29 APRIL 1848, Page 5

_foreign anb (Tolonial.

Faswea.— On Sunday and Monday all Paris was busy, occupied with the elections for the National Assembly. In expectation of an enormous pressure to the polling-stations, Government had made ample provision for securing rapid and easy voting. Great numbers of very large rooms were hired, and a large staff of clerks was engaged to secure rapidity in whatever manipulations were necessary. Parties made great efforts to raise political heat and get favourite candidates chosen. Myriads of printed lists of these were fixed on the open spaces in Paris, and thrust into the hands of the electors, and every device used to secure votes.

These devices were rendered more easy by very lax official arrange- ments. Among other means, were the procuring of great numbers of tickets by the same person, so that he might give repeated votes. Pur- chasing of votes was so notorious that the Prefect of Police issued a notice quoting the 113th article of the Code inflicting heavy penalties on that crime. Members and sections of the Provisional Government are ac- cused of having used official influence to promote their ends. M. Marrast is said to have endeavoured to secure the votes of the 70,000 ouvriers on the public works. They were called on to meet and agree to uniform votes; but so great an outcry was raised in the press and the clubs that the purposed meeting was abandoned. The wages of the men, however, were raised, and they were exempted from work during the elections. Pub- lic indignation does not seem to have been excited by the obvious bribe. Lists were distributed by the officers of the troops, and other lists were pre- vented from circulating among them. Many of the officials who had charge of the ballot-boxes are said to have opened them without scruple in the Course of the voting.

On the other hand, the clubs were strenuous in the use of all their ma- chinery and influence. On Monday evening it became a general impres- sion that they had been beaten in the elections, and were planning in re- turn an attack on the mairies and polling-stations to get possession of the ballot-boxes. An attempt was made upon the mairie of the second arron- dissement, but was frustrated by National Guards.

De Lamartine and Armand Mars-sat together hastened to the Place Vendome, and with General Duvivier arranged precautionary measures. Numerous piquets of the National Guard surrounded, the mairies, the mi- nistries, and the principal public establishments, to assure their defence: seven hundred men surrounded the Mioistry of Finances. The battalions of the Ninth Legion of the Guard Moldle received orders to be ready to march, and notices were given to the Nationel Guard to be on the alert. At ten o'clock, the boxes which contained the votes were all sealed and placed in carriages, which were escorted by the Guard Mobile bearing torches, and brought to the several mairies.

On Tuesday morning, an order was issued by the Mayor of Paris regu- lating the formalities of computing the votes. 'Are examination was to take place on the 28th, at the Hotel de Vile. If two candidates obtained An equal numbetsaros, the elder in years should be proclaimed: if the full number of candidt_Ws fiu ateh department did not obtain 2,000 votes, supplementary elections were to be had in eight days after.

In the provinces there seems to have been more interest taken by the electors themselves, and an increased activity of the general fermentation which has lately there prevailed. We quote some examples.

At Mantes, (Seine et Oise,)M.Roux, the Sub-Commissary, raised such a politi- cal storm that he has been superseded. M. Roux published a list of candidates with this foot-note--" This bulletin must be folded and placed in the urn"; and he sent it among the electors by the bands of the gensdarmes. The citizens took umbrage at the implied command in the foot-note and at the use of the gens- dames as messengers, and hooted M. Roux when he went up to the poll. M. Roux drew a sword-stick, and defied the people as la canaille: they immediately surrounded him, and, notwithstanding the entreaties and resistance of the Mayor, bore him along to the railway station, forced him into a train, and compelled nim to leave their town. M. Roux got some cuirrassiers, and returned; but the people explained their grievances to the soldiers, gained them over to their side, and again packed M. Roux off in the train. This time they sent a negotiator to the Commissary of the department, and succeeded in getting the appointment of M. Roux revoked.

At Rouen, the Commissary called together all the schoolmasters of the neigh- bouring districts, and forced them to sign a collective engagement to vote in favour of the Government candidates.

