13 FEBRUARY 1858, Page 9

,fluttgu au toinuint.

1r It U.—The principal incident in the French news is a strong indi- cation of the intentions of the Emperor. M. Billault, Minister of the Interior, resigned his office on Saturday last. In reporting this fact, the Paris correspondents of the London journals mentioned the names of several civilians as likely to be his successors. On Sunday the public were astonished by the appointment of a soldier. " Napoleon, by the grace of God and the national will, Emperor of the French," decreed that " General of Division Espinasse, Aide-de-camp to the Emperor, should be Minister of the Interior and of Public Safety, in the room of M. Billault." General Espinasse is the same man who, as Colonel Espinasse in command of the 42d of the Line, took possession of the Legislative Chamber on the morning of the 2d December 1852, and expelled the Deputies there assembled. He also commanded that ex- pedition of the Zouaves into the Dobrudscha which was attended with such a sacrifice of life from disease. At the camp of Chalons he was the constant attendant of the Emperor. He has " not been appointed although, but because he is a military man." As an administrator in civil affairs, he is without antecedents and unknown. His appointment has filled the public mind with conjecture and apprehension.

General Espinasse has issued a circular to the Prefects, intended to allay public feeling ; remarking that "the public may perhaps discuss the appointment of a military man to functions exclusively civil." He then states what he conceives to be "the signification of the fact." After explaining that revolutionary passions seemed to have subsided, he says- " An execrable attempt has opened all our eyes, and revealed to us the savage resentments, the culpable hopes, that still brood in the breasts of the Revolutionary party. Of this party. Monsieur le Prefet, we ought neither to exaggerate nor underrate the strength. Its odious attempt has just reawakened the apprehensions of the country, and we are bound to give the country the guarantees of safety which she demands. There is no ques- tion either of discretionary measures or of superfluous seventies ; but a ne- cessity exists for an attentive, incessant supervision, eager to prevent, prompt and firm to repress, always calm as it beseems strength and right to be ; and, in the last place, our populations, who are justly alarmed, must be given well to know, that now also it is for the good to feel reassured and for the wicked alone to tremble. This is the most important part of my task, Monsieur le Prefet, and hereby is explained the choice which the Em- peror has made of me. France desires the maintenance of order, and of re- spect for the institutions which she consecrated by her suffrages, as well as the energetic repression of the plots directed against the Sovereign she has conferred on herself. She will have what she demands."

It is remarked that the Koniteur published this document, which no one can deny to be official, under the nonofficial head. The ifoniteur also published Lord Derby's speech in the House of Lords on the 4th in- stant, concerning the effect produced in England on the occasion of the late attempt at assassination.

The Paris correspondent of the Times has given a useful description of the management of the .Afeniteur, in order to meet the statement that the editor of that journal alone is to be blamed for the insertion of the French Army addresses. The ifoniteur is under the supreme control of M. Fould, the Minister of State, who is always at his post, and who conscientiously discharges its du- ties. " The editor or director of the Honiteur attends at the office of the Minister of State up, to the latest hour night after night, to receive in- structions as to what is to appear in it the following morning. Nothing of the kind alluded to can be published but what is approved by the Minister, or the person representing him ; and the paper is not struck off until bon a firer' is issued by the director after his last communication from the State- office. It is very probable that the small paragraphs on the 3d or 4th page of the paper, or literary articles, are not submitted to official inspection ; but it is absurd to suppose that the addressee of the Army, whether they appear in the column headed official,' or under the partie non-officielle, could by any possibility be inserted in the loose manner described by your contemporary. Those addresses could not have been sent direct to the editor by -the Colonels of regiments. No colonel could commit such an irregularity. Military etiquette requires that such documents should, in 'the first place, be transmitted to the immediate superior, by him to the 'General commanding, and by this last to the War-office. From the War-office they are sent to the Minister under whose control the Moni- tear is placed : and, which is most improbable, even if the War-office sent them direct to the Koniteur, it is certain that the editor would not make use of them without the previous sanction of the Department of State. De- trees and laws are certainly promulgated in what is technically called the panic officielle,' but the summaries of the proceedings iu the Senate and Legislative Corp! are inserted in the same part of the paper as these ad- dresses; and it is only after these summaries are thus officially published that the other papers are at liberty to give them. Moreover, the Govern- ment has repeatedly declared that it is responsible for what appears in the .bloniteur, ond for nothing else."

TII55itt.—The Prince and Princess Frederick William duly and safely arrived at Potsdam on Saturday. They were received at the rail- way station by the Prince and Princess of Prussia and a host of Princes of the Prussian house, and escorted to the palace. Thousands of people were present, and every sign of welcome was accorded to the Prince and his bride. The town was decked out in its gayety and illuminated in the evening. The trades marched in procession past the palace, and there was a gala performance at the theatre. On Monday the bride and bride- groom entered Berlin. It is said that the splendour of the decorations, the vast masses of the people-180,000 standing in the promenade Unter den Linden—and the heartiness of the popular feeling, far surpassed the display in 1823 when the present Queen of Prussia entered Berlin as a bride. " Nothing," says an enthusiastic reporter, " is so astonishing as the unsparing, ample, rich, and bountiful manner in which everything has been got up on this festalreception." One part of the reception was especially planned to gratify the Princess : the English residents in Berlin collected together, 130 gentlemen and many ladies • they hoisted a real big Eng- lish Union Jack, and when the bride passed they saluted her " with an unmistakeable British cheer."

In all the plenitude of preparatory arrangement to view the entry, it seems no place of honour had been originally intended for the members of the Prussian Legislature ; but it is stated that they were offered seats at 4s. 6d. a head, which they indignantly refused.

