The Emperor of the French opened the Chambers in person
on Thursday, in a speech strangely unlike his usual self. It is not frank, and it is apologetic. He accounts to his people for the rise of Prussia by quoting his uncle, who said at St. Helena that Fate had ordained the agglomeration of great nations, and boasts that ha " arrested the conqueror at the gates of Vienna," the greatness of Austria " being indispensable to the equilibrium " of Europe. He says the invasion of Mexico was an " elevated idea," which failed from "an untoward concurrence of circumstances." He " spontaneously determined on the recall of the Army Corps," having foreseen, we must presume, Mr. Seward's despatches. At Rome the Papacy is maintaining itself by its own power, but if " democratic conspiracies should audaciously seek to threaten the temporal power of the Holy See, Europe, I do not doubt, would not permit the accomplishment of an event which would throw such great trouble on the Catholic world." All relations with foreign powers are satisfactory, but " the influence of a nation depends upon the number of men it is able to put under arms," and he is convinced that the plan for the reorganization of the Army, " which possesses all the importance of an institution of the country, will be accepted with patriotism." " Assured of the present, con- fident of the future," the Emperor thinks the time has come for more liberal measures, but does not hint what they are, contenting himself with the remark, which may or may not be a pregnant one, —" our task is to form the public manners to the model of more liberal institutions."
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