lump riu4 FRANCE.—The Empress is now so far convalescent as

to permit of her being driven out in a carriage to the Bois de Boulogne.

Political interest is reviving in France ; and the spirit of independence imputed to the Legislative Body seems actually to have taken practical shape. A proposition to vote a sum to the Princess de la Moskwa, the widow of Marshal Ney, under the pretext of indemnifying her for the pension due from 1815 to 1831, [but really intended to pay the debts of the Prince her son,] met with such disapproval that the Princess wrote to request that it might be withdrawn.

Then a bill has been submitted giving the Credit Mobilier and Credit Fancier power to lend money to any public bodies, such as communes and municipalities, whether they have any real property to offer as a security or not. The immediate occasion of the introduction of this bill was the refusal of a branch of the former establishment to lend money to a commune having no real property to offer as security. Of course it is foreseen by the commercial men that the bill will, in effect, make the State the national money-lender. But it is supposed the bill will pass notwithstanding.

The most serious enterprise of the Emperor, however, is a bill restoring capital punishment, either for attempts to subvert the existing form of government, or for attempts on the life of the Emperor or any of the Bo- naparte family. The bill is loosely drawn, in very comprehensive terms. The Legislative Body have betrayed considerable repugnance to the pass- ing of this measure; so much so that M. de Mesonau, an officer formerly convicted as a sharer in Louis Napoleon's expedition to Boulogne, pub- licly declared that he could not support the bill, as he owed his life to the mitigation of the punishment. The committee appointed to report on the measure are adverse to it.

In connexion with this subject, it is observed that the Police have con- veniently discovered a plot, of what kind is not stated ; but the journals speak of numerous arrests among the Legitimists in Paris, fit conse- quence of the discovery of documents at the house of M. Jeanne, the well-known Legitimist printseller of the Passage Choiseul. Several officers of an artillery regiment at 'Vincennes are said to be implicated. It is intimated, that if carried the capital punishment bill will not be a dead letter.

After a determined opposition at various stages to the civil pensions bill, it was finally passed by the Legislative Body on Monday, by 154 to 76. The minority on one division reached 100.

Some time ago, the French Government determined to erect commo- dious lodginghouses for the workmen of Paris, apparently after the British model. The causes assigned for this step are, that recent improvements have driven the poor from their old haunts, and have so increased rents as to amount to great oppression on the workmen. The Paris correspond- ent of the Times furnishes some information as to their present condition.

"It has been ascertained from returns furnished by the Paris Chamber of Commerce, that more than 40,000 males and 6000 females belonging to the working class reside in furnished lodgings—en garni ; the two-thirds permanently, the remaining portion only during the working season. The operatives en garni are divided into two classes ; of the former each occupies a separate room, the others a large room in common. Those of the second class are far more numerous than the others. The man who rents a separate room pays for it at the rate of from 12f. to 15f. a month ; and they are com- paratively in a comfortable condition. Others, much less so, rent closets for which they only pay from 6f. to 8f. a month ; and these are also more nu- merous than those who pay the higher rent. The first class of workmen are generally the best conducted and the most industrious, and they generally end by taking unfurnished lodgings, which they furnish themselves. The quarters where these last are chiefly to be found are near the Elysee, the Madeleine, St. Eustache, the Ministerial hotels, the Opera, the Bank, the Tuileries, Bourg l'Abbe, Bonne Nouvelle, the Ecole de Medicine, St. Sauveur, and the Manes. The workmen who pass the night by dozens or more in the same room or dormitory rent their beds by the month or by the night. They pay at the rate of 20 centimes or 4 sols at most per day, or 10o. at least. The number of beds, if beds they can be called, 131 those rooms, Is from four to six ; and the quarters where this class of lodginghouses most abound are those near the Luxembourg, the Jardin des Plantes, the FaithsRoyal, the Invalides, the Arts et Metiers, the Roquette, the Marche, the Hotel de Ville, the Rue Babylone, the Mont-de-Piete, St. Laurent, St. Diery, the Temple, the Louvre, the Douane, the Theatres, the Champs Elysees, the Sorbonne, St. Marcel, Pepineourt, and the islands of the Seine. As those

