14 NOVEMBER 1846, Page 5

_foreign anti eolonfal.

FittarcE.--The. ceremony of registering the marriage of the Duke de 'Montpensier and the Infanta Luisa in the archives of the Royal Family of France was performed at the Palace of St. Cloud on Monday. At a quer ter-least four, the King entered the hall, leading in the Datchess de Mont- -palmier; the Duke her husband supported his mother. They were followed by all the Princes and Princesses, including the Count de Paris, the Duke -fla Chartres, and Prince Philip of Wurttemberg. The King, the Princes, and all the gentlemen present, were in.coart dresses, or in full uniform, and wore the cordons and other insignia of the several orders with which they are invested. They took their seats at a table covered with velvet placed

under the portrait of Louis the Fourteenth. A large assemblage of Ministers and ladies and gentlemen of the Court stood around. Having received the King's command, the Chancellor read the act of marriage solemnized at Madrid. This done, the King rose and signed the entry; and was followed by the Queen, the Duke and Dutchess de Montpensier, the Princes and Princesses, the Ministers, the Spanish Ambassador, and the other witnesses. At half-past six o'clock, there was a grand dinner; at which were present the whole of those who took part in the ceremony, with other guests, to the number of a hundred and forty.

Lord Normanby's absence from the ceremony of the reception by the Duke and Datchess de Montpensier, at the Tuileries, has excited much' uneasiness in Paris. The Morning Chronicle states that every effort was made by the Government to induce the British Ambassador to attend. lie was assured that the affair was a mere piece of court etiquette. " Lord- Normanby's correct judgment in staying away was shown by the result. Immediately after the presentation of the Corps Diplomatique, a few of the hangers-on of the Spanish Embassy were introduced, under the name of the Spanish inhabitants of Paris; and, after bowing to the Duke de Mont-- pensier, they knelt to the Infanta, as heiress presumptive of ;the crown of Spain. This part of the ceremonies of the day hid been carefully ex- cluded from the programme." The Siecle makes light of the occurrence. "It appears to us that art excessive importance ought not to be attached to incidents of this nature.' England is no more resolved on an open rupture than the Northern Powers on an intimate alliance with France."

And Lord Normanby has made rather a friendly explanation of his absence. On Monday, he wrote to M. Gnizot, explaining that, under ex: isting circumstances, he could not join in any official ceremony of con- gratulation; but, at the same time, stating his anxiety to pay every mark of respect to all the members of the Royal Family of France, and among others to the Duke of Montpensier, and to the Dutchess as a French prin- cess. He therefore expressed a hope that lie should be allowed an oppor- tunity at some future period of being presented to them and to the other members of the Royal Family who were absent from Paris at the period of his presentation at court in August last. On the same evening, Lord Normanby received an answer, inviting him to the Tuileries at noon on Tuesday, to be presented to the Duke and Dutchess of Montpensier and the Prince and Princess of Joinville, in their private apartments. The Marquis attended accordingly, and was presented.

Several of the Paris papers circulated a report that the Prince de Ligne the Belgian Minister, and all the members of ,the Legation, were also abl sent from the ceremony. One journal affirms that the Prince de Lig-ne was preient. The Semitic, a Sunday paper, asserts that King Leopold, far from consenting to act as mediator between the French and English Governments, does not dissemble his own strong disapprobation of the Montpensier marriage. A few days ago, at St. Cloud, and in his father-in- law's very drawingroom, ho maintained before several political men that the marriage was manifestly contrary to the, spirit and text of the treaty of Utrecht. After detailing his arguments, the Setnaitie says- " We record Leopold's opinion and conversation, for the authenticity of whirl} -can vouch,. solely because it reveals all the disagreement the Duke de Mont- pensier's marriage has produced between the King of the Belgians and the King of the French. This disagreement, which transiently deprives the Royal Family of an agent who has often proved useful in their communications with foreign powers, may be of some importance. It shows,„at least, how little family alli- ances can be depended upon. King Leopold bad for fifteen years been wholly devoted to his wife's family; the failure of a marriage for one of his nephews, and the disappointment it has caused, have sufficed to make disaffection and bitter- ness succeed to kind feelings, and to make him view with regret the good luck that has befallen his brother-in-law."

