FOREIGN NEWS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 105, 8 January 1853, Page 4

FOREIGN NEWS.

FRANCE. At the time that all England is mourn j ing for the Duke of Wellington, France is revelling in festivities in honour of Louis Napoleon, who is making a tour in the Southern Provinces, and paving the way to the goal of his ambition —the Empire. The English Journals are full of reflections on this juxta-coincidence, and remark that while the star of Wellington is set, that of Napoleon is rising again.

Previous to the President's departure on his tour he had an attack of pleurisy. He had been out shooting, and had caught a cold, and was scarcely permitted to leave his apartments till the day of his departure. On the 14th September, however, he started on his long journey. It is said that the council of ministers would lain have dissuaded him from so laborious an undertaking, and have confined the tour to the principal cities. But finding the Prince inflexible in his resolution, they abstained from pressing upon him the scruples suggested by the state of his health and the incessant exposure of his person during so long a period. He left St. Cloud in an open caleche and four, with postillions and out-riders. He was in the uniform of a General Officer, with the grand cordon of the Legion of Honour, and three or four other decorations. His uncle, Marshal Jerome Bonaparte, was by his side; and opposite them sat General de St. Arnaud, the Minister of War, and Col. de Beville. The carriage was escorted by two bodies of officers, each from 40 to 50 iv number, preceding, and as many following it. Each party had a Colonel at its head, and all the officers rode with drawn swords. A squadron of carbineers followed at some distance. Louis Napoleon passed down the Champ Elysees, crossed the Place de la Concorde, and then proceeded along the quays to the railway terminus. There were but lew persons on his passage, and the cry which sometimes raised isolately was " Vive Napoleon!" But at the railway it was different, for a considerable crowd had assembled, and the cry was almost general of " Vive I'Einpereur .'".the Ministers, Generals, and public functionaries, who were in waiting to receive tbe President, joining in the cry. From Paris, waggon loads of pasteboard eagles,; oriflammes, flag-poles, and all sorts of the usual' decorations, were sent to the Provinces; and these will naturally, like the moveable landscapes with which thePotemkin amused Catherine on the Dnieper, accompany the Court on its progress.

The reports published by the French Government, of the reception of "the President on his tour, intimate that the whole population is enthusiastic in his favour. His entry into Bourses was accompanied by tbe strongest demonstrations of enthusiasm. Everywhere on the passage of the cortege the houses were illuminated and decorated with flags, and the windows crowded with ladies, waving handkerchiefs and uniting their acclamations to those of the multitude.. The Hotul-Dieu and the house of the. Sisters of Charity were adorned with peculiar taste, and over the gate of the latter was placed this inscription : " To Louis Napoleon, the saviour of families, the protector of religion." The nuns were drawn up in front of their establishment on the passage of the Prince, who acknowledged their greetings with a most marked affability. The great bell of the cathedral and thel bells of all the churches and religious communities rang a joyful peal. As early as 5 o'clock a legion of. priests, dressed in surplices, with the cardinal archbishop, the vicars-general, and all the chapter, attired in their canonicals were assembled in the cathedral to receive the Prince who wished to inaugurate at the foot of the altar the commencement of his journey. At half-past 6 o'clock the cortege arrived before the principal gate of the church, amidst deafening cries of " Vive Napoleon" and "Vive l'Empereur;' wmcb only subsided when the archbishop followed by his vicar-general, descended the flight of steps, and offered Louis Napoleon incense and hoil v water. In compliance with the desire ol the President, the Cardinal made no speech merely-addressing him in these words:—« Prince' —tt c wish to deposit at the feet of your Imperial Highness the sentiments with which we arc penetrated towards you. Silence, however has been imposed upon us, but read in our hearts, 1 mice, and you will there find a devotedncss

