarch induce me to relieve Ministers from the doubtful political position in which, as my counsellors, and as the highest executive organs, they are now placed, by declaring that they are responsible to no other political au- thority than the Throne. "1. The Cabinet has to swear in my hands unconditional fidelity, as also the engagement to fulfil all Imperial resolutions and ordinances. "2. The Cabinet will in this new position have punctually to carry out my resolutions concerning all laws, ordinances, maxims of administra- tion, &e., that may have been considered necessary or judicious by Ministers, or the latter may have been directed by me to consider and propose.

"3. The Cabinet, and each Minister in his department, are responsible to me for the exact observance of the existing laws and Imperial ordinances in their administration. To each Minister is intrusted the direction of that branch of the administration with which he is charged. I, however, re- serve to myself the right of issuing more exact regulations on this point.

"4. The Ministerialcounter-signature is in future confined to the publica- tion of laws and Imperial ordinances, and will be that of the Minister-Presi- dent, or of that of those Ministers with whose branch the matter in ques- tion is connected. The Director of the Chancellery of the Cabinet will sign under the closing formula of By most high command,' which will stand towards the side.

"These counter-signatures are as a warranty that the appointed forms have been observed, and that the Imperial ordinances have been punctually and exactly carried out. "5. In the publication of laws and Imperial ordinances, the words After having heard my Cabinet' will be substituted for On the proposition of my

Cabinet.' FRANZ JOSEPH (M.P.) " Schonbrunn, August 20, 1851."

" Most High Cabinet Letter to the President of the Reichsrath (Council of the Empire). "Dear Baron Kubeek—You will learn by the subjoined copy of my ordi- nance to the Cabinet, the resolutions which I have taken relative to the re- sponsibility and to the future position of ray Cabinet. These resolutions in- duce me to introduce some changes in the statutes of my Reichsrath. " 1. The Reichsrath is from this time forward to be considered as my Coun- cil and the Council of the Throne.

" 2. In consequence of this declaration, drafts of laws, ordinances, or other such matters, have not to be presented by thc Cabinet to the Reichsrath for its opinion, but always to me. Agreeably to par. 7 of its statutes, I reserve to myself the right of demanding the opinion of the Reichsrath, and of directing the discussion of matters under my own immediate direction, or that of its President.

"3. I reserve to myself the right of commanding the attendance of Minis- ters or their deputies at the Councils of the Reichsrath, according to circum- stances and necessity.

"The alterations in the order of business, and in other matters arising from the ordinances, you have to lay before me without loss of time. If drafts of laws which have been forwarded by the Cabinet to the Reichsrath are still under discussion, due notice is to be given to me ; and under all circumstan- ces the results of the deliberations of the Council are to be laid before me.

" Schonbrurtn, August 20, 1851. FRANZ Joseen (M.P.) " "Most High Cabinet Letter to the Minister-President. "Dear Prince Schwarzenberg—By the accompanying copy you and the Cabinet will see the alterations which I have thought proper to make in the position and statutes of the B.eichsrath; and the Cabinet, in as far as it is concerned, has to act accordingly. FRANZ JOSEPH (M.P.) " Schonbrunn, August 20, 1851."

" Host High Cabinet Letter to the Minister-President. "Dear Prince Schwarzeuberg—As an immediate consequence of the reso- lutions which I have taken relative to the political position of my Cabinet, I find it absolutely necessary that the question of the maintenance and of the possibility of carrying out the Constitution of the 4th of March 1849 should be taken into ripe and serious consideration. "You have to consult with the President of my Reichsrath, and to give me as soon as possible your mutual opinions and propositions relative to the manner and extent of the question, as also as to the proceedings and forms to be observed during the examination.

"During the examination of this question, and in all future discussions concerning it, you have to consider as principle and object, and as the irre- fragable foundation of all your operations, the maintenance of all the condi- tions of Monarchical government and the unity of the states of my empire.

" Schonbrunn, August 21, 1851. Fiala JOSEPH (M.P.)"