At Neufchatel, the Mayor made two hundred recruits passing through the town vote for candidates of which he supplied the list.

At St. Aignan and Grand Couronne, persons carrying to the chief towns lists of candidates in opposition to the "real Democrats" were assailed by paid ruf- fians, and ill-treated.

At Maromme, a collision was near taking place in the streets between the two parties; but the Democrats, being-inferior in number, deemed it prudent to retire.

The Voraces arrested, at Lyons, all the carriers bearing lists of candidates that were not their own. They forcibly entered several printing offices, and de- stroyed all the electoral bulletins which did not contain the names of their friends.

At Muret, the Sub-Commissary (M. Barousse) threatened the inhabitants to transfer to another town the seat of the elections if they voted for M. Remusat; and, with a view to secure the return of the candidates of the Central Committee, be superseded all the members of the Charitable Board by real Republicans, and applied a portion of the poor-funds to defray the travelling expenses of the elec- tors of the labouring class.

At Limon', the Sub-Commissary (Citizen llomps) had written a menacing letter to the parish-priest, forbidding him to recommend to the suffrages of the electors candidates hostile to the Revolution. "Were I," he says," to attend to my duty, and obey the precise orders I have received, I should recur to rigorous measures towards you. I prefer giving you this simple notice, hoping that it will recall you to your duty."

The Paris journals of Thursday evening contain some indications of the result of the elections. The whole of the members of the Provisional Go- vernment are certainly returned. The Moderates are successful by large majorities, and have beaten the violent members even in some of the most Club-ridden districts. Lamartine is at the head of the poll in nearly every arrondissement and section, and Ledru-Rollin is in many no higher than the fortieth candidate. Generally speaking, it is estimated that Lamartine has obtained 95 per cent of the votes, Ledru-Rollin not above 35 per cent, Louis Blanc and Albert each about 1 vote in 40.

During the early days of last week, several evidences appeared that some self-constituted authorities of the nature of" Committees of Public Safety" existed in Paris; and that a secret police machinery had been organized to act independently, if not against the acknowledged Government. The Assemblere Nationak, a young paper which emulates La Presse in the courage of its conduct, published singular accounts. An aged gentleman was ar- rested on the Tuesday by persons who hurried him before a tribunal held in a vast edifice on the Quay de Rivoli, once in the occupation of the Dutchess of Orleans. The old gentleman was arraigned, as a " suspect," of reactionary tendencies, before a person who styled himself " the Citizen Chief of the Commune de Paris." Armed guards were stationed at the passages, who gave access only to those that repeated a password, and all the paraphernalia of an authorized tribunal were exhibited. The ac- cused was browbeaten by the chief, and at last liberated with a caution against reactionary conduct. It seems that this Citizen Chief is no other than M. Sobrier, who held joint headship of the Paris Police with M. Caussidiifre for a short time after the events of Fe- bruary. He has continued at the head of a body calling itself the " Montagnards," and consisting of a number of enthusiasts who were among the earliest and most strenuous of the fighters in the coliflict of February. The Montagnards dress in ferocious guise, hold doctrines of the extremest character, and avow the object of ejecting the Moderate party from the Provisional Government. In the afternoon of Tuesday last, on some pretext, they seized upon the Palais de Justice, closed the gates, placed a garrison in it, and even expelled from the Palace a body of National Guards under whose protection it had remained. In the agita- tion of that day this occurrence was not noticed, or was deemed a precau- tionary measure in support of the Government. On the following morn- ing, however, a Captain of the Third Legion of the National Guard waited on General Courtais, and told him that if the post were not replaced un- der the protection of the Guards by two o'clock that day, he would, at the head of forty resolute men of his company, proceed to retake it. The Ge- neral repaired immediately to the Provisional Government, and held coun- cil with them: after debate he was authorized to negociate with the oc- cupants of the post, but to use force in the last resort. At first the Mon- tagnards refused acquiescence, point-blank. The General told them that the consequences to them would be serious—that they would be driven out by force. "We will resist," they said. "You may, but every man of you will be put to the sword." Ultimately the Montagnards consented to surrender the post, and withdrew to the barrack of St. Victor. They left behind them two pieces of cannon which they had brought into the Pre- fecture, and which the Government would not allow them to carry off.