Other journals, the Sick and the Epoque, insist that King Leopold only seeks to maintain an impartial position. The Epoque says- " Being allied nearly in the same degree to the Royat Families of England and France, he must be equally rejoiced at the success of either, and be equally cha- grined at the occurrence of any trifling difference calculated to impair their mu,. teal good feeling. Extraordinary and indecorous endeavours were made to pre- vent the King of the'Belgians from visiting the Royal Family of France. He felt bound by his relationship, and his good sense, to resist those suggestions; but, after his condescension for Paris came his condescension for London. After show- ing himself impartial on the one side, he wished to show himself impartial on the other; and be left St. Cloud without awaiting the arrival of the Duke de Mont- pensier, excusing himself on the approaching opening of the Belgian Chambers. Nevertheless, we have reason to know that previous to his departure the King of the Belgians wrote a letter to the Duke de Montpensier' in which he assured him that he would soon pay him a visit. There is no part of his Majesty's conduct that is not dictated by the strictest propriety; and, far from refusing his friendly intervention, the King of the. Belgians was, on the contrary, desirous to reserve to himself the right and power of interfering by acting as he did, and avoiding to evince any preference for either of the two families, who must be equally dear to him."

Discontent is expressed by some of the journals at-the amount of "extraor- dinary credits" to the Foreign department. These now amount to 1,900,000 francs.

In the night of the 2d instant, seventy Spanish refugees passed through Narbonne on their way to the Spanish frontier, taking the by-waye. On being informed of this, the gendarmes pursued them, and captured seventeen. Among them are a Lieutenant-Colonel, a Commandant, and several inferior officers. Forty-seven other refugees, who had assembled at Passe with the same intent, have also been arrest:ed, and conducted to Perpignan. As they passed through the town, they shouted " Viva Charles the Sixth!"

Considerable reinforcements are sent to Africa.

Le Messager announces the arrival at Marseilles of fifty-four vessels, with 184,000 hectolitres of wheat from the Black Sea, Turkey, Egypt, and Italy. Among these meets there were only ten French, and they have come from the ports of Italy.

The waters of the Loire have receded, and the extent of the damage done to the Orleans and Bordeaux Railway has been fully ascertained. It is not nearly so great as was expected. The railway will be reopened in the course of next week.

SPAIN.—A cabal is bruited to have been detected in the Spanish Court. It is stated. by the Espectador of the 3d instant, that the anticipated Mi- nisterial crisis is to result in the resignation of Seiler Mon and Senor Pidal. The former has got into disfavour by resenting a alight put upon 'Ma by the Queen in refusing to accept his hospitality after a recent review. Queen Christina is reported to have complained to her daughter of a

oenspiracy against her. " It appears," says the Espectador, " that some nights back, her Majesty was told that it was sought to assassinate a high

personage; and it is even said that, among others who figured in this con- spiracy, were Generals Serrano, Cordova, Concha, Narvaez, and Seiler Salamanca; that General Pezuela was instantly called, in order that he might put them under arrest; that the General refused to do so unless he received the order from the Minister of War; that the Council of Ministers was assembled, but that no resolution was come to." Ti.e correspondent of the Times evidently does not believe in the tale of an assassination, but speaks of the conspiracy as one to send the Queen-mother out of the country. This writer also assigns a conspicuous place in the squabbles to 11. Bresson, in the character of " head pacificator."

Amongst other gossip, it is stated that " General Narvaez, as soon as he heard of the complaints made by Maria Christina to her daughter, went straight to Sanz, the Minister of War, and told him that if the slightest step were taken to annoy him, he would do—Heaven alone knows what. He said at the same time, that he, Sans, was the only one of the Cabinet he had the slightest esteem for, and that his colleagues were—not better than they should be."

BELGIUM—King Leopold opened the session of the Chambers on Tues- day. His speech painted the state of the country in the most favourable colours: friendly relations maintained with foreign powers; the kingdom tranquil; income and expenditure balanced without new taxes; the railway system flourishing, and ripe for final organization; the principal branches of trade prosperous; the bad potato crop of 1845 succeeded this year by one that is satisfactory. The high price of provisions, however, and the failure of the rye crop, would demand serious attention. A crisis in the linen manufacture would also need immediate measures of relief. Among various bills to be introduced, would be one for adding two to the members of the Chambers.

