FOREIGN NEWS

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVII, Issue 961, 25 January 1862, Page 9 (Supplement)

FOREIGN NEWS

The great event of the month in Prance has been the announcement by the Government of its financial difficulties. The deficit acknowledged is not less than £40,000,000. The Emperor surrenders for the future the prerogative of controlling the finances of the state, and has appointed M. Fould as Minister of Finance. The Italian Parliament re-assembled on the 20th November, and the final propositions made to the Pope, and rejected by him, have been communicated to the Chambers. The following is a summary:— The Pope and the cardinals are to preserve their dignity and inviolability. Pull liberty is guaranteed to the Sovereign Pontiff for his acts of divine rights as chief of the church. The Pope is empowered to send nuncios to communicate with the bishops and the faithful, and to convene synods and councils without the intervention of the Government. The King of Italy renounces his right in respect of ecclesiastical benefices. The Italian Government relinquishes all right of interference in the nomination of bishops. The King of Italy will guarantee to the Pope a certain revenue. Austria has communicated to the foreign Governments that the measures taken towards. Hungary are essentially provisional until the country accepts the privileges granted by the Crown. Prussia has proposed certain reforms to the States of the Zollverein, from which she will withdraw if not acceded to. The system of military repression continues to be carried out in Poland with great brutality. The administrator of the Archbishop of Warsaw has been arrested. The churches at Warsaw are still closed, and numerous arrests are daily made, fol lowed by banishment to Siberia, &c. The financial difficulty which has terrified Louis Napoleon, menaces Russia also with an administrative collapse, as the Government is embarrassed for want of means, and the troubles with the serfs are thickening. The King of Portugal died at Lisbon on the 12th November. His death was caused by typhus fever which seized him during an excursion to the country. He returned to his capital in a hopeless state. His decease is an untimely close to a reign which promised to be one of unusual tranquillity. Dom Pedro V. had only just entered his 25th year. He was the son of Donna Maria, the late Queen, who herself was born only 41 years ago, and who died at the early age of 32. These sovereigns have not long enjoyed or endured their crowns. The best panegyric that can be passed upon the king is that in an age of great confusion his reign has been without a public event. He succeeded to a constitutional throne, and he observed the laws, •kept within the bounds of the constitution, and retained the affections of his subjects. The deceased monarch married on the 15th of July, 1857, the daughter of the Prince of HohenzollernSiginaringen; but by this lady, whom he lost on the 17th of July, 1859, he has left no family. The crown of Portugal, therefore devolves on his next brother, Dom Luis Philip, who hitherto has borne the title of Duke of Oporto, and is by one year the junior of the late king. Dom Luis in early life entered the Portuguese navy, in which he attained the rank of captain. As he is a prince of a.frank and popular character, and much beloved by the service to which he dedicated himself, there can be little doubt that the new reign gives token of auspicious promise. Despatches from Lisbon state that the death of the king had caused a demonstration of the deepest feeling among all classes of the population. The Duke of Oporto was proclaimed king under the title of Fernando 11., immediately after the death of his brother.— Home News.