The last letter to the Minister President, requesting hire to unite with the President of the Reichsrath in considering " tbe possibility of carry- ing out the Constitution," is apparently in direct contradiction to the as- sertion that Austria is henceforth to be governed absolutely. "But the resuscitation of the Stand', on any improved principle—such as one men- tioned, of allowing the commercial and agricultural interests, and the m- etaled intelligence' of the empire, to be more or less represented—would not," says the Vienna correspondent of the Times, "be any real cheeken the Imperial power : this power will to all intents and purposes be auto- cratic; for private instructions have already been forwarded to the Staat- halters that they have not to lose eight of the fact that, the Charter of March being virtually abrogated, they have to govern their respective provineelf accordingly," While the Austrian Government puts down the constitution, the Prus- sian Government follows up it* crusade against the press. The Cologne Gazette, one of the most widely circulated, ably managed, and order- respecting papers in Continental Europe, has been threatened with the sharp exercise of those measures to which the King of Prussia pointed in his late Westphalian vituperations. The Cologne Groyne has announced to its readers, bowing with dignity before the storm it cannot resist, that it will abstain from-political writing altogether, till better times. The King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria met at Salzburg on the 30th of August, and were to proceed next day in company to Ischl. The conference at Ischl is likely to assume the importance of a Congress a Sovereigns. The Bing of Wurtemberg and the Grand Duke of Baden are both to be there, and there is some talk of the King of Bavaria also being present.

The difference between the Courts of Berlin and Wurtemberg, which has continued for some months, has just terminated ; and Baron de Ber- liehingen has been nominated Envoy of Wurtemberg to the Prussian Go- vernment.

NAPLES.—The King of Naples, says the Brussels Independent, has just appointed a commission for the reform of the prisons in his kingdom. His Majesty, in order that the truth may be known, has requested several members of the corps diplomutique to follow the labours of this commis- sion, and to visit, with its members, the different prisons in. the city of Naples.

The Southern Neapolitan territory has been shaken by an earthquake which has dealt destruction over the Italian peninsula from Point Cam- panella below the Bay of Naples, along the whole range of the Appenines, through the upper portion of the Basilicata and the whole length of the Terra di Bari on the Adriatic coast. The date of this visitation was the 14th August ; atpresent but meagre accounts have reached this country. At Sorrento, on the Western extremity of the line of disaster, several houses were destroyed ; at the Eastern extremity, the town of Bari is said to be "completely destroyed." "All the houses had been either reduced to ruins or swallowed np ; with the loss of hundreds of lives. But in the upper Basilicata, which is in the centre of the perturbed district, the ca- tastrophe has been immense in extent, and terrible in degree." A letter in the lYntes from Naples, dated the 24th August, says— "I have reoeived several details relative to the dreadful disaster which occurred on the 14th instant in the province of Basilicata, in this kingdom, and about one hundred miles from the capital. A list of more than fifty villages is given iii which greater or less damage was done ; in more than one place the principal buildings having been destroyed, and in all several lives having been lost amidst the ruins of fallen houses. The greatest suf- ferer, however, was the town of Melfs a plaoe.containing 10,000 inhabitants : three-qUarters of the city are a mese of ruins ; the Archbishop's palace, the College, the Municipality, the Barracks, and the Police-station, having been all levelled to the ground. The known deaths amount already to 700, besides 260 wounded, among whom the principal families count victims. I have not time this morning to give all the minute details, but it is sufficient to say theta rich and populous district has been completely destroyed, and the loss of life has been immense. It does not appear that the ground opened, but all the injury was done liy the houses falling from the repeated shocks of the earthquake, the rapidity of which was such that the persons in the houses and passing in. the streets had not time to escape. The King on receiving this dreadful news immediately ordered a sum of 4000 ducats to be sent frem his private purse; to which the Queen added 2000, in addition to the sum of 5000 ducats contributed by the Treasury: Temporary hospitals have been erected, and detachments of sappers and miners have been sent to the different places to assist in clearing away the ruins and disinterring the unfortunate victims, Private subscriptions have been opened in the towns near to the place where the catastrophe has occurred ; and, no doubt, the active charity of the city of Naples will not be deficient" Cuse.—The news from Cuba is at last of considerable'imixwtance. At the city of Now York, on the 21st August, arrived the Winfield Scott, with intelligence from Key West, confirming the statements made in the last mail, that General Lopez had evaded the American authorities in the States, and the Spanish forces on the seas, and made a landing with about 450 picked troops, at Cabanos, near Bahia Honda—a place on the North coast of the island, about forty miles West from the Havana. Imme- diately under his command were Colonel J. Pragay, formerly Adjutant. General of General Klapka, and second in command at the fortress of Comorn, Colonel Crittenden, of the United States army, a relative of the Attorney-General of the Federal Government, Colonel Hellman, of Georgia, and several other well-known officers of the United States ser- vice. The spirits of the Sympathisers at New York were raised to a high pitch ; for the landing had been made in a masterly manner, the force had marched he the interior through a populace who received them as de- liverers, and they had intrenched themselves in a strong position as a nu- cleus whence to spread the popular revolution. The steamer Pampero, which conveyed the first detachment with such success, had hurried back to Key West and Jacksonville, for General Gonzales, and a party who were ready to follow the foremost body.

