We have to report progress in the affairs of several
foreign countries; the incidents being new and important, though not demanding extended comment. Narvaez has signalized his return to power by a reconciliation of Queen Isabella and her husband. The journals of his party magnify the imposin,„0. effect of the ceremony, and describe the Royal couple as " radiant with satisfaction "; which would seem to falsify much of what has passed current before, only that it is impossible to tell on which side lies the balance of falsehood. In Switzerland, civil war approaches with rapid strides and inflamed countenance. The Federal Government and its ad- herents proceed Without delay in preparing to enforce the decree of the Diet for the dissolution of the Separate League; the Can- tons of the League are no less diligent ; and the Catholic citizens of the mixed Cantons avow their allegiance to the ettnie which they identify with their faith, in formidable numbers. Meanwhile, foreign intervention has not been, even already, quite withheld. Austria is moving large bodies of troops towards the Swiss frontier. The conduct of France towards Switzerland has been the subject of animated discussion in both those coun- tries and in our own capital. Last week it was known that a supply of arms and ammunition, sent by the French Government to the Government of the Canton of Friburg, had been intercept- ed by the citizens of Neufchatel: subsequent convoys have suc- ceeded in making good their passage. The Government at Paris having taken a decided position, it follows as a matter of course that they are attacked by the Opposition papers ; for hostility to Ministers rather than sympathy with the Swiss Federalists, may be regard regarded as the most stirring motive with the French Oppo- sition. The defence offered by the Ministerial journals is, that France has been in the habit of selling arms to the Governments of foreign countries with which she is at peace, and that therefore there was no reason to refuse an application from the Government of Friburg. The Opposition reply, that France is at peace with the Government of Switzerland, and yet she has been abetting subjects in resisting that Government. Although immediately concerning a small state, a transfer of sovereignty has taken place in Italy which is likely to have im- portant consequences. At the last settlement of the Italian states, it was arranged that the Bourbon Prince to whom Lucca was given should only hold that Dutchy during the life of the Ex-Empress Maria Louisa : on her death or abdication he was to succeed to the Dutchy, comprising the states of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla ; and the Dutchy of Lucca was then to revert to Tuscany, to be incorportred with that state. The Duke, worried by the embarrassments of his position between Austria his pro- tector and his beloved subjects calling for reform, has anticipated the period of his translation, so far as to yield up Lucca to Tus- cany, with which it is henceforward incorporated. This transfer will have an important influence on the progress of opinion in Italy, in more ways than one. In the first place, while the late Duke kept the sovereignty, his timidity and real sympathy with Absolutism made him a retainer of Austria, and his state was vir- tually reserved as a friendly inlet for Austria, to whom it secured a position in central Italy : now that Lucca is incorporated with Tuscany, that position is no longer available to Austria. Next, the advancement of the Lucchese towards liberal institu- tions is thus far confirmed ; which is in itself, merely pro tanto, a gain. But further, in being transferred from the rule of an Absolutist to that of a Liberal Government, the Lucchese will realize, at a stroke, many of the advantages derivable from poli- tical advancement : they will find a considerable change for the better in respect of personal ease and freedom from galling re- strictions on the conduct and the tongue; thus their convictions in favour of Liberal institutions will be strengthened by expe- rience, and their settled attachment will act as an instructive ex- ample to the rest of Italy—even unto Milan and Naples.
The last news from India instructs us that the Government which the British took so much pains to re'establish at Lahore cannot go alone. The Queen-Mother is accused of having en- tered into Anti-British conspiracies : at all events, she induced her son the boy Maharajah, to pass an indignity on his own Prime Minister, the friend and instrument of the British ; and the affront was regarded as not only too offensive to be pardoned, but as indicating a malignant spirit : the Ranee was therefore re- moved, under escort, to a place of honourable seclusion. The in- cident is only the latest addition to the long list of cases which illustrate the futility of keeping up these pageant Native Govern- ments as instruments of British rule.