HOLLAND.—Cnrions debates have lately taken place in the Assembly of the States-General on the subject of the relations with Great Britain, especially in regard to Borneo. The Minister maintained that the treaty of 1824 excluded England from making settlements on the island of Borneo; and he said that notes on the matter were still passing between the two Governments. M. Damn spoke in a deprecatory tone of " contests be- tween two countries of unequal forces," and of his confidence in English good faith.

ITALY.—Affairs in Borne are assuming a strange aspect of free activity. The first number of an English weekly newspaper, called the Roman Ad- vertiser, had appeared, and a list is given of five other new papers on the eve of publication. One, La Giurisprudenza, is intended to report cri- minal trials, which have hitherto been conducted in secret.

The embarrassed state of the public finances is one of the difficulties which beset the career of the new Pontiff. But he addresses himself with vigour to the task; and, finding that the evil cannot be met by the abolition of sinecures and reductions in his own household, he has broached the project of an income-tax. At the same time, the taxes on salt and on corn ground at the mill (most oppressive to the peasantry) are to be abol- ished.

Fanny Elsslor has been at the Vatican. She was presented to the Pope by Colonel Pry ffer, of the Swiss Guard; and Pius blandly said, that "talent in every department of human excellence was ever welcome to his do- minions. A private letter, written at Milan on the 2d instant, reports dangerous floods in Northern Italy-

" We have bad incessant rain for some time, and the country in consequence is inundated. At Pavia, about twenty miles from this, there are, it is said, 3,000 persons left houseless; and instead of horses and carriages, people are obliged to use boats. Bridges and houses have been carried away in all directions. The two principal rivers in Italy, the Po and the Ticino, are now united, and threaten destruction to several towns."

TURKEY.—A correspondent of the Morning Herald, writing at Constan- ainople on the 20th October, reports the receipt of a strange sort, of de- spatch from Lord Palmerston-

" Lord Palmerston has sent a note to the Porte, in which he demands the aboli- tion of slavery in the Ottoman empie. You will remember, that when Lord Pon- sonby was Ambassador at Constantinople a similar measure was proposed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs; but his Lordship's despatch in answer induced Lord Palmerston to abandon the project. In the present note, the question is ably ar- gued, but with more of sophistry than sound reasoning, and with a sturdy disre- gard for the feelings of those to whom it is addressed, which we must certainly pronounce to be imprudent. It is argued, that there is nothing in Mahomedan 4aw which objects to such a proceeding: in proof of which, his Lordship cites trea- ties which have been made between the British Government and the Mussulman chiefs of Arab tribes for the suppression of slavery. Who are these Mussnlman chiefs, or princes' as they are styled in the note? The leaders of wandering marauders, who for a few pieces of gold would cut the throat of the Sheik of Mecca if they could do so with impunity. And as to the arguments on the minds of justice and humanity, we think we can show that they are equally ,htile. The entire domestic system in Turkey isifounded upon what we must call slavery, for want of a better word. The Sultan's mother was a slave, and so was his wife. The Mahomedan law emphatically forbids his Majesty to marry any