places approach nearer to the barriers they become more squalid and more unhealthy. Several families are found in that neighbourhood occupying the same dormitory, and generally the single workmen sleep two or three in the same bed. The bed is composed of a single mattress on loose planks, and the covering of the most scanty kind. There is no ventilation except what is procured by the air entering through a broken pane of glass." It is intended to build large edifices, composed of several stories, di- vided between the married and the unmarried. The plans must be ap- proved by the Minister of the Interior, who will also fix the amount of the rent. A company has been formed to carry out the scheme, and M. de Persig-ny signed a contract with them last Saturday. In connexion with these common lodginghouses, baths and washhouses will be built. By some this is looked upon as Socialism ; but, on the other hand, it is said that the workmen express apprehensions of some further attempt to control them by the introduction of " discipline " ; and they impute po- litical motives to the Imperial founder.

TURKEY.—It is now understood that the question of the Holy Places has been settled definitively ; and, according to the Paris .3foniteur, none of the arrangements made by the Marquis de Lavalette have been inter- fered with. The delegate of the Pope at Jerusalem will still hold the key of the principal gate of the Church of Bethlehem; a star displaced from the Grotto of the Nativity in 1847 will be replaced; and the Roman Catholics will have the right of celebrating their religion in the Church of the Grave of the Virgin. But, it is said, new complications have arisen. Prince Menschikoff, on the 5th current, sent in an ultimatum to the Divan, demanding for his Sovereign the protectorate of the Christian sub- jects of the Sultan, estimated at twelve millions ; and giving the Turks five days to deliberate. The ifimiteur intimates that France will consider this an European question, in which she "would be engaged with the same right as the other powers who signed the treaty of the 13th July 1841."

It does not appear that the intelligence of the cessation of warlike pre- parations in the Black Sea, received some time ago, was correct. They continue with increased activity. It is said that "great apprehensions of invasion exist in Moldavia, as it is known at Galatz that a contract for the construction of a wooden bridge over the Pruth, just above its con- fluence with the Danube, has been entered into."

Swrrznataisn.—Disturbances have been frequent of late in the Canton of Fribourg. At a recent election at Bulle, several persons were killed. The Federal Government has sent M. Drouey for the purpose "of coming to an understanding with the authorities and protecting constitu- tional rights." From a report presented to the Federal Council by M. Ochsenhein, it appears that the cantonal contingents, with few ex- ceptions, are well prepared to defend the country.

INDIA AND CHINA.—The fuller accounts from the East do not add any material facts to the announcements of the telegraph. No official despatch respecting the capture of the stronghold of Myah Toon has been zneeived from Sir John Cheape ; but a brief letter written by him is pub- lished. It appears that the force sent against Myah Toon consisted of 1500 troops under Sir John Cheape, armed boats under Captain Tarleton, and a body of " Karians " under Captain Fytelle. While the two latter watched the outlets from the Burmese position, Sir John Cheape cut a road through the jungle, and went straight at the enemy's position, cap- turing it after a fight of four hours. The character of the resistance may be estimated by the loss—rank and file, 18 killed and 84 wounded ; officers, 11 wounded. This heavy loss is imputed to the use of the two field-guns left behind when Captain Loch was killed. After all, Myah Toon escaped ; Captain Fytehe following him with his band of " %o- rigins." It was calculated that the Irrawaddy would be navigable for ships of war in six weeks from the 23d March, and that an immediate advance on Avis by the river would then take place. The Overland Bom- bay Times of the 14th April mentions, that "by the latest dates" the robbers were said to be hemmed in and at the mercy of the British; and that Myth Toon himself had been killed by a shell.