M. Ledru-Rollin has received a check from General Cavaignac in Al- geria. H. Couput lately landed there as Civil Commissary, and claimed unlimited powers over the military administration of that colony; though it has hitherto been administered by the War Department. He immediately commenced operations for securing favourable elections to the National Assembly. General Cavaignac acted with soldierlike promptitude. One account says that he straightway told AL Couput that he might do what be liked with the elections, but must not interfere with the military rule of the colony, on peril of being sent back to France. Another account says that the General and all his staff sent in conditional resignations of office if H. Couput were to be upheld in his aggressions. The latter account adds, that the majority of the Government at Paris 'ttpheld General Ca- vaignac ; that Ledru-Rollin tendered Ifs resignation, but withdrew it again on finding it was likely to be accepted; and that at last H. Couput was re- called from Algeria.

General Faucher had been appointed Military Governor of Paris, in place of General Bedeau, Commander of a division of "the Army of the Alps."

The Commerce states that the whole of the Infantry detachments of the Line now in Paris amount to 15,000 men. The artillery stationed at the Ecole Militaire has been ordered to Vincennes. The detached forts are to be garrisoned by the Garde Mobile.

A letter from Toulon, of the 17th instant, states that the Mediterranean squadron—consisting of the Friedland, Sonverain, and Ocean, three-deckers, the Inflexible, Jupiter, and Jena, liners, the Asmodee and Pana.nia, steam- frigates, and the steam-corvette Pluton—sailed on the 15th, under Vice- Admiral Baudin. The squadron is bound for the Italian coast. The Minos steamer, a gift to the Bey of Tunis by the late Government, ratified by the present, is about to sail for Tunis.

It is stated that M. Gamier-Pages has consented to recommend, as the terms on which Government shall take possession of the railways, the granting of 5 per cent stock for the shares at their value averaged on their prices during the last six months. The adoption of the plan is to be re- served for the consideration of the National Assembly.

The Moniteur contains a decree on the subject of the German bands. It premises that peace exists and ought to be consolidated between the states of the Germanic Confederation and the French Republic, and that these bands are an object of alarm and a subject of misunderstanding with those states; wherefore it decrees that all the assemblages of Germans on the Eastern frontier shall be dissolved. The Ministry of War is charged with the execution of the decree, which is signed by all the members of the Go- vernment.

Confidence is fast rising on the Bourse, and the prices of all stocks are advancing.

The Mint is coining one-centime pieces, from the dies of Dupre, the en- graver for the old first Republic.

Sranr.—The Madrid news is to the 19th. A serious difference between the Ambassador of Great Britain and the Spanish Ministers has occurred; and it is even stated that despatches have been sent to request Mr. Bul- wer's recall. The letter of Lord Palmerston, and the subsequent letter of Mr. Bulwer to the Spanish Minister Sotomayor, in the following corre- spondence, caused the rupture.

"To THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY LYTTON BULWER.

Foreign Office, March 16, 1848, " Sir—I have to recommend you to advise the Spanish Government to adopt 4 legal and constitutional system. The recent downfall of the King of the French and of his family, and the expulsion of his Ministers, ought to indicate to the Spanish Court and Government the danger to which they expose themselves in endeavouring to govern a country in a manner opposed to the sentiments and opi- nions of the nation; and the catastrophe which has just occurred in France is sufficient to show that even a numerous and well-disciplined army offers only an insufficient defence to the Crown, when the system followed by the Crown is not in harmony with the general system of the country.

"The Queen of Spain would act wisely in the present critical state of affairs, if she were to strengthen her Executive Government by widening the bases on which the Administration reposes, and in calling to her councils some of the men in whom the Liberal party places confidence.

