FRANCE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 1, Issue 29, 10 April 1858, Page 5

FRANCE.

THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THEIR IMPERIAL MAJESTIES.

(From Galignani's Messenger, Jan. 15.) Providence has again interposed between the life of his Majesty and the arm of the assassin. On Thursday evening, as the Emperor, with the Empress Eugenic, arrived in the Rue Lepelletier, and were about to alight at the French Opera, three explosions took place. Their Majesties providentially escaped unhurt ; but a lancer of the escort, and several persons among the crowd were wounded, and the Imperial carriage was struck. On their entering the Imperial box their Majesties were received with a tremendous burst of cheering, again and again reiterated. The Emperor, whose features betrayed not the slightest trace of emotion, repeatedly bowed his acknowledgements. His Majesty then proceeded to the balcony of the theatre, overlooking the Rue Lepelletier, and showed him self to the crowd outside, among whom the various rumours were in circulation, and whose delight at finding that his Majesty was safe was expressed by the loudest marks of enthusiasm. During the performances ofthe evening, which were of unusual length from being for the benefit of Massol, their Majesties were repeatedly cheered in the warmest manner, and on their departure at the end the whole house rang again with acclamations. An immense crowd was stationed the whole evening along the boulevard, and on the appearance of the Imperial carriage, when their Majesties were returning to the Tuileries, the cheers were repeated without cessation from one end of the line to the other. His Majesty the Emperor, at eight o'clock this morning (Friday) went to the hospital Lariboissiere, accompanied by an aide-de-camp, and visited the wounded. Throughout the day numbers have crowded to the Tuileries, desirous to testify their abhorrence of the foul crime of which Providence has so mercifully prevented the perpetration, and to congratulate his Majesty on his truly miraculous escape. The Patrie says : — An eye-witness of the attempt assures us that the projectiles were of a conical form, each having an internal capsule. They bore some resemblance to the projectiles used in the Crimea, that exploded on whatever side they fell. Covered with an envelope of very thick glass, they were furnished externally with grips armed with capsules, which en?abled them to adhere where they fell and then exploded. Four foreigners have been arrested. The Times of January 16 thus comments upon the occurrence : — In the long annals of crime there is no deed blacker thon that which was perpetrated on Thursday evening in front of the Italian Opera at Paris. We must go back to the days of Fieschi to find any parallel to this last diabolical attempt agiinst the life of Napoleon 111. The most hateful element in crime is cruelty, and though the murder of one man, and that the chief of a nation, is a great sin, yet it assumes features of still deeper horror when it is accompanied with a general disregard of human life. The miscreants who threw hand grenades into the Imperial carriage evidently cared not who perished, so long as they sacrificed the object of their hatred. It is said that no less than sixty people were wounded — one or two dangerously, if not mortally. Seven men of the guard and both the Emperor's footmen were wounded, a carriage horse was killed, and the carriage itself broken in. The Emperor and Empress were, we believe, both slightly grazed, and the Emperor's hat was pierced with a fragment of one of the projectiles. The Aide-de-camp in the carnage was severely contused. Such were the results of this unparalleled act of atrocity, which must excite astonishment and indignation wherever it is known.

Horses for India. — A second shipment of 113 horses for the Indian army, by Messrs Watson and Hewit, on account of Colonel Robbins, took place yesterday from the Sandridge Railway Pier, in the ship Pericles. Messrs. Row, Kirk, and several other gentlemen,, well known judges, went on board at the conclusion ofthe shipment and inspected the horses, pronouncing them an excellent and well-selec-ted draft for such a purpose. The shipment commenced at half past nine, -and closed at six in the evening; — Age\Max. 6.