FOREIGN NEWS.

FRANCE

Louis Napoleon has again thrown down the gauntlet of defiance to the Legislative Assembly, or at least that section of it that is opposed to such a revision of the Constitution as would prolong his tenure of the Presidency of the Republic, and thus put off to a remote period, if not for ever, any chances which the princes of an ex-royal family, whether Bourbon or Orleanist, may fancy the present unsettled state of things offers for the restoration of the monarchy in one or other of their persons. The occasion of which Louis Napoleon availed himself for this demonstration was the opening of the railway at Dijon on Sunday last. The Vice-President of the Republic, several of the Cabinet Ministers, the President and the VicePresident of the National Assembly, and other persons of note were present at the dinner which followed the ceremony of the day, and the effect produced upon them by the bold language of Louis Napoleon is described as astounding. The mass of the people at the banquet, however, applauded the prince's sentiments. The speech was as follows, with the exception of the last paragraph, referring to the Assembly, which was of a more violent character, as spoken by the President: the modified report, which the authorities allowed to be published, being that given below:—

" I wish that those persons who doubt of the future had accompanied me through the populations of the Yonne and the Cote d'Or. They would soon have had their minds set at vest, by being able to judge for themselves of the real state of the public feeling. They would have seen that neither intrigues, nor attacks, nor passionate discussions of parties are in harmony with the sentiments and state of the country. France does not wish either the return of the ancient regime—(tremendous cheering)—no matter under what form it may be disguised— nor the trial of evil and impracticable Utopias. It is because I am the most natural adversary of the one and the other that she has placed her confidence in me—(renewed cheering.) If it was not so, how else can be explained this touching sympathy of the people towards me, and which, while it repels the most ruinous controversies, also absolves me from being the causeof their sufferings? (Great cheering.) In fact, if my Government has not realised all the ameliorations it has had in view, the blame lies in the manoeuvres of factions, which paralyse the good dispositions of assemblies, as well as those of Governments the most devoted to public good. It is because you have shared those convictions that I have found in patriotic Burgundy such a reception as is at once for me both approbation and encouragement (loud cheering). Since I am in power I have felt much the pressure of the great interests of society. I made abstractions of what touches myself personally. The most unjust and most violent attacks have not been able to induce me to give up my attitude of calm. Vrhatever duties the country may

impose on me, it will find me resolute to execute its will. And believe me, gentlemen, France will not perish in my hands (tremendous applause). I profit by this banquet as if it were a public tribune to open to my fellow-citizens the bottom of my heart. A new phase of our political life is commencing. From one end of France to 'the other petitions are being signed in favour of the revision of the Constitution; I await with confidence the manifestation of the country and the decision of the Assembly, which can only be actuated by the sole thought of the public good." The reception of the President by the people Out of doors at the inauguration and on his arrival and departure was the most enthusiastic imaginable.

The journals generally, with the exception of the Constitulionnel, condemn the language of the President; and, in the Assembly on Tuesday, it gave occasion to General Changarnier for an outbreak of hostility against Louis Napoleon, which, as it was wholly uncalled for, has much lowered the General in public estimation. Colonel Charras, speaking on a motion relative to military rewards, made allusion to the speech at Dijon, and to certain supposed designs in which the army might be called on to take a part, observing that under such circumstances the extent to which the passive resistance of the army ought to go became a question for their serious consideration. Such a doubt as was here implied met with general reprobation on the benches of the majority ; and the Minister of War, echoing the general feeling of the friends of order, protested against any other doctrine being admitted but that of obedience by the army to the orders of its chiefs. *

General Changarnier, however, expressed himself as follows :—

" A grave question has been raised; and, in consequence of what has been said, I think it necessary to put an end to the apprehensions expressed by M. Charras. According to the assertions of certain persons, the army is ready, in its enthusiasm, to act against the laws of the country, and to change the form of government. In the first place, and to show that such cannot be the case, it is sufficient for me to ask, where is there any motive for such enthusiasm ? (Laughter on the left.) I may add, that, the army, profoundly penetrated with the sentiment of its duty, with the feeling of what is due to its own dignity, desires no more than you to inflict on France the wretchedness and shame of the government of the Ceesars, when Emperors were successively raised to power or hurled to the earth by drunken Prastorian Guards (great agitation). Discipline is deeply rooted in the French army- The soldiers will always hear the voice of their chiefs ; but no one will ever induce the soldiers to inarch against the right, against the Assembly ; not a single battalion could be induced to follow, for such a purpose, whoever might be the officers whom they are accustomed to obey. Consequently, representatives of France, deliberate in peace!" (agitation.) M. Leon Faucher immediately repelled the insinuations of the ex-Commander-in-Chief as to the complicity of the Government in some dark conspiracy, and in turn read him a dignified rebuke for having given importance to a discussion that ought never to have been introduced. No government could, he said, exist without the discipline of the army being preserved ; and all the Government wanted to do was to maintain military discipline, while it upheld the cause of order by enforcing obedience to law. UNITED STATES. The accounts from New York are to the 24th ult. In South Carolina the spirit of "secession" seems to grow daily stronger. On the 17th, the representatives of the principal political parties in the state had a grand military encampment at Orangeburgh. A Baltimore paper, in speaking of the soldiers, says there is great political animation and enthusiasm in the camp, and their countersigns and paroles are strongly indicative of the feelings which predominate. " Calhoun," " Secession," and "State Action," are constant watchwords. From Boston, we learn that, on the 16th ult., the Senate agreed to the following resolution on the question of slavery, by a vote of 33 ayes to 5 noes. Resolved —That Massachusetts protests against the fugitive slave law as hostile to the sentiments of Christianity and abhorrent to the feelings of the people of this common wealth ; that such a law will materially fail to secure that support in the heart

and conscience of the community, without which any law must sooner or later become a dead letter.

The Maryland Reform Convention had adjourned after pronouncing in favour of the abolition of State lotteries, abolition of imprisonment for debt, and also for a more uniform State representation.

SAILED. Oct. 6, schooner Mary, 50 tons. Taylor, for Wel- ■ lington, via Piraki, in ballast. Passengers, Mr. J. 1 Rubie, Miss Robertson. Same day, cutter Kaka, 17 tons, for Akaroa. '] Passengers Rev. Mr. Aylmer, Mr. Green. '4, IMPORTS. * In the Kath trine Johnstone, 4349 feet timber, and 2i tons potatoes. Order. In the Twins— B cases claret, 3 do. sherry, 1 pkg cigars, 1 qr. cask gin, 2 qr. casks beef, 20 bags flour 1500 feet timber, 6000 shingles, 2 hlids 6 barrels colonial ale, 12 kegs butter, 13 casks pork, 22 bags oats. D.M.Laurie. 4 fn the Fly— l cask hardware, 1 bdle slops, 4 drums oil, 10 kegs nails, Alport; 2 bundles leather, Swinbourne, 4 boxes slops, 6 tons flour, lj^ton bacon, 247 bushels maize, 13 kegs butter, 6 cvvt. flour, 2 brls ale, 2 do. beer, 12 bagS^ats, order : 4 tons flour 3 kegs butter, Collier. In the Midlothian, —3 pkges. ironmongery, 1 bag nails, 1 cart and wheels, 1 qr. cask brandy, 2 do. sherry, 1 do. port, 1 do. gin, 2 cases soap, and a number of pkges. merchandise and luggage.

Married.—On Monday, the 6tli inst, by the Rev. B. W. Dudley, Joseph Longden, Esq., of Lyttelton, to Susannah Andrews, second daughter of W. Delonaire Haggard, Esq., of the Upper Mall, Hammersmith, near London.