and a gratitude which can only be equalled by our profound respect." Louis Napoleon relied: —" Monsieur le Cardinal, —I am deeply affected by the sentiments you have expressed. They are a favourable omen for me at the commencement of the journey I am undertaking. The wishes addressed to heaven for me by so distinguished a prelate and a clergy so commendable by its virtues must bring me good fortune." The Archbishop responded, " We are about to ' lay them at the altar." The President was then conducted to the choir between a double row of priests; he knelt on a prie-Dieu, placed in front of the grand altar, and the Ministers, the Generals, and the cortege remained standing behind him. After the Domine, salvum fac Napoleonem and the Oremus, he was accompanied by the Cardinal to the Archiepiscopal Palace, where he was to pass the night. The gate of the building was adorned with "armorial bearings, on which were inscribed the initials " L. N.," surmounted by the Imperial crown. The court of honour was covered with shrubs and flowers, and thirty-five young girls, the daughters of gardeners and vine-growers, drawn up in two lines, awaited his arrival at the bottom of the grand staircase of the palace. They each held in their hands a bouquet of flowers. Madlle.Leonie Montigny stepped forward and offered hers to the President, who thanked her most graciously. The others successively deposited their bouquets in a basket, borne by one of the aides-de-camp. The city had invited the Prince to a banquet, which he declined; but, in accepting the hospitality of the Cardinal, he insisted on defraying himself the expense of his reception. It"was accordingly in his name that all the invitations were made. In the morning the city presented the most unusual aspect. Splendid fetes had been prepared which were to last ail night. Amusements of every description had been placed at the disposal of the public. An immense ball room was erected in the centre, and on the sides were tents where the country people found shelter and repose. After dinner the President assisted at a ball given to him at the hotel of the prefecture. The next morning he reviewed the troops of the garrison—presented the national guards with eagles—witnessed the defile of the population of the 29 cantons of the department—and afterwards left for Nevcrs. His reception in that town and all along the road from Bourges is described as most enthusiastic. From Nevers to Moulins the same enthusiasm attended his progress. He visited the hospitals and churches, receiving the benedictions of the priests and nuns, and distributing money to public charities; and certainly left no means untried for propitiating the favour of the people. Crowds awaited him at all the stations, and loud cries of '' Vive l'Empereur" were heard on all sides as he approached. At Roanne he received the functionaries, and the homage of the Clergy. Illuminations and a ball were prepared for him here. St. Etienne, dressed in flags and blazing with fireworks, gave him a dinner at the Hotel de Ville. Amongst other boons which he distributes are free pardons to the people whom he had transported or imprisoned in the hour of his great crime against their liberties. A venerable priest, who had reached his hundredth year, besought at Bourges the pardon of three of his parishioners, which was granted to him, followed by similar clemencies to other families. The care "that has been taken to make this tour the distinct and unmistakable prelude (o the Empire may be inferred from the inscriptions on banners,''gates, and public buildings, all of which bear reference to the coming event. Over tbe gates of St. Etienne were inscribed the words li Aye Cassar Impera'tor."

The arrival at Lyons bore all the appearance of a triumph. At the railway terminus the Prince received the keys of the city from the Prefect, and, mounted on horseback, entered the city, followed by a brilliant staff, amidst the shouts of a dense population. Nothing can exceed in fervour the descriptions which the French papers give of the glorious scenes that followed—the reception at the Prefecture—the dinner—the explosion of fireworks—and the universal joy of the Lyonnese. The President delivered the following speech at the inauguration of the statue of the Emperor iNapoleon at Lyons :— # "Lyonnese—Your city has always been associated by remarkable incidents with the different phases of tbe life of the Emperor. You hailed him Consul previous to his crossing the Alps to gather fresh laurels. You hailed him

in his omnipotence Emperor, and when Europe had confined him on an Island you were again among the first, in 1815, to salute him as Emperor. To-day your city is the first to erect a statue to him. The fact is significant. Equestrian statues are only erected to Sovereigns who have reigned, and it was on that account the Government who preceded me, have ever denied that homage to a power of which they would not admit the legitimacy. And yet who was more legitimate than the Emperor, thrice elected by the people, consecrated by the chief of religion, and recognised by all the continental Powers of Europe, who were united to him by bonds of policy and by ties of blood ? The Emperor was the mediator between two hostile epochs. He destroyed the old regime by reestablishing all that was good in'it. He destroyed the revolutionary spirit by causing the blessings of the revolution everywhere to triumph. This is the reason why "those who overturned him soon deplored their triumph. As for those who defended him, I need not call to mind how profoundly they lamented his downfall. On that account, when the people found themselves free to make a choice, they directed their eyes to the heir of Napoleon, and it is for the same motive that, from Paris to Lyons everywhere on my passage, the unanimous cry of "Vive l'Empereur I" has been raised. But that cry is much more, in my eyes, a recollection that affects my heart than a hope' that excits my pride. A faithful servant of my country, I shall ever have but one object—that of reconstituting in this great country, convulsed by so many revolutions and Utopian schemes, a peace founded on conciliation of persons, on the inflexibility of the principles of authority, morality, and affection for the labouring and suffering classes, and of national dignity. We are only just emerging from those critical times when, the notions of good and evil being confounded, the best minds were perverted. Prudence and patriotism require that at.such periods the nation should pause and consider before it fixes its destinies, and it is still difficult for me to know' under what name I can render the greatest service. If the humble title of President could facilitate the mission confided to me, and before which I did not recede, I should not, from personal interest, desire to exchange that tide for the title of Emperor. Let us, then, deposit on this stone our homage to a great man. We thus honour both the glory of France and the generous gratitude of the people, and testify likewise the fidelity of the Lyonnese to immortal recollections." This speech was received with the most enthusiastic applause, and cries, a thousand times repeated, of " Vive l'Empereur!" Louis Napoleon, it is now rumoured in Paris, will be proclaimed Emperor in December. The Senate, says report, is to be convoked in November, and an appeal, to the people is to be made on the question on the 2nd of December. The President's tour to the South is regarded as the last stage.in his eventful career to Empire. • The Journal de Toulouse of the 9th September announces the death of the celebrated Madame Laffarge. After quitting the prison of Montpellier, she repaired to the b.-nlis of Ussat in the Ariege. The physical and moral tortures she endured for the last twelve years had reduceclher to the condition of a wa'lkino- s ] {e . leton. The waters appeared at first to relievo her sufferings, and she resolved to remain at Ussat until the close of the season. But the consumption with which she was affected made such progress that she sunk under it on the 7th Sept., in the 37th year of her age. Before expiring she expressed a wish to be interred by the side of Colonel Audoury, a friend of her father, who never ceased to administer to her the sweetest consolations during her misfortune The Colonel had arrived with her two months ago at Ussat, and died shortly afterwards Agreeably to her last wish, she was laid in tho ground close to her benefactor. Henri de la Rochejaquelin, formerly a renowned Legitimist, greatly compromised himself with his party by accepting the Presidents chair m the Conseil General of Deux Sevres In order to right himself if possible, he has addressed a letter to the Assembly Nationale, which, after declaring that the address of the Council General of the Deux Sevres, which lias been attributed to him by that journal, was proposed by General Allard, and* signed )y all the members present, proceeds as follows :— "Prince Louis Napoleon, in doing mc the

