forrigit aull cranial.

FaArres.—The steps initiated after the return of Louis Napoleon from the South, for the purpose of obtaining a formal establishment of the Empire, have been this week completed. It is known that the only share accorded to the Legislative Corps in this transaction was the count- ing of the votes. Accordingly, they met on Thursday week, to perform that clerkly function ; and they concluded their labours on Wednesday last. But on Tuesday the final returns, except a few from Algiers, were given in by the Bureaux, and the reports were voted. M. Billault, the President, read a letter conveying the resignation of the Marquis de Cal- viere ; M. de Kerdrel had previously resigned. During the sitting, M. Bouhier de rEeluse, a Legitimist of some note, presented a protest from an elector of the Moselle against the electoral proceedings in that depart- ment. But he did this in a speech, delivered with great energy, in which he protested against all the operations throughout the election, on the double ground that the electors were not independent, and that the whole thing was illegal ; for, he exclaimed, "Le Roi de France existe encore." An uproar arose at these words, comparable only to the noisy displays of the late Legislative Assembly; but M. Billault calmed the excited Bona- partists, and declared with gravity, that individual protests were entitled to great indulgence. At the end of the sitting, an old gentleman named Mercier went to the other extreme ; he demanded that power should be given to the Emperor to reassume the functions of a Dictator in emergen- cies. M. Mercier was shouted down ; and having; ascertained the votes and recorded the numbers, the Assembly dispersed.

They met on Wednesday evening ; then the Senate joined them and both bodies waited on Louis Napoleon at St. Cloud. They repelled to him that he was elected Emperor of the French by a majority of 7,864,189 " Ayes " against 253,145 " Noes " ; and shouts of " Vive rEmpereur !" immediately broke from the courtly throng. In reply, Louis Napoleon delivered the following speech.

"Gentlemen—The new reign which you this day inaugurate derives its origin, not as so many others recorded in history have done, from violence, from conquest, or from fraud. It is, as you have just declared, the legal result of the will of an entire people, who consolidate in calm that which they had founded in the midst of agitation. "I am penetrated with gratitude to the nation which, three times in four years, has sustained me by its suffrages, and each time has only. augmented its majority. to increase my power. But the more that power increases in extent and in vital force, the more does it need enlightened men, such as• those who every day surround me—independent man, such as those whom I address—to guide me by their counsel, to bring back my authority within just limits, if it could ever quit them.

"From this day forward I take, with the crown, the name of 'Napoleon M.,' because it is that which the logic of the people has bestowed upon me in their acclamations; because the Senate has legally proposed it; and be- muse the whole nation has ratified it.

"Is it then to be inferred, that in accepting this title I fall into the error imputed to the Prince who, returning from exile, declared null and void all that had been done in his absence ? Far from me be such a wild mistake. Not only do I recognize the Governments which have preceded me, but I i

.inherit n some manner all that they have accomplished of good and evil; for Governments which succeed one to another are, notwithstanding different origin liable for their predecessors. But the more completely that I accept all that for fifty years history transmits to us with her inflexible authority, the less is it permitted to me to pass in silence over the glorious reign of the head of my family, and the regular though ephemeral title of his son, whom the two Chambers 'Proclaimed iii the last-burst of *anguished patriotism.

"Thus, then, the title of Napoleon III. is not one of those dynastic and superannuated pretensions which seem to be an insult to good sense and to truth. It is the homage due to a Government which was legitimate, and to which we owe the brightest pages of our modern history. My reign does not date from 1815—it dates from this very tnoment, when you have an- nounced to me the suffrages of the nation.

"Receive, then, my thanks, Messieurs lea Deputes, for the eclat that you have given to the manifestation of the national will by rendering it more evident by your supervision, more imposing by your declaration.

"I thank you also, Messieurs lea Senatenrs, for having been the first to address congratulations to me, as you were the first to give expression to the popular wish. "Aid me, then, all of you, to set firm in this land, upset by so many revolutions, a stable government, which shall have for its bases religion, _probity, and love for the suffering classes. " Receive here my oath, that no sacrifice shall be wanting on my part to insure the 'prosperity of my country ; and that, whilst I maintain_peace, will yield in nothing which may concern the honour or the dignity of France:.

Next morning, December the 2d, the anniversary of the coup d'etat, the Prefect of the Seine, attended by the Municipality of Paris, pro- claimed the Empire at the Hold de Ville, and was greeted with the usual shouts. At one o'clock, the Emperor, "Napoleon the Third," attended by a great body of mounted general officers, who waited for him outside the Are de Triomphe, and a strong force of cavalry, made what is called his " triumphal entry." into Paris, received the homage of the Grand Corps de rEtat, and slept at the Tuileries! The Moniteur published eight decrees,—severally proclaiming Louis Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of the French, under the title ofNapo.. leon III. • elevating St. Arnaud, Magnan' and de Castellane, to the rank of Marshals of France ; regulating the form for the promulgation of laws, judgments, and proceedings in courts of justice declaring that in future the Cour d'Appel shall be called " Cour Imperial"; granting a pardon to all persons found guilty of offences of the press, and declaring all past " avertissements " null; pardoning members of the National Guard convicted by the Councils of Discipline ; reestablishing the second section of the general staff of the army; regulating the retirement of ge- neral officers, and declaring that general officers nominated senators can be employed though beyond the legal age. A day's pay is granted to all the soldiers from subalterns downwards, and to the seamen. Beside this, two hundred and ninety convicts have been pardoned.