"I have the honour to be, &c. PATATRESITOW."

"TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE DUKE DE SOTOMATOE.

"English Embassy in Spain, Madrid, April 7, 1848. " Sir—I enclose for your Excellency the copy of some remarks which Lord Palmerston has lately addressed to me; and I cannot but express to you all the desire which I feel that the Government of her Catholic Majesty should deem it fit to return without delay to the ordinary forms of the Government established in Spain, by convoking the Cones, and by giving them explanations calculated to efface the impressions occasioned, both in the kingdom and abroad, by the arrest and apparent intention to banish several citizens, (amongst whom are to be found some of the most distinguished members of the Cortes) who up to the present moment have neither been tried nor accused of any offence. "Your Excellency will, I am sure, permit me to remind you, that what espe- cially distinguished the cause of Queen Isabella from that of her royal competitor, was the promise of constitutional liberty inscribed on the banner of her Catholic MajestT. "it is certain that that circumstance powerfully contributed to obtain the sym- pathy and support of Great Britain in favour of her Majesty; and consequently your Excellency cannot be surprised at the sentiments which I express here, sup. peeing even that the general situation of Europe, and the universal tendency of public opinion, did not prove most clearly, that at present the firmest guarantees of a throne are to be found in the national liberty, and in the enlightened justice which are dispensed under its authority. "I avail myself of this occasion to renew to your Reeellency the assurance of My highest consideration. H. L. Buiaveca." "THE DUKE DE SOTOMAYort TO ME. BULWER.

"First Bureau of the Foreign Office, 10th April 1848.

" Sir—I yesterday received, after two days' delay, a note from your Excellency, dated the 7th instant, and enclosing a copy of a despatch of Lord Palmerston, dated the 16th ultimo, relative to the internal affairs of this country. That note was already known to the Government of her Majesty, because it had appeared in substance and by anticipation in an Opposition journal published at Madrid under the title of the Clamor Public° ; which, judging from this fact, has the advantage of being made acquainted with the diplomatic despatches which your Excellency addresses to the Spanish Government before they reach their destination. Setting aside the ulterior commentaries and the inductions which such a grave and sig- nificative circumstance might present to me, I shall content myself with telling you what my duty prescribes to me on the subject of the communications which you transmit to me. "At the date of the 16th of March last, when Lord Palmerston sent you his despatch, the Spanish Cortes were sitting; the press was completely free; and the Government of her Majesty had adopted a line of conduct fall of kindness and conciliation, which its enemies and its adversaries themselves were compelled to admit. What motive can therefore have induced the Minister of Foreign Affairs of her Britannic Majesty to make himself the interpreter of the feelings and the opinions of this country, and that in an unfitting tone when speaking of the Go- 'eminent of an independent nation; to recommend to its adoption legal and con- stitutional measures, as if such was not the conduct followed in Spain- to allow himself to advise it to modify the bases of the administration, and to Limit into the councils of the Crown men belonging to such or such a political opinion? "Certainly the Minister of her Britannic Majesty is not, in such a work, the best possible judge of the character and habits of Spain, whence order and institutions arise, since foreigners take no active part in the management of public affairs, and have to support no particular party. "The present Cabinet, which haa merited and which stM medta the entire confidence of the Queen and the Cortes, and which since its accession to power has governed conformably to the constitution and to the laws —this' Cabinet, say, cannot see without the most extreme surprise the extraordinary pretension of Lord Palmerston, which leads him to interfere in this manner with the internal affairs of Spain, and to support himself on inexact and equivocal data, the quali- fication and appreciation of which cannot in any case come within his province. "The Government would have much to say to completely justify its past and present conduct; but it does not consider itself celled on to do so unless at the wish of its Sovereign and the Cortes, and in no way at the instigation of a foreign influence, which by that alone would commit an offence against the dignity of the Government and the independence of the nation. All the legal parties in Spain unanimously reject such a humiliating pretension; and the Spanish Government, in now doing it, is undoubtedly the legitimate representative of the pliers' opinion of the country. What would Lord Palmerston, what would your Excel- lency yourself say,. if the Spanish Government were to interfere and puss an opi- nion on the administrative acts of the British Cabinet, and recommend a modifi- cation in the regime of the state; or if it were to advise it to adopt more effica- cious or more liberal measures to alleviate the frightful condition of Ireland? What would he say if the representative of her Catholic Majesty in London were to qualify, 80 harshly as your Excellency has done, the exceptional measures of repression which the English Government prepares against the aggression which threatens it in the midst of its own states? What would he say if the Spanish Government were to demand, in the name of humanity' more considera- tion and more justice on behalf of the unfortunate people of Asia? What, in fine, would he say if we were to remind him that the late events on the Continent gave a salutary lesson to all Governments, without excepting Great Britain; and that consequently the administration of the state should be given up to the illustrious Peel—to the skilful man, who, after having conciliated the general opinion of his country, has known how to merit the sympathies and the esteem of all the Governments of Europe? He would say—what the Spanish Govern- ment has a right now to say—that he does not recognize the right of any power to offer observations which he rejects as offensive to the dignity of a free and independent nation.