honour to name me President, was well aware that I would never repudiate my principles. He was aware also that I had protested against the coitp d'etat of December 2nd. I had in fact, told him so myself. Since that period, I, like many others of my colleagues, was enabled to appreciate events and the situation of France. I had seen men and political parties closely enough to be convinced that, if the coup d'etat of December 2nd, had not taken place, I certainly should not have had the satisfaction of •witnessing the triumph of my own opinions, but that we should have inevitably fallen into the hands of a faction, Red or Blue, which would have given us a regime of which I cannot say that I should have in the slightest degree to acknowledge the mildness. I did not derire to see the present Government; but it has the double merit in my eyes—first, of preventing others from appearing which I should have infinitely less desired to see ; the next, of having its basis on the national will of appealing to all the men of worth who are willing to give their loyal and disinterested co-operation to the service of their country, without asking for any renunciation of their principles. I do not think that Louis Napoleon would think himself honoured by the support of apostates." Nevertheless, the fact remains, that the son of the heroine of La Vendee has rallied to the usurping Government of the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Councils General have not voted the Empire with the unanimity and ensemble the Government had expected of them, and had announced at first. Out of the'B4 councils, 31 expressed a wish that the "chief power should be perpetuated in the hands of Louis Bonaparte ;" 9 formally demanded the restoration of the hereditary Empire ; 18 confined themselves to the general expression of wishes for the consolidation and stability of power; 26 simply assured the Government of their support without making any allusion to the secret desires of Bonaparte. The famous tapestry of Bayeux, the work of Matilda, the Queen of William the Conqueror, has been removed from Bayeux to the Louvre, in execution of the decree for collecting into a central museum relics of kings and queens of France. This decree is ill received in the locality which it strips of historical monuments dear to the affections of the inhabitants. The probable effects of the late gold discoveries on European currency and prices form the subject of an elaborate essay by M. Leon Faucher in the last number of the Revue dcs Deux Mondes. M. Faucher believes that the great . influx of gold will be but temporary, and that the area on which it will operate is so vast that the general level of value will be affected to a very small extent. A quarter of a century must, he says, elapse befoie, at the present rate of production, a sum of gold is accumulated: equal to the annual income of England alone. One-half, moreover, of the population of Europe is insufficiently provided with metallic money ; and the stream of gold must overflow into Spain, Austria, and the provinces of the Danube, as well as into the remoter regions of India and China, before it saturates the circulation of the commercial nations —England, Belgium, Holland, and France. UNITED STATES. r The intelligence from the States is of considerable importance. The fishery question has been settled, but both parties are dissatisfied. The British protest against the arrangement as a surrender of their established rights, and the Americans do not hesitate to denounce it as a discreditable compromise. The latter console themselves, however, by tbe conviction that the evil is only temporary, and that the time is rapidly approaching when they shall "annex" the whole of Canada, and when it will be at their own option to absorb Mexico and central America if they choose. They are now for annexing the Lobos Islands, and'Mr. Webster has issued a state paper on the question, which, if proving nothing else, is conclusive as to that statesman's want of honest principles. First, he claims the islands for the United States on the ground of their alleged discovery by an American, Benjamin Morrelly, in 1823, and then boldly asserts that the Americans have used them for fishing purposes ever since 1793. The islands, it appears, are uninhabited, and contiguous to the Peruvian coast. Considered perfectly valueless by everybody, they have been invariably marked on maps, firs.l as Spanish colonies, and subsequently, on the independence of Peru, as portions of that

territory. The English, discovering the value of its guano, desired to enrich themselves by its appropriation, but, on the demurrance of the Peruvians, at once acknowledged their sovereignty, and submitted to the imposition of its regulations. A conspiracy called the " Lone Star" has been discovered by'the Government of Cuba, and it is known that the Order is extending its ramifications and enlisting armed legions throughout the States. It is said that the English Government is about to interpose, and reinforce the naval squadron in the West Indies. Emigration to Australia is extending, and several large ships in the Hudson are preparing ! to sail for the land of promise, which at present I quite eclipses California in the eyes of the I Yankees.