24 MAY 1851, Page 1

The revision of the Constitution is the battle-field to which

the parties or factions that divide France now confine their strug- gles. Every sitting of the Assembly opens with the presentation of a mass of petitions for revision. The Legitimists call for a re- vision that may pave the way to the restoration of the traditional Monarchy ; the Orleanists aim at a revision which shall leave the electoral law of May untouched, .wishing to gain credit with-the nation for being friendly to a revision and yet avert any practical change; the Bonapartists seek to prepare for the

by the restoration of universal suffrage, in the hope that their candidate's term of office may thus be renewed by as large a major- ity as that which originally elected him. The results of these tortuous and complicated intrigues remain for -fora future chapter./ The Frankfort Diet has resumed its Official:functions. From 1815 to 1848 this body was found to be a mere nullity. The little that was done in the way of a general administration of Germin affairs was determined upon at Vienna or Berlin. • The ineapacity of the Diet was the consequence of its construction : the two great powers aimed at making it subservient to their own aggrandize- ment; the minor powers were able to obstruct this policy, but not to give effect to any policy of their own, even if they are to receive credit for having one. The same causes that, made the Diet a mere elusory shadow of a government for thirty-three years will keep, it so still.

Conferences are in progress on the confines of Rtaimia and Ger-

which may hayt important consequences for the . iii r- national arrangements of Europe.- The Czar is givitig"alidienee;to his great vassals Prussia and Austria. The King of Prussia, had an interview with his suzerain at Warsaw on the 18th instant, and the Emperor of Austria was to be admitted to the same favour at Cracow. These interviews augur little good for the liberties.of Germans, Sclavonians, Magyars, and Italians. But the "divided councils " also augur as little good for the dignity and -inde- pendence of the Prussian and Austrian crowns, as the "divided councils " held by Richard the Third did for the safety of Hastings and Stanley. The Czar Consults apart with the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria : the policy of Russia is to keep these powers in a state of mutual jealousy, that may enable it to play off one against the other. Two arrangements in the international relations of Europe are pretty sure to be discussed if not settled at these Polish conferences. The first relates to the affairs of Denmark, which has become little better than an outpost of Russia. The second relates to the af- fairs of Greece. It is now certain that King Otho will before long abdicate the throne of that kingdom : his brother declines to go over to the Greek Church, and is consequently ineligible as hii'Sne- cessor ; the next candidate on the list is the Duke of Mecklen-- burg-Strelitz, whose intimate affinity to the Russian Autocrat ren- ders his success scarcely problematical. With the ohange of dynasty in Greece it is understood that a question in which this country, has a direct interest is also to 139 !nixed np—the futnre disposal of the Ionian Islands,

' The conferencealit Waniaw and Craoow are also watched with uneasiness from Constantinople. The delicate negotiations respect- ing the disposal of the Hungarian refugees at Kutayah have

added tc the disquiet with _which the 3erte rT-7`1sjiie4.7,1/erifig of ittigslot and Austria with its insurgent or disaffected subjects on the respective frontieri of these powers. And recent events in Egypt are understood to have given a fresh stimulus to ' a project. ich has been oftener than once, though always vaguely, spoken of—the erection of the Isthmus into a neutral territory, under the common protectorate of the European powers, as the great high- way to the East.

When viewed in connexion with these movements and rumours, considerable interest attaches to the publication in a Brussels paper of what purports to be a note addressed by the Papal Secre- tary to the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The auther- ticity of the document has not been culled in question, althougg.t has now been upwards of a week before the public, and has been made the snhject of comment both by English and French journals. It is in substance a laboured argument, addressed to the Austrian Government, with a view to induce it to embrace active measures to' turn the Ereneh out of Rome, and take the Pope and the States of the Church Wader its immediate protection.