" Animated by sentiments suitable to Spanish dignity, and to every Govern- ment which respects itself, the Cabinet of her Catholic Majesty cannot avoid protestin& in the most energetic manner against the contents of the despatches of Lord Palmerston and of your Excellency; and, considering that it cannot retain them without being wanting in dignity, it returns them enclosed; and at the same time declares, that if your Excellency should at any other time, in your official communications on points of international rights, go beyond the bounds of your mission, and interfere in the particular and private affairs of the Spanish Government, I shell consider myself under the painful necessity of returning your despatches without further remark. (Signed) Duke of SOTO/SATOH."

DENMARK.—The regular arrivals from Rendsberg are to the 21st. More skirmishes had taken place; and the wild ardour of the German stu- dents had each time been severely rebuked by the brave and steady Danes. The latter worked day and night to complete a fortified line across the whole peninsula from Eckenforde.

The marine contest had commenced by the seizure of more than a score of Prussian vessels in the Danish ports: great augmentations to the fleet had been ordered.

Late arrivals to the 23d bring news of an incomplete and very doubtful cast. It is said that on the 22d the Prussian army made a general attack on the Danish intreuched position, and forced it in two places—near Stuble, and near Schleswig; that Schleswig itself had been taken, and the

Danes forced across the Schlei at lefissunde, and driven in full retreat to the East.

SWEDEN.—Stockholm letters of the 14th state, that Sweden is going to interfere powerfully by sea and land for Denmark. The Ministry bee been changed, thus—Count G. A. de Sparre, Marshal of the kingdom, Justice; Baron Stiernald, Foreign Affairs; M. A. P. Sanstroem, Finances; M. de Hohenhausen, War; M. d'Ehrenstamm, Marine; M. Genlar, Public Worship and Public Instruction; M. Gyllengranat and M. Faxa, Ministers without portfolios. Reform societies were springing up in all the provinces.

Gaawarr.—The 20th instant was in Berlin much such a day as the 10th instant.in London. An agitation had been attempted on the subject of direct or indirect election of members for the Diet. A committee lately appointed at a public meeting had urged the Ministry to alter the present indirect for the direct system: receiving a refusal, they threatened a vast demonstration on Thursday—promised a procession of 40,000 to M. Carap- hausen with a petition to the King. The Magistracy and the Ministers issued separate proclamations, stating the illegality of great processions, and declaring that any such would be prevented, by force. The King himself wrote a letter to the Burgher Guard, giving them explicit instruc- tions on thie extent of their powers, and ordering them to use sword Res musket against all contumacious processions or assemblies. On the 20th, the Burgher Guard took military position on every point of vantage in Berlin, and remained under arms during the whole day. The discontented Committee assembled in the Alexander Platz, but hardly found an audience of 300 persons. After some speaking, it was resolved that force should not be opposed to the Government, and that further steps should be dis- cussed, at a future meeting. The question was evidently uninteresting to the working classes, and inadequate as the basis of an agitation. The meeting adjourned; the came was abandoned by its partisans; the Burgher Guard was disbanded; and the Government gained additional strength.