other than a slave So independent is the wife in Turkey, that on the slightest complaint against her husband, she can at once obtain a separation. It is on account of this law, and thegeneral capriciousness of the sex in the East as well as in the West, that the Turk prefers marrying a Georgian or Circassian slave, who looks up to him as her sole stay and protector, to taking as a partner one of his own countrywomen, encumbered with meddling relations and officious friends. It must also be remembered, that the instant a slave marries she be- conies free. No one born of Mahommedan parents can be a slave, or even act in the capacity of a servant. It is in consequence of the latter regulation that Negro slaves are imported from Tunis, Egypt, and Tripoli, who are employed to do the menial offices of the household. No slave becomes literally the property of his owner, nor can the latter beat or ill-use him. On a slave complaining of ill- treatment, the cadi of the district is bound to find him another and a kinder master. No ChM in Turkey is watched over with more paternal care by the law than that of the slave. His owner is obliged to clothe, lodge, feed, and pay him lin a proper manner, and after a seven-years servitude he is entitled to his -freedom. This, then, is not slavery, but an apprenticeship; a gentler and happier bondage than that known in many a factory in England. There are at this moment many instances of Negro slaves rising to some of the highest offices in the state. Ibrahim Paoha, Governor of the Dardanelles, was a Negro slave; and the present Pacha of Varna was another. As far as White male slaves are concerned, we shall only mention the fact that Kosrew Pacha, the Grand Seraskier, was slave to Hussein Pasha; and that Belli Pacha, the Sultan's brother-in-law, who was lately Lord High Admiral, and is now Governor of Trebizoud, was slave to Kosrew. "It is impossible to describe the sensation which Lord Palmerston's note haa produced, not only at the Porte, but also, we are assured, in a higher quarter. It' is a proceeding which strikes at one of the vital principles of the social system of the Tasks."

UNITED STATES AND MEXICO.—Advices have been brought by sailing- packet from New York to the 22d of October. No later intelligence had been received from Monterey; but it was believed that the loss of life at the siege had been greater than was at first reported. As many as 610 Americans and 1,000 Mexicans are said to have been killed and wounded. Reinforcements were about to be despatched to the assistance of General Taylor.

Accounts from Matamoras state, that on the 27th of September there were no fewer than 700 Americans, about three-fourths volunteers, sick of dysentery, accompanied with intestinal ulceration and typhoid fever. The average number of deaths was five a day. Canales, with a troop of •Mexi- can Rancheros, was reported to be cutting off stragglers on the route be- tween Matamoras and Camargo.

From Santa Fe despatches to the 1st, and general accounts to the 9th of September, had been received. The former announce that General Kear- ney was organizing his military force, and making arrangements for the provisional government of the department. The St. Louis journals men Lion that a force of 5,000 Mexicans was in full march upon General Kear nay's division. The chief incident in Mexico itself is the appearance of Santa Anna in the capital, and his assumption of the command of the Mexican army. In a published letter, dated the 14th September, he sets forth his views. He alludes, in turgid phraseology, to the " terrible contest with a perfidious and daring enemy "; to the rising of a " treacherous faction " at home, " which, in calling up a form of government detested by the whole nation, provokes a preferable submission to foreign dominion." "I see," he says, " at last, that after much vacillation, the nation is resolved to establish her right to act for herself, and to arrange such a form of government as best suits her wishes." But he will not take the Presidency- " Your Excellency will at once perceive how great an error I should commit in assuming the supreme magistracy, when my duty calls me to the field to fight against the enemies of the Republic. I should disgrace myself, if when called to the point of danger, I should spring to that of power. Neither my loyalty nor my honour requires the abandonment of interests so dear to me. The single mo- tive of my heart is to offer to my compatriots the sacrifice of that blood which

i yet runs in my veins. I wish them to know that I consecrate myself entirely to their service, as a soldier ought to do; and am only desirous to be permitted to point out the course by which Mexico may attain the rank to which her des- times call her.

" In marching against the enemy, and declining to accept of power, I give a proof of the sincerity of my sentiments; leaving the nation her own mistress to dispose of herself as she sees fit. The elections for members of Congress, to form the constitution which the people wish to adopt, are proceeding. The Congress will soon convene; and while I shall be engaged in the conflict, in armed defence of her independence, the nation will place such safeguards around her liberties as may best suit herself. If I should permit myself for a single moment to take the reins of government, the sincerity of my promises would be rendered questionable, and no confidence could be placed in them."

The people are represented as unanimous in their determination to res* the United States.

There was nothing very striking in the American home news. The agitation for the next Presidential contest had commenced; and the Whigs of Tennessee had named as their candidate Mr. J. M'Lean.

The effect of the Caledonia's advices from this country had been to raise the price of flour from 50 to 75 cents per barreL Winter was approaching. Snow had fallen both at Utica and Buffalo; and at Philadelphia ice a fourth of an inch thick had been formed.