14 DECEMBER 1850, Page 5

furrigu and Colonial.

Gramairr.—The peace resolves of the two Cabinets at Berlin and Vienna are in actual enforcement. The Berlin Gazette of the 10th con- tained decrees ordaining an immediate reduction of the army ; and it was said on authority that a similar decree would have appeared in the Vienna Gazette on the same day. There is little beyond this to state ; for the bulk of the German correspondence is disquisition rather than narrative, —arguments on the effect of the "Punetationen" or points of the con- vention lately drawn up at Olmiitz. The authentic document, now pub- lished, is not so detailed as that which we quoted in our last week's Post- script ; nor is it quite so explicit even in its narrower form. It does not seem so expressly favourable to Prussia ; but on the other hand, close ex- amination does not convict it of excessive Austrianiam. One party in- sists that it acknowledges the Diet ; but the name of the Diet is nowhere mentioned, and the continued existence of the Confederation is of course assumed by Prussia as much as by Austria. It would seem that Prussia has, on the contrary, carried her point of having the Diet treated as a de- funct executive, and of getting Austria with her allies to treat with Prus- sia and her allies, each in her segregated character, as to the best form of a new executive for the Confederation. A semi-official memorial pub- lished as a commentary on the Ohniitz convention sustains this view, and asserts that "Prussia now obtains what in September and October was asked and denied."

Ertearea.—The anniversary of the election of the President of the Re- public, the 10th December, was celebrated in Paris by a fete, which was ' exceedingly splendid, and which passed off without the slightest ac- cident." The Prefect of the Seine was the nominal host; and besides the chief guest, there were gathered round him, in the Hotel de Ville, minis- ters, ambassadors, and distinguished politicians, nearly two hundred. The programme prescribed the single toast "To the President of the Repub- lic," and relied on a calculated spontaneity for the President's compli- mentary return of a toast "To the City of Paris." M. Berger, the Pre- fect of the Seine, in proposing the toast, congratulated his hearers on the fact that now the noise alone of its fetes interrupts the laborious calm of the Hotel de Ville ; and then ascribed it to the President Napoleon's ef- forts and devotedness, that citizens were at length permitted to set aside all the interests of polities and speak of the interests of Paris only. "A solicitude for its interests," said the Prefect to the President, "is with you a family inheritance; your government has already its honourable page m our history. Streets, boulevards, and new quartiers, open in the heart of the capital ; and at the same time that art raises splendid palaces to the new enterprise of railways, three hundred houses fall beneath the ham- mer of demolition,—ruins fruitful for the labour of the workman, and ad- vantageous for the embellishment and the salubrity of the city." President Napoleon, in reply, availed himself dexterously of the family allusions; and dropped additionally some of those constitutional innu- endoes by which he habitually gratifies his supporters and mystifies his opponents.

"If any good has been effected during the last two years, the merit of it must be attributed to the principle of popular election, which has produced from the conflict of ambitions a real and incontestable right. Let us there- fore declare it loudly, that it is grand principles and noble passions, such as loyalty and disinterestedness, which save societies, and not any speculations of strength and chance. To tell me that France has beheld her prosperity increase during the last two years, is to address to me the eulogium which touches me the most. At present I am happy to be able to admit that calm has returned to men's minds ; that the dangers which existed two years back have disappeared ; and that, notwithstanding the uncertainty of mat- ters, a future is reckoned on, because it is felt that if modifications are to take place, they will be accomplished without trouble.

"The Municipal Council of Paris is right in reckoning On the Government for everything that can render the situation of the city more prosperous; for Paris is the heart of France, and all the ameliorations which are adopted there contribute powerfully to the general wellbeing. Accept then, gentlemen, with my thanks, a toast 'To the City of Paris.' Let us apply all our efforts to embellish this great city, to ameliorate the position of its inhabitants, and to enlighten them as to their real interests. Let us open new streets, render

more healthy the populous quarters which require air and light, and let the beneficent rays of the sun penetrate everywhere within our walls, as the light-of truth within our hearts."

The Monitour says that the reference to "modifications," to be accom- plished without tronble, 'created "a sensation " ; and the papers of next dap were aril of ethiments Upon it, in every possible and conflicting sense : but opinien'ire Paris resigns itself to fliture events. After the baneet, the magnificent salons of the Hotel do Ville, which are unique in Europe, were thrown open to between five and six thousand guests. Reads of music were stationed in the Salle des Fetes, the Salk du 'tuna, and the great ball-room ; and the dancing was kept up with great apirit-till four o'clock 'othWeduesdety morning.

The Times of yesterday, had the following abstract or,,,, b &me from the Saharan African expedition," up to the 29th of.

C.P.mpedition had literally fought its 'way up to Selonfeot in Aheer, near to the territory of the-Railouee Prince, EuIlsraur, to whom it is recom- mended. Mr. Richardson had been obliged to ransom his life and those of his fellow-travellers twice. The whole population of the Northern districts of Aheer had been raised against the expedition, Lathed by all the baudits and robbers who infest that region of the Sahara. The travellers are now in comparative security. It has been a tremendous undertaking for them to force their way amongst tribes who had never seen the face of a Christian, and who look upon Christians as the declared enemies of God. The great Soudan route, from Ghat to Aheer, is now explored."

CAPE OF Goon HOPE.—Letters from Cape Town, of the 27th October, communicate the starting of Mr. Fairbairn for England in the Mada- gascar, and the intention of Sir Andries Stockenstrom to start early next spring, his delicate health forbidding his sojourn in our climate during the winter.

WEST INDIES.—The intelligence from Jamaica to the 14th November is most melancholy. The South side of the island has been stricken with appalling severity by the cholera. We mentioned lately how it had broken out in Kingston, and how the deaths had been nearly a hundred a day ; we now learn that after there had been 203 deaths there on one day, the Board of Health discontinued its returns; and the accounts leave us in painful uncertainty whether this step was taken from a notion of prudence or in a panic which had dispersed the members not to meet again. At Port Royal, the disease had carried off a fourth of the entire population, before it disappeared. At St. Catharine's, the seat of go- vernment, seventy bodies once lay without the means to inter them : Sir Charles Grey induced twenty of the convicts to perform the office, by a promise of commuting their sentences. On another occasion ho caused some of the troops to perform a similar task. Sir Charles had issued a notice calling on the clergy to allow burials in unconsecrated ground ; and suggesting that gangs of men should dig so many graves as to keep some hundred constantly ready. The 13th of November was kept as a day of fasting and humiliation.

Business, whether private or public, was at a stand-still. In Spanish Town, at one time, most of the shops were closed ; attendants and ser- vants having died, or fled to the Northern parts of the island, where the scourge had not appeared. Trelawney was still unvisited. The Legislature stood adjourned to the 19th of November ; but it was unlikely that there would be a quorum when that day arrived.