A Cabinet order, issued at Berlin on the 18th, announced the establish- ment of a new Ministry for Commerce, Trade, and Public Works, specially charged with the protection of the trading and working classes; also with the superintendence of the Post-office department. The King has iv, pointed the Privy Councillor Von Patow as head of this Ministry ad in terim ; but it is supposed that M. Wilde, Deputy for Breslau, a man of great commercial experience and popular with the working classes, will be definitively installed in the office.

The King remains at Potsdam with his guards; who are said to be broken-spirited by their forced submission to the populace, over whom they were .triumphing on the 19th of March.

From Posen the news is less threatening: the camp at Schroda has been broken up; General Willisen having made concessions which were accepted as sufficient. Mieroslawski still remains in the field, at the bead of a large body of men, holding out for terms not yet yielded. The Poles in miens are accused of frightful atrocities towards the German poPulation; but the Poles aver that the accounts are overcharged.

The bands of insurgents in Southern Germany, under Hecker ad Struve, were overtaken and routed on the heights of Schlechtenan, near Randern, on the 20th, By the troops of the German Diet. Struve is a prisoner; but Hecker—the more dangerous, because the more simple- minded and the more eloquent man—has escaped to Basle. General Von Gagern, who commanded the troops, was killed: he-was among the first of those whom the skilful riflemen of Hecker's corps brought down. It watt at first said he was shot treacherously during a parley; but the official account of the Diet Commissioner and Plenipotentiary—an eye-witness of the fight—does not support the assertion. A voluntary loan of seven millions of florins,for war expenses, was pro- posed by the Bavarian Government on the 17th.

The Hanoverian Government has completely put down the riots at ird- desheim, which for a moment threatened to raise a general insurreetionaty flame. Troops were promptly concentrated on the town, and drawn wholly round it; it was summoned to submission, and immediately yielded. A large number of the ringleaders were sent by railway to Hanover on the 20th, and order was quite restored.

Ausrms..—Vienna news of the 20th instant announces that Kolowrath has resigned the Presidency of the Ministry, and Count Taffe the Ministry of Finance. Their successors are not mentioned.

The chief features of the new Austrian constitution are indicated thus by the Times correspondent- ' ThaUpperHouee is to consist of about 200 members, one-fifth of them to be nominated by the Emperor. The heads of the princely houses are also to have a seat in this assembly; the remainder to be elected by the landed proprietors who pay 1,000 florins and upwards annually of taxes. The Lower House is to be on the broadest Democratic basis; every man is to have a vote, and to be eligible 88 representative. The number of members to be about 400." The election of the Lower House is to be indirect. The primary electors (Wahlmanner)'were to be chosen on the 26th, and the Deputies on the Nth instant.

Hungary is greatly excited by the occurrences in Italy. A violent op- position is made at Pesth against the employment of the Hungarian mili- tary beyond the Hungarian frontiers; and the Pesth Committee of Securk has requested the Ministry to recall the Hungarian military from Italy and Gallioia. The Archduke Stephen departed suddenly at midnight on the 14th instant for Vienna, to proceed to Mum; where serious disturbaneell have commenced.

The Poles ot Cracow are in high delight at remiving intelligence that the Emperor is inclined to permit the reorganization of Genial on a na- tional basis. The Austrian Poles and the Germans act iii harmonious con- trast with the Poles and Germans in Posen.

The Transylvanian Diet is summoned for the 29th of May. A German paper published at Pestle contains an "address to the Thra- cian Sclavonians," in which Servia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Bulgaria, are called upon to assert their independence, and form themselves into one state. Moldavia and Wallachia are said to be in a state of insurrection.