The intelligence received by last mail; that Ministers had determined to pass the Charter Act almost unaltered, before a fraction of the evidence re- quired on the subject had been taken, and that Lord Aberdeen was afraid to peas the bill for one year only, for fear of exciting or protracting agitation in India, has produced a somewhat different effect from what was expected. It was said that had the Duke of Wellington conceded, in 1830, the en- franchisement of Manchester and disfranchisement of Gatton and Old Sarum, the Reform discussions with their turbulent concomitants and consequents would have been averted : and had the Aberdeen Ministry granted the ex- ceedin' gly simple and safe reforms which all the ablest servants of the East India Company declare most desirable, the present agitation in India, such as it is, would have been silenced at once, and the people of Hindostan have been content with any concession, however small, which promised to advantage the country. They have at present not the most remote dream of sharing in the councils of the nation, or taking any part in the ad- ministration of government : they desire more and better roads, more atten- tion to the education of the people, a larger share for themselves in those subordinate appointments for which Wellington, Bentinck, Munro, Elphin- stone, Clerk, and all the illustrious men connected with India, have pro- nounced them qualified ; a modification of that cumbrous system of ad- ministration which takes five years to answer a letter and seventeen to com- mence a work after it has been resolved upon, an extinction of those mon- strous Boards which retard business at a charge of a quarter of a million annually, and the abolition of the three sinecure Councillorships which cost 22,0004 a year, while some of those who hold them rarely enter the Coun- cil-room, and are fit for nothing but mischief when there ; an improvement which all men admit to be indispensable (and no man more than Lord Camp- bell) in our present judicial system; and an extinction of the civil service monopoly, so far as those offices are concerned the duties of which may be better performed by men from home at one-third the charge : and in this catalogue is comprised the bulk of their present wants.—Bombay Times, April 14.

The Chinese rebellion, which broke out about two years ago in the province of Kwangsee, and was so formidable some nine months since as to alarm the British authorities at Hongkong and Canton, has now at- tained to more striking porportions. The insurgents have so increased in number, and become so daring by an almost uniform career of success, that they have swept over the Celestial Empire from Kwangsee to Nan- kin, possessing themselves of the whole length of the Yang-tae-kiang river, and successively defeating the Imperial troops sent against them. According to the latest accounts, this formidable insurrectionary army was advancing. with its left on W000hung and its right on Nankin, a dis- tance of 400 miles. From these two towns a combined advance on Pekin

was in contemplation. To meet this, the Emperor had ordered the Go- vernor-General of the two Slangs to attack the rebel army, with the Tartar levies of the North ; and it was admitted that on this army the last hopes of the Emperor rested. In his extremity he had appealed to the foreign consuls at Shanghai to cooperate with his troops for the pro- tection of Nankin. Letters from Hongkong, dated 28th March, state that on the 20th Nankin was expected to fall.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.—The adviess from Cape Town, brought by the overland mail, extend to the 22d March.

The war had ended ; the Gaikas, with their chiefs, Macomo, and others, had crossed the Kei ; and a treaty of peace had been dictated by General Cathcart. Sandilli, in his petition praying for peace, said he had "no more strength to fight the English " ; and that he had obeyed the Governor's " word " in crossing the Kei. Aceordingly, General Cathcart sent Mr. Brownlee to meet Sandilli in Umhala's country; they met on the 27th February, and the conditions upon which the General was willing to grant peace were then read. Sandilli was to give up one hundred guns in token of submission," in addition to the guns stolen by the Caffre Police, and to become responsible for the loyalty of the Gaika tribe. He and his were to remain in all things true and faithful in their allegiance to the Queen, and to obey the commands of Colonel Maclean, the Chief Commissioner. The minor chiefs were to deliver up their arms in token of submission ; and allotments of land were to be made to them by Sandilli. The Gaikas could not be allowed to return to the Amato/as; but are assigned "the country between the Kei and the great North road leading to the Windvogelberg, bounded on the North by the Thomas river and on the South by the country of the chief Um- hale " ; to be held on the above-mentioned conditional Sandilli becoming responsible for the security of the great high-road. The chiefs consulted together after the reading of these terms. While they thanked the Governor for his message, they complained that the ter- ritory accorded to them was too small ; that it was partly the property of Kreili, 1Jmhala, and Toise ; and they prayed that the Amatolas might be restored to them, otherwise they would have "to go to war with each other for grass." Sandilli said that he would send in one hundred guns, but that the chiefs would prefer to keep their arms "to fight for the Queen of the English." Nevertheless, they accepted the terms offered; and on the 9th March General Cathcart met the principal chiefs at the Yellow Woods, about a hundred and fifty miles from King William's Town. Having addressed to them partly reproaches for the past and partly glow- ing hopes for the future, he said that if the chiefs wished to say anything he would hear them. The following colloquy then took place. Macomo replied—"We have but one word to say, and to thank. We thank the Governor for taking us out of the bush and for giving us a place to live in. When a chief errs, he is punished and forgiven. This young man," pointing to Sandilli, "erred, and has been punished, and is now forgiven. But the country you have given him is too small. Toise, who formerly occu- pied it, had but a small tribe : Sandilli has a large one, which will not find room there."