The King of Prussia is still too unwell to take part in these public re- joicings. He did not receive the Prince and Princess until Monday even- ing, when they quietly dined with him at Bellevue. "At the dinner, the Prince of Prussia proposed a toast to the alliance with England."

Sill/Ir.—The Neapolitan correspondents of the English journals fur- nish accounts of the proceedings in the Court at Salerno sitting to try the peisons implicated in the revolutionary attempt made by Pisacane. The Attorney-General is desCribed as being guilty of great violence, and the Court as sanctioning illegal proceedings obstructing the defence. The testimony of all the prisoners examined exculpates the English en- gineers, the captain and the crew of the Cagliari, from all share in their guilt. Baron Nicotera, one of the prisoners, was the first to do this. He also put, in a paper formally showing that they were innocent, and stating other matters ; but the Court, in deference to the Attorney-General, would not allow it to be read. It is said to have contained a statement that after the revolutionists had surrendered the gendarmes shot down. 27 in cold blood. Other prisoners repeated the same statement. An attempt was made to identify a diary supposed to have been kept by Pisacane, and showing conclusively the innocence of the engineers and the crew : but the Attorney-General opposed the proceeding, and the Court sided with him. This was described as illegal by one of the counsel for the crew. Great complaints were made of the inhuman treatment of the prisoners by the Neapolitan authorities.

Watt at first positively refused to appear unless carried by force ; and it was thought that force would bring on madness. He was reported ill. At length, however, he yielded. He has shown great aberration of mind.

lt1155i11—The movement of the Emperor in the direction of serf- emancipation has been met in an encouraging manner. No fewer than 501 landed proprietors in the district of Moscow have expressed their willingness to emancipate their serfs. On the 9th of last month 180 of them dined together to celebrate the " new era "—" the second regene- ration of Russia "—which the Emperor had commenced. The tone of the speeches was enthusiastic. "The Emperor has struck at the root of the social evil," it was said : Russian institutions cannot prosperously rest upon falsehood and injustice. M. Babst, Professor of Political Economy in the University of Moscow, said that the wants of the nation cannot rest upon the coarse and primitive condition of compulsory labour : " the day of the primitive forms of the economical condition of the people has now left us for ever."

1 et .—Telegraphic despatches from India were received on Wednesday by the Government and the daily newspapers. The latest dates are Calcutta January 9, Bombay January 13. The fullest despatch was received by the Times ; and its statements arc confirmed by the briefer message forwarded to the Government.

"Dates from Cawnpore are to the 4th. Sir Colin Campbell occupied Furruckabad on the 3d of January, and was in communication with Colonel Seaton's column. On the 2d, the rebels had attacked the troops under the Commander-in-chief; but they were repulsed, after a severe skirmish, in which the enemy lost all their gnus, seven or eight in number. In the evening of that day they evacuated Furruckabad, abandoning all their heavy artillery. " Brigadier Walpole occupied Etawah on the 29th of December. He pro- ceeds to Mynpooree, and thence will join the Commander-in-chief. The direct roads between Delhi and Calcutta are now open. " General Outram's forces, 4000 strong, continued safely posted at the Alumbagh. The peasantry were beginning to bring supplies into the camp. " Goruckpore was taken on the 6th of January by the Ghoorkas under Jung Bahadoor. The enemy, though strongly entrenched, made a feeble resistance. Seven guns were taken, and 200 men killed. Our loss was very trifling." [The Government despatch states the loss of the Ghoorkas at two killed and seven wounded.]

"The Chittagong mutineers were attacked by the Sylhet Battalion near the frontier of Tipperah. The mutineers fled, but were pursued, and many overtaken and put to death.

"A bill has been introduced for uniting the Meerut and Delhi divisions to the Punjaub. The Lieutenant-Governorship is to be given to Sir John Lawrence.

" The Calcutta export-markets, after undergoing some further depression, were again looking up. The import-market was likewise firmer."

e4i118 .—By the same mail we have advices from Canton to the 29th December, describing the bombardment and capture of a portion of that city.

The bombardment of Canton commenced at daylight on the 28th of De- cember, and was continued during the whole of the day and night. The assault, in three divisions, two English and one French, was given at six o'clock on the morning of the 29th. Gough's Fort was taken at two o'clock, and blown up. The Chinese continued their fire from the houses, but the troops were restrained from entering the city."—Times Despatch. "Our forces landed at Canton on the 28th December; British, 4600; French, 900. On the 29th the walls were escaladed, and the heights within the town in our possession by nine a. m. The advance within the city but feebly contested. The damage to the town very small. Captain Bate, her Majesty's ship Actwon, killed."—Government Despatch.

riff.—Advices from Mexico to the 18th January state that des- perate fighting was going on there. Mexico had been bombarded by the opponents of the President Comonfort, and a coalition was marching on the city.

Unit fit tat fa.—The North America arrived at Liverpool on Thursday, with advices from Portland to the 30th January. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Mr. Douglas dissenting, have made a report upholding the Neutrality Laws, condemning Walker's proceedings, and inflicting on Commodore Paulding for arrest- ing Walker, "no further censure than as it might hereafter be drawn into a precedent if suffered to pass without remark." They suggested that in future, offenders against the Neutrality Laws, captured at sea, shall be surrendered to the United States authorities of the port whence they started.

It is stated that General Scott is to organize a column in California for the invasion of Utah.

When the news of the death of Sir Henry Havelock reached New York, the flags of the shipping were hoisted half-mast high, and the newspapers published eulogiums upon the British General.