Irmsr.—The news from Lombardy continues to be indecisive. Pei- chiera was not taken on the 14th, as was stated by many accounts last week : it was summoned, unsuccessfully cannonaded for a few hours, and is now formally invested. The troops under the King of Sarclinie increase in numbers, and Charles Albert constantly advances hie lines on Verona. Free corps are approaching that city from the distrioti East and South-oust of it; and Venetian and Bolognese troops are said to be securing the whole country in that direction.

On the other hand, it is definitely announced that the Austrian Gene

roj Nugent crossed the Isonzo with 30,000 men; came before Palma Nova on the 18th instant; and is on his way to join Radetsky, and commence an offensive campaign. Count Hartig accompanies General Nugent.

Evidences of ill feeling towards Charles Albert are shown among the Milan populace: insulting placards appear on the walls notwithstand- ing the preventive vigilance of the authorities. It is stated that the King, offended at such manifestations, threatens I to retire to his own do- minions and take his army with him; but the Provisional Government sent him a letter of warm praises and of supplications, which induced him to relent. " At Milan," says a Florentine correspondent of the Jaunted des Debate, writing

the 18th instant, "the Republican party labours incessantly, and makes notable progress; its object is to induce all Italy to form itself into one single Italian Republic, comprising Naples, Rome, Tuscany, Venice, Milan and Genoa; its ultimate design only stops at the Alps, but it dares not yet avow As intentions concerning Piedmont. Such is the plan of the Republicans of Milan; but, for the present, they content themselves with acting directly on Lombardy, on Venice, an Modena, on Parma, and on the Legations. Even in Lombardy there is a great op lien to these tendencies; but during the last few days the arrival at Milan of Mazzini and his friends, who came from Paris, has given an impulse to Republican ideas, which the presence of M. Gioberti, who is expected every mo- ment, can alone counterbalance. King Charles Albert begins to be seriously alarmed at this movement. He has recommended the Milanese and the Venetians to assemble Deputies as soon as possible to settle the forms of government. But the Democratic leaders employ all means to postpone the period at which the country will decide that matter."

The Government of Milan has decreed important tariff reforms. The duties on general articles, which in the tariff of 1838, when the first in- road was made by the Austrian Government on their system of prohibi- tion, were fixed at 60 per cent, are reduced to 20 per cent: on cotton goods the reduction is almost equally extensive. The duty on refined sugar is lowered from 31. 4s. 44. to 1110,. per hundredweight, and on other descriptions from 21. 4s. 74. to I/. 6s. 8d. In the various descrip- tions of metals, iron, tin, lead, &c., the modifications are also liberal: the most striking feature, however, is the reduction of the export-duty on silk from '71,. 7s. 4d. to 31. 6s. 84.

The King of Naples has for the present, if not for ever, lost his Sioilian crown. The following bulletin appeared at Palermo on the 13th instant-

" The Parliament declares-1. Ferdinand Bourbon and his dynasty are for ever fallen from the throne of Sicily. 2. Sicily shall govern herself constitutionally, and call to the throne an Italian Prince, as soon as she shall have reformed her statute.

"Done and resolved at Palermo on the 13th April.

"The President of the Chamber of Commons, Marquis of TOREKARSA. The President of the Chamber of Peers, Duke of SERRADIFALCO. The President of the Kingdom, BUGGER° Swerrsto."

The town was illuminated the three nights following. The bronze statues of the house of Bourbon, except that of the good Charles the Se- cond, were thrown down by the people, and will be east into cannon by the Government.

The bombardment of Messina is continued with unmitigated violence: the Sicilians have nicknamed Ferdinand the " Re bombardatore"—the bombardier King.

The Neapolitan Ministry has been reinforced by several members of Ra- dical principlesD. -Francesco Ruggiero an advocate, has been named Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs; D. Paulo Imbriani, Minister of Public Instruction; Giovanni Bursotti, Coadjutor of Minister of Agriculture and Commerce; Conforti, Minister for the Interior.