Governor—:" These are things you should have thought of before you went to war. I know that Toisolias but a small tribe, and that it never half filled the country allotted him." .

Macomo—" We look to you to speak for us, and to represent our case to the Queen. We are her subjects. When settled in the country allotted us, Kreili, Umhala, and Toise will affect to be satisfied, but will regard us as in- truders, and this will cause constant hearthurnings between us." Governor—" I will send your words to the Queen but I will give you no hope of ever again occupying the Amatolas ; as when you were there you were constantly plotting mischief, and cannot be trusted there again." The chiefs then cordially greeted Colonel Maclean, whom the Governor called his "mouth," and Mr. Brownlee, whom he had placed there to "listen."

It was considered in the frontier provinces that the Gaikas had been rather hardly dealt with ; that for a long time the peace must of necessity be an armed peace, and that the result of the Gaikas' going to war with each other for grass would be fresh incursions for grass and cattle also UPON the frontier. The murmuring, apparently among the trader class, had called forth a "general order," intimating that certain persons had been "so base as to attempt to obstruct the restoration of peace by their evil designs, false rumours, and other nefarious means, with a view to prolong their own profitable dealings, which the restoration of peace may probably limit in extent" ; that "such conduct amounts to high treason" ; and that all offenders would be tried by court-martial and liable to a sen- tence of imprisonment for life with hard labour. Some of the traders of King William's Town addressed the Governor, praying to be allowed to disprove the calumny as against them. This drew forth a curt reply, stating that General Cathcart had no reason to doubt their loyalty, and that if they were loyal the order had no reference to them.

Ustrren STATES.—The Humboldt arrived at Southampton on Wednes- day, bringing advices from New York to the 7th May.

ihe Federal Government had superseded Mr. Lane, the Governor of New Mexico, who took possession of the Media Valley, situate within the Mexico frontier ; and Judge Conkling, the American Minister at Mexico, had assured the Government of Santa Anna that Lane's act would not be recognized. It is stated that the negotiations respecting Central America will be conducted in London and Washington ; and that the new Minister to Central America, Mr. Borland, will have strict instructions, and narrow discretionary powers.

It appears that the Roman Catholic priests in the West have been for some time manifesting those peculiar tendencies of the Church of Rome in all countries which aim at the acquisition of dominion over the educa- tion of the young. Lately the Catholic Bishop of Cincinati and his priests used all their influence to carry the election of their own candi- dates, favourable to the maintenance of purely Catholic schools by pub- lic law and taxation. They were defeated. Again they attempted to up- set the system of common schools ; and again they met with defeat. This was in accordance with one of the cardinal principles of American govern- ment in all its branches, that no connexion shall exist between any church and any political authority whatever. In like manner, the letter and the spirit of American statutes on the subject of common school education drift in one direction. It is left with the elected officers of every school district to choose their teachers, and those teachers are at liberty to intro- duce what religious education they please.

A terrible accident had befallen an express-train on the New York and Bos- ton Railroad. The train was proceeding from New York ; at Norwalle.p. Connecticut,there is a drawbridge ever the Norwalk river; it stolen "up' and the train, consisting of three cars, dashed off the bridge into the river. Fifty-nine persons were known to have been drowned ; but the estimate is necessarily incomplete. Among the passengers were some medical gentlemen returning home from a professional convention held at New York, and a newly-married couple out to spend the honeymoon. It is stated that the keeper of the drawbridge had just raised it to allow a steamer to pass; and that the express came on so fast that he had not time to lower the bridge.

WEST Iwinns.—The Orinoco arrived at Southampton on Wednesday, with the West India and Pacific mails. The latest date was St. Thomas, 3d May. The Orinoco did not proceed further than St. Thomas ; where she remained a fortnight. While there, some of the crew caught the yel- low fever ; and out of fourteen cases which broke out on the voyage home, two have terminated fatally. The Orinoco was detained but a abort time in quarantine at Southampton.

The old quarrel between the Jamaica Assembly and the Council, about retrenchment of public salaries, continues with unabated force. A novel incident had occurred. Mr. Stevenson, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court, was committed to prison for defaming the Assembly in the public papers ; calling them violators of public faith, because they attempt to reduce salaries. By a strange anomaly, the people in the streets sympa- thized with the Judge in this attack on their elected representatives. He was speedily discharged from custody without making an apology to the Assembly.