But on the evening of the same day, there arrived direct from Havana the Cherokee, with the news that fifty-two of the original party under General Lopez had been captured by the Cuban Admiral, been taken to Havana, and been there executed, without trial, by "one single blow of slaughter," These two points form, indeed, the staple of the news received. Lopez had landed, and fifty of his fellowers had been taken prisoners, and shot in the principal place of Havana ; but whether the prisoners were cap. tured as they were flying homewards back to New Orleans, or while they were carrying out a minor hostile manceuvre designed by General Lopez, —and whether General Lopez himself was a triumphant invader or a fugitive pirates—the accounts wholly fail to make plain. The accounts from ay that the party of fifty-twor om the " Sympathizing sources "

men was one detached by General Lopez to surprise- the fort of Cabanos. The despatch of General de Bustillos, Commandant of the Cuba marine, states that. he learned from the peasants that "the canaille" had " reembarked in four boats,. which were found upon the shore, with the view of reaching New Orleans." He fol. lowed them. on their calculated tract towards New Orleans; but after. wards changed his.course, entered the paeeege of the Aloranes, and-found the "flying pirates" running along the shore extremely close. Tee boats separated in their flight, and endeavoured to hide themselves in the inlets ; but at last all were overtaken. No resistance is described, though the fugetives are said to have been "all armed" : the result was, that.about fifty were captured, among them a commandant and five offe. cam Though captured under arms, they were not executed instanter, as pirates surprised flagranter delieto, but were taken to Havana the same day, the 15th. On the next day, the 16th August, without any described. process of trial, they underwent a peblie military execution. The fol- lowing description is taken from the Spanish accounts. "'The troops fbrmed a square. They had on their war-uniform—the Musa and straw hat. On the arrival of the troops, (the cavalry and the civic guard,) the multitude on foot and on horseback, placed on-the heights, on the plain, on the sea, and a great distance upon the edifices of Jesus del Monte and el Cerro, inceasantly cheered the Queen and Spain—eternal idols of that army and of this people, so much calumniated by the TJnited States. Senor Mayor de Plan read the usual edict; and the criminals appeared by ten at time, and after being shot, were taken away from the place of execution to make room for their companions. The first chief was shot alone, the two second chiefs were shottogether. Ten funeral-ears were waitingto convey to the cemetery the mortal remainsef the fifty pirates. Those care had been fur- nished by the funeral agencies, and were ornamented according to the cir- cumstances of the tragedy. Justice being done, the Lieutenant Rey, in a speech to the soldiers and the people, expressed himself in strong and worthy terms, saying that the punishment inflicted was merited by these men, who, without a God, without a law, without a flag, came in order to attack our nationality, our religion, our Queen, and all other objects dear to our hearts. The violas to the Queen and to the country were repeated with more energy, the troo defiled and the people went to the place of execution, where they looked for what the criminals had left." The American descriptions of the act are evidently distorted into un- truth by excitement. They allege that, after the execution' the Negro population were allowed to strip, plunder, and mutilate the bodies. The concluding sentence of the Spanish account le, however, mysterious. With respect to Lopez, the American acemmts say that he had been joined by crowds of the inhabitants, and by numbers of the deserted soldiers ; that ha' had repulsed several attacks, and at the last accounts was about to take the offensive against 8000 Imperial troops concentrated against him The Spanish accounts speak of several minor skirmishes, in which the whole body engaged on each side did net exceed a few hundreds; and they leave Lopes, on the 17th, a fugitive in the direction of Artemisa, eithieh, however, is in the direction towards Havana from his original scene of operations," closely pursued by "the' troops and the country- people."

Navr.Sorrn WALES.—If we may believe it, a California, has been dis- covered in an. interior county of New South Wales. The Sydney Morning Herald of May 20 quotes from the Bathurst Free Press of Saturday, May 17, an article which describes "a tremendous excitement" in the town of Batiumit and the surrounding district of the counties Bathurst, Roxburgh; and 'Westmorland,' on the discovery that "the country from the Muds tabs. Ranges- to an indefinite extent in the interior is one-immense golds field."

