The Paris papers and letters of Thursda supply little further
information about the attempt to assassinate King Louis Philippe. It was the King himself that first pointed out the man who had fired the pistoL For the moment, Louis Philippe was very angry; but the feeling seemed to pass off. When he fired, Henri was as distant from the King as from the pathway on one side of Portland Place to the third-story window of a house on the opposite side. His weapon, it is now said, was a mere toy—a pocket-pistol of four or five inches in length. He was evidently an imbecile, and might get off on the ground of insanity ; but it is presumed that the Government will be obliged, in self-defence, to have him condemned, as the " Liberals" have spread abroad a rumour that " the Whole affair was an election manceuvre" I The Epoque is the only one of the French papers to supply further fact& " The assassin who resided at No. 8, in the Rue de Limoges, in the Marais, de. dared in his 'first interrogatory that he was not actuated by any motive of political or private vengeance. 'the desire of putting an end to a miserable life, and to be talked of, was, he said, his only motive. He declared, besides, that he had for a month past entertained the design that he executed on Wednesday, and that on the 80th ult., when he was on guard over the colours, he was only pre- vented from accomplishing it by the consideration of the dishonour that might - fall on the company of the National Guard to which he belonged."
"The attempt," says Galignanes Messenger, "was so sudden and utterly un- locked for at such a moment, that, with the exception of that part of the crowd in the immediate vicinity of the assassin, the vast multitudes in the gardens were unacquainted with the deplorable fact until it was afterwards made known by general rumour." The Journal des Dibats states that the Pope has obtained from the French Government copies of all statutes and laws relative to the making of railways; his Holiness being anxious to establish throughout his dominions a network of railways!
Accounts are said to have reached Paris announcing that the King of Denmark was, on the night of the 20th ultimo, attacked with a congestion of the brain, which put his life in danger; and that, notwithstanding copious bleedings, he remained in a very dangerous state.—Courrier Francais.
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