THE FRENCH" EMPEROR'S SPEECH.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 593, 16 July 1853, Page 8

THE FRENCH" EMPEROR'S SPEECH.

The Times ia not enamoured of tbe speech of tbe Emperor of France at the opening of the chambers — l( Where so large a portion of a speech of this nature is occupied by assertions of so transparent and fictitious a character, we must be permitted %o place little confidence on the declarations which accompany them. — However, we record with satisfaction the positive renewal of the pledges already given by the Head of the French Government for the maintenance of peace. We even find that he intimates, with more precision than on any farmer occasion, hia determination faithfully to maintain his international relations ; and no passage in his address we receive with more favour than that announcing a further reduction of 20,000 men from the French army. Both in this speech, and in the article recently! published by the Moniteur to repudiate all connexion between the Government and the LeUrea Franques—^ furious libel which haslately appeared in the South of France against (his country — we find a distinct repetition of the engagement contracted at Bordeaux, when Louis Napoleon first established the pacific character of the restored Empire. &" Probably to? mark the narrow limits within which the Executive Power has now circumscribed the functions of the elective representatives of the people, this speech contains nothing beyond a vague intimation that certain ordinary measures will be laid before the house ; and no statement whatever is given of the policy of the Government on any important question. Even the relations of the State with foreign powers are (scarcely alluded to, for, though the recognition of the Empire by the rest of Europe is mentioned, the bare fact is stated without the customary expressions of amity. Still less is anything said of negotiations in which the Government of France may have been engaged, or of events which have momentarily affected the repose of some other parts of Europe, for these are not subjects falling any longer under the cognizance of a Legislature whose only duty is to ratify the disbursements of the Government. But as this strange experiment goes on in a country which was so long and so lately familiarized with the public discussion of every question that could affect its own welfare or the condition of the world, we remark throughout the upper and middle classes in France, by infallible signs, we might even say by common notoriety, an increasing av-ersion and distrust towards a power which exists and rules by tbe denial of all independence of judgment and the repression of all freedom of action. Absolute -power has failed to give' Louis Napoleon as] much hold on public opinion as many weaker Governments have possessed, and the language in which he addresses the nation through the legislative body is in direct and glaring contradiction to the impressions which his dictatorial policy is producing upon the reflecting classes of the community. The praises to which a Government may lay claim for the able conduct of public affairs, in its own official speeches or by the pens of its hired writers, require a more vigorous confirmation, and it is one of the miserable conditions of despotism that even the good it may have effected is tarnished by suspicion of its motives. Hence this speech produced very little impression upon the Bourse of Paris or on the increasing disaffection of the capital ; and tbe flatness of its reception may remind its author that it is impossible to simulate the forms of constitutional monarchy in an assembly of mutes who are less bound to the people they represent than to the Government they serve."

The Burra. Burr a Mines.— The South Australian Mining Association held their eighth annual general meeting on the 29th of April ; the report of the directors to the shareholders showed the financial affairs of the company to be in a most satisfactory condition. After providing for all their liabilities, permanent and immediate, they Jhave a balance in hand of £20,053 12s. sd. They have, however, resolved not to pay any dividend in June next, nor in fact, until they are enabled, by the arrival of additional labour, greatly to extend their operations. In this, they have, we think, acted wisely, and'they will reap their.reward in the avoidance of the late excessive rates of discount, and other charges, and in the increased security of the company, on its becoming known that they have funds in hand for conducting its monetary affairs efficiently.' 11 Pitch darkness" has been so improved as to be called " bituminous obscurity."