"For several days after our last publication," says the article quoted from{ the Bathurst Free Press, "the business of the town was utterly paralyze& A complete mental madness appears to have seized almost every member of the community ; and, as a natural consequence, there' has been a universal rush to the diggings. The blacksmiths of the town could not turn off the picks fast enough, and the manufacture of cradles was the -second briskest business of the place. A few left town on Monday, equipped for the dig- g'ings ; but on Tuesday, Wednesday„ and Thursday, the roads to Summer Hill Greek became literally alive with new-made miners from every quarter, some armed with picks, others shouldering crowbars or shovels, and not a few strung round with wash-hand-basins, tin pots, and cullenders • garden and agricultural implements of every variety either hung from' the saddle-bow or dangled about the persons of the pilgrims to Oplur. Now and then a re j e spectaele tradesman, who had just left his 'bench or counter, would heave in sight, with a huge something in front of his horse which he called a cradle, and with which he was about to rook himself into fortune. Scores have rushed from their homes, provided with a blanket, a damper,' and a pick or grubbing-hoe, .full of hope that a day- or two's labour would filt their pockets with the precious metals and we have heard of a great number who have started without any provision but a blanket and somerude implement, to dig with. Such is the intensity of the excitement, that people appear almost regardless of their present comfort, and think of nothing but gold. Of course all this must end in disappointment. The wet weather of the last two nights, with the damp ground for a bed and the teeming elouds for a canopy, will do much towards damping the enthusiasm of numbers. We have the authority of an experienced man in stating, that from the imperfect and unsuitable implements used by all who have left for the diggings, coupled with their miserable provision in other respects, suc- cess is impossible; that the labour necessary to success is extremely severe; and he ventures, as his opinion, that no more than three per cent will be- come permanent miners. One of the consequences had been a rapid rise in the rice of provisions.: flour, which ranged from 28s. to 28s. per 100 pounds, has 'been sold for 45e. ; tea, sugar, and almost every other eatable commodity, have advanced in equal proportion. A large amount of the wheat in the dis- trict is in the hands of a few speculators, who will maintain their hold in the hope of a golden harvest. But for the very extensive supplies now- on their way from Sydney, flour would soon be at a famine price ; and should a rush take place from below, as may be reasonably expected, it is to be hoped that there are capitalists enough to adventure in one of the safest specula- tions of the times—the purchase of flour for the supply of the district.

"What assisted very materially to fan the excitement into a flame, was the arrival- of a son of Mr. Neale, the brewer, with a piece of pure metal, weigh- ing eleven ounces : it was purchased by Mr. Austin for 301., who started to Sydney by the following day's mail with the gold and the news. Since that an old man arrived in town with several pieces in mass, weighing in all from two to three pounds. He also started for Sydney with his prize. Mr. Kennedy, the manager of the Bathurst branch of the Union Bank of Austra- lia, visited the diggings on Saturday last in company with Messrs. Hawkins and Green, and each of these gentlemen picked up a small piece of the pure metal ; and a few handfuls of the Leese earth from the bed of the creeks which were brought home by Mr. Kennedy. from motives of curiosity, have been since assayed by Mr. Korff, from Sydney, and a piece of gold extracted therefrom of the size of a small pea. Besides these we have not heard of any particular instances of success.

" On Wednesday morning last, Mr. Hargraves, accompanied by Mr. Stutchbury, the Government geologist, went to the digging', and with his- own hands washed a pan of earth in hi a presence, from which twenty-one grains of fine gold were produced. Ile afterwards washed several baskets of earth, and produced gold therefrom. Mr. Stutchbury hereupon expressed iris satisfaction, and immediately furnished him with credentials, which have since been forwarded to Government. The fact of the existence of gold is therefore clearly. established. "A Mr. Rudder, an experienced California. gold-digger, is now at work in the diggings. There are also several- magistrates plying their picks and cradles most laboriously, but we have not heard with what success. In fact there appears every probability of a complete social revolution in the course of time. Those who are not already departed are making preparations. Servants of every description arieleaving their-various-employments, and the employers are, per neeessitatem, preparing- to follow. But, notwithstanding all this, we feet that a reaction will speedily take place. The approach of winter and wet weather will do something towards-cooling the-ardour-of the excited multitude."