Deluded by the appearance of the protest of the Count de Chambord in the Moniteur, many Legitimists seem pretty openly to have circulated copies of the protest. Whereupon gendarmes have appeared and made domiciliary visits and searches in their houses. The noted Bishop of Lueon was among the number of these; but nothing criminatory has been found.

• At length the Faye has obtained its highest aims, and henceforth its official title will be the Journal de r Empire.

BELCMJIL.—In the sitting of the 29th November, the Chamber of Re- presentatives unanimously passed a bill, presented by the Ministers, for effecting the conversion of the Five per Cent Debts of 1840, 1842, and 1848, into Four-and-a-half per Cents. The new stock will be guaranteed against conversion for a certain number of years.

PZUSSIA.—The Chambers were opened in the White Hall of the Palace at Berlin on the 29th November. The President of the Council delivered what stands instead of a speech from the Throne. This address is sin- gularly vague. The finances have been managed with economy, it says, The States of the Zollverein have not all agreed to the September treaty ; and it anticipates the approbation of the Chambers. Certain questions, respecting the constitution of the upper Chamber, and the organization of communes and circles, will be presented ; and certain others regarding new means of communication. Government has resolved not to be in- fluenced by party, not to interfere with legal liberty, nor permit the royal power to be weakened by division.

SWITZERLAND.—A decree has been issued by the State Council of the Canton of Ticino, suppressing the order of Capucin monks, and expelling all under sixty-five years of age.

ITALY.—The funeral obsequies of Gioberti were celebrated in the Church of Corpus Domini at Turin on the 23d November. The proces- sion was headed and the coffin borne by National Guards, while the Mayor, the Commander of the National Guards, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, and a member of the Academy of Sciences, held the pall. The rear was formed of deputations from public bodies and all classes. Twenty thousand people were present ; and flowers fell fast upon the coffin as it was borne along.

The Roman Consulta di State had begun its sittings on the 24th No- vember. The subjects under consideration were the making of railways in the Papal States, and the paper currency. The paper in circulation in 1850, according to the Minister of Finarice, was about seven millions of scudi [dollars]. Subsequently, measures were taken to reduce this to two millions ; and at the end of 1851 about four millions were disposed of. But it is said by financial authorities, that there are still nearly nine mil- lions in circulation. It is this knotty problem the Consulta have to look into and resolve.

By a recent agreement entered into between the Court of Rome and the Court of Vienna, it is provided that the Austrian troops stationed in the Romagna shall consist of 12,000 infantry and 1400 cavalry ; that the Papal Government shall pay 18,000 Bondi monthly for their support ; and that they shall provide quarters for the troops.

UNITED STATES. —The Africa arrived at Liverpool on Tuesday, bring- ing papers from New York to the 17th November.

A remarkable case respecting the liberties of slaves in transitu through a free State had been decided on the 13th November. The following ab- stract will make it intelligible to our readers.

It appears that a Mr. Lemmon, transporting eight slaves from Virginia to Texas touched at New York to take ship thence to New Orleans, in October last. 'When he arrived in New York Bay, he went ashore to make arrange- ments for the transhipment of his slaves and other property ; but by some means he was induced to land them, and then he received notice that they would be claimed. The case was heard before Judge Payne, on a writ of habeas corpus obtained by Lemmon. Judgment was delivered on the 13th ultimo. The slaves, through a Coloured man named Louis Napoleon, claim- ed their liberty, on the ground that the act of landing them in New York set them free. Mr. Lemmon claimed the slaves, on the ground that they were still the property of his wife ; that he had not intended them to reside in New York, but was passing from Virginia to Texas, and had been compelled to touch land. Judge Payne cited the act under which the case came. Down to 1841, the law was, that a slaye passing through or travelling from New York State remained a slave, providing his stay in the State was less than nine months. But that law had been changed by the "Revised Statutes," which, repealing certain sections of the law, that would have saved the slaves to their owner, left the first section operative, and made slaves "imported, introduced, or brought " into the State of New York, absolutely free, lie adjudged that the eight Coloured persons mentioned in the writ of habeas corpus obtained-by Lemmon be discharged.

In accordance with this judgment, the slaves were delivered up to Louis Napoleon, placed in coaches, and driven off, amid the cheers of other Coloured people. Great ceremonies had been performed at New York in celebration of the funeral of Daniel Webster. The city was partly hung with black ; the militia, the magistrates, the bench, the bar, the municipal body, and the clergy, marched in procession; and an oration was spoken in the evening, by Mr. James T. Brady.

Isams.—Despatches in anticipation of the overland mail were received in town on Wednesday night The latest date from Bombay is Novem- ber 3.

The chief point of interest in the journals is, that Prome was recaptured on the 9th October, by the First Division under General Godwin in per- son. Prome was defended by a long stockade on the edge of the hills on the right bank, and guns planted on both sides of the river. Two hours' firing from the steamers sufficed to silence them : a fire of musketry was still kept up all the time from various points; but shells soon dispersed the enemy. The only struggle, after the landing of the troops, was at the Golden Pagoda; but one or two heavy vollies sent the Burmese flying, and the place was in our hands. We had one killed and eleven wounded. Three thousand men were landed in the night. A few miles distant from Prome is the strongest stockade in Burraah, held by some six thousand men. General Godwin had declined to attack this before the Second Division arrived. He returned to Rangoon on the 15th October, to meet Lord Dalliousie who was expected there; and Sir John Cheape was left in command at Prome. The war is now said to be as good as ended. There seems to be some expectation that Pegu will be annexed; but the rumour which positively affirms this is devoid of any sort of authority.